Cowboys and Samurai: When Should Your Game Take Place?

A lot of people think about the Wild West as one general time period, but it really wasn't. Even sticking to vaguely vibe-based eras, you have a few to choose between: there's the Colonial and Revolutionary periods (the former of which can stretch back as far as the 1500s depending on which colonies you're talking about); expansion from about 1800 (including the "American Indian Wars," fighting West of the Mississippi River from about 1811 on) to the Mexican-American War 1846-8 and the Gold Rush 1840s-50s; followed by another roughly fifteen years of general mayhem and tension until the US Civil War pops off; and then the post-Civil War era of railways booming coast-to-coast, massive cattle drives and the true era of the "cowboy," and a general amping-up of the Native American Genocide until America joins the world stage at large in the early 1900s.

A lot goes on! If we want the setting to be in any way sensible, we have to find out when stories are largely expected to be written; when players are largely expected to play.

Currently we have settler-Japanese colonizing the West Coast at around 1780. This leaves us a little over 100 years of setting to mess around with, as after around 1900 it's difficult to sell the "Cowboys and Samurai," angle and the setting starts developing into modern-period alt-history. And, you know, maybe. Later. It's already alt-history enough having Japan open its ports to foreigners a good 70 years before it would happen in our own timeline.

As such, we're solidly past the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, the latter happening less than a decade before Japanese colonization. America has just won its freedom in war not even five years ago, and won't make the Louisiana Purchase for another twenty or so when the first Japanese are landing in Alta California. There's a lot to explore in this period, especially for GMs and players interested in how things start. There's the first-contact scenarios with Natives and how those relationships develop in this sensitive period of impressions. Are you interested in exploring the story of a village trying to survive? Maybe any time your players fail and all die or pull a CROATOAN (read: join the locals in full and live relatively peaceful lives), mark that location on a map and bring it back as a ruin to explore in later periods. Make your version of the place feel properly alive.

This first-contact time is also interesting because it takes advantage of the tension between Japan and Spain. Keep in mind that before King Charles III and Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu agreed to trading Alta California for preferable trade rights in Japanese ports, the two powers were on the brink of a proper imperial war in California: skirmishes between late-era Samurai and soldiers of Imperial Spain bring quite a bit of risk and tension to the world stage. There's certainly room for stories of international espionage and action, though keep in mind that approaches a level of alt-history outside the borders of North America. I have ideas for that, but haven't solidified them enough to write down quite yet.

Getting one very important angle out of the way early: I hesitate to put the setting's "natural," time period too close to the US Civil War, in part because that war is made incredibly different by the sheer existence of Nambokudo and Kyokuhokudo. With both the Union and then-Confederate States confined by the rest of the setting (this includes Deseret and a still-independent Texas at this time), the conflict is likely to be a bit smaller in scale; though still absolutely devastating. What's really to ask regarding a US Civil War arc is how much more is likely to change, leaving room for GM expression and alt-history shenanigans.

For better or worse, this conflict is arguably the big turning point of any Western timeline. It changed absolutely everything, everywhere, to a point that it simply cannot be ignored or sidelined when trying to write Western alt-history. Painting by James Edwin McConnell.

Do the Nambokudo and/or Kyokuhokudo daimyo councils support a side? There's room for any warlord to argue for supporting either side in a soft or hard way. For example, what if some warlords support the Confederacy because they figure keeping the United States divided means they're less of a threat later down the line? What if other warlords decide they want to support the Union because slavery never really took off in Japanese America and they understand it is a moral evil? It's also very likely that daimyo argue for supporting the USA in exchange for favorable post-war treaties, or decide they don't want to get involved at all. Would a war fought over slavery lead to the West Coast codifying its common practices into law? Or would the idea of another war over slavery cause daimyo to leave the issue in the air and unofficial, ignoring it and hoping it never becomes a problem?

I won't place the setting's default/implied time to 1861 or later. I want there to be space for GMs to decide how the war goes, and how their players can influence it. I will likely do a post down the line that suggests pathways and options, presents possibilities. As it stands though I want to leave hands off until I can do it justice.

Regarding after the Civil War: everything would be effected by the way the war goes, but there's a ton of potential for individual stories all the same. Keep in mind just how many Western films take place under a decade after the war's conclusion. Arguably, immediately post-war is probably one of the absolute best times to place a Western...but for this setting, post-war is only good if you know how the war went. When I try to tackle the war in detail I'll go after this post-war potential also.

After the war was concluded in our own timeline, from about 1865 to 1916 American railways boomed coast-to-coast, skyrocketing from 35,000 to 254,000 miles of railway laid down. All of that includes, of course, unscrupulous railway barons, Chinese labor camps, mountains being crushed with explosives, and generally increased Westward expansion and a regrettably more efficient execution of the Native Genocide. We also have, hand-in-hand with the railway developments, the rapid rise of cattle kings and drover barons, the true realm of the cowboy and the boom-town and where a lot of the popular Western imagery comes from.

Key-art of Hunt: the Showdown. Note a lot of what we consider absolutely iconic Western imagery (the Cavalry hat, old US Civil War accoutrement like jackets and weapons from the conflict) comes directly from the USCW. This game seems to understand that also, a great deal of its character's biographies mention either where they were when the war was happening or how it effected their lives.

With the presence of Deseret, Texas, Nambokudo, Kyokuhokudo, and stronger Natives in the plains and heartlands, both railways and massive cattle drives are more difficult for American businessmen to pull off with the same level of aggression. There are likely to be those same capitalist rail barons pushing on, but without reliable American military support capable of enforcing their will on not-so-weak locals in this setting's timeline, things get complicated. Complicated in such a way that I want to make some general statements while leaving a bit of room for individual GM creativity.

