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
This is the second set of random generators for defining the small towns that lie along the Uncanny Highway of the Groovy Seventies. Use them to define the predominant ethnicity of the town’s residents, their attitudes, and their town pride.
Tables 1 to 9 (presented previously) give you a general overview 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 10: Ethnic Makeup of a Small Town
|
d20 |
The ethnic origin of the population seems to be mostly… |
|
1 – 6 |
Undifferentiated “White” American. Most people in town will not identify with any ethnicity other than “American”. |
|
7 |
Black. |
|
8 |
Irish, or Swiss (in the Midwest), or Black (in the South) |
|
9 |
German, or Swedish (in the Midwest), or Black (in the South) |
|
10 |
Irish. |
|
11 |
German. |
|
12 |
Italian. |
|
13 |
French. |
|
14 |
Spanish, or Mexican (in the Southwest) |
|
15 |
Lebanese, or Mexican (in the Southwest) |
|
16 |
Polish. |
|
17 |
Hungarian. |
|
18 |
Ukrainian. |
|
19 |
Asian. d8. 1 – 2 = Filipino, 2 – 3 = Chinese, 4 = Japanese, 5 = Korean, 6 = Vietnamese or Southeast Asian, 8 = Indian or Pakistani. |
|
20 |
Native American. Town is 85% likely to comprise (or be part of) a Reservation. |
Table 11: General Disposition of Adults and Teens in a Small Town
|
d20 |
The average adult acts… |
|
1 |
blissful… |
|
2 |
virtuous… |
|
3 |
honest… |
|
4 |
friendly… |
|
5 |
polite… |
|
6 |
amorous… |
|
7 |
quirky and eccentric… |
|
8 |
hot-tempered… |
|
9 |
fanatically pious… |
|
10 |
crude… |
|
11 |
unfriendly… |
|
12 |
dishonest… |
|
13 |
frightened… |
|
14 |
bigoted… |
|
15 |
paranoid… |
|
16 |
menacing… |
|
17 |
gloomy… |
|
18 |
envious / resentful… |
|
19 |
fatalistic… |
|
20 |
criminal… |
|
d20 |
…but most of the teens seem… |
|
1 |
blissful. |
|
2 |
virtuous. |
|
3 |
honest. |
|
4 |
friendly. |
|
5 |
polite. |
|
6 |
amorous. |
|
7 |
quirky and eccentric. |
|
8 |
hot-tempered. |
|
9 |
fanatically pious. |
|
10 |
crude. |
|
11 |
unfriendly. |
|
12 |
dishonest. |
|
13 |
frightened. |
|
14 |
bigoted. |
|
15 |
paranoid. |
|
16 |
menacing. |
|
17 |
gloomy. |
|
18 |
envious / resentful. |
|
19 |
fatalistic. |
|
20 |
criminal. |
Table 12: Pride of a Small Town
|
d8 |
The town seems most visibly proud of… |
|
1 |
it’s local industry. |
|
2 |
the number of townsmen who served in the military. |
|
3 |
it’s history as a place of sanctuary for a persecuted minority. |
|
4 |
a celebrity who was born there. |
|
5 |
being Americans. There are an unusually high number of flags even for small-town America, and everything that can be is red, white, and blue. |
|
6 |
it’s winning High School Varsity team. |
|
7 |
it’s Cheerleaders. |
|
8 |
it’s pies (or other local food). |
Table 13: Most Beloved Event or Celebration in an American Small Town
|
d20 |
The celebration this town really goes all-out for is… |
|
1 |
New Year’s Eve. |
|
2 |
Valentines’ Day. |
|
3 |
Memorial Day. |
|
4 |
Saint Patrick’s Day. Roll again if the town is not in the Northeast, or predominantly Irish-American. |
|
5 |
Easter. |
|
6 |
Independence Day / The Fourth of July. |
|
7 |
Prom. |
|
8 |
it’s Founder’s Day or Community Day. |
|
9 |
Labor Day. |
|
10 |
it’s Harvest Festival. |
|
11 – 13 |
Homecoming. |
|
14 |
Halloween. |
|
15 |
Veteran’s Day. |
|
16 |
the First Day of Hunting Season. |
|
17 |
Thanksgiving |
|
18 – 20 |
Christmas. |
The Engine of Oracles 