Ghost Town Slow Crawl

This is my entry to Jim P’s Play Worlds Not Rules Design Challenge. This is kind of my love letter to small towns, night roads and strange fiction.

“Genre”

Ghost Town Slow Crawl is weird cause its less a genre but kind of a feeling of a few genres. Its inspiration is small town gothic Americana, things that border on or maybe turn the dial up on magical realism, Welcome to Nightvale or maybe even Addams Family. Games like Kentucky Route Zero and Night in the Woods. American Elsewhere, Gravity Falls, David Lynch, some of the “New Weird” fiction. Wovenhand and Nick Cave. Time period is “modern”, but most likely at least a decade past, if not more. Basically anything kinda eerie without being outright horrific, sorta dark but not overly grim, full of black humor without forgoing earnestness.

Tables

d4 What is something unusual that happened yesterday?

1. Something fell out of the sky and has everyone worried.
2. A lighthouse directly in the middle of town, destroying the town hall.
3. A curse was decried by a local wise-person, dooming a bloodline or tradition.
4. The town sprung into existence out of nowhere, with the implication of a prior history.

d6 Where is this town?

1. Beside an eerie forest, where nothing seems to stick in one place.
2. On a storm-kissed turbulent span of plains, stretching as far as the eye can see.
3. In the shadow of an ominous peak of which the locals rarely discuss.
4. Overlooking a deep lake, always reflecting the stars of night even midday.
5. Just off a desert whose winds leaves the impression of footsteps in the sand.
6. Deep in the delta, whose waters seem to hide everything lost and forgotten.

d8 What darkness lies below the surface of the town?

1. A foul magical tradition traces its lineage here, as does the order founded to keep it in check.
2. Drug trafficking of the paranormal variety.
3. A tome bearing a title akin to “Haec verba creare deos” was found in an antique shop. The proprietor doesn’t recall who it was sold to, but a worrying amount of new deities have begun demanding worship.
4. A massive storm, the townsfolk whisper about – personifying it as a beast.
5. Ominous beings from the wilderness abduct individuals every full moon.
6. A massive corporation has bought up all of the industry in the town, but seem to be seeking something other than just profits.
7. A shadow version of the town can be seen in reflections on some moonless nights, and the inhabitants there do not seem pleasant.
8. A sprawling abandoned city literally below the surface of town, full of disquieting images.

d10 What kind of person came here? (pc or npc ideas)

1. An investigator, looking to resolve something in this town.
2. An occultist, trying to pick up overlooked practices.
3. An outsider, from a weird place, not sure how to get home.
4. A ghostly local, bound by something intense.
5. A sentient animal, a little in the know.
6. A door-to-door salesman, on the lookout for new thrills.
7. A band lost on tour, with an avant garde sound bordering on violence.
8. An ookie family from somewhere else, enthusiastically looking to exchange cultures.
9. A property investor, seeking remote tracts of land and unusual estates.
10. A loved one, unsure of their distant cousin’s address.

d12 What are some carried items?

1. A cassette player that always starts a different tune every time it is played.
2. A pocketful of coins, all minted in fictional lands.
3. A journal, trying to describe the author’s rendition of an documentary describing an archaeological dig discovering highly technological artifacts in the wilderness.
4. Pouch of herbs, whose smoke provides lateral insights.
5. A replica dagger, bearing the crest of a doomed order.
6. A large piece of driftwood, with a map of the old town burned into it.
7. Wood-carved icons of nature spirits.
8. An antique revolver, wrapped in burgundy cloth.
9. Two over-sized walkie talkies, who sometimes pick up on a third converser’s signal.
10. A rose whose color shifts vibrantly in the moonlight.
11. A tarot deck of historical figures, some of whom you haven’t found in any history books.
12. A very filthy straw hat that never comes clean.

d20 What is an unusual aspect of this community (roll as many as you like)?

1. Ghosts make their presence known with surprising regularity.
2. The animals here may speak the human tongue, they just usually choose not to.
3. A portion of the population is experiencing time in reverse, and it doesn’t look great where they came from.
4. The flora is all connected and exhibits eerie intellect, and have begun arranging themselves into shapes that resemble buildings and factories in the wilderness.
5. The devil himself has a seasonal home here, and he’s a very active member of the community.
6. No-one wakes up where they went to sleep.
7. The shape of all things hold secrets to their inner nature. One must be careful when associating certain dimensions and number of sides with others, lest the items be angered.
8. The kids have gotten into competitive fortune telling, and ever since they split into oracular gangs everything’s gone sour.
9. Every person has an identical twin, and the town has enacted draconian restrictions to them ever meeting.
10. Every once and a while someone is lost down a deep dark mine or cave. Days later a haggard and aged person appears in town claiming to be them, begging for the burrow to be caved in.
11. Fairies leave offerings for the townsfolk, concessions begging for their domain to remain untarnished.
12. Some of the skeletons of the passed are found returned to their homes, unrealizing of their deceased nature.
13. Just outside of the corner of anyone’s vision automatons can be seen spying on us. But they are able to disperse or camouflage when direct contact is attempted.
14. 10% of everything produced or created in town are placed into an empty lot. Every night a blinding spotlight appears from the sky, levitating everything into the sky until it disappears. The locals refer to this as “the tithe.”
15. Every person wakes up to find a manila envelope providing them a new role within the town. When they return home at night they find a report card indicating how well they performed. Everyone sweats fearing failing marks.
16. The profession of “angel investor” is strangely high for the population. While they seem to be terrible investors, they are pretty adamant about their divine origin.
17. The local clergy proselytizes the worship of “iconic” – rubber duckies, long dead celebrities, old social movements and art forms, etc.
18. The buildings grow and shrink of their own accord, and articles of
19. Several occupants are creatures from mythology, beings of legend, and ideas manifest. They don’t really talk about why they’re here.
20. The local gum randomly phase people in and out of existence, sometimes for minutes, sometimes years.

Advice

As for advice on how to play this – obviously play up the weirdness but don’t go overboard. Make some strange things normal – maybe aliens are contributing members of society, but always keep the presence of the occult – hidden things, secrets, and dark tidings people would sooner ignore.

Run this as a mystery, paranormal investigation game, a slice of life experiencing some oddities, a wizard duel, or as a community coming together to address a flaw or threat. Think of dark nights on a long road, strange things found in the back of antique shops, and the hand notes on unusual family photos of people you’ve never met. Dream of local urban legends and mythology, but definitely be sensitive to source materials and any beliefs inspiration is drawn from. Slow down play and be willing to really hold onto scenes longer than you think is necessary. Open up to a bit of dream logic as you play – find symbols, patterns and recurrences at your table, and use them as your grounding if logic gets a little mercurial.

Also be mindful of prejudices against small towners, but also of prejudices found within small towns. Talk to your table about comfort levels and what you want to explore.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!