Players: Sam (Facilitator), John, Steve, and Brandon.

Playset: That band one

Let's meet our cast:
Daniel "Lionheart" Gregory (Played by Brandon), guitarist for Christian Death Metal (or Life Metal) band CRUCIFIXATION (umlaut over the "A.") He is a an exceptionally devout Christian and founding member of CRUCIFIXATION. Is prone to self-flagellation. Is also own roadie.

Dennis "Pastor Gouge" Potter (Played by Steve) Drummer for CRUCIFIXATION, not a devout Christian at all. Will stop drumming midsong and do altar calls for crowds, hates every second of it.

Naomi "The Harrow" Fennel (played by Sam) Bassist for the band, and coincidentally, the only member with decent amounts of talent. Also not a devout Christian, was only brought on to be watched over by her brother Sam. May or may not be a lesbian.

Sam "Samson" Fennel (Played by John), lead singer of the band, brother to Naomi, devout Christian, founding member, follower of prosperity gospel as opposed to Daniel's asceticism.

The story:
CRUCIFIXATION is on a countrywide tour, ending in Tampa, FL. Shows are sold out, crowds cheer. Everything seems to be going fine in this tour bus, but all is not well.

Naomi and the Pastor have signed paperwork that registers CRUCIFIXATION as, legally speaking, a church. The band's promoter, a Texan named Big Chuck, has a plan to gain publicity. He wants one of the members to enact a damnation/redemption story arc along the tour. The member who is chosen is the most devout member, of course, Daniel.

Justified to him as in service of the Lord, Daniel agrees to go along with the storyline. After smoking some "funny smelling green stuff" and blacking out, he wakes up to find his antics with a groupie were, in fact, filmed. They are grotesque, involving, among other things, riding boots, an authentic Nazi uniform, and a hamster. This video is uploaded to the Web by Big Chuck and it EXPLODES, going viral within hours. Their next show is protested heavily.

Pastor and Harrow, meanwhile, are accidentally CC'd an email from the DA, having insight into their making uncounted amounts of money and not paying a penny in taxes, due to the church status of their band. The information is highly detailed. They are immediately paranoid, eliminating Sam due to familial ties, and Daniel as he read NONE of his contracts and signed them "under the guiding hand of the Lord." At a concert, the investigator is found, and promptly crowdsurfed away and dropped on his head.

As we pass through Southeastern Tennessee, Naomi has picked a very clingy, completely-smitten man named Joseph, to play along for her family. After a largely uncomfortable meal, he is promptly dropped off on the side of the Interstate.

Naomi has plans to leave after Tampa to join a band called "Battleclit," a band of self-described "Icelandic Whores from SoCal."

As we pull into Tampa, our band is setting up for their final show of the tour. Pastor Gouge (who has found religion) has a crate of illegal, high-powered blue lasers, which he promptly points at Big Chuck's eye, incapacitating him and putting him out of commission.

The ACTUAL brains of the operation now gone, it is decided that Daniel will be set aflame to symbolize his descent into hell, and the blue lasers will be passed to the crowd to be shown upon him as the symbol for the light of heaven. Not knowing where to find a flame suit, it is decided that the suit will be built of an inner layer of tinfoil, with the outer layer of cloth soaked in alcohol. This goes wrong exactly how you think it would, burning Daniel extremely badly, and leaving him naked, as the extinguishing system has failed. The show must go on though, and Sam directs the audience to point the lasers at him to "redeem" him. Burned even more badly, Sam realizes his mistake, and directs the audience to point their lights towards God. Daniel is carted away.

Harrow, meanwhile, gives a deposition to a new investigator for the DA, and turns in Pastor in exchange for her and Sam's immunity.

THE AFTERMATH:
Daniel is physically destroyed after the disaster at the Tampa show. He also realizes some audience members died and some were badly injured by rogue lasers, and it is all his fault. He orders the nurse to stop the Morphine drip, renounces God, and dies of his wounds.

Sam continued to play CRUCIFIXATION songs in small pubs, where he is booked ironically as a sideshow attraction. He doesn't see it that way though, and continues to pore obsessively over videos of his shows, every show, forever.

Naomi was sentenced to community service, lasting, incidentally, exactly as long as Battleclit's remaining tour. They hit it big, while Naomi flounders in Florida among the slew of Death Metal bands in the birthplace of the genre. She is eventually found by Joseph, and she moves way out-of-state to escape him... for now.

The Pastor, after being released from jail, moves to Norway, and starts a new genre, White Metal, which is to Black Metal as Life Metal is to Death Metal. He achieves little success.

Favorite line: "Can you feel Satan's icy hand around your scrotum?"

Remarks: Loved this game. The "X Rule" was big for me, as we went some dark, twisted places, and knowing that anyone could stop it when it went too far was a good thing. I loved everyone's willingness to play with religious themes.

Thanks to Sam, John, and Steve for going on tour with me, and thank you all for reading my enormous write up.