OSR and Rocky Mountain Men

My friend Tom and I've been playin' Nate Hayden's "Rocky Mountain Man," a folio game where it's 1825 and we're trappers movin' West toward the Great Salt Lake.

You can see our counters on the hex map, where we headed North just east of the Arkansas River. Tom's playing a 'business man' and I'm a soldier - Sniper Coltier. We found beavers small and large and a mountain river - named it the "Coltier River." I can't tell you what a great game it is and how far out it is, hearing to Daniel Thompson's soundtrack from the movie "Grizzly Man," and exploring the open frontier.

***

I did some research on mountain men in DnD but didn't find much, so there's a good idea to think about! Volume One of "Gary's Appendix, A Thoughtful Zine for OSE" has a feature on bears, though, and the entry for "grizzly bear" says, "Aggressive, 9' tall," AC 6; HD 5; ATT 2 x claw (1d4), 1 x bite (1d8) and, if both paws hit, it's a bear hug (2d8 extra damage).

Legend states that in winter, if the body of a person recently deceased is placed in the den of a hibernating grizzly, that person resurrects in the spring. Character's results may vary.

That last sentence got me laughing.

***

In the rules for Rocky Mountain Man, there's a picture of the famous Jim Baker (1818-1898) - a quote in the rules made me laugh again.

Famous bear hunter. Once killed 2 bears with only a knife. The ordeal was was so dangerous he promised himself never to fight a bear without a gun. "I made my mind up I'd never fight nary nother grizzly without a good shootin'-iron in my paws."

Well, hell.

***

When Tom and me played, we didn't find no bears, yet. One fall day, we came on a late blooming mountain flower. We named it "Axelrod," after a banjo-playing singer we'd heard one night in Kansas.

Thanks for reading.

 


 







 

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