[DitV] Flat Rock Branch

[Fortinbras]

Okay, here goes.  This is my first real attempt at using the town creation rules, and I was hoping to create something that would work as a first town for a new group.  I also decided I wanted to ramp everything up to Hate and Murder, so that it was really obvious how wrong things were here.  Plus, its interesting to see just how much one family's pride can screw up the whole town.

The Flat Rock Branch
Flat Rock is a small but comfortable little town a fair distance from Bridal Falls.  It is pleasant, is little bothered by the Territorial Authority, and has a relatively young new Steward, Br. Joseph.

Pride. 
   - Br. Theophilus is devout, intelligent, and hardworking, and considers himself better than many in the town.  Specifically he considers it the height of injustice that he, of all people, had a son (his third child, Br.Thomas) who is a cripple (I'm thinking       either clubfoot or hunchback, though it could go as extreme as dwarfism.
   - Br Theophilus' older two children, Br. Josiah and Sr. Constance are also very prideful, and consider themselves better than most of the townspeople.  Sr. Constance in particular believes that she is smarter and better equipped to be the steward than     her husband, Br. Joseph.

Injustice
   Br. Theopilus' pride leads to numerous injustices.  First, he greatly favors his older children over his younger, and Br. Thomas has always had to struggle to find acceptance, and often even work, in the town.  Second, his pride that he cannot possibly have had a deformed child leads him to doubt his the faithfullness of his wife, Sr. Rebeccah, and he neglects her.  Finally, in order to gain prestige (at least in his own eyes), he has arranged for a marriage between his daughter and Br. Joseph, despite the fact that Sr. Constance does not love the Steward.

Sin
   Sr. Constance, believing that she is better equipped to handle the spiritual well-being of the town than her husband, begins to quietly advise many of the townsfolk.

Demonic Attacks
   The relationships of many families in the town begin to fall apart, as they become baselessly suspicious of each other.  This particularly happens to those that Sr. Constance has been advising.

False Doctrine
   Sr. Constance's false doctrine is clearly that she is the correct Steward for the town, and that when the original Steward has failed (as she believes the towns increased disquiet and paranoia proves), that more qualified people should take over his role.

Corrupt Worship
   Sr. Constance begins to pray for guidance for the entire town, and for the removal of Br. Joseph.  She also comes to believe that Br. Thomas is a demon sent to plague the town, and that Br. Joseph's failing is not dealing with Br. Thomas properly.

False Priesthood
   Br. Josiah and about a dozen of the other members of the town begin to pray with Sr. Constance, believing her to be the true Steward of the town.

Sorcery
   Sr. Constance is unconciously controlling the demons, having them increase mistrust of Br. Thomas and confusing Br. Joseph to make him weak an ineffectual.

Hate and Murder
   Br. Joseph, despite the demons weakening of him, finally confronts his wife about the stange happenings in town.  In anger that he would dare to question her, she has Br. Josiah kill him.  She then tells the town folk that Br. Thomas was the one who killed him.  Much of the town is clamouring for Br. Thomas's death, while small number defend him, and most of the town stands confused.

What do the NPCs want?
   -Br. Theophilus wants the Dogs to free his son.  Much as he views his son as an unfair burden, he does not believe he is a demon or a murderer.
   -Sr. Constance wants the Dogs to accept her judgement and kill Thomas, and then leave as quickly as possible.
   -Br. Josiah wants the Dogs to exorcise the demons and kill Thomas, and he also wants their praise for he and his sisters righteousness.
   -Br. Thomas simply wants to live.
   -Sr. Rebeccah wants the Dogs to save her son, and to help her heal her family.  She wants her whole family to reconcile.

What do the demons want?
   The demons want the Dogs to kill Thomas, or some other innocent person.  They also want the cult to continue to grow, until Sr. Constance is the de facto leader of the Branch, and until the town is frightened into going along with them.

What if the Dogs never came?
   If the Dogs never came to Flat Rock, the towns people would execute Br. Thomas.  When Br. Theophilus and Sr. Rebeccah confronted their children, Sr. Constance and Br.  Josiah would kill their parents.  As the town continued to crumble, Sr. Constance would keep having to find more and more scapegoats.

[Levi Kornelsen]

Hmm.  If I ran this, my players would, quite likely, likely spend at least a bit of time checking out the other old families in town - which are the families Sister Rebecca has been counseling badly.

What would they want?

[Fortinbras]

Hmm...good point.  Most of them would want the Dogs to execute Thomas, and appoint a new Steward.  The more driven cultists would want them to appoint Sr. Constance (she's the one who's been giving advice, not Rebeccah.  Rebeccah is her mother), the others would just want "someone" they could turn to.  For extra fun, I think most of them would recommend Br. Theophilus, since he is well now for being devout and hardworking.

[Levi Kornelsen]

Heh.  Okay, that sounds right.

And it plays pretty well into our group - one of the key themes we want to hit is the idea of "inherited sin".  And I think that this town would likely let us play that up.

[Fortinbras]

Cool.  Glad to see someone else get use out of it as well.  One of the things I like about how it turned out is, no matter what, that family is screwed.  I feel very sorry for Sr. Rebeccah, there's no way she'll get what she wants.