The Outlaw Bessie Bien
Here I’m having a shot at We Deal In Lead, an OSR/NSR system that was included with the Solo but not Alone 4 bundle on Itch.io. Most of the items in a bundle like that fall heavily into the “three prompts to daydream about” so it’s good to have an actual game to play.
A simple 2d6 oracle is included for yes/no questions and a more complex one for open-ended inspirations. Most of the oracle checks I’ve noted in-text and only the larger mechanical asides have been boxed off. Anything marked XXX(N) is a save and the number I rolled in brackets, so STR(14) is a Strength save where I rolled a 14. In all cases I’m trying to roll under the relevant Attribute.
Character Creation
This is just a matter of rolling dice on all the tables. Matilda Kruul (great name) is a short woman with delicate face, drawn skin and sunken eyes. Her wavy hair is hidden beneath her harrier hat. Despite her blood-stained clothes and reputation as a killer, she speaks eloquently.
She carries a scattergun with a mother-of-pearl handle, engraved with a bumbler (a type of raccoon-dog thing, apparently) and a spear.
Her personal kit includes blanket, rations (3 days), torch, steel-toed boots and a sheath knife. She starts this adventure with 9 lead for her scattergun. She wears no armour.
- Grit: 10
- STR: 14
- DEX: 9
- HRT: 15
She works alone, so I don’t think Matilda is a sympathetic person when she’s hunting outlaws in the badlands. She can use poetic language but won’t hesitate to use both barrels.
The Outlaw Bessie Bien
The system comes with a pretty powerful system for generating adventures, useful for GMs or solo players. Even if the wider system has some warts the generator tools helped to ease the way. The size is decremented each time you roll an encounter and when you reach one you can check to see if you reach your target. So theoretically this would be a ten encounter game but (spoilers!) we didn’t get that far!
Excursion Generator
- type: Shack
- size: 10
- objective: Hunt a wounded harrier with a sizable bounty on their head
A shack in the wilderness, with some other abandoned buildings nearby. The wounded outlaw is hiding somewhere here. Weather is (2d6=6, favourable with complications) bright and clear but with a dust storm on the horizon.
“Bessie Bien! The City of Eldritch is paying a lot of gold to me, so that I can pay a lot of lead to you. It’s time to pay for your crimes.”
NPC Reaction: Talkative
It’s not clear where the reply comes from: “You know I ain’t guilty of half those crimes and the rest, well the rest deserved it.”
Matilda approaches the shack, sweat on her brow. The windows have genteel net curtains, hiding the presence of any figures inside. The door is (2d6=9, sorrow) solid. Matilda stands to one side of the door, behind the thickest door post, before calling out:
“Then there’s only one way this can end for you.”
She unlatches the door and pushes it open with spear. Inside there is (2d6=10, sorrow) little light. Matilda waits for her eyes to adjust before stepping further inside, slowly taking in the internals.
What does it look like? shoot / contemplative / judgement
Encounter
- type: conflict
- details: Rotted floorboards reveal shifting sands and an Ankheg
The floor is sagging and rotten. A single faded painting of Our Lord In Judgement hangs on the far wall, six shooter on His hip.
After a single step the rotten boards fail and the shining black eyes of an ankheg pierce the darkness. Its black limbs burst through but with her spear already in hand Matilda plunges it into the thick carapace. It feints an attack which Matilda easily sidesteps, bringing her too close to its grasping bite. It grabs hold of her right leg in its vicious pincers.
With it locked in place around her leg Matilda has no difficulty stabbing and stabbing again. It gives a half-hearted acid spit before retreating back into the sand pit beneath the shack.
ANKHEG: bite (d8), acid spray (d10)
Grit 7, DEF 2, STR 16, DEX 8, HRT 8
Matilda spear attacks (d6) every round, minus 2 DEF
Ankheg tries
1. Grit 4, feint (Matilda passes HRT save) = failed
2. Grit 3, bite = 5 damage
3. Grit 1, acid = 1 damage
4. Grit 0 STR 15, HRT(19) = failed
Matilda ends at Grit 4
Matilda pauses a while, spear couched beneath her arm and the tip pointed at the hole in the floor. She drinks from her canteen and contemplates The Judgement.
A short rest and a drink puts her Grit back to 10.
