Weirdness intrudes into the bustling streets and back alleys of modern Philadelphia, birthplace of the United States of America, as it ages through its third century. Strange and elaborate symbols drawn with cornmeal on the pavement in Rittenhouse Square, burned-out patches on the grass in Independence Mall, bizarre power fluctuations throughout the grid that seem to be guided by some unidentified intelligence . . .
While commerce, culture, and tourism continue unabated, a few wary citizens—or hapless victims—begin to sense that not all is right in the City of Brotherly Love. When a series of grisly murders in Fairmount Park attract national attention, each crime scene dripping with hints of occult significance, they decide that the police aren’t looking in the right places. They’ll have to take matters into their own hands . . . even though they don’t know what they’re up against.
—
Turning and turning in the widening gyre/
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;/
The best lack all conviction, while the worst/
Are full of passionate intensity.
—from “The Second Coming,” W. B. Yeats
—
This dark urban fantasy, with notes of supernatural terror and secret history, takes place in and around a Philadelphia very much like the one in our own world, but in the grip of sinister and supernatural forces. A paranormal conflict that threatens the very reality of unwitting citizens unfolds against a gritty backdrop of real-world locations.
Players (there will be three or four) can take the roles of ordinary citizens swept up in the occult crisis, competent heroic types drawn to the area to lend their talents to those in need, or even in-the-know participants with supernatural abilities and a direct role to play in the secret machinations taking place beyond the ignorance that veils most people’s eyes.
Feel free to create new Natures, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Subplots, using the existing as a guideline. Although it’s possible to have some familiarity with the supernatural, or even some paranormal abilities, please keep that light at the beginning, as the new and mysterious intrusion of weirdness into a mundane modern city is a major theme of the story.
Hosted and narrated by:
Alec Bings (Alec_Bings)
Started 05/09/14.
Scenes played: 2
License: Community License
