Finally, in any case where a character has lungs that are atypical in some way, they should discuss with the GM what would be appropriate for their ability to hold their breath.
Rule Addition: Skee-Ball
Skee-Ball is HARD. That’s the first thing to know about it. The second thing to know is how you figure out your score. Your best score across 10 games of Skee-Ball (which will cost you one dollar) is calculated as follows:
1. Roll Fight and Grit and add the total together.
2. Then, multiply that sum by 10.
3. Then, add 100 to get your best Skee-Ball score.
Unlike most rolls, your Skee-Ball roll only explodes if both dice explode.
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Boxcar Boys - Railroads of the USA
by Kira Magrann
Content Warnings: family estrangement, homelessness, poverty, racism, starvation, teen death, trains, violence
Setting information
In the summer of 1932, during the Great Depression in America, 250,000 teenage hobos were roaming the rails. Some left home for romantic dreams of finding themselves, some were too poor and a burden to their families, but they all left in search of a better life. The boxcar boys and girls were all on the road to find the freedoms that might be out there somewhere in America.
While most of the travellers were “roving boys,” there were also some girls that wore boy clothing for safety, and also a few African Americans who chose to travel the rails. They often started at the age of 13 and hopped on boxcars from New York City to Phoenix, picking up odd jobs or joining teen gangs of pickpockets along the way.
Lots of the kids would gather together on the boxcars, reading literature, staring at the stars, and sharing stories of who they were and what they’d seen. Poverty, racism, and violence were not uncommon, but many of the kids banded together in a similar dream, or even just to survive this dark period of American history.
Setting Touchstones
Carnivale (TV series), The Devil’s Backbone (film), Mad Men (TV series) Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: Where are you all riding to together?
• Group: Why does this particular train scare you?
• Group: Are you ok with criminal behavior?
• Group: What town are you excited to stop in on the way to your destination?
• Individual, Shared: If all of your problems went away, what would be your ideal dream for the future?
• Individual, Shared: What secret are you nervous that other people might find out about you?
• Individual, Shared: What’s your preferred method of getting food?
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Possible Points of Interest
• The types of boxcars that kids could jump onto vary from grain to fruit to boxes of pocketwatches.
• Sometimes the boxcars had other people traveling in them, older bums that could prove dangerous.
• Arkansas, Virginia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania... basically any state in the U.S. that has a train stop.
• Cities are sometimes good to hop into for thieving and entertainment and a one-night story.
• A deserted stop out in the country will sometimes lead to a friendly stranger or a bed or barn to sleep in at night.
• Forests can offer shelter, but beware of wolves and bears and mountain lions and thieves who would attack a campsite at night.
• Hobo camps can be a place of refuge to find friends or get word on a new job, but beware of scammers and desperate people.
• A corn field where boxcar kids could sleep relatively hidden at night, if there isn’t a monster amidst the rows.
• The deserts in the western parts of the U.S. can be beautiful, but they also contain rattlesnakes and scorpions.
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Possible NPCs
• Molly Anderson, another boxcar hopper. She’s a bit older (around 18) and has seen things out on the tracks. She prefers to travel alone and possesses both occult and travel knowledge, if you can get her to trust you.
• John Edwards, one of the kinder police officers, who usually turns a blind eye to kids’ illegal activity as long as they’re not hurting anyone. If pushed he’ll take people in, and he’s known to break up fights and sometimes throw bullies in jail overnight to protect other kids. Officer Edwards is unfortunately still tied to the law, so his generosity can only go so far.
• Conductor James, who drives a popular route across the country, east to west. His train is known as the “Turtle Hopper” colloquially, because he’ll purposefully slow down for kids to more easily hop onto the boxcars of his train. A quiet fellow who mostly drives and has seen a lot in his time.
• Ruby McIntire, an older woman who owns a bakery at a Kansas stop. Ms. McIntire always gives out free bread and a warm place to sleep, in exchange for a day’s work in the bakery kitchen.
• Ray Tully, the ghost of a reading boy who is often seen on boxcars. He had dreams of living free on the road for all his life, a wanderer. In un-life, it has become true.
He’ll share bittersweet stories of his travels on the trains and provide a dark possible ending narrative for the PCs.
Possible Adventure Hooks
• This particular boxcar is haunted, and every night the ghosts get closer and closer.
• You’re kicked off the train at night in miles of woods in Pennsylvania. The howls coming from the trees are inhuman and terrifying.
• There could be an easy week of pay in this camp, but you have to steal something from a rich person’s manor in town in exchange.
• Go West Young Man… go train-hopping until you reach California. See all of America along the way.
• The cops are checking the boxcars of the train you’re on. How do you manage to avoid arrest?
• One of you finds out your younger brother is searching for you on the boxcars, but you’re not sure why. Rumor has it he has gone missing.
• Someone’s parents send you a telegram that things are going badly back at the farm. How do you get the money to send back to them?
Possible Threats
• The police, who are always on your backs.
• Other homeless youths who are bigger, stronger, or more ruthless than you.
• Normal white racist families.
• Predatory animals in the wild.
• Poisonous plants or berries.
Possible Powered Characters
• The Wandering Gentleman, a mysterious man who appears from the shadows of boxcars to protect children from evil.
• Jenny Brown, a teenage witch who can use hobo sigils to cast useful spells.
• A traveling banjo player, in his twenties, whose songs are riddles to what mystical things lie on the road.
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• Hungry ghosts, ash-colored and transparent — they might be someone you know who died on the trains recently, but they’re kids just like you. They have the power to make those near them incredibly sad and thus suck out their life-force. Compassion toward them is their weakness.
• Red Eyes, creatures in the dark wilderness that trains travel through at night that are said to be half man, half beast.
• Witches. Gentle, motherly types who invite kids to stay with them for the night but who will kill and eat them.
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Boarding a Moving Train
To board a moving train, you must make a Flight check. If you have taken steps to prepare yourself (such as finding a good, flat stretch to run and get up to speed ahead of time), you can take a Planned Action. However, if you are attempting to board a train more unexpectedly, it will be a Snap Decision. If you have allies on the train already, they can make a Brawn check (5 or higher), which could be a Planned Action if they are prepared. If they succeed, they can provide +3 to your check.
Conditions
Modifier
somewhat uneven ground
+1
(pebbles, some roots)
uneven ground
+4
(large roots, loose rocks)
recently rained
+2
light rain
+3
torrential rain
+5
night, half moon or brighter
+1
night, less than half moon
+2
train going faster on a straightaway
+4
train slowed
-3
snowy
+4
dark
+2
being chased
+2
If, however, there are any travelers actively trying to keep you from boarding, you must make both your Flight check and a separate combat check (with you as the defender) against each passenger trying to prevent you from boarding. So, if three passengers are trying to prevent you from boarding, you must make the standard Flight check and defend separately against all three of them in order to board.
Trying to board a train on a flat, level area in dry conditions in the middle of the day should be a difficulty of 5.
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Welcome to Stahlsburg - StaHlsburg, RI
by Sen-Foong Lim
Content Warnings: desecration of corpses, drowning, human sacrifice, Nazis, vampirism, violence against animals
Setting information
While Stahlsburg, Rhode Island doesn’t attract as many of the rich and famous as nearby Newport, it has its own charms. The rare oceanic climate means the town is blessed by temperate weather, remaining cool in the summer and mild in the winter.
Stahlsburg is the smallest town in the smallest state in the union. Most of the town’s roughly 1,000 inhabitants work supporting the bustling summer tourism industry, with the rest providing the infrastructure for the small town. There is a doctor, a dentist, a police station, a K–12 school, a museum, a library, a grocery store, a gas station, and a small airport. Ferries run between the north harbor and the mainland, making the hour-long voyage across the 10-mile-wide Stahlsburg Sound at least twice a day.
People from the mainland flock to the island for Stahlsburg’s famous holiday parades.
The island’s five lighthouses stand watch to mark key points where sandbars and rocky shoals have meant the demise of many ships. One that was notorious for not running aground was the U-853, a German U-boat sunk by the U.S. Navy just eight miles off the coast of Stahlsburg at the end of WWII. The whole area is a now a hot spot for sport divers due to the many wrecks offshore.
With only nine square miles of land, you’d think a kid couldn’t get into much trouble in Stahlsburg.
You’d be wrong.
Setting Touchstones
American Vampire (comic series), “Lore” (podcast), Mysterium (board game), The Strain (novel), We3 (comic series) Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: Which of the NPCs does your gang perceive as their nemesis?
• Individual, Shared: How do you feel about the recent arrival of the ECA to your hometown?
• Individual, Shared: What rumor about the island interests you the most and why?
• Individual, Shared: What is your character looking forward to and why?
• Individual, Shared or Private: How does living on an island affect your character?
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• Individual, Private: What’s one place on or around the island that you do not ever want to explore and why?
• Individual, Private: Of all the places on or around the island, which one resonates with you the most and why?
Possible Points of Interest
• Little Salt Lake is at the center of the island with tributaries leading to Stahlsburg Sound. Local legend tells tale that Captain William Kidd, the infamous pirate, hid treasure in its depths in 1699.
• Moon Beach, on the north shore, is a popular summer hangout. On a calm day, you can swim to the sandbar. On a warm night, it’s the perfect make-out spot.
Many rumors surround Moon Beach, including ghost stories of long-lost lovers.
• The wreck of the U-853 is located in the water about eight miles east of Stahlsburg. It has recently become popular with divers, who have begun to explore this underwater graveyard — even, apparently, at night.
• An archaeological survey of Niantic Bluffs, just west of the southeast lighthouse, recently uncovered a cave system in the bluff with paintings covering the walls.
Some depict the Niantic tribes driving off the invading Mohegans. Some depict other more cryptic and troubling acts.
• The Stahlsburg Betterment Council hopes to expand the north harbor, but the nearby sandy dunes are home to many endangered species. The Environmental Conservation Agency (ECA) opened an office on the island last year and their lead scientist has been raising a stink about this since she arrived.
• The five lighthouses have been part of a local teenage rite of passage since time immemorial — can you race to each lighthouse and reach the top of each one between midnight and dawn?
• Stahlsburg was under covert observation during WWII due to the number of people of German ancestry living here. Tales of spies still persist to this day!
Possible NPCs
• Sergeant Heinz “Hank” Baumeister, who is a stickler for rules. He’s a constant thorn in the side of any kid who just wants to have fun. Hank yearns for some real crime
— not just stopping traffic during one of the island’s civic parades.
• Margaret Carter, the proprietor of the gas station and grocery store on the island.
She is the town’s busybody, and there’s not a person she doesn’t know or a rumor she hasn’t heard.
• Dr. Carol Cushing, who heads up the ECA. With multiple PhDs in evolutionary biology and endocrinology, she is working so that no one trespasses in the wooded area to the east or the dunes to the north.
• Gerhardt Dietrich, the latest in a long and venerated lines of lighthouse keepers — a job that has been in his family since Stahlsburg was founded. A man of strict disci-pline, he ensures that the lights never go out.
• Betty Finch, the town’s librarian and curator of Stahlburg’s museum. She is spritely and bubbly and, despite her occupation, quite talkative. If you need to know something about the island’s history, Ms. Finch is your best bet.
• Peter Schwartz, the caretaker of the schools and the town’s tiny graveyard. A tall, gaunt man whose eyes look like they’ve seen a thing or three. Peter is not the talkative type.
• Jack Tubson, who runs a charter boat out of the north harbor. Once an officer on the Atherton — the destroyer responsible for sinking the U-853 — “Cap’n Jack” now ferries anglers and divers to the best spots around the island, pipe in hand and a smile on his face.
• Dr. Karl Von Braun, the dentist. He’s a dapper old gentleman who walks a slight limp and carries a silver-headed cane. He always examines your canines thoroughly at your check-ups.
