The West That Wasnt - Interacting With the West
The west is a dangerous place. Many aspects of the world are very dangerous and deadly. A crafty Judge will bring more challenges to bear than just weapon toting baddies. This chapter will help you understand how your Hero can withstand whatever stands in the way.
Contents
Drowning
Swimming in a backyard pond is pretty safe, as long as you can swim, of course. There is no need to check in ideal circumstances such as those unless the character has no swimming skill. During rougher conditions, however, everyone needs to perform a swim check. The TN depends on the swiftness of the water as shown below. Failure causes the character to take CT equal to the difference between the result and TN.
| Water | TN |
| Swift creek | 5 |
| Rapid river | 7 |
| Rough ocean | 9 |
| Stormy seas | 11 |
Falling
A fall of a few paces might not be deadly, but long falls spell doom for any character. A fall of 5 paces deals (1)6 in damage with the deadly attribute. For each additional 5 paces, shift the damage level down 1 level to a maximum of (7)6. Apply the wounds as a standard attack, to the location on the card.
Landing in water can potentially break a fall on a Fair (5) swimming roll. Success divides the damage row by 2, rounded in favor of the character. This check can be made up to 50 paces; up to 20 paces the damage can be completely negated by a successful check. Landing on a haystack, awning, or other soft obstacle reduces the damage by half if the character makes a difficult (7) Dexterity check.
Smoke and Fire
Characters in dense smoke have to make a difficult (7) Fortitude check before their action each round to avoid suffocation. A wet cloth over the mouth and nose — or similar makeshift protection - adds +2 to the result. If the character fails the Fortitude roll, apply the difference between the roll and the TN in CT. Characters who fall unconscious due to this CT loss continue to take this damage each continuous action Phase IV, and are subject to environmental death.
Damage from fire varies based on the size of the flame and the body coverage. A small fire, such as a burning sleeve, causes 5d4 damage at the end of every continuous action Phase IV, dealt to the flaming area. A larger fire, such as from having an oil lamp dropped on you, causes 5d6 to the affected areas. A character totally consumed by flames takes 5d8 damage, with the wounds applied to every area at once.
Whenever the deck is shuffled, if there are any fires on the board cut the deck once for each fire. If the toggle result is yes, the fire continues burning. If it is no, the fire burns itself out.
Suffocation
A choking character can withhold oxygen for 6 turns (one minute) per column of their Fortitude while performing light physical tasks, half as long when doing strenuous tasks. Each time a character takes CT while withholding oxygen, subtract half the CT taken from the number of turns they can continue to withhold. A character who reaches the end of this period immediately falls unconscious, with their CT being set to zero. They take (1)6 each round and are subject to environmental death.
Temperature Extremes
When the temperature gets too hot, or cold, the character risks serious consequences. In extreme heat, like Death Valley, the character must make a Fortitude check versus a difficulty (5, 7, 9 etc.) based on the level of heat every 6 turns. Access to clean water can double this time. Failure means a loss of 1d4 CT for each failure. A character who falls below zero CT due to heat exhaustion is subject to heat stroke and environmental death (for temperature extremes).
In extreme cold situations, such as being trapped in the Rockies in the dead of winter, check Fortitude with a TN of 9. Failure shifts the column of the character's Acuity by 1 to the left. When Acuity falls to 0, the character is unconscious and subject to hypothermia (environmental death for temperature extremes, below).
As soon as a character fails a roll impairment becomes noticeable, including slurred speech and confusion. A character who has failed two checks will be subject to extreme apathy and will be noticeably shivering. In either of these cases, the malady can be diagnosed with a Standard (5) First Aid check. Each failure is equivalent to confusion from blather (see social combat, chapter XX) versus all actions. Failures are cumulative.
Environmental Death
Whenever a character is subject to environmental death, set their CT to 0 (if it has not already been set to zero by another calamity). Their CT is now their "sudden death threshold" (SDT). During each continuous action Phase IV, add the listed damage for the environmental factor in CT to the SDT. When the SDT is equal to their starting CT, they die immediately. Any CT dealt from any other factor also adds to their sudden death threshold.