Would the Western nations insist on stopping the rails? Or--much more likely--do they let the rails go down but insist on a favorable free-access treaty? The United States might play that diplomatic game, but there are there likely going to be conspiracies involving US Army-backed capitalist warlords brute-forcing railways from sea to shining sea. Excellent chance for adventure, there.

For the cattle barons, how would the existence of actual national borders effect their work? I imagine, as with the railroads, various warlords and council members will insist on fair access and business; leaving that particular industry relatively untouched. Imagine Lonesome Dove but some chapters involve traveling through the wild mixed central frontier and settler-Japanese West.

On a smaller scale, what kind of stories would develop from these barons hiring mercenaries from both coasts to act as their private armies and enforcers: gunslingers, cowboys, bandits, and ronin? This mixed population also further complicates the history we know regarding the labor camps: would Chinese immigrants feature as heavily, or are there likely to be settler-Japanese peasants caught in the promises that captured our own timeline's Chinese? Would the cultural tensions between the two cause problems? How about the rich horse-riding history of Japanese aristocracy mixing with the more widespread mandatory use of horses in a lot of vaquero work? Or the blending of traditions, much like how the cowboy learned his trade from the vaqueros of Mexico and Texas?

The idea is for the Cowboy & Samurai aspects of this setting to meet and blend wherever possible. Far more often, that means more realistic blending (a fish-out-of-water character fresh off the Pacific and being exposed over time). Sometimes it means pure style over substance like above. Art source: deviantart.com/shawon33

I think, with all the above discussed, probably the best default period for the setting is the 1840s. There are a few reasons for this:

Nambokudo and Kyokuhokudo are established and dug in but not yet world powers operating out of the American continent. It's possible to argue that, like the USA, they become unusually powerful before their time and I could see the argument for a post-USCW world where the West Coast Japanese are respected across the globe; but only a good 60 years after their establishment it's not quite time.

Assuming your play takes place around 1849: Nambokudo has been allowed to thrive without Spanish presence in California and Kyokuhokudo is well-established with its Native-friendly status-quo more or less entirely stabilized; the Mexican Revolution (1810-21) and Texas Revolution (1835-6) have happened and as I'll write about later, have resulted in an independent Texas that was not annexed by the USA in 1845 but is on the brink of war with Mexico, so the American South-West is facing a lot of turmoil; Deseret is very new and likely to be left alone by a lesser America than we know...all it needs to do is encourage Nambokudo's council it's either worth keeping around or not worth fighting; the US Civil War won't happen for another twelve years, which may or may not fit in with your in-game expectations; the Gold Rush has only just begun and will likely start hitting one of its peaks when your players take control of their characters...and keep in mind that a lot of the Gold Rush land that was violently exploited by independents is now under the control of settler-Japanese warlords.

There's a lot going on. A lot that players can get involved in, and a lot that can happen to and around them.

From a mechanical standpoint, there's another good reason to involve the 1840s: weapons and armor technology, which is probably going to be the next C&S post down the line. Speaking broadly, 1849 is a great time for it: many firearms in popular use are muzzle-loaders ranging from old hand-me-down flintlock smoothbores to full-length rifles with percussion caps. You get some odd experimental "revolving repeater rifles," like the Colt Ring Lever, but they're atypical and rare; the famous (and flawed) Henry repeater, the first widespread lever-gun with self-contained cartridges, won't be out for another decade. Shooting a gun in this age takes skill but bad luck can still take a true shot and cast it awry (yay, dice!).

Guns! Remember, no matter what movies have you thinking about samurai and their relationships with swords, they loved guns about as much as Americans! Despite there being a literal signature right there, I'm having a hard time sourcing this one. Apologies.

What's more, reloading weapons at this point is time is, frankly, labor. Most rifles are one-and-done, with the reload taking a good twenty seconds; and that's if you're talented, practiced, and managing your stress levels. Revolving pistols are very popular, but each chamber must be individually loaded with cap, ball, and loose powder charge; when you fire off all four to six shots in your cylinder, your pistol is effectively a fancy club until you find a several-minute lull to recharge.

Weapons from this time period are also less powerful; we haven't yet hit smokeless powder. This means that body armor, while not practical to give to an army or other large force, can make a difference for individuals wealthy (or lucky!) enough to come into possession. And, as I'll explore in a lot of detail soon, this setting introduces a particular silk-and-cotton body armor that is likely to be very in-demand with wealthy warriors and swanky adventurers.

This era of weapons and armor is really cool for the setting vibes because it's an excellent middle-point in anachronism. These aren't the crazy death machines of modern times, and leave plenty of room for a slippery bastard to close the distance; your samurai character who sticks to their sword and bow to honor the Old Ways can probably work...if you play your cards careful and the dice are on your side. It's the tail end of that perfect time period where basically any weapon system, new or old, was viable if properly employed. And for an RPG where characters might want to get wild and whacky, having that inherent potential variety of gear feels fairly freeing.

I feel I'm approaching a relatively natural stopping point here. We're nearing the end of the general establishing posts that absolutely must be made before I can talk about smaller, more specific stuff in-depth, and that's exciting. I think next is going to be the post on weapons and armor. After that is a post on how to handle supernatural elements. And then, if I stick to the current way my mind is vibing, I'm going to have a ball talking about the Kingdom of Hawaii. Feel free to ask me any questions or leave comments, it lets me know that you read and liked this one.