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• The five lighthouses form a pentagram with Little Salt Lake in the center of it.
Little Salt Lake is also featured heavily in the paintings on the Niantic Bluffs. These paintings depict something red radiating from the lake itself. Could this be Captain Kidd’s hidden treasure?
• A large percentage of the population has been sick with a seemingly incurable flu bug this year. Simultaneously, there has been a rash of vandalism at the local graveyard. Small as it is, several of the graves have been exhumed and the hearts of the fresher corpses have been removed with seemingly surgical precision. Others are simply missing.
• Rumour has it that the submarine U-853 was not coming to attack the USA, but to search for something that was brought over from Germany by the island’s first settlers. There have been reports of activity near the site of the sunken U-boat in the dark of night. Is it looters looking for WWII memorabilia or is something fishy going on?
• The local authorities are cracking down on the teenagers on the island, looking for anyone who may be involved in the ritual killing of animals (you know… for kicks).
Several carcasses have been found, drained of blood, near Little Salt Lake. There seem to be two tiny prick marks in all of their necks...
• More than one pair of star-crossed lovers have reported seeing strange sights on Moon Beach as of late — a girl, walking out of the waves, covered in seaweed.
• The ECA is desperately trying to get both the eastern forest and the northern dunes designated as National Wildlife Refuge Areas. They’ve been doing a lot of digging in the forest lately, leaving fresh mounds of dirt behind.
Possible Threats
• The ECA is, in truth, a front for a sinister group that is more interested in the supernatural than the natural. Their agents include scientists, occultists, and even the rare ESPers. Their current agenda — to create colossal carrion beetles — is in its final stages. They are chemically enlarging them from local endangered fauna as a bioweapon in the predicted zombie apocalypse.
• The crew of the U-853 did not all die in 1945. Seven of the Marine Einsatzkomman-dos survived and have been hiding for the past 35 years, slowly gathering intel.
But, due to recent interest in their sunken home, they must now come ashore to complete their mission — to find and resurrect the Vampire King!
Possible Powered Characters
• The victim of a ritual drowning 300 years ago, this pale, ghostly figure, wet and covered in kelp, appears on Moon Beach on nights when the moon is full. If you are lucky (?) enough to see the Silent Girl, you will be visited by her in your dreams (see Rule Addition: Dream Speak below). If you look very carefully, you may also see two tiny prick marks on her neck...
• An escaped ECA experiment known as Project Y. This weaponized piping plover, an endangered species of shoreline bird, was intended for use as a maritime recon unit. The ECA bioengineered Project Y to give the bird infrared sight with a five-mile range, active and passive camouflage, extended flight range, and limited telepathy (images and single words). Project Y is injured and seeking help, but may be defensive in its current state.
Possible Monsters
• When insects feed on dead matter exposed to mutagens, the result is colossal carrion beetles. Whatever isn’t dead, they will try to kill in order to eat or lay their eggs on. The size of a golden retriever, they are quick and fierce but primal in their intelligence. Their armored forms are highly resilient to blunt force but susceptible to the cold.
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• The crew members of the German U-boat, known as Marine Einsatzkomman-dos (MEKs) were biomechanically modified to breath and maneuver underwater.
Though each man is over 50 years old now, the MEKs are still formidable opponents, especially in the water. They need to fully submerge in salt water every four hours or they function at half capacity. They cannot tolerate high temperatures or bright lights.
• Ferried across the Atlantic in a coffin by occultists in 1685, the Vampire King escaped to Stahlsburg, fearing he would be found and killed by hunters in the Old World. While the occultists went on to become some of the Stahlsburg’s founders (commissioning five lighthouses when four would have sufficed), the Vampire King slept at the bottom of Little Salt Lake, an ancient and magical portal to the nether realm. As the 300th year of his sleep comes to an end, blood sacrifices are being mingled into the waters of the lake in an attempt to wake him. While the King is susceptible to beheading and a stake through the heart, he is not bothered in the slightest by holy items or garlic. Who told you those would work?
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Holding Your Breath
As Stahlsburg is surrounded on all sides by water, swimming and diving may be a part of many adventures on the island. Refer to the “Pointing Pleasantly” module for rules regarding holding your breath and other underwater escapades.
Rule Addition: Dream Speak
The characters may be visited by the Silent Girl in their dreams at night. The GM will give any characters who met her a picture that represents a message she is trying to tell them in a dream. The GM may use drawings, photographs, collages of pictures cut out from magazines, etc., to represent the dreams.
Some nights, she may visit a single character. Some nights, she may visit the whole party. Each individual character, however, will receive a different image. Characters cannot show anyone their dream, nor should they draw it out. They must describe it in words. The GM may wish to bend some of these rules if a character is, for example, a gifted artist.
If multiple characters had dreams, it useful to look for similarities in shapes, colors, etc., to try to decipher the hidden message that the Silent Girl is trying to tell you.
If it suits the story the group is telling, the GM may have the Silent Girl or other NPCs give clues as to how to break her out of the dream world.
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Torn Memories - Elysium, FL
by Nicholas Malinowski
Note: This module plays very differently from the others. There are elements here that the players must not know before playing. If you’re planning to GM this module, read on! If you want to get ideas, read on! But if you’re ever planning to be a non-GM player in a game using this module, stop now.
Content Warnings: violence against children by adults GM, please read the following to your players: “In this module the GM is encouraged to lean into players’ fears, which they’ll be sharing with the GM. The elements of horror are key to this module. If this seems like a more intense experience than you’re interested in having, you may wish to look at other module which are not as based on the element of fear.
“If you have specific triggers, you should inform the GM of them so that the GM can avoid them. Those triggers can and should be completely off limits even as the GM is trying to stoke your fears.”
Before playing this module, be sure to review whatever player safety measures you’re planning to take with your players.
Setting information
The summer of ’82 was one of horror. Several kids went missing, their bodies never recovered. In this small town, it was unheard of. The legends have grown, and the original occupant of the house, one Hathaway Burton, a school teacher in Ulster Middle School, was demonized and blamed — though no proof was ever found. Shortly thereafter, he retreated into his house, never to be heard from again.
The characters are ghosts of the victims, who are forced to live through their deaths every night. They are unable to leave the house as their spirits are tied directly to it, so if any of the characters try to leave, something prohibits that — the windows won’t break or open, the walls bleed when hit but don’t actually break. Weird things can be found throughout the house, which are indicative of the haunting.
The kids have been “double dog dared” to stay the night in the Hunt House and the game starts with them on the porch, staring at the front door. They all have the same memory of being dared to stay by the school bully.
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The truth of the Hunt House is that the characters all died here. As you describe the horrors of the house, watch your players. If one of them reacts the hardest in a particular room, make that be where their character died. Build up the suspense for them there. Whenever that character enters that room, something odd happens.
Setting Touchstones
The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (book), Criminal Minds (TV series), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV series), The Haunting of Hill House (novel), Law & Order (TV
series), Seven (film)
Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Individual, Shared: What rumors have you heard about the Hunt House?
• Individual, Shared with GM: What frightens you — the player, not the character?
Possible Points of Interest
The only location in the game is the Hunt House, the site of all of the characters’
gruesome murders at the hands of Hathaway Burton. Though dilapidated, it still has all of the standard features of a house. Every room should have something “off” about it. While you should tailor the content of the rooms to reflect the fears of your players, here are some suggestions.
• Living Room: Here there is a turntable that randomly turns on — even when unplugged, damaged, or even destroyed. It is creepier if it plays the same song repeatedly, and for atmosphere, we suggest actually playing the song for your players. If you’re able to manipulate it to slow it down, so much the better.
• Closet Space: It is here that the first of the “Rat Kings” can be found. A rat king is a bundle of rats whose tails have all been tied together, their corpses lying tangled in a pile. It might be found with a skull, or perhaps just some moldy coats which are falling apart.
• Kitchen: Old and decrepit, this kitchen is in need of serious renovation. In the fridge is glass mason jars filled with pickled human organs and body parts. Some PAGE 122
of these parts are from the kids.
• Basement: The sump pump is clogged with something and overflowing onto the floor in a minor tide of sorts. There is another Rat King here under the stairs.
• Master Bedroom: Located upstairs. There is another of the Rat Kings in the closet, and there is a blood stain that grows on the bare mattress. If you look hard enough, you can see the shape of a body within the mattress.
• Small Bedroom: This room is filled with various dolls — Barbie dolls, ceramic dolls, straw dolls, etc. It seems like each doll watches you when you are in the room.
Possible Powered Characters
• In this module, the powered character has powers over spirits as a medium. They are also aware of the fact that it is the current year, not 1982. Some of the other powers they exhibit are things that would seem magical. For example, a smartphone would appear to the characters as a glowing white rectangle floating in front of the powered character. This character’s main focus is to help guide the spirits to their final rest. Help them see what happened so they can move forward.
They will help combat the evil that is tied here as well.
Possible Monsters
• The monster is not really super-powered as much as it is a memory of what happened to the characters. Thus, it changes shape depending on who is looking at it, and in combat it always seems to win. Use the monster at the best moment.
For example, when the players are neck deep in searching a room, have one of them notice something: a sound, an odd light, something along those lines. Use the monster to drive the fear. Unless the character has come to terms with their death, if they “die” they start the adventure over again standing at the door ready to prove that they can stay the night.
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Removal: No Co-Control of the Powered Character In this module, the co-control of the powered character is removed from the rules.
Instead, the powered character is the controlled by a single player (not the GM) who understands the nature of the other players’ connection with the house.
Rule Addition: Player Elimination
When a character realizes that they were killed in the house, they will vanish, their ghost finally being able to rest in peace. Once that occurs, the player controlling that character will be eliminated from the game. However, as a few players figure out what’s going on, the eliminations will likely occur more and more quickly.
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The Snyder Sisters - Shephard, MI
by Tamaria Montgomery, Bill West, and CyberLeo
Content Warnings: lycanthropy, missing parents, violence against animals Setting information
On the Canada-Michigan border sits the small, tucked-away town of Shephard, Michigan, a snowy town with a strange, magical history.
Hundreds of years ago, twin sisters Tiffany and Tanya Snyder were active in the Underground Railroad, sneaking escaped slaves to the safety of Canada. From the basement of their Victorian house, a network of tunnels extended across the town, allowing people who knew about them to get quickly from one place to another.
Tiffany and Tanya, though, helped more than slaves to escape — and were more than just wealthy, high-minded sisters. The two were, in fact, powerful witches who were able to create illusions and weave powerful magic. In the course of helping escaped slaves, they also helped were-wolves who were fleeing persecution in the States to get to the wilds of Canada.
Though the lycanthropes heading north were kindly, they still had to eat. Through a series of attacks on the sheep and other animals in the town, some animals were infected with therianthropy (the ability of humans to turn into specific types of animals — or, in this case, the ability of animals to turn into humans, too).
Now, hundreds of years later, many citizens of the town are were-creatures themselves, some more animal than human, and all trying to eke out a life in the cold town of Shephard, Michigan.
Setting Touchstones
Kiki’s Delivery Service (film), Ponyo (film), Tokyo Mew Mew (manga series), Wolf Children (film)
Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: What are some notable organizations in the town?
• Individual, Shared: What rumor about the town interests you the most?
• Individual, Shared: What species are you? (See Rule Addition: Were-Creatures for more details on the various species available.)
• Individual, Shared: How much does the rest of the town know about what species you are?
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• Individual, Shared: What is your character’s relationship with magic?
• Individual, Private: What are three advantages that come with your species? What are three disadvantages that come with your species?
Possible Points of Interest
• The tunnels, which run underneath the town. For people who know how to access them, these tunnels connect every important building in town to every other one.
In some cases, though, powerful illusions present what seem like barriers — and in others, literal locked doors block the way.
