Showing posts with label halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label halloween. Show all posts

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Horror Trilogy: Bare Bones notes from an as yet unfinished adventure book.

 
I made these notes at least ten years ago. It was originally for a friend's gaming company, Silver Gryphon Games. Life got in the way, especially on the owner's part and this project and others languished. 

I'm currently revisiting a horror game for my group using the Black Hack variations which are out there. As such I decided to put these up here. Perhaps some DM out there will be inspired by them and use what they want or flesh them out for their own game. I'll probably flesh them out later for mine.

The book was to be a homage to seventies horror investigative shows such as Kolchak the Night Stalker and the Norliss Tapes. God bless you Dan Curtis.

The notes are EXTREMELY bare bones. 

Horror Trilogy: The Axeman
SYNOPSIS
Trapped in the eye of a hurricane, the PC's take shelter in an old run-down
hotel with other refugees. But they are not safe as a series of gruesome axe
murders takes place during the storm. Allied with a paranoid PI who
believes the killer is the Axeman of New Orleans and an immortal serial murderer. On their own, surrounded by booby traps, a growing body
count, and a psychotic possible immortal killing machine they must survive
the storm and the Axeman.

THE ADVENTURE
Bakersville, LA
Hurricane Lolita

The PC's
Trapped by the storm in the run-down Gloriana hotel. Flood is rising and
help is hopefully on the way.
Murders in old cheap Hotel (three stories??)

NPC's
Eddie and Edith Vachelli, 60's, owners of the Gloriana. A harmless old Italian couple. They are scared to death of the hurricane.

Pauline Adderson, 36, maid at the hotel. Pauline is a struggling single mom. The hotel barely pays her bills but she is treated well and very loyal to the Vachelli's.

Billy Keene, 46, cook. Billy is a mild-mannered man with a slight creole accent. He generally keeps to himself.

Henry Martin, 42, handyman. Henry is a large but quiet man. He rarely associates with anyone in the hotel except Billy Keene whom he is friends with.

5 trapped guests.
Oliver Monroe, 58, reporter, currently unemployed.

Immortal Serial Killer. The infamous Axeman of New Orleans.

Paranoid retired detective on the trail.

NO EXPLANATION FOR KILLER'S IMMORTALITY. NONE NEEDED.
IT IS.

Horror Trilogy: In Dreams
SYNOPSIS
Ronnie Campbell is a very unusual boy. The traumatic death of his mother
and the constant bullying from a pack of teens at school have unlocked his
latent psi power. Immersed in the world of his books, games, and movies,
Ronnie dreams of the death of his tormentors, and in Ronnie's dreams the
heroes and villians of his stories come to life to kill.

THE ADVENTURE
Liberty, Arkansas
Ronnie Campbell, age 10. Trauma from his mother's death and bullying at school has unlocked his latent psi ability.
Popular movies, horror and sci-fi. Characters come to life as thoughtforms he
dreams up and kills his tormentors.
His dream doppelganger watches the murder from a distance as the killings
happen.

Clues to who is killed ( a little gang of bullies.)

THOUGHT FORMS
Wolfman
The first. Killed Ryan Washington while walking home from the basketball
court one night. Claw marks and tracks are the clues (false conclusion:
animal, werewolf, etc).

Jason Voorhees
The second. Killed Dylan Petesky by hacking the boy to pieces with a
machete in the park while the boys were sneaking around smoking
marijuana. The other boys saw the killing. They also witnessed Ronnie's
doppelganger, but didn't recognize him.

Darth Vader
Attacks Paulie Peterson. PC's witness it. They also witness the doppelganger
at a distance.

Leatherface
Attacks Joey Gibbs.
PC's should find the link and be there. We hope.

Kong
Once the PC's have become a threat to Ronnie's subconscious, it will send
Kong after them. It will pursue them to the death. 
This is a good opportunity for a LOT of chaos. 

STOPPING RONNIE
The only way to stop Ronnie permanently is to stop his dreaming.
This can be done with drugs, a lobotomy, death, or some other permanent
solution to keep from dreaming.

INTRO
The Town
The Murders
PC Involvement

CLUES
Bodies
Witness to second killing.

THE TIMELINE
xxxx

LOCATIONS
xxxxx

NPC's
Ronnie
The Bullies
Parents
The Thoughtforms
The Cops
The Dr's
National Guard

Horror Trilogy: The Pentagram Murders
Prominent members of a small town are being torn apart by a demon. They
have publicly admitted they are former members of a satanic cult and accuse
their leader, a witch, of summoning the demon to murder them and take their
souls. As a skeptical police force and citizenry do nothing, the PC's must
stop the witch and her demon before they cause further death and destruction
beyond her former cult members. AND since the PC's are now actively
involved they become targets too





Friday, August 24, 2018

The Kolchak Files OSR: They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be...

AKA UFO.
Continuing the Kolchak files found:
http://theosrlibrary.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-kolchak-files-osr.html
http://theosrlibrary.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-kolchak-files-osr-zombie.html
http://theosrlibrary.blogspot.com/p/osr-survival-horror-rules-and.html

In the third episode of The Kolchak: the Nightstalker series (1974) Kolchak encounters a creature from possibly beyond space or an even further realm............

From the Night Stalker wiki...
I knew this one was more than the biggest story of my life; it was the biggest story in the lives of everyone on this planet. I fought hard for the story – fought harder than ever before, because I knew it was more than news. Much more. I felt people should know about it so they could be prepared when it happened again. If it's possible to be prepared for something like this…

It began fairly quietly. Lincoln Park Zoo, September 2nd, 5:30am. Shanka, the zoo's prize cheetah, was expecting her morning feeding. It never came.

Amidst a whirl of windblown straw, Shanka the cheetah races crazily about her cage. But that does not save her.

It started for me on a day which is supposed to be one of my happiest - the day of the first game of the first World Series for the Cubs in twenty-nine years. The day began badly.

Ron Updyke is the temporary sports editor. He has prodigious store of baseball lore, but has forgotten something very important to Carl: World Series tickets. It seems two weeks ago Ron had the misfortune of offending Stuffy Padachenko of the Atlanta Amazons, a rollerblading team. Carl reveals that he intervened, discouraging her from further mayhem. Ron immediately promised Carl a World Series ticket, but Carl isn't pleased to discover Ron's has forgotten. A threat to take up where Stuffy left off convinces Ron to part with a ticket.

As Carl prepares to leave, Vincenzo arrives with a story he'll have to give to someone else: the death of a cheetah from the zoo. Carl is convinced Tony has the facts wrong; that story was yesterday, and it was a panther. But Tony says, no, two animals are dead in two days. Carl is hooked and Tony knows it – snatching the wire report, Carl heads for the zoo.

En route, Carl's scratchy ballgame is interrupted by his police scanner: a "Code 5 – Priority – 201 in progress, Raydyne Electronics, Commerce and 24th Street." Detouring, Carl finds police at the scene – someone inside tripped the alarm. Abruptly, some silent explosive force bursts the wall outward and scatters onlookers in all directions. As the stunned witnesses close in, four pallets of lead bars vanish into thin air.

Police Captain Quill tells Carl to disappear and has two officers show him how; as Carl is escorted to his car, he passes a group of officials – important people, for Quill salutes them.

Carl resumes his trip and this time, his poor radio loses the ball game signal to a talk show. A caller is complaining about the Street Department, which has "screwed up" his street, Mariposa Way, by leaving tarry sludge all over his lawn.

At the zoo, Carl gets a picture of the cage, the bars bent inward. On the floor of the cage is some black sludge. The zoo's veterinarian, Dr. Bess Weinstock, tells him this is a "viscid mass", basically, sticky goo, containing a lot of acetone. She believes vandals intended to foul the entire zoo with this but were scared off. Moving on to the topic of recent animal deaths, Carl learns that they all died of heart attacks First a panda, then a leopard, a panther, and finally a cheetah.

Calling the radio show, Carl has no luck learning the location of the irate caller. They claim he never called. And the vet seems disinterested in the sludgy mess from the cheetah's cage. City Hall is no more forthcoming – they claim no record of roadwork on Mariposa Way.

The ballgame continues as Carl pulls into Mariposa Way. There, Carl finds the caller, Alfred Brindle, and learns that an hour after the call, four trucks from the Street Department pulled up. They tried shovels, chemicals, and finally flamethrowers to remove the stuff. Brindle also shows Carl a broken window belonging to his neighbor, Henry Anskeroni. It seems that last night an intruder kicked in the window and snatched a stereo away while Anskeroni was listening to it, but he never saw who it was. The police found the cabinet and chassis in a culvert back of the house but no trace of the electronics. Carl manages to retrieve a small fragment of sludge the Street Department missed.

