Lord Knows I Don’t Begrudge Her It
“Lord Knows I Don’t Begrudge Her It” is a 24-hour RPG inspired by William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying. The game is set in the southern U.S. in the early 2th century. The players take the role of a household in which one of the family members has recently died. Before their death, the deceased family member made the rest of the family promise to bury him or her in a nearby town. It is therefore the duty of the surviving family members to transport the corpse of their dearly departed kin to a proper burial site. However, each member of the family has ulterior reasons for wanting to go to town, and is largley using their newly dead relative as an excuse to get what they want. Unfortunately for them, it won’t be easy.
The Family
The first thing that the players must determine is the nature of the family itself. It is assumed for the purpose of the game that the family is composed of poor country folk. The size of the family will be equal to the number of players plus one (the dead one). The family may be comprised of ?immediate? family members (fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters) or it may include other relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, and so forth. The family is assumed to all live together. The deceased may be any member of the family, from grandmother to daughter. As they will in some ways define much about the rest of the family, they are the first family member to be generated.
The Deceased
The players must discuss several aspects of the recently departed. What was their identity? How did they die? Why did they want to be buried away from their home? What was most important to them in life? Of what were they most afraid? Fleshing out the dead member of the family will help to give the players an idea of their own place in the family.
The Player Characters
After the departed member of the family has been fleshed out, the rest of the family must be constructed. This is in part an individual exercise, as each player creates their own character, but it should also be (at least partly) a group activity, as the characters are created to not only exist on their own, but also as members of the family unit. The characters need names.
Motive
Each player must choose one Motive for their character. In the game, the most important thing to your character is his or her Motive. This is what drives your character forward; what keeps them on the path toward their destination, and, most importantly, that which they value the most in the world. The Motive can be almost anything, but with the following requirements: there must be some reason that the Motive can only be fulfilled by a trip to town, where the dying member of the family has requested burial. Perhaps, for example, the motive is an object your character wishes to buy; perhaps there is someone in town that they wish to meet with. Or perhaps your character genuinely wishes to give your dead relative the proper burial that they deserve. Regardless, when obstacles threaten to turn you from the path to town, the only things that you can call on to make it through the hardship are your family and your devotion to your motive.
Tags: Michael Harrel
