CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT 7:6:33
FILE BLUEBIRD/CHATTER/KINGSLAND/MOBILE
The Tabletop Roleplaying Game
of 80’s Suburban Horror
by R.M. Sean Benjamin Jaffe
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Dedicated to Mark Holcomb, Gideon Weisz,
and the other SONOCs
Dedicated to Alain and Robbin Dawson
You were our 80s
Written By
Megan Jaffe and RM Sean Benjamin Jaffe
Additional Material By
Harold Delaney Voted most likely to leap from the top rope
Taylor Field Voted most likely to have a beer with Communism
Gia Grillo Voted most likely to write a haiku about Larry Cohen movies
David Groveman Voted most likely to be in bed before 10
Joshua Brain Jaffe Voted most likely to be arrested for speeding
Cover Art
Matt Olson
Art
Matt Olson
Sebastian Scola
Amber Kimmerly
Ralph Attanasia
Mark Sedlazek
Sean Jaffe
Delmar Samatar
Sam Warren
Layout
Playtesters
The Clearfield Kids
Steph Cathro, Harold Delaney,
Taylor Field, Gia Grillo, David
Groveman, Josh Harrison, Allie
Heenie, Christopher Holcomb,
Nicholas “Nico” Hornyak,
Joshua Brain Jaffe, Shoshana
Kessock, Corina La’Forme, Rob
Longo, Paul Manjourides, John
Passanante, Ruby Barry, Paige
Pinckney, Ian Powell, Justin
Reyes, Shaheen Rodgers, Manny
Valerio, Jim Quigley
Joshua Brain Jaffe
Dev Editing
Shoshana Kessock
Editing
Megan Jaffe
Gia Grillo
ISBN: 978-1-939785-50-3
Copyright © 2018 by Sean Jaffe
and Megan Dawson Jaffe
Additional thanks
Gia Grillo, David Groveman, Ian
Powell, John Adamus Michael
Stewart at KickStarter, Ashley
Zdeb, Kris Straub and Local 58,
SMASH TV, Rob Longo, Jim
Quigley, Alana Rose, The Guys
at Unwinnable, The Cool Kid’s
Table podcast, 20 Sided Store,
AetherCafe in Hoboken, and
everyone at Grind Coffee
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher
(Eschaton Media Inc), except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews
and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Table of contents
INTRODUCTION
5 A Night in 1986:
Opening Adventure
20 What is this book?
72 Fairview
76 Downtown Clearfield
88 Lake Madeline
92 The Strangeness
96 The Strangeling
Character Creation
98 The Monster
22 Don’t You
Forget About Me:
How to Create a Character
100 The Threat
25 Type
36 Training
36 Talent
40 Relationship Tables
System
44 In Front of
a Live Studio Audience:
How Rememorex Works
49 Difficulty Scale
54 LARP and Rememorex
Setting
60 Clearfield:
The Suburban 80s Experience
68 Gossetville
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
107 Yearbook
Setting Creation
116 This is Only a Test:
Crafting a Small
Town Phenomenon
121 Introducing the
Strangeling
Inventory
132 Secret Locker
134 Weapons
140 Equipment
Timeline
144 To the Max!
A Timeline of the 80s
162 Thanks!
WHAT’S
HAPPENING!?
Welcome to Rememorex! This introductory adventure is just for you,
dear reader! To welcome you to the theme, mood, and era of Rememorex,
we’ve created this single-player story for both newcomers to tabletop
RPGs and old veterans alike. Use this to become familiar with the system
and setting, as you run yourself through a short adventure in the town of
Clearfield Delaware. It works exactly like that staple of 80’s literature, the
Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story. Simply start at Paragraph 1, and follow
through to any of the possible endings. Don’t like the outcome? Feel free
to backtrack and explore. It’s a warm Friday night in 1986. You’re outside
the local arcade. Anything can happen.
Let’s play!
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introduction
A Night in 1986
Opening Adventure
1
It’s a Friday night, summer, 1986. Ozzy Osbourne’s “Shot In
The Dark” screeches from the rolled-down windows of a rusty red GTO
in the parking lot of the Centauri Video Arcade in Clearfield, Delaware.
