I mentioned somewhere else that I wanted to try running two fairly simple towns during my next session (tonight), rather than running one convoluted, overpopulated, snarled town, as I've been doing. What follows is an attempt to create a simple, linear town with enough potential conflict to carry my players through about three hours of gaming.
Yellow Clay Branch
1A. Pride --
Brother Amos Petrie was out hunting when he came across a lovely girl of the Mountain People. She had been beaten, and her hair was signed off to the scalp. He took her home with him, where he and his wife, Sister Elfene, nursed her back to health. Brother Amos has been trying to teach the girl, who calls herself Cha-See-Quee-Ah-Chee, to speak English so that he can convert her to the Faith. Amos and Elfene have renamed the girl Hesther. In the course of getting to know her, he has fallen in love with her. He thinks, because he rescued her, he should be given permission to wed her as a second wife, despite his being only twenty-five and of modest means.
1B. Injustice --
Sister Elfene doesn't want her husband to take a second wife, whether or not the Steward approves. She is quite fond of Hesther, but she isn't interested in sharing her husband with the girl. She has informed the Steward, Brother Melchior Simms, about Hesther, and suggested that the girl be returned to her own people as soon as she is back in full health. She knows the girl might suffer mistreatment at her people's hands, but that isn't something that can be helped.
2A. Sin --
Steward Melchior and some of the other men of the town discuss the matter, then the steward counsels Brother Amos to return the girl to her people. Amos argues, but reluctantly agrees. On the way out to the place where he found her, he changes his mind. Amos installs the girl in an old miner's cabin he sometimes uses, and there he begins to visit her, bringing her food and water, clothing, and gifts. He makes love to her there when he visits, and he believes it is what she wants.
2B. The Demons Attack --
Several Mountain People warriors ride down from the hills and sack a couple outlying farms. An old trapper who knows their speech translates their demands: they want Cha-See-Quee-Ah-Chee returned to them. The girl is the daughter of their priest, Kee-Hish-Yah-Lah, and they mean to have her back if they have to kill every washichu in the whole town. Worse still, they want the man who "stole" the girl delivered up to them. Their demands are not negotiable, and their raids will continue until they get what they want.
3A. False Doctrine --
Faced with thsi awful ultimatum, Steward Melchior decides he has no responsibility to this heathen girl, and furthermore, that Brother Amos has brought his fate upon himself by defying the town's decision. He convinces himself that a steward may wash his hands of a backslider if it means saving his town. All he needs is the support of others in the town to do what is necessary and stop these raids.
3B. Corrupt Worship --
At Sunday's services, Steware Melchior preaches a sermon about a man's portion in life being what he has gathered unto himself; a man, through his actions, may exile himself from the company of the righteous, who are then obligated to spurn him with their heel. After the service, he meets with several prominent men in the town, including the mill owner, the newspaper publisher, the hotelier, and the banker. All but Brother August, the newspaper publisher, agree that it is the will of the King of Life that Amos be handed over to the Mountain People for what he has done, and so that the town may survive. They are going to hire a gang of road agents to see that the girl is found and Amos is rounded up.
4, 5. -- Skipped.
6A. What Do the People Want? --
Brother Amos wants the Dogs to say he can keep Hesther as a second wife. He also wants help against the road agents and against the Mountain People under Kee-Hish-Yah-Lah, if it comes to that. And he wouldn't mind a little help converting his young lover to the Faith.
Sister Elfene wants the Dogs to send Hesther back to her people and save her husband from the townspeople and their road agents.
Steward Melchior wants the Dogs either to stay out of his business, or else to help him round up Hesther and Amos. He doesn't believe for a moment that a pack of eighteen-year-old kids can fend off a Mountain People warband.
Brother August, the newspaperman, wants the Dogs to stop Steward Melchior and the others before they make an irreversible mistake. He also wants them to find some other way of appeasing the Mountain People -- one that doesn't involve handing over one of the Faithful.
6B. What Do the Demons Want? --
They want a showdown between Brother Amos and the road agents. They want the road agents to kill, injure, or rape Cha-See-Quee-Ah-Chee. They want Kee-Hish-Yah-Lah to continue his raids or order a massacre.
6C. What If the Dogs Never Came? --
The road agents would kill Brother Amos and rape the lovely Cha-See-Quee-Ah-Chee. Then Kee-Hish-Yah-Lah would send his warriors to lay waste to the town of Yellow Clay.
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I think this town is pretty straightforward, but I'd appreciate any input others have to offer. Thanks.
Looking at it, I might change that the mountain girl is a criminal the tribe wants back to execute. Thereby placing the Dogs in the traditional bind of one-life-for-many. Maybe add some sympathy for the girl in both the tribe and the town.
However, it does seem to be pretty simple, to me anyway. So as a stated goal I'd say you met it.
Neal, thanks for posting this... There might be enough time in my game tonight, after chargen, to run a simple town. If so... hmm!
What does Cha-See-Quee-Ah-Chee want?