She listens (2d6=7, complication) and hears nothing but the approaching sand storm. It seems clear that she will have to work fast if she is to get away before it arrives. She doesn’t like the thought of bedding down here while it passes.
Excursion size = 9
Encounter
- type: obstacle
- detail: Fallen ceiling beam blocks the door, STR save to open
The door to the next room is jammed (STR=3, pass) but Matilda pushes her way through. Part of the ceiling has collapsed and a fallen beam had wedged itself against the door. Forcing the door open was (2d6=4, favour with complication) safe but if the fallen beam moves again the whole roof will come down and maybe the walls with it.
Excursion size = 8
Encounter
- type: obstacle
- detail: Animal den, (d4=3) wildcats sleep in the corner
Inside the room Matilda finds (2d6=6, favour with complication) two wildcats protecting a kitten. Attempting to move any further into the room will certainly make them aggressive. She holds up her hands in surrender addresses the two glaring adult cats.
“Now you and I ain’t got no quarrel. But I’d be obliged if you told me the whereabouts of a gunslinger.” They do not answer.
The storm is coming and Matilda worries that her quarry will escape under its cover. Bessie was desperate to come this far. She might be desperate enough to run through a storm — and fleeing through a sandstorm will hide her tracks entirely.
Matilda tries climbing the ceiling beam up to the roof, to survey the area (DEX=17, fail) but it collapses under her weight. She avoids greater injury by holding the beam firm above her (STR=12) as everything comes crashing down.
I gave minor injuries (1d4=3) to take her to Grit = 7.
The wildcats (2d6=6, favour with complication) escape but give her such a look as to mark her for revenge.
Excursion size = 7
Encounter
- type: mystery
- detail: Lidless eye opens in the sand, blinks and disappears
Crawling out of the collapsed rear of the building, Matilda blinks in the sunlight. It seems almost like an eye opens in ground to blink back at her. This must be the effect of a building falling on you, she thinks, or the judgement of the Almighty for collapsing a building with His Image.
She dusts herself down and takes stock of the landscape and weather. The visibility (2d6=6, favour with complication) is still good but there were more outhouses and lean-to sheds here than she realised.
“Time’s a tickin” she muttered to herself.
Excursion size = 6
Encounter
- type: conflict
- detail: pack of 4 shamblers take turns eating a human arm
The noise of the roof brings unwanted attention. A group of shamblers, reanimated corpses, shuffle out of the shadow of the building. They move silently and she is (DEX=14) too dazed to react — the first shambler grabs her arm in its dead, dry grip. The others approach, red-stained axes held high.
SHAMBLER: axe (d8)
Grit 2, DEF 0, STR 14, DEX 6, HRT 3
Each round a new shambler joins the fray. Matilda
lost her DEX save so forfeits her turn in this round.
Round 1.
Matilda (skip)
S1 feint, M HRT save failed = next attack is d4
Round 2.
Matilda, spear (d4=2) vs S1 (0 grit)
S1 axe (d8=4)
S2 axe (d8=7)
Matilda (grit 0, STR 10) saves STR(9) = pass
Round 3.
Matilda, Both Barrels! (2d6=5), hit
S1 grit 0, STR 2, STR(4) = dead
S2 grit 0, STR 3, STR(10) = dead
S3 grit 0, STR 7, STR(1) = undead, axe (d8=2)
S4 grit 0, STR 5, STR(16) = dead
Matilda (grit 0, STR 8) saves STR(17) = fail
Scar(d12=11) = Haunted
HRT(5) = pass
Round 4.
Matilda, spear (d6=4)
S3 grit 0, STR 3, STR(4) = dead
The shambler’s grip throws off her attack and her spear is insufficient to deter its brutal axe swing. The second shambler moves in. The imminent horror of being eaten alive hardens her resolve and she turns both barrels on her attackers.
The twin shots echo across the landscape. The lead is worth the spend as three shamblers drop and don’t get up. The final one makes contact with its axe as Matilda pins it with her spear tip.
The dusty dirt is dark with her blood. The sand storm is coming but the sound of it is dull now. Her vision seems to darken despite the brightness of the sun. Without help she will not survive.
Does anyone come to her aid? Oracle roll with disadvantage (3d6)?
11=Sorrow
She can see the clearing in the path ahead — a cloaked figure waits for her. She calls for help, a last plea to the mercy of the world as she leaves it. The cloaked figure comes for her.