Small Towns Along the Uncanny Highway Part I: Town Overview

Tags

1960s, 1970s, Americana fantasy, Gothic America, magic realism, Midwest Horror, modern fantasy, Prairie Horror, Road Crawl, Road Trip, Roadcrawl, Roadtrip, Seventies, Sixties, Small Town Horror, Southern Gothic, Urban Fantasy, Weird America

The Small Towns along the Uncanny Highway are places for road-tripping characters to rest, find temporary employment, and uncover long-buried secrets. They’re perfect locations for “slice-of-life” scenarios – in places where life can include the possibility of cannibalistic mutants tunneling into your basement!

Tables 1 to 9 (presented here) give you a general overview of the town. Tables 10 to 13 (in part II) define the predominant People and Culture of the town. Tables 14 to 19 (in upcoming Part III) take you “around town” to define it’s businesses, establishments, and locations. Tables 20 to 22 (upcoming in part IV) define the town’s major organizations and social institutions. Tables 23 to 32 (to be presented in Part V) define the Archetypal NPCs that seem to inhabit every small town, such as the “Most Beloved Person in Town” and the “Town Bully”. Finally, Tables 33 to 38 (in the final Part VI) generate the encounters that PCs will have if they spend time wandering the streets.

Table 1: Name of a Small Town

First, Roll d4 to determine which Sub-table to use. Then roll the indicated die (or dice) to determine the name.

Town Name Sub-table 1

d20	The sign outside town says: Welcome to…
1	New Nineveh.
2	New Corinth.
3	New Jezreel.
4	New Antioch.
5	New Ashkelon.
6	New Bethel.
7	New Byblos.
8	New Cana.
9	New Chorazin.
10	New Elim.
11	New Gibeon.
12	New Haran.
13	New Jaffa.
14	New Lystra.
15	New Megiddo.
16	New Zion.
17	New Petra.
18	New Sardis.
19	New Marah.
20	New Jericho.

Town Name Sub-table 2

d20	The sign outside town says: Welcome to…
1	Prudence.
2	Patience.
3	Ingenuity.
4	Temperance.
5	Friendship.
6	Honor.
7	Deliverance.
8	Perseverance.
9	Justice.
10	Abundance.
11	Fidelity.
12	Industry.
13	Veritas.
14	Fides.
15	Clementia.
16	Dignity.
17	Chastity.
18	Innocence.
19	Joy.
20	Severitas.

Town Name Sub-table 3

d12, d12	The sign outside town says: Welcome to…
1	John(’s)…	…Fields.
2	New…	…Promise.
3	Found…	…Hope.
4	Christ(’s)…	…Haven.
5	Mary(’s)…	…Castle.
6	Bright…	…Fort.
7	Sunny…	…Town.
8	Fresh…	…Home.
9	Wonder…	…Ark.
10	Eagle(’s)…	…Rest.
11	Bear(’s)…	…Stone.
12	White…	…Park.

Town Name Sub-table 4

d12, d12	The sign outside town says: Welcome to…
1	Peter(s)-	-ville.
2	Lark(s)-	-ton.
3	Moon(s)-	-caster.
4	Iron(s)-	-chester.
5	Owl(s)-	-borough.
6	Light(s)-	-fort.
7	Rudd(y)-	-burg.
8	Silver(s)-	-wood.
9	Apple(s)-	-ham.
10	Oak(s)-	-town.
11	Wolf(s)-	-land
12	Star-	-field

Table 2: Population of a Small Town

d6	Under the town name, the town’s population is purported to be…
1	1d4 x 500.
2 – 3	1d8 x 1,000.
4 – 5	3d6 x 1,000.
6	5d6 x 1,000.

• The populations will not include students at a university, inmates in a prison, or patients in hospital or asylum.

