At the Crossroads (RPG All)

Our knowledge of London is increased by the buried dead. The suicides of the city were, until 1823, buried at a particular crossroads that still exists at the junction of Grovesnor Place and Hobart Place; it may therefore be deemed to be an unlucky spot. Peter Ackroyd, London Under: The Secret History Beneath The Streets

 

Faust, directed by F.W. Murnau of Nosferatu fame 

What is a crossroads? Why is it significant?

From Bullfinch's Mythology: The place where two or more roads intersect. Something sinister about crossroads has made such conjunction of highways a matter of interest for superstitions, beliefs and customs connected with this particular spot. Crossroads superstition was prevalent generally throughout Europe, in India, Japan, Greece, among the Mongols and the American Indians. Here were to be found demons, evil spirits, ghosts and witches, sprites, kobolds and faeries. It was the burial place of suicides and murderers, a dump-heap for parricides, and a rendezvous for witches who frequently used this uncanny place for their sabbat revels. Anything might plainly happen here. People feared and avoided this meeting of the ways. 

Divinities were sometimes associated with the crossroads, perhaps to repel or neutralize the evil influences attached to the locality. In Greek mythology, both Hermes and Hecate were connected with the crossroads. Such ceremonies were practiced at this spot as sacrifice, offerings, divination and many magic rites.   

So this is a spot where the influences of the normal world are weakest, where strange things lurk and occasionally peep through the cracks. In Esoterror terms, the Membrane is weak here.

It's also a psychic dumping ground. If you bury your unwanted or evil dead all in one spot, you have to expect some kind of spiritual leakage from all those unclean corpses.

As can be seen from the Murnau clip, the best - that is, the most evocative - crossroads are far from any sign of human life. So far distant from light, warmth and all things comforting, it is easy to see how such a fell and lonely spot might loom large in popular imagination. 

Of course, things change. New York's Times Square Broadway is a crossroads. It's difficult to imagine a less lonely spot on the planet; at any time of day you're bound to meet someone there. Whether you want to meet them or not is something else again. That, and there would have been a time when what is now Times Square was just a collection of dirt tracks separating farmsteads, just as lonely and desolate as you like. Cities grow, and swallow the lonely places.

Ackroyd mentioned a particular spot in London:

As you can see from the map the crossroads he cites are right on what is now Grosvenor Gardens, among other things. Some very high-end houses, hotels and businesses round that way, which presumably haven't been put off by the miasma from the suicides buried beneath their businesses and cafes. Clearly it can't be that unlucky a spot.

Although you do have to wonder what it's like at midnight.

Gamification:

Assignation at a Crossroads

Your contact has agreed to meet you at a crossroads at midnight. Whether this is a bustling metropolis or a lonely roadside cafe (or perhaps just a collection of scrubby trees and badly maintained street lamps) you can't help but feel a frisson of nervous anticipation. What information do they have? Why meet here, of all places?

• Psychic Dead Spot. The contact chose it because a crossroads is a kind of protection against psychic intrusion and spiritual eavesdroppers. A conversation held here can't be overheard by the dead, or those who rely on ghosties and ghoulies as their eyes and ears. However, the contact is being followed by the dead so as soon as the characters leave that spot they will be picked up on, perhaps pursued. Is there a safe way of leaving a crossroads?
• Meeting of the Damned. The contact doesn't realize that this is where a particularly dangerous group of undead lurk - perhaps strigoi, perhaps even vampires. The contact doesn't realize this because the contact has been suborned, and is working with the enemy. This is a lure, a trap to get the character to meet somewhere their protections are weakest. If this is a savings throw or advantage-style game like D&D, then all saves and combat rolls are at disadvantage while the characters are within a certain distance of the crossroads. Those who can see spirits see the unhallowed dead all around them, hampering the characters' every move.
• Crossing Signals. The contact is trying to find out whether the characters are in league with the enemy. He wants to see how they behave around a crossroads, whether they're affected in any way by their proximity to the unhallowed dead. If the characters pass the test then he has valuable information for them. If they don't, he has something considerably more lethal in mind. Occult spends may be very helpful here, convincing him that he has nothing to fear.

That's it for this week. Enjoy!