Quill Wild West

By Tarcisio Lucas
Quill Wild West is a derivative of Quill: A Letter-Writing Roleplaying
Game for a Single Player by Scott Malthouse (www.trollishdelver.com), used under
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Quill WWestern is
© 2018 by Tarcisio Lucas and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA

Quill Wild West is a setting supplement for use with Quill: A Letter-Writing Roleplaying Game
for a Single Player. To use this supplement, the Quill rulebook is necessary and is
available at Drive Through RPG.
Wild West

The Western is a genre of various arts which tell stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century
in the American Old West, often centering on the life of a nomadic cowboy or gunfighter armed with
a revolver and a rifle who rides a horse. Cowboys and gunslingers typicall wear Stetson hats, bandannas,
spurs, cowboy boots and buckskins. Other characters include Native Americans, bandits,
lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, soldiers (especially mounted cavalry), settlers, both farmers and
ranchers, and townsfolk.

Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate
landscape of deserts and mountains. Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting a
"...mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small
frontier towns, saloons, railways and isolated military forts of the Wild West.

Common plots include:

 The construction of a railroad or a telegraph line on the wild frontier.

 Ranchers protecting their family ranch from rustlers or large landowners or who build a ranch
empire.
 Revenge stories, which hinge on the chase and pursuit by someone who has been wronged.
 Stories about cavalry fighting Native Americans.
 Outlaw gang plots.
 Stories about a lawman or bounty hunter tracking down his quarry.

Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending
in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a shootout or quick draw duel.

The Western genre sometimes portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature
in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American,
inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and
personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are
often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking
personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them (e.g., True Grit has revenge
and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with
justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which social order is
maintained predominately through relatively impersonal institutions such as courtrooms. The popular
perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, usually
a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a
stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns.

In some ways, such protagonists may be considered the literary descendants of the knight errant which
stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian Romances. Like the cowboy or
gunfighter of the Western, the knight errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering
from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds and bound to no fixed social structures
but only to his own innate code of honor. And like knights errant, the heroes of Westerns frequently
rescue damsels in distress. Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics
with the ronin in modern Japanese culture.

This Supplement, Quill Wild West, you'll'll will play one of these characters, living adventures that
almost Always are resolved through the duel, at noon, in the village center, under the frightened and
curious look of men and women.

You will write a letter to someone telling him/her about what is happening, according to one of the 2
proposed scenarios.In practice, all the rules found in Quill's basic book are kept.

SkILLS

Choose one of the skills below, before each adventure:

Chatty writer: You’re a silver-tounged devil. Gain +1 dice to a Language test.

Hard Heart: You’re brash, brave, and bold. Gain +1 dice to a Heart test.
Fast Hands: Your fingers fly across the paper lines. Gain +1 dice to a Penmanship test
Characters

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in America, traditionally on horseback, and
often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th
century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special
significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle.
In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as
such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but we now that they were
present on these landscapes.

Penmanship: Poor
Language: Average
Heart: Good
Gunslinger

Western gunslinger heroes are portrayed as local lawmen or enforcement officers, ranchers, army
officers, territorial marshals, nomadic loners, or skilled fast-draw artists. They are normally masculine
persons of integrity and principle - courageous, moral, tough, solid, and self-sufficient, maverick
characters (often with trusty sidekicks), possessing an independent and honorable attitude (but often
characterized as slow-talking). They are depicted as similar to a knight-errant, wandering from place to
place with no particular direction, often facing curious and hostile enemies, while saving individuals or
communities from those enemies in terms of chivalry. The Western hero usually stands alone and faces
danger on his own, commonly against lawlessness, with an expert display of his physical skills (roping,
gun-play, horse-handling, pioneering abilities, etc.).

Penmanship: Average
Language: Poor
Heart: Good
Sheriff

The sheriff is most often an elected county official who serves as the chief civil-law enforcement
officer of their jurisdiction. The sheriff enforces court orders and mandates and may perform duties
such as evictions, seizing property and assets pursuant to court orders, and serving warrants and legal
papers. In some counties where urban areas have their own police departments, a sheriff may be
restricted to civil procedure enforcement duties, while in other counties, the sheriff may serve as the
principal police force and have jurisdiction over all of the county's municipalities, regardless if they have
their own city or town/township police department. A sheriff often administers the county jails and is
responsible for court security functions within their jurisdiction.

Penmanship: Poor
Language: Good
Heart: Average
Bounty Hunter

A bounty hunter is a person who captures fugitives and criminals for a monetary reward (bounty). The
occupation, also known as bail enforcement agent, bail agent, recovery agent, bail recovery agent,
or fugitive recovery agent, has historically existed in many parts of the world.

Bounty hunters are known as bail enforcement agents (bail bondsmen) and carry out arrests mostly for
those who have skipped bail. The term "bounty hunting" is no longer often used or liked by many in the
profession due to its historical associations.

Bounty hunters are sometimes misleadingly called skiptracers, where skiptracing is searching for an
individual through less direct methods than active pursuit and apprehension.

Penmanship: Good
Language: Poor
Heart: Average
SCENARIOS

1 – Road to Santa Cruz

Profile

The great city of Santa Cruz, located in a desolate and almost inaccessible area, is offering a great
reward to the man who brings to justice Billy Jack, accused of killing the last city's sheriff, Icabold
Carlson.

It’s being offered a great cash reward. Also, anyone bringing in Billy Jack will have the pardon of any
pending or due debt they have with justice.

Because of it, people from all over the place in search of money and even wanted criminals decided
to undertake a search for Billy Jack. This is a dangerous mission, because the one who finds Billy will
have to be careful not only with the boy himself, but also with the others who will try to take him.

