TEXT: © 2014 Pelgrane Press Ltd. GUMSHOE and Fear Itself are trademarks of Pelgrane Press Ltd.
  VENDETTA RUN
  by 
  KENNETH 
  HITE
  
  2
  KEN WRITES 
  ABOUT STUFF
  Ken Hite has joined Pelgrane as a full-time 
  writer, and we’ve come up with a clever way 
  of using his considerable writing talents. Now, 
  you can subscribe to Ken Writes About Stuff, 
  featuring new and original Hite goodness every 
  month for twelve months. A costs $24.95 and 
  as well as giving you a generous 30% discount 
  on the individual article price of $2.95, we’ll be 
  offering an exclusive extra later in the year to all 
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  Any time you order, you’ll get all the issues of 
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  Ken describes it as so:
  “A burst of Hite goodness that you can imbibe or 
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  there’s another one coming down the pike in a 
  month at a reasonable price. I’ll be putting about 
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  maybe an optional rules system, maybe a longish 
  DramaSystem Series Pitch, maybe a “ripped from 
  the headlines” mini-scenario, maybe a campaign 
  frame or a mini-setting, maybe an extended riff 
  on some worthy intelligence organization or 
  serial killer or astrophysical anomaly. Leave 
  requests in the comments, and I shall take them 
  most indubitably under advisement.”
  Credits
  Publisher: Cathriona Tobin 
  Author: Kenneth Hite
  Layout: Cathriona Tobin     
  Artwork: Jeff Porter
  Contents
  Once Upon A Time In The West 
  3
  The Cowboys 
  3
  Relations 
  3
  Print The Legend 
  3
  Sins 
  4
  Risk Factors 
  4
  Abilities 
  4
  Ability Details 
  4
  Vendetta Run Ability List 
  5
  Historical Cowboys 
  6
  The Posse 
  6
  Optional Rule: Intraparty Interpersonal 
  Combat 
  7
  Deuces 
  9
  Jacks 
  9
  Kings 
  9
  The Run 
  10
  Escape? 
  10
  Vendetta Run On The Owlhoot Trail 
  11
  Inspirational Sources 
  11
  © 2014 Pelgrane Press Ltd. All rights reserved. 
  
  the seventh circle
  ONCE UPON A TIME IN 
  THE WEST
  “All right, Clanton ... You called down the thunder. Well, now 
  you’ve got it! … Take a good look at him, Ike, because that’s 
  how you’re gonna end up! ... The Cowboys are finished, you 
  understand me?! I see a red sash, I kill the man wearin’ it! So 
  run, you cur ... run! Tell all the other curs the law’s coming! 
  You tell ‘em I’m coming... and Hell’s coming with me, you 
  hear?! Hell’s coming with me!”
  -- Wyatt Earp, in Tombstone, written by Kevin Jarre
  You’ve rustled cattle. You’ve stolen horses. You’ve killed 
  men. You’ve done worse things, but you’ve never done 
  anything as dangerous as angering the Earps. Because 
  now they are coming to kill you. And they can’t be killed. 
  Not permanent, anyhow.
  In December 1881, after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 
  three Cowboys ambushed and shot Virgil Earp. Three 
  months later, four Cowboys shot Morgan Earp in the 
  back and killed him. Wyatt Earp assembled a posse 
  of his surviving relations and willing gunmen to hunt 
  down the killers, gunning down the Cowboy Frank 
  Stilwell in Tucson on March 20, 1882. You and the other 
  Cowboys can no longer count on corrupt or intimidated 
  local authorities for protection. The Earps have turned 
  vigilante, riding out in vendetta against you, and you 
  have turned and run.
  This survival-horror frame for Fear Itself is set in the 
  worst and weirdest West, a nightmarish distortion of 
  reality and of history.
  The Cowboys
  The players all take the roles of Cowboys, members of the 
  quasi-criminal ring of local rustlers and thieves in cahoots 
  with Sheriff Behan. One of you may even be Sheriff Behan 
  – the Earps no longer care about legal niceties. Your party 
  is one group of Cowboys, with the Earps’ posse on their 
  trail.
  Print the Legend
  The Earps represented northern, Republican 
  business interests (such as Wells Fargo) in a town 
  and territory whose newspapers (the Tombstone 
  Epitaph excepted) were solidly pro-southern and 
  Democratic. Those papers’ propaganda, combined 
  with Wyatt Earp’s own tendency (and that of his 
  biographers) to exaggerate his past to sell books or 
  movies, have fed an anti-Earp debunking tradition 
  still going strong after a century and more.
  One can thus still read serious academic histories 
  written from an anti-Earp perspective, but the 
  bottom line is that the Earps were duly elected 
  town marshals and deputies, and the Cowboys 
  were thieves and murderers. Wyatt Earp’s 
  “Vendetta Ride” was colorably vigilantism – but 
  even then, Wyatt was a deputized U.S. Marshal, 
  riding against a gang who had bought the sheriff, 
  killed peace officers and stage drivers, and back-
  shot his brothers. Wyatt’s posse killed nobody 
  except those directly involved in Morgan’s death. 
  In short, the Earps were the good guys.
  But even then, the Earps were much scarier than 
  their foes – that’s how Wyatt kept the peace in 
  Wichita and Dodge City without firing a shot for 
  three years. Speaking of real history, Wyatt Earp 
  walked into gunfire at both the Gunfight at the O.K. 
  Corral (five Cowboys shooting at him) and the Iron 
  Springs ambush (nine Cowboys shooting at him) 
  and never received a scratch.
  In the world of horror, the scariest guy in the 
  territory becomes the bogeyman – especially to you 
  back-shooting curs.
  Relations
  Decide how your character is related to at least one 
  other character in the party: brother or cousin, father-
  son, uncle-nephew, inseparable best friends, jailmates, 
  rivals for Cowboy leadership, etc. This relationship 
  should be a powerful motivator for your Cowboy. 
  The GM may consider acting against that relationship 
  motive a soft risk factor, costing 2 Stability.
  The other character’s player can veto anything except 
  family bonds – you can’t pick your kin.
  In addition to relations, you may want to decide each 
  character’s affinity and enmity within the group (Fear 
  Itself, p. 30).
  3
  VENDETTA RUN
  
  4
  Sins
  Determine your character’s besetting sin, ideally 
  choosing from among the seven traditional offerings: 
  Pride, Wrath, Envy, Sloth, Greed, Lust, and Gluttony.
  Then answer the question: What is Your Darkest Secret? 
  This might be same as your answer to the standard Fear 
  Itself question: What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever 
  Done? Or, in a game in which all the player characters are 
  thieves and murderers (or at best accomplices to murder), 
  it might not.
  Use these as guides to roleplaying your Cowboy.
  The GM may optionally spare the life of a Cowboy in a 
  scene in which he reveals (or allows to be revealed) his 
  Darkest Secret. Confession is good for the soul.
  Risk Factors
  Choose a risk factor for your character, ideally reflecting 
  or tied to his besetting sin. Possible parallelisms include:
  Pride: Curious, Dismissive, Skeptical
  Sloth: Drug Fiend (opium or bourbon), Oblivious
  Envy: Greedy, Vengeful
  Greed: Greedy
  Wrath: Gung Ho, Vengeful
  Lust: Horny, Thrill-Seeking
  Gluttony: Drug Fiend, Thrill-Seeking
  Any: Curious, Protective
  You might derive a Protective risk factor from your 
  relationship, but be aware that this is a very dangerous 
  risk factor in survival horror.
  Abilities
  Buy abilities as normal for GUMSHOE, using the 
  following parameters:
  # of players
  Investigative Build Points
  2
  16
  3
  12
  4+
  10
  Each player gets 65 build points to spend on General 
  abilities, regardless of group size. Fleeing points cost 
  half: spending 1 build point gets you Fleeing 2.
  Every player character gets 1 Riding, 1 Health, and 1 
  Stability for free.
  No ability is capped, although it may strain credulity 
  to have a whole gang of Cowboys with Doctoring, for 
  example.
  Note that there is no Shrink ability available to you. You 
  are callous men who do harm.
  See the list of available abilities for Vendetta Run in the 
  box on p5.
