Moonshine

Moonshine

Genre

Historical Urban Fantasy

Number of players

Up to 33

How long it runs

3 hours

Date written

First run 2022

Credits

Penny Sullivan, Jason Chappel, Charlie Tornatore, with editing by Melody Watson

Moonshine is an Australian freeform designed for play at conventions.

Summary

The city of Serenis has outlawed magic, the woman’s curse. The evils of witches, mediums and fortune tellers will be stamped out! As a result, the black-market sale of magical items and services is a highly profitable, if risky, business. Criminal gangs, or covens, of witches operate large empires of illegal activity, with kick-backs and bribes going to the corrupt city officials who allow them to operate. Belonging to a powerful coven is a quick path to wealth and respect that women in Serenis would otherwise never have. But they are playing a dangerous game and as criminals who operate outside the law, they are perfectly willing to resort to violence and murder to get what they want.

They meet at the Moonshine Club, where people can buy and sell magical services and items, alongside alcohol and entertainment. The leaders of the reigning Magliocco Coven are meeting the Mayor and Chief of Police at the Moonshine Club to renegotiate their deal for the next electoral term. The rival Nightshadow Coven is having a change of leadership and the lieutenants are jockeying for control. They may seek an alliance with the neutral Novak family of mediums or the mysterious Reynard Ecclestone and his business partners. The Arends girls are at the club for a night on the town, but they each have another reason for being here. Meanwhile the Soul Slingers Jazz Band struggle to keep their dream alive and a nice girl from out of town has hired a private eye to find out who killed her brother. And then there are the ghosts….

...

Moonshine focuses on gender-based inequality in a way that echoes the very real issues of racial injustice that were historically associated with, and the cause for, much organised crime. Prohibition of substances has historically been used as a tool to suppress BIPOC people, particularly in the United States. These injustices, and some of the responses to them, continue in various forms to this day.

All characters are gendered, including trans-femme, trans-masc and non-binary characters. However players are welcome to play characters of genders different to their own.

While the game includes gender-based discrimination and oppression, there are no plots involving rape or sexual assault. There’s enough disadvantage and oppression without it.

For those who have played Jason and Penny’s freeforms before and are looking for more of the same style of politics and negotiation, there are some characters with that style of play. However there are also several characters in this freeform who are more concerned with personal dilemmas based around their own identity. Let the GM know if you have a preference, and we can give you a character accordingly.

Previous runs

• Phenomenon 2022
• Conquest 2023