• The sheep farm, where a party is held every full moon by some of the citizens of the town.
• The hospital, which is surprisingly efficient for such a small town. People who go there seem to have their ailments diagnosed quickly by “Aunt” Cookie Snyder (an elderly nurse who’s the most gifted diagnostician anyone has ever met) and then healed by Dr. Parker, a young physician who moved to town recently.
• Shephard Mall, which has a beautiful koi pond and conservatory in its center. This astonishingly nice mall is the home of the mermaids.
• Shephard School, the combined middle and high school for this small town.
• The evergreen forest, which is beautiful during the day, but at night there always seems to be strange sounds emanating from here. Rumor has it that humans who go in at night come back changed — sometimes for the better.
• The petting zoo, which seems to be open at all hours, especially after high school dances.
Possible NPCs
• Gillian Arnaud, the most hapless of the mermaids. Gillian can only maintain human form for short bursts. Even her mermaid form is difficult for her to keep up. Still, that doesn’t stop her from going shopping in the stores nearest the pond.
• Carnegie Carter, a retired professor of cryptozoology who came to the town after hearing rumors of what’s going on. He’s generally harmless and pretty absent-minded.
• Dr. Candice Parker, the town physician who seems to be able to solve any problem quickly. In truth, Dr. Parker is a good witch, committed to healing.
• Caroline Potter, a beloved teacher in the middle school who adopted a young child, Celera Hopkins, when her parents were found murdered in the woods. Though she loudly proclaims the existence of were-creatures, her stories are so strange that they actually deter most would-be believers.
• Germaine Shephard, who is the local sheriff and a pillar of the community. Shephard’s ancestors founded the town. His therianthropy may be the worst-kept secret in the town, if not the history of the world.
• Dr. Elizabeth “Cookie” Snyder, a gifted diagnostician who is actually a were-hound, capable of using her heightened senses to quite literally sniff out illnesses — even in her fully human form. She’s also the “mother” (actually great-great-grandniece) of Tiffany and Tanya. Good friends with Dr. Parker.
Possible Adventure Hooks
• One of the characters’ parents go missing. Especially if they’re more prey than predator and if it’s near a full moon, it could be pretty critical that the gang find them. It could be that the missing parent has agreed to let Professor Carter study them — or it could be that something has its fangs into them.
• Gillian has to get something from the other side of town, but her memory isn’t all that good and she can’t describe it to the characters. They have to figure out a way to take her with them safely.
• After being away for some time, Dr. Snyder comes back with two young children, her adopted daughters. They need someone to show them around town, but they start exhibiting some strange powers, especially when they’re together.
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• The Sewing Club is becoming more and more exclusive lately, holding secret meetings late at night. Perhaps one of the character’s parents joined and seem to be spending all of their time there.
• At the school, the most easily persuadable of the social cliques (the “sheep”) has gone missing, and Lucy, the overly energetic girl who desperately wants to be that group’s leader but is barely tolerated by anyone, comes yapping to the group about the strange circumstances of their disappearance.
Possible Threats
• A group of hunters from out of town who want to bag one of the most interesting trophies anyone has ever heard of.
• A group of citizens who became clowns and serve the unseen basement horror.
• Aliens who mean no harm but aim to study the were-creatures in Shephard — and are sometimes unintentionally rough in the process.
Possible Powered Characters
• A new girl in town, Tiffany Snyder is a boisterous girl who appears 12. She’s good at sleight-of-hand tricks and very acrobatic. Technology doesn’t seem to work right around her, either. Her powers include the ability to create powerful illusions and the ability to “jinx” technology. She is older than she looks, but each time she regains her youth, she loses all of her memories.
• The other new girl in town, Tanya Snyder is much quieter and much smarter than her twin sister. She, too, is good at sleight-of-hand though she’s less agile. Also a gifted illusionist, Tanya can teleport short distances (see Rule Addition: Magic).
Tanya is also the only one of the twins able to initiate their regeneration.
Possible Monsters
• An unseeable eldritch horror that lurks always out of the corner of your vision and lives in basements. Its touch can infect humans and were-creatures alike with a disease that turns them into clowns.
• There is a mean old lady who lives off on the edge of town and generally wants to be left alone. But, if she is forced to interact with children, her dark magic could be put to particularly dangerous ends.
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ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Magic
There’s a reason that the Snyder sisters are also gifted in sleight-of-hand tricks: magic works only if the uninitiated don’t know that it’s magic... or just don’t know that it’s happening. Because of this, most magic is done in private. If done in public, though, the magician will need to come up with a way to explain away what people just saw. If they are not able to do so, their magic simply won’t work. Tanya, for example, is able to teleport short distances — or send objects to and from her sister, no matter the distance. However, if that would mean that someone uninitiated into the ways of magic would see her do so (or see the effect of her doing so), her attempts at teleportation will have no effect. Players should treat magic like psychic powers in terms of the other mechanical aspects, including psychic energy.
Rule Addition: Were-Creatures
Players have the option of being a were-creature in this game. Any species is open to them because of the generational changes that have affected the town and the powerful nexus of magic that the town is. During character creation, players may choose to be a were-creature, which might be a human that can become an animal or an animal that can become a human. Either is encouraged.
Were-creatures have many of the same instincts of their animal form, even when appearing fully human. Human were-rabbits, for example, will still be jumpy and easily frightened. Were-cats will still impulsively bat things off tables, even if they have fingers instead of paws. As such, even in human form, a character’s stats should be assigned with the animal in mind. A few examples include: Species
d20
d12
d10
d8
d6
d4
Were-Cat
Flight
Fight
Charm
Brains
Grit
Brawn
Were-Hound
Charm
Fight
Brawn
Grit
Brains
Flight
Were-Wolf
Fight
Brawn
Grit
Flight
Brains
Charm
Were-Rabbit
Flight
Charm
Brains
Brawn
Grit
Fight
Were-Fish (Mermaids)
Charm
Flight
Brains
Fight
Grit
Brawn
Were-Sheep
Charm
Grit
Fight
Brawn
Brains
Flight
During character creation, players choosing to be a were-creature should decide their species and, with the GM’s help, determine three advantages of their species and three disadvantages. These may be limited-use, depending on the nature of the benefits and detriments.
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What Lurks Beyond Southwood Drive?
- Arlington Meadows, OH
by Epidiah Ravachol
Content Warnings: claustrophobia, dogs, mob mentality, claustrophobia, temporal displacement, violence against animals
Setting information
Note: This module is based on true events.
The world is a big place — but not in Ohio, not in the early ’80s. Surrounded by densely packed woods and vast oceans of corn is the tiny suburban allotment called Arlington Meadows. An island of new homes and new families isolated by an ocean of farm and forest. The only road in is the same road out. Nothing ever happens here…
…during the day. The sun was a sliver caught between the trees when you swear you saw that pterodactyl knock the TV antenna off the Kramers’ roof. At twilight you toss pebbles into the dark blue sky, playing fetch with the bats, but when the blue fades to black, the howling of the wild dogs drives you indoors. And it is only by the light of the waning moon that the dead end of Southwood Drive opens up into the forest, revealing a neighborhood of spectral mansions.
Something odd is afoot in Arlington Meadows, which has un-stuck it in time.
Setting information
Amazing Stories (TV series), In Search Of... (TV series), It (novel), Pet Sematary (novel), Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (TV series), Stand by Me (film), Watchers (novel) Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Individual, Shared: When you do manage to get a ride to the nearest town (45
minutes away), where do you like to go?
• Individual, Shared: What is the only place you have refused to explore?
• Individual, Shared: What is the most dangerous thing you do for fun?
• Individual, Shared: Everyone here has at least one dog. Tell us about them!
• Individual, Shared or Private: What do you think Marcus Smith is up to in his barn late at night?
• Individual, Private: What object from a distant time have you found in the allotment and where do you hide it?
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• By day, Southwood Drive dead ends into a forest and a snake-infested pond. Half a day’s hike through the trees brings you to a barbed-wire fence and an open field where a dead bull was once found. On certain nights of an inscrutable calendar, all of this is replaced by a village of ghost mansions. These spectral homes are made physical by the moonlight and are haunted by a single ghost that wanders among the lonely manses, wheezing out a pathetic wail from his crooked neck.
• A corrugated drainage tunnel — large enough for a child to walk in upright and a teen to explore stooped — allows a stream to run beneath several streets in the allotment. At one end it’s barred, which is no obstacle to the slighter kids or those with enough brawn to yank it open. There are twists and turns enough within to cut most of the tunnel off from daylight. There are even rumors of a secret passage hidden deep in the dark.
• The Smith house and barn — home to Marcus Smith, his hoard of objects from throughout time, and his temporal experiments — sits just past the barred end of the drainage tunnel. There are treasures to be found here, as well as great peril.
And Mr. Smith trucks with no trespassers.
• The Larret tree fort is a misnomer. It is a two-story fort built on stilts of railroad ties, atop a gentle slope that leads down into a forest edge. All the kids of the neighborhood are free to use the fort, but not so many do these days. Recently, strange noises can be heard from the forest beyond, where rumor has it primeval creatures roam.
Possible NPCs
• Olivia Larret, the matriarch of a family with a pool, a treehouse, two rabbits, three cats, two dogs, a parrot, and a ColecoVision. Their house is the cool place to hang out, and that’s just as Mrs. Larret wants it. An affable woman who’s always ready to feed and listen to the kids, she is a great ally — especially when someone is injured.
If you fake an illness to get out of school, she’ll promise your parents to look after you, then drive you out for fries and a shake as long as you promise not to snitch.
But she is also physically incapable of believing any tales of real weirdness.
• Marcus Smith, the sort of neighbor no one really thinks to invite to potlucks and parties, but who can be depended on to help fix your hot-water heater or transmission. A disheveled recluse, he is a clever, odd man with a begrudgingly warm but prickly personality. No one is invited onto his property, which is covered in old cars and tractors. The property has been in his family before the allotment was developed. In fact, most of Arlington Meadows belonged to his family farm until it was carved up and sold after his parents’ mysterious murder in the ’60s. He kept only the house and barn. His house contains an impossible hoard, including pristine items from the past that no longer belong in our time. But the true weirdness hides in his barn, where Marcus experiments with the very fabric of time in search of his parents’ killer.
• Michelle Strang, a dark and mysterious teenager who lives at Southwood Drive’s dead end. She listens to Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest and has the blacklight posters to prove it. She has a pet tarantula. She has a collection of BB
guns, most of which don’t work, and a beaut of a pellet gun. On her less misan-thropic days, she’ll lend the BB guns to the younger kids in the neighborhood, set them loose in the forest beyond her house, and then hunt this least dangerous prey with her pellet gun. She is awesome.
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• The Larrets’ tree fort stands on the edge of a forest teeming with primeval castaways haplessly drawn to the present by Marcus Smith’s experiments. The silhouette of a pterodactyl in the sky above the forest, or the creaking and falling of trees, or a beloved dog chasing after some unknown animal — something tempts the kids into the primordial woods.
• Nestled in rural Ohio, this allotment is the only place for miles around where more than two front doors are within walking distance from each other. This draws in a lot of strange kids from the surrounding farms for trick-or-treat. Some stranger than most. One Halloween, kids wearing your exact same costumes are getting to all the houses a half hour before you, causing several parents to accuse you of doubling back. Who are these doppelgängers?
• Bored kids and long, lazy summer days can lead to troublesome dynamics. A game of war that starts with cap guns and rubber bands quickly escalates to whipping crab-apples and borrowing Michelle Strang’s BB guns. It’s all fun and games until someone is chased into Smith’s barn.
• Low-pitched humming can be heard throughout the neighborhood whenever folks are experiencing déjà vu or something seems out of place. The source is a baseball backstop that stands in a cornfield today, but will be erected in the year 2007 as part of the new development that will become the spectral mansions. In that distant future, it will sync harmonic resonance with the experiments in Smith’s barn, closing the temporal loop between them. Anyone caught out of phase with their time who touches this Safety Gate will be transported back to the moment they left.
