Everyplace feels familiar. An old bakery gapes hollow. The post office is shrouded in vines. Inside the arcade, a small forest is quietly illuminated by consoles. Paperbacks litter the street: Peter and Wendy, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Someone moves in the corner of your eye: you couldn't make out a face, but you could swear those were antlers. In a dusty electronics store window, a box television clicks, brightens, and hisses static. A tiger crosses your path.
A stout splintered sign sits battered and faded in the weeds: Welcome to Duskwick.
A stout splintered sign sits battered and faded in the weeds: Welcome to Duskwick.
A Rumor
Duskwick is a little lakeside town that -- according to reddit, expert bloggers, and several reputable youtube channels -- has recently had an unprecedented number of paranormal reports. Sightings of strange lights, moving objects and electrical anomalies has skyrocketed. Errant cackles of unidentified animals echo in the night, and the dragonflies only come out after sunset. Residents claim to have stumbled sometimes into an alternate reality like a replica of the town from 1980, abandoned and overgrown and inhabited by tigers and deer-people.
Since the first tiger-sighting four months ago, the telephone poles and diner corkboards have been papered in MISSING posters.
Since the first tiger-sighting four months ago, the telephone poles and diner corkboards have been papered in MISSING posters.
A Concept
Your character has arrived in Duskwick to investigate the paranormal phenomena (ghosts? aliens? fairies? chemicals in the water?) and/or the alarming number of persons who've recently gone missing; or maybe they're here visiting family; or maybe they're just passing through; or maybe they've lived here all their lives.
This is an exploration RP with a deep-rooted plot. Characters are encouraged to look around, but also to touch things and break things and stir up old stories -- the setting is fragile and precarious, and will change depending on the characters' actions. Something Very Wrong is happening here. Maybe only you can set things right ... or hurtle the town of Duskwick into oblivion.
This is an exploration RP with a deep-rooted plot. Characters are encouraged to look around, but also to touch things and break things and stir up old stories -- the setting is fragile and precarious, and will change depending on the characters' actions. Something Very Wrong is happening here. Maybe only you can set things right ... or hurtle the town of Duskwick into oblivion.
A Small Town
Duskwick is nestled in the northeast United States, along the shore of Fog Lake. It lies midway between two larger cities and boasts not one but two railway tracks through town: one for people, another for the freight lines that echo deep in the night. Most residents take the train each morning to their city jobs while the rest open restaurants and antique shops and art galleries along Brightwell Avenue, or read magazines and tarot guides at the old brick library, or push out onto the lake in their canoes and fishing boats, or sit outside Charlie's Deli with soda and ice cream to watch the world pass by.
This was the perfect picture of Duskwick before the troubles began -- before the blinds were drawn and the locks clicked and signs in the windows turned CLOSED. Except along the busy and illuminated Brightwell, no one goes outside after dark.
This was the perfect picture of Duskwick before the troubles began -- before the blinds were drawn and the locks clicked and signs in the windows turned CLOSED. Except along the busy and illuminated Brightwell, no one goes outside after dark.
Gameplay
Characters may be whomever you wish, whether a resident, a visitor from the city or an investigator, professional or otherwise. PCs don't have to stick together -- in fact everyone may eventually become separated -- but we will open with everyone in the same diner. The game will be mostly exploratory, with a focus on the characters themselves. The character sheet will prompt players to create characters with simple and concrete goals and drives; what you get out of this RP will be equal to the character's curiosity and motivation to take action, so keep this in mind when deciding on personality traits. The setting will change and develop as the characters' decisions affect it -- so make decisions often.
This RP probably will not maintain a somber mood; there will be jokes, there will be crazy outlandish weird stuff, there will be ridiculous tropes and nonsensical randomness -- but there will also be a bit of horror, gray-moral conflicts, and imagery for imagery's sake.
In the end, it all revolves around the PCs, their desires, their desperation, their fears and sadness. I'm a reactive GM: I'd rather tailor the setting to your character, not force your character to fit into the setting. Therefore once again I ask for characters who are ready and willing to shape the world around them -- you never know what they'll create.
This RP probably will not maintain a somber mood; there will be jokes, there will be crazy outlandish weird stuff, there will be ridiculous tropes and nonsensical randomness -- but there will also be a bit of horror, gray-moral conflicts, and imagery for imagery's sake.
In the end, it all revolves around the PCs, their desires, their desperation, their fears and sadness. I'm a reactive GM: I'd rather tailor the setting to your character, not force your character to fit into the setting. Therefore once again I ask for characters who are ready and willing to shape the world around them -- you never know what they'll create.
Set the Mood
- Twin Peaks and Stranger Things
- Amateur YouTube paranormal videos
- The music of Sia and Of Monsters And Men and every LoFi Hip Hop playlist
- The art of Cassandra Jean and PainDude_
A Character Application
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