Table 3: Slogan of a Small Town

d100	Written underneath the population number is the slogan…
1 – 3	“The small town with big dreams!”
4 – 6	“Your new home!”
7 – 9	“You’ll never leave!”
10 – 12	“There’s no going back now!”
13 – 15	“Why would you go anywhere else?”
16 – 18	“You can’t beat us, so join us!”
19 – 21	“Home is where we are!”
22 – 24	“Never wander again!”
25 – 27	“We keep the city far away!”
28 – 30	“Your respite from the road!”
31 – 33	“Your road is at an end!”
34 – 36	“Nothing more to hope for!”
37 – 39	“Come on in!”
40 – 42	“We’ve got your dreams right here!”
43 – 45	“More perfect than you know!”
46 – 48	“A permanent solution to the big city!”
49 – 51	“Be happy – you’re here!”
52 – 54	“How could you not fall in love?”
55 – 57	“Small in size, big in heart!”
58 – 60	“Your heart is in our hands!”
61 – 63	“Faith, Hope, Charity, and Home!”
64 – 66	“The winningest town in America!”
67 – 69	“Find your New Family!”
70 – 72	“Fall under our spell!”
73 – 75	“Where the impossible is possible!”
76 – 78	“A rest for the weary soul.”
79 – 81	“We’d love to have you!”
82 – 84	“Let us show you!”
85 – 87	“Hospitality and Hope!”
88 – 90	“Now, you can rest!”
91 – 93	“The only home of Happiness!”
94 – 96	“A little piece of Heaven!”
97 – 100	“You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Table 4: The Local Landmark of a Small Town

d20	Coming into town, you will see a notable…
1	monument. See MONUMENTS, MEMORIALS, and SHRINES.
2 – 3	tree with an unusual shape.
4 – 5	patch of woods (or cacti, in the Southwest).
6	bridge.
7	hill.
8	rock with an unusual shape.
9	church with unusual architecture. 50% chance Church is now abandoned.
10 – 11	house with unusual architecture. 50% chance House is now abandoned.
13	fort in ruins.
14	river or river bed.
15 – 16	lake.
17	water tower.
18	crossroads.
19	well.
20	cave.

Table 5: Main Industry of a Small Town

d20	The town’s economy is dependent upon…
1	a jail or prison.
2	a military base.
3	a steelworks.
4	a lumber mill, or a drywall factory (in the Southwest).
5	a chemical plant. d8: Plant manufactures… 1=chlorine, 2=food additives, 3=soaps and shampoos, 4=paints and pigments, 5=industrial solvents, 6=pharmaceuticals, 7=fertilizer and pesticides, 8=a strange chemical which is shipped to the military, but for which none of the workers know a use.
6	an oil refinery.
7	oil extraction.
8	natural gas extraction.
9	a weapons factory.
10	a flour mill.
11	a power plant. d6: Generator is powered by… 1 – 2=coal, 3=oil, 4=natural gas, 5=nuclear energy, 6=garbage incineration.
12	an automotive parts factory.
13	a toy factory.
14	a mine.
15	a snack foods factory.
16	a soda bottling plant.
17	a paper mill.
18	a college or university.
19	a research laboratory.
20	a large hospital, rehab center, or asylum.

Table 6a: Basic Layout of a Small Town

d20	Overall, the plan of the town seems to be…
1	compact, with a regular grid of streets, and a main street that runs through town. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
2	compact, with a regular grid of streets, a main street, and a town square. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
3	compact, with a regular grid of streets, and no apparent main street or town square. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
4	compact, with a regular grid of streets and a town square, but no apparent main street. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
5	compact, with irregular streets, and a main street that winds through town. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
6	compact, with irregular streets, a main street, and a town square. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
7	compact, with irregular streets, and no apparent main street or town square. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
8	compact, with irregular streets and a town square, but no apparent main street. Town is likely more than 100 years old.
9	low density and diffuse at the outskirts, but with a more compact center of regular streets in a grid pattern surrounding a town square.
10	low density and diffuse at the outskirts, but with a more compact center of regular streets in a grid pattern, with a main street.
11	low density and diffuse at the outskirts, but with a more compact center of regular streets in a grid pattern surrounding a town square, and with a main street running through town.
12	low density and diffuse at the outskirts, but with a more compact center of irregular streets surrounding a town square.
13	low density and diffuse at the outskirts, but with a more compact center of irregular streets, and a main street that winds through town.
14	low density and diffuse at the outskirts, but with a more compact center of irregular streets surrounding a town square, and a main street that winds through town.
15	a low density arrangement with streets in a regular grid, and generous space between buildings. There is a town square, however.
16	a low density arrangement with streets in a regular grid, and generous space between buildings. There is a main street, however.
17	a low density arrangement with streets in a regular grid, and generous space between buildings. There is a main street and town square, however.
18	a low density arrangement of winding and irregular streets, with generous space between buildings. There is a town square, however.
19	a low density arrangement with winding and irregular streets, with generous space between buildings. There is apparently a main street, however.
20	a low density arrangement with winding and irregular streets, and generous space between buildings. The Highway itself is the main street running through the center of town.

