The Man From Tombstone (Untitled Marvel Western)

[mcr]

"They say he's impervious to bullets. Like somethin' out of one of them magazines."

"Shhh!"

"Think he'll hear us? We're ten feet underground. He ain't one of them monsters. He don't have animal hearing."

"Don't want to take no chances."

The iron-wrought cellar door creaked, and the four men huddled in the dark cellar jumped. Looking around, they were relieved to see nothing.

"I heard he wiped the whole Calhoun gang out but one. Sent him runnin' like a dog to 'send a message'."

They muttered in agreement before a fifth voice chimed in:

"I hear he's a giant of a man."

He struck a match, waving it out after lighting a candle. The small flame barely illuminated the hulking figure, standing at 6'8" and easily towering over the others in the room.

"More beast than man actually."

His pointed teeth glistened in the darkness. Seizing one by the throat with one hand, he casually squeezed until his neck popped.

The other three bolted for the door, one tripping over the stairs in the darkness.

The man laughed.

"Go ahead. Run. This is my town now. Ain't no one going to take it from me."

He picked up the piece of paper the men were working on in secret, crumpling it.

"Wanted: Lonnie Lincoln. By the Tombstone Sheriff."

After he wadded it up, he lit it with the candle flame.

"Don't they know? I am Tombstone."

[mcr]

So initially I had wanted to do something before the Civil War, but apparently Tombstone, AZ wasn't founded until the 1870's. So let's just leave the timeframe to an ambiguous post-Civil War American West. (Incidentally works well since I'd want to do something related to Doc Holliday anyways). Looking for variants on canon Marvel characters who would "fit" in this setting. Rough concepts only. NO CADS YET. I want to get a general sense of where people are leaning before I look at the mechanics. I will also probably houserule a Gunfighting custom action, because of how prevalent I see that being in this kind of setting, as another general caution against sending me numbers too early. As the proof of concept suggests, the first issue will deal with the Man from Tombstone. That should be sort of a general guideline of the kind of power level I'm looking at: mostly street-level characters with maybe a few "tricks". The characters will find themselves in Tombstone (for now, though that seems like a great place to set this in general), all confronted for various reasons with dealing with him (they might owe him protection money, they might be lawmen, vigilantes, or bounty hunters, or he might be scaring away customers from your business, etc.).

One of the core ideas I was playing with in my head in suggesting the Western setting was that the Frontier was a place "freaks and mutants" could run to. Some may be just arriving. Some, like Lonnie, may already have an established reputation, for better or worse. Some might be there, in hiding. I still like that idea, though it's less obvious in the proof of concept I have posted. Maybe it'll come out in the second issue a little more. But character concepts that lean on that idea will get preferential treatment. Characters who rely on "tech" will have to have a very good reason for being here. I'm struggling to think how Iron Man would fit in (not to say he wouldn't, but he's not what I have in mind). Gambit would be a great fit. Daredevil. Blade. These are just suggestions off the top of my head.

And a caveat: Folks who know me know that I'm not exactly the world's leading Marvel expert. There's a good chance I won't know anything about your character, and thus have no interesting plot hooks for your character, if you pick something too obscure. Or alternatively, that I might have interesting plot hooks, but they may not be the ones you were thinking of, on account of me not knowing the character well.

[Dhark]

I’ll definitely bounce some ideas off of you tonight!

[OurLadyWar]

Interested.

[RidiculousNinja]

got a few ideas for ya. comin soon.

[Dhark]

Just shot you seven ideas... shotgun style, let me know if any of them stick ;-)

[mcr]

So far two people have sent concepts. Really hoping to get this going!

[mcr]

Saw this on social media. Come on guys send me pitches!

[mcr]

So I've gotten enough pitches where I think it makes sense to start thinking about builds and house rules.

Here's what I'm thinking so far: 15W+2(+3) Challenges. Durability will be standard. Soft cap of 4 or 5 (5 is pushing it) on abilities, actions, and modifiers (if it's higher you'd better have a damn good reason). The + 3W comes from a house ruled "Arizonium Sensitivity" challenge. The idea is roughly this: Arizona has been known in recent history for producing a rare metal that punches right through steel but also has weird side effects. Characters with superpowers are more susceptible than others (and have to buy this challenge, but they also get 3W extra stones), and weird stuff will happen when near it (or shot by it, or handcuffed by it, or locked in a cage made of it).

Just a rough thought. Open to suggestions. Stone count is rough. If you're over but it fits I won't kill you for it. Everyone must have at least 1 AN in ranged combat and horsemanship or I won't let you hold a gun without dropping it and get on a horse without falling off.

[Dhark]

Splitting DUR to Heath/Energy/Recovery?

That stone count’s pretty rough for the concepts we tossed around for sure.

[mcr]

It's a rough count like I said. Standard durability. Stain app won't run on my laptop for some reason so I didn't have a chance to test that against some of the proposals I got. If 25+2+3 gives you less headaches go for it.

[mcr]

Just a couple of fun facts/tidbits: Apparently the US dollar was worth about 25 times more in the late 1800's than it is now based on the rate of inflation. A horse could go for about $60 back then. A person could travel about 30 miles a day on horse at an easy pace, much further if the horse is pushed or the rider switches horses. The ride from LA to Sacramento could take about ten day's time.