It’s the early 1920’s, the advent of the Jazz Age, a few years before the Great Depression, and just 60 years after the end of the Civil War, in Issaquena County, Mississippi and East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. East Carroll Parrish and Issaquena County are both overwhelmingly African American counties. There are certainly white people in these areas, but the two communities are segregated by force, history, and choice.
There are two rival juke joints, The Red Queen in Issaquena County, run by Lucille Johnson and her husband Baby Grand Anthony, and Jo’s Place in East Carroll Parish, run by the spooky, witchy twins Josephine and Genevieve Soileau.
This is farm land, mostly cotton. Juke joints are illegal and extra-legal establishments which serve as the hub of underground adult social activity. Half the patrons of these juke joints are not generally sitting next to you in church on Sunday. They are sitting on their front porches playing early incarnations of Northwest Mississippi blues, distilling and running corn liquor, or sleeping next to a beautiful woman of ill repute. The other half when you see them at church act like they didn’t see you at the juke joint. Just leave it at that.
The supernatural, ghosts and witches and all that mess? Sure. It’s everywhere. Some Church goers think that Hoodoo mess is damn near Devil Worship, but everyone knows that an omen is an omen, whether it comes from God or the Devil or something in between. A broken mirror is bad luck on any side of the fence.
In reality, Hoodoo is a folk magic that most people know and practice without any contradiction to their Christian faith. All folks throw salt over their left shoulders if they spill it while cooking or at the table, to keep the Devil away. Nearly every porch in East Carroll Parish is painted “haint blue”, because the color keeps both insects and ghosts away.
Characters in this game are African Americans living in two of the poorest counties in the country at a time when a lively musical tradition was just beginning to get recognized. This area and these people must be treated with respect in this game. Stereotypes are easy to fall into, and I want to avoid that. These stories are still important. Telling the tales of folks who lived in these places has value and will be interesting. Tread carefully and respectfully, recognizing the humanity of these characters, and we can tell a rich, entertaining story about people.
This game is based on the Hag Ride campaign setting for Mortal Coil, written by Julia Bond Ellingboe:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/85852
Style Standards: Post using third person present tense.
Hosted and narrated by:
Brennan Taylor (barsinister)
Started 01/27/15.
Scenes played: 1
License: Community License
