Thanks Lac. I agree with the post civil war time line for me at least it seems a lot easier to write about the war in retrospect, rather than always building up to it. I too had researched the Indian Wars and the one time period that seemed to be fairly steady was 1870 - 1880. That decade seems a pretty good time.

If Sir Easy and Sin want to write in the 1860's, I'll comply and submit the type of character I would think best suit a pre-civil war period. Maybe some tough old pioneer type or something. I suggest though that we may want to also create a post civil war story.

Lac and I might start that off and establish it with Moonlight Mason and Captain Jackson. Now we don't want to promote dissension so we'll hold off on that story and establish Shady Gultch. We'll just follow your lead.

I was amazed to see how quickly the states changed during the time period. The pre and post civil war periods are totally different times. I can see though that far in the West they would not have been effected but personally I kind of like being able to utilize the war without having to dwell on it. Also, I like the idea of ex-Union and Confederate soldiers running into one another after the war. Five years after the battles there would still be some discord, but as Lac put it, everyone would be trying to rebuild their lives and the horizon would look bright. At least for the settlers. It looked pretty bleak for the natives, though.

You are welcome, Tiph. I am a bit of a history buff so those are but a few great sites to do some research in. I agree with not wanting to cause dissention. So I may develope another char for Shady Gulch as well.

Maybe some Appaloosa? You take Viggo I'll take Harris. They seem like the types with no affiliations. The kind of guys that would ride away from the impending war instead of towards it. I wouldn't mind playing an aging cowboy on his last leg, then I can be a 'smart ass'

Thanks again for the History links. As a Canuck I can't really say I am all that up to date on American history. When we delve back here all we have "Is da voyagers, eh?" and that big battle with Montcalm and Wolfe, in our Upper and Lower Canada struggle but that was more during the time that the 'Last of the Mohicans' movie took place in.

Both of our countries have such rich histories but so many people are unaware of it. I myself am no different. Keeping your eyes forward is a 'Human Condition' eh?

I am trying to figure it out though. It's been fun delving back and seeing how it all fits together.

Been a while since I watched that, will have to pull it out of my library and have a look see. Sounds interesting though.

So I've established, Drake Hawkins. That seems like a good fictional cowboy name, eh? Let me know, Lac if you want to establish a partnership between these two characters or if you just want to keep their stories separate for now. I am not set on anything, so I'll leave it up to you.

I am going to start writing his bio, and if you want to set them up as a team I can add their meeting later.

If you want to use the Viggo Character, 'Everett Hitch', this is a good source:

http://www.brego.net/viggo/movies/appaloosa/

Sounds good maybe we can keep them seperate to start then they can team up. A pre-Appalossa scenerio so to speak, the expand as partners from there. It would allow us to develope our individuality to start with. Then build a bridge to establish their friendship.
Thoughts?

Totally. That's definitely the second option, we should, however, form a common link between the two characters. A common past, something that will not be apparent at the start but be revealed as they get to know one another. We can work on that as we go along.

Now I'm getting confused as far as the timelines are concerned. LOL This is technically Easy's story and theme, I'm just helping him out. But, I suggest that maybe we take a vote on what timeline to use so that we're not using two. How's that sound to everyone? Also, Easy was wanting to know what you all thought about the rules. Are they okay and should anything be added or deleted?

Oh, yeah, the rules are just fine. As for the second time line we won't implement that for a while. I'd rather write in 1870, but that's just because I am more familiar with that setting. As I said I'll do some research and apprise myself on what the States were like prior to the Civil war and create another character.

Okay, so I have been doing so more research. Yay!

So I would think that most of our weaponry will be from 1860 and I learned that pistols of the time commonly used a caplock mechanism. They're really archaic revolvers and bullets are not just loaded into the chamber and then fire. There are no bullets. (Well, no casings)

Check out this link for info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caplock_mechanism

So its not exactly the romantic, 'Wild West' I'm used to but gun fights will sure be short, unless we're having a shootout with rifles. Loading an 1860 pistol takes some time, in comparison to the later models where they developed metal casings.

We all have to make sure we are on board with the weaponry. We ran into this problem in No More Dreams, with percussion caps and paper cartridges.