Elsewhere, Peter Hudson, out on parole and out of money, endangers the first to improve the second: he snatches a woman's purse and races around the corner into an abandoned building. The basement he picks is full of appliances and electronics; Hudson thinks he has hit the jackpot. However, it turns out that entering this particular building was the last mistake Hudson will ever make as the whirlwind force sweeps over him.

Meanwhile, Carl returns to the zoo and the vet with his sample. She is uninterested in comparing the two samples but eventually Carl's cajolery wins her over. She reveals that they are identical. The stuff is a mix of hydrochloric acid, acetone, and bone marrow. All the animals killed at the zoo had puncture marks at the major bone joints and all the marrow had been extracted from their bones. Weinstock believes someone ate the bone marrow, then threw up.

Back at the INS office, Monique helps Carl develop his pictures but they don't show much. Convinced they're trash, she tears up the prints, and Carl orders her to reprint them, then heads to the morgue for a visit with Gordy the Ghoul. Carl wants the autopsy report on the guard who died at Raydyne Electronics. He's about to get it (after some cash changes hands) when in walks Stanley Wedemeyer, the head coroner, forcing Gordy to backpedal. But the coroner seems happy to give Carl the results: subject, Lloyd Relm, male Caucasian, sixty years of age, prior history of myocardial infarction, immediate cause of death, cardiac arrest, other autopsy findings unremarkable. But Gordy is shaking a silent "no", and showing Carl a cassette. Carl wants to look at the body, but Gordy cuts him off – reminding him that's not permitted while secretly passing him the cassette.

Sneaking into a nearby room, Carl slips the cassette into his machine – it's the dictated autopsy, with the real results. Although the history of cardiac problems was real enough, the cause of death – heart attack – was bogus. And of particular interest: marrow was extracted from at least some of the guard's bones.

September 2nd, 10:00pm, Leon VanHeusen, single, ambitious, slightly paranoid. By day a television repairman, by night an observer, a man with a purpose. The author of Mathematico, a universal language that Leon has refined for use in unconventional communication. Unfortunately, on September 2nd at 10:00pm, Leon learned the oldest word in the universal language…

Carl bursts into Captain Quill's press conference and makes himself loved by asking difficult questions about the rumors of puncture marks on the body of the Raydyne guard. Quill dismisses the rumors. And then there are the lead ingots – were they simply misplaced? Quill has no reason to believe otherwise, and when Carl reminds him what they both saw, Quill adroitly maneuvers the conversation so that if Carl recounts his tale, he will seem foolish. Quill reminds the assembled reporters of the importance of responsible journalism, and how one must take care not to unduly alarm the public – or erode one's own credibility. Carl next probes for a link to other thefts of electronic gear; Quill denies knowledge of any connection in a way that again makes Kolchak look foolish. When Quill consults his watch to predict the time of some upcoming arrests, he discovers it has stopped. Carl notices and checks his watch, which has also stopped – at the same time, the time they were at Raydyne Electronics.

Quill and I weren't the only ones with watches that didn't work. Everyone that had been at Raydyne Electronics had the same problem. Question: What would stop seventeen wristwatches at exactly the same time? Answer: An electromagnetic field so strong it might swing a compass needle off true north, to the final truth.

Tony is eating an elaborate dinner (a bet payoff from the editor of the Times), when Carl finds him and begins recounting his fantastic tale. It's a toss up which one kills Tony's appetite: the gruesome deaths or Carl's fantastic assertions. Carl leaves in search of his pictures as some nondescript visitors enter Tony's office. In the records room, Carl discovers that "suits" have intimidated Monique into surrendering his photos. As a disappointed Carl returns to Tony's office, the "suits" are leaving. Tony then mentions that he "doesn't need a UFO story", and Carl leaps on that - he'd never mentioned UFOs to Tony, which tells him the suits must have. Tony's evening meal is now a glass of antacid.

Carl attempts to find out how one might report a UFO sighting to the government and quickly learns there are no longer any agencies for that purpose. They will, however, refer insistent people to a private group. Leon VanHeusen was a member of this group, which consists of private individuals convinced they have encountered alien visitors. VanHeusen called in an "OPUS" – One Person, Unverified Sighting – near Snake Rock. As two members are arguing over the implications of the destructive star Wormwood, Carl eases away.

Carl soon locates VanHeusen's equipment – and the dead VanHeusen. He also finds a recording of VanHeusen's last few seconds, during which he is attempting to talk to something. And Carl's theory about the compass seems to be correct: the needle is errantly swinging. As Carl follows the needle, something that seems to be mostly wind and noise passes him. He follows…

At a planetarium, the projector moves; a guard lies dead nearby, and Reilly, his partner, summons the police. The dials that control the projector turn without anyone visible touching them. Carl's compass has led him to this spot. Entering the observatory, he tries to strike up a conversation with the guard, whom be believes is asleep. Then he realizes the truth and that no one is operating the still-moving projector. Something rises from the console, something that is and isn't there, and yet casts a shadow. The thing moves towards Carl, stirring up a wind, and Carl tries for a picture. As it looms over him, he snaps a shot – and it backs away.

The police arrive and Captain Quill dispatches men to the console to turn on the lights – a disastrous move for the policemen. Carl tries to tell Quill that the light from his camera drove…it…away. He also shares a theory that it is here looking at maps. Carl believes the reason it can't be seen is that it radiates light in a different spectrum – one that human eyes can't perceive. And he further believes that's why his camera stopped it – the light drove it off. Quill begins to buy into this and takes the theory to the government men.

Emerging, Kolchak finds the police in disarray. The lights just irritated the thing, and the light truck is now in flames. But if not the light, what? Quill threatens Carl's career, but the police are regrouping and Carl sneaks away in the confusion.

Returning to the planetarium, Carl takes a few more photos, and realizes that when it recharges, his camera emits a high-pitched whine. He shares the theory with Quill who isn't interested any more. And Quill warns him: he'll be dealt with "at a higher level". Leaving Carl, Quill drives off.

Carl continues to follow his compass. Soon enough, the instrument begins to spin madly, eventually shattering its glass. Wandering nearby, he stumbles upon an alien vehicle, like a metal hut with a hatch, resting on the ground. It's real; he can touch it. But the door does not yield to his strength. Then the owner returns, whirling the leaves and swirling the air. It advances on Carl, but the whine of his camera seems to drive it off. It enters the vehicle, which noiselessly disappears.

They tried to make a little park out of the woods near Snake Rock: daffodils, tulips. But they couldn't get anything to grow. There was an area shaped like a saucer at the bottom. If you want to see it, you'll have to hurry. Our park commission decided overnight to do extensive reclamation work in that particular spot. They're filling it in with concrete.

What happened? It's all a point of view, really. A traveler has a breakdown, stops to fix it, get a bite to eat… it's happened to all of us. This traveler happened to be light-years off his course, instead of miles. As for me? Well, I haven't heard from the boys in the sedan. Yet.

The Suits
Throughout the episode a group of operatives above the authority of the police are shown. They are first seen after the mess at Raydyne Electronics, a group of grey and black suited men in a nondescript sedan. Captain Quill talks to them briefly and salutes them.

Later at the witness Alfred Brindle's place four trucks supposedly from the Street Department showed up merely an hour after Brindle called and complained to the radio talk show. The cleanup trucks tried shovels, chemicals, and finally flamethrowers to remove the tarry substance. Flamethrowers. That's a well prepared FOUR 'Street Department' trucks.

The 'Suits' as Kolchak calls them, show up at the INS offices and confiscate the photos Carl has taken of the lead ingots, the zoo photos, and Brindle's lawn. Carl heads to Tony's office as the 'suits' are leaving and Tony let's slip the term UFO causing Kolchak to realize the Suits must have talked to Tony as Carl never mentioned UFO. This shows how much this government entity is aware of Kolchak. Perhaps they keep regular tabs on him? Possible spies at INS?

Finally, after the planetarium debacle, Quill warns him: he'll be dealt with "at a higher level." After the departing of the ship Carl notes the Suits haven’t contacted him yet. If they learn about the last set of photos he took, they probably will sooner or later.

This won't be the first time a cover up is mentioned in the series, both government and corporate. The Suits could be a fantastic foil in game.

