Mini-setting - Random Modern Town

[limetom]

[note]For those of you who use FreeMind, I have attached the .mm file as a zip so you can look at it that way, if you want to.[/note]
So I've had this floating around for half a year now on my hard drive, but have yet to do anything with it.  Originally, I had planned to use it to make some more Zombie Apocalypse fiction or perhaps some other fiction, but laziness and writer's block has so far prevented that from happening.

It is, as you will see, not complete; I made it as a big outline, and this is really the first attempt at fleshing out some of the details.

My basic idea here was to just kind of go crazy with one small location, attempting to make it as "real" as I could.  This is what I've got so far.  References abound.

***

The Unincorporated Town of Carney

Locale
Carney is set in a mountain pass, along an old highway which was built before the modern interstate system.  Originally, Carney was the administrative center for the mines in the area, and held offices for various companies over the years.  The mines, at least the ones near Carney, have played out and the mining companies moved elsewhere decades ago.  As the old highway, officially State Highway 147 but known to the locals as the Old Mountain Road, was still the only route through the mountains, the town did not drop off the map as many of the smaller mining towns in the area did.

The weather in town can only be described as "awful".  Carney receives the worst of both seasons: miserable, sultry summers, bitter snowy winters, with rain and fog generously applied every inopportune time in between.  Unlike people, plants find this weather excellent.  While it is too cold for exotic plants, many of the local plants thrive in this area.  Indeed, because of mining, parts of the mountains were nearly clear-cut at one point, but the forests are on their way to being back to their original state.[/quote]Places in Town[/size]
Betancourt's Groceries
Carney's only grocery store.  Like many small grocers, it has faced trouble from larger chains and superstores.  However, Carney's location makes it much more convenient than any of its competitors, so it won't be in any kind of trouble for the foreseeable future.

Passed down through the Betancourt family, David Betancourt is the most recent owner, after taking over from his late father 18 years ago.  Employees include Gloria Vela and Paul Mahoney as cashiers, Helen McBain at the deli, and Tina Hartwick and Mike Carpenter in stock.  David's wife Tiffany also used to work at the grocery store, but is now a stay-at-home mom with their daughter Kay.  Betancourt's Groceries has a stake in Carney Savings and Loan, the local bank, and David Betancourt is a member of their Board of Trustees.

Carney Post Office
The major impetus for the mine owners setting up their headquarters in Carney was the construction of a new post office.  The town is in fact named after the original Postmaster, Sean Carney.  The original post office was rebuilt 16 years ago, as the old building was so run down it was about ready to start falling apart.

The current Postmaster is Ian Reidl.  Wallace Pursell is the sole Mail Carrier for the post office, and Madeline Hartwick does everything else, as she likes to remind her colleagues as the Postal Clerk.

Carney Savings & Loan
The town's sole bank, Carney Savings & Loan has a good history with the various businesses in town, ensuring both the businesses and the bank keep on keeping on.  The bank has not had an owner for years; after his death, the last owner, Danny Evenson, decreed that the bank should be put under the control of the Board of Trustees, as well as an independent Manager.  This has, so far, worked out.

The current members of the Board of Trustees are David Betancourt, Leroy Ferrill, and Jay Nichol.  Audrey Comeau is the bank's Manager.  Anna Perla is the bank's sole Teller.  Peter Mahoney is a Clerk at the bank, as well as a the town's only notary.  He sometimes also helps as a Teller, though the bank is busy enough for that.

Church of St. Jeanne d'Arc
The only place of worship in town, thought only a minority of the town's residents are parishioners.  The church proper is the oldest building in town.  The grounds also include a small cemetery, as old as the church, and a newer rectory, which houses the clergy at the church.

The original priest of the Church of St. Jeanne d'Arc was Fr. André Martin, a French immigrant who took up the cloth shortly after immigration.  It is still unclear exactly how he got the church built here, as it would have been the only building in town at the time.  Urban legends abound regarding him, and he was best described as "quixotic".