Possible Threats
• Marcus Smith is obsessed, but not malicious. His experiments, however, attract the attention of shadowy government agencies, especially ones from other moments in time investigating disappearances.
• The rise of satanic panic fueled by the kids’ own accounts of bizarre encounters have led some parents to suspect Arlington Meadows has a satanism problem.
Operating at first in secret and through rumors, they blame other parents or Michelle Strang. They might become bold enough to take dire action.
• The Smith family’s murderer, drawn from the past in Marcus Smith’s obsessive search for him, now wanders the night in Arlington Meadows.
Possible Powered Characters
• A psychic dog, called from the future with a purpose it has since forgotten, joins the neighborhood pack.
• An adult version of one of the kids, who has been pulled from the future to save the kids from a terrible fate.
Possible Monsters
• Dinosaurs drawn up from the past by the harmonic call of Smith’s barn! Generally, they stay hidden in the woods behind the Larrets’ tree fort, but not all creatures stay where they belong.
• Wild dogs that have bred with wolves and other canines from stranger times roam the countryside, but tend to only be active at night.
• The spectral mansions beyond Southwood Drive are haunted by the angry and anguished ghost of the developer who will buy the land and build the houses just before the market crash of ’08. Drawn at the moment of his suicide back to a time when it was all wetlands and farm.
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ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Running With the Pack
The neighborhood dogs run freely and unleashed with the kids. Though it is clear which dog belongs to which family, they will treat all child characters as family, especially when the chips are down. The neighborhood pack starts the game with two Adversity Tokens for every child character in the game. If you’re in need of aid and another player agrees to narrate how your dog (or any dog if you’re a child) helps, you may spend the pack’s Adversity Tokens. However, dogs are creatures of instinct and can only aid in Snap Decisions, not Planned Actions. Any character who shows a dog that they’re a good boy or girl by giving them a treat or wrestling with them can add any number of their own Adversity Tokens to the pack’s pool.
Rule Addition: Psychic Dogs
In addition to the typical powered characters, you can add an intelligent, psychic dog to your pack. Such a good girl or boy would be drawn from the future with amnesia.
Like the kids, they have their own Adversity Tokens, separate from those of the dog pack, that work like normal Adversity Tokens. Unless appropriate aspects are taken, a psychic dog cannot speak, read, or manipulate objects with any dexterity finer than what is afforded them by their mouth and paws. They can, however, pass as a normal dog and absolutely brighten your day when they greet you at the bus stop.
Rule Modification: Pets in Peril
During the boundaries discussion before the game begins, be sure talk about just how comfortable you are with the neighborhood dogs being in danger. Sometimes it is easier to see our characters in peril and suffering fates that we never want to see befall even fictional animals. Check in to see if if everyone okay with the dogs being in danger.
Would it be too upsetting to see a dog injured? How about killed, even if such an option was available for our characters? Do not subject any dogs, even the wild dogs, to something a player is not comfortable with.
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Starship Maurepas - Maurepas, LA
by Jesse Roberge
Content Warnings: hearing voices, physical alteration, trans-species transformation Setting information
An hour from both Baton Rouge and New Orleans is Maurepas, a small, prosperous town populated by employees of Big Oil. A recently installed well has improved everyone’s standard of living — but the town is far enough away from everything that no one’s excited to be there.
Still, the town is tiny: two restaurants and no stoplights, just a single stop sign. The
“high school” is actually a K–12 building, and the population of the town is stuck around 3,000.
If you aren’t in the oil industry, married to someone in it, or the child of someone in it, you aren’t in Maurepas for long. There isn’t anything to do but boat, hunt, fish, and, if you’re old enough, work.
Things have gotten odd since a recent hurricane, though. A few people who’ve gone boating near the wildlife management area have come back telling tall tales of what they’ve seen in the swamps. It seems like they’re just making stuff up, though. Things like that don’t happen in a quiet town like this, right? And some people have claimed that they’ve started hearing voices through their radios — and they’re normal folks without any other signs of madness. Must be the interference that outpost in Livingston is researching, right?
Setting Touchstones
Andromeda (TV series), EVE Online (video game), Explorers (film), GURPS sci-fi supplements (role-playing game), Pacific Rim (film), Star Trek (TV series), Star Wars (film series)
Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Individual, Shared: What do you do to keep busy in such a boring town?
• Individual, Shared: How has your family benefited from the recent boom in the local oil industry?
• Individual, Shared: What is your relationship with the outdoors?
• Individual, Shared: What rumor about the town interests you the most?
• Individual, Shared or Private: What terrible dreams have you had recently?
• Individual, Private: What trouble have you gotten in to alleviate your boredom?
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• The town’s three churches (Southern Baptist, Catholic, and Methodist), which are the hub of social life in the community. Nearly every citizen in Maurepas is a member,at least nominally.
• LIGO Observatory, which is technically a passive observatory. In truth, though, there is more going on at the installation. Years ago, the government built additional research facilities on the property to study the manipulation of space and time, possibly using some alien technology.
• Maurepas High School, which is actually K–12 given how small the town is. Because of that, the size of each graduating class is quite small.
• Boat launches provide a way to get out fishing, and also to explore the swamps.
• Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area, which is the area’s wildlife preserve.
It is a day’s hike from the town, but getting there is much easier by boat.
• Roche’s Bar & Grill, one of the two restaurants in town and the only bar.
• Rich’s Po Boys and Bowling, the other restaurant in town with attached bowling alley.
• The corner store, an unnamed convenience store and the only place to get staples in the town. Owned by the Granges.
Possible NPCs
• Dr. Seth Baker, a Big Oil scientist heading up, on paper, the development of the refinery and experimenting with new extraction techniques. Always a few weeks behind schedule and looking for shortcuts.
• Taylor Coulette, park ranger in Maurepas Swamp. Unflinchingly honest and incorruptible — but also overworked.
• Willy & Mathilde Grange, the elderly husband and wife owner/operators of the unnamed corner store. Both inveterate gossips, but generally nice folks.
• Jennifer “Tex” Haldeman, a top-level oil executive who moved her family to Maurepas. She is here to oversee the expansion of their work in town.
• Reverend Barry Jones, the local Methodist pastor. Reverend Jones has recently become much more aloof, and his sermons have become more esoteric than before.
• Father Colum O’Connell, the local priest. Kindly but a bit doddering. Passed up some years ago for a position as a bishop, but he views it as the Lord’s will.
• Raj Rasmuthan, the sole official scientist working at the LIGO Observatory.
Nominally in charge of analyzing gravitational-wave data, but actually much more deeply involved in the goings-on there. Lives with his husband and children in Maurepas instead of in Livingston.
• Preacher Caroline Smithers, the local Baptist minister. Generally preaches hellfire and brimstone to her congregation.
Possible Adventure Hooks
• While camping or otherwise exploring the wildlife management area, players discover part of a ship buried in the mire.
• One of the characters, or someone close to the characters, becomes obsessed with the occasional speech-like static that can be heard over the radio, especially late at night, calling them “alien voices.”
• Someone close to the characters disappears for several weeks, then returns having undergone the transformation through the ship’s Chrysalis Machine (see Rule Addition: Chrysalis Machine for details). Perhaps they are happy with the changes and encourage the other characters to step into the machine as well — or perhaps they desperately want to find out how to transform back.
• After someone close to the characters transforms, non-human bounty hunters show up looking for them.
• One of the characters discovers alien technology, either in the wildlife management area or when one of their parents, who works for the oil company, brings it home.
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• The government agents investigating the ship are more concerned with securing the technology than they are with the safety of the town.
• Big Oil discovers a hint of what the ship can do and wants to scavenge its parts to attempt to reverse engineer them.
Possible Powered Characters
• A transformed player character or NPC gains strange, perhaps unstable powers (see “Adjustments to Rules” for discussion of transformation).
• A person previously transformed needs the group’s help because of defects suffered from their transformation.
• The AI of the ship is a fully sapient, highly advanced computer that functions well beyond human capacity. It will adopt whatever name the players call it. It is unlikely to want to take the form of a human avatar, but some of its robotic subsystems could travel.
Possible Monsters
• Alien scavengers, who come seeking the ship once it reactivates.
• Alien bounty hunters seeking the ship’s crew or any transformed humans. This species and the species that created the ship are locked in a millennia-long war, and will stop at nothing to destroy each other.
• A transformed human who has suffered some instabilities and become monstrous in some dangerous way.
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHIP
Though the precise nature of the ship is up to the GM and the players to flesh out in their narrative, here are some suggested starting places for the ship:
• The ship crashed thousands of years ago and is badly damaged, remaining submerged until a recent hurricane in the area uncovered a small part. The AI put the ship and itself into hibernation mode (other than its occasional radio broadcasts) until the characters reach it.
• The ship’s AI is friendly, interested in characters entering the Chrysalis Machine in order to enhance them so they can repair the ship.
• It should not be too difficult for players to access the interior of the ship. When they do, work to create a sense of awe in the players. Narratively, a good question to ask is, “What in the ship evokes awe from you, even in its damaged, barely operational state?”
• The contents of the ship are adaptable but may include: the Chrysalis Machine (strongly recommended), extensive sensor and transmission systems capable of hacking any device, armory of advanced weapons and armor (some armor is hard to remove once put on), space-time folding engines beyond human comprehension, matter-conversion or cosmic power plant, cloaking device, holo-deck, personal teleportation booths, personal flight devices, braincorders, matter replicator, extensive neural technology allowing full interface with the ship and its databases
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Chrysalis Machine
The Chrysalis Machine can do amazing medical feats, including reconstruction of grave disfigurements, limb & organ regeneration, and restoration of youth. In addition, it can transform humans into the alien species that built the ship. This is not without its dangers, though — especially for youth with partially developed brains.
The ship’s AI, however, will encourage any character between 20 and 59 years old to enter the Chrysalis Machine to become, after four weeks of stasis, something greater than human. Any player character who chooses to enter the machine will immediately become an NPC or the group’s powered character.
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The ship has no nefarious purpose, but the transformation process is risky, especially for anyone not 20–59 years old. Based on the character’s age, roll the following dice if they choose to enter the machine:
12–15 years old: 2d8, 2d6, 2d4
50–59 years old: 2d8
16–19 years old: 2d8, 1d6, 1d4
60–69 years old: 2d8, 1d6, 1d4
20–24 years old: 2d8
70–79 years old: 2d8, 2d6, 2d4
25–49 years old: 1d8
Younger than 12 or older than 79:
will not perform transformation
For each 1 rolled on a die, the defects resulting from the transformation become worse:
• A single 1: The character has some minor temporary defects that will stabilize in a few weeks.
• Two 1s: The character has some pronounced temporary defects that will stabilize in a few weeks, and some minor defects that are permanent.
• Three 1s: The character has many pronounced defects, some of which will stabilize in a few months, and some which will be permanent.
• Four 1s: The character has terminal defects that will result in death within days or weeks. The character might not look human anymore.
• Five 1s or more: The character suffers a messy death.
If four or more 1s are rolled, there will be a prompt for specimen disposal and initiation of clone & braintape restoration, with a default answer of “no.”
When a character is transformed, the following changes take place, though traits may altered, negated, or added by transformation defects: Good
• The character gets 2d10 for Brains and Charm.
• If the character has been breathing pure oxygen for the past four hours, checks for fitness or endurance become 2d10.
• The character gains ambidexterity, the ability to do advanced math instantly, and photographic memory.
• The character is now highly resistant to any metabolic hazard. Checks against such ailments become 2d10.
Variable
• The character’s appearance becomes perfect in every way. Any unseen ailments instantly vanish.
