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Old 03-13-2016, 02:15 PM   #21
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

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North Dakota actually fits that description perfectly especially in the winter. So does much of Minnesota.
Before the 2000's oil boom there were counties in western North Dakota that were classified as "frontier." IIRC about 2 people per square mile -- & most of them would be in the county seat.

Right now, with the collapse of oil prices & the mobility of the work force, some of these counties would probably again be frontier. Abandoned man-camps & half-empty towns would be common. (Many of the folks who lived in the towns before the Oil Patch boom were priced out & had to leave. Many haven't come back.)

Or -- try Theodore Roosevelt's ol' stomping grounds in Billings County. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billin...,_North_Dakota

If Wikipedia is in the ball park you have over 1,000 square miles with 783 people, per the 2010 census.
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Old 03-13-2016, 09:26 PM   #22
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

It's probably relevant that I'll be setting the adventure in the late 1980s, not the modern day. Cell phones exist, but are rare and coverage will not be good in rural areas.

I'm aware that isolation is greatly aided by distances and that makes the West attractive, but I haven't actually been to any Western states and haven't read as many evocative semi-autobiographical books set there as in the South. Consequently, I am not confident in my ability to portray convincing Midwest or Western small towns.

I have two ideas for an adventure. One of them will work almost anywhere, in that a lot of states have charming small towns where Friday Night Football is the social event of the week and the high school athletes are treated like princes of the Universe, but it would probably work best in Texas, Alabama, Georgia or Lousiana. The other adventure idea thematically demands cold, wilderness and ideally some historical presence of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans nearby.
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Old 03-13-2016, 09:38 PM   #23
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

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[snip] The other adventure idea thematically demands cold, wilderness and ideally some historical presence of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans nearby.
So, about Maine.

Maine includes a history of the type of the natives you're looking for, and is sometimes a very strange place, even to other Americans. It is at the same time mostly rural / forested, and conservative, but the home of the highest sex toy sales per capita in the union. They have a kind of, "Stay the F--- out of my house," conservatism.

Also, some extraordinarily beautiful and dramatic wilderness. I've personally experienced Class 5 White Water Rafting on the Penobscot River, digging for clams in a granite-walled ravine that fills up to 100' with salt water during high tide, 10' of snow in a couple of days, and multiple tiny islands with unique micro-cultures off the coast.

Best of all, probably, for your purposes, it's just kind of surreal. The people are not typical in their attitudes, speech patterns, and general demeanor. Most Americans find them a little off-putting, in a way that we sometimes joke about. The best description I've heard came from a native (100% in the sense that he was born and raised there, and 50% in the sense that he was descended from indigenous people), which was: "Maine is 1/3 New England, 1/3 Appalachia, and 1/3 the frickin' Moon."

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Old 03-13-2016, 09:50 PM   #24
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

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So, about Maine.

Maine includes a history of the type of the natives you're looking for, and is sometimes a very strange place, even to other Americans. It is at the same time mostly rural / forested, and conservative, but the home of the highest sex toy sales per capita in the union. They have a kind of, "Stay the F--- out of my house," conservatism.

Also, some extraordinarily beautiful and dramatic wilderness. I've personally experienced Class 5 White Water Rafting on the Penobscot River, digging for clams in a granite-walled ravine that fills up to 100' with salt water during high tide, 10' of snow in a couple of days, and multiple tiny islands with unique micro-cultures off the coast.

Best of all, probably, for your purposes, it's just kind of surreal. The people are not typical in their attitudes, speech patterns, and general demeanor. Most Americans find them a little off-putting, in a way that we sometimes joke about.
Yep, Maine would indeed be perfect for that adventure. I haven't actually been to Maine*, but I've read all the Stephen King books set there. :)

*Just Massachussetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut out of the New England states.
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Old 03-13-2016, 10:10 PM   #25
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

Just getting this point out of the way: part of the fun of modern noir and gothic fiction is that you don't need physical isolation to get psychic isolation. Obvious references would be Camus and Paul Auster.

That said, there are parts of the Appalachian regions where the sun literally never shines-small hanging valleys that are in permanent twilight (well, more accurately, the shadows of the mountains that frame them). Having neighbours, one of whom is literally never in the sun, can be used to highlight the sense of uncanny that you need to make a modern gothic work.