  Ability Details
  Most of the abilities in this campaign frame are familiar 
  from other GUMSHOE games, or their parameters are 
  obvious from their names. Others are simply familiar 
  GUMSHOE abilities renamed for period flavor:
  Courtroom Talk: Cop Talk, in this setting mostly judge 
  and “marshal from Back East” talk since the (mostly 
  non-professional) cops talk like everyone else + fancy, 
  eddicated talk in general
  Doctoring: First Aid, Medic; includes Diagnosis and 
  other Investigative medical abilities including crude 
  Forensic Science if needed
  Driving: refers to carriages, buckboards, wagons, 
  stagecoaches, etc.
  Mechanics: includes lockpicking
  Smooth Talk: Reassurance
  Sneaking: Infiltration; if necessary also covers Shadowing 
  (on foot), Surveillance, etc.
  Streetwise: also covers rural bandits, rustlers, etc.
  Toadying: Flattery + sucking up to those more powerful 
  than you
  Here are a few clarifications and details for the 
  remainder:
  
  5
  VENDETTA RUN
  Area Knowledge (Academic)
  Knowledge of the geography, terrain, lore, and population 
  of the territory (vaguely, southern Arizona). Can be used, 
  e.g., to pick ambush spots or recall local ghost legends.
  Book Learning (Academic)
  Covers any fancy, high-falutin’ knowledge like History, 
  Chemistry, Accounting, and the like that comes up in play. 
  The GM should be the judge of when something stops being 
  Book Learning and becomes something more practical – 
  although Book Learning covers plenty of practical arts, too, 
  like distilling cactus liquor or recognizing silver in a mine.
  Carousing (Interpersonal)
  You can make friends in saloons, taverns, dance-halls, or 
  on festival occasions, while retaining general command of 
  your own tongue and faculties. This is also the ability to 
  pick up the “word on the street” or at least in the bar or 
  crowd, as the Gaean Reach ability Scuttlebutt.
  Explosives (General)
  Tombstone is a mining town: dynamite (+6 per stick), black 
  powder (+8 per barrel), and nitroglycerine (any positive 
  modifier up to +9 per flask, but +2 to all Difficulties to set 
  or safely trigger a charge) are all available.
  Intimidation (Interpersonal)
  Signals unwillingness to back down from a physical 
  challenge as much as willingness to begin one.
  Languages (Academic)
  Operates as in Esoterrorists and Trail of Cthulhu: one 
  extra language per rating point. Potentially useful 
  languages in Vendetta Run include Spanish and Apache, 
  as well as Latin or another occult tongue if the game 
  heads that way. (Mexican characters begin with Spanish 
  but probably need English.)
  Riding (General)
  Includes not only riding horses (and mules, perhaps), 
  and tracking and following on horseback, but also the 
  technical side of ranching and the general cowboy arts. 
  Lasso attacks, for example, use Riding, not Scuffling.
  If the Posse is chasing the Cowboys, the Posse needs only 
  roll Riding for one of its member rather than piggyback 
  for the group.
  Shooting (General)
  All pistols and rifles do +1 damage; it is an age of heavy 
  ammunition loads. Most shotguns are 12-gauge, doing 
  +1 damage (+2 at Close range).
  Two-Gun Attacks: Firing two pistols in the same round 
  (two-handed) costs 3 Shooting + 2 Athletics. These points 
  do not add to the die roll.
  Counting Rounds: In a game where the GM intends to 
  mimic the resource depletion aspect of survival horror, 
  you begin with a number of bullets equal to 5 times 
  your Shooting rating. You must replenish them in-game, 
  spending a scene buying ammunition (or stealing it) or 
  forcing your compatriots to provide your reloads.
  Taunt (Interpersonal)
  You know what insult or gibe will spark a reaction from 
  Vendetta Run Ability List
  Investigative abilities with an (IP) are Interpersonal 
  abilities. General Abilities with an asterisk are 
  more likely to be called on to serve double duty as 
  Investigative Abilities as well: spend 1 point of Doctoring 
  to figure out the boy died of fright, for example.