You’ve been looking forward to this ever since first period on Monday. You
save every quarter from your lunch money so you can play whatever you
want and hang out with all the other kids down here, in the social hub
of your world. Even from here you can smell the greasy pizza and fries at
the snack bar, and inside you can see the flashing and hear the pinging
machines. Out front the older kids cluster around their cars, smoking and
trading sarcasm. Beyond the doors you see the lighting of something newyou’d heard from Gil Thornby who told Ordell Gibbs who told Derrick
Thompson that there was a new machine in there since Wednesday. You
can make out the marquee over the screen where the angular blue letters
read: “Zaxxon.”
This might be your favorite place in the whole wide world.
Approach kids in parking lot Go to 2
Approach Zaxxon Go to 3
2
Approach kids in parking lot. It’s a Friday Night and you’re
about to go up a whole grade. You’ll be in High School soon. No sense
letting the High School kids intimidate you forever. You swallow hard and
head towards a blue pickup, but the three kids in the black denim jackets
with “Vermithrax Pejorative” patches sneer at you. The Metalheads and
burnouts might be a little dangerous. You keep moving and approach a
grey Datsun where three girls who seem to be wearing an entire thing of
eyeliner between them are chatting amidst a cloud of smoke. The tall one
just stares at you, but the one in the shoulder pads jabs her cigarette at you.
“Can we help you?” She spits.
“Um…” You start to say, but the one with the Siouxsie Sioux hair cuts you off.
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“Yeah, hey, listen, kid. We’ve got a problem here. It’s only seven-thirty but
we’re already out of Virginia Slims. Why don’t you go a long way, baby,
and bring us back some smokes?”
“Jesus, Yolanda.” Shoulderpads snaps. The tall one says nothing.
“Seriously. I’m fresh out and I don’t want Ackie staring at me like a freak.
You know he works there now. I swear he’s totally into me.”
“Totally?”
“Totally.” The one called Yolanda holds out three dollars. “Here. Get
yourself a Slurpee with the change.”
You eyeball the money. You are a little thirsty, and these girls are obviously
super cool.
Do it Go to 4
Don’t do it Go to 5
3
Approach Zaxxon. You walk into the Centauri and are immediately
assaulted by sound- zillion of beeps and pings do battle with a state-of-theart sound system playing Duran Duran over the electronic din. The smell is
a mix of stale pizza and musty carpet, and the light is dim, primarily from the
screens and marquees of the various games competing for your attention.
Along the back wall the pinball games bang and ring reliably as they have
since the place opened. The classics like Asteroids, Pacman, Q-Bert and
Frogger make up the bulk of the games inside, but the first row facing the
window are all newcomers: Paperboy, 720, Crossbow Chiller, and Rush’N
Attack. Zaxxon isn’t necessarily a new game, but it’s new here, and you can’t
wait to play it. However, an older kid, Cameron Reece, is currently on it and it
doesn’t look like he’s moving anytime soon. He’s playing intensely, and he’s
pretty good. You look at the quarter in your hand.
Put up your quarter and wait Go to 6
Find another game Go to 7
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introduction
You head across the street to 7-11 and go inside go buy cigarettes.
You decide that getting into these three girls’ good graces (as well as a free
Slurpee) is worth the risk of buying cigarettes when you’re underage. You
walk in confidently and look at the gawky, curly-haired boy behind the
counter. He must be “Ackie.” He seems harmless enough to you, but you’re
not the object of his affections. He’s not paying a lot of attention, and you
might be able to grab a pack on the way out. You start formulating your
plan and thinking about what flavor Slurpee you want when the door
jingles and Deputy Vigil Cullen of the Clearfield Sheriff’s department walks
in.
Crap.
Buy ‘em anyway Go to 8
Buy something else Go to 9
5
6
Head into the Centauri. Walk into the dimly-lit, noisy paradise is like a
sacrament.
Go to 3.
You put up your quarter and wait, invoking the sacred rule of arcades
every since the storied days of the seventies: next quarter gets next game.
Cameron seems glazed, and looks like he’s not going to stop anytime soon.