• The character’s aging slows to 1/16th the rate of a normal 16-year-old human.
• Any mental trait that makes a character genuinely evil, psychopathic, or over-aggressive goes away.
• The character’s body has increased bulk and bone mass, but the character otherwise looks human.
Bad
• The character’s calorie and fluid needs double; they need to sleep 12 hours daily.
• The character becomes intolerant of pain. Grit checks to resist, endure, or ignore pain are capped at d6.
• The character grows two hearts, both in the chest. The incapacitation of either heart kills the character.
• The character will need to regularly breathe oxygen of at least twice the Earth’s standard concentration (e.g., a medical oxygen concentrator normally given to COPD patients) to function fully. If they do not do so for more than 8 hours, they suffer profound altitude sickness. They then must breathe concentrated or pure oxygen for at least half as long as they were breathing standard air. The character cannot go much above sea level or they will quickly suffer the above symptoms, even if breathing concentrated oxygen (only pure oxygen will suffice).
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Double Trouble at Skateland - Southridge, CA
by Elisa Teague
Content Warnings: cannibalism, mind control, missing children, mob justice, teen sexuality
Setting information
Being a kid can be a real drag in a suburban town like Southridge, California. Being about an hour-and-a-half drive outside of a large city center, the outskirt suburb lends little to do outside of school, the library, and one local grocery store with an attached coffee shop, providing the only places to meet with friends outside of Skateland, the local roller rink and the hottest (and only) hangout in town. Additionally, with the library just down the street, many kids make their way to hang out at the rink after school, waiting for their parents to get home from work.
It seems like a typical housing-development-meets-truckstop town, but there is an odd vibe around Southridge. Teens here seem to disappear at a much higher rate than the rest of the country, and while many talk about getting out of the sleepy town and into a big city for college, most kids that disappear haven‘t even finished high school.
Aside from the few stay-at-home parents, local shop owners and employees, and community service workers, most adults are absent from Southridge during the day.
Those who do work in town without big-city paychecks often take second jobs to make ends meet. Latchkey kids are the norm, as parents don’t come home from their evening commute until dinnertime. It may be the nature of a small suburb, but neighbors all know each other in Southridge, and they all seem to have strange habits and relationships. Perhaps the adults are just as bored as the kids in this town, but to onlookers, it seems like something else is going on.
Setting Touchstones
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), The ’Burbs (film), The Lost Boys (film) Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: What are the biggest problems in the town?
• Individual, Shared: Does your character work or have after-school duties? What are your character’s daily obligations?
• Individual, Shared: With which NPC does your character share a history?
• Individual, Shared or Private: Has your character had a strange encounter in any point of interest?
• Individual, Private: What is your character’s home life like, and how does your character feel about the neighborhood?
• Individual, Private: Which area of town gives you the most uneasy feelings?
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• Skateland, the roller rink where parents drop their kids off for what they think is wholesome fun in a town where there isn’t much else to do. Inside the rink, patrons’ senses are assaulted by a barrage of flashing disco lights from the darkened rink, booming music from the DJ booth combined with the familiar bells and whistles from the arcade machines, and the familiar odorous concoction of popcorn, hotdogs, and slurpee mix emanating from the snack bar. While skating is certainly the guise of the main attraction here, those who don’t skate partake in beating high scores in the arcade, strutting around in the latest fashions, awkwardly scoping out “make-out alley” in the back, or just people-watching. The real question on the latter is… who is watching you back?
• Southridge Library, while not nearly as large as the central library downtown, has a peculiarly wide range of topics.
• KRDJ “The Ridge,” a local radio station on Main Street that broadcasts from the second floor above Ridge Hardware — although nobody is ever seen entering or exiting.
• Coffee Stop N Shop, the only local grocery store since the town was founded. The attached coffee shop is busiest early in the morning, after school, and late nights.
• South 5 Truckstop, where travelers and truckers fill up on gas and oddball goods.
• The abandoned train tracks on the east side of town, just past the town cemetery.
The sign says “no trespassing.”
Possible NPCs
• Clay Arrington, a senior at Southridge High and a known loner. His after-school job as the DJ at Skateland provides his only known interaction with others — a request sheet that hangs down from the inaccessible DJ booth.
• Ed Browning, owner/operator of Ridge Hardware and father of two. Ed is known to be able to fix anything and is popular with the kids for fixing their bikes.
• Edna Farley, the “lunch lady” school cafeteria worker. She pulls double duty at the snack bar at Skateland, where the food is… questionable.
• Myrna Goldman, history teacher at Southridge High and librarian at Southridge Library. Though the locals joke that she is the town “spinster,” she’s actually a young, attractive bookworm. Myrna is seemingly just focused on her career.
• Robert and Lydia Hernandez, eccentric owners of the South 5 Truckstop on the far edge of town, just off the highway. They both claim to have witnessed UFOs late at night. Catering to truckers on their way to the city, they are the first to greet new people or notice anyone leaving town.
• Nikki and Lisa, inseparable teens at the hub of all goings-on at Skateland. Rarely seen outside the rink and rumored to be homeschooled, the pair have an allure (nobody even knows their last names) that is both enticing and frightening.
• Rose Tanner, the owner and head waitress of the Coffee Stop N Shop, which is the oldest and longest-running business in Southridge. Known as just “Rosie” to most.
Possible Adventure Hooks
• A black van has been permanently parked in the vacant lot off Main Street, just behind the hardware store and radio station. People are suddenly acting strange and somewhat non-respondent, and the only noticeable connection is that they all seem to be humming the same tune. Is the van connected to these events, or is it is all a coincidence?
• Teens are going missing from Southridge at an alarming rate. While missing-persons reports are being filed, the local police don’t seem to be doing much about it. The latest missing teen is Bethany Campbell, the head cheerleader at Southridge High, last seen at midnight in “make-out alley” behind Skateland.
• Truckers have stopped making deliveries to Southridge, severely impacting the local shops and restaurants. Nobody knows why deliveries aren’t being made, but at least one eatery still has a mysterious supply of food.
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• The neighborhood watch has suddenly become an angry mob, hell-bent on
“protecting the children” with no verifiable threat. However, they have no problem accusing nearly every resident in town in an out-of-control witch hunt, making it difficult to tell which threat could be real.
• The annual “Skate and Shake” competition is coming up, where the winner gets to go to nationals to compete. However, it seems like some people have resorted to supernatural cheating to get their ticket out of town.
Possible Threats
• A gang of trouble-making teens have been breaking into homes (oddly, only at night), looking for something specific, it seems.
• An unknown organization has been spotted around town in mysterious vehicles.
Is this a secret government agency or something even worse?
• A group known as the “Fang Club” have booked the library every Tuesday for secret meetings. They’re averse to new members, so others can’t tell if this is a dog sweater-knitting meet-up, a vampire fan-fiction club, or something much more sinister.
Possible Powered Characters
• A well-known resident who returns home after receiving a blood transfusion in the wake of an accident, and now has strange powers.
• A kind and unfairly feared homeless man who sleeps under the overpass and is the eyes and ears of the town.
• The little sister of a PC, whose presence has turned from annoying to helpful as her powers and perspective are revealed.
Possible Monsters
• A vampire queen, who commands her minions from afar to do her bidding.
• A gremlin that tinkers with wheeled transport, from skates to large trucks, causing both minor mischief (humorous) and major mayhem (deadly).
• A serial-killer alien that has been harvesting lungs from its victims — leaving the rest of the corpses — to temporarily aid its breathing until it can find a way home.
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Resistance to Mind Control
Southridge (and possibly other towns) is a place where, on more occasions than is comfortable, certain foes will attempt to influence residents by supernatural and other means. While this is nearly impossible to avoid, characters with a high combination of Grit and Charm are more easily able to spot when someone is trying to trick or control them, allowing them to curb the effects of the mind control.
To calculate if a character is resistant to mind control, double the level of the mind control; that is the target. Then, roll Grit and Charm and add the total together to determine if the roll is successful. (If either die explodes, reroll that die and add it to the total, per the normal rules.)
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Ghosts & Steel - East Berwick, PA
by Josh Thaler
Content Warnings: government conspiracies, memory loss, memory erasing, Nazis Setting information
East Berwick, Pennsylvania is a small town on the banks of the Susquehanna River, one that hasn’t been the same since the flood of ’72 that destroyed many of the homes and businesses in the area. But, along the Susquehanna River, that isn’t remarkable. Lots of steel towns suffered after the flood.
Like citizens in a lot of these towns, people in East Berwick are struggling to figure out how to make ends meet. Right now, it seems like the best way to make it is to make it out — either by going to college or moving to Pittsburgh for work. There are a few folks who insist the jobs will come back, but no one really believes that anymore.
Unlike a lot of towns, though, East Berwick is unusual in that no boys have been born to its citizens in the past five years. In the baby boom following World War II, fewer boy children than expected were born, but it seemed like it could just be the result of chance. As the years went on, though, the birth rate for boys continued to drop. Girls were born healthy, but for some reason, fewer and fewer boys were.
In lighter news, the town has a big World War II reenactment every year, selecting a different key battle and drawing folks from all around Luzerne County to watch and participate. Many of East Berwick’s boys died in the war, and it’s the town’s way of remembering them — and remembering when the town was prospering.
Now, the only place where work seems stable is the Repository, a government facility on the edge of town. Twenty or so members of the town work there, though they refuse to talk about their work. They go as far as to claim not to remember what they do there, usually saying something like, “I don’t really know what I do there, but it pays pretty well!” Some actually believe them — that they actually don’t remember what they do there.
Setting Touchstones
Indiana Jones (film series), The Librarians (TV series), Warehouse 13 (TV series) PAGE 139
Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: In this module, at least one of the characters has a powerful artifact that the government would want secured in the Repository. Describe the artifact.
Which character has it? How did it come into the group’s possession? How much do the other characters know about it?
• Group: Which of the characters is named after a parent’s beloved pet?
• Individual, Shared: What’s one rumor that you’ve heard about the town?
• Individual, Private: Do you believe in cryptids?
• Individual, Private: What do you believe is causing the shift in births in the town?
Possible Points of Interest
• The Susquehanna River, which forms the southern border of the town. This is the one that flooded, all but destroying the town. Still, it’s fun to swim in. That’s free.
• The Porter Mansion, a house built by Clarence Q. Porter shortly after he returned from the Civil War. Only a few months after the completion of the house, though, Porter died mysteriously. Each Christmas, the town’s historical society organizes a candlelight event that some people say always has strange occurrences.
• Grittengander’s Covered Bridge, which leads to an old farm on the outskirts of town. Some kids like to go out there on dares, since everyone has heard the bridge is haunted. It’s always somehow a few degrees colder on the bridge.
• East Berwick School, the K–12 school in town, home of the East Berwick Ironbacks.
• The abandoned steel mill, which was built on the banks of the Susquehanna. When all shipping was along the river, that was great. When the flood hit, it destroyed the factory, which is now partially submerged and dangerous to enter — but too much of a local landmark to demolish.
• That mysterious house with a big, scary dog near the baseball field. It has a fence all around it, and no one has ever seen into the yard. No one knows the old man who lives there. Well, none of the kids, at least. All of the adults know that it’s Frank Garraway, a really nice old guy who’s just kind of agoraphobic.
• The Repository, a mysterious government compound on the edge of town. It’s heavily guarded and surrounded by an electrified chain-link fence.
Possible NPCs
• Clifford Bennett, a tryhard step-parent who moved to the area recently to marry one of the character’s parents. Like everyone who works at the Repository, Clifford claims not to know what happens there.
• Dr. James Cornwell, PhD, a tall, broad, jovial archaeologist working at Luzerne Community College — the only archaeologist, in fact. He has traveled as far as Mexico and seen the Incan pyramids, though he’s not an expert on those.
