“Oh, make no mistake about it. It’s not revenge he’s after…it’s a Reckoning.”
As the Doomtown: Reloaded setting moves forward to Tombstone, today Pine Box Entertainment previewed “The Oriental Saloon,” our first deed reflecting this new setting. The following is an excerpt from Stone And A Hard Place, detailing the background of the Earps in Tombstone in 1881.
By various accounts, Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp has been a teamster, rail warrior, buffalo hunter, and stage driver. Some have accused him of less-savory occupations, such as armed robbery and running a brothel. But despite hearsay and tall tales of his early years’ indiscretions, most agree that Wyatt Earp finally took a cotton to the law in 1875. That’s when he joined the noble “Bat” Masterson in Dodge City, and helped him bring the wild town to heel. By late 1879, Wyatt was ready to move on. He made plans to rendezvous with his brothers in Tombstone, where they would carve a peaceful and prosperous new life from a dry, saguaro-studded wilderness. In Tombstone, Wyatt—along with his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and their wives—set about buying up stakes in local businesses. In short order, Wyatt Earp had a half-stake in the Oriental Saloon and ran its faro table. Morgan Earp worked security, eventually settling in as shotgun man on the Wells Fargo stage from Tucson to Tombstone. Eldest brother Virgil Earp made his own wise investments, but unlike Wyatt he could not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness that so plagued the boomtown’s residents. And that lawlessness, more often than not, was represented by the Cowboy Gang.
Tensions neared the boiling point in October 1880, when notorious Cowboy “Curly” Bill Brocius gunned down Marshal Fred White in the street. A lawfully appointed jury of Judge Wells Spicer’s court deemed the shooting accidental for lack of evidence. But the event opened a door, and Virgil Earp stepped through—becoming town marshal and implementing the “no guns” statute that remains in force today. All visitors must check their lethal weapons at a saloon or livery, or risk a $25 fine and jail. Soon Wyatt and Morgan joined their brother as duly appointed deputies. In the year since they’ve taken the oath, the Earps have restored a modicum of order to Tombstone’s streets. As we all know, Wyatt Earp even hunted down the “Accordion Fiend” who disrupted so many citizens’ slumber with his cacophonous wailing! However, Bayou Vermilion’s recent hiring of the Cowboy Gang as freelance rail warriors has given the outlaws even more license for mayhem, and another excuse for the company’s employees to ignore their rampages.
At the time of this writing, tensions between the Cowboys and Earps are at an all-time high, and County Sheriff John Behan seems unable or unwilling to exert his influence in the matter.
Top flavour text and sets the scene nicely for the game moving to Tombstone and @Pr0digy’s nomination of Doc Holiday as a future Legend card.
While I was a fan of the various 3 ghost rock for +2 income deeds previously previewed on pure efficiency grounds, I like this too as it encourages interesting plays. It has some weird jank potential if you have a booted dude in lowball and can help in the late game: you could provoke a shootout with a disposable dude, cheat and then unboot a dude with influence. Very solid card for Sloane in General and Desolation Row specifically.
Prediction: I’ll try to use this at some point to cheat and unboot so I can Point Blank somebody, only to get hit by an opposing Coachwhip before I have a chance to make my resolution play.
And remember folks, The Oriental will be featured in the upcoming Kickstarter supplement, Doomtown Reloaded: There Comes A Reckoning. You can start pledging this Tuesday, September 5, at High Noon! (12pm EST), not only for this new set, but plenty of other goodies and previous expansions will be available as part of the Kickstarter as well!!!
Today we revisit this thread to discuss Wyatt Earp making his debut into Doomtown!
To talk a bit about the art, when the set was submitted to PEG, as with Too Tough To Die, PBE made some suggestions. As a major fan of the Tombstone history (and film), I humbly requested to complete the description of the piece and asked if Ricardo Rullo could complete the art.
I wanted something that would remind folks of Ricardo’s Inner Struggle piece; a reflection of the story about Jessica and Sloane (Holster). In “Stone and a Hard Place,” as noted above, history is quite different in the Weird West, and Wyatt, influenced by the domain of Death, immediately seeks vengeance upon learning of his brother Morgan’s death; something we hinted at in the fictional character Virginia Ann Earp flavor text (the character is featured in the Deadlands Tombstone Seven supplement along with Matilda Loomis).
I hope you enjoy the art and card as much as we did. There’s a few more figures you’ll recognize in ‘Out For Blood’ as previews will continue up through the end of April, leading into the Twilight Protocol: Texas Rangers event at ChupaCabracon!
Thanks for sharing this, excited that the LD Cheatin’ punishment theme is getting fleshed out. Dude gives you some comeback potential too with the cost reduction trait, and even with the 3 upkeep rather than 2 I think I’d prefer this dude to Dave Montreal in the late game. Give LD a decent pair of K dudes in Wyatt and Abram Groethe Exp2.
I like the trait too - gives a chance for Wyatt to contribute something even if he himself is hit with Sun in Yer Eyes/Unprepared.
In the entirety of AEG’s run, I think that Steven Wiles was the only dude who had a mustache (as opposed to mustache plus goatee, or other facial hair). So many of the Western legends had luxurious mustaches, so glad to see that Pinebox is continuing that tradition.