The Traveler
The creature, the Traveler, remains a mystery. Is it from another planet? Another dimension?
What we do know is that it is either material or can become material at times.. Its presence can cause strong winds and it physically feeds on the bone marrow of animals and men and exudes a tarry waste substance. It is invisible to the human eye. Its movement appears to be a form of levitation or low flight. It seems capable of causing a silent explosion that affects objects and beings in its vicinity (cage bars at the zoo, the wall at the radio store, etc. Its presence or the use of the silent explosion also seems to mess with smaller electronics as well as compasses, perhaps an electromagnetic interference.  Its presence  seems capable of causing a form of confusion and potential panic in creatures, due again to possible electromagnetic interference in their brains. It seems to be able to teleport objects (two tons of lead) and probably itself. It apparently has a vulnerability or fear of certain sound frequencies such as the whine of Kolchak's battery recharge in his camera. It is technologically advanced as it travels in a small UFO and steals electronics and lead from all across Chicago to apparently repair and possibly fuel the ship.

The Traveler
Hd 5
Hp 40
Ac 6/13
Save F5/11
Move: 150'/50'
The creature is a dimensional traveler who has been trapped in our dimension due to a malfunctioning ship. Hungry and in need of parts and fuel it entered the city and began to gather what it needed to survive and escape back to its home dimension.

The Traveler is immaterial and invisible to the naked human eye in its normal state as it mostly exists outside of our realm. Although invisible to us it does cast a shadow and certain filters may allow it to be fully seen. It is a floating mass of cape-like proto-flesh with dozens of small ropy tentacles tipped with barbs emerging from beneath the 'cape.' It floats along no more than 10' above the ground and is capable of floating up solid walls to rooftops and hovering near a ceiling.

It can become material to interact with our world and feed but doing so creates high winds and causes those who are within 30' of it to make a Saving throw or feel panic or fear. NPC's must roll a 1d6 if they fail the Saving throw.
1-3 results in the NPC capable of staying within the vicinity of the Traveler  but with a -4/20% to all actions.
4-5 results in the NPC fleeing from the Traveler as fast as they can.
6 results in the NPC incapable of any action or flight until the Traveler leaves.

The Traveler's tentacle barbs are capable of piercing larger bones and sucking bone marrow out. This leaves tell tale piercing wounds at the larger bone joints. The Traveler then swiftly breaks down the marrow and extrudes a black tarry mass of hydrochloric acid, acetone, and digested marrow. The Traveler must feed on the marrow of one living mammal per night or starve. The animal must be at least the size of a mid-size dog to fill it. If it does not feed it will lose one hit dice per day without. It can regain these hit dice by feeding on extra victims. One extra regains one hit dice until it is full again.

The Traveler is also capable of causing a small inter-dimensional anomaly around itself resulting in what appears to be a silent explosion of invisible force. The Traveler and anything within a 20' diameter zone centered on the Traveler are protected but anything else from 20'+ to 50' from the Traveler are caught in the anomaly and violently thrown outward and bursting apart if anchored to place such as a brick wall or cage bars. Men and objects not anchored will go flying. Everything in this zone takes 2d6 damage from the silent blast. It can use this ability twice per day.

It also has the ability to teleport itself and anything it chooses in within a 20' diameter zone of its location three times per day. The range of this teleportion is to any location the Traveler has been to previously.

The Traveler cannot be physically harmed in it's immaterial state. When it is material it is not vulnerable to attacks such as bullets or other physical trauma. It may be vulnerable to electrical or sonic damage in this state. Certain frequencies of sound such as the whine of Kolchak's battery recharge in his camera will force it to retreat from the source of the sound. Other vulnerabilities may exist.

The Traveler is far, far beyond us in technological It is capable of using our technology and electronics to repair its dimensional ship and who knows what other devices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BULSO5rgiz8&list=PLZs0gQed9tMSBS9DTLZCWyUnLZmOBR5Wm&index=3

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Dr. Theophilus' Traveling Show. A Classic/OSR Murder Circus


I had an urge a while back to build a circus. A shady circus. A murder circus.
This is that attempt.

I think I've left it generic enough to be included without trouble into a variety of genres; fantasy, horror, western, 1920's, etc.

Dr. Theophilus' Traveling Show
The Traveling Show pulls up near a town or village. The head of the circus/ringmaster Dr. Theophilus and the strongman Brunaldi enters town to find the local authority. They will ask permission to camp and put on their shows, sweetening the deal for the local authority by offering bribes and a possible cut of profits.

Once the proper amount is negotiated (or enforced with charm magics) the bright yet shabby tents go up, banners fly, animals are groomed, food stands are fired up, the freaks and performers are prepared, and fliers are handed out by clowns and acrobats. Tickets are available at the booth and the show begins!

While this is happening agents of the Circus will enter the town and find prime locations to rob. They will quietly do so.  If seen committing a crime they will ruthlessly kill any witnesess. If anyone in authority challenges the Circus after this, or demands more bribe money,  they will be killed with impunity and the Circus will travel on, gating to another place far, far away thanks to the dimensional device in Dr. Theophilus' wagon. Sometimes the performers and freaks give into their dark nature, desires, and frustrations and atendees will turn up missing, mutilated, or dead in the wake of the Traveling Show.

Dr. Alphonsus Theophilus, 48, LE
Conman, magician, and all around shady character. Theophilus is a traveler from another dimension lost in reality. Stranded in his current universe he is obsessed with gathering wealth and magics to find his way back to his home dimension. He heads the Traveling Show and uses its potential for profit, information gathering, and robbery to finance and aid in his dream. He will sacrifice anyone or anything not useful to his quest. He retains the broken dimensional gate device which brought him to this realm. It still functions to open a temporary gate from location to location in this reality, with restrictions. He retains strict control over the behavior of his 'employees' but has to occasionally let their darker natures out or risk rebellion and loss of valuable attractions. He has also grown concerned with the presence of the frighteningly unnatural Boppo the King Clown but has so far kept his composure and avoided confrontations.
Magic User- 5
Hp 15
Ac 7/12 (+2 Ring of Protection)
Save Mu 5/11
Special:
Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 15
Spells: Dr. Theophilus favors the following spells.
1st: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Protection from Evil,  Read Languages,  Read Magic, Sleep
2nd: ESP, Invisibility, Locate Object, Phantasmal Force
3rd: Hold Person, Lightening Bolt
Items:
Potions: Extra healing, Gaseus form
Ring of protection +2
Wand of Detecting Magic, 20', 11 charges
Pistol (1d8), whip (1d2, 10' reach)
Ringmaster hat, clothing

The Gate Device
This collection of whirring gears, smoked mirrors, and cracked crystals fits in a 4'x4' cube. It can be used to open a gate from its current location to a point up to 555 miles distant. The device will allow anyone with spell-casting abilities (spells) scry a safe location and open the gate. It will stay open for one full turn and is large enough to drive a loaded circus wagon through. It can be used once every 24 hours.

Brunaldi the Stongman, 36, NE
Brunaldi is large, bald, mustachioed, and tattooed. He spends his time performing feats of strength and boxing challengers after hours. He is the second in command of Dr Theophilus. Brunaldi is always looking for a way to make himself more valuable to his master and will betray other members of the Circus to put himself in a better position with Theophilus. He is watching Magda the knife-thrower carefully as she has become squeamish with killings.
Hd 5
Hp 34
Ac 8/12 (leather)
Save F5/10
Special:
Str 18, Con 18
Unarmed: +2 extra bonus to hit, 1d3 + 3 damage, two attacks per round
Items:
Axe (1d8+3 dmg)
knife (1d4+3 dmg)
Thick leather vest, bracers, wide belt

Sabre-Fist, 30's, LE
Sabre-Fist falls into the category of both performer and freak. The son of a famous mercenary he lost his hands in an accident as a child. His father strapped blades on his stumps instead of prosthetic hands and continued to train him. Sabre grew up to be a lethal mercenary and assassin with his trademark blades, now implanted into his arms. His ego allows him enjoys the lifestyle of the Circus; performing tricks for the crowds and defeating challengers to show his skill, but his true passion in life is the perfection of his fighting skills. Women, drink, money, none holds his interest.  He has entertained the idea of fighting Boppo the King Clown; he's seen what the sinister clown can do with his maul, but to his shame is afraid of the King of Clowns. He loathes this cowardice and loathes to take orders from those he considers his lessers and  is vying for Brunaldi's position as second in command and this can cause friction between the two. He is attended by a young mute named Minerva (Hd 1) who attends to his personal cares due to his lack of hands.
Hd 5
Hp 37
Ac  3/16
Save F5/10
Special:
Str 16, Dex 18, Int 13
Dual weapon attack (no penalty) or parry with one for a +2 Ac bonus.
Implanted forearm blades (1d6+2), +1 bonus to Initiative: the implanted blades give him a quickness advantage.
Items:
Chainmail armor, clothing, boots, leather hood and mask

