Thriller Drama OPEN The Bunkhouse

This game is inspired by the popularity of modern day westerns such as Longmire and Yellowstone.

•••••​

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Daylight was a good half hour away when the bunkhouse was slowly coming to life. A couple of the younger hands had gotten an early start to beat the others to a hot shower, which was considered a luxury.

Rick stood at the kitchen counter stirring his coffee, it was a strange habit given that he drank his coffee black. He took a deep breath to savor the scent of morning, it was soap and coffee, a far cry from the sweat and cow manure stink that would be getting him through the day.

Bucky was using her fingers to quickly comb her hair back into a ponytail before joining Rick at the kitchen counter. She poured her coffee and added a splash of milk before she asked Rick, “are we doctoring those cows we brought down yesterday?”

Her voice always made Rick chortle. She had grown up on the famous Waggoner Ranch in Texas, where her daddy was in charge of quarter horses. Her accent wasn’t the typical Texas drawl, he couldn’t even understand her when she was excited and speaking at lightning speed. He was positive she’d been speaking a foreign language the first time he’d heard her during a cowboy try out.

Bucky had been seventeen when her father died in a tragic accident caused by a young cowboy he was training. Bucky left the Waggoner the very next day and drifted her way to Montana and the Boulder. They’d never seen anything like her, she could sit a horse and work a cow like no one else working for Mr. Landry. When Rick wanted to hire her, Mr. Landry said that Bucky would never last, “a woman in the bunkhouse?” He’d asked Rick incredulously.

She’d been there just over a year and hadn’t caused drama… other than winning most of the nightly card games, drinking the men under the table, and out cursing them all.

“Yeah,” Rick finally answered in his usual drawl to the petite young woman, “we have plenty to catch up on around here, and a crew will be repairing a section of fence.” He paused and finished his cup, sitting it aside he said, “some idiots thought they’d take a few of those colts the boss just bought. You jackasses slept through all the shooting,” he laughed. “We chased them off, and moved the colts out of that pasture in the dark.”

Having any livestock over near the highway was tempting to anyone passing by with an empty trailer. They’d taken to posting a couple of guards along that area around the clock, and they frequently stopped thieves.

Bucky’s face lit up, “you better wake my ass up next time, Rick! I hate missing all the fun.”

The older man shook his head at her enthusiasm and shouted, “get moving and be in your saddle in five minutes, you damned losers.”

•••••​

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The many great multi-generational ranches around the US are built on rich histories of survival that brought them into the 21st century. Imagine a setting on a ranch much like the 6666, the Pitchfork, King, SLW, or Waggoner. Families still living and working on these massive ranches today, while trying to hold on to the land their ancestors worked hard for through wars, disease, and tragic losses. It’s a hard life of physical labor, but it’s a way of life that people still choose.

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Welcome to the picturesque Boulder Valley in Montana. The Landry - Boulder Ranch is a third generation business in the valley. Their property stretches over 208,000 acres of beautiful landscape that borders the majestic Yellowstone Park.

The Boulder is rich grazing land for cattle and horses, and features several natural hot springs. The area is also plagued by greedy corporations trying to buy up land for ski resorts and subdivisions, so the family is often caught up fighting back these crooks. There are many fighting to have Landry’s land declared eminent domain so they can steal it for pennies.

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Some days can get rather violent when they deal with trespassers… or bears. It takes an awful lot of strength and grit for a ranch to thrive, do you have enough to offer?

•••••​

Mr. Landry and Rick are looking for ranch hands. They pay a weekly wage that’s competitive with other ranches in the area. You live in the ranch bunkhouse, and all meals are provided.

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They are male and female ranch hands that will follow orders, and they will leave their attitudes at the front gate. If you’re only interested in PRCA awards and winning buckles, you need not apply. We want real cowboys who live for long hours in the saddle and appreciate the skill it takes to do the work.

We aren’t hiring buckle bunnies, don’t bother trying out if you only want to chase cowboys.

You will arrive at the ranch on ‘cowboy tryout day’, which is held twice a month. Any hand, with experience, is welcome to show up and show off their skills. The owner and his foreman select only the most competent people to hire. Bring your rope, horses are provided if you don’t own one. Good luck!

•••••​

This game will be a sandbox role play game.
A sandbox style game is when minimal character limitations are placed on the players, allowing the gamer to roam in a virtual world at will. In contrast to a progression-style game, a sandbox game emphasizes roaming and allows a gamer to select tasks and interact with other players at will, if the other player is open to it.

