Copyright 2000 by Brandon Cope

Lefty Hayes (Peter Vincent Emerson), corrupt Old West small town marshall and outlaw

ST: 11 [10] Swing 1d, Thrust 1d-1
DX 12 [20] Speed 5.75, Move 5, Dodge 6
IQ 11 [10]
HT 11 [10]

Point Total: 70

Advantages: Combat Reflexes [15]; Legal Enforcement Powers [10]; Status +2 [10]; Wealth (Comfortable) [10]

Disadvantages: Bully [-10]; Greed [-15]; Secret (Outlaw wanted in Arizona/New mexico) [-30]

Quirks: dislikes brother but frequently asks him for help

Skills: Acting-10 [1]; Carousing-12 [4]; Climbing-11 [1]; Fast Draw (Pistol)-15 [4]; First Aid-10 [0.5]; Gambling-10 [1]; Guns (Pistol)-15 [4]; Intimidation-12 [4]; Knife-12 [1]; Law-8 [0.5]; Riding (Horse)-13 [4]; Stealth-13 [4]; Streetwise-11 [2]

Equipment:.45-28 Colt Peacemaker, Bowie knife

Appearance: 5'8", 180 lbs, long black hair, black handlebar moustache, about 36 years old

Biography

Peter Emerson was a small-time thief and general scoundrel in Boston. He resented his older, more successful brother (see Alexander Emerson), who was better liked by his father, which only fueled the jealosy, which Peter released by pushing other people around. However, Peter constantly got into trouble and was forced to get his brother to bail him out. Then one night, three years ago, all that changed.

His brother failed to come to work one morning after working late, and all the money in the company safe was missing. Everyone, including the Boston police, immediately thought that Peter was the thief and he was promptly arrested. When no trace could be found of his brother over the next two days, the talk turned to possible foul play -- by Peter, probably surprising his brother during the theft. During a momentary lapse in security, he broke out of jail and fled south. Eventually, he arrived in New Mexico, dead broke.

There, he met a group of half a dozen outlaws lead by Skinny McNally (all 350 pounds of him) and in desperate for money, joined them. Unfortunately, the McNally gang turned out to be one of the more harmless group of bandits in the old west. Unsure of their abilities and afraid of getting into a shootout, they went after lone ranchers, farmers and Indians in New Mexico and Arizona, who generally had little money on them. Finally, one day, the gang got up the courage to to rob a stagecoach.

As it turned out, one of the passengers was an Army major returning to his post; gunplay ensued and he and one of the gang members were dead. The law, which had not been pursuing the gang with much vigor, now started sending out posses in all directions (aided by the Army cavalry). Lefty saw it was time to leave and headed north into Colorado. He decided to hide out in a mining town on the decline and things went well for a couple of months, until he was totally shocked to see his brother arrive in town one day.

Lefty had been into town long enough to get a feel of it, and decided the town was right for the picking. Since his brother was fairly knowledgable about the law and politics (picked up from his work in a Boston law firm), Lefty convinced him to run for mayor in the next election. With the help of some thugs he had rounded up, he managed to swing the election to his brother. Shortly after that Lefty was appointed town marshal (and he rewarded his goons with with positions as deputies).

Lefty rules the town in a high-handed fashion, pushing around anyone who dares cross him. While technically his brother is in charge, Lefty pulls the strings when he feels like it (which is rather unfortunate, as his brother would actually make a decent mayor if left alone). He spends most of his time in the local saloon playing poker with locals who dare not win too often and drifters who soon regret if they win too much (more than one alleged card shark has been shot at a table after being "caught" cheating).

What If?

Lefty is useful in any setting where there are frontier regions with little regular law enforcement. Such settings are common in most fantasy and science fiction campaigns.

Details on Lefty's men have been left intentionally vague. They should be specifically tailored to fit the power level of the party. His men should be built on 30-50 points and should easily be worse with Guns than the average PC (-2 or -3 levels); for a quick 40-point thug, use Left's stats, but drop IQ (and IQ related skills) by 2 and DX (and DX related skills) by 1 (Guns drops by 2). There should be one (realistic campaign) to three (cinematic campaign) per member of the party.

Adventure Seeds

Lefty is wanted in Arizona for the murder of the Army major, as well as for other crimes in that state and new Mexico (as a small comfort, the Boston police no longer have any interest in him, though he doesn't know that). If the McNally gang is still around (unlikely but possible), they may come looking for Lefty after he ran out on them (an interesting variation is that the PCs are what is left of the gang). If the PCs are just passing, perhaps one of them gets a little too lucky in a game of cards with Lefty or one of his men and need to get busted out of jail. Also see Alexander Emerson.