Magda Cordalena the Mistress of the Knives, 31, N
Magda is of Gypsy (Vistani, etc) blood and is an exotic beauty with black hair and eyes. She is a skilled knife thrower and performer and has found a place for her skills performing. She stays with the Circus for a cut of the profits but she is bothered by killings and disappearances caused by the others. She remains out of fear of Dr. Theophilus' magics and of Brunaldi's watching eyes. She is terrified of Boppo the King Clown and avoids him and his clowns when possible, often hissing at his clown's to get out of her way. If the Circus is destroyed she will run far and fast from the remains.
Hd 3
Hp 18
Ac 4/15 (leather armor)
Save Th3/12
Special:
Dex 18, Int 13, Cha 16
+2 extra bonus to hit with throwing bladed weapons.
Can attack four times per round with throwing bladed weapons (no penalty).
Pick Pockets/Sleight of Hand (70%)
Items:
Knives (1d4), darts/razor cards/razor blades (1d2)
Leather armor, clothing, boots

Aluwiscious Doyle the "Magnificent Flame Tongue", 27, NE
A mean, skinny, burn-scarred man dressed in bright yellow and red tones with hair dyed a shocking red. Doyle is a pyromaniac and will burn anything around him that he can get away with. His favorite tactic of attack is to approach a victim from behind and spit a stream of fire on him. Evil little bastard. He is held on a tight leash by Dr. Theophilus and Brunaldi but will be turned loose for maximum carnage when required.
Hd 4
Hp 18
Ac 7/12
Save F4/11
Special:
Dex 16, Wis 13
Firebreather: Ranged attack, stream of fire 15' long, 2d6 damage first round/ continues to burn for 1d6 in the 2nd round, Save for half damage. One an attack roll of one: 1 or 2 on a 1d6 chance to light self on fire for damage.
Items:
Burning brands (1d4 fire damage)
Fiery bottles: Ranged, 30' range, 15' splash area, 2d6 first round/1d6 2nd round, Save for half damage
Gaudy clothing

Jessup, the Archer, 38, LE
Jessup is a skilled bowman, a natural hunter, and showman. His past is a mystery to the rest of the circus. Jessup is an assumed name. He is wanted far away for the murder of his brother and sister-in-law in a fit of passionate jealousy and rage. His number one priority is his safety and separation from his former identity. If either is challenged he will attempt to kill the threatening person on the spot and preferably hide the body in the woods. He is paid well by Dr. Theophilus and doesn't mind using his skills to murder for his master. He holds himself above looting, rape, and other practices he considers barbaric. If a particularly lucky or skilled opponent gives him a good fight or chase he may let them escape as long as they do not know his secrets.
Hd 4
Hp 30
Ac 6/14 (leather)
Save F4/11
Special:
Str 16, Dex, 17, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 15
+2 extra bonus to hit with bow attacks
One extra bow attack per round
Ranged sneak attack, +4 hit/x2 damage if victim unaware
Move Silently/ Hide in Shadows (65% outdoors, 33% in non-natural settings)
Track and Survival (60%)
Items:
Bow and arrows.
Dagger (1d4+2)
Black leather armor, black clothing, boots, belts

The Amazing Vardowski, 45
Vardowski is a Psychic (see Mentalist HERE) of some skill and little self control. Dr. Theophilus keeps him as Vardowski's ESP abilities are of great value in finding marks for robbery and other secrets of value. He drinks heavily to calm his nerves and help prevent him from unleashing his powers when angered or frustrated. When this happens he often unleashes his Frightening Aura ability to force others to leave him alone. He does not have the will nor motivation to escape from Dr. Theophilus' influence. His nerves are fragile and he lives in constant fear of himself and the others. If given the opportunity to escape he will simply return to his wagon and get drunk. If he runs into Boppo the Clown he loses all composure, screaming and foaming at the mouth til he can escape to his wagon, bar the doors, and pacify himself with drink and drugs if he has any. He will never discuss Boppo if asked.
Hd 4
Hp 13
Ac 9/10
Save Mu4/12(Two bonus vs Magic and Mental)
Special:
Dex 17, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 15
Frightening Aura (2 per day, 30', Saving throw -1 penalty or leave his presence for four minutes)
Charm Person, Silence 15' (1 per day)
ESP ( 3 per day)
Items:
Lots of whiskey or other strong drink
A few doses of depressant drugs
Shabby suit, tarot cards, fake crystal ball

The Forever Man, 40's, CN
The Star of the Freak show. He was found by the Traveling Show on a blood-soaked battlefield, curled up naked and bathed in blood. His mind was gone. Jessup the Archer fired an arrow into his chest to put him out of his misery. When the Archer retrieved his arrow the Forever Man came back to life. He was immediately chained in a wagon. He is utilized as a geek, eating live chickens and rodents, much to the horror of the Circus attendees. At the after hours show, in a closed and guarded tent, patrons can pay a large amount of coin to torture and even kill him for their amusement. He never stays dead long. A filthy skinny hairless man dressed in rags and chained by the neck. If freed he will attack the nearest person (even the one who freed him) and attempt to strangle that person to death. He will then eat their corpse if allowed.
Hd 2
Hp 8
Ac  9/10
Save F2/14
Special:
Int 3, Wis 3, Chs 3
Regenerate: 3 hit points per round, even after death, all damage.
Strangle: if the Forever Man attacks and scores a hit he automatically strangles his victim for 1d6 damage per round unless the victim makes a Strength check with a four penalty to break free.

"The Merman"
Otto, 47, Deep One Hybrid, LE
Otto is a gangly tall mess with a pot belly, protruding eyes, fishy lips and skin, and lanky hair. His hands and feet are webbed. He is content to spend most of his time in his tank and talk shit to passerby's. He will occasionally sneak out at night, unable to stop the call of his lineage, to forcibly pass on his genes to some poor victim. When the Circus does devolve to chaos and murder he will happily join in to vent his evil nature.
Hd 3
Hp 18
Ac 7/12
Save F3/12
Special:
Str 17, Con 13, Chs 5
Darkvision 30'
Gills
Small claws (1d4+2)
Swim 150'/50'
Items:
Dirty fish tank, shabby clothes for his out of tank expeditions

Boppo the King Clown, ?, CE
Boppo is the head clown and a mystery to the others. Dr. Theophilus and the others truly cannot remember when he joined the Circus. They merely have a shadow of a feeling that he joined on at some point and something is dreadfully wrong. He is a silent, sinister force in the Traveling show, always in the background and directing the clowns until he makes his presence known on the mid-way or in the ring with tricks and pratfalls, appearing as a jolly if large clown. When his true nature is revealed, smile dropped and dead flat eyes staring, he becomes terrifying parody of himself to those who behold him.  The other performers avoid him when possible and theorize he is a Boogey-man and Theophilus remains silent on the issue. Boppo does as he is asked, accepts no pay, and has thus far not interfered with Theophilus' business.
Hd 6
Hp 40
Ac 5/14
Save Th6/10 (Two bonus vs Poisons)
Special:
Str 16, Dex 15, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 14
Backstab, +4 hit/x3 damage
Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Pick Pockets/Sleight of Hand (75%)
Maniacal Fury (2 melee attacks per round)
Maniacal Rage (all melee and unarmed damage is one dice higher damage)
Mute
Panic (When Boppo drops his smile and shows his true nature those who see his face must make a Saving Throw or all attacks against Boppo are at a -2 to hit. Many will flee for their lives. This is in effect until the victims elude Boppo or honestly believe they have given him the slip.)
Tough (2 point AC and Save vs Poison bonuses)
Items (with Boppo's Maniacal Rage ability):
Clown clothes, makeup, trick items
Garrote (1d4+2)
Knife, Hammer, etc.  (1d6+2)
Two-handed maul (1d10+2)

Boppo's Clowns, N
Minions of Boppo the Clown they appear as ordinary clowns in makeup. They perform normal clown duties: entering town to pass out fliers, entertain at the mid-way, etc. They appear perfectly normal until called by Boppo to serve his bidding. Smiles fade, eyes glaze into a sinister stare, and they become cult-like in their docility towards the King Clown. They will obey orders from Dr. Theophilus (thus far) but if other performers give then orders they will look to Boppo for permission.
Hd 1
Hp 7
Ac 8/11
Save F1/14
Special:
Backstab, +4 hit/x2 damage
Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Pick Pockets/Sleight of Hand (60%)
Items:
Clown clothes, makeup, joke and trick items
Knife, hammer, etc.  (1d4)