Maybe your cowboy wants to invite the others to go into town after work, so they hit up the local entertainment. You don’t need your GMs to create or approve the scene, as long as you don’t come back and burn down the bunkhouse. We would take issue with that. So, use your imagination and role play your western fantasies!

Updates every two weeks will set up the actual work on the ranch and progress the story. There will also be side plots going on throughout the game. Don’t hesitate to PM your GM team if you have questions.

•••••​

Name
Cowboy or Cowgirl:
Age:
Appearance:
Horse:
Experience:

Any other details Mr. Landry should know:

•••••​

PM your sheet to @HanSolo29 and @Lady Belligerent for approval. We’ll open up to other positions once we have a few hands signed on.

•••••​

Rules:

Submit your CS to the GMs for approval before posting.

No Metagaming, Powergaming, or God Moding.

All JCF TOS will be followed, as well as the rules of the RPF.

We will accept up to three (3) characters per player after we have a few wranglers.

Game updates will be approximately every two weeks after the game starts. Players may post at any time, and more than once if they want to go out after hours, or play cards in the bunkhouse. Interactions with fellow players are encouraged.

 

Name
Cowperson: Ike

Age: How dare you?
Appearance: What do you think?
Horse: Whore? Oh, horse.

Experience: Lots. Oh, horse? Yeah, I've a fair bit.
Any other details Mr. Landry should know: What do you want to know?

 

Name: William "Bill" Landry
Age: 63
Appearance:






Bio: The patriarch of the Landry Family, William owns and operates one of the largest cattle ranches in the United States. The Boulder Ranch, named for its location in the Boulder Valley of western Montana, has served the surrounding area for three generations, earning a reputation for service and excellence. It has become a staple of the western frontier, and much like his father and grandfather before him, William will do anything to ensure its longevity and protect the interests of the family.

In addition to his duties on the ranch, William currently serves the state of Montana as the Department of Livestock’s executive officer. Appointed directly by the governor, the agency’s mission is to control and eradicate animal diseases, prevent the transmission of animal diseases to humans, and protect the livestock industry from theft and predatory animals. In his role, William has become one of the most respected and powerful members of the community.



William was also married to Emily Martz for ten years before she died tragically in childbirth. Both mother and son passed away that day, however, she still gifted William with two beautiful children in the years prior to her death—Bella and Jackson.

As the eldest, Bella developed more of a steadfast personality; she was stubborn like her mother, though she was every bit of ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’. A college education earned her a successful job on Wall Street, a move that broke William’s heart at the time—but like so many others before her, she could not ignore the call of family and returned home to serve the needs of the ranch… or at least, that’s what he would like to believe. Her motivations are still unclear to him.

In contrast, Jackson, or Jack, has allowed the simple life to go to his head. Opting to become a wrangler and a cowboy by trade, the boy has failed to apply himself in most facets of his life. He has come to expect ‘Daddy’ to hand him everything, and that mentality has made him lazy, careless, and arrogant. William views him as a slacker and aims to set the boy straight—if he would only stay away from the goddamned rodeo!

With all of the stress, William often wonders what will kill him first—the many corporations who seek his land… or his own children.

 

Name: Bella Donna Landry, she goes by Bella
Daughter of William Landry
Age: 36
Appearance:




Bio:

Bella is very much her Daddy’s girl. She's strong willed and quick tempered. Momma gave her a powerful name, because women growing up on a ranch have to be deadly to survive.

She graduated from NYU before landing a job in banking on Wall Street. She was successful on her own without needing Daddy’s support… unlike her brother.

One day she walked out of her Manhattan office and never returned, she bought a new Mercedes AMG GT coupe in black, and drove home to Montana.

Being back home makes Bella happy, as long as her brother stays away. She feels like he’s a liability for the ranch, and really the family too.

Bella is a no nonsense woman who has no time for transplants acting like they belong in her world. She notices if your spurs are Kerry Kelley, if your saddle is Al Dunning, and you sure as hell better be wearing Lucchese boots.

She’s no buckle bunny, it will take a real cowboy to win her heart.

