Livin the Blackwood Nightmare
We (Regine Bernhardt Markus Wagner Philipp Neitzel and Sascha Müller) are starting a game of Monsterhearts! Hooray.
Last session we got together to set up the town and area the game is set in (as well as talk about the content we are comfortable with and triggers)
We used the setting question by Richard Williams.
The game is set on the fictional Island of Blackwood, close to Cape Disappointment. Blackwood is mostly a tourist town with people coming for health tourism, business conferences/workshops and for whale watching. Besides the tourism industry there isn’t much going on though. Mostly fishing. Most kids leave right after finishing Blackwood High but most come back after they are done studying so this town is missing the whole college population, making the graduating class in school the coolest kids in town.
Important locations are
The Old Lighthouse – make out point or party location
The two beaches (one is privately owned by some tourism people, the other is far away and not as cool)
The harbor wall – as the main meeting place and lounging about area for teens
The not fully named ice caffe – main place for “first dates” and stuff like that. Owned by my characters family.
A main inspiration for Blackwood was Lovecraft from the Locke & Key comic
http://www.loseternautas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/LockeKey1-18-e1302783891467.jpg
There is a lot of diversity on the island because a lot of the tourism people that developed Blackwood are not white. There are no native americans on the island though, that is one of the reasons settlers settled on this island originally. Natives always stayed clear of the island because of a curse or something like that.
You need to take a ferry to the main land, it takes about 45ish minutes. The ferry owners are an important and rich family in the town.
Once a year there is the whale festival and that is a big deal.
Blackwood High is “ruled” by the
Columbia River Society for gifted young Scholars
a study group/elite type of deal. Set up by the ancient Blackwood they get a lot of founding and only the really rich AND intelligent/dilligent students can enter. They are the upper class of students because they can regulary get out of Blackwood and bring back contraband and stuff. They go to state and nation wide contests and stuff.
The Drama Group all got killed in a ferry accident about half a year ago.
Up there also are the jocks and cheerleaders (Go Orcas Go!) who think they are on top because that is what society and media tells you.
There is a local circle of witches that are pissed off because they built a basketball court/hall directly on their ancient ritual ground.
other groups within Blackwood High are the Emos+Goths, Student Newspapers, EcoFriendlies and then the lower class children of fisherman providing the white trash and the children of newcomers (many of them not white) that are the up coming class.
We talked a bit about the characters we want to play and we have
A Queen that leads a StraightEdge clique that all look highly androgynous and can be rather violent. Played by Philipp Neitzel
A Selkie curious about humanity. Played by Markus Wagner
An Infernal whose Dark Power is her mother who died last year. She communicates with her with the dairy she got when she tried to get over the trauma. Played by Regine Bernhardt
A freshly (vampire) bitten cheerleader (not that kind of cheerleader) that just got over a break up. Played by me.
If I forgot anything, please add.
http://www.loseternautas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/LockeKey1-18-e1302783891467.jpg
It’ll be fun.
What’s the setting question?
They are by Richard Williams I am sure he can provide a link.
The Town Questions – Answer these before going onto the Town Plan
(NB, I refer to this as the town even if we end up playing in a city or suburban community)
In what part of the US is the town? Examples: New England? Pacific Northwest? Mid-West? South-West? Deep South? Great Lakes?)
Is it primarily part of a larger city, sub-urban, urban fringe or rural?
Is the area on the rise or the decline?
What’s the main source of employment for those who live here?
How do most residents feel about the town?
How do the teenagers of the community feel about the town?
What does the town desperately need that it doesn’t have (or doesn’t have any more)?
Who’s the most influential family in the area? Why are they influential?
Aside from the school, what are the most important places in the town to its teenagers?
Who are the closest rivals to the community?
Aside from the regular public holidays, what days or time of the year is most special for the community?
Thanks! Excellent list.