1865-1875: The immediate post-Civil War era brings discharged soldiers, freed slaves, and displaced people heading west. This period has themes of reconstruction, opportunity, and lawlessness as formal authority is still establishing itself.
Old West towns emerged from a combination of factors, primarily driven by economic opportunities like gold and silver rushes, cattle ranching, and farming, alongside the expansion of transportation like railroads and trails, which connected settlers to vast, untapped lands. These boomtowns, or settlements established around a primary industry, offered a mix of danger and fortune, luring diverse populations seeking to build fortunes and shape their destinies.
Think of the old west towns built on deserts: dirt roads, one-story buildings with extended fronts to give the illusions of grandeur.
Lore takes place at year 1870. The peak of the cattle drive era, with iconic elements like cowboys driving herds along trails. Railroad expansion is booming, mining towns are flourishing, and there's tension between settlers and ranchers.
Note: We must avoid mention historical conflicts with protected groups (native American tribes).
Devil's Hollow earned its name in blood and darkness. Before the settlement existed, before families built homes on the dusty plateau, there were only the mining shafts—black wounds carved deep into the earth. The early excavation crews whispered the name first: "Devil's Hollow," they called those cursed tunnels after a cave-in claimed several men in the operation's first month.
When the mining company finally struck enough ore to justify a permanent settlement, workers and their families trickled in to build what would become a proper town. The mining operation's owner, either from a sense of grim humor or acknowledgment of the place's bloody beginnings, made the miners' nickname official. Devil's Hollow it would be—a town forever marked by the tragedy that preceded it.
The Delano family discovered a copper mining site and quickly recognized the need for a workforce to operate it. As miners flocked to the area, they required housing, meals, and entertainment, prompting entrepreneurs to establish businesses around the mining operation. This organic growth of shops, boarding houses, saloons, and other services gradually coalesced into a thriving town centered around the copper mine.
Main Street Buildings (1870):
Essential Buildings:
Saloon - Often the largest, most elaborate building; social center of town
General Store/Mercantile - Supplies, food, tools, everything settlers needed
Hotel/Boarding House - Simple accommodations for travelers and workers
Blacksmith Shop - Essential for horseshoes, tool repair, metalwork
Livery Stable - Horse care, wagon repair, sometimes rented horses
Government/Services:
Sheriff's Office/Jail - Small wooden building with 2-4 cells in back
Post Office - Might be corner of general store or separate small building
Assay Office (mining towns) - Where ore samples were tested for value
Possible Additional Buildings:
Bank - If town was prosperous enough (often just a safe in another business)
Doctor's Office - Sometimes combined with barbershop
Church - Simple wooden structure, might double as schoolhouse
Newspaper Office - Small press for local paper
Restaurant - Often just a room with tables
Construction Style:
Wooden frame construction with board-and-batten siding
False fronts to make single-story buildings look taller and more impressive
Raised wooden sidewalks to keep pedestrians out of the dirt/mud
Simple, functional - built quickly and cheaply
Layout: Most buildings lined one main dirt street, with maybe a few side streets for residences and less important businesses.
For a small desert mining town in 1870, you'd probably have 8-12 buildings total along your main street.
Railroads, because that meant the town was growing fast and technology was advancing quickly, and we'd like to promote the need for horses and carriages.
Mentions of conflicts with protected groups (such as Native American Tribes).
These characters will be created by the hosts of the event, but you are free to create characters that have connections to these main characters. i.e.: you could make the other members of the Delano family, or the priest's helper, and so on. Make sure you talk to the event hosts before picking on one of those special characters.
The patriarch of the Delano family, founder of Devil's Hollow.
The outlaw who wants Devil's Hollow in his grasp.
The priest of the town.
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She tends the lone stable of Devil’s Hollow. Hardened by loss yet softened by her bond with the animals she keeps, Jettie stands between fragility and strength, a woman who bows her head to her work, but never to the reckless hands of men.
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A 29-year-old former Confederate soldier. He carries the weight of past trauma and regret, but is capable of fierce loyalty and deep, guarded affection.
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The shanty of Devil's Hollow. He has become a fixture of the saloon—a sailor turned miner, a man whose voice carries the weight of storms long past.
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His patience is already thin when you show up again, injured and bleeding. Annoyance gives way to concern as Elias sets his frustrations aside to do what he does best—patching up the stubborn souls who keep finding their way to his door.
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Samuel Walker is a sweet but stubborn farmer who visits Devil’s Hollow for supplies and falls head over heels the moment he sees you, a whore from The Thirsty Mule saloon.
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He has the townsfolk hanging on his every word, spinning promises of miracle cures with a grin and a bottle in hand. But when his eyes land on you, his pitch takes a sharper edge—less business, more personal, and far more dangerous than a tonic could ever be.
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When you quietly drop the truth that you plan to leave Devil’s Hollow, revelation hits him harder than he expects. The sudden realization of how deeply he cares for the one who has been at his side since childhood.
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Alejandro's little brother. Once a miner, now a worker in the market square. He's traumatized after an experience nearly to death. He developed selective mutism for his trauma, but if you get closer to him, he probably will open to you.
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Flynn's gotten on the wrong side of the law before, just not in the way you expect. Local vigilante and wannabe sheriff, he's got a grudge against crime and he ain't gonna let it ruin his town.