He plays like a man possessed, every move about a second ahead of what
happens, like he’s receiving telemetry from the game itself. And from the
look of it, Zaxxon here is not an easy game. It’s all very unnerving. He’s
started muttering random numbers to himself. Maybe he’s not okay?
Try to snap him out of it Go to 10
Find another game Go to 7
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7
You look around the arcade. No sweat- it’s not like there’s nothing else
to play. Over at the air hockey table, two of the rich boys from Fairview are
engaged in a heated game, having tied their sweaters around their waists
and even getting a little sweat on their polo shirts. Across the way, Space
Invaders is open, a reliable old favorite. Next to that Tommy Johnson is on
Defender, but he’s the Defender champion, so he’s probably not going
anywhere any time soon. Moving on, over past it, there’s a free Skee-ball
lane. Of course, it’s always fun to wait for some more games to free up
by poring over the selection at the prize table. KC Clifford says they have
Garbage Pail Kids now. It might be worth checking out.
Head to Air Hockey Go to 11
Play Space Invaders Go to 12
Play Skee-ball Go to 24
Look at the Prizes Go to 22
8
You ‘re going to buy these cigarettes, Cullen or no. The stakes are
too high. These are mean high school girls! Your entire reputation could be
made or broken tonight! You pour a medium cherry Slurpee as Cullen talks
to Ackie about a robbery at Roark’s liquors. Hopefully he’ll just leave soon.
Ackie sounds justifiably worried- it’s just down the block and he’s here
pretty late. Crap! Now there’s cherry Slurpee on your shirt! Don’t panic,
just dab with a napkin, and stay calm. Grab the Virginia Slims and an Omni
Magazine to cover it with- you’re home free!
“Hey, youngster. Can I see some ID, there?”
BUSTED.
END.
9
Cullen’s made the situation too hot. Play it cool, be smart. Just head
back across the street and give Yolanda back her three bucks. She must
have seen the cop car pull in. She’ll understand. You pick up a pack of
strawberry Hubba Bubba and absentmindedly grab a pack of Garbage
Pail kids. In the parking lot, you pause in the green light of the sign. Looking
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down at the wax paper package in your hands, you rip them open, smiling
at the promise of lurid, grimy trading cards depicting all manner of horrific
kewpie-doll nightmares. Your face lights up at a big-cheeked zombie and
a precocious tyke detonating a mushroom cloud out of his own head.
The mean girls can sit n’ spin. Your night is made. Jay Decay and an Adam
Bomb in one pack!
SCORE!
END
10
You snap your fingers to get his attention. Hello, Cameron, anybody
home? You can see TV static reflecting in his glasses. He reacts as though
startled, and then walks off, leaving the game abruptly. Weird.
Pick up his game Go to 13
Play something else Go to 7
11
You wait as the rich kids play. The handsome one is letting his friendwho you’d swear is drunk- letting him win. He looks familiar to you, and
you think he might have been on TV a few times. He’s the scion of the
Dukakis family, the richest family in town. They own the lot the Lockheed
facility is on. Your patience pays off, and they high five after the drunk guy
slaps the puck past his friend for the last time. The game zeroes out and
you approach, but a shadow falls cross you. That’s Moose. You’ve seen him
play football. Hell, you’re too afraid to play Air Hockey with Moose, you’ve
heard he’s broken a guy’s arm at it. You look around. Not many options.
There’s Paul McPherson sipping a Tab by himself by the snack bar, but he’s
a certified weird kid. Is he wearing a colander?
Ask Paul to Play Go to 14
Find something else Go to 7
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12
You play Space Invaders. There’s a satisfying clunk as the quarter drops
in, and the familiar aliens- shapes, really, drop reliably toward your little
cannon. Eventually, the final alien, one of those little antenna bastards,
lands on the ground, ending your game. You did OK, but you don’t get
your name in the credits. Now what?
Play something else Go to 3
13
You grab the controls as Cameron Reece slinks away. This looks
weird. You’ve never seen this level before, but this doesn’t seem right.
… There’s letters on the screen… they keep spelling out words: “Twelve”
“Omaha” “Solemn” “Certainty.” That seems… bizarre. The way that they
flash up seems bizarre and startling. This feels wrong.