The Incredible Grimwaldos, N
A small family of circus acrobats and thieves loyal to Dr. Theophilus. Members of the troupe sneak out during performances to rob prime locations or lead the way for others in the Show. If things turn bloody they will hide until the carnage passes. They have no stomach for blood but will defend themselves if attacked.
Hd 2
Hp 10
Ac 6/13
Save Th2/14
Special:
Backstab, +4 hit/x2 damage
Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Open Lock, Pick Pockets/Sleight of Hand (55%)
Climb Walls/Acrobatics (95%)
Items:
Performance clothes, lock picks, climb gear, rope, etc
Knife, club, etc.  (1d4)

Attendants
A number of young roustabouts travel with the circus to aid in manual labor or act as assistants in shows. Dr. Theophilus will target troubled youths, runaways, etc with his personal charms and sometimes magic to fill the labor ranks. They mostly keep their mouths shut as they like the pay, food, shelter, and travel. Occasionally one will cause too much trouble or ask too many questions and disappear. They are written off by the others as breaking the Circus code of silence. They are usually 1 Hit Dice NPC's although some may have special abilities such as limited Thief skills, etc.

Attractions
Freaks
Feats of Skill
Tricks (Mundane, Magic, or Mental)
Animals ( a few thin monkeys, apes, a tiger, and many snakes and reptiles)
Food
Games
Elixirs and Poultices

After Hours
Bawdy Show (acrobats and performer assistants)
Gambling
Boxing with Brunaldi
Sword fighting with Sabre Fist
Torture the Forever Man



Saturday, April 28, 2018

Run Piggy, Run. An OSR Survival Horror Mini-Setting

Run Piggy, Run
"Hey boy, you look just like a hog.... Come on piggy....I bet you can squeal. I bet you can squeal like a pig."
Mountain Man - Deliverance (1972)

Introduction
The following location describes the territory of a terrible clan in what has become to be known as Backwoods or Redneck horror. The basics of this genre are simple: an small clan of backwoods hillbillies who are often inbred and cannibal in nature live deep in the woods or hills and claim the surrounding and as theirs. Often the family has been there for generations living in a ramshackle, junk filled home or other abode. Usually the protagonists are campers, hikers, or road-tripping kids who stumble across the hidden family and are hunted down and killed. Those who survive are changed forever.

The stories are not just limited to films such as Deliverance, the Hills Have Eyes, and more modern flicks such as House of 1000 Corpses and the Wrong Turn series. Backwoods Horror has a rich history. The terrible Sawney Beane clan, the murdering Harpe Brothers, and the Bloody Benders are but a few examples of man's capability to break away from civilization and descend into primitive violence and chaos.

Don't take it easy on the PC's. Give them a fun but bloody time.

First up is the Twain Properties followed by statistics for the Twains in the familiar old school format.

Getting PC's Involved
There are many ways to justify getting the PC's into the woods and stumbling across the Twains.
Camping and fishing: campers or hunters out for a weekend away.
Lost: any of the above plus just plain don't know where they are at.
Missing person or persons: friends searching for a lost friend or authorities searching or investigating missing persons in the area.
Road trip: kids, almost always teens or young twenty-somethings out for a good time. Sex, drugs, and booze.
Vehicle breakdown or out of gas: wrong place, wrong time.

Three miles off of an old backwoods dirt road, in a heavily forested area, lies a large elevated clearing with the Twain farmhouse and outlying buildings. A six feet wide dirt path leads from the old dirt road winding over and around the forested hills. Beyond the propertly lies a large area of swampland.


The Forest
The Twain's mark their property approximately a half mile out from the clearing, where the dirt path is broken  by a rickety log bridge over a slow moving stream. They mark their territory with animal skulls and bone windchimes. These are very prominent along the path between the bridge and the clearing. A number of traps have been set in the woods to dissuade trespassers and trap animals for fur and food. The traps are well hidden and can only be spotted on a roll of 1-2 on a 1d6.

The frequency of the traps are:
The forest near Twain property: 1 on a 1d6 every three hours in the forest.
The forest claimed by the Twains: 1 on a 1d6 every thirty minutes in the forest.

Examples of the traps include:
Bear Trap: 1d8 to foot. Move 1/2 for a number of days equal to damage unless healed magically.
Fish Hooks: When stumbled into it hits on a 1-2 on 1d6. 1d2 points of damage to face/eyes. If hit on a 1 chance of blinding an eye is 5% per point of damage.
Pit Trap: Fall 10' into spiked pit. Roll Saving throw (or Dexterity check, DM choice) to grab onto edge. Otherwise, hit by 1d4 stakes. 4d4 damage, Save for half damage. Stuck on stakes until rescued.
Snare: Saving throw (or Dexterity check, DM choice) or leg snared for 1d3 damage. Character dangles 10' in the air. To cut down the snare is AC 5 (12 if the one snared is cutting) and the snare has 4 hit points.
Spiked Tree Limb/Pitchfork/Spear: Tied back with tripwire. Roll to hit, +1 to hit. 2d6 damage.
Toe Popper: A shotgun shell buried nose up with a nail on the primer. The damage is 1d8 to the target's foot and movement is now halved for a number of days equal to damage rolled unless healed magically.


The  Twain Farm
The edge of the clearing is separated from the woods by a low sagging rusting wire fence with many gaps and a gate blocks the entrance to the farmyard. At night the gate is locked.

The clearing itself is approximately two hundred and fifty feet wide oval,  elevated roughly 10' from the forest, and cleared of trees decades ago by the original owners. Sickly grass grows on the outer edge of the clearing. The ground closer to the buildings is bare dirt with ruts and scattered debris. On the backside of the property a hole in the fencing leads to the swamp path.

1) The Barn
Rotting and sagging. The inside is filthy with soiled decaying hay and rusting old farm implements, rotting tack and harness, and lumber twisted with age. Inside is a rusty delivery truck with an enclosed back with doors parked inside. A spare key lies under a stone at the well. Four five gallon cans of gas are stored here as well.

Hidden under a pile of hay in the northeast corner of the barn is a ratty trap door over a roughly three feet wide shaft leading down fifteen feet into the earth. This is an entrance into the Tunnel Complex (see below.) There are four sticks of old dynamite in a hole in the wall near the middle of the ladder connected to a short fuse, matchbook, and pull-string contraption kept dry in an old coffee can. Any weight in the sixth rung down will light the fuss with a snap and hiss of smoke. Characters on the ladder will have to roll initiative vs the dynamite (it has no bonus to the roll.) Hopefully the characters will get to go before the dynamite. On the character(s) initiative they may move up the ladder and out of the trap. The trap explodes on the dynamite's initiative for 5d6 damage still in the tunnel with no Saving throw due to the confines of the tunnel.  This will not collapse the tunnel but it will alert everyone on the farm.

At the bottom of the shaft the connecting tunnel slopes downward gradually another 5' into the earth.

2) Smokehouse
This shed is sturdier than the others with no gaps in the boards and a large padlock on the door.
Inside is the hung up smoked bodies of two hogs and one unfortunate woman who was captured a while back.

3)Work-shed
Made of old slapped together boards and a rough-made door which closes with a length of rusty chain and a nail. A number of axes, bear traps, corn knives, hammer and nails, saws, saw blades, shovels, hoes, rakes, scythes, sickles, and other old rusty tools. are piled on rough benches lining the walls. Old lanterns and three gallons of kerosene and five gallons of gasoline are stored here as well. A hidden air shaft for the Tunnel Complex is located outside the shed, coming up the back of the structure as a disused tin stovepipe.

Piled next to the shed is a large pile of cut and split wood. The pile is lazily covered with a ratty staked-down tarp.

4) Outhouse
Unspeakably filthy. Old clothes from previous victims are used as toiletry rags. Old lurid magazines and newspapers are piled her as well. The pit beneath the outhouse can be used as a hiding place, as vile as it is.

5Pigpen and Huts
Seven large and filthy hogs root around in the muck here confined by a sturdy fence of old boards. At night or on hot days they retreat to the four rusty huts at the rear of the pen. The Twains use these hogs as eating pigs. Other pigs exist in the Tunnel Complex (see below.)