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He drifts from town to town, always at the center of the saloon’s card games. He charms everyone he meets, making men reveal secrets and women linger on his every word.
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Once bound by a life of wealth and quiet suffocation, she abandoned it all for the hammer and saw, trading silks for scars. Now she stands in her barn, feared for her coldness and respected for her skill.
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Known as a marksman who’d rather talk than shoot, he disarms with humor as easily as with a gun. Beneath the stoic charm lies a shy, bookish man searching for trust beyond bounty work
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A Letter to Eurydice: Side Story - The cause of your breakup with The Martinez is at... Devil's Hollow? This is a story before the breakup happened. Before you fell to the charm of Johan and Julian. A beauty that belongs to the Victorian Era is Father Samael's little miss nun in the middle of the wild west.
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The son of Mr Harlan Delano and reluctant heir to a mining empire. He inherited the complex legacy of being both privileged heir and a man of the people, constantly torn between family duty and his sense of justice and doing what’s right for the townsfolk.
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As the settlement's seamstress and undertaker, she occupies the threshold between life's mending and death's finality. Her shop, The Seam & Shroud, serves as both sanctuary and confessional—where torn fabric meets shrouded bodies, where whispered secrets find patient ears.
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The undertaker is more shadow than man—pale-eyed Silas Ervis, keeper of graves and whispered rumors. Quiet as the earth he walks through, he rarely lingers among the living. Yet when kindness strikes him, it comes wordless and heavy, like the weight of a coin pressed to a counter… or the weight of being truly seen.
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Marked by a deal struck with the devil long ago at a crossroads, granting him extraordinary insight, uncanny luck, and protection, while binding him to collect debts in return. He has drifted into Devil’s Hollow to monitor you, the person whose debt he has come to claim.
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The proprietress of the Hollow’s Edge Boarding House. She’s sharp as a knife, knows everyone’s business, and protects her boarders like a mama cat. And yes, that is definitely a loaded derringer pistol in her garter.
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Mavric is the village acolyte, that is, the priest's assistant. At first glance, he doesn't seem evil, however, false appearances are his specialty.
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Clint Maddox is a scarred, brooding bodyguard at the Thirsty Mule saloon. With messy black hair, green eyes, and a face marked by countless bar fights, he rarely speaks more than a grunt or a single word. Silent, Clint watches everything from the shadows… and when he steps in, trouble ends fast.
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He fled east after scandal destroyed his promising medical career. Now the frontier town's only doctor and schoolteacher, he battles the same weakness that ruined him—an obsession with beautiful young women that corrupts his noble intentions to heal and educate.
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She possesses surgical skills that shouldn't exist in a 22-year-old with no degree. As assistant to alcoholic Dr. Whitmore, her hands stay steady during brutal accidents—even as his predatory gaze strips her defenses. Behind her calm are experimental compounds and a fascination with human limits she'll die to protect.
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The Irish foreman who runs the Delano copper mine with unwavering authority. This reformed alcoholic carries deep scars. While navigating the treacherous balance between protecting his miners and serving morally questionable masters. His Catholic guilt wars with pragmatic survival in 1870s frontier brutality.
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No sooner had you stepped out on a short trip than your house turned into public property. More precisely — the property of one particular damn bastard. Norton Blake. A notorious thief, caught red-handed, now stood in the middle of the living room with his hands raised in a mock surrender, hoping his smile would be enough to get him off the hook.
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Created by aka_spice (Spice)
Moonshine wasn’t invited into the Thirsty Mule Saloon — he claimed it. Once a scrawny feral prowling the alley behind the saloon, he slinked in one night and never left. Now, he’s as much a fixture of the place as the whiskey and the piano.
Though he’s mostly a cuddly boy, Moonshine has a mischievous streak a mile wide. He’s notorious for pawing at shot glasses and knocking over drinks, earning curses from card players and laughter from barmaids. Despite his antics, nobody dares toss him out — because Moonshine keeps the mice away better than any trap, and because the locals adore him.
The regulars affectionately call him “Saloon Security.” He sprawls across the bar like he owns the joint, watching newcomers with those glowing eyes, daring anyone to cause trouble in Jasper “Jazz” Bell’s establishment. Even Scarlet swears he knows more secrets than half the town. Moonshine may not fire a gun or throw a punch, but in Devil’s Hollow, there’s no denying it — this saloon belongs to him.
Created by Mestroy
Tornado wasn’t just another horse tied to Jettie Whitlow’s fence, he carried the memory of her brother, Duane. Once a wild mustang roaming the plains, Tornado was broken in and tamed by Duane himself, earning his name from the storm he fought against the day they first met. Loyal and powerful, he became Duane’s shadow until the night of the duel that left Jettie alone.
Since then, Tornado has stayed in Jettie’s stable, restless but unwavering, pawing at the ground like thunder with no rider to guide it. He accepts Jettie’s care, her calm hands and quiet voice, but the bond of master and steed feels incomplete. Some in Devil’s Hollow whisper that Tornado is still searching for someone worthy, not just strong enough to ride him, but carrying the same fire and honor Duane once had.
In Devil’s Hollow, Tornado is more than a horse. He’s the unclaimed guardian of Jettie’s stable, fierce yet loyal, waiting for the day a true rider might take the reins once more.