 

"There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” — Will Rogers


August - 2022
Landry - Boulder Ranch



An average morning for the ranch hands during the late summer, and early fall, was generally the same each day. Wake up at a ridiculously early hour, get dressed in the large open bathroom… which was an adventure in itself. Picture a row of four sinks and mirrors, two shower cubicles, and two toilet stalls. A few years ago there was an all out brawl when one of the cowboys kept relieving himself in a sink if the stalls were occupied. One of the women caught him, dragged him outside and beat him senseless. It’s a fine line of observing some kind of civility using the bunkhouse facilities, and not being a total jackass about it.






I digress… they down a cup of coffee, grab a biscuit and meet at the corrals located around the barns.

On this particular mid-August morning, Bill was walking down from the main house, coffee cup in hand, and his daughter Bella at his side. She had been home a week when she’d overheard some talk in town while shopping the previous evening.

Her New York City wardrobe had arrived with her possessions from the NYC apartment. She’d quickly donated more than half of her working clothes to a charity, the style and fabrics were all wrong for ranch life, or even for her office in Bozeman. That meant she needed a new wardrobe.

Bella had been trying on some outfits at a boutique when she heard comments from two women in the adjacent fitting room.

“Neal told me he’s buying some place called The Boulder Laundry Ranch, or something like that.” The woman had an annoying drawl and sounded out of breath from trying on clothing. Bella froze in place and stared at the wall waiting, because she knew the bitch meant her family’s ranch.

The woman’s friend spoke up saying, “have you seen the house or anything? How can Neal buy a place without your approval?”

Neal’s annoying wife replied, “that’s the thing, I have the directions. So we can drive out and come up with a plan to get inside the mansion. He’s not going to buy a home that I haven’t seen first.”

Bella quickly dressed and left everything in the fitting room. She’d heard the two women speaking to the salesperson, and she wanted a look at Neal’s wife… whoever this damned Neal even was.

The wife looked like she had probably been Miss America, thirty years ago. She was tall, and wore towering stilettos, with a very bright outfit in red, white, and blue. Bella rolled her eyes and laughed over the spectacle. The woman’s hair was big and very blonde, the shade of blonde that the man above didn’t hand out naturally… just like her boobs.

Neal’s wife made it all too easy when she asked the saleswoman about the direction to Bella’s ranch. The shopkeeper looked nervously over to Bella Landry, unsure of how to proceed.

“Here, let me help,” Bella butted in and yanked a sheet of paper out of Neal’s wife’s hands. “You won’t be needing this,” Bella said and pulled out her cigarette lighter, she lit the sheet and handed it to the woman behind the counter. She’d known Bella Landry her entire life, so she was unfazed and took the flaming page and dropped it into a wastebasket and took it to the back room.

Bella stared at the woman and demanded, “who the hell are you?”

“I am Janice Dawson,” the tall blonde answered, “just who the hell are you?”

Janice’s friend must have had some brains, because she touched her companion's arm and said, “maybe we should be on our way, Janice, we wouldn’t want to take up this nice lady’s time.” She’d taken hold of Janice’s arm and was trying to drag her to the door, but Janice was now digging in to fight.

“Well?” She demanded. Bella smiled and answered, “I’m Bella and my daddy owns the ******* Laundry - Boulder Ranch, you dumb cow. Your idiot husband should pick a property that is actually for sale… and if you set one foot on my land to try and see the inside of MY home… I’ll shoot you.”

Bella turned to the shopkeeper and said kindly, “I’ll take everything in the fitting room there,” she pointed to where she’d been, “charge my card and send them out to the house, thanks Sarah.”

She got to the door, and stood holding it open while she lit a cigarette, “******* transplants. By the way, it’s Landry, not laundry,” she spat, letting the door closed.

Bella recounted her encounter from the previous day to her daddy as she followed him down to the barn. She felt like he should know if anyone was planning to purchase their land.

“I don’t see Jackson up yet,” Bella looked down the slope to those gathered, “he came in late last night, and was very drunk. Also, he drove home in that condition, I saw him pull in myself.”

She stopped Bill before they were within earshot of anyone and said, “yesterday I spotted another weed crop he’s growing, it’s behind the weekend cabin.”

---

Rick turned to Bucky and said, “go bang on Woody’s trailer, it’s time to get this show started.”

Bucky nodded and ran across to the beat up trailer that doubled as the veterinarian’s home and work space, she banged on the door and shouted, “get up old man! We’ve got cows that need to be knocked up!”