  Investigative Abilities
  Area Knowledge
  Bargain (IP)
  Book Learning
  Bullshit Detector (IP)
  Carousing (IP)
  Courtroom Talk (IP)
  Flirting (IP)
  Intimidation (IP)
  Languages
  Law
  Notice
  Occult
  Outdoors
  Smooth Talk (IP)
  Streetwise (IP)
  Taunt (IP)
  Toadying (IP)
  General Abilities
  Athletics
  Conceal
  Doctoring*
  Driving
  Explosives
  Filch
  Fleeing
  Gambling
  Health
  Mechanics*
  Preparedness
  Riding*
  Scuffling
  Sense Trouble
  Shooting
  Sneaking
  Stability
  
  6
  Billy Claiborne
  Ike Clanton [Taunt 2]
  Phin Clanton
  Jim Crane
  Florentino “Indian Charlie” Cruz
  Charles “Pony” Diehl [Riding 5]
  Harry Ernshaw
  Jake Gauze
  Dick “Dixie” Gray
  Charlie Green
  John Greene
  Billy Grounds
  Bill Harrison
  Harry “the Kid” Head
  Bill Hicks
  Milt Hicks
  Joe Hill
  Jim Hughes
  Zwing Hunt
  “Rattlesnake” Bill Johnson
  Luther King
  Billy Lang
  Ed Lyle
  Johnny Lyle
  Jake Mackenzie
  John McGill
  Frank Patterson
  Johnny Ringo [Book Learning 1, Athletics 8, Shooting 
  8+] 
  Bud Snow
  Pete Spence
  Hank Swilling
  Charlie Thomas
  The Posse
  A posse led by Wyatt Earp pursues the Cowboys. 
  While being pursued by Wyatt Earp and a dozen other 
  deadly gunmen might be terrifying enough, the GM 
  will likely want to add a supernatural component to 
  the Posse.
  She can add it either to their description:
  • 
  Deathlike pallor (true of the tubercular Doc 
  Holliday in life).
  • 
  Wears a black suit like a mortician, including 
  black gloves.
  your target. You may intend to put them off-balance, goad 
  them into unwise action or revelation, or otherwise aim their 
  ill-humor.
  Historical Cowboys
  Use the following list of historical Cowboys as a source of 
  names (or family names at least), as NPCs, or as potential 
  player characters. Suggested ability ratings to match the 
  Cowboy’s historical reputation appear in brackets, but don’t 
  feel bound by them – almost none of them are based on 
  anything approaching reliable history.
  Alex Arnett
  Johnny Barnes
  Sheriff John Behan [Courtroom Talk 1, Law 2]
  Tall Bell
  Frederick Bode
  “Curly” Bill Brocius [Scuffling 6, Shooting 8]
  
  VENDETTA RUN
  • 
  Implacable, almost machine-like movement without 
  overt rage or emotion.
  • 
  Weirdly elongated shadows and strangely distorted 
  shapes when seen at a distance, even when there 
  7
  Optional Rule: Intraparty Interpersonal Combat
  To better model the disintegrating relationships of survival horror, some groups may wish to use Intraparty 
  Interpersonal Combat. This is a one-round contest in which the winner can force the loser to go along with some 
  scheme, plan, agenda, etc. The loser cannot overtly challenge the winner during the remainder of the scene or the 
  entire next scene.
  Each party to the contest secretly notes an Interpersonal ability he possesses and his spend (if any) from that ability. 
  All reveal simultaneously and then each rolls one die. Add 1 to the total for the user of an ability which trumps his 
  foe’s ability. For example, if Ike and Curly Bill throw down, and Curly Bill spends 2 Intimidation and Ike spends 1 
  Toadying, then each adds +2 to his die: Curly Bill because he spent 2, Ike because Toadying trumps Intimidation so 
  he can add +1 to the die along with his spend of 1. Ties go to the Cowboy with the highest Shooting rating; if it’s still 
  tied, roll again.
  Then run the scene for a bit using those Interpersonal abilities, playing toward the outcome you know the dice have 
  decreed.
  This is horribly unfair and perhaps grating to player sensibilities, and intentionally so. It is meant to encourage raw 
  rivalry, short-term decision-making, and tit-for-tat vengeances. Just like you see in zombie movies, or in bands of 
  outlaws and criminals running for their lives.
  Interpersonal
   Ability
  Trumps
  TrumpED BY
  Bargain
  Courtroom Talk
  Smooth Talk
  Bullshit Detector
  Flirting
  Courtroom Talk
  Carousing
  Smooth Talk
  Flirting
  Courtroom Talk
  Bullshit Detector
  Bargain
  Flirting
  Carousing
  Bullshit Detector
  Intimidation
  Streetwise
  Toadying
  Smooth Talk
  Bargain
  Carousing
  Streetwise
  Taunt
  Intimidation
  Taunt
  Toadying
  Streetwise
  Toadying
  Intimidation
  Taunt
  should be no light source or heat distortion. Or 
  conversely, no shadow or reflection in a mirror.