If you want to invest the time, read Lee Smith's Oral History. It will show you the possibilities of the setting, and maybe give you a couple ideas.
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Old 03-14-2016, 11:18 AM   #26
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

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There are plenty of redneck former logging towns along the Oregon coast.
Lots of wooded areas and it doesn't take much area to get lost in.
Yes, you will find quite a few, especially oldsters, that believe they saw a sasquatch.
I imagine that could act as a cover for "real" monsters. Oh, you saw a man-thing in the forest? At least it wasn't a *snicker* bigfoot this time, Jerry.

Oregon also has the Umatilla reservation with extreme seasonal temperatures. Over 100 F in the summer and below 0 F with feet of snow in the winter was how I remember my childhood.
I heard rattlesnakes and saw grasshoppers so often I eventually all but tuned them out. My dad found a rattle-less hybrid in our yard, so natural dangers aren't something to forget even in a MH game.

Edit: I don't mean to come off like a travel brochure. I just have lived all over this state but have only spent a couple summers out of it... all the way out in southern Washington.
Twin Peaks was set in Washington and that's definately an inspiration here.
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Old 03-14-2016, 11:29 AM   #27
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

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Well, I would definitely second the Pacific Northwest. There's a good amount of local color that could skew things along with the fact that there's a good amount of ghost towns that exist in the Washington/Oregon/Idaho area if you need a creepy location, can't get much better than that.
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That just reminded me of my brother's and his friends road trip through what they called, "C'thulhu-ville". Broad day, no human in sight, disturbing landscape, and an overturned car smoldering from being on fire.
The didn't even think of stopping, just kept on driving.
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Well, if they stopped I'm sure that some of the locals would have been glad to have them for dinner. But that does sound like a lot of the towns around the state, especially if they're still unincorporated townships.
Pacific Northwest does have distances and forests, which are good. Parts of it also have cold and snow. And there's the Twin Peaks connection.

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Especially with the various biomes you can encounter in Oregon alone. Heck, the Friendly Small Town with important high school football is fairly common around the coastal area in southern Washington. On top of that, any isolation is just a wind storm away. Trees blocking the road, power lines going down and all that fun jazz on top of some spots in the state still being a cell phone dead zone just to drive points home.
In 1988 or so, I expect that cell phone coverage would be extremely spotty anywhere that's not a major city. Storms are a nice bonus. A snowstorm would be de rigeur for the adventure seed I've got in the frozen North.

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Otherwise perhaps Montana or Alaska could be a good way to go if you're looking at cold and isolated. Look at either Fargo or Insomnia for inspiration for those. (I know the former is Minnesota, but I figure that the setting could work just as well for almost any northern state in the middle of the US.)
Both Montana and Minnesota are actually perfect for the North adventure. Unfortunately, I'm personally more fond of the other adventure seed, which would be set in a less rugged area and more of a typical small town.
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Old 03-14-2016, 11:53 AM   #28
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

Going to throw out a mention to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, mostly because I had plans for a game set there which never took off. Friendly people, lots of Scandinavian and especially Finnish influence. If you've read American Gods, the Perfect American Small Town of Lakeland is supposed to be just across the border in Wisconsin. Very rural and isolated, but probably less so than most of Montana. There are several nearby Ojibwe/Chippewa reservations (Yes, they're an Algonquian culture), abandoned mines from the early 1900s, Great Lakes on three sides with uninhabited islands and deep, mostly unexplored waters, and more snow than pretty much anywhere in the Lower 48 thanks to those lakes.
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Old 03-14-2016, 12:04 PM   #29
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

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Going to throw out a mention to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, mostly because I had plans for a game set there which never took off. Friendly people, lots of Scandinavian and especially Finnish influence. If you've read American Gods, the Perfect American Small Town of Lakeland is supposed to be just across the border in Wisconsin. There are several nearby Ojibwe/Chippewa reservations (Yes, they're an Algonquian culture), Great Lakes on three sides with uninhabited islands and deep, mostly unexplored waters, and more snow than pretty much anywhere in the Lower 48 thanks to those lakes.
My knowledge of the area mostly comes from Escabana in da Moonlight and Monster Hunter Alpha. Mind you, though, Escabana in da Moonlight was awesome at presenting the culture.
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Old 03-14-2016, 12:29 PM   #30
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Default Re: [Horror/Monster Hunters] American Small Town Mystery

If you wanted to get a feel for Appalachian culture, in general, and supernatural folklore, in specific, you could read Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_John

Heck, even if you decide to not go with an Appalachian setting, for this, you should still read the Silver John stories. They're pretty wonderful.
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