GM Quick Reference - Weird West

👤 Frontier Names (d100)

Names for gunslingers, townsfolk, and frontier characters

1-25

Jake "Rattlesnake" Morgan
Molly Sutton
Silas Black
Doc Holliday Hayes
Maria "La Rosa" Mendez
Dutch Vanderbilt
Sarah Thornton
Cole "Deadshot" Mason
Abigail Winters
Wyatt Cordell
Evangeline Cross
Jesse "Bloody" Carver
Ruth Hawthorne
Buck Cassidy
Josephine "Widow" Cain
Ezekiel Stone
Adelaide Porter
Hank "Mad Dog" Miller
Grace Blackwood
Caleb Rourke
Constance Fairchild
Quinn "Quick Draw" Dalton
Eliza Mae Hawkins
Jedediah Pride
Louisa Garrett

26-50

Travis "Tumbleweed" Kane
Belle Starr Monroe
Josiah Blackburn
Catherine "Cat" O'Brien
Gideon Storm
Martha Prescott
Vernon "Rattlesnake" Price
Harriet Crane
Clayton Wells
Miriam "Madame" Devereaux
Butch Sullivan
Pearl Dawson
Silas "Six-Gun" Harper
Virginia Lockhart
Moses Cartwright
Rebecca "Quicksilver" Nash
Jasper Wolfe
Prudence St. Claire
Luther "Hangman" Rhodes
Magnolia Calhoun
Amos Bridger
Delilah Cross
Solomon "Preacher" Hayes
Temperance Joy
Colt Remington

51-75

Charity Palmer
Nathaniel "Nat" King
Dorothea Vale
Rufus Tate
Ida May Hartwell
Zachariah "Prophet" Crow
Cordelia Weston
Jeremiah Flint
Annabel Granger
Isaiah "Iron" McGraw
Esther Blackwell
Tobias "Scarface" Flynn
Matilda Cooper
Augustus "Gus" Raven
Helena Marsh
Obadiah Stone
Victoria "Vixen" Vale
Thaddeus Boone
Millicent Ashford
Beauregard "Beau" Sterling
Octavia Rayne
Malachi Graves
Beatrice "Bet" Morrison
Archibald "Archie" Sloane
Penelope Frost

76-100

Elijah "Tombstone" Black
Lillian Goodwin
Montgomery Ward
Rosalind "Rose" Wilder
Barnabas Colt
Meredith Pike
Cornelius "Corny" Drake
Winifred Langley
Phineas Whitlock
Seraphina Moon
Mordecai "Doc" Russell
Clementine Wilde
Zebulon "Zeb" Pritchard
Imogene Starling
Ephraim Wainwright
Lucretia "Lucky" Shane
Ambrose Holloway
Sophronia Hale
Thatcher "Quick" Payne
Wilhelmina "Billie" Hunt
Bartholomew "Bart" Slade
Genevieve Sinclair
Ichabod "Ike" Dempsey
Arabella Knight
Solomon "Sol" Graves

🗣️ Saloon Rumors (2d10)

What folks hear over whiskey and cards in frontier saloons

2d10	Rumor
2	"Cattle baron Morrison's herd spooked last night. All 300 head stampeded straight off Devil's Cliff. Cowhands say they heard singing."
3	"Old mine on Skeleton Ridge opened back up. Been sealed forty years since the cave-in. Men who died down there were never recovered. Now someone's mining it again."
4	"Preacher Blackwell's been delivering sermons in languages nobody recognizes. Congregation says it sounds like prayer. Don't sound like no prayer I ever heard."
5	"Stranger rode into Deadwood yesterday. Wouldn't take his hat off indoors. When wind blew it off, weren't no head underneath. Just empty collar."
6	"Mexican witch up in hills selling love potions. They work - maybe too well. Last three buyers can't stop thinking about each other. Literally. Haven't slept in days."
7	"Railway company surveying route through sacred Indian burial ground. Shoshone medicine man put curse on project. Three surveyors dead in two weeks. Company hiring replacements."
8	"Gambler at Scarlet's been winning every hand for three straight nights. Same cards every time: dead man's hand. Says someone keeps dealing it to him."
9	"Doc Hayes treating illness he can't diagnose. Patient sweats silver. Actual silver. Refines to 90% pure. Patient's wasting away but suddenly very popular."
10	"Full moon last week, every dog in town howled at exactly midnight. Then stopped all at once. Then every coyote in the territory started. Lasted thirteen minutes."
11	"Prospector found vein of gold so pure it glows in dark. Took one nugget to assayer. Assayer locked it in safe and left town that night. Didn't take family."
12	"Sheriff Pruitt rode out to the Calloway spread three days ago. Horse came back yesterday. No sheriff. Calloway family claims he never arrived. Tracks in the dirt say different."
13	"Well at the Henderson farm started running black last Tuesday. Not mud. Something thicker. Smells like nothing at all. Animals won't go near it. Henderson family still drinking from it."
14	"Man at the end of the bar came in two weeks ago and hasn't moved. Orders whiskey. Pays in coin nobody's seen before. Barkeep's too scared to ask him to leave."
15	"School teacher over in Ridgeback says her students have all started drawing the same picture during lessons. Different ages, different desks. Same image. Won't say what it is."
16	"Freight wagon came through from the east. Sealed crates, armed escort, no manifest. One crate was leaking something that made the escort walk ten feet behind it the whole way."
17	"Outlaw gang hit the Ridgeline Bank last month. Took everything. Five witnesses swore the leader had no shadow. Marshal wrote it off as nerves. Three witnesses have since recanted."
18	"Graveyard on the hill's been growing. Not more burials — the plots themselves are spreading out. Three feet this month. Sexton measured it. Quit next morning. Wouldn't say what he saw."
19	"Telegraph operator got a message in Morse from the eastern line. Line's been dead since April. Message was a name. His own name. He's been drinking since. Won't repeat what else it said."
20	"Something ate the Bauer family's cattle from the inside out. Every one. Hides untouched, standing in the field. Looked fine until they fell. Every bone gone. Nothing else touched."

🔍 What's in the Saddlebags? (2d10)

Found on outlaws, in abandoned camps, or hidden caches

2d10	Item Found
2	Wanted poster offering $500 reward. For you. Crime you didn't commit. Or did you? Details disturbingly accurate about "your" methods.
3	Leather journal. Last entry: "The thing we killed in Tombstone wasn't a man. We need to burn the body. It's still moving." No date. Still warm.
4	Silver bullets (6). Hand-carved with symbols. Each engraved with different name. One name is someone you know. Living or dead? Should check.
5	Medicine bag. Indian craftsmanship. Contains herbs, bones, feathers. Also human teeth. Fresh ones. And a lock of hair matching your color exactly.
6	Deck of cards. 53 cards total. Extra card shows your face. When you check later, it's gone. All other cards now show same face. Yours.
7	Gold pocket watch. Inscription: "Time waits for no man." It's running backward. Has been for exactly your age in years.
8	Map showing treasure location. X marks spot that's currently occupied by active stagecoach station. Dig under it or... wait for it to burn down first?
9	Bottle of whiskey. Label: "Coffin Varnish - 180 Proof." Actually flammable. Drinking it provides visions of your death. Specific details. Tomorrow's date.
10	Harmonica that plays itself. Only one song. Sounds like funeral dirge. Previous owner's name carved on side. Died three days ago. You saw the body.
11	Scalp. Fresh. Problem: it's from someone you met yesterday. They were alive and well. Still should be. Might want to check on them.
12	Bounty ledger listing names, descriptions, and last known locations. You're not in it. Three people you know are. Amounts next to their names are not small.
13	Dried flowers tied with black ribbon. Each one labeled with a date and a first name. Forty-three flowers. The most recent date is today. The name is yours.
14	Telegraph transcript folded many times. Official header. Coded body. You can read enough to know it concerns someone in your group. The rest requires a cipher you don't have.
15	A sheriff's star. Bent. Bloodstained. Back of it engraved: "In case you find this — I went willingly. Don't follow." No name. The badge belongs to a jurisdiction two counties over.
16	Compass that points consistently south-southeast regardless of orientation. Previous owner has circled a spot on a torn map piece tucked underneath. The spot is a day's ride. No label.
17	Glass jar sealed with wax, containing what looks like smoke. Smoke moves when the jar is handled, pressing against the glass as if aware. Jar is warm. Has always been warm.
18	Letter of introduction signed by a territorial governor who died four years ago. Ink is fresh. Signature verified authentic by anyone who checks. Paper dated last week.
19	Human hand, preserved. Clutching a single playing card — three of spades. Wrist has been branded with a symbol. Several people in the nearest town have the same brand. They won't discuss it.
20	Photograph. Daguerreotype, formal pose. Family portrait. You recognize the location — it's the town you rode through this morning. You recognize the people. All of them. You have never met any of them. They are all looking directly at the camera. Except one. That one is looking slightly to the left. At where you would have been standing, if you had been there.

🎭 NPC Personality Quirks (2d10)