You, along with your friend John, your inseparable companion, also went out looking for the killer, and
found Billy on 6 days riding Santa Cuz.

Knowing that the trip back will be full of dangers and enemies, you instruct your friend John to take a
letter to the nearest town, La Plata, asking the sheriff to highlight some men to accompany you to Santa
Cruz.

Rules of Correspondence

You received from the good people of Santa Cruz a paper bearing the official stamp of the city. Earn +1
on all Penmanship tests
Ink Pot

Hills/Mountains

Tow/caravans

Trap/ambush

Fight/Duel

Betrayal/ Treachery

Desert/Dust Road

Food/Supply

Cows/Cattle

Indians/Natives

Punisher/Justiciero

Consequences

Less than 5 ponts: The sheriff of La Plata replies to your letter, saying that he has no obligation to send
support, since it deals with problems in another city, and he refuses to send aid.

Only you and John must carry back Billy Jack. On the third day of the trip, passing through a dangerous
region, you two are shot and killed, without even knowing exactly where the shots came from.

5 to 7 points: The sheriff of La Plata sends a letter back saying that he really would like to send men, but
he is without people due to the riots in his own city. In compensation, it sends 2 new rifles and
ammunition, which it believes will be of great assistance.

You and John go away back to Santa Cruz. During these 6 days of travel to Santa Cruz, you have met
many people interested in taking your prisoner. Most of them changed their minds when they saw their
weapons and ammunition, but on two occasions the duel was inevitable. Thanks to the weapons
donated by the sheriff of La Plata, you can win. But on the last day, John was shot, dying a few hours
later.

You arrive at Santa Cruz carrying the body of John, where you are received as heroes. But you are feeling
guilty by the death of your friend.

8 to 10 points: John returns, bringing along two more men, two cowboys with hard stares and quick
hands. The sheriff of La Plata lamented that he could not come to his aid due to conflicts in his own city,
so he sent his two best men: Trujilo Perez, a strong man who never speaks a word, and James Donovan,
a cunning rogue who never stops to talk about himself.

You leave, along the way encountering some threats, which were overcome without great difficulties
due to the abilities of the 2 men of La Plata.

John was shot by a bullet on the third day of the trip, dying 1 day later.

Arriving at Santa Cruz, you are welcomed as heroes, and John receives a worthy funeral.

11+ points: The sheriff himself, escorted by a six-man group, comes to meet you a few hours later. He
says that Billy Jack has been causing confusion in his own town, and that he would love to have the
pleasure of bringing the murderer to justice.

You depart, and the size of the escort, which was mostly strong and heavily armed men, keeps any
threat distant.

After 6 days, you arrive, without incident, in Santa Cruz, where Bily Jack is judged immediately. You and
John become true local heroes.
Scenario 2
Lonely revenge

For a long time the Old Tom's Band has spread terror among the cities and local cattle ranchers. They
attack the farms at night, not only stealing everything they find, but invading houses and cruelly killing
anyone they encounter, no matter if they are men, women or children.

In one of these assaults, Old Tom's Bunch invaded your land and your house, killing your wife, brother, and
two children. You were saved only because you had gone to the city to solve matters related to the sale
of goods.

Upon arriving at your house and seeing that scene of carnage, you swear to take revenge at any cost.

Following the tracks of the Bando, you decide to abandon everything.

You have time just to write a letter to your old friend Isaac, with whom you fought in the war. Isaac is a
good and simple man, and you decide to donate all your lands and possessions to him, since you know
that the chances of surviving are small.

After passing in a village and sending the letter, you continue following the rattles of the assassins, with
a single thought: revenge.

Rules of Correspondence

You are extremely determined, and nothing will make you go back on your decision to take revenge. Roll
over 1 in all Heart tests.
Ink Pot

Bodies/Corpses

Slaughter/Massacre

Cruelty/Savagery

big River/ Rio Grande

Coal Mines/Gold Mines

Villages/Towns

Right/Justice

Salvation/Redemption

Bad Guys/Demons

Train/Railroad Cars

Consequences

Less than 5 points: You search for revenge against Old Tom's Bndo. The days go by, like weeks and
months.

Some time later, Isaac receives the statement that his body was found on the banks of the Rio Grande,
with more than 10 bullet holes. Isaac laments. Then take the suitcases and part, take possession of your
lands, which now belong to him.

5 to 7 points: You set off for revenge against Old Tom's Bndo. The days, and the weeks go by.

One fine day, Isaac receives the statement that his body along with the body of the whole bunch of
villains was found in a mountainous region near the town of La Plata.

Isaac mourns his death, but at least he knows you've gotten him revenge, even at the cost of his own
life.

8 to 10 points: You set off for revenge against Old Tom's Bndo. The days, and the weeks go by.
One fine day, you arrive, extremely injured, to the door of your friend Isaac's house. Delrante, you tell
how you managed to ambush the bad guys, and how you traded shots with them until none were alive.
Unfortunately, you hurt yourself in the duel, and you fear for your health.

Isaac calls the local doctor, who begins to treat his wounds. After a few weeks, you start to improve, and
2 months later you are back.

Isaac tries to give him back his lands and possessions, but you refuse.

In the dead of night, you ride your horse and part, never to be seen in those places again ..

11+ points: You set off for revenge against Old Tom's Bndo. The days, and the weeks go by.

One fine day, you arrive at the house of Issac, intact, carrying a great diligence covered with black cloths.

Issac asks what is inside the diligence, and you show him the bodies of all the bad guys, whom you
bullied and killed in their pursuit.

Isaac tries to give him back his lands and possessions, but you refuse. Tell him that he will take the body
of the murderers to every place they have destroyed, to bring peace to those who remain. Then he will
leave behind other fascines, becoming a justicieiro.