6Chicken Coop
A smelly ramshackle building of boards and chicken-wire stuffed with old hay and housing 18 scrawny hens and two roosters. The Twains come out daily to gather eggs. There is a space  between the floorboards of the coop and the ground which can be used as a hiding space.

7Tree Stump Slaughter Area
Near the coop. It is an ancient hollow tree stump scarred and covered in gore and filth from years of cutting the heads and bodies of chickens, hogs, and other animals. A rusty hatchet and variet of butchering knives are stuck in its surface. An ancient whetstone lies on the ground besides. A scattering of ancient feathers and small bones are stuck in the scarred bark and on the ground around it. A second hidden air vent for the Tunnel Complex comes out here running up under the stump into the hollow center.

8The Well
Near the house is an old stone lined well. A rotting well cover lies on the stones and an old rope and bucket sit beside it. Uncovered the water is twenty feet down, cool, and clear. If the old truck is available a spare key is hidden under a loose stone here. A third hidden air vent for the Tunnel Complex comes out here. A missing well stone ten feet down provides the hole.

9Dog Kennel
Two scraggly hunting hounds, vicious and noisy, guard the yard.

10Family Graveyard
Nine graves with crude wooden markers. The older bodies are interred in wooden coffins, the newer bodies are wrapped in blankets or tarps. All are bones now and most show signs of disease and deformity.

11Swamp Path
A hole in the wire fence leads to a narrow path leading a half mile through the woods to the edge of swamp.  An ancient leaky rowboat with oars is dragged upon the shore. It is used to row to the moonshine still in the swamp island and to dump bodies into the depths of the fetid waters.


The Farm House
A roughly patched farmhouse with filmy old windows covered in holed rusty screens. The faded slat boards are bereft of any paint and large gaps are between more than a few boards. The roof is a mass of rotting ancient shingles patched with old rusty flattened tin cans. A crumbling brick chimney juts crookedly into the sky surrounded by rusty weather vanes and lightning rods. More bone and metal wind chimes hang from the eaves and porches.


The house has three porches, a small porch on the east and west and a large front porch on the north. The interior contains four bedrooms, one kitchen, a pantry with stairs leading down into a dank cellar, and a living room.

All doors into the house are stout windowless oak two inches thick. Each door has a key lock, a chain lock, and metal brackets to slip in a plank to bar the door. The screen windows are all screwed into place although the interior windows can be raised to allow a breeze into rooms. The screens can be cut open with a small amount of noise. Ripping them open would be much louder.

The interior of the house has a subtle smell of mildew, rot, body odor, and other unsavory smells. Ma fights the smells as best she can. Mice thrive in the house and other buildings.

The house is wired for electricity and is provided for by a pair of wires run through the woods to a nearby county line. Blackouts are frequent and the family is well stocked with candles and lanterns.

1) Front Porch
Old rotting boards make up the porch, many of which will break if weight is put on them. If the characters aren't careful, such as running over the porch fleeing for their lives, there is a 1-2 in 6 chance that they will break through a board. If this happens the victim must make a Dexterity check or his or her foot breaks into a rough splintery hole taking 1d3 damage and requiring a Saving Throw (Paralysis) or movement is reduced by half until the lost hit points are healed.

Rusty lawn chairs and an overflowing ash can are the only bits of furniture on the porch. A dingy bulb in a conical metal fixture attached to the eaves provides weak light to the front yard. A pair of lanterns hang from the porch posts. Two screened bedroom windows and a stout wooden door lead into the house. The windows and the screens are too dirty to properly see through and the interiors are covered in heavy tattered drapes.

2) West Porch
A small rotting porch off of the living room. A covered living room window and a side door which is often open during the summer for a breeze lead into the house.

3) East Porch
More decaying wood and a door leading into the kitchen as well as a screened window into Ma and Pa's room.

Front Hallway
A dim bulb hangs from the ceiling just inside the front door. A switch is at the end of the hallway by the living room. The hallway has many old boxes piles along the walls and the four bedroom doors are partially hidden by these boxes and shadows until one is almost upon them. The end of the hallway opens into the living room.

The boxes contain a variety of lightbulbs, candles, lantern oil, spare lanterns, winter clothing, and masses of old shoes and trinkets from travellers killed over the years. A few contain polished human bones and scraps of preserved scalp and skin in cluding faces and ears. Metal implants, hearing aides, dentures, partials, etc are kept in a single box. Another contains a number of official ID's ad papers collected from victims.

4) Uncle Jasper's Room
The room is dominated by a filthy bed covered in dingy stains and filth. It smells like a rotting trash heap. The bedside table is covered with an overflowing ashtray, empty beer cans, small tools, bottles, and other junk as well as a pair of candles and a lantern. A box of matches sits nearby. A rusty straight razor lies in the dresser drawer with a pile or old watches, locks of hair, and teeth. A wood-axe leans between the bed and dresser. The floor is littered with old food can and trash as mice play among the debris. A ratty electric bulb and shade hangs from the ceiling. The switch is by the bedroom door.

The closet contains old clothing, boots, and hanging from a long useless light cord is the mummified head of a missing 13 year old girl from many years ago.

5) Otis and Ned's Room
Another fetid den with two dirty beds and a floor covered with old clothing, blankets, furs, bones, and a variety of junk and trash. Porno and old pulp mags are stacked haphazardly in the corners and by the beds. A lantern hangs from a wall hook near the door. The boys ripped out the overhead light long ago.

The closet contains a spare bow, seven arrows, a spare single-shot shotgun, a partial box of five buckshot shotgun shells, and two home-made spears. A pair of cowboy boots made from tattoo'd human skin and a leather working kit in an old carpetbag is in the corner.

6) Ma and Pa's Room
This well kept room contains a large queen-sized bet with freshly laundered sheets and a quilt. The floor is clean and covered with a vanity rug. Mousetraps sit in the corners and under the bed. Two dressers topped with old family pictures and a variety of metal and ceramic knickknacks and gewgaws line the north wall. A large ornate brass candle lantern sits on the left dresser. The drawers contain a variety of out of date men and women's clothing. A small skin-bag of teeth and fingernails is hidden in the sock drawer of the right dresser. An ornate light and shade hangs from the ceiling. The switch is near the door.

Two pair of used slippers sits next to the closet door. Inside the closet is hung neatly pressed suits and dresses as well as a variety of shoes and boot on the floor. In the back of the closet lies two mousetraps and a human spinal column coated with varnish and twisted into the shape of a cane. The closet contains the only functioning closet light in the house.

The nightstand beside the bed holds an ornate lamp plugged into one of the few outlets in the house, a windup alarm clock, two candles, matches, and more pictures of people who have no resemblance to the family or the old pictures on the dressers. Inside the drawer is a variety of cough drops, cough syrup, Pa's .38 revolver, 15 spare shells, and $147.32 in a variety of bills and coins.

7) The Girl's Room
Neat and clean with a large double bed. A large round area rug lies in the center of the floor. A large dresser with a vanity mirror and chair sits along the north wall. Candles, matches, a dizzying amount of makeup tubes and applicators, and a stuffed black cat sit o the dresser. A lantern hangs from the corner of the mirror frame. On the east wall hanging from nails variety of wigs in various styles and colors. Careful inspection will reveal that roughly half of the wigs are in fact entire preserved women's scalps. The over head light stopped working and the girls now rely only on candles and lantern.

The closet is a riot of women's clothing, shoes, purses, bags, and other female paraphernalia.

Under the mattress of the bed is a number of pens and a pair of diaries kept by the girls. They contain details of their everyday life including the many murders and atrocities committed by the family as well as dates and names of victims.

8)  The Living Room
The living room is dominated by a large patched leather couch facing an ancient fireplace and mantle in the south wall. A small metal cooking spit sits in the fireplace for midnight mystery meat snacks. The mantle is lined with more pictures of non-relatives and a number of images of deer and other animals carved from what appears to be wood and bone. Above the fireplace hangs a large faded portrait of a sailing ship in a storm. Stuffed deer heads flank the portrait.
A deerskin rug lies on the floor near the kitchen entrance, The room can be lit from a large elecric chandelier hanging in the enter of the room. It has a pull switch.

A pair of dingy reading chairs and book tables flank the couch. Atop the western table is a few bottles of alcohol, a bag of tobacco, and Pa's favorite pipe on a metal pipe stand. The metal is unusual and if examined closely by someone with dental or metal knowledge may be revealed as dental amalgam, melted down fillings. The eastern table holds Ma's crossword puzzles and romance novels.

