2025 Character Creation Challenge, day 4: Samson Villiers, Blacksmith, for TIny Gunslingers

 

source: RPGgeek.com

Next in my tour of Tiny d6 games is Tiny Gunslingers. I posted a character from actual play some time ago--a Maverick-esque itinerant gambler named Ulysses Rockford, so I want to do something a little different this time, a big slugger in the lumberjack or blacksmith mold.

I like the blacksmith idea, it bundles a lot of skills useful in the pulp Wild West. The type is attractive: strong, silent, patient but fearsome when pushed to the wall. I can work with this.

Profession isn't officially a Trait but it plays a similar role in that it suggests things the character can do better than other folks (or that other folks can't do at all), and gamemasters are encouraged to take that into account. We've settled on Blacksmith already, let's move on to Traits.

Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of Traits on the Tiny Gunslingers list that scream "big strong blacksmith," possibly because in the source material they're usually secondary characters to the cowboys and lawmen who dominate the genre. Strong (Advantage on Tests that require brute strength) and Tough (+2 HP) immediately stand out, and for a third I decide to round our hero out a little with Engineer, which gives him advantage on Tests to repair or maintain machinery and suggests he's got more going on in his head than how many horseshoes he can hammer out in a day.

Now we turrn our attention to his weapons and other gear. Melee is going to be his strong suit, so I sign him up for that weapon group proficiency and select hammer as his implement of choice. He'll also purchase a revolver even though he's shooting at disavantage, because sometimes you need a ranged weapon. All Tiny Gunslingers receive a cowpoke's kit comprising basic needs for riding the trails: horse and saddle, a bedroll, gunbelt with holster, a lantern with 72 hours worth of oil, a full water vessel (canteen, waterskin, whatever suits), 50 feet of strong cord, trail rations to last a week, and a poncho. (Hats fall under clothing, I suppose and are apparently assumed.) I'll add a portable set of smithing tools (hammer, tongs, apron, poker, etc.) and the aforementioned revolver to complete the ensemble.

He still needs a backstory and a Drive, not to mention a Name. I had thought of making him a freedman, but decided instead on rooting him in Louisiana's free Black population. Pieces started falling in place: a blacksmith's shop in New Orleans owned by gens de couleur, a son inheriting his father's business just as the federal government stopped thing to contain white backlash to Reconstruction, emigration to the West ahead of the growing wave of Redempitonist violence. And, finally, itinerant blacksmith Samson Villiers, looking for a place to set down roots and trying to help the oppressed and exploited he meets along the way, a man who hates bullies and cheats as much as he loves a well-tuned machine.

Let's put that together into a stat block:

Samson Villiers, Itinerant Blacksmith
Traits: 
Strong (advantage of Tests involving brute force)
Tough (+2 HP), 
Engineer (advantage on Tests to repair or maintain equipment)
Weapon Group: Melee
Mastered Wepon: Hammer
Profession: Blacksmith
Backstory: Son of a New Orleans gens de coleur who ran a blackmith's shop, lit out westward about 1872 as the white backlash to reconstruction began to gather steam (and when it became clear the federal government wasn't going to put effort into stopping it), now traveling the trails of the West and helping people with their personal problems as he looks for a place to put down new roots.
Drive: I can't stand cheaters or bullies
Gear: Cowpoke's Kit, smith's apron and tools (including hammer), revolver
HP: 8
Grit: 3

Next up is Mecha and Monsters, which will give us two day's characters since I intend to create one of each.