Miranda Valentine has 14 CT. If she falls unconscious due to smoke inhalation, she will die when her sudden death threshold is 14 or more.
Temperature extremes have special rules. Continue making the tests as noted above, but do not apply any CT or sudden death threshold unless a CT result of greater than your Fortitude column is revealed. Any amount greater than the column value is added to the character's sudden death threshold.
Miranda Valentine has a 2d8 Fortitude. If she has fallen unconscious due to heat stroke, any time she takes 9+, apply the any amount over 8 to her sudden death threshold.
Darkness
In reduced vision conditions, shift the Acuity 2 columns left (minimum d4) when performing a task or check where vision is vitally important. The penalties for partial lighting apply to targets greater than 10 meters away. Of course, if a target is somehow illuminated (such as carrying a lit lantern), the penalty should be adjusted by the Judge, if not negated entirely.
Movement
It is often necessary to know exactly how far something can move in a standard combat round. The number of paces a Hero, extra, or mount can move each round is its Movement Rate.
The base Movement Rate for any character is equal to their Dexterity value. An animal has a value located in the bestiary. Living creatures and vehicles such as trains can move as standard actions, or as continuous actions. Resolving continuous actions is discussed in the continuous action section. For example, a horse moving at full gallop is a continuous action executed every continuous action phase, while a horse trotting to a trough, taking a drink, and then walking to a stable is performing standard movements and actions.
Running is defined as moving more than the listed movement rate, up to double the listed value, and incurs a -4 penalty to all of a character's actions. Passengers in "running" vehicles such as stagecoaches or horse-drawn carts or on mounts suffer the penalty too. The faster you go, the bumpier the ride.
A character or mount may push it, and go faster than their listed speed. This may only be done when running. On a successful TN 3 Fortitude check the character can add half their Dexterity die type to their final movement.
Miranda Valentine spies one of the vaqueros from the Laroq ranch heading into town on his horse. She needs to get into the saloon before he can run her down, so she declares she will push it. On her action she runs, with her Dexterity of d12, her speed is 24, and after pushing it, 30.
Movement and Combined Actions
During action time, characters perform actions during their turn. These actions are classified by their speed. It is usually clear how to divide actions, but sometimes it is necessary to group some things together. For example, if a character wanted to walk across the room and open a door, this is likely not two separate actions. Opening the door can be considered part of the movement.
If a character moves more than half of their movement, they may also perform a short, related action such as the door opening as mentioned above. This cannot be accomplished if it requires using a skill of any kind, that would be a separate action. If something can be done in a second or two during the movement, it can be combined with the movement action. Performing the action forfeits at minimum one pace of movement, more at Judge discretion.
If a character moves less than half of their movement they may perform 1-2 short, related actions as above. They must follow the same guidelines and have the same costs.
Encumbrance
Each character and mount has an encumbrance value which is approximately how much can be carried as a standard load. The encumbrance value is based on Strength. If a character with an 8 Move Rate is carrying a heavy load, his Rate is effectively reduced to a 2 for the round.
For instance, Miranda’s Strength is 1d6. She can carry up to 36 pounds with no problems. From 37lb up to 60lb is a light load. From 61lb up to 90lb is a medium load. From 91 lb on up is a heavy load.
| Load | Weight | Movement |
| Light | 6 x Strength value | 3/4 |
| Medium | 10 x Strength value | 1/2 |
| Heavy | 15 x Strength value | 1/4 |
Lifting
What if a character needs to lift something momentarily and not carry it a long distance? The lift value of any character is equal to the heavy load value multiplied by 1.5. This very heavy weight, however, is not automatically hoisted. If time matters, a character must make a Strength test to lift anything heavier than their Heavy load. If a character has as much time as necessary, the full lift can be made...eventually.
A lift is a standard check. Lifting between the heavy load and Lift value is TN 3, lifting over the Lift value is TN 5. The character may lift the Lift value on a success, and +5% for each bump. Do not draw or use extra cards on increased effect, unless the Judge says otherwise, of course.
