Ten All Flesh Must Be Eaten scenarios

Ten potential scenarios for your All Flesh Must Be Eaten game. . . 

1. "The Outbreak": The players find themselves in the middle of a zombie outbreak that began when a group of scientists attempted to weaponize a virus as a bioweapon. They must fight their way through the infected streets to find the scientists and learn how to stop the spread of the virus.

2. "Survival of the Fittest": The players are stranded in the wilderness with limited supplies and must fend off zombie attacks while trying to find a way back to civilization. They discover that a rival group of survivors is also in the area, and must decide whether to ally with them or remain independent.

3. "A Grave Situation": The players are hired by a local cemetery to investigate reports of missing bodies. They discover that a funeral home has been reanimating the dead as zombies in order to sell them to wealthy clients as servants.

4. "The Scavenger Hunt": The players are hired by a group of survivors to scavenge for supplies in a nearby city. They must navigate dangerous streets filled with zombies and rival scavenger groups, while also searching for clues to the whereabouts of a missing member of the survivor group.

5. "Cult of the Undead": The players stumble upon a religious cult that worships the zombies as divine beings. They must infiltrate the cult and stop their dangerous rituals before they can spread the zombie virus to new converts.

6. "The Last Stand": The players arrive in a small town that is under siege by a horde of zombies. They must help the survivors fortify their defenses and fend off the attackers, while also dealing with internal tensions and power struggles.

7. "The Doctor is In": The players discover a small community that has managed to survive the zombie apocalypse thanks to the efforts of a local doctor. However, they soon discover that the doctor is actually experimenting on the survivors in an attempt to find a cure for the virus.

8. "The Road to Nowhere": The players are hired to escort a group of survivors to a rumored safe haven. However, they must navigate treacherous roads and hostile territory while dealing with dwindling supplies and the constant threat of zombie attacks.

9. "The Hunter and the Hunted": The players are hired by a wealthy businessman to hunt down and eliminate a rival who has hoarded valuable supplies in a fortified compound. However, they soon discover that the rival has been using the supplies to fund dangerous experiments on zombies.

10. "The Last Broadcast": The players discover a radio station that is still broadcasting in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. However, the station is being targeted by a rival group that wants to use the frequency to spread their own propaganda. The players must defend the station and its message while also dealing with the constant threat of zombie attacks.

Locations: The 'Burbs

 The Burbs

The following are cities and towns are designed as backgrounds to your ongoing campaign. 

Location: Rivertown

Theme: Facing Evil

Population: 55,000

People

1. Sheriff Lucas Coal: power hungry, Infernal of some sort, sees himself as an Old West sheriff who is the town and the town is him; signed a contract with Evil that gives him control of the town as long as he fullfils his part of the bargain and Evil tests him at every turn. He sees himself as saving the town from certain doom

2. Samira Amani: young, Persian, develops an accent when angered or overly excited, opposes Sheriff Coal every chance she gets, active in the community

3. Dr. Burgandy

Places

1. Grand River shoreline, forestry, and park

2. Downtown shopping area: antique stores, local artists, restaurants

3. New development community in an old part of town

Things

1. Something in the antique shop

2. Something buried in the old Indian burial mound in the Grand River County Park

3. Contents of Dr. Burgundy’s safe: Sheriff Coal’s contract, millions of dollars, or something more nefarious???

Conflicts

1. Critters that live along the river and in the forestry of the area hunting visitors and occassionally locals, if they have no choice

2. Sheriff Coal versus Samira

3. Sheriff Coal versus the Evil with whom he signed the contract

Location: Lanark

Theme: Death and Rebirth 

Population: 35,000

People

1. The Council: members include a relative of Miss Campbell, a Warlock who desires control of the Campbell farm, and others 

2. Morganne Campbell: leader of the current witch coven in the town

3. Malcolm Booth: Director of the Easter Village, cousin to the director of the local hospital (a sorry, one story affair)

Places

1. Campbell family farm: said to be home to witches in years past, includes where the two rivers come together which is a place of power

2. Highland Marsh Trail: raised boardwalk through an inland marsh, named for the nearby (uphill) Highland Cemetary, along the eastern river and somewhat north of the city