• Darlene Evans, the town librarian and trusted adult for all young folks seeking more information about anything. Rumor has it that she can find out anything that anyone has ever known, if you give her 24 hours.
• Madison Holland, head of the East Berwick Society of Historians and docent at the Porter Mansion. Given his exuberance about the mansion and the town’s history, he can seem a little weird at first — and his penchant for wearing capes doesn’t help that. But when you get to know him, he’s warm and wonderful.
• George Kirk, the umpire for the Little League. Kind of a grumpy old guy, but good at heart and incredibly polite.
• Clifford “Crash” Porter, a Vietnam War vet, conspiracy theorist, and avid cryptid hunter. He’s a descendant of Clarence Q. Porter, but he isn’t afforded the same respect as his last name would suggest.
• Vanessa Seung-Min, a young business owner who recently opened up a store selling pen-and-paper RPGs, wargame supplies, and comic books.
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• One of the characters’ grandparents give them an artifact for safekeeping, one that’s too potentially powerful to be entrusted to the Repository and their dubious goals with the goods stored there.
• An artifact in the gang’s possession activates, putting all of them in danger — and drawing the attention of the feds in dark suits and the Nazi Underground.
• The artifact activates, revealing a puzzle that must be solved before calamity strikes.
Whoever solves it, though, will gain a power too great to entrust to anyone else.
• During a sleepover, one of your friends steals your artifact as a joke, not knowing what it is. While they have it, they vanish suddenly. You have to find them before anyone else can — and the feds and Nazis are looking for them, too!
• During the Candlelight Christmas at the Porter Mansion, the artifact you brought with you starts acting funny — and you think Clarence Q. Porter might be the secret to figuring out why it’s so important.
• The Nazi Underground is using the WWII reenactment as a cover for bringing some of their members out of suspended animation.
• The party decides to research one of the cryptids in the area with Crash Porter’s help. He proves to be more canny than anyone gave him credit for.
Possible Threats
• The people who run the Repository will go to any lengths to obtain and protect the artifacts they have been entrusted to safeguard. Perhaps they mean well, or perhaps they’re experimenting on the artifacts to exploit them.
• Another government agency has suddenly shown up, all wearing dark suits. Are they even with the government, or are they something even more sinister?
• Though Nazis can’t walk around a town freely in full Nazi regalia without being punched in the face by loyal Americans, that’s not the case during the WWII reenactment. Some say that there are real Nazis, part of the Nazi Underground, running around then.
Possible Powered Characters
• The ghost of Clarence Q. Porter, who needs the party’s help to solve the mystery of his sudden death so that he can finally rest peacefully.
• A character exposed to the “mystic radiation” of the Repository and now starting to manifest strange powers that they can’t quite control.
Possible Monsters
• A super-powered Nazi, awakened from suspended animation, who doesn’t know that WWII is over.
• A thunderbird — a giant dark-brown or black bird with a massive wingspan, strong enough to carry off a small child.
• The Susquehanna Seabeast. Even though it’s in the river, the name stuck. Reports about what it looks like vary wildly — some say it looks like the Loch Ness Monster, while others describe a fanged, scaly humanoid.
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Artifacts
Artifacts are powerful items, and judicious use of them is key. At the start of the game, the party should have one artifact, and part of the back story should be how they came to possess that artifact. Though the Repository has many artifacts inside of it, characters shouldn’t be able to simply venture in and get more. Any new artifacts they get — if any at all — should feel special and should be the start and culmination of great trouble.
In terms of the powers they convey, think about things like the powered character’s psychic abilities, which would be incredibly powerful, and difficult, for a human to be able to control. Beyond that, it’s up to the GM and players how they want to incorporate artifacts into their games.
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Minor Threat - Washington, DC
by Ben Walker
Content Warnings: gang violence, Nazis, police violence, racism, teen druge use, teen violence
Setting information
“The music is a conversation [speaking to] those values of community, entrepreneur-ship, fellowship, giving every single person a voice whether that’s through a shoutout or through the call and response or through a dance move, or showing what kind of fashion you’re wearing.” – Charles Stephenson Jr.
There aren’t many things for a kid to do in the District in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
If you’re out on the street, you’re hassled by cops. If you’re at home, you’re hassled by your parents. If you head to a store, it’s buy something or get out — with the omni-present camera and wannabe cop breathing down your neck for fear you may justify their salary by grabbing a candy bar. No one has any money, not even most grown-ups, but it seems like flashier cars are being driven through your neighborhoods at increasing speeds.
Your school is built like a prison, and police walk the halls. Every month cops stand in front of your class and tell you that drug dealers will try to make you smoke pot and Crack Is Whack! and Just Say No! But you’ve never been offered anything, especially not for free. Everyone says your neighborhood is full of crack babies, but you’ve never seen one. Anywhere you go outside your neighborhood, you’re watched like a criminal. You have no power, and nothing you do is ever acceptable or accepted.
But at least there’s music, and the Atlantic Club is the place you can find it. It’s the only club open to all ages and as early as 9:30 p.m., so even the most conservative parent can let their kid go there for a half hour or so.
Somehow they manage to get bands from around the world — and there are always the unique sounds of bands brewing in the District. People come from everywhere to hear it, but some folks keep trying to silence it.
Setting Touchstones
Chuck Brown (musician), go-go (music subgenre), harDCore (music subgenre), straight edge (subculture), Mr. T (actor)
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Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: What’s Playing at the Atlantic Club tonight? What genre or mix? Hip hop can play with hardcore punk or new wave with funk or any mix of bands. Have fun coming up with band names.
• Individual, Shared: What is your scene? Hardcore? Go-go? Hip-hop? Straight edge?
New wave? What group (if any) weirds you out?
• Individual, Shared: How did you find the Atlantic Club?
• Individual, Private: How does the music you listen to influence your life? What song speaks to you the most?
• Individual, Private: How does your character feel about the increase of White Laces?
• Individual, Private: How do you feel about the cops shutting down the other music venues? Do you think it will happen here?
Possible Points of Interest
• The Atlantic Club, the venue where everything takes place. Bands meet and people from the District mix with fans and bands from around the world. So far no one has gotten seriously hurt, not even in the pit.
• The Copper Diner, a 24-hour place for folks to sit and get food. Most of the punks —
and, strangely, the new-wave kids — tend to hold court in their little booths before or after shows.
• Mountain Country BBQ, another 24-hour place where you mostly get go-go lovers, hip-hop heads, and backpackers trading tapes and fueling up for a long night.
• Madame’s Organ, another venue, quieter, older — mostly for jazz, blues, and soul.
Former burlesque club, but now all ages friendly. The owners are known to help out kids who are in a pinch if their parents are hurting them or if they are being bullied by others for their gender or sexuality. The Purple Laces and Yellow Laces hang out here along with out-of-town bands before they go on at the Atlantic.
• El Guapo’s, the only neutral ground besides the Atlantic. At least someone from every clique stops here. The tacos are overpriced, but its lobby has the only remaining cigarette machine in the city, and vending machines can’t check IDs.
Possible NPCs
• Big Young’n, all-around musician for Untroubled Funk. They call it “go-go” cause it goes and goes, and Big Young’n just keeps showing up for the set. Never misses a practice, understudies everyone’s parts. Can play bass or congas, sing lead, run sound, and even do some production. The reason Untroubled Funk stays untroubled is that, when something goes wrong, Young’n can fix it. They lend their help to other bands making a start. Never seen outside of their shapeless hoodie.
• Lucy, Lenka, and Lilian Krcmarova, daughters of Czech bluegrass legend Vlastik Krcmar. They came to the U.S. to have a place to play and write their own music.
The hardcore punk scene is enriched by having some actual anarchists! All three sing in close harmony and they each play various instruments. They dress as closely to each other as possible for maximum confusion among their fans.
• Guy Oboe, bassist for Fusilli?! Manic, enthusiastic, and energetic?! Might be the most upbeat guy in hardcore?! Always ends sentences with an upward inflection?!
• Hank Rowling, slam poet and frontman for Plaid Flagg. Military haircut, black t-shirt, and crisp, clean BDUs are not usually associated with punk or poetry — but former cadet Hank Rowling felt a pull away from school and into the streets, where he helped organize literacy groups and arts programs in the District with military efficiency. Bit of a clean freak.
• Nicola Stanyk, late-shift manager for the SIlver DIner. She’s seen it all and some of it twice. Almost impossible to shock and ready with an ear at all times of the night.
Rarely seen during the day except on overcast evenings.
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• Hank is trying to get a local group to put on a production of Pippin, but someone keeps sabotaging the equipment of any of the musicians he gets to agree to play.
Props have gone missing, and accidents keep happening.
• There’s a battle of the bands, but a lot of the fighting might be in the crowd. Rumor has it the Red Laces are looking to start trouble if they see any bands “with undesirables in them.”
• A cop appeared on television saying, “It’s this go-go. If you bring go-go in, you’re going to have problems.” The District has listened. Cops everywhere are raiding buildings that have flyers for go-go, have had bands play, or are even associated.
They’ve started jailing or hospitalizing people who are just in the crowd.
• A developer is looking to buy up a nearby area and has set their sights on the Atlantic Club as the centerpiece of their renovations. They have already had police evacuate and burn an entire neighborhood that wouldn’t sell, under a loose pretense of
“harboring drug dealers” and “super-predators.”
• Rumor has it the president’s kid has been giving their Secret Service detail the slip to go out and enjoy a little teen rebellion and good music. Could they be here tonight? There’s an awful lot of people in suits with earpieces and a lot more reporters than usual.
Possible Threats
• D.A.R.E. task force: These cops trying to “rid their streets of drugs” are one part true believers in colorful mascot outfits and one part squads that took over and torched an entire city block for having undesirables. If you run into them, hope they’re the former.
• White Laces and Red Laces: See “Bootlace Code” section below.
• The Dark Alliance: A group within the CIA deliberately giving crack and military surplus weapons to gangs. Some are even infiltrating gangs to ramp up the violence in order to justify “cleaning up” areas.
• The Blackened Cross: An old medal, badge, or pin with a burned and cut black “X”
in it. If you wear it you are intensely aware of anything you find uncomfortable, abhorrent, or frightening in your vicinity. A person afraid of spiders sees all of the spiders in a room, even if it is crowded and hallucinates spiders even when there are none. A person who fears a specific clique or group will always feel surrounded and outnumbered by their enemies. It can only be discarded after one has kissed the thing they fear.
Possible Powered Characters
• MacRough the Crime Hound, a former policeman and his dog who were sniffing out drugs in schools but ran afoul of a chemistry experiment gone wrong. A disfigured half-bloodhound half-man who hides in the Metro tunnels and tries to protect kids. He has now seen the real causes of the drug epidemic and can hear (and smell) the state of the streets. His desire to help elevate kids out of the school-to-prison pipeline is unchanged, but he continually tries to figure out how to do so without turning on his former co-workers.
• An old concrete lion, thrown out from its former position guarding the Taft Bridge after a restoration accident. The Perry Lion was put in a storage area outside the beltway but is now missing. Some older urban apartments have been found with broken, shabby but surprisingly robust statuary from time to time. Sometimes surveyors or folks looking to “renew” an area can end up missing, clawed, or crushed...
• Molly Prankster, a ghost who is inhabiting her old boots. She wants to see her younger sibling graduate high school and survive to do so. Those who help find themselves with miraculously clean new clothes or tickets to a show they like.
Those who hinder find themselves dancing until their feet bleed through or flogged in the pit until they die.
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• Almond Jack, who always faintly smells of the almonds they crack against each other in their hands. In the pit, or in the press of a crowd, or under the thrum of conversation in a crowded diner, Almond Jack whispers something poisonous in your ear. They tell you something horrific you have always secretly suspected about yourself or someone you love. At some point in the next day, you will fight or harm that person. Few people survive. The only cure is to purge the poison with the truth.
