Filing off the serials #1 - Drink with the living dead

Filing off the serials #1: Drink with the living dead

Original Inspiration: Drink with the living dead by Ghoultown
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yywGI1H_oyM

Welcome to the first installment of my new series: Filing off the serials.

    My hope is to provide inspiration by showing you can take ideas from anywhere, change them up a bit, and make them your own in your table top games of choice. I find inspiration in everything from music, tv and movies, other games, and of course books. Some of the things I will be covering might be a plot device, other times it might be an interesting NPC, or perhaps a new unique item be it mundane or magical.

    This time around we are taking a look at one of my favorite songs by the gothic western group Ghoultown. The original is quite the story involving a undead desperado who was cursed by god for shooting a man to drink his beer.

    The curse placed upon him after he was hung prevents him from resting in peace until some one could out draw him or defeat him in a drinking duel. This is definitely usable in any game where curses, magic, and the undead could be found.

    I particularly like the Deadlands feel to it so in my own game I am keeping with the western styling as shown below however some additional changes to make it a bit your own could be instead of him shooting the poor man he stabbed him from behind/slit his throat, beat him to death with some brass knucks, or you could also easily change the challenge from a drinking contest to any game like poker, pool, darts, dice, etc.

Without any further ado I present to you Jacob Hurst.


    Jacob Hurst, hung for shooting an innocent man just so he could drink his drink. Now he is cursed to stalk the land until someone can either keep up with him drink for drink with out passing out or put him down with but a single bullet.

ST: 11 DX: 12 IQ: 9 HT: 10
HP: 11 FP: 10 Will: 9 DR: 0
SM: 0
Attack: See Notes
SP: 5.5 MV: 5
ADV: Combat Reflexes, unkillable 3(achilles heel(silver), Alcohol Tolerance
DIS: Bad Temper(15), Bloodlust(15), Callous(15), Disturbing Voice, Impulsive(15), Lifebane, vulnerability(silver x4)
Skills: Carousing(14), Intimidation(12), Quick Draw (16), Guns(15)

Notes: His gun was enchanted as well as cursed along with him that day. He wields a variant of the grim revolver found in GURPS Magic Items 3 pg 103 however it cannot fire skull spirits and the damage is 2d6 P+ and 1d6 burn. While not exactly undead he cannot die unless killed with silver, however he does not offer up this bit of information during  the brief conversations he has. If his chosen victim at the bar does not play along with his demands he will shoot them and any one else who gets in his way up to 12 times if need be.

    Should Jacob normally "die" with out the final blow coming from a source of silver his spirit fades away and he will return some where else in about a months time. If some one can drink with him ounce for ounce til midnight or should Jacob fall unconscious (using whatever rules your game has for dealing with alcohol otherwise you may have to work out a system of your own) then the curse will be broken and he will die for good on the spot. Whether his revolver remains cursed is up to the GM.

    This will wrap up the first installment of FOTS, please feel free to leave your comments below as I would love to know if any of you plan to use this idea or any others I present in your games and how you go about it.