It was indeed the time of year for them to inseminate the cows. They had herded four hundred cows and divided them into two large corrals. Once they were treated they would be moved into a holding pen until wranglers could move them to a pasture.

“Elizabeth, Ike, Maise,” Rick called off the newest of their hands, “you’re all three low man, so I regret to inform you that you’ll get the backside part of this job.”

Rick handed the trio sets of long gloves that went from fingertip to shoulder, “Woody will be warming the bull seed, then he’ll put it into the catheters. Bucky will rush out the catheters and you’ll inject it into the cows.”

Rick checked to see if Woody had opened his trailer yet, “the doc will probably be getting started soon, so you need to rope a cow and move it between those panels. One of you guides the cow between the panels, one shoves their arm in the cows backside, and press downward. The third person slips in the tubing and injects the junk. Easy peasy!”

There were five other teams getting cows ready, but Rick wouldn’t need to watch over them, those hands had been through the process many times.

Tag: @HanSolo29 @TheSilentInfluence @Sinrebirth @Darth_wanderguard

 

IC: Ike
Another day in the cows

He was sure that was a saying, anyway.

It was a play on In the Bronks, you see.

Forget it.

Rick was his typical Rick self, and Ike could only look at him with some kind of... he wasn't even sure what to describe it.

“Elizabeth, Ike, Maise, you’re all three low man, so I regret to inform you that you’ll get the backside part of this job.”

Ike automatically took the gloves, looked down them.

Ah yes.

Disgust.

"The doc will probably be getting started soon, so you need to rope a cow and move it between those panels. One of you guides the cow between the panels, one shoves their arm in the cows backside, and press downward. The third person slips in the tubing and injects the junk. Easy peasy!”

I could go off sex doing a job like this.

Unless you really, really liked -

"Ready to get started?"

He bit back a snide comment; Elizabeth was a nice gal, and he didn't need to raise his profile.

Jobs a job.

It's about the facilities not the job.

"Sure. I'll guess I'll just get my big hand ready." He tugged on the gloves, made an experimental fist.

He wondered if Woody was going to make this hard, or easy.

Depends.

"Imma ready."

If this was a film, about this point Morgan Freeman would have added, narratively.

"He was not ready. At all."

TAG: @TheSilentInfluence, @Darth_wanderguard, @Lady_Belligerent

 

Update

Bucky was getting ticked. She’d been banging on the old man’s trailer for several minutes without a peep from inside.

After some cursing, she trotted to the big barn and grabbed a bucket. Bucky stood on the bucket and looked in a side window, and sure enough there was Woody. He was laying down motionless. “Rick!” She shouted, her eyes bulging, “he might be dead!”

Rick looked over at Bucky and shouted back, “for cripes sake, go in there and check, Buck.”

He sighed and said, “of all the days to die, he would pick the busiest. You three!” He pointed to the three newest hands, Elizabeth, Maise, and Ike. “Get this finished up, vet or not. All the stuff is in his trailer, and it’s not that hard to figure out.”

His horse separated another cow and nudged it towards the three wranglers, “once you’re done divide up the fence lines. I’ll ride the ones along the highway, be sure to take tools and equipment to make repairs. If there’s any major damage, call in help.”

Rick rode to the far side of the corral calling back over his shoulder, “go by horse or ATV, I don’t care which.”

Meanwhile, Bucky tried the door of the trailer. The knob turned easily, she hesitated a moment before stepping in. She sniffed the air, to check for any smell of dead bodies. It didn’t smell any different than usual, except maybe like old booze… or old dude.

She stomped inside thinking that might wake him up, if he was just soundly sleeping.

Woody was pretty much face down, so Bucky couldn’t see if his eyes were open, but she noted an occasional odd twitch. “Woody, get up,” she said firmly. Nothing, no movement at all.

Bucky closed her eyes and went close enough that she could poke at him, “Woody, you’re supposed to be up and helping, man.”

“Damnit,” Bucky grumbled and went outside to get the bucket she’d stood on to see inside the window.

She took the bucket to a horse trough at the edge of the corral, dipped it in, and carried the full bucket back to the trailer.

Her next action could go very wrong, but screw it. Bucky tossed the cold water onto the vet and ran like hell out of there. She jumped up to sit on the wooden gate of the corral, and she didn’t dare look towards the vet trailer.

Tag: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29 @TheSilentInfluence @Darth_wanderguard

 

IC: Ike
Hand is already in

He was literally inside a cow.