  • 
  Stuttering, weird strobe or frame-drop motion 
  like a ghost in a J-horror movie.
  
  8
  • 
  Continues to bleed from the bullet wounds you 
  inflicted two days ago, otherwise normal.
  • 
  Glowing red eyes.
  • 
  Wounds flow closed like clay being worked invisibly.
  • 
  Pale fire (or glowing scarlet hellfire) ripples around 
  wounds, guns, eyes.
  • 
  After resurrecting once, begins to rot like a zombie.
  • 
  Gleam of a skull visible in shadows under the wide 
  flat brim of his black hat; eventually revealed as a 
  fully skeletal face like the countenance of Death.
  Or to their abilities:
  • 
  Revenant 1: He doesn’t stay dead. After being killed, 
  he returns the next night at sundown, all ability pools 
  refreshed.
  • 
  Revenant 2: After being killed, he can return in the 
  next scene, with pools half-refreshed. They fully 
  refresh the next sundown.
  • 
  Revenant 3: After being killed, he gets back up in 
  a number of rounds equal to the amount of “extra” 
  damage he took after Health 0 (or Health -12 for 
  Kings).
  • 
  Call Storms: He spends Vindicta to call down the 
  thunder. Each point spent adds 1 to the Difficulty 
  the storm poses for Riding or Fleeing tests to escape, 
  Sense Trouble tests to see anything through it, etc. At 
  2 points, the storm is mostly cosmetic and terrifying; 
  at 4 points, he can direct lightning at inanimate objects 
  in his vicinity; at 8 points, he can direct lightning at 
  a man or horse (+4 damage, Difficulty 8 Athletics or 
  Riding test to evade for half damage).
  • 
  Colt of Wounding: The bullets fired by his pistol are 
  death-touched, connected mystically perhaps to the 
  bullets that killed Morgan Earp. The wounds these 
  Morgal bullets make do not heal; lost Health from 
  their shots cannot be cured with Doctoring. At 10:50 
  p.m. every night, such wounds bleed out 1 more 
  Health point each.
  • 
  Darksight: He can see in the dark, and has contest 
  advantage (-1 to Difficulties, including foes’ Hit 
  Thresholds) in darkness.
  • 
  Grave Chill: By gaze, touch, or taunt, once per 
  scene he can fill a target with the chill of the grave. 
  He spends Vindicta and rolls; his total becomes 
  the Difficulty of the target’s Stability test to resist 
  freezing. On a failure, the target must freeze for 
  a number of rounds (-2 to Hit Threshold) or take 
  Health damage equal to his margin of failure, or 
  some combination thereof: 
  Warren Earp spends 2 Vindicta and rolls a 6, for 
  a total of 8. Ike Clanton must make a Difficulty 8 
  Stability test. He spends 2 and rolls a 2, failing by 
  4. The GM rules Ike freezes for 1 round and loses 3 
  Health (1 + 3 = 4).
  • 
  Head Shot: Only a deliberate head shot or heart 
  shot from the front (+2 to Hit Threshold) can 
  wound a revenant; ignore (or treat as cosmetic) all 
  damage to other body parts.
  • 
  Hellfire: He can cause the fires of Hell (+0 damage) 
  to spring up by spending 2 Vindicta. For each 
  additional point spent, the damage modifier of the 
  fire increases by 1. The fire burns flesh for 1 round 
  per point spent (background burns naturally). He 
  must make a Shooting roll to set a living target 
  on fire directly; a miss sets the nearest flammable 
  object or building ablaze.
  • 
  Regeneration 1: He refreshes 1 Health per round 
  until killed. Regeneration 2 refreshes 2 Health per 
  round, etc.
  • 
  Uncanny Speed: He can spend 2 points of Vindicta 
  for any of the following effects:
   
  ○
  Shoot or otherwise attack more than once in 
  a round, for a cost of 1 Shooting or Scuffling 
  point per attack (Vindicta cost lowers to 1).