I don't understand why 1860 rifles have casings and the 1860 model Colt revolvers don't. Can anyone enlighten me on this?

Smith & Wesson History
Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson came from old New England families. Horace learned the firearms trade while working at the National Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. Daniel’s experience came from apprenticing with his brother Edwin Wesson, the leading maker of target rifles and pistols in the 1840s.
The two men formed their first partnership in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut, with the aim of marketing a lever action repeating pistol that could use a fully self-contained cartridge. This first pistol venture was not a financial success, and by 1854 the company was having financial difficulties.
Faced with their financial difficulties, they were forced to sell their company to a shirt manufacturer by the name of Oliver Winchester. In 1866, using the original lever action design created by Smith & Wesson, Winchester’s company emerged as the famous Winchester Repeating Arms Co.
In 1856 Smith & Wesson formed their second partnership to produce a small revolver designed to fire the Rimfire cartridge they patented in August of 1854. This revolver was the first successful fully self-contained cartridge revolver available in the world. Smith & Wesson secured patents for the revolver to prevent other manufacturers from producing a cartridge revolver - giving the young company a very lucrative business.
The partners realized that when their patents expired they would need a new design to maintain their market superiority. The new design was completed in 1869 and the company began marketing it in 1870. The Model 3 American, as it became known in the United States, was the first large caliber cartridge revolver and established Smith & Wesson as a world leader in handgun manufacturing. The two most important customers for the new revolver were the United States Cavalry, which purchased 1,000 units for use on the Western Frontier, and the Russian Imperial Government.


At the age of 65, Horace Smith retired from the company and sold his share of the business to D. B. Wesson, making him the sole owner of the firm. In the late 1800’s the company introduced its line of hammerless revolvers. These are still represented in today’s handgun line.
Smith & Wesson next introduced what is probably the most famous revolver in the world, the .38 Military & Police or, as it is called today, the Model 10. This revolver has been in continual production since that year and has been used by virtually every police agency and military force around the world.
Smith & Wesson’s contribution to the history of handgun and cartridge development continued through the 20th Century. The first Magnum revolver, the .357 Magnum, was introduced by the company in 1935. In 1955 the first American made double action auto-loading pistol, the Model 39, was introduced.
The Model 29 chambered in .44 magnum - the handgun made famous by Clint Eastwood in the movie "Dirty Harry" - was unveiled in 1956. In 1965 S&W began producing the Model 60 - the world’s first stainless steel revolver - launching the era of stainless steel firearms.
The accomplishments of Smith & Wesson are so numerous that it is impossible to understand the history of modern handguns without first understanding the history of Smith & Wesson. Smith & Wesson was an industry leader in 1852 when it was first founded and continues


As per http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&content=11504&sectionId=10002

My History

Since 1982, Ive been into black powder muzzle loading rifles, shot guns and pistols. I own 4 rifles, two, I ve built are black powder rifles , a Conn Valley Arms and a short barrel Hawkins .50 cal rifles.
I have one BP.45 cal pitol (all leadball). I hunt wild boar with my guns and use to dress up for the Old '49ers Miners Day in the Angel Camp area, Daniel Boone style clothing and racoon cap. The past seven years, I taught rimfire .22 rifle/pistol and shotgun. Last year, 4-h opened muzzleloading and so i taught that while my son graduated from high school. 4-H is hurting in N CA and one of the programs they cut was the shooting sports program...so Im back to just hunting.

My experience with percussion cap pistols...its a pain in the butt loading those leadballs into a six chamber pistol...even more fun is adding percussion cap to each chamber as well. If you're in a hurry and try to load without special tools...you're a dead man. So we might want to go with a later year...my suggestion

the new patent merges with single shot rimfire pistol 1854, Lever action Rifle 1866

the storyline of this boom town should happen in the mid 1860s...maybe 1865. ...civil war was coming to a close.

im going to add a timeline to the storyline /theme and see what you think here...and if you want the two mixed then I'll mix the two together...ok

GOLD FEVER TIMELINE for our Fictional Shady Gulch town takes place present time 1865.

We can fib on the lever action rifles by a year..

Civil war was still ongoing in 1865 but coming to a close

Jesse James I believe was killed in 1882 but became an outlaw in 1865-1866 after the civil war.