By The Intrepid in Folktales — 27 Sep 2025

Rosa's Last Stand

A Portland One-Shot for Paint the Town Red
"They can take our neighborhood, but they can't take our pupusas." — Graffiti on SE 82nd Avenue

At first, we thought we were stretching Paint the Town Red. It’s a game about decay, indulgence, and the endless spiral of immortals chasing fleeting highs. What business do vampires have saving a food cart?

But the rulebook itself insists: self-fulfillment is hollow without resistance. Systems of oppression — colonialism, conservatism, imperialist greed — are the true enemies. The spiral doesn’t stop until someone fights back.

So this isn’t a break from the premise. It’s the premise sharpened. In Portland’s Jade District, the undead don’t get to play saviors. They get to stand beside the living, risk exposure, and learn that solidarity is the only thing that outlasts entropy.

THE SITUATION

The Eviction Notice

Posted this morning on Abuela Rosa's cart: 48 HOURS TO VACATE. The entire Jade District food pod on SE 82nd faces demolition for a "Mobility Innovation Hub" — another tech campus disguised as urban planning.

Rosa's Salvadoran cart has anchored this community for fifteen years. Three generations work the plancha. The smell of masa and cheese draws lines around the block. More importantly, it's where day laborers cash checks, where teenagers get free food during lunch, where the community organizes.

The Venture Cryptalists smell profit. Amazon wants a fulfillment center. Bird Scooter needs a depot. The city sees "underutilized commercial space." The permits were fast-tracked through departments where nobody speaks Spanish.

How the PCs Learn

Option 1: Direct Appeal Paloma (Rosa's granddaughter) approaches the PCs directly. She knows about the supernatural community through her girlfriend Sage, a baby vampire who works at Powell's. "You have powers, right? Can you help us?"

Option 2: Community Grapevine Word spreads through vampire networks. This pod feeds half the undead in Southeast Portland — late-night tacos after feeding, 24-hour coffee during emotional crashes, neutral ground between territorial disputes.

Option 3: Bureaucratic Discovery A contact in the Bureau tips off the PCs. The permits were pushed through with supernatural speed. Someone's pulling strings from the shadows.

The Stakes

Immediate: Rosa's family loses their livelihood and gathering place
Community: Jade District loses its cultural anchor and organizing hub
Personal: PCs lose a safe feeding ground and neutral meeting space
Systemic: Successful resistance could slow gentrification across the avenue

KEY PLAYERS

Rosa Martinez

65, Salvadoran immigrant, cart owner Arrived in Portland 1987. Built the business through civil war trauma, language barriers, and economic racism. Speaks little English by choice — her community speaks Spanish. Has Fed three generations of neighborhood kids. Knows everyone's story, remembers everyone's birthday.

What she wants: To keep feeding her community until she chooses to stop
What she knows: Every family's situation, who's struggling, who needs help
How she helps: Free meals, check cashing, informal childcare, community bulletin board

Paloma Martinez

22, college student, Rosa's granddaughter PSU social work major, born in Portland but raised on stories of El Salvador. Fluent in English, Spanish, and activist organizing. Dating Sage (vampire). Has been documenting the pod's community impact for a class project.

What she wants: To preserve the cart while building power for the next fight
What she knows: Legal processes, media contacts, coalition organizing
How she helps: Translation, documentation, social media campaigns, permit research

Marcus Chen

28, Venture Cryptalist middle management Died in a Model S that drove itself into the Willamette. Now processes "optimization workflows" for vampire-controlled development schemes. Still believes disruption improves people's lives. Genuinely doesn't understand why communities resist "progress."

What he wants: Successful project completion, promotion within the Collective
What he knows: Development timelines, permit shortcuts, zoning loopholes
How he threatens: Expedited bureaucracy, surprise inspections, utility shutoffs

Detective Jenny Okafor

34, Portland Police Bureau Knows something's wrong with the recent development projects but can't prove it. Her beat includes SE 82nd. Has eaten at Rosa's cart for five years, knows the community. Suspects organized crime but doesn't know about vampires.

What she wants: To understand the pattern behind these rapid developments
What she knows: Which permits got fast-tracked, which inspectors seem compromised
How she helps: Official pressure, documentation, protective presence

COMPLICATIONS & ESCALATIONS

Complication Table (Roll d6 when PCs take significant action)

1-2: Bureaucratic Acceleration The timeline suddenly shortens. Inspectors arrive tomorrow instead of in 48 hours. Someone's pushing the system harder.

3-4: Community Division Some pod vendors want to take buyout offers and leave quietly. Others see this as surrender. Arguments break out during community meeting.

5-6: Supernatural Interference Other vampire factions get involved. Old Guard sees opportunity to gain favor with developers. Anarcho-Punks start planning direct action that could expose everyone.