Several standing shelves sit along the walls packed with novels, encyclopedias, almanacs, and other resource books. A radio cabinet plugged into a wall outlet sits next to the north wall. Leaning next to the radio cabinet is a corn knife.

9) The Kitchen
The kitchen contains everything the family needs to prepare their meals. An old wood stove and a pump sink sit on the south wall. A large cutting table with blocks of knives and cleavers sit in the south-center of the room with a pair of chairs flanking it. A large dining table ad chairs sits on the north area and an old washer/wringer sits in the corner. The wood of the cutting table is heavily scarred from use. Cabinets contain a variety of dishes, glasses, and utensils. One cupboard contains a set of crowns sawed from skulls and lined with lead as bowls. Ma keeps a clean kitchen,
Mousetraps are on the corner of counters and the floor. A large shaded electric light is hung on the north wall over the table and the stove on the south. The switch for both is above the sink.

10) The Pantry
Shelves and boxes of preserved vegetables, fruit, and meats in cans and jars. Barrels of flour and other edibles. Cheeses and hams hang from hooks in the ceiling. A set of rickety stairs lead down to the cellar and the back door leads out of the house. Mousetraps, empty and with occupants, abound. A pull string light bulb hangs from the ceiling just inside the doorway.

11) The Cellar
Skull-face's domain. A cot with filthy blankets and pillows sits in a corner. A workbench sits nearby with tanned human and hog skins and leather working tools. There are also mechanical tools and spare chains and parts for his chainsaw. Several full length human skins complete with heads of hair are tacked to the walls. A bucket of stale urine sits in a corner. A stolen cigar store wooden Indian sits in a corner, damaged with a missing head and wearing a ragged dress stolen from a past victim. In place of the wooden head sits the withered head of old Granpa Twain, dead many years. None of the family dares come down here and none said a word when he dug up Granpa's grave to get the head.

Near the cot, hidden beneath a moldy section of carpet is a crude trapdoor set in the dirt floor. It covers a three feet wide shaft going ten feet down into the earth. A five feet diameter tunnel leads into the nest of tunnels beneath the farm (see below.) Buried in the floor of the tunnel halfway to the main complex is a nail and shotgun shell trap. Anyone walking across the toe-popper has a 1-2 on a 1d6 chance of setting it off. Everyone in a line of passerby's rolls until everyone has passed or someone sets it off. The damage is 1d8 to the target's foot and movement is now halved for a number of days equal to damage rolled unless healed magically.

At the bottom of the shaft the connecting tunnel slopes downward gradually another 10' into the earth.


The Tunnel Complex
The tunnels are cramped, dank with standing water, and smell of rot, mold, feces, and other nastiness. Each tunnel is roughly five feet in diameter leading down into underground rooms. The rooms are dug out of the earth and are of mostly smooth hard-packed mud and support timbers. The floor of the rooms are slightly higher than the tunnels causing run-off. There are two entrances to the complex. The first is in the barn the second is from the cellar. Both are trapped (see descriptions in the barn and cellar sections above.)

Crude wiring runs from the house into the ground or dim lightbulbs mounted on walls and room ceilings. A number of old oil lanterns are hung here and there with matches in most rooms.

The Complex serves as a hiding place for missing persons taken for sport and delicacies as well as a fall back in case they are raided. The entry tunnels can be collapsed by knocking out support timbers sealing the Twains in. Air is provided by air shafts dug up and hidden in the Workshed, the Well, and the hollow Slaughter Stump. They figure they can slip out through the dung pit in the Underground Hog Pen, follow the underground stream to the cliff in the Swamp, and flee.

1) Bedroom
A large 20' x 30' mud-packed room with a ratty carpet unrolled on the floor. The ceiling is roughly eight feet tall. Six rusty bed-frames with moldering mattresses are in the room, three on the North wall, and three on South. A large post is driven into the hard packed mud floor through the carpet. A number of long chains with pad-locked straps are screwed into the post.

Muddy footprints, old clothes, chicken bones, and other debris litter the carpet. This room is used as a hideout and sex dungeon by the Twains.

2) Stores
Roughly the same dimensions as the Bedroom the floor to this mud-packed room is covered with loose wooden planks. This room  contains the Twains emergency food supplies. Piled around the walls are crates and barrels of supplies including:
Tins of tobacco and ammunition
Cooking oil, matches, pots, and pans
Cans of fruits and vegetables as well as several styles of can opener
Dried floor, salt, pepper, peppers, corn, and ther vegetables in pouches and bags
Barrels of pickles, onions, home-brewed liquor, and water
Strips of preserved cheese and meat of various origins
Keys to the Bedroom chains, Slave Pen,  and other locks on a support post in the niddle of the room
In the center of the room is a stone-lined fire pit with a well used and dirty roasting spit.

3) Slave Pen
This 20' x 25' room is stifling with much need of fresh air but surprisingly clean. The ceiling is only 5' tall. The walls have been lined with concrete and brick with chains bolted to the masonry. The west and south doorways are barred doors set into a stout wooden door frames and padlocked shut.

The floor is covered with old blankets and clothing. Old buckets and spittoons converted into chamber pots sit in the northeast corner.  A rusty knife is hidden in the blankets by an unknown past victim.

Currently there are two young abused and traumatized women chained in this room. One is named Evelyn, the other Annette. They were hikers who were captured by the boys. A third girl, Marlene, was with them but was killed by Skull-face in a fit of rage as she shrank away from his face. Her body was fed to the underground hogs (see below.)

4) Barred and Locked Doors
The doors set into the north and south wall of this tunnel are stout wooden planks affixed to wooden poles sunk into the ground on each side of the two tunnel openings. Both doors are chained and padlocked, mostly in fear of the underground hogs breaking free and running amok.

5)Underground Hog Pen
A 20' x 30' morass of muck, bones, rotting carcasses, and small trinkets such as buttons and buckles from years of victims being fed to the mutated pigs kept here. Seventeen deformed and pale hogs call this place home. They are the product of generations of underground hog breeding for the express purpose of removing the remains of the Twains' victims and to serve as emergency food in case the Twains must go to ground.

If let out or they escape  the hogs will go on a murderous rampage attempting to trample and eat anyone in the complex.

Attached to the south of the hog pen, blocked off by a fence of thick wooden poles, is a dung pit where the Twains dump filth mucked out of the pen when it gets too thick. . A 3' hole opens to a 5' deep shaft that opens into a gently sloping underground stream leading to the swamp south of the farmyard. The stream runs through a short 4' tall tunnel which can be easily waded through if necessary. This is the Twains emergency exit if raided and they seal themselves into the tunnels.

The Swamp
South of the farmhouse is a small patch of swampland fed by various small overland and underground springs. It is heavily overgrown with trees, rushes, and  filled with brackish water. The air smells of wet rot, fish, and frog. Poisonous snakes and other life slithers through the waters and small bog islands.

1The Still
On a solid patch of ground a hundred yards off-shore of the path is the Twain's still. Hidden in a small hollow on the island and surrounded by thick brush it produces most of the Twain's drinking liquor. The brush around the island is booby-trapped with fishhooks at eye level, a spiked pit, and four sticks of dynamite sealed in an old tar bucket near the still. The chance of encountering a trap is 1-4 on a 1d6 for the fishhooks and 1-2 for the pit and the dynamite. If spotted they can be avoided or an attempt to disarm can be made.
Fish Hooks: When stumbled into it hits on a 1-2 on 1d6. 1d2 points of damage to face/eyes. If hit on a 1 chance of blinding an eye is 5% per point of damage.
Pit Trap: Fall 10' into spiked pit. Roll Saving throw (or Dexterity check, DM choice) to grab onto edge. Otherwise, hit by 1d4 stakes. 4d4 damage, Save for half damage. Stuck on stakes until rescued.
Dynamite: A trip wire rigged to a flare in the bucket will set it off in 1 round after igniting. Whoever trips the wire will have to roll initiative vs the dynamite (it has no bonus to the roll.) Hopefully he will go before the trap. On the character(s) initiative they may move away from the trap. The trap explodes on the dynamite's initiative for 5d6 damage in a 30' blast zone of force and shrapnel from the bucket and wrecked still. Character's can make a Saving throw for half damage. If blown everyone within several miles will hear the blast.

2The Escape Route
The underground stream, described above in the underground hog pen, is the escape route for the family. It exits from a 4' hole nearly 10' up on a small hillside cliff two hundred yards west of the still and quietly empties into the foul swamp water. The opening is covered with dangling moss and brush to conceal it and a small fishing boat is concealed in the brush nearby.

