Wisconsin as a Hunter: The Vigil setting

OK, I'm locked for Hurley for the childhood setting, now for the college town.

Wisconsinites, which of these choices is 1) the most college-centric, 2) the most isolated, 3) has the most obvious potential for a horror game:

1) Menomonie
2) Stevens Point
3) Whitewater

Thanks for all your help! I've got enough material for a good long while from this thread (which is mirrored both at ENWorld and RPG.net).
 

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OK, I'm locked for Hurley for the childhood setting, now for the college town.

Wisconsinites, which of these choices is 1) the most college-centric, 2) the most isolated, 3) has the most obvious potential for a horror game:

1) Menomonie
2) Stevens Point
3) Whitewater

Thanks for all your help! I've got enough material for a good long while from this thread (which is mirrored both at ENWorld and RPG.net).

Whitewater is probably the least isolated (but closest by far to Bray Road). I'd say that Stevens Point is a little more isolated than Menomonie, since that's not all that far from Minneapolis or Eau Claire.
 

Some other Wisconsin things to consider...

"I Closed Wolski's" bumper stickers on about 1 of 10 cars/trucks/SUV's in and around Milwaukee (they can also be found at Dirty Nelly's pub in Shannon, Ireland along with a half-dozen Milwaukee Irish-fest bumper stickers).
The awful stench of the milorganite plant near downtown Milwaukee (it's so bad closing the windows and baking in sauna-like conditions is preferrable).
Menards home improvement stores in every decent sized city.
Rocky Horror night at the Oriental Theater is a cultural event.
The "real" Packers colors are green and gold... and blaze orange hunting parkas with road kill hats.
Pockets of Amish communities in rural areas. Most have a sign in their driveway, "no sunday sales."
In Milwaukee, drinking fountains are referred to as bubblers.
People can tell where you're from depending on how you pronounce "Sausage".
The Milwaukee Brewers hold sausage races at their games.
If you live in a rural area, there is a general opinion that if you're from Madison you must be a liberal. The farther north you go, the more pronounced the sentiment is.
For some companies, the opening day of the trout fishing and gun deer hunting seasons are paid holidays (it takes double time & a half to get people to work those days).
If you're not in a metropolitan area, ammunition for popular calibers/gauges of rifles and shotguns are available in most gas stations, hardware stores, and even a few grocery stores in small towns.
After driving for 10 miles with nothing but trees, you come to a crossroads where there is a sign for an unincorporated town, a bar, an antiques store, a gas station, and zero houses... then nothing for 10 more miles.
It seems that there are permanent fireworks stores at every other interstate exit. From May through July, there's two fireworks tents at every exit and also at most major road intersections. Residents can't buy all the "good stuff" (roman candles, aerials, etc.) but out-of-state residents can.
As a derogatory rip, Wisconsinites will pronounce Illinois "ill-i-NOISE" and Chicago "(slang for manure)-cah-go". They will refer to people from Illinois as FIB's (various interpretations of that acronym, depending on how well disposed the speaker is to people from Illinois, the nicest is "Friendly Illinois Buddy" and it goes downhill from there).
In Wisconsin, the Packers aren't a religion... they're more important. More fights are started over NFL loyalty than over which pew you sit in on Sundays.
Every small town seems to have a yearly festival which involves carnival rides, beer tents, and tractor pulls.
Milwaukee has an ethnic fest almost every weekend at the Summerfest grounds during the summer.
People refer to snow drifting across roads as snow snakes.
There is a real debate on whether Coke and Pepsi should be called "Soda" or "Pop".
If you go to the State Fair, eating cream puffs is almost mandatory.
June is "Dairy Month."
Chicken-Q's are common weekend fundraisers.
People in rural areas "road trip" for fun on Friday and Saturday nights (basically, just drive around drinking beer and throwing the cans out along the side of the highway).
The "secret password" to get into The Safehouse in Milwaukee is perhaps the worst kept secret in the state.

I'll come back and add more as my wife and I think of them.
 

In many smallish towns, people are as proud of their fishing boats as their cars.

In the summer, the slogan "Smell our dairy air" has a profound meaning.

People have been known to ride snowmobiles to school.

Wisconsin does have downhill skiing in places like Tyrol BASIN. Not mountain but basin. Actually it,s a substantial bluff surrounded by valley, but the name makes me chuckle.

Much of western WI is called the Driftless area because the great glaciers didn't reach there. Lots of steep bluffs, narrow valleys, pastures rather than fields. And each valley can give you a real feeling of isolation.

Wolves and bears are becoming more populous and moving south again in habitat.

Compared to lots of states farther west and south, most homes have basements. Thus it seems to me that although we do get substantial tornados, we seem to have fewer fatalities.
 

If you're not in a metropolitan area, ammunition for popular calibers/gauges of rifles and shotguns are available in most gas stations, hardware stores, and even a few grocery stores in small towns.
After driving for 10 miles with nothing but trees, you come to a crossroads where there is a sign for an unincorporated town, a bar, an antiques store, a gas station, and zero houses... then nothing for 10 more miles.
These two seem to have definite application in a Hunter game.

Given that Chicago has always been the WoD iconic "stuffed full of splatbook monsters" setting, I think I definitely want to make it seem like a sinister location "over there" where the Hunters are warned not to go. People in Bears drag will most likely be some shade of untrustworthy as a result, although I'll try and make that a subtle clue for as long as possible.
 

Heh...

Just had a mental image of a NPC's dying words "Da...Bears..." (while wearing a Mike Singletary jersey) being misinterpreted as an ultimate statement of fandom.

When in actuality, he was killed by a group of quasi-ursine lycanthropes, and he's trying to warn the PCs.
 

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