Cinder Gulch

Generally speaking, there are a few prevalent themes in telling stories about the Wild West. These archetypes can be helpful when preparing your game, to find what kind of story your group finds most compelling.   Empire Story The players are building something, and getting rich.   This could be building up the town, a business, or their own   ranch.   The players and MC will have to discuss what kind of business or resource the players want to run, and then present obstacles specific to that enterprise.   If they become cattle ranchers, then there could be cattle rustlers, animals attacking their herds, supernatural plagues or weather, or competing businesses trying to sabotage their empire.  Outlaw Story In an Outlaw story, the players are criminals, who engage in dangerous illegal activity to gain wealth and fame.   This could be motivated purely by wealth, power over others, or simply defiance of societal norms. The players may t...

Every story in Cinder Gulch has a haunting, paranormal element.   In this part of the American frontier, reality is bent into a strange, unfamiliar shape, where strange voices and other forces impact everyday life.   In your story, this could be a ghost, a monster, or an exotic artifact with supernatural effects.   In Cinder Gulch the supernatural adds uncertainty to any situation, and heightens the lack of control.   Life on the range is already difficult, and desperate people will try to use magic and leverage the spirit world for their own ends, but the West is a chaotic place and these forces will not be easily tamed. In Cinder Gulch, the supernatural elements manifest in several ways.   There are strange plants and unfamiliar wildlife that inhabit the open desert.   There are inherently magical beings like cannibalistic owl giants and blood drinking turkeys.   The region hosts powerful magical forces, like a Death Sickness that taints peop...

Hello, reader.  Cinder Gulch is a Weird Western tabletop setting for the FATE system. In the game world, Cinder Gulch is a small town in the western frontier of New Mexico during the late 1800s.   In this time in American history, a lot of different forces are in play.   The town is largely occupied by settlers of European descent, but there are populations of Latin Americans, Chinese, Black Americans, and members of native tribes. The town sits at the edge of the American frontier, but also a frontier to a much stranger reality, inhabited by monsters, bizarre humanoids, and supernatural forces that bring unique challenges to the universal struggle to survive. This website is a blog and repository for the game setting, and might someday become a formal game book published through Kickstarter.  On this website are articles and psots that will prepare you to play a story-focused game of FATE in this unique setting.   All content for Cinder Gulch is written...