Meet the Twains
The Twains are a reclusive family living on an isolated farmstead in the backwoods. They are rarely seen in town unless they need some supply they cannot scavenge or jury-rig. They are shunned by their neighbors with a family reputation as drunken, inbred, degenerate, ignorant, thieving, immoral, heathen, hillbilly sonsabitches. Unknown (although a few neighbors may suspect) is that they are also murdering, rapist cannibals; a monstrous series of family traditions which go back for generations. They prey mostly on travelers and victims kidnapped from towns several counties away that they drive to in their beat-up delivery truck.

The Twain family consists of:
Pa (Eldon), Ma (Violet), Uncle Jasper, the Boys (Otis, Jess, Ned), and the Girls (Daisy, Eve.)

Pa (Eldon), 53
The patriarch of the family Pa appears as a thin, graying-haired grandfatherly type Ala Mr. Rogers. He comes off as a kindly but not terribly competent farmer who will ask those who come across the farm for help in exchange for a meal or even money to lure them in. He puts on the same act when they travel to find victims from afar. He is a master performer and is in truth a degenerate fiend who keeps the family traditions of murder, rape, and cannibalism alive and well and passed on to his progeny.
HD: 2
HP: 10
AC: 10
Hit: +2
Save: 14
Con: 13, Int: 13, Wis: 13, Chs: 14
Special: Backstab (+4 hit, x2 dmg)
Equipment: .38 Revolver (1d6 dmg, 6 shots), Corn Knife (1d6)

Ma (Violet), 51
A graying tall  farm wife in neat dresses and a friendly smile. Ma was born Pa's younger sister. They were married by their Pa before they were twelve. She is as crafty as Pa and plays the kindly old farm wife well until it's time to crush someone's head with a hammer. She is an excellent cook and seeks to pass her skills to her oldest daughter Daisy. Ma is constantly fighting a war with the mice to keep the house clean and will go berserk, losing her mask of sanity and chopping or stomping any mouse to mincemeat with maniacal glee. She is forbidden by Pa to go near or enter Otis and Ned's room nor Jasper's room for fear of losing her mind over the filth and attacking them. Otis, Skull-face, and Ned are her children by Pa, Daisy is by Uncle Jasper.
HD: 2
HP: 8
AC: 11
Hit: +2 melee, +3 ranged
Save: 14
Dex:13, Int: 13, Chs: 13
Special: Backstab (+4 hit, x2 dmg), Stealthy (+1 to surprise foe)
Equipment: Hammer (1d4), Butcher Knife (1d4)

Uncle Jasper, 66
Pa and Ma's uncle he is the father of the girls with Ma. Jasper is a short, swarthy, balding man with ogling eyes and a constant sneer. Jasper is the official keeper of the family's old long pig recipe book.  He is usually dressed in shorts, boots, and a bloodstained thick leather apron and little else unless there is need to go into town. He is gruff and unfriendly to everyone except Skull-face who he fears will snap and kill him one day. When Pa and Ma are taking in guests for the evening meal he often stays in the barn or tunnels, smoking his cigarettes and waiting to dress the meat. When they travel he is usually the driver.
HD: 3
HP: 13
AC: 12 (leather apron)
Hit: +4 melee, +3 ranged
Save: 13
Str: 13, Dex: 13, Int: 15, Chs; 8
Special: Open Locks (55%), Alert (-1 to be surprised)
Equipment: Axe (1d8+1), Razor (1d3+1)

Otis, 38
The oldest of Pa and Ma's Otis appears a dirty half-wild hillbilly with filthy long hair and beard. He spends much of his days in the woods hunting for meat and checking on the swamp still. He is dressed in fetid leather and untanned animal skins and never without his Bowie. He is the oldest of the boys and they will do as he says unless Pa over-rides him. He is actually well educated by Ma and an avid reader and radio listener for current events. He will clean up and accompany Pa and Ma into town for supplies when necessary. He has had one child with his sister Eve. Others were conceived but died young from deformities.
HD: 4
HP: 18
AC: 13 (animal fur and leather)
Hit: +5
Save: 12
Str:15 , Dex:13 , Int: 15, Chs: 8
Special: Track (75%), +1 to surprise foe
Equipment: Recurve Bow (1d6), Bowie Knife (1d6+1), two Hatchets (1d6+1)

Skull-face, 31
The middle boy, Skull-face, was born as Willie but was burned in a fire set by Otis when he was three. Ma had to cut off his burnt lips, nose, and ears giving him his gruesome appearance and nickname by the rest of the family. He is a massive 6'6" and over three hundred pounds of muscle. He usually obeys Pa, Ma, and Otis without question. He dislikes Jasper for the taunting he received as a child and is neutral towards Ned. He is a savage and terrifying opponent when in a rage prone to killing anyone in his way. When in these states Ma has been able to calm him down. So far.
HD: 6
HP: 35
AC: 12
Hit: + +9 melee, +6 ranged
Save: 10
Str: 18, Con: 16, Int: 8 , Chs: 4
Special: Maniacial Rage (+2 dmg), Tough (+2 AC), Frenzied (2 attacks per round)
Equipment: Axe (1d8+5), Cleaver (1d6+5), Chainsaw (2d6+5)

Ned, 23
Ned is the youngest of the boys. He is deformed and brain-damaged from inbreeding, the worst of the lot. He is dressed in rags with wispy blonde hair and beard. He is a hunchback with a twisted spine and face is severely twisted that one eye set lower than the other. He never is allowed to go into town ever. The only time he gets away from the farm is during the road trips in the delivery truck. He is an expert sneak and haunts the woods and roads near the farm watching the normal people go bye. In another family he night have ended up in an asylum or under care but he is now too far gone.
HD: 3
HP: 14
AC: 10
Hit: +4 melee, +3 ranged
Save: 13
Str: 13, Int: 6, Chs: 6
Special: Backstab (+4, x3), Hide in Shadows (70%), Stealthy (+1 to surprise foe)
Equipment: Rifle (2d8), 11 shells, Knife (1d4+1)

Daisy, 34
Beautiful, seductive, intelligent, Daisy is a perfect lure for unsuspecting men and boys especially on hunting trips in the delivery truck. She is as crazy as Ma and when provoked is as dangerous as the rest of the family. She will one day take over Ma's position as Matriarch of the family and works hard at learning to follow in her footsteps. She hopes to settle down with Otis as the new Patriarch someday with their daughter Eve learning the family traditions. The two have had a number of children but most died young and their bodies consigned to the hogs. She has noticed Jasper and Otis have been eyeing Eve. She approves of Otis' attentions but has warned Jasper away.  She has recently begun to petition Pa and Ma to 'take in' a few women to help grow and infuse fresh blood into the family.
HD: 2
HP: 15
AC: 11
Hit: +2 melee, +3 ranged
Save: 14
Dex: 15, Int: 13, Chs: 17
Special: Backstab (+4 hit, x2 dmg), Stealthy (+1 to surprise foe)
Equipment: .32 pistol (1d5, 8 shots), Knife (1d4)

Eve, 18
A beautiful spitting image of her mother Eve is a dangerous young woman. Not as skilled as violence yet she prefers to pretend to be a damsel in distress to her family's victims. She will toy with them, lead them into traps and ambushes, and savor their betrayed looks.
HD: 1
HP: 5
AC: 11
Hit: +1 melee, +2 ranged
Save: 15
Dex: 15, Int: 14 , Chs: 17
Special: Backstab (+4 hit, x2 dmg), Stealthy (+1 to surprise foe)
Equipment: Knife (1d4)

Mutated Hog
HD: 1
HP: 8
AC: 11
Hit: +1
Save: 17

Bite (1d4)
Pack Attack: When swarming a target up to four hogs can attack a still fighting victim. Each hog adds a +1 bonus to bite attacks made by its pack mates vs the victim.


Appendices
Films
Deliverance 
The Hills Have Eyes, sequels, and remakes
House of 1000 Corpses, Devil's Rejects
Motel Hell
Southern Comfort 
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, sequels, and remakes
Wolf Creek series
Wrong Turn, sequels

Music
Allman Brothers Band
Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys
Creedence Clearwater Revival 
Gregg Allman Band 
Hank Williams 
Howlin' Wolf
John Lee Hooker
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Marshal Tucker Band
Molly Hatchet 
Muddy Waters
Outlaws 
Ram Jam 
Rye Cooder
Slim Harpo
Stanley Brothers
Ted Nugent