   
  ○
  Move from Long to Close or Near to Point-
  Blank range (or otherwise cross 40-50 yards) in 
  a single round when not directly observed.
   
  ○
  Increase his Hit Threshold by +1 for four 
  rounds.
   
  ○
  Automatically get the drop or go first in a 
  Shooting combat.
  • 
  Other: The GM may also wish to incorporate 
  vampiric powers from Night’s Black Agents, 
  8
  
  9
  VENDETTA RUN
  superpowers from Mutant City Blues, or the powers 
  of various monsters from the Hideous Creatures series 
  or Trail of Cthulhu.
  Or to both.
  A Posse with full-fledged supernatural abilities doesn’t 
  have to visibly appear demonic or Biblical – summoned 
  storms can just “happen to appear” and fires mysteriously 
  start in their presence. Contrariwise, a skeletal Grim Rider 
  might still use nothing more than a Colt .45 Buntline Special 
  to kill his prey.
  Note: Vindicta (Latin for “vengeance”) powers the Posse’s 
  supernatural abilities and otherwise replaces Athletics. A 
  rider with a Vindicta rating of 8+ has a Hit Threshold of 4.
  Deuces
  These are the less significant members of the Posse. They 
  might be bodies raised from the Tombstone cemetery, 
  or simply enthusiastic citizens imbued with the Earps’ 
  sorcerous rage.
  If all of the Deuces in a scene are killed and there are no un-
  killed Jacks or Kings in the scene, they remain dead until 
  next sundown.
  Ability Ratings: Health 4, Riding 4, Scuffling 4, Shooting 
  4, Vindicta 4
  Hit Threshold: 3
  Damage Modifier: +1 (pistol), -1 (knife), -2 (claw or bite)
  Alertness Modifier: +1
  Stealth Modifier: +0
  Suggested Powers: Revenant 3, plus Darksight or Head 
  Shot
  Historical Deuces: Lou Cooley, Fred Dodge (infiltrates 
  Cowboys among list of other Cowboy NPCs; first attack 
  in game gets initiative and lowers foe’s Hit Threshold by 
  -2), Johnny Green, “Oregon” Charles Smith (Shooting 6), 
  Daniel “Tip” Tipton (Shooting 6)
  Jacks
  These are major members of the Posse. A Jack might be 
  leading a group of Deuces, or operating alone as a scout or 
  harasser. If their abilities wind up being lower than those of 
  the Cowboys on average, increase them.
  Ability Ratings: Health 8, Riding 8, Scuffling 8, Shooting 
  8, Vindicta 8
  Hit Threshold: 4
  Damage Modifier: +1 (pistol), -1 (knife), -2 (fist or kick)
  Alertness Modifier: +1
  Stealth Modifier: +1
  Suggested Powers: Revenant 2 and Darksight, plus two 
  other powers.
  Historical Jacks: Warren Earp (Colt of Wounding; when 
  killed the first time, summons Wyatt with a death-call), 
  “Turkey Creek Jack” Johnson (+2 Alertness, Regeneration 
  2, lowers foe’s Hit Threshold by 1 for every round spent 
  aiming and not firing), Sherman W. McMasters (former 
  Cowboy; Riding 12, +2 Stealth), “Texas Jack” Vermillion 
  (a.k.a. “Shoot-Your-Eye-Out Jack”; Shooting 12, Uncanny 
  Speed)
  Kings
  These are the leaders of the Posse, the deadliest killing 
  gentlemen in this life or the next. They only die at -12, 
  and never suffer any consequences from being Hurt or 
  Seriously Wounded. 
  If both of them are dead, the Posse’s direct attacks stop 
  for the night.
  
  10
  This contest can be piggybacked, and the Difficulty goes up 
  by 1 every two days.
  A particularly clever solution (such as the ruthless 
  extermination with knives and teeth of an isolated farm 
  family), or a generous spend (Area Knowledge to find a 
  disused silver mine, Flirting to take over a brothel) can 
  even set up a haven for refreshes of ability pools. Make the 
  players work or spend to get havens – the Posse is always 
  looking for them.
  Gunfire (including between Cowboys) can always bring the 
  Posse.
  Every night’s attacks should be different, ideally escalating 
  over the course of the campaign from eerie events to a 
  Deuce fight to a single Jack to a posse of Jacks and Deuces 
  to a concluding gunfight at Iron Springs or back at the O.K. 
