Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Templar · Seasoned Joined: 10 Mar 2010 Posts: 264

I got an idea recently that I wanted to get some thoughts on. I read the story Lottery and liked the idea of a variant. Several communities within about a mile of each other each have a special little ritual of sacrifice. They actually send a few people to try to grab one or two prisoners from the other settlements with the goal of sacrificing them to scare off 'the dark one' some powerful evil being they think is stalking the settlement.

Technically the actual drops in their numbers come more from the poaching from the other settlements trying to avoid 'the dark one' but I am thinking that the Reckoners might cotton to this idea enough to eventually create a dark one to terrorize the towns further, though it of course could be sated by leaving some sacrifices.

Just wondering what others think of the idea, if you like it or think it's stupid.

Sitting Duck · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:24 am Post subject:

A variant of your variant is used in the Supernatural episode Scarecrow. In that case they would use some hapless transients for the sacrifice.
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JackMann · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:39 am Post subject:

Mmm. Could work. I don't think you'll really be getting much of the feel from The Lottery, but human sacrifice to ward off dark forces is a pretty standard trope, and there's a lot you can do with it.

Now, if you really want to invoke The Lottery, the real horror in the story is how banal the whole thing is. There's no real reason for the sacrifice other than the fact that it's always been done that way. It's traditional. It doesn't serve any real purpose, but people are still willing to go through with it--so long as they're not the ones who draw the black mark. It's the brutality that the villagers were capable of producing against their own, so long as the tradition said it was okay. That's what makes it so striking. If you can produce that in your game, your players will be more strongly affected.

ValhallaGH · Legendary Joined: 25 Apr 2010 Posts: 4482

'Tis a fine starting point.

People believe in horrible thing, horrible thing appears, belief is reinforced, the cycle of fear and pain continues and escalates to a Deadland.

Best of luck.
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Edivdrone · Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 2:57 pm Post subject:

I stand somewhere in-between Jack and Val. When a monster shows up and starts chomping on people, it causes some fear, but people then grab their guns, and go hunting. Yet when a group of otherwise normal and sane seeming folk, including the kids, suddenly turn savage and stone one of their own friends to death, this invokes a sense of deep horror and revulsion. This group could be mundane, or they might have supernatural power as cultists, with the outcome of this rite being exactly what they think; abundance of harvest. Either way produces it's own flavor of terror, and the town would almost certainly be the source of fear in the area. And if they are cultists, they are almost certain to be tempted to sacrifice more often than just before the harvest. In return for more power of course...
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