• La Llorona, a woman with empty eyes that weep blood or black tears. It is said that if you wake at night and see her you will soon die in gang or police crossfire.
To live you must make amends to all you have wronged and avoid anyone armed.
BOOTLACE CODE:
While funk fans wear their velvet and the punks wear their torn t-shirts, everyone wore boots. Timberlands or Doc Martens — it doesn’t matter much. But the color of your laces does matter.
• White Laces: White laces are for supremacist Nazi skinheads bent on infiltrating clubs and not starting fights to show how reasonable they can be. White Laces will deliberately taunt and attempt to provoke other groups into violence to make them look bad and will try to try to recruit for their ideology.
• Red Laces: When a place becomes friendly enough to White Laces, Red Laces will show up and attempt to beat or kill anyone who isn’t white enough. Sometimes they will try to make it look accidental in the mosh pit. Usually they will just do it in a place where people are afraid to call the cops for fear the police will burn everything.
• Yellow Laces: On the other side, people wearing these laces are the ones willing to throw down verbally with the White Laces or physically with the Red Laces.
Anyone sporting Yellow laces can be counted on to be anti-fascist and anti-Nazi.
• Purple Laces: Queer teens often wear these laces in their boots, an expression of queer pride in a world just starting to acknowledge their existence. While these laces will make teens a target for the Red Laces, they will also help signal to other Purple Laces and their Yellow Laces allies.
• Black Laces: Insisting on being on neither side of this struggle, Black Laces are the kids who are “just there for the music.” Some of them don’t know enough about the struggle to understand why it’s important, and others are simply in-different. Though some Black Laces will help if it won’t harm them, others are actively disengaged.
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: Teenagers With Attitude
In this module, player characters cannot be children or adults. All player characters must be teens only.
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The Culling in Cheyenne - Cheyenne, WY
by Ross Watson
Content Warnings: human sacrifice, mind control, missing children, missing pets, violence against animals
Setting information
Author’s Note: Cheyenne is a real place, but I’ve taken some artistic liberties to fit the genre. – Ross
Cheyenne is the state capital of Wyoming and a tourist destination for fans of history and the Old West. It has a small-town feel despite being one of the larger cities in Wyoming (population around 30,000 people), where kids ride their bikes through the neighborhoods and others ride horses on the fringes where the frontier meets the suburbs. Cheyenne is usually a sleepy town, but the annual Frontier Days rodeo celebration brings a party atmosphere for two solid weeks every year.
The town has been struggling economically for some time, staying afloat primarily through the rail industry and tourism. One of the main landmarks of the city is the Cheyenne Depot downtown, a major train hub and museum. The U.S. Air Force has a major presence in town thanks to Warren Air Force Base. Both airmen and researchers from the air base like to explore the town and environments, often taking tours from local businesses or supporting animal rescue sites.
The kids in Cheyenne don’t have a lot to do most of the year, though winter-time means plenty of opportunities for sledding, snow forts, and snow sculptures. Teenagers either plan for what they’ll do as soon as they manage to leave town or make out on the hidden trails surrounding the city proper.
Setting Touchstones
It (novel), The Monster Squad (film), Something Wicked This Way Comes (novel), Stand by Me (film)
Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: What are some notable landmarks in your neighborhood?
• Individual, Shared: What rumors about spooky stuff in town or the surrounding area interest you the most?
• Individual, Shared: What activities does your character do during the winter?
• Individual, Shared or Private: What is your character’s favorite pet animal? Are they currently missing?
• Individual, Private: How does the rush of the yearly Frontier Days celebration affect your character?
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• Individual, Private: What is your character’s favorite place to go for fun?
• Individual, Private: What about the missing animals and pets scares you the most?
Possible Points of Interest
Lighthearted
• The Big Boy Steam Engine train, in Holiday Park, near the center of town.
• Cheyenne Depot, a train museum and old-timey railroad hub.
• The Frontier Days Fairgrounds and Rodeo, home to all kinds of “state fair” style food, games, and events.
Serious
• Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, the location of top-secret research and a strategic missile base. Haunted by U.S. cavalry soldiers from the Old West.
• The old riverbed, a spooky place deep in the woods where the ancient spirit was sealed away in the ancient past.
• An abandoned train car, filled with the skeletal remains of dozens of missing pets.
Either
• Medicine Bow National Forest, full of mystery, wild animals, and strange weather.
• The Outlaw Trail, once used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a hidden path near the city yet remote and isolated.
• The train tracks, a set of old rails that haven’t been used for a century, leading off toward the old riverbed.
Possible NPCs
• Dr. Emil Albright, a former head researcher for the U.S. Air Force. This highly intelligent but impatient man left all that behind and now teaches junior high science classes. Many believe that he is carrying out research (some say UFOs, others claim cryptids) on weekends in the surrounding areas of Cheyenne.
• Major Ike Bauer, the U.S. Air Force liason to the research facility on Warren AFB.
Major Bauer is entirely focused on results. Nothing else matters to this driven career soldier.
• Janine Callahan, the elected town mayor. This ambitious woman intends to let nothing — especially any hare-brained stories about “weird stuff” — interfere with the Frontier Days rodeo celebration, something she believes will bring a much-needed boost to the town’s economy.
• Jared Church, a “cool” teenager who likes to hang out at the mall. Jared is friendly to younger kids and often acts a game master for various RPGs. He’s considering trying out as a competitive video gamer and trains at the local arcade. Jared can be counted on to be interested in anything “weird” or unusual in town.
• Drew Dennis, an Old West historian who loves giving tours and curates the Frontier Days Old West Museum. A fixture of the town, Mr. Dennis is well meaning but considered a bore by many who know him, especially kids. He knows quite a bit about Native American and Old West folk tales and legends about Cheyenne and the Medicine Bow National Forest.
• John Harpole, a taciturn, weathered man who is the town sheriff. John spends most of his time sitting around or busting tourists for drunk driving during Frontier Days.
He’s seen a lot of strange things out on the range, but has never brought back any proof of his suspicions. Friendly, but reserved.
• Markus Holtz, a scary “German guy” living on the outskirts of town. Markus is, in fact, quite normal and aching for social contact. He keeps a sharp eye on kids in his neighborhood, just trying to keep them out of trouble.
• Simon Honovi, a mean-spirited, short-tempered rancher. Simon keeps prize-winning horses on his land just outside of town. He has zero patience for nosy kids and has been known to sic his dogs on strangers.
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• All over town, pets have gone missing over the last three weeks. “Have you seen…”
flyers have started cropping up in corner stores and on telephone poles all across the kids’ neighborhood. At the same time, hunters in Medicine Bow National Forest have reported a “rabid bear” after encountering gruesome sites where local wildlife has been slaughtered and devoured. Some clues left behind seem to link with an old Native American legend of an evil spirit — a Manitou — that was supposedly sealed away centuries ago in a cave near the mouth of a river.
• In the depths of winter, several local teens that went necking in the woods have returned with a particularly strange attitude. They seem far more helpful and interested in the lives of their families, but something about them just seems… off.
• There’s a brand-new, mysterious carnival ride featured during this year’s Frontier Days. While most adults are interested only in the rodeo, the teens and kids are all talking about this unusual new ride. However, not everyone who goes in the ride comes out on the other side...
• A shrieking whistle splits the night during autumn, on the same day as the mysterious disappearance of local historian Mr. Dennis. Some say he went to the train depot, while other claim to have heard a chugging engine on the abandoned tracks.
Possible Threats
• The U.S. Air Force has a secret program in place to study UFOs, cryptids, and other unusual phenomena in the region. Dr. Albright used to work for this particular project team, but left due to disagreements with the current ruthless military liaison.
Possible Powered Characters
• A local teen, the seventh son of a seventh son, who can see creatures and phenomena hidden from normal people. His abusive parents consider him a
“troubled child.”
• A rare midwest Chupacabra that’s far more friendly than he appears. However, he’s being hunted by both the manitou and the U.S. Air Force, so he tries to remain hidden despite an intense curiosity about the modern world.
Possible Monsters
• The Manitou, a corrupted spirit of hunger. This evil spirit takes the form of a bear-like, bipedal animal with jagged fangs and claws. It has been eating pets — but it’s only a matter of time before people become targets. It terrifies animals, which flee as soon as they see it. The Manitou can climb preternaturally quickly, even up man-made structures no bear could climb. It is easily distracted by food and is compelled to eat anything reasonable thrown its way. According to legend, the Manitou can be banished by cleansing the bear form with flowing water.
• Mr. Darque, a genteel-appearing man who operates unusual carnival rides during this year’s Frontier Days celebration. A sinister being, Mr. Darque “harvests” young teens to devour their essence and retain his immortal life. According to Old West folk tales, dust devils ward him away and silver bullets may prove lethal.
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Between the Cracks - Spicerville, NY
by Scott Woodard
Content Warnings: cults, demonic possession, drowning, hosts Setting information
Spicerville is a small, nondescript village of 2,600 residents, located within the town of Upton that spans the Erie Canal in western New York. Since its founding back in 1864, Spicerville has been known primarily for its agriculture, with several sprawling (and rival) farms that radiate out from its core, along with its respectable school district, and its all-volunteer fire department.
Most residents of Spicerville are totally unaware of the strangeness that exists just beneath the surface and between the cracks, preferring to live their day-to-day lives raising their families, mowing their lawns, and enjoying summertime barbecues.
But the kids of Spicerville know better, since there are few options for entertainment in the village, and most spend their days exploring the woods, swimming and fishing in the canal, or finding any excuse imaginable to get out of the village and visit some of the surrounding — and far more exciting — communities accessible by bike.
Those willing to see the village with an open mind occasionally catch glimpses of the parallel worlds that touch and collide with our own. Sometimes those glimpses are of unparalleled beauty, but at other times are the dark and twisted stuff of nightmares.
Setting Touchstones
“Children of the Corn” (short story), Children of the Stones (TV miniseries) Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: What outdoor activities do you get up to during the winter months?
• Group: Do citizens of Spicerville take any unusual precautions when exploring the areas around the village? Crosses? Holy water, etc.?
• Individual, Shared: What is your favorite time of year in Spicerville?
• Individual, Shared: Has your family lived in the area since the village’s founding?
• Individual, Private: Do you feel so comfortable here that you never want to leave, or do you feel the desire to flee forever?
• Individual, Private: Do you suspect that one or more of your family members is engaged in something secret and possibly nefarious?
• Individual, Private: What secret are you keeping from the group?
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• The corner lot, with a large Victorian house has stood empty since the entire family who lived there went missing in the late 1950s.
• Bathym’s Chamber, the subterranean ceremonial chamber devoted to Bathym, duke of Hell. It is accessible through a hidden door under the stairs leading up to the second floor Masonic Temple or through a trapdoor under a rug in the back of Cloris Flowers.
• Hungry Pond, a perfectly round blackwater pond deep in the woods. Animal bones lie strewn about the water’s edge. The pond holds an ancient, voracious secret.
• Saint Quiteria’s Cemetery, a Catholic graveyard where the spirits of the dead speak to those willing to listen. Adjacent to this is Saint Quiteria’s Church, where the un-moving third bell tolls 13 once a year on the anniversary of the tragedy that befell a bellringer in 1941.
• The Erie Canal, referred to by many (especially the local children) as the “Eerie”
Canal. Bodies been recovered from its slow-moving waters over the decades, and on certain nights a thick, luminescent fog rises from the water’s surface.
• Soldier’s Memorial Tower, a crumbling (and haunted) Civil War monument with a broken, winding staircase.
• Sumac Cave, a narrow, muddy network of natural caves that is believed to house a valuable treasure.
