Tombstone

For Tombstone, I wanted to do a project along the lines of fantasy western, and US Marshal Wyatt Earp fit the bill perfectly for having a brilliant name as well as a well-known history in his tenure in Tombstone, AZ. The events portrayed in this project are not historically accurate by any means and are intended to recreate typical spaghetti western, or pop culture tropes.  

You, the player, are in the first-person point of view of Wyatt’s first days arriving in Tombstone, where he must gain the respect of his townsfolk to succeed in governing a western territory in its infancy.  Marshal Earp has a desire to gain the respect of his townsfolk because after all, he is an elected government official who strives to keep his constituents happy.  Marshal Earp wants law and order to the outlaw country of the Chihuahuan Desert, but he needs to prove himself capable to everyone residing in Tombstone.  Having just arrived, the first person Marshal talks to is the one and only Charles Van Horne, an outlaw cattle rustler, who tries to lead Marshal Earp on as a kind, upstanding fellow, until Marshal catches on to his ploy.  

The discussions and passages in this story describe moral dilemmas that would be difficult to avoid in the wild west.  Being the only lawman for miles around causes him [you] to make some difficult decisions that would ordinarily serve as litmus tests for moral topics.  The motivations for Marshal is generally very rational; there are bad guys out in the wastes and it’s his job to stop them from thievery, arson, murder, etc.  Occasionally, Marshall is put in a situation where he mustn’t be deliberative about things, rather he has to act quickly and the wrong decision can change the outcome of the story drastically.  

I worked to align the character’s motivations with the reader’s interests by implying what the right answer would be most of the time, however, the most obvious answer is not always correct as you can become outgunned quickly in the middle of nowhere Arizona.  There is a value system implemented in the game called Citizen Trust, and the more your constituents trust you, the better the outcomes are.  Additionally, most audiences like to see law enforcement point of views, and the wild west is no different, where being the major authority figure for hundreds of miles would be quite appealing to people in decisive roles.