The Devil and Blind Joe
Jul. 23rd, 2003 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotnik2004We played Unknown USA again on Monday night. I thought it was a good, powerful session, thanks to my fine players, especially ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
editswlonghair, whose characterization of the hellbound blues man Blind Joe Biscuit has gotten so damn good since John & I decided to kill him off! He was good before, mind you, but now I just keep dumping bad shit on him, and John just runs with it, in a performance that is by turns funny, dark, and sad.
But the night did have a weird and not entirely healthy energy to it, as one player noted. Part of that was some sharing the spotlight issues, I think. But also things got a little heavier in tone than I expected. I actually put the Hell House in to lighten things up, if you can believe it, to make fun of all this talk of devils and final judgments and Hell. Things got a little creepy and it ended up being the second time in this game that I've squicked myself out a bit (the first being the infamous crackhouse in New Orleans—damn! it just occurred to me I should have called that crackhouse the House of the Rising Sun!).
Anyway,bryant has now put his fantastic summaries of the game online, and they're all here (in reverse order). Those playing have already seen the "Dear Brother" letters, of course. I offer the link for my non-local and even my non-gaming friends. Yeah, I know, first-person narratives of somebody else's RPG campaign, not exactly the top of everyone's must-read list. But take a peek. Bryant writes them exceedingly well and the game is, if I do say so myself, kind of cool.
...
Semi-related: I made CDs for the players in my game (cough**I'm such a geek**cough) of all the rootsy Americana music that had inspired it—James McMurtry and Drive-By Truckers and Robert Johnson and The Band and so on. If you've got a taste for that y'allternative shit I highly recommend Boot Liquor, an internet radio station from the fine folks at Soma FM. Soma also brings you Secret Agent (swank spy-fi) and Groove Salad (ambient beats and grooves), both of which are great 21st century muzak to work to. Got Groove Salad on right now.
editswlonghair, whose characterization of the hellbound blues man Blind Joe Biscuit has gotten so damn good since John & I decided to kill him off! He was good before, mind you, but now I just keep dumping bad shit on him, and John just runs with it, in a performance that is by turns funny, dark, and sad.But the night did have a weird and not entirely healthy energy to it, as one player noted. Part of that was some sharing the spotlight issues, I think. But also things got a little heavier in tone than I expected. I actually put the Hell House in to lighten things up, if you can believe it, to make fun of all this talk of devils and final judgments and Hell. Things got a little creepy and it ended up being the second time in this game that I've squicked myself out a bit (the first being the infamous crackhouse in New Orleans—damn! it just occurred to me I should have called that crackhouse the House of the Rising Sun!).
Anyway,
bryant has now put his fantastic summaries of the game online, and they're all here (in reverse order). Those playing have already seen the "Dear Brother" letters, of course. I offer the link for my non-local and even my non-gaming friends. Yeah, I know, first-person narratives of somebody else's RPG campaign, not exactly the top of everyone's must-read list. But take a peek. Bryant writes them exceedingly well and the game is, if I do say so myself, kind of cool....
Semi-related: I made CDs for the players in my game (cough**I'm such a geek**cough) of all the rootsy Americana music that had inspired it—James McMurtry and Drive-By Truckers and Robert Johnson and The Band and so on. If you've got a taste for that y'allternative shit I highly recommend Boot Liquor, an internet radio station from the fine folks at Soma FM. Soma also brings you Secret Agent (swank spy-fi) and Groove Salad (ambient beats and grooves), both of which are great 21st century muzak to work to. Got Groove Salad on right now.