You ignore this and keep playing Go to 15
You write the words down Go to 16
14
You ask Paul to play Air Hockey. He mumbles something about “the
conspiracy” but decides he can play with you. He takes the strange headgear
off and stows it in his backpack before positioning himself opposite you at the
table. If anything, he’s a bit overly aggressive, but you welcome the challenge.
If you play defensively Go to 17
If you play offensively Go to 18
15
You ignore the strangeness and keep playing. Your score multiplies
and goes over and over and over and over. You feel like days are stretching
into years, and the very earth outside is changing around you. Suddenly the
game is over, the isometric screen replace for a split second by a strange,
smiling face. Terror washes over you. You stand in the ruins of the arcade,
a few crumbling walls all that’s left of the building. Beyond, you see the
entire town, ruined and crusted over with rust and seaweed. You’re at the
bottom of a lake. No one is around. You’re horribly alone. Fear grips your
heart. You are dead; Clearfield is dead…
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introduction
all of the world might be dead. You realize you had ignored it all. The
Emergency Broadcast System, the sirens, the Russian missiles, the mushroom
cloud and subsequent fallout. The earth itself swept and changed by the
horrors of nuclear war. And all the while you played the game, mesmerized.
Twelve Omaha Solemn Certainty. The end of all life. All that is left is you.
How? Why? What happens now?
You startle. Awake! The arcade is dim. You’re locked in; it’s night time.
Thank goodness. What the hell happened? You blink at the screens
in the window at Bushnell’s Electronics across the street. Color bars and
familiar words on the TVs:
“This has been a test of the Emergency Broadcast system…”
END
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
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16
You step back and pull out your notebook and write down the
words.
“Twelve… Omaha… Solemn… Certainty.”
A chill creeps up your spine. These words are wrong. This is all wrong.
Paul McPherson, one of the town’s certified weird kids, approaches you.
“You saw them too?” He asks.
Lie Go to 19
Admit you saw the strange words Go to 20
17
You play defensively. Paul overplays almost immediately, often
accidentally knocking the puck into his own goal.You win the game, and
he agrees to buy you a Tab if you listen to his ideas regarding what’s going
on in Clearfield.
“Sure, why not?” Go to
21
“I gotta go.” Go to 22
18
You play offensively. Paul plays hard and you can’t really keep up.
He wins the game, and his demeanor softens immediately; he just seems
grateful that you played with him. He offers to buy you a Tab if you listen
to his ideas regarding what’s going on in Clearfield.
“Sure, why not?” Go to
21
“I gotta go.” Go to 7
19
You dismiss Paul McPherson.
“I gotta go. I have a friend waiting.”
You back away and head for the parking lot again, stumbling as you
emerge from the arcade. Three spooky-looking girls with too much eye
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introduction
makeup are chatting by a Datsun illegally parked in a handicapped spot.
One of them seems to motion for you.
Go to 2
20
You tell Paul about the words you saw.
“12 Omaha Solemn Certainly, right?” He nods sagely, taking a long sip
of a his Tab. He pulls out a meticulously over-written composition book
full of scrawlings and algorithms. “It all points to my theory that Zaxxon is
actually an impossible game designed to test for premature psychic ability.
In fact, I can prove that Cameron Reece, the current high-score holder, is a
government hologram.”
“That… That’s crazy.”
“Is it? Is it crazy?” Paul snorts, scrubbing in his book.
“Yes.” You retort. “After all, he’s right there, playing Zaxxon again. We can
literally just go ask him.”
Paul withers at the suggestion.
“I don’t think that’d do any good but… um… if you insist, I’ll… watch from
a safe distance…” He offers.
Approach Cameron Reece Go to
23
Play Something else instead Go to
7
21
You lean against a pinball machine and ask Paul what he thinks
is going on. He offers you a can of Tab, and seems shocked that you’re
interested. It seems he doesn’t get a lot people talking to him about his
theories. Paul tells you his favorite theory:
“I think there’s a cell of Soviet agents here in Clearfield putting mind
control serum in the Slurpees.”
You don’t buy it, but you humor him. “Really? What flavor?”
