Sleipnir
The Eight-Legged Norse Horse
Legend has it there's something in these woods. . .
Canaan Valley's a town some people would call "cute" or "homey". Other people would call it a tourist trap these days. Whatever the case is, it's grown significantly since the ski resorts started popping up, and as the town ballooned, so did the number of people camping in the national forests surrounding it. The ranger stations got busy with it. They're open every day, and there's always a ranger or two there to greet you with a smile, a welcome, and help you find a campsite or a hiking trail. They're open books, the friendliest people around. But locals and attentive visitors notice that they're hiding something from you...
What's going on at Blackwater Falls?
Rumor has it Canaan Valley has some dark secrets hidden in it. It's not in the newspaper, and the local ski resorts don't want you to know -- scary stories are bad for business. But there are some creepy tales of disappearances and strange noises coming out of the woods circulating around the campfires in every campground across the forest. People have been disappearing. Stay too long, and you'll hear some stories. Every now and then, you might hear tell of a missing neighbor, uncle, sibling. No one knows where they're going. The police insist they're looking into it, but no news is coming out, no one's talking about it in an official way -- just empty promises to locals that "they're looking into it." It leaves room for the imagination to take flight... No bodies have been found, and no one knows for sure what's going on, but more and more theories are emerging, and rumors are spreading that whatever this is, it's supernatural in nature. A ghost stalking the hills, exacting revenge? Aliens? Mothman itself? Or something else?
The town council has insisted the police keep it quiet, and keep coverage of the disappearances to a minimum. As a result of their inaction, the Forest Service has been forced to take matters into its own hands, and while the situation is still under wraps, it's become a federal interest. Trails open and close with no real explanation. The rangers will give you some bogus excuse -- a rockslide, flooding, black bear activity -- but you can see it in their eyes. They know something they aren't telling you... and they're a little afraid of it. Their coworkers have found something out there, and they're investigating.
Things got real messy, though, when in the middle of the night, there were inhuman screams from the Blackwater Campground, and when people came to investigate, strange symbols and blood were found in the dirt and gravel and on the trees. From there, passiveness was no longer an option...
So, what is this?
Hi! I'm trying to gauge if anyone is interested in a cryptid/campfire-ghost-story style gothic roleplay focused on discovering what is haunting the forest around these campgrounds, and how to get ride of the creature in question. This is going to be a paranormal creature: no fake-outs where it turns out to be a prank, or a hoax, or just some guy here. That's the genre here, so we'll keep to genre expectations. The idea is that the characters will be attempting to locate the creature, figure out what it is, where it came from, and how to get rid of it.
This is meant to be a spooky game! I love the setting of summer camps or forest campgrounds as locations for paranormal spookiness, and really struggle to find stuff that fits that genre, so I'll just have to do it myself. As far as expectations for what sort of stuff this game might include, here's some thoughts:
CHARACTERS HERE
Canaan Valley's a town some people would call "cute" or "homey". Other people would call it a tourist trap these days. Whatever the case is, it's grown significantly since the ski resorts started popping up, and as the town ballooned, so did the number of people camping in the national forests surrounding it. The ranger stations got busy with it. They're open every day, and there's always a ranger or two there to greet you with a smile, a welcome, and help you find a campsite or a hiking trail. They're open books, the friendliest people around. But locals and attentive visitors notice that they're hiding something from you...
What's going on at Blackwater Falls?
Rumor has it Canaan Valley has some dark secrets hidden in it. It's not in the newspaper, and the local ski resorts don't want you to know -- scary stories are bad for business. But there are some creepy tales of disappearances and strange noises coming out of the woods circulating around the campfires in every campground across the forest. People have been disappearing. Stay too long, and you'll hear some stories. Every now and then, you might hear tell of a missing neighbor, uncle, sibling. No one knows where they're going. The police insist they're looking into it, but no news is coming out, no one's talking about it in an official way -- just empty promises to locals that "they're looking into it." It leaves room for the imagination to take flight... No bodies have been found, and no one knows for sure what's going on, but more and more theories are emerging, and rumors are spreading that whatever this is, it's supernatural in nature. A ghost stalking the hills, exacting revenge? Aliens? Mothman itself? Or something else?
The town council has insisted the police keep it quiet, and keep coverage of the disappearances to a minimum. As a result of their inaction, the Forest Service has been forced to take matters into its own hands, and while the situation is still under wraps, it's become a federal interest. Trails open and close with no real explanation. The rangers will give you some bogus excuse -- a rockslide, flooding, black bear activity -- but you can see it in their eyes. They know something they aren't telling you... and they're a little afraid of it. Their coworkers have found something out there, and they're investigating.
Things got real messy, though, when in the middle of the night, there were inhuman screams from the Blackwater Campground, and when people came to investigate, strange symbols and blood were found in the dirt and gravel and on the trees. From there, passiveness was no longer an option...
So, what is this?
Hi! I'm trying to gauge if anyone is interested in a cryptid/campfire-ghost-story style gothic roleplay focused on discovering what is haunting the forest around these campgrounds, and how to get ride of the creature in question. This is going to be a paranormal creature: no fake-outs where it turns out to be a prank, or a hoax, or just some guy here. That's the genre here, so we'll keep to genre expectations. The idea is that the characters will be attempting to locate the creature, figure out what it is, where it came from, and how to get rid of it.
This is meant to be a spooky game! I love the setting of summer camps or forest campgrounds as locations for paranormal spookiness, and really struggle to find stuff that fits that genre, so I'll just have to do it myself. As far as expectations for what sort of stuff this game might include, here's some thoughts:
- Spooky / Atmospheric horror
- Lots and lots of campground / forest / outdoorsy aesthetics and places
- NPCs who come and go to help PCs along
- One clear goal -- not a game designed to be "keep going until it fizzles out"
- If you want, active discussion about character building
- No insane pickiness, but I do plan on limiting the number of characters / tone of characters
- Characters who are investigating privately, as part of the government, locals, or anyone looking for trouble
- Creepy Campfire Story vibes
CHARACTERS HERE
Last edited:
