Review 47 - Cattledash!
Get the beans in the pot and make sure your hat is secure on your head, because we're reviewing another adventure for Frontier Scum! Cattledash! was written by Karl Druid (the game's creator), and I've run it a couple of times using the standard Frontier Scum rules.
The premise of this one is simple-- the PCs have managed to steal a load of cattle from rancher Clammon, and the law is hot on their heels. They've got to make their way through Bonesome Gulch and into the jurisdiction of the Outlaw Union, where they can sell whatever cows managed to survive the hazardous trip.
Getting it to the Table
Cattledash! is a one-page adventure, and it was incredibly easy to pick up and run. It's presented as a single spread with the map of the canyon in the center with text on either side. The PDF version is also interactive, which is useful for the tracking mechanics introduced in the adventure. The most important one is the lawmen's pursuit; next to each area along the canyon, there are three checkboxes. Each time the party fails an ability check, backtracks instead of moving forward, or spends time interacting with the location, the GM marks a box. When all three for a particular location are marked, the sheriff and his deputies arrive at that location, starting a fight with the PCs if they're still there. There is also a separate page used for tracking the number of surviving cattle.
The rest of the spread is devoted to location descriptions and stat blocks for NPCs and foes. A great deal of information is crammed into the single page format, thanks to the terse and evocative descriptions. Each one has a single sentence with sensory details about the location, followed by bullet points describing the main features. There are numerous things that tempt the party to linger and risk allowing the law to catch up with them, as well as potential hurdles that can slow their advance.
What Worked?
- Clearly designed with playability in mind. Seriously, it's one page. You can slap it down on the table and have everything you need to reference during the adventure in front of you, and just focus on bringing it to life with descriptions.
- Great for one-shots or as a campaign starter. It's essentially a cow funnel-- you're trying to get through while losing as few cattle as you can, so it definitely lends itself towards fast-paced play that's perfect for a pick-up game. However, you can also potentially end the adventure with a hefty amount of silver which you can subsequently blow on the carousing tables from the core book, so this is a perfect way to kick off a longer game.
What Didn't Work?
- Distractions not tempting enough. While there were plenty of things that PCs could potentially do to slow things down and allow the lawmen to catch up, the adventure sets up the premise that they shouldn't do that. One of the times I ran it, players fully understood that they were playing a game and saw the proverbial Big Red Buttons and absolutely wanted to push them. The other time, the players were more focused on playing the characters, and were far more reluctant to interact with the locations because that "wasn't what the character would do", and it was the least optimal decision. Personally, I would have liked more NPCs like Gobias Potter who would be a bit less passive in engaging the PCs.
Final Thoughts
There's really not much more to be said about this one! It's a great, quick little adventure that is a great alternate introduction to the game if you've already run Escape the Organ Rail.
You can get Cattledash! on Karl's itch page, and I highly recommend it. Thanks for reading!