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It’s clear the question hasn’t occurred to him. He ponders.
“Definitely Cola flavor.”
I Agree Go to 22
You’re crazy, I gotta go Go to 7
22
You shrug and decide there’s no point arguing.
“That sounds right.”
He beams at you. He clearly doesn’t have many friends. He’s not such
a bad kid, just a little overly imaginative. Smiling, he reaches back into his
backpack and pulls out a great, looping handful of prize tickets.
“By the way, I’ve been playing all day and I have a lot of tickets. Let’s get
a whole bunch of Garbage Pail Kids from the prize table and trade for the
ones we don’t have.”
This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
END
23
You approach Cameron. He’s not a hologram, but… there’s definitely
something strange about him. He’s still playing Zaxxon and doesn’t
respond to you at all. You look up at his face and feel the hairs on the
back of your neck stand up. His eyes…. His eyes are wrong. No pupils. Just
white. But moving… like they’re TV static, like he’s not looking at anything.
Suddenly he looks straight at you.
“Do you hear the White Noise?” He asks.
Run for it Go to 27
Pull the plug on Zaxxon Go to 29
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introduction
Play skeeball. You tip in a quarter and are rewarded with the warm sound
of the rolling Skee-balls and the hard wooden “clack” of them dropping
into place. You pick one up, getting a feel for its heft as you line up the
bullseye at the end of the lane, carefully weighing the precise amount of
force you want to use to roll the ball the get the exact amount of “Hop”
from the ramp at the end of the lane. You get a few twenties, a bunch of
tens, and a fifty. The machine noncommittally spits out eight tickets. The
coolest prizes are usually 2500 tickets and up. This could take a while.
Keep playing Go to 25
Try and “hack” the Machine Go to 28
25
The prizes do look awesome. Hanging like trophies or just beyond
the dirty glass of the display cases, there’s Garbage Pail Kids, a cool new
transforming robot toy called a “Commandroid,” and a fresh new batch of
multicolored plastic spiders. You get distracted and wander over, looking at
the cool Commandroid figure. “Alpha Columbia” changes from a robot to
a space shuttle, and she comes with a cool mini-pilot figure. As you stare,
Dougie Sinclair, or “DJ Battlebeast” as he’s known at the arcade (he’s
been working here forever) slides behind the counter in front of you. His
thin gold chain dangles over his shirt as he asks if you have enough tickets.
Ask if he’d trade something else for the Robot Go to 26
Find something to play to win tickets Go to 7
26
You ask if he’d trade for the robot. He smirks and leans back.
“Well, we’re not supposed to do that, but… I do need a favor. I’ve been
working a double shift today, and there’s a boss new rap album at Medusa
Records fresh outta Queens, New York. Tell you what. If you run down and
get it for me before it’s sold out, maybe I can find an extra Commandroid
in the back for you.”
Run the errand! Go to 30
I’ll just play more games, it’s only 17,550 tickets… Go to 7
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Nope! You run for it, thoroughly creeped out by Cameron’s white
eyes. You book it out the door, thought the parking lot and stumble into
traffic. Truth is, you heard the screech, but never even saw the car. You
just woke up at St. Eligius hospital with your worried parents by your side.
Two broken ribs and broken arm, and weirder still, when you tell the story
of what you saw, not only does no one believe you- no one seems to
have ever heard of “Cameron Reece” at all! Not even his own brother
remembers him. You’re pretty shaken up. At least you’re gonna have all
the kids sign your cast on Monday.
END
28
You try and fish more tickets out of the machine. You can see the
end of another ticket, just out of reach. You wiggle the tip of a pencil you
had in your pocket in there and manage to grab it! You give a good hard
pull, wrenching a long loop of tickets from the machine. Score!
“Yo, homie. What the hell do you think you’re doin’?”
Uh oh. DJ Battlebeast, the kid who works the prize counter, caught you.
You’re in big trouble.
END
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introduction
Acting on almost on instinct, you yank the plug from the game.
The screen goes black. Cameron lurches forward with a start, as though
just waking up. His eyes are normal. He blinks at you. “What… how long
was I…?” He looks at the game in fear, then back at you.
