"He began to put thorns on all the trees, And he mixed the sand with millions of fleas, He scattered tarantulas along all the roads, Put thorns on the cacti and horns on the toads; He lengthened the horns of the Texas steers And put an addition on jack rabbits' ears. He put little devils in the bronco steed And poisoned the feet of the centipede. The rattlesnake bites you, the scorpion stings, The mosquito delights you by buzzing his wings. The sand burrs prevail, so do the ants, And those that sit down need half soles on their pants. The devil then said that throughout the land He'd manage to keep up the devil's own brand, And all would be mavericks unless they bore The marks of scratches and bites by the score. The heat in the summer is a hundred and ten, Too hot for the devil and too hot for men." - Hell In Texas, Author Unknown
Yeah, so why would anyone in their right mind want to play a game in the Necropolis of a small town in West Texas?
Good question. It certainly limits game play when your character can't haunt a Starbucks.
No, seriously, one of my big beefs is White Wolf's complete brush off of small towns. They tend to focus in on the large mega cities, lorded over by Unholy Princes of the Night™, with the scheming of Occult Masters and occasional raids by Feral Beasts. But what about a town barely big enough for one vampire, where all those Enlightened left years ago, and anyone who changes shape gets drunk with the rest of the boys on the weekends?
Small and medium size towns make excellent setting for White Wolf games. I should know, I used to live in a medium sized town surrounded by small towns. Some of these towns had larger populations six feet under than topside. It's truly a bizarre sight when you drive through a place where every business is decaying and collapsing except for the funeral parlor.
There are small towns whose entire industry is based on the paranormal. Do you think Roswell, a town of fifty thousand people, would be able to support itself if thousands of tourists didn't pour in every year? And do you honestly believe Loch Ness, a cold, wet, and dirty little hole in the wall, would be as famous if there wasn't a "monster"?
Not to mention so much more crazy shit can happen in a small town. If a house in Dallas were to suddenly implode into a single point of light, crumpling up like a tin can until it disappeared, you can bet the national news would be on it in fifteen minutes, buying up the rights to videos shot by locals, and the national guard would be called in to make sure whatever did it didn't start gobbling up more houses. But if it happens in a town of eight hundred people, as soon as everyone in town wipes the poop out of their pants, those not terrified into silence will be scoffed at by even the smallest of the networks, branded as yokels, and forgotten. Maybe if they were lucky, they 'd receive a paragraph on page 12A.
Not only that, but have you read any good horror stories lately? Steven King has a passion for small towns, as did Lovecraft. Hell, I can't think of a single Lovecraft story that didn't happen in the middle of nowhere or its' "urban" equivalent.
There are reasons for this. The air of desperation is palpable about these places. The corruption of local officials is legendary in small towns. The communities are steeped in tradition and folklore. The isolation of it all...
Convinced yet? Or should I go into the concept that in a small town it's much easier to be a celebrity. It's much easier to be a hero. Everyone knows you, and you know everyone.
So I present to you a medium sized town I grew up in, as well as some of the small towns in the area. Hope you have more fun there than I ever did.
--agzaiM werdnA
Hey, all White Wolf books have this section, so I thought it only appropriate that I add one of my own:
Dancer, Texas Pop. 81: A nice little yarn of five friends growing up in a small West Texas town.
The Good Girl: If you really want to see how mind-numbing living in a small Texas town can be, take some hints from this flick.
King of the Hill: I'm almost certain this show was based on San Angelo. Then again, I'm almost certain Beavis and Butthead lived in San Angelo too.
Prairie Home Companion: This NPR gem is a comedy show featuring "Tales from Lake Woebegon." It's actually about a small town in Minnesota, but just replace the words "cold" with "unbearably hot" and "Lutherans" with "Baptists" and it's pretty much the same.
The works of Elmer Kelton: Elmer Kelton is the author of such San Angelo based novels as The Good Ol' Boys and The Wolf and The Buffalo plus many others. Primarily writing Westerns set in West Texas, Mr. Kelton often pays homage to his home town, San Angelo.
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