The current pastor is Fr. Aaron Gregor, slightly odd himself.  He insists on ringing the chruch's bell every day at noon on the dot, as well as a few other times throughout the year, such as midnight on New Year's, dawn on Easter Morning, and dawn on Christmas Morning, as well as any time he hears of a parishioner passing away.  The church's deacon, George McCollum likes to joke that the church attracts a certain kind of priest: the odd ones.  Sr. Alice Barton runs the Faith Formation programs and handles other various tasks at the church.  She has a sneaking suspicion she was sent here as some sort of punishment, as it is not often a nun is placed away from any other members of their order.

Davies M.D.
Dr. Ronnie Davies is the town's sole doctor and has been for years.  He originally thought he wanted to be a truama doctor, but he grew tired of the hectic lifestyle and set up shop out here, where he quickly learned that he would often have to deal with just about anything that came up in town.

Sara Petrova is a his nurse and secretary, who took the job after struggling to find a nursing job in the area.  While she didn't originally think she'd want to live so far out in the country, she doesn't complain.

Ferrill's on 147
Leroy Ferrill is the proud owner of the newest building in town: a gas station.  Originally, he owned a gas station in the suburbs of the nearby City, but was not making the kind of money he hoped.  He eventually got enough money to open this station.  It remains to be seen whether he will end up making more than what he had been.  Ferrill is also a certified mechanic.

Ed Meads is his only employee as an Attendant.  While Leroy prefers to do most of the work himself, his wife Sandra does not see eye to eye with him on this matter, and thus Ed was hired.

H. Phillips' Books
The second oldest building in town, H. Phillips' Books was originally opened as a general store.  As the mining days came to an end, it was bought out as a bookstore.  The original owner of that bookstore, Howard Phillips, or "H.P." as his friends called him, was a rare book collector, and thanks to a hefty inheritance as well as some earlier shrewd business deals, was in no need of the store to turn a real profit.  He just liked the location.

The store's current owner, Steve Cassidy, reopened the store after it had been hanging in limbo for a while.  To get into the black, he has added a coffee shop, as it seemed a decent way to attract customers.  It is working.  What Steve doesn't know, however, is that there are still some rare books left untouched in a back room.  They were missed when H.P.'s collection was auctioned off after his death.

Nicole Bruton works as a barrista, while Julia Sams works part-time shelving and such.

In-and-Out Cleaners
In-and-Out Cleaners is a dry cleaning business owned by Michael Tikkola, a recent immigrant from Kenya.  Michael's wife Asha works as a seamstress at the cleaners when the need arises.  Emily Comeau, Audrey Comeau's daughter, works part-time at the cleaners.

The Tikkolas are know for being devoted Catholics, and dedicate a large amount of their time to the Church of St. Jeanne d'Arc, help greatly needed by Sr. Barton, who would otherwise have to do much more.

Jay's Hardware
Jay Nichol is a well connected man.  Despite having a hardware store in a backwater town, he has the rapport with various suppliers to get you anything you might need.  At least in terms of stuff hardware stores might have.  Not bad for a backwater redneck, he likes to remind people.  Like Betancourt's Groceries, Jay's Hardware thrives despite competition from larger hardware chains, likely due to the fact that it is easier to drive downtown to get that duct tape, than to drive a couple of hours to the suburbs.

Jim Brennan, Mike Bruton, and Mick Perla all work part-time at the hardware store.  Their "work" generally consists of sitting in the back and occasionally attempting to fix someone's lawnmower.  Business usually isn't that heavy.  Whenever Jay gets a delivery for a customer, however, he takes delight in actually making the three work for a change.

Lord's Bar
Byron Harren owns the Lord's Bar.  He named it as a play on his own name and the poet, figuring none of the rednecks in the town would "get it".  As is his idiom, the day after the bar opened, Jay Nichols walked in with a hammer, a nail, and a large framed portrait of Lord Byron, which he hung by the door.  He then sat down and ordered a beer.  Especially on Fridays and Saturdays, it is one of the most crowded places in town.

Jan Meads and Savannah Murdock work as waitresses at the bar.

Manny's Tailors
Owned by Manny Vela, it is the only tailor's in town (as well as, as Manny likes to note, the only tailors outside the nearby City).  Manny himself is a professional tailor.  Leroy Ferrill swears Manny's, saying that a man must have at least one fitted suit if he is to call himself a man.