  Corral again. If the Cowboys seem confident, pour on more 
  Posse, and consider bringing Wyatt or Doc on screen. The 
  first-act turn – when the Cowboys discover their foes don’t 
  stay dead – is a great opportunity for horror, so build toward 
  and on it.
  Escape?
  In pure survival horror, escape is an illusion or a cheat. The 
  Cowboys all die horribly, and instructively.
  Players often expect coddling and success, however, even in 
  horror games. Here are some possible solutions to encode 
  into the adventure and reveal in exchange for contrition or 
  tactical brilliance:
  • 
  The Devil built Wyatt’s faro box (or “shoe”) in 
  exchange for a favor back in Wichita. It sits in the 
  Orient Hotel (where Wyatt used to deal faro), quietly 
  spitting out new cards. Until it stops dealing, the 
  Posse keeps reviving.
  Wyatt Earp
  Ability Ratings: Gambling 5, Health 10, Riding 10, Scuffling 
  16, Shooting 12, Vindicta 16
  Hit Threshold: 5
  Damage Modifier: +2 (Buntline Special pistol), +1 (shotgun), 
  +0 (pistol-whipping), -1 (knife), -1 (fist or kick)
  Alertness Modifier: +3
  Stealth Modifier: +1
  Suggested Powers: Call Storms, Colt of Wounding, 
  Darksight, Head Shot, Hellfire, Revenant 1
  John Henry ,,Doc,, Holliday
  Ability Ratings: Gambling 8, Health 8, Riding 8, Scuffling 
  10, Shooting 16, Vindicta 12
  Hit Threshold: 4
  Damage Modifier: +1 (pistol), +0 (silver-headed cane), +0 
  (knife), -1 (fist)
  Alertness Modifier: +3
  Stealth Modifier: +1
  Suggested Powers: Darksight, Grave Chill, Regeneration 
  1, Revenant 1, Uncanny Speed; coughs acidic blood (+0 
  damage for 3 rounds) onto one foe once after a successful 
  Scuffling attack; can refresh 4 Vindicta once per night by 
  winning a contest of Gambling.
  The Run
  The GM should abstract her treatment of Cochise County 
  away from the specific and historical and toward the surreal, 
  horrifying, and weird. The skies might glow red at night, the 
  mountains shift and groan, the cacti sport howling faces.
  Tombstone itself might be eerily deserted, or full of people 
  who fear the Cowboys – but fear the Earps more. The Posse 
  can appear any time they wish at Hatch’s Saloon or the 
  Town Marshal’s office. The GM decides how much human 
  interaction she wants to feature; the game might begin with 
  mostly normal (if panicky and edgy) activity in Tombstone, 
  perhaps allowing the Cowboys to wallow in their besetting 
  sins one last time. Then it slowly darkens into the apocalyptic 
  métier of survival horror as the citizens barricade themselves 
  inside and leave the Cowboys to their fate.
  The Cowboys must succeed at a Difficulty 4 contest of 
  Riding to buy scenes without danger from the Posse. (In 
  town, the GM may substitute Sense Trouble or Sneaking.) 
  For every point of margin on that success, the party gets one 
  scene free of interruption, for a maximum of three scenes. 
  Inspirational Sources
  High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood, 1973)
  “The Spectre of the Gun” (Star Trek episode, 1968)
  Tombstone (George Cosmatos, 1993)
  ******
  Inventing Wyatt Earp, by Allen Barra
  Tombstone – Wyatt Earp, the O.K. Corral, and the Vendetta 
  Ride 1881–82 (Raid #41, Osprey), by Sean McLachlan
  Wyatt Earp, the Life Behind the Legend, by Casey Tefertiller
  10
  
  11
  VENDETTA RUN
  can all end. This requires sufficient investigation 
  (and perhaps flashbacks) for the townsfolk and 
  NPC Cowboys to keep pointing out Ike’s role; it 
  only works dramatically if Ike is a player character.
  • 
  Any Cowboy who survives until Easter (April 9) 
  and makes it to a Catholic confession that day can 
  be forgiven and escape the Earps’ hellish justice. 
  The Vendetta Ride begins on March 21, the vernal 
  equinox.
