[DitV] Cornfield Branch

[Bret Gillan]

Hey folks. First town. Wrote it up when I should have been working. I wanted a one-session town that went all the way to Hate and Murder. Not sure if this is doable in a session or not. The supernatural dial is a little on the high side here. I don't have much description for the town - I imagine it being a medium-sized town, with a decent population of Unfaithful. Mostly farmers. Not sure those details will come up, though. Hopefully I'll get to take it for a spin this weekend. Oh, and pay no mind to my alphabetically-named NPCs. It's this weird compulsion of mine.



Cornfield Branch

Pride - Brother Aaro died suddenly over the winter, leaving his wife, Sister Beatie, his oldest son Chaffin, his daughter Dianarea, and his infant son Elone, behind. Chaffin is a strong-willed boy, and refuses to listen to his mother. He takes his father's hunting rifle and goes to the woods leaving his family behind.

Injustice - Harvest came, and there wasn't enough food to feed the family. Beatie and Dianarea are hungry, and try to make sure that Elone has enough food.

Sin - With her mother's attentions on Eone and trying to bring Chaffin under control, Dianarea has taken to stealing food from Fonetta's root cellar. Fonetta is an old widow who lives by herself, and is Unfaithful. Sister Beatie hasn't even noticed that her daughter is staying healthy and strong despite meager meals.

Demonic Attacks - Sister Beatie is targeted by the demons, and she falls ill. She is bedridden and unable to care for Elone.

False Doctrine - Dianarea has come to justify her actions with the belief THE UNFAITHFUL HAVE NO RIGHT TO THEIR BELONGINGS WHEN THERE IS A FAITHFUL WITH GREATER NEED.

Corrupt Worship - Dianarea has taken to giving thanks for the stolen food, blessing it before she gives it to her mother and brother.

False Priesthood - Dianarea has enlisted her friends,  Gracen (m), Hydi (f), and Izen (m) to help her steal food, convincing them that helping her little brother and her sick mother by stealing food from the Unfaithful is a pious act.

Sorcery - The demons assist the children in their actions, granting them the ability to cloak themselves in shadow, climb walls, open doors with a touch, and move with speed. The children are thrilled, and at the whisperings of the demons begin stealing from the Faithful and committing acts of filthy voyeurism. By the time the children realize that it is not the King of Life blessing them with their abilities, they are enjoying it all too much to care.

Hate and Murder - Izen grows scared at being caught. He wants to tell his parents or the Steward. The other children beat him up, drag him into the woods, and stab him to death. When his body is discovered, the town is in an uproar and looking for someone to blame - the Unfaithful, the Mountain Folk, demons. Steward Jabe is trying to keep the town calm and figure out who killed Izen. Brother KDell and Sister Le, Izen's parents, want the murderer(s) found, and killed brutally.



What do the NPCs want?

Sister Beatie wants the dogs to bring her son back, and help her family. She believes that the food Dinah is bringing her is being sent by the townspeople. She doesn't suspect anything.

Chaffin wants to be left alone. He's still grieving for his father, and resents his mother not treating him like a man.

Dianarea wants the Dogs to go away, but she's afraid of them. Despite being a Sorcerer and having Demons at her disposal, she's still a little girl - a little girl who was taught to respect and fear the Dogs. She will try to keep them away from her family.

Elone wants the Dogs to change his diaper.

Fonetta wants the Dogs to figure out who's stealing from her root cellar. She's somewhat unaware of the horrible events transpiring in town.

Gracen is scared that he's going to be caught and punished now that the Dogs have come to town. He wants to kill the Dogs, and may try and find some way to poison them.

Hydi is overcome by guilt. She is crying a lot. Everyone assumes it's because Izen was her friend.

Steward Jabe wants the Dogs to calm everyone down, and help them to figure out what's happened and bring the murderers to justic.

Brother KDell and Sister Le want vengeance against whoever did this, pure and simple.



What do the demons want?

The demons want somebody innocent and preferably Faithful lynched over the death of Izen.

They want Dianarea to recruit more children to her cause.

They want the Dogs to accuse the wrong person of being guilty. And even if they get to the bottom of the False Priesthood, they want the Dogs, because that will go over REAL well.


What if the Dogs never came?

The demons would create special affects around the more pious Faithful to convince the town that they were the murderers and get them lynched. Dianarea would recruit more children to her cause. She would begin to revel in her power. Eventually the children would rule the town, imbued by demonic powers the adults couldn't combat.


Other Notes

Gracen and/or Hydi can easily be related to the Dogs. Hooray.

[Levi Kornelsen]

...I like this town a *lot*, and will probably snag and modify it for use in my own game.

[Warren]

I really like this town too, and I dare say that it will get stolen for my game too. Not sure if I will go all the way up to Hate and Murder personally, but very cool. And I love this line:

Elone wants the Dogs to change his diaper.

I so would love to see a conflict where the Stakes are "Do you change Elone's diaper correctly?"

[ubergeek2012]

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys. If you run it and post an AP thread, PM me and let me know so I can check it out. Also, I messed up this sentence.

And even if they get to the bottom of the False Priesthood, they want the Dogs, because that will go over REAL well.

That should say:

And even if they get to the bottom of the False Priesthood, they want the Dogs to kill the children, because that will go over REAL well.

[Bret Gillan]

That was me posting from my friend's laptop. Hurrr.

[Jason Morningstar]

I wanted a one-session town that went all the way to Hate and Murder. Not sure if this is doable in a session or not. The supernatural dial is a little on the high side here.

Just a couple of notes on this juicy town - I wouldn't assign any supernatural-ness until you've seen where your players want to go with it.  Let them set the dial by their interests and initiation conflicts.  Nothing here really breaks if the dial is set low, you just need to tweak demonic influence accordingly.

The town seems compact but if you only have a single session to run it, you will want to get right to the point and keep pushing hard all night.  Actually, do that anyway!

--Jason

[Arturo G.]

Hi Bret!

I have played your town last evening. My players were new to DitV, and it was my third try. Thus, I'm still having some troubles with the game itself (see the thread How to play NPCs who wants "to keep Dogs away").

There were three Dogs. When they were clearly suspecting from the children they managed to catch Dianarea alone. There were some interesting and tense follow-up conflicts. Finally she tried to flee using demonic powers to join the other two children to defend from the power of three Dogs together, but they won the conflict using some bullets at the end. There was some little chat about what to do with the other two children, and they killed them anyway.

Apart from my own problems with the game, the town worked pretty well. They enjoyed it quite a lot. When they revealed the origins of the problem and how all the things were related they were amazed.

Cheers,
Arturo

[Bret Gillan]

Wow, harsh! Your Dogs are hardcore!

I'm glad the Town worked out well for you.