“Uh.. Thanks for that. I’m not feeling well. I’m going to head home. I… Uh…”
He hands you half a roll of quarters and stumbles away. That was weird.
But now, you have enough for a slice of pizza and to play games all night!
Score!
END
30
You get five bucks from DJ Battlebeast and head to the record
store. You’re across the street and halfway down the block before you
realize you’re not sure which album he wants, only that the group was
from Queens. You’d feel sheepish going back so quickly, so you decide to
head to Medusa and see if you can’t figure it out. You pass Trimaxx Video,
Wing Kong Chinese food, and Bushnell’s Electronics before you breeze
past a huge Billy Idol poster near the door to Medusa Records.
A pretty girl with a red-and-pink Mohawk approaches you. “I’m
BangBang. How can I help you today?” You boggle at how she can get
her hair to stand up like that, but don’t say anything, instead indicating that
you’re here to get a new rap album for a friend of yours. She looks over
at the “New Releases” wall. “Which album do you want? We’ve got New
Stuff from RUN DMC, Doug E Fresh, and Cameo!”
You grab “Word Up” by Cameo Go to 31
You grab “Raising Hell” by RUN DMC Go to 32
You grab “Oh, My God!” By Doug E. Fresh Go to 33
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31
You head back to the arcade and hand Battlebeast the Cameo
album. He gives a half hearted smile. “Uh, yeah… thanks. This wasn’t what
I was looking for but it’s cool. Thanks for trying, kid.” He gives you a stuffed
parrot and a bunch of free plays on Defender instead, which is pretty cool.
Not a bad night.
END
32
You head back to the arcade and hand Battlebeast the RUN DMC
album. He beams at it. “Thanks! I was so afraid I’d have to record it off the
radio with my tape player! I got you!” He pulls the Commandroid figure
from the display and hands it to you, loudly announcing his amazement
that you had won so many tickets so quickly. He also grabs you a big
handful of plastic spiders for your trouble.
It’s a great night!
END
33
You head back to the arcade and hand Battlebeast the Doug
E. Fresh album. He looks at it quizzically, and pulls out his Walkman,
popping the cassette in. “This isn’t what I was looking for, but…” He listens,
silently at first, but his head starts bobbing and his expression beams with
joy. “Yo, I like it!” He laughs. “You’ve got a good ear for Hip-Hop, kid. Want
to learn a new trick?”
He offers to teach you how to scratch records when he gets a break.
Learn to be a DJ Go to 34
Go play games instead Go to 7
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introduction
You hang around and play games until DJ Battlebeast gets a
break. He finds you by the Crystal Castles game. “Follow me.” he says, and
takes you up into the makeshift DJ booth he’s set up in the back. You both
put on some bulky headphones, and he teaches you how he scratches
records like they do on MTV.
It’s official. You’re gonna be the coolest kid at Dr. Elias Thorne
Middle School on Monday.
END
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What is
This Book?
“Is it a lost cultural relic, melted to the dash of an ‘83 Nissan Sentra?
Is it a sinister government experiment, designed to brainwash children
into becoming consumer slaves?
Is it the pinnacle of blip-verts, sent back in time from 20 minutes into
the future?
Is it the holy grail of unlabeled VHS tapes, tucked away in the back room
of an abandoned Blockbuster?
Is it live, or is it Memorex?”
- SMASH TV, MEMOREX
You’re a normal kid in a normal town, until things change.
Until the strangeness sets in.
Rememorex, an RPG with a heavy emphasis on narrative and storytelling,
is your childhood, or maybe the childhood you never had. The genre is
nostalgia, from trapper keepers to MTV to Mr. T. Rememorex is about telling
stories in an America where cynicism hadn’t yet eclipsed fantasy.
It is a game of suburban horror of the mid-80’s, a tabletop RPG unironically set in the time period known for being the crucible in which
tabletop RPGs were birthed. It is a storytelling game that takes its cues
from Stranger Things, ET, Gremlins, Firestarter, the Last Starfighter and any
number of other classic tales of suburban sci-fi and horror. Like those stories,
there is a meta-level to the weirdness. Your entire group builds the story
together, and thanks to an effect known as a Tracking Error, you might
have the most power when your character isn’t even present.
