Steal Away Jordan: Stories from Americas Peculiar Institution

By Julia Bond Ellingboe

Steal Away Jordan is a vehicle for players to tell a collective story of the lives of people who live in the shadow of slavery. The emphasis here is on the people, not the place or time. The institution affects everyone, from the child born into bondage to the man who owns him. Steal Away Jordan is a role playing game written in the spirit of neo slave narratives like Margaret Walker's Jubilee, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Octavia Butler's Kindred. Like these fictional accounts of slave life, players explore the social and psychological implications of life in a society where people can be property. Ultimately, players consider slavery's long-term impact on a society and on the descendants of slaves and slave owners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257402458

Book preview

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For Chris, Bea, & Ingrid

Acknowledgements

Bear with me while I gush. Steal Away Jordan would not exist without: Professor Beverly Bond (Thanks, Mom!), Geraldus Bond (Thanks, Dad!), Liz Hankins (1944-2005), Meguey Baker ,D. Vincent Baker, Joshua A. C. Newman, Emily Care Boss.

Thank you to the first playtesters and readers: Meg, Vincent, Josh-ua, Emily, Chris, Tonya Dixon, Christine Geisler Andrews, Steven and Rachel Cronen-Townsend, Jonathan Walton, Dev Purkayastha, Jason Morningstar, Matt Wilson, Seth of Greenfield Games, Matthijs Holter (for the helpful critique and blodpudding), and others whose names may not be on this page, but whose assistance is no less appre-ciated. Collectively, thanks to the folks at The Forge and Knife Fight and Story Games.

Steal Away Jordan: Stories from America’s Peculiar Institution

Text and book design by Julia Bond Ellingboe

Stone Baby Games

First Revised and Redesigned Edition

© 2007, 2008 by Julia Bond Ellingboe

9781257402458

This is the Lulu version

Photographs and artwork public domain, culled from Library of Congress.

Steal Away Jordan

Stories from Americas Peculiar Institution

Julia Bond Ellingboe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Copyright Page

Introduction

The Setting

Creating a Slave

The African Slave

How Much Are You Worth?

The Conjurer

Attributes, Relations, Goals, Motives 8 Tasks

Character Examples

Playing Steal Away Jordan

Endings

General Information

Introduction

Servants, obey in all things your masters.

--Colossians 3:22

In Steal Away Jordan, all Player Characters (PC’s) start the game as slaves. The Game Master (GM) plays all other characters or Non Player Characters, or NPCs. PCs may die, escape to freedom, or otherwise attain freedom, and the player may then continue the story as a free person, or take on the identity of one of the other NPCs, be it another slave or a slaveholder. While a basic knowledge of American history is helpful, it’s not required of all players. If you’ve read or watched any work of fiction set in the pre-Civil War United States like Margaret Walker’s Jubilee, or Alex Haley’s Roots,, you can play. Ask yourself how would you act and what would you do if you were a slave, regardless of the time.

This is not simply a game about slavery.Steal Away Jordan is a vehicle for participants to tell a collective story of the lives of people who live in the shadow of slavery. The emphasis here is on the people, not the place or time. The institution affects everyone from the child born into bondage to the man who owns him. Steal Away Jordan is a role playing/story telling game written in the spirit of neo-slave narratives like Jubilee, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Octavia Butler’s Kindred. Like these fictional accounts of slave life, players explore the social and psychological implications of life in a society where people can be property. Ultimately, players consider slavery’s long-term impact on a society and the descendents of slaves and slave owners.

Slaves hoped, wished, and prayed for many of the same things for which their masters hoped, wished, and prayed. They took care of each other. Slave life was bleak, indeed, but people learned how to survive. They took joy, peace and solitude in the same things anyone does: our children, the company of our partners, our imagination.

Although I wrote Steal Away Jordan with the Antebellum United States in mind, slaves exist in all eras throughout past and current history. Create stories in other settings, such as a 21st century cocoa plantation in the Ivory Coast, ancient Greece, even a world of the future.

About this Edition

This the first revision of Steal Away Jordan’s maiden printing. I’ve cleaned up the layout, corrected the typos, added some bits on character and story creation. There are some clarifications to the rules, but no changes.

Please visit www.stone-baby.com for more information on rules clarifications, revisions, future editions, and news of other games in development.

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The Setting

Before you begin character creation, decide when and where your story takes place. Character occupations and relationships depend on the story setting, be it a cotton plantation in north Mississippi, a bustling colonial city in New England, or a sugar cane plantation in the Caribbean, etc. On smaller farms, slaves lived in the house with the owners, in a small room or loft. This puts them under the constant eye of their masters. By 1860, most slaves live on large plantations with 50 or more slaves.On large plantations or farms, slaves live in a community of other