Faction Responses to PC Actions

If PCs work within legal system:

Venture Cryptalists accelerate timeline
The Bureau creates new permit requirements
Detective Okafor becomes valuable ally

If PCs use supernatural powers openly:

Marcus Chen reports "unusual incidents" to his superiors
Community members notice impossible coincidences
Other vampire factions demand explanation

If PCs organize community resistance:

Local news coverage brings scrutiny
Police prepare for "potential unrest"
Mutual aid networks mobilize support

Escalation Track

Turn 1: Eviction notice posted, 48-hour deadline
Turn 2: Health inspector visits, finds mysterious "violations"
Turn 3: Utilities receive disconnection orders
Turn 4: Security guards arrive to "secure the property"
Turn 5: Demolition equipment stages nearby
Turn 6: Forced removal begins

Each PC action can delay the track by one turn if successful, or advance it by one turn if it backfires.

RESOLUTION PATHS

Victory Conditions

Immediate Success: Cart stays open, eviction canceled
Partial Success: Cart relocates but community connections preserved
Pyrrhic Victory: Eviction stopped but supernatural exposure threatens vampire community
Failure: Carts closed, community scattered, gentrification accelerates

Resolution Options

Legal Challenge Requirements: Evidence of procedural violations, legal representation PC Actions: Document permit irregularities, find sympathetic lawyer, pressure city council Outcome: Injunction halts demolition, but legal battle continues for months

Media Campaign Requirements: Compelling story, community voices, media contacts PC Actions: Help document community impact, protect sources, coordinate messaging Outcome: Public pressure forces city review, but attracts unwanted attention

Direct Action Requirements: Community consensus, safety planning, clear goals PC Actions: Provide security, handle logistics, manage police response Outcome: Immediate protection but escalates to physical confrontation

Economic Pressure Requirements: Identify financial weak points, coordinate boycotts PC Actions: Research investor connections, organize consumer pressure, disrupt supply chains Outcome: Developers recalculate profit margins, may abandon project

Supernatural Solutions Requirements: Careful use of vampire abilities, avoid exposure PC Actions: Influence key decision makers, access restricted information, create "technical difficulties" Outcome: Problems disappear mysteriously but create new supernatural obligations

Long-Term Consequences

Community Bonds: Success strengthens relationships with immigrant rights groups, food justice advocates, housing activists. PCs gain allies for future conflicts.

Faction Relations:

Venture Cryptalists remember interference, plan countermeasures
Anarcho-Punks invite PCs to join broader anti-gentrification campaigns
The Bureau flags PCs as "persons of interest" in future permit cases

Personal Growth: PCs learn limits of individual action, importance of community organizing, complexity of systemic change.

Epilogue Seeds

Rosa teaches PC to make pupusas (Bond opportunity)
Paloma starts documenting other vampire community organizing
Marcus Chen begins questioning the Collective's methods
Detective Okafor investigates other supernatural development projects
The pod becomes organizing hub for broader housing justice campaigns

RUNNING NOTES

Session Length: 3-4 hoursTone: Community solidarity with supernatural elementsKey Themes: Mutual aid, cultural preservation, limits of individual powerSafety Tools: Content warnings for displacement, economic precarity

Portland Details:

SE 82nd is actually called "The Jade District"
Food pods are real Portland institutions
Gentrification pressure on immigrant businesses is ongoing issue
Community organizing traditions are strong here

Vampire Integration:

PCs' supernatural abilities support existing community work
Success requires understanding and respecting community leadership
Individual vampire action can't solve systemic problems
Community organizing offers sustainable solutions

AFTERWORD

We thought we were bending the game. Taking a story of self-loathing and burnout, and trying to reframe it as mutual aid. We worried it might be too hopeful.

But rereading the text reminded us: Paint the Town Red has always been about systemic struggle. Pulse and Chaos aren’t just personal states — they’re how oppression isolates us, exhausts us, makes us fragile. The rulebook names it outright: there is no lasting joy without collective resistance.

So Rosa’s Last Pupusa Stand isn’t an escape from entropy — it’s what resistance inside entropy looks like. The undead help not because they’re heroes, but because they recognize themselves in the people about to be displaced. Their curse is eternal; Rosa’s struggle is immediate. Both are bound by the same hegemony.

This one-shot is a reminder: Bonds are fragile, victories temporary, collapse inevitable. But even cursed immortals can still choose solidarity. That choice doesn’t break the game. It’s what the game was asking of us all along.

CREDITS

Rosa's Last Pupusa Stand is an unofficial supplement for Paint the Town Red by Zachary Cox and SoulMuppet Publishing. This work is not affiliated with SoulMuppet Publishing and is published under the terms of their third-party content policy.