This book is a storytelling game designed to evoke the warm memories
of a certain lost genre of adventure. The VHS era brought with it a certain
very specific type of hero: kids with nothing but the power of heart and the
help of their friends.
The children of the Eighties played outside and pretended to be robots,
ponies or soldiers. The floor was always lava. They were often left to their
own devices and sometimes, just sometimes, they found monsters in
sewers.
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Introduction
You’ll start in the fictional town of Clearfield, Delaware, a town of station
wagons and treehouses and bikes in the woods. It’s a town where a
generation dreams in neon and chrome, but gets up every morning to
learn social studies and races home to watch cartoons with sugary cereal.
Everything is fine until the Strangeling comes.
You might be a brain, an athlete, a princess, a criminal or a basket case,
but you’re a normal kid attending school. You have normal problems:
avoiding bullies and collecting stickers or GI Joe guys, or hanging out at the
mall and making sure the right boy asks you to the homecoming dance.
Then something strange comes into your normal suburban life, something
weird, something other, that forces you to do things you didn’t think you
could do. You rise to the challenge of saving the newcomer who has come
to you, a normal suburban kid, for salvation. Your journey begins
.`
Rememorex is a game
in four parts
Don’t You Forget About Me:
How to Create a Character
The details on creating a character in the world of Rememorex are laid
out, as well as a few hints to create a more genuine 80’s experience.
… In front of a Live Studio Audience:
How Rememorex Works
Systems and processes are laid out for running Rememorex, as well as
tips and tricks for creating the ultimate nostalgia trip.
Clearfield:
The Suburban 80s Experience
Clearfield comes alive for you, a bucolic small town in southern Delaware
that is set to erupt into all manner of unexpected strangeness.
This Is Only A Test:
Crafting A Small-Town Phenomenon
Rules and systems for creating your own perfect little American town,
and puppeting it with the expected and unexpected alike.
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Don’t You
Forget About Me
How To Create A Character
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character creation
Age Bracket
Your first order of business is determining what age bracket your character
will be in, as that will determine everything else about your character. Your
group should all play the same age bracket, unless you decide to run a troupestyle game in which each player takes on multiple characters. In troupe games
you may play multiple characters (although you’d do well to avoid having
them meet or interact, much), perhaps even one of each bracket!
There are three different worlds in 1980’s suburbia, and while they often
cross over, they are innately separate and distinct.
Adult
Adults have responsibilities, jobs, and money. They also have a much
larger degree of personal agency than their younger counterparts- an
adult facing a problem like a haunted house or dangerous stalker has a
much higher chance of being believed by the authorities, or, if need be,
simply avoiding the problem by moving out or taking some other drastic
action. As such, Adults should stay in short-term roles as support players or
non-player characters.
Adult characters work well in a low ration- three kids to any one adult
is usually good, and it’s usually best if the adult is someone who has good
reason to investigate weird stuff with kids all day, like a teacher or guidance
counselor. A bad-ass bounty hunter could be really useful, but if she’s
roaming around with a pack of 14-year-olds, she’s going to have to answer
a lot of uncomfortable questions from the authorities, to say nothing of
the kids’ parents. In short, with Adult player characters, less is more. A
good system would be to let each player create one Adult character who
has a place in town that might be useful to the group that they play as a
secondary character: for example, Jenny, who plays the rugged athlete
Jeff Billings, plays the town librarian Mrs Ethel. Jeff doesn’t much care for
Libraries, so he sits that one out when the others go in to look up the
hauntings down at the old church.
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Teen
Teens have a bit more agency, but are still confined to a high school for
most of the day, forcing them to interact with friends and enemies alike. This
leads to some fairly involved levels of political intrigue and social positioning.
Nascent sexuality and the questions that came with it are clumsily answered
in locker rooms or in awkward sex ed classes, if at all. With no internet to
provide non-traditional Teens with any support network, and the specter of
AIDS being used by a conservative government to demonize homosexuality,
many Teens remained closeted and traumatized. Even straight Teens could
be easily convinced that the changes they experienced were shameful or
abnormal, and in light of the confusion and frustration that ran rampant in
an average high school, a vicious social striation and cruel pecking order
was usually rapidly established. In the pre-internet world, curious Teens
dealt in a sort of Black Market of items that were contraband for them:
drink, drugs, pornography, and even weapons were obtained and traded
for status, secrets, and influence.