3. Easter Village: retirement community of good quality, along the western river

Things

1. Shambling Mound (Night Companion) in the Highland Marsh

2. The number of deaths in town is equal to the number of births in the hospital, many employees at Easter Village are related to those in the Lanark Hospital

3. New Moon Whirlpool: whirlpool forms where the rivers meet on the new moon

Conflicts

1. Evil warlocks versus good witches

2. Shambling Mound eating visitors to the march

3. Booth is sending old people to die as sacrifices on the Campbell farm

Location: Fogwarren

Theme: Mystery

Population: 62,000

People

1. Mystical Martial Artist

2. Werecreature

3. Monster hunter

Places

1. Dojo

2. Fogwarren Pizza Palace: featured on several food travel shows

3. State Park

Things

1. Blade of Jowangshin is on display at the dogo: it is a blade that will “flame on” if placed in a lit hearth

2. Daedalan Cube (Night Companion)

3. Satanic circle of stones in the state park

Conflicts

1. Werecreature is guarding the Daedalan Cube (in the pizza palace?)

2. Monster hunter is hunting creatures from the state park

3. People randomly die if caught out in the fog

Location: Haven

Themes: Power & Corruption, Man vs. Society, Justice

Population: 120,000

People

1. Head of a gang

2. Street doc

3. Corrupt police officer (psychic gunslinger?)

Places

1. Warehouse

2. Nightclub

3. Casino

Things

1. Film / Video proving something for the players

2. Lucky casino chip

3. Cursed weapon

Conflicts

1. Gang on gang violence (or mobsters on mobsters)

2. Corrupt police doing / allowing bad things to happen

3. Politicians trying to push around innocent people

Location: Beaver City, a quaint upper midwest town

Themes: Survival, Power & Corruption, Hubris

Population: 46,000

People

1. Scientist trying to get away from an evil corporation

2. Spirit Rider 

3. Retired actress

Places

1. Native American reservation

2. Large agricultural university

3. Closed military base

Things

1. Native American statue in the middle of town

2. Locked gate under an old building, but near train tracks; no one knows where it goes and there is no way to find it from inside the old building

3. Toxic waste in the local water

Conflicts

1. Spririt Rider protecting the land from the evil corporation

2. Evil corporation’s control of the town

3. Animals encroaching into human living areas: bears, coyotes, buffalo, etc.

Copyright 2021 Derek Stoelting

Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars copyright 2021 Elf Lair Games, LLC and Jason Vey

Night Spot: The Archer Hotel

The following location is designed for use with games such as Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Nights Black Agents, or Deadlands, but with a little work can be used in nearly all role playing games.

The Archer Hotel resides next to a lonesome highway. The highway’s numerical designation and name have changed so often over the years, that no one remembers what it is currently called. Most folks refer to the highway outside of the Archer as the “1-0-1”. You can call it whatever you want - no one will care. 

The Archer has passed through divers hands over the years. It has never stayed in any single one family’s possession for more than two generations. The current owners are Kane and Lana Rezick. The couple is from “back east”. They managed several successful bed and breakfasts before selling out and buying this hotel. They were looking for a change in scenery and clientele. They got both in spades. 

Archer Hotel Background

The Archer Hotel was originally built by a copper mine baron, Michael Allen Grant Archer, III, in the early 20th century. His descendants would squander his riches and MAG Archer, IV, eventually sold the property.

The property was immediately cleaned out, fixed up, and sold to a hotel developer. It was further updated by the developer and then sold off as a hotel. The property went through several hands before the Rezicks purchased it. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was a popular spot for vacationers traveling through the area. Low cost room rates and access to the highway system increased profits. However, the decline of cross-country travel in the late 20th century destroyed the halcyon days of low cost-high profit. 

When the Rezicks purchased the property in the early 2000s, most of the hotel’s guests were either old timers traveling to relive their youth, weird desert dwellers, or outlaw bikers. The first of those groups were the only clientele the Rezicks had experience with. Learning how to manage the other two groups as guests took trial and error over time. Different weirdos were into different things. Some were into experiencing the desert while intoxicated on magic pills. Others claimed to be tracing ley lines across the country. A few used the hotel as a place to conduct business, whether it involved drugs, guns, or magical fetishes. 