Yrma Pursell works part-time at Manny's.

Maria's
Maria's is one of the two "restaurants" in town, the other being Oien's Diner.  While neither are actually restaurants, Maria's being a sub shop and pizzeria, both are in fierce competition, and there is bad blood between the owners.  Russell LaSalle owns Maria's.  Thus far, he has remained tight-lipped about the name, but there is some speculation that it was one of the bachelor's old girlfriends.

Justin Ochs is the cook at the sub shop.  So far, his boss has not found out about him dating Kathie McBain, the waitress at the diner.  No doubt if Russell did, it would cause yet another tiff in his endless war with Everett Oien.  Willie Sams is the delivery boy, and has, on more than one occasion engaged in street racing with friends while on the job.  He prides himself that he has never once delivered a pizza late, nor lost a race.

Oien's Diner
Everett Oien both owns and cooks at the diner.  There is a long-running feud between him and Russell LaSalle, the owner of the sub shop.  Everett enjoys holding it over Russell's head that he can open for breakfast while Russell cannot.

Kathie McBain is the diner's sole waitress, and engaged in a "secret" (secret, at lest, from Russell LaSalle and Everett Oien) affair with Justin Ochs, the cook at Maria's.

Sheriff's Office
David Murdoch is Carney's duly appointed sheriff.  He constantly has a cigar in his mouth, much to the chagrin of his deputy, Jean Forsberg.  Jean is generally glad to either be out patrolling or at the office; basically, whichever David isn't doing.  Both enjoy their job.

The most common crime in town is speeding.

Springtime
The town's florist, with the shop in front and a sizable greenhouse out back.  It is owned by Kathy Meads.  Few realize that Kathy is a retired plant genetics professor.

Brian Carpenter is a part-time employee.

Vinyl
Phil Hagen's record and video store.  Phil likes to describe himself as "the only hippie for 50 miles".  Of course, Phil is well known for his exaggerated storytelling.   On the rare occasions that he gets a new customer, he will ask them if they want to see his "special' collection.  While many are off-put by the implications, Phil is in fact referring to his private stock of records from the 60s.  Phil has digitized the collection, and has possibly anything you could want from that era.

Phil and Roy Carpenter don't really know what to do with each other.  They are two very different products of their generation: Phil is a hippie,  Roy a retired Vietnam vet.  Both have made assumptions about the other, but would rather leave the past in the past.  Unfortunately, the lack of any real conversation between the two has preventing this from progressing further.

***

File: 1271253063_14_FT0_town.zip

[St0nE]

Hmm.... this could be an interesting stop for a World of Darkness game, particularly Mage tho Werewolf could work fairly well here too. The rare books could perhaps be occult tomes being looked for by many groups.

This town could also work quite well for a scenario similar to "The Mist"... small towns can cause a lot of rp and drama...

So far, you're doing really well.

[limetom]

First section on locations in the town is complete.

I'll add a few more things about the places out of town that would come up frequently (like the schools and the interstate and such).

Not sure what I'm going to do with the stuff for all the people.  In the outline I have, I have entries for all the people I've mentioned; I tried to put as much of that in my post so far, but it just doesn't really work for children or commuters.  I'll see what I'll do with that.

Hmm.... this could be an interesting stop for a World of Darkness game, particularly Mage tho Werewolf could work fairly well here too. The rare books could perhaps be occult tomes being looked for by many groups.

This town could also work quite well for a scenario similar to "The Mist"... small towns can cause a lot of rp and drama...

So far, you're doing really well.

Thanks.

I was originally intending it for horror, and for what ever reason, small towns (as well as hospitals) work very well with horror.

I also liked adding little plot hooks like the leftover books, though most of them have turned out to be psychological kinds of things.  This would be interesting s a DM, especially when normality in the town is thrown off (i.e. a group of adventurers or some such comes in, zombies invade, etc.).

[SDragon]

I like this a lot. The Lovecraft reference was a nice touch. I agree about small towns being somehow ideal for horror, and you definitely have a good grasp of the Small Town. I like how there's so many plot hooks, too. The books, the nun, empty mines...