Not quite stuck, but by all the Gods of Hell, this was not the time to pull out his arm and go picking up random implements.

"Yeah, I'm not moving," Ike said, firmly.

He was also thinking relentlessly of anything but what he was doing...

TAG: @HanSolo29 @TheSilentInfluence @Darth_wanderguard, @Lady_Belligerent

 

If you haven't met her, @Lady_Belligerent has an underscore.

 

OOC: our esteemed Admin should submit a CS and join the fun.

 

IC: Ike
Hands Off

And he was done.

That felt like he'd just spent... months inside a cow.

"Can I never do that ever again?"

TAG: @Sinrebirth, @Lady_Belligerent, @Vehn, @TheSilentInfluence, @Darth_wanderguard

 

Update




The season was edging closer from fall into winter, before long the hands would be spending more time indoors, where they would see to maintenance of tack, and making repairs as needed around the barn. Then there was the possibility of getting called out to care for the cattle, or to repair a fence in knee deep snow, which wasn’t fun, but it happened.

Rick was standing in the Bunkhouse kitchen drinking coffee, and he was enjoying some quiet before everyone else tumbled out of their bunks. Once he’d finished the strong brew, he sat down at the table and inspected his boots closely.

“You gonna finally get new boots, Rick?” Bucky’s voice was hoarse from sleep, as she called out from across the room.

“Mind your own business,” Rick said lightly, “these boots just need resoled and some TLC. Not all of us blow every dollar of our pay on fancy stuff.”

Bucky yawned loudly and slowly selected clean clothes when Rick called out, “you better hurry up if you want any hot water.” Then he actually shouted and banged his fist on the wooden tabletop, “get moving you lazy SOB’s!”

He pulled a grubby square of paper from his pocket and barked out orders, “Maise, Ike, Liz, and James! You guys are to go over on the west side of the big house and dig two graves.” He was clearly delegating the miserable task, but isn’t that what being the boss is?

“Two family members from out near Billings passed,” Rick quickly held up a hand before anyone asked, “I don’t have details, I just follow orders and that’s what I expect you to do. The shovels are already over there, I dropped them off where the plots are marked off.”

He stood up and started to leave, “be respectful if Mr. Landry comes out there.”

Rick slammed the back door on his way outside and across to the barn. Bucky looked around to the others and said, “well, that sucks.” She wasted no time getting in a quick shower before the hot water was gone.

Everyone has work to do between prepping for winter, and finding out who died, and the circumstances.

*****​

IC: Bella Landry
west of the main house

She had driven a ranch pick up off the driveway and across the meadow to where graves were spread under large trees.

The Landry’s had buried family members in this peaceful setting for several generations. Bella had been there well before daylight, and in the chilly darkness, she’d found where she wanted the graves, and had proceeded to measure off the exact area to be dug up.

When Rick drove up, Bella had tossed her jacket aside and she was staring into the area marked for digging. The sun had just come up when he parked his truck and walked over to take Bella’s shovel. She only nodded and quickly turned away, Bella wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. Truthfully her side ached, and her jaw was swollen, but she would put ice on that later.

This needed to be done before her Daddy came home. “Could you give me a hand with unloading,” she asked softly, “and then I’m going to the house to tie up other loose ends.”

There was not a law against burying people on their land, but Bella was going to make sure all i’s were dotted, and t’s crossed. This problem had to disappear… immediately.

Rick lowered the tailgate of the pickup Bella had driven, he saw two bulky shapes wound in sheets. They looked like damned nice sheets too. “I’ll handle this Miss Bell,” Rick said and grabbed the end of one bulk and pulled, the other end landed on the ground with a sharp crunch. He swiftly grabbed the other wrapped shape and pulled it out to the ground. Rick didn’t see the point in risking a back injury, and these guys were beyond feeling anything, so it made no sense to be gentle. “You go on and tend to your injuries, I know what to do here.” Rick said kindly.

Bella didn’t want kindness, screw that. “Thanks, Rick,” she answered and got back behind the wheel and started the truck. She lowered the window and called to the foreman, “get someone trusted to wash this truck, especially where they were back there,” she pointed to the piles of sheets on the ground. Rick only nodded, but he didn’t need to be told, he’d cleaned up a few of these before.




Tag: @HanSolo29, @Sinrebirth, @TheSilentInfluence, @Vehn