  • 
  After the characters die or survive immersion in 
  enough dramatic juice to make it worthwhile, 
  there is a whirring blur and they wake up in their 
  uniforms on the surface of an alien planet. They 
  had been hit with an old Combine mental weapon 
  leftover from the War, the Posse were androids, 
  and the PCs are all Ashen Stars characters. Boldly 
  go!
  • 
  There is a signed demonic pact (in a locked Wells 
  Fargo message box) in the Earps’ house, or buried 
  with Morgan. Burning it with an Occult spend ends 
  the Posse’s sorcerous power.
  • 
  Wyatt, Doc, and Turkey Creek Jack are all Freemasons; 
  they performed a Masonic working in Tombstone’s 
  Masonic Hall (King Solomon Territorial Lodge #5) 
  and left their notes in its library. It requires 5 points 
  total spent from Book Learning, Courtroom Talk, and 
  Occult to figure out a counter-rite: put the pistol that 
  killed Morgan into Wyatt’s hands, sacrifice 5 Health 
  in blood, and activate the “unworthy craftsman rite.” 
  Once performed, Wyatt turns on Doc and kills him 
  and the Posse disintegrates.
  • 
  Fundamentally, 
  it’s 
  Ike 
  Clanton’s 
  cowardice, 
  malevolence, and stupidity that got the Cowboys into 
  this. Hang him in front of the Marshal’s office and it 
  Vendetta Run on the Owlhoot Trail
  The party is not likely to be Cowboys, so they must take on the Cowboy curse by trickery or spite or greed. They stumble 
  across a near-dead Ike Clanton, who promises them his hidden fortune (from the robbed Fargo stage) if they save him 
  from “the Devil.” If they agree, that transfers the curse to them. If they decline, he spits blood onto whoever is closest (the 
  one who actually refused, likely) and dies cursing him. Presto, the curse is still transferred – Clanton’s blood glows and 
  sinks into the callous one’s skin.
  And we’re off. The party can investigate the backstory in Tombstone, where locals insist on treating them as though they 
  were well-known Cowboys, perhaps even calling them by Cowboy names.
  Pale Rider: “And I saw a rider on a pale horse, and his name was Death, and Hell followed with him.” The equivalent of a 
  King.
  Lvl 8, GRIT 4, DRAW 4, WITS 3, HP 63, Def 22, MDef 21. Buffalo pistol-whip +12 (1d8) Scythe & Wesson .45 caliber Pistol 
  +12 (or both guns at +10/+10): 2d8+2; range 0-2; 6 shot. Hellhound Shotgun +12: 3d6 at range 0, 2d6 at range 1, 1d6 at range 
  2; fire both barrels for +1d8 damage. Hardy 1, Deadly 1. 
  Wyatt is WITS 4, Hardy 2; Doc is DRAW 6 (Pistol +14), Sickly 1 against any damage except bullet damage; Deadly 2. 
  Any gun that fires a shot that hits and damages a Pale Rider briefly glows pale green (Wile + WITS to spot, DC 18 during 
  combat); its next shot automatically hits the nearest comrade of the firer, or the firer himself (in the back) if he is alone.
  Pale Riders also have the following Powers, at +11:
  Hideous Laughter (2nd Rank Trick)
  Anger of the Storm (3d Rank Spirit)
  Singing Forth the Corpse (4th Rank Spirit)
  The Jacks are Spectres (OHT, p. 54) who also carry Scythe & Wessons in .44; Pistol +6 (or both guns at +4/+4) (2d8). They 
  also have Hideous Laughter and Anger of the Storm (both at +5).
  The Deuces are Zombies (OHT, p. 54) with DRAW 1. They carry Scythe & Wessons in .38; Pistol +3 (1d8+1).
  None of the Posse can be permanently killed – they resurrect the next sundown -- until the silver star worn by Morgan 
  Earp (and buried with him) is melted down. (The GM decides if Morgan is buried in Tombstone, somewhere in the 
  Territory kept secret to protect his body from desecration, or in California as it was historically.) If instead, a true hero 
  sworn to protect Tombstone dons the star, the Posse rides to the graveyard and vanishes.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Ken Writes About Stuff/Ken Writes About Stuff Vol. 2/Vendetta Run.pdf