Content Warnings: Strong Language, Sexual Content
Everyone who was in the Great Molasses Flood is dead. The location is now just a park: a baseball field, an ice rink, bocce ball. Despite the tall tales, you can’t smell even a hint of molasses on the site.
But some echoes still remain.
The Great Molasses Flood is a weird historical fiction campaign based on a real-life disaster, using the Rosette Diceless system from Future Proof Games, a system designed in part by Gregory, the host and Narrator.
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Become a Patron!Books and games mentioned in discussion:
- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
- End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
- TimeWatch by Kevin Kulp, using the GUMSHOE system
- Predation by Shanna Germain, using the Cypher System
- Zoetrope by 7 Dane Asmund
- Microscope by Ben Robbins
- Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs by The Chinese Room and Frictional Games
Player Characters
Lorenzo Caligari: A firefighter and veteran; second-generation Italian immigrant. He has Boundless Endurance and the Secret, “Why doesn’t Lorenzo talk about his older brother Salvatore?”
Sam Michaels: A sailor and veteran on leave. He has Uncanny Insights and the Secret, “Why does Sam stay at sea despite the difficulties and limitations?”
Harmony Wright: An activist for the Socialist Party of Boston. She has Inner Peace and the Secret, “Why did Harmony come to Boston?”
NPCs
Ashley: A strange individual wearing blue canvas trousers, a hooded red sweater, and an orange vest with glowing stripes. They were watching the neighborhood before the disaster and using a handheld adding machine.
The Cut-Up Man: A strange individual with yellow, papery skin and a gray suit with horizontal black stripes. They were talking to George before the disaster.
James: The barkeep and owner of the Block and Tackle bar.
John Berry: A stonecutter who was hanging out with the firefighters.
George Lahey: A firefighter who was speaking with a strange man in a suit before the disaster.
Paddy Driscoll: A firefighter who became trapped among the wreckage of the firehouse.
Teddy Roosevelt: Former president of the United States known for his confrontational persona, love of nature, advocacy of corporate regulation, and aggressive imperialism.
Acknowledgements
This episode contains a reading of “Didn’t Sappho say her guts clutched up like this?” by Marilyn Hacker.
The theme song for this campaign is “Great Molasses Disaster” by Robin Aigner and Parlor Game, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
The main historical source for this campaign is Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo. Additional credit to James Gleick’s Time Travel: A History.
We are using the Script Change RPG Toolbox by Beau Jágr Sheldon, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.