The bikers were frequently one percenters and more often than not, either drunks or cokeheads. Where the senior citizens and weirdos might break something by accident, the bikers often did it on purpose and did not feel they needed to pay back the hotel for the damage caused. Confronting them could lead to more damage to the hotel, not paying for their rooms, and more than once, a broken nose for Kane. The Rezicks flexed their supernatural gifts and came to an understanding with the bikers: don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing. Now, most of the bikers who stay at the hotel police each other and keep things under control. . . mostly.

Archer Hotel Today

The Archer Hotel was originally built in the California Mission Revival style. The Rezicks are slowly returning the hotel’s appearance to that charm, while maintaining modern guest expectations. 

Parking for the hotel is a graveled area between the hotel and the highway. While guests can park on the side or rear of the hotel, there are no lights outside the hotel on those sides. Additionally, the only doors for the hotel lead into the courtyard. 

Entrance to the hotel is through an arched walkway wide enough for five men abreast. The archway is connected to a low wall that runs across the front of the hotel’s courtyard. After passing through the walkway, the guests cross a bricked courtyard, circumventing a gorgeous fountain, and enter the hotel through a set of double doors. Guest room windows and simple, wooden doors line the interior walls of the courtyard. Above, the second floor provides a walkway around the courtyard and the third floor offers balconies from which guests in the suites can listen to the gentle bubbling of the fountain. 

The guest service area of the hotel is not large and guests often say it feels claustrophobic. There is a desk wide enough for two computers and desk clerks. There is a small pantry closet with a few snacks, bottled water, Mexican style beer, tequila, and to the side is a porter and valet stand. Down the hallway is an office shared by the hotel’s concierge and management. 

The interior of the hotel is rustic. The walls are rough and the floors are not finished. The walls are adorned with replicas of Chumash cave paintings and replica oil lamps. The guest rooms are bare bones, with only a bed, chair, and desk for furniture. The only electronics in the rooms are the lights, heating and cooling, and a television. A single window in each window provides better light than the yellowed bulbs in the rooms. All rooms face the courtyard. Only the ground floor and third floor hallways are protected from the elements. The second floor rooms open to a veranda, again, facing the courtyard.  

The manager/concierge office is still used as the manager’s office. It is not well-organized and papers cover most surfaces. An old CRT monitor sits on the desk, hooked up to a desktop computer sitting on the floor. Several metal cabinets stand next to the walls, with copies in triplicate of every transaction ever processed by the Rezicks. 

A shelf display unit in the hall outside of the manager’s office is the closest thing the hotel has to a concierge. Everything a visitor could want to do within a thirty mile radius is represented amongst the tri-folded pamphlets. A nearby wall map of the county highlights the nearest gas stations, quickie marts, and restaurants. 

Stairs to the second and third floors exist in the corners of the hotel. All of the stairs are interior and do not have windows. 

The area surrounding the Archer Hotel is arid desert. Cacti and sunflowers are the only plants that grow near the hotel. There is a dam in the area which supplies water to the hotel. The Rezicks are in talks with the water and power providers to set up a small wind farm on their property that would pay into both bills for the hotel. From their research, the Rezicks think they might even turn a bit of a profit from a wind farm. 

The Rezicks

The hotel is entirely staffed by the Rezicks, who live on property. Kane is a Psychic Gunslinger and Lana is a Spirit Rider.

They most recently lived in the Killington, Vermont ski area where they ran several bed and breakfasts. While they made most of their money during the busy ski season, they pulled in enough summer vacation guests to make it all work. Many of their peers worked second jobs during the summer to make ends meet. It was during the summer months that they ran into some trouble.

A group of vampires and a group of werewolves chose to meet in the Killington area to hammer out a deal. The vampires were trafficking people into and out of Burlington from Saratoga Springs. They wanted to expand over to Champlain and potentially into Canada. The werewolves, on the other hand, were established along the U.S.-Canada border as the go-to for moving people across the border illegally. While the two groups were not directly in opposition to each other, the werewolves felt the vampires might bring unwanted attention from border agents. So, they decided to make it a problem. After several incidents involving trafficked people turning up dead and law enforcement investigations, the vampires asked for a “sit-down”. 

