Is There a Wild West Part of the Forgotten Realms?

[SociopathFriend]

Simply put- we're starting a new campaign and tonight is session zero.

I have several ideas but I've always really wanted to try my hand at a cowboy sort of character- someone who's seen desert sands stretching off to the horizon, someone who has been burned by an unforgiving sun and come out the stronger for it, a man of quick wits and quicker hands, a dog of a guy that slacks when he can but knows when the chips are on the table to go all-in

You know. The traditional western hero.

Several ideas occur to me for how to make him and his gun but I haven't really found a convincing answer for where such a guy would come from and/or what race he'd be. Is there no such region in the Forgotten Realms?

If so- where is it? And what races live there? Humans seem a safe bet to assume but assumptions can get you hurt.



Related but not at all associated with geography- would you consider Metal Gear's Revolver Ocelot's gun-fu to be Charisma-based attacking?

[solidork]

The Shaar used to be a huge rolling grasslands, but turned into a desert in the Spellplague - also a giant rift to the underdark opened up, so you've got a Grand Canyon thing going on as well.

Not much civilization, though you could play a Centaur and be horse AND rider. There was a large dwarven kingdom as well that borders the underdark rift - I can imagine a rough and tumble bunch of rangers scouting the edge of the rift for underdark incursions, risk taking miners hoping to strike it rich in the exposed cliff faces, etc.

[Naanomi]

a number of big deserts, none of them inherently cowboy themed

[sambojin]

Literally everywhere is the wild west if you include bounty hunters (ala The Mandalorian) or wondering monks/ strangers in a strange land (ala Kung Fu). Law enforcement (Clint Eastwood style movies) or those with a grudge to bear/ has been done wronged (more Clint movies) work pretty well too.

Is there an area in Forgotten Realms that is the wild west? Not specifically. But everywhere is wild if you make it so, and everywhere is west of somewhere. Pick the place you'd like to chew tobacco at/ drink only water in, and go from there. You'd be surprised just how much other players and DMs are happy to play along with the trope, no matter where the adventure is set. People like playing as cowboys, or hookers with a heart of gold, no matter how unsupported they are in the ruleset 🤠

[Hairfish]

It's thought that the origins of the cowboy hat go back to the hats worn by the Mongols during their invasion of Europe. So Kara-tur would be a good place to be from.

[JLandan]

Be from another world that is developed enough for metal cartridges and revolving/repeating action. The problem will be availability of new cartridges. You could have the tools to make your own ammo. You could make powder, bullets, casings and primer caps yourself during down time.

[KorvinStarmast]

You want a cowboy/bounty hunter/gunslinger?
vHuman Ranger, Fighter or Rogue, Crossbow expert feat, dex based, go. Use hand crossbows.

[RogueJK]

Yep. One of my first 5E characters was a VHuman Hand Crossbow Battlemaster Fighter who wore a wide-brimmed hat, a long coat, and bandoleers of crossbow bolts, and used terms like "Howdy" and "Pardner". Started 16 DEX with XBE, then Sharpshooter at 4 (initially mainly for the range boost), 18 DEX at 6, and 20 DEX at 8.

[Mastikator]

Any desert ish area can be recently settled by humans, the humans come from a powerful but distant empire.

Maybe it's settled because gunpowder (or smokepowder) has been discovered in said desert. A few mining operations turn into towns. Towns generate commerce. Commerce and gunpowder generate trade routes.
Trade routes attract marauders.

Being far away from civilization makes the towns vulnerable to marauders, but since they are yet from said empire they are technologically advanced (give them renaissance firearms). Give the marauders names and personalities and Bob's your uncle

That's should be enough geopolitics to create a backdrop for wild west style adventure. The adventures can easily flow from the setting.

You can have all the tropes.

Prospectors traveling the desert looking for smokepowder veins
Bounty hunters that hunt marauders
Thugs/gunmen that harras civilians
Marauders that hijack trade routes
Use lightning rails from eberron, trains are a staple of wild west! Just literally steal lightning rails, say it's only used by the empire
You can have natives (tri-kreen? humans? elves? orcs?) that are not so happy about having their land taken
Imperial cavalry that use firearms and swords and ride horses

[SociopathFriend]

Probably should've just asked if there was a desert without a lot of law.

However Shaar sounds perfect. Ty lads and lasses for all feedback.

[greenstone]

The Dessarin Valley is a Wild West area, if you consider the social and political themes of Westerns instead of the terrain and weather.

The area is a long way from cities and central government, the locals are isolated, self-reliant and untrusting of outsiders, and the biggest industry is food generation (including the best horse ranches in the Sword Coast).

There are big badlands in the middle for bandits and cultists to hide in, and a big river for boat trade and piracy.

In the east, the Great Dale might be a candidate, for much the same reasons.

[SociopathFriend]

The Dessarin Valley is a Wild West area, if you consider the social and political themes of Westerns instead of the terrain and weather.

The area is a long way from cities and central government, the locals are isolated, self-reliant and untrusting of outsiders, and the biggest industry is food generation (including the best horse ranches in the Sword Coast).

There are big badlands in the middle for bandits and cultists to hide in, and a big river for boat trade and piracy.

In the east, the Great Dale might be a candidate, for much the same reasons.

Oh. Actually this character is for Princes of the Apocalypse and that looks like the same map the DM showed off?

That's convenient!

[Khrysaes]

I was thinking the land between kara-tur and Faerun. I think it is/was narfell. Sort of top right of forgotten realms map north of Thay.

Edit. Literally called the endless wastes. Aort of north of thay, east of narfell.

[Naanomi]

Aesthetically, Lantan is the place to get your pistols and the like. Other places utilize a bit of smoke powder (Kara-Tur/Shou, some Gnomes and Duergar, a handful of Spelljammer types), but none so regularly and with the level of sophistication of Lantan firearms