The Ghouls of Brixton
February 2, 2010 Here's a game scenario I plan to run at some point soon. It's an intersection of history and horror, which I think is a lot of fun, especially because it's an opportunity to use some old Clash, Pogues, Specials, and Damned recordings as background music for the game session.
(For the record, I know Brixton's nowhere near Birmingham. I was just riffing on a Clash song title.)
In late May of 1984, a night-mist rolled inland to Somerset, leaving in its wake a horror.
Few noticed immediately. Those who did, though, acted swiftly. Within hours, a small boat troop of SAS agents performed an insertion mission to Somerset, but only two returned. They were unable to make a final report, and could only rave about a cannibal bloodlust. Aerial surveillance of Somerset revealed innumerable corpses lying all about the city and surrounding landscape, many of which had been stripped of flesh.
Field research revealed that a blood-borne "entity" was to blame. Those "infected" became ravening monsters, losing all sense of self and self-preservation and seeking only to kill and feed on the flesh of fellow men.
The Prime Minister passed the Special Citizens' Act in an emergency session of Parliament. This measure gave Special Branch the authority to detain – or liquidate – any citizens suspected of having a connection to the disaster. Paranoia spread as quickly as the tragedy, and hastily built detainment facilities teemed with thousands of prisoners across the country. Special Branch arrested anyone and everyone, victims of the horror and suspected conspirators alike.
It wasn't enough. The horror spread too quickly. The detainment camps collapsed. Terrified people rioted, looted, and destroyed places suspected of being havens for the infected. The United Kingdom was a ruin.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations quarantined the island. International forces established three camps, one in Liverpool, one at Dover, and one in London, where they could evacuate those who proved to be untainted by the entity. A broadcast transmission implores survivors to make for the quarantine camps if they can make the trip.
You are one of those survivors, still clinging to life two weeks after the disaster. You and a few other individuals have convened in the basement of a block of council homes in Birmingham. The closest camp is Liverpool, just under a hundred miles away to the northwest. It's by far too dangerous a trip to make by oneself, especially since it's unknown what obstacles lie between here and there, but with the safety of numbers, it just may be possible.
Character Concepts
It's mid-1984 England. Before the disaster, England was a hotbed of unrest, where the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, led the UK's Conservative Party into the Falkland Islands conflict, against the European Union, and toward privatization that favored the already-wealthy and left everyone else enraged and disenfranchised. Working-class concepts are appropriate, as are the 80s English archetypes like skinheads, punks, goths, rebellious students, revivalist mods and rudies, displaced IRA sympathizers, soccer hooligans, and privileged children of wealthy families.
This is a survival horror scenario, so we'll be starting with utterly inexperienced characters. Build a stock, new character out of the rulebook, or give me a three-sentence character concept and I'll work with you to put it into game terms. Don't fret about inventory — it's just you and what you have in your pockets.
Reader Comments (2)
I think this sounds like a great idea. I wish you luck. I have been trying for years to bring a small group of D&D players out of their comfort zones and into the dark--all with little success. My attempts to tell Lovecraftian stories generally ends with arguments about "encounter balance" and whining about not having any Magic Missiles. I have, on the other hand, had phenomenal success every time I have recruited players who had never role-played before at all, which seems counter-intuitive to me. Clearly, experience is not necessarily everything. If you can find new players who can immerse themselves in your world, or players who *agree* that a sign of a good game is their hair standing on end, then you have a chance at something truly amazing. Good luck.
Point of interest: 1984 was the start of the Miners Strike, one of the defining moments of Thatchers time in power and a watershed for Great Britain as a whole. It is a time of massive unrest and turmoil, more so than you've outlined above.
An excellent choice of year.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_miners'_strike_(1984%E2%80%931985)
Are you going to include an ironic Band Aid / Feed the World reference? It would be appreciated...
Music of 1984: http://www.pure80spop.co.uk/chart1984jan-june.htm
Character concept: Striking Pit Electrician. (My dad was apprenticed down the pits when he left school, and took up the trade of electrician. He used to jury rig the cranes so they'd blow on a weekend, so he'd get called out to fix them and claim double time. Anyways, the character concept is a little homage to him.)
Likes Echo & the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, although tells the lads down the pub he likes Queen. Drinks Cider.
Supported the Falklands war, but voted Labour in '83.
Drives a Ford Escort.
Was a member of the Boy Scouts from the age of 8 until he discovered beer, girls and cigarettes
In the scenario listed, he would opt to travle to Liverpool via the longer route of the Welsh hills. Less traffic, less chance of meeting people.