Quick traits for frontier folk and gunslingers

2d10	Personality Quirk
2	Former gunslinger trying to go straight. Hand hovers near empty holster constantly. Flinches at loud noises. "Those days are behind me." Keeps saying it.
3	Preacher-man. Quotes scripture constantly. Some verses you recognize. Others sound wrong. "Book of Revelations, Chapter 23." There is no chapter 23.
4	Native American raised by whites. Caught between two worlds. Neither accepts them. Knows things about the land. Things white folk won't believe.
5	Gambler. Professional. Can read every tell. Counts cards in their sleep. "Life's a gamble." Lost everything twice. Won it back three times. So far.
6	Widow running boarding house. Buried three husbands. All died mysteriously. She's quite wealthy now. Also quite interested in eligible bachelors. Coincidence?
7	Drifter. Never stays long. Always moving. Won't say from what. Checks horizon constantly. "Something's following me." Might not be paranoia.
8	Prospector. Struck it rich once. Lost it all. Still looking. "One more big strike." Been saying that for twenty years. Probably won't stop.
9	Railroad man. Believes in Progress and Civilization. Capital letters. Sees frontier as problem to be solved. Indigenous people as obstacles to remove.
10	Frontier doctor. Trained back east. Horrified by frontier medicine. "This is barbaric!" Still learning to amputate by lantern light. Drinking heavily.
11	Saloon girl with dreams of stage career. Actually talented. Actually going to make it. If she survives tonight. And tomorrow night. And the next.
12	Town barber who knows everything. Listens more than he talks. Will share what he knows for the right price, which isn't money. Hasn't decided what it is yet.
13	Former Pinkerton agent. Still working cases nobody hired her for. Files reports nobody reads. Follows people who might be guilty of crimes not yet committed.
14	Old rancher who's been on this land longer than the town. Remembers what was here before. Doesn't discuss it. Watches the horizon. Knows what the signs mean. Isn't saying.
15	Undertaker who never seems to lack for business. Professional, pleasant, reasonable rates. Occasionally knows a man is going to die before the man does. Hasn't explained how.
16	Schoolteacher building a library. Every book matters to her. Will defend the collection with more conviction than most men defend their claims. Has read things nobody else in town would understand.
17	Confederate veteran who never went home after the war. Not bitter — just didn't know how to stop. Drifts. Fights when paid. Carries something heavy and doesn't discuss it. Loyal once trusted.
18	Newspaper editor who prints what she finds, not what's convenient. Three attempts on her life so far. Has notes on all three. Has notes on everything. Office is a fire hazard of documentation.
19	Snake oil salesman whose medicine actually works. Not all of it. Not reliably. Can't explain which batches or why. Increasingly nervous about what's in it and where the supplier gets the ingredients.
20	Woman who walked out of the desert six months ago. No horse, no water, no supplies. Shouldn't have survived. Doesn't know where she came from. Doesn't sleep. Never seems hungry. Getting used to it.

⚠️ Frontier Complications (2d10)

When things are going too smoothly, roll for obstacles

2d10	Complication
2	Hostile Territory: Crossed into Comanche hunting grounds. Or Apache. Or worse. Watched from ridgeline. Outnumbered. Nowhere to run on open prairie.
3	Posse on Your Trail: Sheriff's convinced you're outlaws. Or maybe you are. Either way, dust cloud behind you. Armed men. Not discussing reasonable doubt.
4	Horse Goes Lame: Can't ride hurt animal. Can't leave it. Can't make meeting on foot. Miles from anywhere. Sun setting. Predators circling.
5	Sandstorm: Massive dust cloud rolling in. Visibility dropping to zero. Easy to get lost. Easy to die. Need shelter don't have. Storm lasting hours minimum.
6	Ambush: Outlaws picked perfect spot. High ground, clear sight lines. You're in kill zone. They're calling for surrender. Might want to consider it.
7	Supply Shortage: Water almost gone. Or ammunition. Or medical supplies. Calculation error or theft? Either way, problem. Nearest town two days ride.
8	Someone From Your Past: Person you wronged. Or helped. Or loved. Here. Now. Complicated history. They remember. They haven't forgiven. Or they want help. Again.
9	Supernatural Sign: Something wrong. Blood moon. Phantom lights. Unexplained sounds. Horses spooked. Dogs howling. Hair standing up. Ancient evil or active imagination? Risk ignoring it?
10	Fever: Someone's sick. Getting worse. Need doctor. Nearest one fifty miles away. Moving patient might kill them. Staying here definitely will.
11	Witness to Crime: Saw something you shouldn't. Gang killing. Cavalry massacre. Corporate murder. They know you saw. Making sure you understand silence. Permanent silence.
12	Disputed Claim: Land or resources the party is relying on turns out to be contested. Two parties both have paperwork. Both are armed. Neither will wait for a court to decide.
13	Stagecoach Delay: Scheduled transport doesn't arrive. No word why. Waiting means missing the window. Going to find out means riding into whatever stopped it.
14	Wanted in the Wrong County: One party member's name is on a poster here for something that happened elsewhere. The local deputy is new, eager, and has memorized every poster in the office.
15	Flash Flood: Creek crossing that was passable this morning is now a torrent. The ford is gone. Nearest bridge is half a day's ride. Cargo can't get wet. Time is already short.
16	Hired Guns: Someone has brought in professional muscle — not outlaws, not lawmen. Expensive, quiet, and professional. They've been watching the party since morning. Haven't made a move yet.
17	Cursed Ground: Horses won't move past a certain point on the trail. No visible reason. The animals are beyond frightened — they're refusing. Something happened here. Something is still here.
18	Wanted: Dead Only: New bounty posted, no capture option. On one of the party. Bounty posted by someone with enough pull that even honest lawmen will look the other way. No recourse through legitimate channels.
19	Pact Called In: Something old remembered a promise one of the party's predecessors made. It's here to collect. It has documentation. The agreement is binding. And it's been very patient waiting for a descendant to settle the debt.
20	The Town That Wasn't There: A settlement on the map doesn't exist — or didn't yesterday. It's there now. Fully populated, long-established by appearances. Residents have no knowledge of the outside world. And there's no road out.

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