CrowdOfDriftersOneShot

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[edit] Crowd of Drifters

A one-shot tabletop game run on vacation. Originally intended to be run in the car during part of the eight-hour drive from Newton to Perry, Maine, this adventure followed (geographically speaking) the path of that drive.

Its story was based on a Magnetic Fields song called "Crowd of Drifters"; its broader setting may or may not have connections to other one-shots, but its more practical setting was derived from that song's lyrics in a very literal way. The plot concerned a society of homeless, nameless, possibly deathless persons who wander America's highways and truck stops, using magic powers to secure rides or places to sleep. Several of these drifters crossed paths with a teenaged boy embarking on a transformation into a mer-prince (seriously); hijinks ensued.

This was Matt M.'s first attempt at a one-shot using a diceless, trait-based, ultra-simple narrative system.

Type: Tabletop/One-Shot

Genre: Suspense/Fairytale

System: proto-MOSSTIL

Date: August 2005

GM: Matt M.

[edit] Characters

PCs

Old hitchhiker (Kristen M.)

Played as a faded, charismatic-yet-sketchy old hippie, this fellow was the senior member of a partnership with the other drifter PC. Who knows who he used to be? Certainly not the GM. Ultimately overcame his agelong cynicism and strode into the sea.

Traveling salesman (Jamey P.)

A younger man, only about ten years lost. Wound up back home, regaining his memories and his life.

Marion Brook (Paul F.)

The son of a mer-man, Marion Brook spent the first seventeen years of his life in Indiana, Idaho, or some such; then, compelled by his salty salty blood, he started working his way east toward the Atlantic. ("Brook" 'cause it's watery; "Marion" 'cause of "mare," "ocean.") Eventually took to the ocean, after calling up a badass series of lightning-storms along the coast of Maine.

NPCs

The salesman's wife

Ten years older, widowed by the road, ultimately reunited with her husband.

A mer-man

Marion Brook's dad. Probably minor nobility--Duke of Passamaquoddy Bay or something along those lines.

The Passenger

Like in the Iggy Pop song, you know? The leader of the drifters. A cruel, miserable being at war with the future.