Town: New Gidea

Pride: Master Printer was on his way to kill the man who raped his sister when the bandits attacked. Through fate he killed the leader and the rest surrendered. Then he killed the man and the man's wife.

He believes himself above the law, an instrument of God. He believes he is a Prophet of the Gun.

Injustice: The rape of his sister, the murder of the man's wife, vigilante justice, mobs hunting the typesetter.

Sin: Murder, heresy as he begins to worship the gun.

Demonic Attacks: An oppressive heat hangs over the town and it will only break when the town is either diffused or riots. Weapons and tools that can easily be used as weapons seem to be always within reach during moments of wrath.

False Doctrine: The Gun is the Lord.

Corrupt Worship: There aren't three yet but almost.

False Priesthood: The type-setting is printing a bible called the Book of the Gun.

Sorcery: Violence begets violence.

Hate & Murder: Every little grudge in town will turn to violence of the situation isn't seen to.

What do the people want? The people want justice and peace returned.

What do the demons want? Demons want the town's bible printing to grind to a halt so all holy books come from Back East.

What would happen of the Dogs didn't come? The town would erupt into riots as the Steward attempted to hunt down the type-setting to save him from the lynchmobs that have formed.

Townsfolk:

Seth Betheldon - Master Printer, educated Back East
Leah Betheldon - wife who is hiding her husband and enduring the townsfolk's disdain
Clarissa Betheldon - sister who feels the death is her fault (suicide?)

Elihu Steading - Steward
Amasina Steading - Steward's wife, former Dog but rendered blind, respected advisor

Kyle Richards - killed by Seth
Naomi Richards - killed by Seth, beloved in the congregation
Balaam Richards - Kyle's pa and foul-mouthed rabble-rouser

Absolom - apprentice type-setting, leading mercy posse to find Seth and save his life

Other players: Territory Regulators, lynch mobs, surrendered bandits

Notes: New Gidea is a burgeoning town on the eastern edge of the desert. If the town is successful it will be the first large scale Book of Life printing outfit in the territory.

Seth was a Printer, apprenticed and educated Back East. When he got a letter from his sister, saying that she had been treated roughly by Kyle, Seth made his way west thinking only of killing the man.

When he arrived in New Gidea he was to head up the printing operation but he had only violence in his heart. When bandits stood in his way to revenge he got lucky in a shoot-out and killed their leader. Then he stumbled into town in the middle o the night and killed Kyle and his wife in a rage.

Enter the Dogs.

Territory Regulators are on their way to pick up the captured bandits.

Lynch mobs prowl the streets in the humid night. Some want to kill the bandits before the Regulators, some want Seth hung and others want Seth safe. It is only a matter of time before the mobs begin fighting.

The Steward leads a Mercy Mob to find Seth and send him to safety until a Watchdog or an Ancient can be called to adjudicate. His blind wife, a former Dog, could be a nice role-playing opportunity.


Problems: I want women to play more of a role. I feel like they are ornaments or vicitms and that bugs me.

Is this too much of a shitstorm all at once?

I don't have the game yet; I have nothing constructive to say. But this is an awesome situation for roleplaying. I think you could push the situation really hard, keep the Dogs scurrying from place to place trying to put out fires before a conflagration starts... given the demon influence you mentioned, maybe a literal conflagration.

Oh, I do have possibly constructive thing to say: if you're concerned about there not being enough stuff for the women of the town to do, perhaps you could create more female faction leaders? If that doesn't fit the setting, they could be indirect leaders -- a Lady Macbeth type, or an older woman who carries some weight with the town's women. A female schoolteacher?

My favorite part of this is that it evokes a basic conflict about the nature of the dogs themselves--they are the arms of the lord of life, but they live by the gun. This false doctrine could be compelling to a dog who has lost their sense of priority.

Also, just because Clarissa got raped that doesn't make her either a victim or an ornament. Don't kill her off, have her engage with the crowds, with the dogs. Her position is complex, let her be filled with rage and power, rather than cutting her out.

yrs,
Em

Judd, care to say a little about how creating the town went? Like, did you start at Pride and work up through the steps, or did you have an end-state in mind and shake Pride etc. out of it?

-Vincent

lumpley wrote: Judd, care to say a little about how creating the town went? Like, did you start at Pride and work up through the steps, or did you have an end-state in mind and shake Pride etc. out of it?

-Vincent

Paka wrote: My next town is an abandoned Mountain Folk village now inhabited by a small congregation called Jericho Flats but that's all that is there right now. I know Jericho is a city in the Bible that was flattened-- something about a horn tearing down its walls, I think.

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.

Joshua 10:12-13 / King James Version

Thanks, S, for the links and the thoughts.

Much appreciated.

I made a mess of that one.

Job Gully was meant to be its own post.

Shite.

Emily Care wrote: My favorite part of this is that it evokes a basic conflict about the nature of the dogs themselves--they are the arms of the lord of life, but they live by the gun. This false doctrine could be compelling to a dog who has lost their sense of priority.

Also, just because Clarissa got raped that doesn't make her either a victim or an ornament. Don't kill her off, have her engage with the crowds, with the dogs. Her position is complex, let her be filled with rage and power, rather than cutting her out.

J and anyone else interested, here is Judd's RPGnet writeup of what actually happened in New Gidea.

-Vincent

S wrote:

Paka wrote: My next town is an abandoned Mountain Folk village now inhabited by a small congregation called Jericho Flats but that's all that is there right now. I know Jericho is a city in the Bible that was flattened-- something about a horn tearing down its walls, I think.

A wonderful name for the town, and great fodder for a DitV game, I'd say. Jericho is almost too perfect..
As the Israelites came into Canaan, their leader Joshua sent scouts/spies to get the lay of the land. They first went to Jericho, where they stayed at the house of a prostitute, Rahab. When the spies were found out, Rahab helped them escape the town - later, she and her family were spared because of this.

Jericho stood in the way of the Faithful (of that time), as the gate to Canaan. The Israelites marched around the city in ritual fashion, six times in six days and seven times on the seventh, blowing trumpets. With the help of God, "the walls came tumbling down", as the song says. Afterward, by God's commandment, Joshua and the Israelites razed Jericho - declaring that nothing should ever be built there again.

A whore with a heart of gold, miracles of conquest, the punishment of those who blocked the manifest destiny of the Lord's Faithful... if you use this in your game, can I play? :-)

- S

Interesting occurrence afterward, should you want to parallel Biblical progression in your stories:
The Gibeonites (people of a minor local 'kingdom'), afraid of conquest, tricked the Israelites into making peace with them. This prompted the rulers of five Amorite hill kingdoms to make common cause against Gibeon - and Joshua and his people were called upon to defend that city. A great battle was fought in the valley of Ayalon, in which the Israelites defeated their opponents. As the day ended and the Amorite armies fled, Joshua called upon God:

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.

Joshua 10:12-13 / King James Version

Note this is after the battle was won... Thus, over the course of a day and a half, the Israelites had light enough to chase down and slaughter all their enemies. In a DitV context: A miracle sent by the King of Life to protect the Faithful, or a sin of Pride?

See:
Jericho, Wikipedia
Jericho, JewishEncyclopedia.com
page on Gibeon