The werewolves obliged and chose the Killington area due to the fact that it was off-season (so fewer people) and its remoteness. Most people vacationing in the area would be in the Gifford Woods State Park, not at ski resorts. The werewolves chose to stay in a few of the bed and breakfasts supplied by the Rezicks. The vampires chose to stay at a hotel in nearby Rutland, Vermont. The talks broke down, because neither side was willing to give up rights to the other. The werewolves felt they should be moving all product across the border and Champlain, Vermont. The vampires did not want to pay the werewolves to do what the vampires were already doing. Bad attitudes and angry words led to the inevitable fight. Both groups eschewed using firearms and instead, went tooth, claw, and vehicular for their killing. 

The Rezicks prided themselves on running a proper business. They made sure to check in with guests either upon arrival or the first evening of a stay. They tried to reach the werewolves by telephone to make sure the locations were up to expectations. Receiving no answer at the cell phone number used to make the reservations or at the houses being rented, they decided to go visit the properties to make sure all was alright.

Unfortunately for the Rezicks, they showed up during the fight and witnessed both supernatural species in all their glory. Worse still, both groups saw the Rezicks and gave chase. Through a combination of local knowledge and their innate abilities, they were able to escape certain death. They quickly gathered up what belongings they could fit in their cars and left the state.

The Rezicks sold their Vermont properties through a third party. They stayed on the move, never stopping in an area for more than a few days. Lana was forced to dismiss her association with the land in Killington, losing access to many of her abilities.  

While trying to determine where and how they wanted to stop running, the Rezicks saw an estate sale advertisement for the Archer Hotel. The owner had run the place into the ground and died without heirs. The state wanted to sell it as quickly as possible, realizing it would not bring in a lot of money from investors. After a thorough walk-through of the property with the broker, they low-balled an offer. To their surprise, it was accepted almost immediately. 

The Rezicks immediately set about renovating the property. They began with the inside of the hotel and eventually worked out to the outdoors and ended with a new sign above the wrought iron doors in the archway into the courtyard.

Kane Rezick should be used as a fourth level NPC. If used as a PC, he can be created as a fourth level Psychic Gunslinger. Lana is a third level NPC or a third level Spirit rider if used as a player character. Lana has attuned herself to the local land. The length of time she was not associated with the land slowed her level progression. The Rezicks are not meant to be used as all-powerful NPCs. However, if the player characters are far and away better than the Rezicks, Game Masters may wish to raise their levels.

Kane is a tall man with lean features. He has medium-length, dark, messy hair. He has a constant five o’clock shadow. He wears silver, wireframe glasses. His current clothing colors are whites and light browns.

Lana is also tall, but with more angular features. She keeps her fiery red hair cut short. She typically wears monochrome, business casual clothing. 

Guest Services

There are many reasons for the player characters to visit the Archer Hotel. In fact, all of the usual reasons work. 

On the Hunt

In this story, the characters are after someone or something holed up at the Archer Hotel. If it is someone, that person heard that the Archer Hotel was a great place to hide out and wait for a storm to blow over. Unfortunately, either the player characters heard the same thing or the person hiding out made a mistake that the players caught (like paying for the room with a credit card in their name). Finding the hotel is the easy part. There are advertisements on all of the usual social media platforms, in addition to targeted marketing in travel magazines. The hard part will be extracting whomever or whatever the player characters are after. 

The Rezicks consider their property to be their place to control. To that end, if the player characters come onto the property and rough-up a guest, they will consider the characters to be villains. The guest’s alignment does not factor into how the Rezicks react to the player characters. The Rezicks also have zero interest in being known for selling out their guests. So, unless the player characters can make a good case as to why they should be allowed to leave with a guest or the guest’s property, they will have a fight on their hands. 

The Rezicks will not protect everyone. Obviously bad people or supernatural species will be turned out. These include killers, rapists, Nazis, child abusers, etc. If the person in question is considered bad by way of opinion or they have not committed a crime the Rezicks feel is worth their reputation as a safe haven, they will stand by protecting their property and everyone on it. However, if the guest has paid through tomorrow and tries to purchase a longer stay, the Rezicks may just decline the request.  