Table 6b: Districts of a Small Town

d4	The main industry is located…
1	at the north end of town, where working-class people live. The wealthiest people live in the south end, and middle-class people generally live between the north and south ends.
2	at the south end of town, where working-class people live. The wealthiest people live in the north end, and middle-class people generally live between the south and north ends.
3	on the east side of town, where working-class people live. The wealthiest people live on the west side, and middle-class people generally live between the east and west sides.
4	on the west side of of town, where working-class people live. The wealthiest people live on the east side, and middle-class people generally live between the west and east sides.

• Businesses beside the Main Industry will cluster along the town’s Main Street and/or Town Square.

Table 7: First Impression of a Small Town

d6	Your first impression of the town as you enter is that…
1	it looks like everything is decorated for a holiday all the time.
2	everything looks especially neat and tidy.
3	it’s just an average ordinary American town.
4	it has definitely seen better days.
5	a persistent gloom seems to hang over everything.
6	you feel like you are always being watched.

Table 8: Predominant Architecture of Buildings in a Small Town

d8	The predominant architectural style for homes seems to be…
1 or below	Mission Revival / Adobe. (1 or 2 floors)
2	Ranch. (1 floor)
3	Craftsman / California Bungalow. (2 or 3 floors) or Shotgun Houses (in the South, 1 floor).
4	Rural Gothic. (2 or 3 floors)
5	Queen Anne. (2 – 4 floors)
6	Colonial Revival. (2 or 3 floors)
7	Dutch Colonial (2 or 3 floors) or Shotgun Houses (in the South, 1 floor).
8+	Federal. (2 – 4 floors). House are either red brick, or whitewashed brick.

• Modifiers: -1 to the roll in Southern California & the Desert Southwest, +1 in the Northeast.

Table 9: The Dark Secret of a Small Town

d20	The Dark Secret of this town is…
1	its many shockingly inbred families.
2	it is bound to an ancient power of evil, and every year a lottery is held to see who will be sacrificed.
3	there are tunnels that run underneath town, home to a population of cannibalistic mutants.
4	there is a place in town that will resurrect anything buried in it. In exactly the condition in which it was buried, of course.
5	there is an extremely high rate of bizarre birth defects, related to the town’s Main Industry. The defects may be due to toxic chemical used in manufacturing, or if this is a college or hospital town, perhaps pregnant women are being used as test subjects for a new drug.
6	U.F.O. abductions are a regular occurrence here.
7	many of the town’s children are human-alien hybrids.
8	many families in town have a taste for human flesh.
9	a prominent family is also a pack of werewolves.
10	vampirism is spreading.
11	Zombies created by exposure to toxic waste are being stored in an otherwise unremarkable warehouse.
12	much of it was built atop a toxic waste dump.
13	there is an ancient coven of Satanic witches, with roots in the Old Country. 50% chance there is also a local coven of White Witches who oppose them.
14	one of the churches is really a cover for a cult worshiping an incomprehensible demon-god from the Outer Darkness.
15	it is built atop a Native American burial ground, and consequently haunted.
16	the population is gradually being replaced with copies. d4: The copies are… 1=disguised Extraterrestrials, 2=Androids, 3=Clones, 4=Pod People.
17	its founders were actually outlaws and bandits, and a portion of their stolen gold is still buried somewhere in town.
18	there is an ancient flying saucer buried under the town.
19	many of its older residents are Nazi war criminals.
20	one of the houses is a Gateway to Hell, and another a Portal to Heaven. Angels and Demons meet in the town – sometimes to fight, and sometimes to parley.