Possible NPCs
• Trey Hodges, a fourth-grade English teacher at Carter Elementary on the north side of the village. Trey also runs the A/V club and is extremely popular with the uncool crowd, who all admire him for his love of monster movies and tabletop role-playing games. Trey drives a purple Triumph TR3 named Frodo.
• Don J. Kelly, the warm, welcoming face of Spicerville. It’s not uncommon to see the mayor’s grinning mug on yellowed posters tacked up around Spicerville recommending that visitors “stay a while.” Unknown to most, Kelly is also the head of the secret group that meets in the basement of the Harmony Masonic Temple.
• Mark O’Connor, the friendly, middle-aged owner of the Book Vault, a cluttered shop located right in the heart of the village. Most visitors come to pick through the stacks for a paperback or two, but Mark’s back room houses a respectable collection of occult books and other esoteric texts. One need only know the secret word to gain access: “Lovecraft.”
• Elsa Winkler, the oldest living resident of Spicerville. Elsa has seen it all. Alas, Elsa has also been blind for most of her life, but her other senses are so well-attuned that, if asked, she often describes things using (accurate) colors. No one but Elsa knows exactly how many years she has walked upon the Earth, but the truth would surprise you!
Possible Adventure Hooks
• Each night, strange, pulsing lights have been spotted in the windows of Shelby Manor, which everyone knows is abandoned.
• The owner of Cloris Flowers, a small florist adjacent to the Masonic Temple, is overheard in the Spicerville Diner talking about strange whispers and foul, sulfurous odors coming up from under the floor of her shop.
• A few days back, a group of hunters exited the woods with one of their party and his dog missing. Search parties have been scouring the forest, but so far there has been no sign of the missing hunter. Might he have wandered too close to the murky black waters of Hungry Pond?
• While mid-winter depression isn’t all that unusual around these parts, this sudden strange wave of melancholy and sadness in the heart of summer seems undefeat-able. And the first recorded suicide in 10 years is certainly a troubling development.
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• Walking the rows is an old tradition in Spicerville where those seeking calm, focus, and vitality stroll through the rows of corn after the Fourth of July. But there are rules to this game, and those who break them are never heard from again.
• Every year in early June, the Spicerville Summertime Festival and Carnival comes to town. No one claims responsibility for the event, yet it has been a local tradition since the 1930s. Stay out of the Hall of Mirrors!
Possible Threats
• The secret and ancient order of Bathym, a demon-worshipping cult that has been trying to summon a demon for almost a century.
Possible Powered Characters
• Elsa Winkler is a timeless being from another dimension who was blinded and exiled to our world centuries ago. While she is charming and seemingly benevolent, she will stop at nothing to find her way back home.
• Vernon Walker keeps to himself, rarely speaking to anyone but the headstones at Saint Quiteria’s Cemetery. Vernon is actually the ghost of one of the original canal workers who died tragically in 1820, trampled by a team of spooked horses.
Possible Monsters
• Bathym, the demonic duke of Hell who knows the virtues of herbs and crops and is master of the astral plane. As long as sacrifices are made in his honor, Bathym is appeased.
• The face of a trapped god that draws people and animals into the depths of its cold, blackwater lair deep within the woods.
• Malevolent green spirit-forms with one foot in the old world. They gather outside children’s windows at midnight, looking to make eye contact — with fatal results.
ADJUSTMENTS TO RULES
Rule Addition: The Willies
Whether you were born with the ability or you acquired it through some other means, you are inherently sensitive to supernatural powers. You might get goosebumps in the presence of psychic energy, you might visualize a colored aura around powered characters, or you might be able to home in on the source of mystical powers within a short distance, like the needle of a compass (you literally feel something in your bones). The Willies works just like the Intuitive strength, except that when you spend an Adversity Token, the GM must reveal details specific to psychic emanations.
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Butter Tarts and Broken Bones
- Tenapanguisine, ON
by Jim Zub and the Danger Dice Gang
Content Warnings: bullying, economic entrap-
ment, freezing, missing children, witchcraft
Setting information
A small rural town in northern Ontario, Tenapanguisine (or “the Tens” if you’re a local) is much like the famous butter tarts that bring in tourists from miles around —
sickly sweet at first, but a crumbly mess once you dig a little deeper.
The rustic kindness that seems so inviting to people passing through doesn’t hold up to scrutiny from the many unemployed loggers and their families that populate the town. The economic heyday of the Tens
is well behind it, and a pervasive sense of desperation has taken its place. People don’t stay here because they want to. They just don’t know where else to go.
Making things even more awkward is a series of odd
local rituals that permeate day-to-day life in the Tens.
Locals never park their cars facing north. Old ladies from the Craft Club always burn sage the morning after a full moon. Every kid receives a tree-shaped pendant on their 12th birthday. Visitors and townspeople who don’t know any better assume these little quirks are just part of the local flavor, cute ways to make the Tens stand out in a cottage country dotted with boroughs looking to monetize their folksy charm. However, for those with an eye toward local history, they tell a very different story. These habits have evolved naturally for one reason only: keeping evil at bay.
Note: The Tens is a setting dotted with quirky elements to keep players guessing. It’s a good fit for off-kilter and macabre adventures in the style of Twin Peaks or Near Dark.
Setting Touchstones
Near Dark (film), Twin Peaks (TV series) Alternate Town Creation Questions
• Group: What are some notable local establishments that have managed to stay in business despite hard economic times?
• Individual, Shared: How close are you or your family involved with baking — and specifically the Big Tart, the town’s most famous tourist stop? As a side note, do you still enjoy the taste of butter tarts?
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• Individual, Shared: How closely is your family tied to the logging industry that once dominated the town’s economy?
• Individual, Shared: What rumors have you heard about where these local superstitions came from?
• Individual, Shared or Private: How much do you adhere to local superstitions?
Possible Points of Interest
• The Big Tart, the local bakery that dominates the town’s reputation now that logging has fallen out of favor. The Big Tart has a dozen or more student-aged employees year round, cranking out a steady supply of butter tarts made from Doreen Ellison’s great-grandmother’s secret recipe. In the parking lot is “the World’s Biggest Butter Tart,” a 16-foot-tall, photo-worthy fiberglass reproduction of the town’s most famous pastry.
• The Ash Grove, a field of tall grass on the edge of town, dominated by the presence of a single massive black ash tree. Adults tell kids to steer clear of this place after dark.
• The Five & Tens, a local convenience store. Teens know that it’s a good spot to get booze because they don’t scrutinize IDs. Kids enjoy picking up comics from the spinner rack but, oddly, they never have current issues, only dinged-up old comics from 1961. Yet they’re always well stocked...
• Widow’s Peak, a cliff overlooking the bay. The name comes from wives in olden days who would gather at the top to look out over the water and see when ships were coming in.
• An old lumber mill that was functioning during the early 1900s. Now, it’s only known as the key filming location for Lumberjack Dance Party, a forgettable teen movie musical from the early 1960s.
Possible NPCs
• Chad Badminton, one of the stars of Lumberjack Dance Party who decided to retire in the Tens after his career washed up. Every local who was alive in the ’60s has an anecdote about Chad partying up a storm in his prime, but in the past few years he’s become quite antisocial, twitchy, and downright strange.
• Doreen Ellison, the matriarchal owner and manager of the Big Tart. She runs the town’s famous bakery with a strict hand and brooks no rebellion from her employees, who she calls her “little sugars.” She expects deference for all she’s brought to the Tens, and most of the locals give it to her without complaint.
• Ashley Hunter, the sheriff’s plucky teenage daughter who babysits kids in her neighborhood or studies compulsively when she’s not working at the public library.
She is obsessed with local history, and her current project is looking for information about a gap in the town records stretching from 1961-64. She doesn’t yet see any darkness in the Tens and imagines she’ll be mayor when she grows up.
• Carol Hunter, sheriff of Tenapanguisine. Carol is patient, kind, and quite used to dealing with superstitious townsfolk and rampant rumors. She doesn’t believe in the supernatural and actively avoids engaging with any explanation that isn’t rooted in real-world science — things she can see and touch.
• Bessie Nye, 95 years old, mostly blind and partially deaf. Children have always called her “the witch,” and she doesn’t deny it for a second. Bessie is the oldest living resident of the Tens, and if the town has a secret, she knows it.
• Brick Thorpe, local bully. He didn’t graduate from high school so much as he was released like a wild animal that never learned how to co-exist with others. He’ll beat you for your lunch money, then beat you again for not fighting back hard enough.
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• The Ash Grove is the site of an elementary school that burned down in the early 1900s. Echoes of that traumatic event have left their mark on the town, both in terms of local customs and its spiritual well-being.
• A nosy reporter has been poking around town, digging up dirt on Doreen Ellison.
He’s convinced that her secret butter tart recipe contains more than just maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon, something downright sinister…
• A graduation bush party up on Widow’s Peak becomes the site of a haunting as chaos breaks out. Three teenagers go missing, and the only clue to their disappearance is a trio of subtly glowing animal bones, snapped in half, that were left behind at the site.
• People hiking in the woods outside town at night report seeing ghostly buildings that weren’t there in the daylight. The few brave enough to approach them say that the structures are covered in a diaphanous, semi-transparent film that’s cold to the touch.
• On the night of the hottest summer day in over 50 years, the bay suddenly freezes over with a thick layer of ice, strong enough for even an adult to walk on. What’s causing it and why?
• After a lunar eclipse, the tree-shaped pendants given to 12-year-olds in the Tens begin to feel noticeably warm to the touch. The closer anyone comes to Bessie Nye’s house, the warmer they get...
Possible Threats
• A group of townies who deeply resent the Bennies (out-of-towners), a resentment that simmers but sometimes reaches the point of violence.
• A group of shadowy developers who want to buy up real estate and raze many of the locals’ houses... and the townies who are inexplicably working with them.
• A secret organization that knows the secrets of the town and is quite resistant to anyone finding out about them, or that is working to summon something ancient and powerful from the ocean — or both.
Possible Powered Characters
• W.K., (aka “the Weird Kid”), a frail young boy, twitchy and nearly mute, whose skin is frigidly cold to the touch.
• A spirit serpent with glowing green eyes that’s only visible under moonlight or when seen in a mirror.
• The Little Wanderer, a hyper-intelligent German Shepherd who keeps children out of danger. He doesn’t speak, but he seems to fully understand when people to talk to him, even if those conversations involve complex commands or emotions.
Possible Monsters
• A ghostly creature wrapped in scraps of the creepy film that clings to the time-displaced buildings of the town that sometimes show up at night.
• Human-sized mosquitoes summoned by teenage witches who are desperately trying to impress Bessie Nye with their spell-casting skills.
• Tree spirits still howling in pain from the damage done to them by loggers who cleared the land to build up the town in its earliest days.
• Icy tendrils reaching out from the depths of the bay, freezing everything they touch.
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We want to give our extreme gratitude to our many Kickstarter Backers who helped bring this project to life!
Thanks to you all!
Additional Thanks:
• Banana Chan for her guidance and perfect sense of weirdness
• Anton Kromoff and Dan Raphael for their guidance on issues surrounding characters with disabilities or who are neuroatypical
• Nicholas Malinowski for his amazing GMing and wonderful scenarios
• Tim Mattes for his brainstorms and playtesting
• Brian Neff for his wisdom and patient ears
• Ryan Schoon and Thor Hansen for their feedback and support on the rules
• Jay Treat for his ideas about character creation and great feedback on the questions
Playtesters: Yvonne Apgar, Jack Bathke, Paul Birnbaum, the Danger Dice Gang (Derek Halliday, Stacy King, Kean Soo, Andrew Wheeler, Tory Woollcott, and Jim Zub), Amy DeMoranville, Kiva Fecteau, Adam Fischer, Matt Grossi, Tim Hutchings, Chris O’Neill, Anthony Rando, Jeff Stormer, Alex Witzl
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