The Rezicks are not meant to be arch-nemesis level opponents. If the players decide to fight them, they will be a speed bump to slow down the player characters. This may serve to soften up the characters before fighting the big bad hiding on the property. 

The Hunted

In this story, it is the player characters who are using the Archer Hotel as a place to hide out. So they reveal themselves or who they are hiding from to the hotel’s owners? In addition to the Rezicks, they will have the opportunity to interact with other guests at the hotel. GMs are encouraged to create guests that can expand the characters’ backgrounds or challenge their presumptions. Additional guests do not need to be supernaturally orientated. In fact, depending on the Night World or the player characters’ species, they may need to hide their supernatural abilities from the other guests. 

After interacting with the other guests, they will need to deal with whomever comes looking for the player characters. Are they minions who show up and cause problems? Are they player character level NPCs who know what they are walking into and will be smart about their tactics? Maybe those cute senior citizens are actually spies for the demon lord searching for the magic knife the Sage carries. And if the demon lord does show up, can the players convince the Rezicks that they really are the good guys?

Meetings

Due to the remoteness of the hotel and the owners’ disposition about causing problems on their property, the Archer Hotel is a good place to hold meetings. Player characters looking to buy information can meet with turncoats and certified informants here. Sketchy magic item dealers might choose the Archer Hotel as neutral ground for closing deals. They know the Rezicks aren’t going to put up with guests fighting, so they book a room for a few nights out of paranoia.

The location also works for hand-offs and dead drops. Need to pick up a battered spouse and whisk them away to safety? The 1-0-1 provides an open highway with very little police presence to enforce speed limits or safety. Naturally, this also means the Game Master can arrange for a car chase or fight scene inspired by their favorite post-apocalyptic movie series. 

Because the property is old, there are many nooks and crannies that have developed over the years. The door frame inside room 212 has a habit of coming loose across the top. Need to leave a message for someone? Place it here. Have something small you need to hand off? Put it in a magnetic key box and leave it attached to the iron railing along the balcony of room 315. 

Helping the Owners

Because the Rezicks are not meant to be all-powerful NPCs, they might need help with something outside of their abilities. If the player characters are well equipped to handle hauntings, perhaps an old ghost has taken up residence on the property. Maybe there is a secret door that leads to a cave system below the property where a loogaroo has been trapped for nearly a century! The Rezicks may put the word out that they need help protecting a guest from a vampire coven. 

One day, the werewolves or the vampires from Vermont are going to catch up with the Rezicks. When they do, Kane and Lana will need help defending themselves.

Sanctuary

Game Masters can use the Archer Hotel as a location for the Sanctuary from the Night Shift: VotSW corebook. The remoteness of the hotel provides a perfect place for healing and recovery. Game Masters using the hotel in this manner will want to add staff to the hotel. Security guards, psychologists, family medicine doctors, cleaning crew, and front desk staff would likely be needed. Some roles may be shared by the same person or they may be on call.

The player characters could work for Sanctuary as couriers. They could travel to whomever needs help and bring them back to Sanctuary, fighting off whatever evil haunts the survivor. The characters can also serve as the team who delivers the victim to their new home after healing at the hotel. When not picking up and delivering survivors, they can serve as security for the property or take on their own caseload.

Legal

This work of fiction is copyright Derek Stoelting 2021

Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is copyright Jason Vey and Elf Lair, LLC 2020 and is used without express permission.

Sanctuary is copyright Timothy S. Brannan 2020 and is used without express permission.

No challenge to the copyright owners' rights is meant or implied.

Game Pitch Outline: Night Train

Game Pitch Outline:  Night Train

High Concept:  Ravenloft modern with undertones of Kult’s Metropolis meets Mission Impossible

The Pitch

What if Ravenloft’s Masque of the Red Death setting was modernized and mixed with Kult’s concept of Metropolis? Dark Lords dwell in a shadowy world connected to ours via places of ancient power, extreme emotion distress, and centuries of manipulation. From these domains of dread, they send their tendrils into our world to corrupt the innocent, murder the hearty, and grow their powerbase.

