Felicity: A town setting for the Wild West game In the Light of The Setting Sun

I finally ran my first one-shot of In the Light of the Setting Sun, the wild west indie RPG from Jon Davis. Here’s the notes for the town I created for the setting. I used it as a sandbox game the players could bounce around in. This post will list notable town locations. Future posts will detail the townsfolk, and a list of rumors and adventure seeds.

The town of Felicity used to be a booming silver mining town. When the mines dried up, most of the workers drifted away. A proposed rail line never panned out, and most of the decent folk have long since abandoned the town. Felicity is run down, but manages to hang on mostly due to its location near the Mexican border. Smugglers & bandits use it as a way station. Fugitives find it a congenial spot to avoid the authorities, which in turn attracts bounty killers. 

There is only stage service twice a month to Felicity, so most visitors arrive under their own steam.

Update – I’ve added the townsfolk of Felicity in a new post.

Places of Note in town

Ore Car Saloon

• Used to be the nicest saloon in town, now it’s the only one left.
• Multiple games of chance – Chuck-A-Luck, Three-Card-Monte, Faro
• Rooms to let. Smart hombres don’t leave any valuables there unattended.
• Owned by Col. Baltimore

“Used to be a class establishment, now it’s a lush-crib for mauks , mops, & mudsills”

Ma Graham’s Boarding House

• Relatively clean boarding house
• Shared bathroom on each of the three floors.
• Ma Graham runs a tight ship. Troublemakers and degenerates will be ejected forthwith.

Felicity 1st National Savings & Loan

• Nicest building in town. Made of real brick.
• Owned and operated by Swaydon Fontaine.
• The vault can take up to 60 HP in damage from an explosive. WIT roll to avoid destroying contents. If more than 100 points of damage are done, the contents are automatically destroyed.
• What’s in the vault? It varies, but considerably less than Swaydon Fontaine says is in it.
• Fontaine is the only one who knows the combination to the vault.

Sheriff’s Office

• Sheriff’s Office & Jail
• Sheriff Johnson has about 4 deputies. There are usually 2 on duty at any time.
• There are four jail cells. Keys are in a cabinet, just out of reach.
• Bars can take 12 HP of explosive damage
• Walls can take about 20 HP of explosive damage.
• If blasting, roll WIT to avoid doing 2d6 damage to cell occupants.

Orvis Mortuary & Funeral Home

• Possibly the most prosperous business in town.
• Run by Hortensius Orvis, an unnaturally cheery undertaker.
• Collects a small fee from the Sheriff for all unclaimed bodies.

“Orvis serves more men for breakfast* than a Army fort”
_{*man for breakfast – A murdered body in the streets at dawn}

Churches

“We’ve got two gospel mills in town; One papist, one regular”

New Assumption Church of the Redeemer

•  The town’s only Protestant church.
• The only well-kept building in town.
• This is where the few respectable folk in town appear on Sunday.
• Run by Reverend Wrathwood, a stern and pompous figure.

St. Victor’s Parish

• The town’s only Catholic church.
• Old Spanish-built church at the edge of town.
• Oldest building in town.
• It has regular services, with few attendees.
• Run by Padre Brown
• The altar, pulpit, and confessionals all have secret compartments filled with money, gold, & guns.

“Not much call for popery around these parts, now that the Irish have gone, excepting’ the occasional Mexican’

Places outside the town

Peddler’s Hill

• Local cemetery, just outside of town
• Town slang – “Meet The Peddler” – To die
• It’s several acres, filled mostly with miners and civil war dead.
• Maintained by a local eccentric – “Santos”, who lives in a shack in the cemetery.

Baltimore Ranch

• Large walled ranch compound just outside the town limits.
• Home of Colonel Osiris Baltimore, richest man in town
• Has a small army of armed ranch hands.

Last Chance Mine

• The last working silver mine, only recently abandoned.
• A maze of tunnels.
• Occasionally used as a hideout for smugglers.
• Several miles from town in the hills.