The year is 1974. A pleasant time to be an American. The nation has watched the president flash some peace signs and fly off in a helicopter less than a week ago, Evel Knievel has unveiled plans to launch himself over a five hundred foot canyon in a rocket, and Blazing Saddles has worn out the reels of movie theaters nearly non-stop for the past five months. In Southern California, things are especially pleasant. This is where the longhairs, skaters, hippies, and hare krishnas of the country have condensed into a population large enough to vote. The few souls that didn't return home for a shower and a haircut after the Summer of Love, baking in the unforgiving heat and weaving flower chains by the side of the road. One such collection of flower-weaving loons is the Church of the Consuming Fire, a sect of Christian hippies known throughout the greater Los Angeles region as the source of the "Golden Tickets"; eye-catching yellow pamphlets that began circulating three years ago with the release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Anybody who's anybody has seen at least a dozen golden tickets, be they tucked into the bus stop bench seats, wheat-pasted to the bathroom walls of any dive bar on Sunset Boulevard, or tacked onto the corkboards of every skate shop and grocery store this side of the San Bernandino mountains.
Aside from the tickets, the only thing a layperson could tell you about the Church of the Consuming Fire -- or CCF as they like to go these days -- is that they're involved with a lot of standard church charity and are unfailingly nice. They can be seen on Hollywood Boulevard seven days a week, handing out sandwiches, lemonade, toiletries, and pamphlets to the homeless. They offer a free hourly bus to their property twelve hours a day, every day, ferrying the residents of the nearby town of Rosamond to Hollywood for work in the morning and shepherding curious tourists and passers-by, as well as LA's destitute beggars looking for help back to their compound, a walled-off oasis thirty miles from two nowhere-towns, two hours from Hollywood, and firmly in the middle of the Mojave. That's why your job is so hard. You're the private investigator -- or at least, a private investigator -- hired to find one Darnetta Dietz, a sixteen year old girl last seen talking to a group of Consuming Fire enthusiasts on Hollywood Boulevard. The police have been on the case for three weeks with no leads, leaving the girl's father to your investigations company. With that I'll drop the GM voice. I'm seeking players interested in either playing private investigators or CCF members. Have at it.
@Opposition@Rockette Glad to see some interest! Here are the available character niches for CCF characters. None of these are be-all end-all gimmicks that you must follow, but since I've been researching the subject for the past few weeks, I figured it'd help to boil down all the archetypes of people prone to falling into cults. I'll try to come up with detective archetypes later.
Acolytes. Everyday members of the church who haven't fully devoted themselves to the cause, typically young people dissatisfied with their religious upbringing, addicts and panhandlers trying to get a fresh start, or runaways and other similarly vulnerable people in need of support. Level One members live outside of the commune, own possessions, and have normal names.
Crazed Fanatic: An over-eager eccentric drawn to the church's occultist leanings and supernatural claims, still at the lowest rung of the ladder due to the group not trusting them with confidential information. Likely suffering from a mental illness the church discourages conventional treatment for, and a likely scapegoat for any of the church's crimes due to their visibly erratic nature.
Misguided Christian: An otherwise trusting and impressionable Christian who fails to see the cult-like behavior past the friendly faces and drum circles. Possibly a citizen of Rosamond who uses the CCF bus to commute or who attends events on the compound.
Vulnerable Wanderer: A supporter drawn to the CCF's support and answers to life's biggest and most daunting questions. Typically people who have previously faced great tragedies -- veterans, abuse victims, parents of dead children, drug addicts, etc. -- who find comfort and adjustment in the church's doctrines.
Made men. Church members who have renounced life outside of the compound, who have signed all their belongings and assets off to the church, and who have taken new names from the Old Testament. They typically stay in the compound, only leaving to proselytize in LA or attend to business matters.
Believers: The well and truly brainwashed, who act as security guards, spies, and ambassadors for the church outside of the compound, and overseers of labor within the commune's walls. Likely willing to kill or die for the church.
Doubters: Identical to the first group save for their wavering faith below the surface. Those who have pulled back the curtain to see the church for what it really is, who are too afraid or doubtful of their own knowledge to attempt leaving.
The upper echelons of the church, who are either completely brainwashed or not brainwashed at all. They are called "The Most Devout", and wear all white within the compound, but leave the compound more frequently than Level Two members.
Business Partners: Early adopters of the church who have zero belief in the church leader's supernatural abilities, who are using the church out of a desire for money, sex, power, or all three. The members of the church who are best at maintaining the illusions given that they know they're illusions. Sheriffs, small business owners, and influential, charismatic figureheads.
True Believers: Fanatics who believe in the church doctrine so hard that they're willing to maintain illusions and otherwise bend the rules of their faith in order to maintain it. Members of the Most Devout who are not supporting the church leader financially or are married to him are typically followers who have successfully committed so many crimes in the name of the church that not rewarding them with extra privileges would become a liability.
Sister-Wives: The church leader has a dozen wives who live in his sectioned-off manse within the compound. Like the other high-ranking members, they are either completely accepting of all of the church doctrine, believing that they are married to a prophet in order to propagate his future teachings, or believe zero of the doctrine, and are worried for their own safety as their importance has diminished with every wife added to the fold. Either jealous of Darnetta's presence and hoping to kill her or ashamed at her involvement and hoping to help Darnetta to freedom.