Into these shadows walk the heroes (or anti-heroes) of the game.

Overview

Our world intertwines with that of the Dark Lords. Whether this is due to a membrane between Earth and the Outer Dark or the Mists of Ravenloft, terrible places of extreme horror exist, fueled by the power of their Dark Lords. These places also interconnect to each other, along a membrane of sorts that is outside the space/time of Earth. Perhaps it is the Twilight of Nochnoy Dozor or the Umbra of Mage.

The Dark Lords control concepts and ideals related to their character. They can exist in the real world, but are far safer, more powerful, and much more comfortable in their shadow world. The Dark Lords fight for power in the real world, sometimes sending their armies to fight each other.

Crossing from Earth to the Dark Universe is not a task most can accomplish. Certain books and websites discuss spells and rituals which transfer one’s body from this realm to the other. However, those readings are hard to find and the components needed to complete the tasks are even harder to locate. Along the same line as using a magical ritual to transfer from here to there, gates exist which open directly to and from the other world. There are train stations where if one is there at the right time on the right day, a train will arrive from the Dark Universe, drop off riders, and pick up new riders. Lastly, the domains creep into the Earth and a person can slip between the two worlds without realizing it until it is too late.

The characters begin without foreknowledge of the Dark Universe. However, this changes in the first adventure as they gain at least a knowing glance into the shadow world. Low power-level characters are not ideal for this game. The characters should be experts in their field and preferably all part of the same organization. Members of a counter-intelligence unit or mercenaries for hire are good choices.

Depending on the scope of the game, the story will involve one Dark Lord or several.

First Arc

While on the first mission of the game, the characters come face to face with low-level minions of a Dark Lord. There is no indication the minions answer to a “dark lord,” but clues exist hinting at a larger organization.

There are two directions from this point. The characters can return to their “day job” world, unsure of what just happened and continue with their lives. Alternatively, they can be burned, left out in the cold for an unknown reason. All of their contacts in their organization refuse to have anything to do with them. If they try to contact family, the family tries to avoid the characters, as if warned off. If the characters still have a “day job” after the first adventure, the second adventure results in being burned. From here, the characters have no choice but to chase shadows. If they do not, the shadows come for them.

Second Arc

As the characters work through mooks and minions, they climb the ladder of the conspiracy, learning more as they climb higher and higher. Eventually, they learn about the Dark Lord/s and their domain/s. As they work to gain access to the Dark Lord, or as they run in fear, they experience more of the Dark Universe. The closer to the Dark Lord they travel, the more reality seems to change. Not only are monsters real, so are magic and demonic entities. Reality takes on a different appearance the further into the shadows they travel. The only way to stop the Dark Lord/s is to take the battle to them in their realm/s.

The game becomes a series of conspyramids, interconnecting at different intervals, wrapping around the characters. The characters leap from one conspyramid to another and then back again to go up levels of the conspyramid. This is Night’s Black Agents at its fullest, most expansive level, combined with every other GUMSHOE line.

Third Act

Is the Dark Lord defeated or did they escape to fight another day? What about the Dread Power which binds them to their realm?

What costs have the players paid in order to set back the Dark Lord? Have they sacrificed family or close friends? Have they become one of the monsters of the Dark Universe? Are their souls lost to the Abyss? Did any of them die? If so, is there someone effected who could take up the fight in their behalf?

Additional Considerations

§  Bare bones, the enemies are dark reflections of the heroes

§  Things man was not mean to know is a major element; actions of a person attempting to learn things that, we are told, no one should understand, such as Dr. Frankenstein or Jekyll/Hyde; potentially an ally working towards a worthy goal that ends in a tragedy

o   Trying to open a “Stargate” and it unexpectedly lets in Outer Dark beings

o   Drug that accelerates hearing, but creates super soldiers who go on to do bad things

o   Dr. Morbius, the living vampire, was attempting to create a healing drug, took the drug to see if it would work and turned himself into a “living” vampire

o   Assistant steals notes and samples to supply technology to the Dark Lord’s minions, because they have something the assistant desperately needs/wants

