WARNING: This game is the ancestor of the Clerical Error game written more recently by Kathleen De Smet. The newer game has undergone heavy revision. If you read this game you will both spoil some secrets and end up with some wrong information.
When we were working on Gloria we knew we wanted a character living during prohibition who epitomized Gluttony. We didn't go with the normal over-eating and over-drinking version of Gluttony, so we wanted Gloria to be hooked on everything; attention, glamour, anything new and fast. We originally planned Gloria to be a gender neutral character (or at least swapable). Unfortunately, by the time we finished the female version of the story, well, it was a bit too female. Even her item, a glamorous cigarette holder, just wasn't right for a guy. Since we didn't have time to rewrite the story from the ground up, and we managed to get at least two women for each of our runs, we left Gloria as a purely female character.
Gloria's important item was her gilded cigarette holder. We found a costume prop for this purpose. It wasn't as nice as I would have liked, but it was cheap and easy to locate. We provided the players with a rolled up paper "cigarette". Unfortunately the cigarette holder wasn't really as clearly connected to gluttony as it could have been, but I couldn't come up with anything better.
Gloria's original concept paragraph:
Gloria / Glen Consuelo
Gloria and her mother Maria have always lived barely on this side of destitution. Gloria never knew her father and as she grew up into a rebellious, fun-seeking teenager, her mother despaired of ever disciplining her. Though she had almost no money, Gloria soon learned that she could use her pretty looks to get things she wanted. The boys give her presents, money, and invites to parties. She falls in with a fast crowd, who spend their nights in clandestine speakeasies and their days driving fast cars. One of her boys even has a plane, which she loves riding in. Anything that gets her blood pumping: jazz, Charleston, illegal booze, shockingly short dresses and haircuts. Maria disapproves but is unable to control her willful daughter. Instead, she tries to introduce her to "nice boys" who could make a proper woman out of her. One in particular, William Angsten, seems to have fallen quite in love with her. He visits her nearly every day, treats her like a queen, is too gentlemanly to be pushy but constantly lets her know that he wants to be with her. But he never goes to the kind of parties or cares for the fun things that Gloria does; instead he works a steady job as a bank teller, which she finds too boring for words. She has no interest in him and never bothers to hide it. 1920's.
Friday's Gloria.Gloria's final character story (as given to players):
Gloria Consuelo, age 22. 1922
There is no such thing as too much of a good thing. I love it all and want it all. My mother simply cannot understand that, but then she has never taken a risk to taste all the pleasures there are in this great glorious world. During my whole childhood I had no idea how good life could be. No one ever said it, but we were just on this side of destitution. Mother almost seemed to enjoy her circumstance, taking on a mantle of martyrdom as if atoning for past sins. Sins like me. From the evidence, I can only speculate that she had a youthful indiscretion and when she found herself in a family way was abandoned by her erstwhile lover. I pity her but despise her inability to recover. She is still an attractive woman and could have married someone who could support us, but instead insisted on cloistering herself in the back room ruining her hands by cleaning other people's dirty laundry.
But that's enough about my mother. I am not going to end up like her; I am meant for better things. I figured out early on that what you can't buy with money, you can often win with charm. With a well-placed smile and a short enough skirt, I got invited to a few neighborhood parties. It wasn't long before I learned where the local speakeasy was, but no matter how I flirted with the doorman, I didn't have the pedigree to enter. My clothes were too last season to be taken seriously.
That's when I learned that smiles will only get you so far, and that an affectation of wealth will crumble if not supported by a few plausibly expensive possessions. I searched through an old trunk of my mother's for any baubles that I could use, but it was all hopelessly outdated. However, I was surprised to find a small cache of jewelry that I had never seen before. I was certain that she had never worn them in my lifetime, which struck me as a tragic waste. The string of pearls was not nearly long enough to be fashionable, but I figured Mother would never miss it and it made sufficient capital for me to buy a new dress and shoes.
I waited for a night when the doorman who had refused me entrance was not on duty. The new bouncer winked at me as he opened the door to paradise. My life had finally started.
I know this now because that was the night I met Veronica Angsten. She is the most supremely elegant woman that I have ever seen. The instant I walked in the room, my eyes found her, sitting at the bar coolly surveying the crowd. By my second drink, most of the men at the party were gathered around me laughing at my jokes, but I came to understand that everyone in the room knew Veronica and all of them deferred to her.
So I was quite flattered when toward the end of the night, she finally left her throne and approached me. She didn't say anything at first, just scrutinized me closely, tilting my head one way, then the other, spinning me around, and flipping my hair between her fingers. Finally she spoke.
Saturday's Gloria."There is something missing," she murmured. She considered with pursed lips for a moment, then placed her gilded cigarette holder in my left hand. I immediately struck the same kind of elegant, seductive pose I had seen her in all night. I was rewarded with pleased smile from Veronica.
"Yes," she said. "You will do."
After that, Veronica took me under her wing. An independently wealthy widow, she used her assets to aid my climb through society, as she found it quite amusing. She showed me how to dress and accessorize, took me to the fastest parties, and most of all, taught me the refined art of sophistication that lets you pull it all off.
The gilded cigarette holder was the first of many gifts and always my most treasured. Veronica always says that a lady would never smoke without a holder. Nothing makes me feel more elegant.
The more I saw of what the world had to offer, the more I wanted it. Bathtub gin wasn't enough; I wanted champagne. Waltzes couldn't get my blood moving like the Charleston. And once you've driven down the Appalachians in the sidecar of a motorcycle, a staid old automobile just isn't that exciting anymore. As I moved on to each new thing, last week's thrill paled in comparison and I just couldn't have enough. No matter how many new thrills I try, I always feel like there is something is more that I am missing out on.
Why You're Here:
You've been invited to the most exciting event of the year. A rather eccentric Boston philanthropist is throwing a charity gala on an honest-to-goodness Zeppelin! Veronica can't make it because she's going to have a baby soon. She's hoping it will be a boy so she can name it Geoffrey. She expects a full report about the event when you return home. You are checking into a local hotel the evening before the party, so that you will have plenty of time to prepare and look fresh at the actual event.
Sunday's Gloria.Tips:
Gloria is the quintessential flapper. If it's fashionable, if it's fast and fun, she's doing it. We will supply you with your cigarette holder (and a fake cigarette) and all other props that your character would carry. We are going to ask everyone to empty their pockets at the beginning of the evening, so you might not want to bring stuff you don't trust us to hold for you.
