Homebrew Keep on the North West Borderlands

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Despite being set all over the US, Fringe was also mostly shot in Vancouver, BC. There’s also Grimm which was set in Portland, OR. Both pretty good Monster of the Week shows in a roughly similar vein.

Like Catholicism and vampire hunting fiction, Cascadia and spooky supernatural stuff is a natural combo, for the great visuals in each case.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Shows like X-Files give us a good template for certain types of adventurers. Outsiders who've come to solve a mystery.

But I also like the idea of PCs who are native to the area. It's a good opportunity for the players to contribute their own weird lore to the region. Their own folkloric monsters. Their own NPCs. Weird organisations. Etc.

 

[jian]

Well, if we’re throwing in everything filmed around Vancouver, this could take a while.

Twilight, of course, but also First Blood, the X-Files, Dark Angel, Arrow/Flash/Supergirl, Riverdale, Supernatural, Shogun, Upload…

I think Camp Half Blood might be a fun if weird addition to the setting.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

It's not just shows filmed in/around Vancouver. It's shows with a sense of the quirky and odd.

 

[jian]

It's not just shows filmed in/around Vancouver. It's shows with a sense of the quirky and odd.

And many of those shows/films don't really have a sense of place tied to the region (unlike Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure). But if you want quirky, odd, and local, how about a small coastal town called Molly's Reach where two families of boatmen compete for the business of recovering logs that have broken free from logging booms (which can be dangerous for other boats and so on)?

(The actual town in the series is Gibsons, but that's a real town on the Sunshine Coast.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

And many of those shows/films don't really have a sense of place tied to the region (unlike Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure). But if you want quirky, odd, and local, how about a small coastal town called Molly's Reach where two families of boatmen compete for the business of recovering logs that have broken free from logging booms (which can be dangerous for other boats and so on)?

(The actual town in the series is Gibsons, but that's a real town on the Sunshine Coast.)

That's a perfect kind of settlement to put on a hex map. It's a shelter, but not a place you will do a ton of buying or selling at, and there's just enough going on that if the players fall in love with the NPCs, they can get involved in their local shenanigans, and if they don't, it's always easy for the DM to trot out some color when they visit, based on what's going on between the two families at any given moment (which could probably be represented by a current events random table).

 

[Tonguez]

It's not just shows filmed in/around Vancouver. It's shows with a sense of the quirky and odd.

Anyone remember Eerie, Indiana (NBC) which was a similarly town of weirdness vibe and featured a couple of kids on bikes too. It was filmed between Santa Clarita and Toronto.

 

[overgeeked]

Going outside fiction for a moment, check out Deadliest Catch. Watch a season or two of that and you won’t need to watch more. Great collection of weirdos and risk takers that would make for some great NPCs.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I remember watching The Beachcombers allllllll the way back in the 70s. But I honestly can't remember any details. That said, I'm down for a re-watch. And it sounds like a perfect small town to pop near the Caves of Chaos.

Eerie, Indiana. Wow. I've never heard of this show. But reading the wiki article it sounds very fun, a perfect addition. Some very interesting snippets in the episode guide: The Loyal Order of Corn and The Harvest King stand out.