§  Common technology has its uses for the enemy; cellphones, means and speed of travel, knowledge available via the Internet

o   Evil can use the same technology against the heroes

o   If the heroes lose access to the technology, are they still strong or will they falter in battle as the enemy now has the upper hand?

o   False, planted, or incorrect information/knowledge due to a wide availability of knowledge source (re:  Wikipedia)

§  Traditions of Terror

o   Spellcasting has consequences for the caster and may change the users, physically or mentally, a price must be paid

o   Fear, horror, and madness checks and trackers

o   Curses

o   Wandering gypsies and fortune telling

The rising in power levels, the world-spanning campaign, and the amount of combat needed to stop the Dark Lord/s in this game are not meant to make it a light-hearted campaign. In fact, the opposite is more true. Sacrifices are made to gain power levels (sanity, perhaps?). World-spanning adds a level of excitement to the game, adding flavors from James Bond, Impossible Mission Force or Man from U.N.C.L.E. In a world without the Dark Lords, these characters could be stopping drug lords and corrupt politicians. Instead, they are fighting an unseen force in shadows and alley ways.

The Dark Universe

Some places on Earth are one-and-the same with the membrane or twilight of the Dark Universe. In these places, the Dark Lords make their lairs. These places connect to each other along the membrane, via a train system. The borders between the Dark Lords’ realms function similar to the Mists of Ravenloft. Those who wander into them are unlikely to make it out alive and unchanged. Only the engineers of the trains know the way and the way is to follow the tracks. The tracks have been there for as long as anyone can remember.

The train/s takes on an appropriate appearance for the realm in which it currently resides. Passengers will not notice a change take place while onboard the train, when it passes from one realm to another. However, they will notice the change the moment they step foot on the ground of the next realm.

The types of trains include steam locomotives, subways, Els, steampunk, dieselpunk, bullet, and more.

Dark Lord Realm Examples

Santa Muerte

She is served by the Mexican Cartels. Her domains include Mexico City, barren wastelands inhabited by cartel soldiers, and the US-Mexico border. The walls surrounding this realm are fence lines and military/police who kill those who cross the border. Her power comes from human trafficking, drug running, murder, and extortion.

Castle Wolfstone

An overly structured city filled with concrete buildings and run by fascists. The inhabitants of the castle on the highest hill in the capital control the land. Outsiders are discouraged from visiting and often targeted for attacks by the brown coats serving the fascist leaders. The Dark Lord of the realm gains power from fear, terror, and executing outsiders. The domain consists of a perfectly functioning city, the highway around it, and the castle on the hill. Even though there are vehicles moving on the highway, it is impossible to find an entry or exit ramp onto the highway.

Dracula

Dracula resides in an Eastern European Socialist State. A corrupt government that operates via a system of bribes controls the lands. The common people struggle to survive and will not help the characters, unless the characters have something to offer them (bribe?) in return. Bribes include clean water not laced with uranium, food of high quality, money in the local denomination to pay bribes for a better life, or help getting out of the country.

No matter what, the citizens cannot leave the country. The land will do what it must to stop them from leaving. Whether a military death squad arrives to kill them and take their children for trafficking, train engineers reject their paperwork, or the Dark Lord’s gypsies kill them in the night.

Somewhere, Dracula sits in his castle, brooding over his situation. His alliance with the socialists keeps the Turks at bay, but the socialists treat his people nearly as bad as the Turks would. He rarely ventures outside his castle and when he does, he often travels with his gypsies. Dracula uses the military when he does not use the gypsies.

Further Possible Dread Lords and Realms

Columbian Drug Lords

Voodoo, zombie lords, zombies, and Haiti, New Orleans, or Beaver City

European university develops super soldier serum

Middle East wars mixed with Mad Max fury

Biker Werewolves who travel the highways between realms freely (their domain is wherever they are, they are not tied to one place)

Dark technology (university or private company; Dark Conspiracy)

Misused or abused magics [Arkham, Salem, North Berwick (Scotland), Warboys (England)]

Wicked City demons

Sin City crime lords and politicians

The Purge and NFFA in L.A.

Detroit’s Devil’s Night

North American forests and the Native American monsters lurking in them