Kid
“Kids” are ideally what would later be known as “tweens,” the Junior-HighSchool-aged crowd, from around nine to fourteen. Younger children are
still developing, and after fourteen, the character fits into the “High School
Teen” bracket. The Kids of the 80s were a cultural touchstone, known at the
time as “Latch-Key Kids.” Due to a shift in the law, divorce became much,
much more common in the 80’s, and even those Kids whose parents were
still together probably dealt with two working parents. Left alone for most
of the day after school, without supervision beyond the ever-comforting
glow of the television, Kids would entertain themselves by visiting each
other’s houses, long bike rides, explorations of the nearby wilderness,
or dipping into the world of more grown-up things like music and pop
culture. Ignored and curious, the Children of the 80s were often drawn to
other, more dangerous pursuits.
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Character creation
Characters in
The Omnisystem
Rememorex uses a highly narrative-driven system called the “Omnisystem”
for play. Players need only come up with three Elements of the character
in order to jump into play. Elements are very loose, nebulous concepts,
usually summed up in a couple of words that are used as a sort of stat for
the character. They will be assigned values later.
It’s important to point out that while many examples are listed here,
you’re free to come up with whatever Elements you like. If you don’t think
your character would fit into one of the five basic Archetypes, by all means,
come up with a new one. Any simple descriptor will do, the examples
provided are only here for flavor and to get the ball rolling. You are by no
means confined to them as a character. As long as you have something
vaguely descriptive in the character Elements, you’re good to go.
Who You Are
Your Type
This is the fundamental stuff of who the character is: Things like “Elf”
or “Robot” or “American.” However, since every character in this game is
human, you will simply use this spot to place what sets you apart: your
Archetype. John Hughes taught us that in the ‘80s:
“They were five total strangers with nothing in common, meeting for
the first time. A brain, a beauty, an athlete, a rebel, and a recluse.”
The poster for the Breakfast Club further delineated these into classic teen
archetypes: The Athlete, The Brain, The Basket Case, The Criminal,
and the Prince/Princess. These are the Archetypes that your character
will be built from, and the following pages describe them in greater detail.
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The Athlete
“We do not train to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak. Here, in
the streets, in competition: A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An
enemy deserves no mercy.”
-Kreese, The Karate Kid
The Athlete is a warrior,
a competitor. While they
may not be all muscle, the
Athlete is definitely physical,
and trains extensively to be
the best they can possibly
be. A heavy hitter, the
Athlete is almost always the
biggest, fastest, strongest,
or most physically capable
member of the group.
Despite
their
physical
advantage, the Athlete
can be quite smart, it’s just
their talents are strongest
elsewhere.
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character creation
Examples
Heroic Athlete: Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon
Compassionate Athlete: Cappy Rowe, Lucas
Patriotic Athlete: Sergeant Slaughter, GI JOE
Intimidating Athlete: Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus, The A-Team
Weird Athlete: “Bull” Shannon, Night Court
Rhythmic Athlete: Alex Owens, Flashdance
Combat Athlete: John Rambo, Rambo
Retired Athlete: Sam Malone, Cheers
Fast Athlete: Cheetara, Thundercats
Dumb Athlete: Frederick W. “Ogre” Palowakski, Revenge of The Nerds
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The Brain
“We need more input. We gotta fill this thing up with data. We gotta
make her as real as possible, Wyatt. I want her to live. I want her to
breathe. I want her to aerobicise.”
- Gary Wallace, Weird Science
The Brain values intelligence and
education above all else. Obsessive
and meticulous, the Brain is
responsible, reliable, and perhaps
slightly unhinged. The Brain can
be many things: geek, scientist,
tinkerer, or even Gearhead, but
the Brain is always a repository of
information.
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character creation
Examples
Resourceful Brain: Angus MacGyver, MacGyver
Academic Brain: Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons
Financial Brain: Alex P. Keaton, Family Ties
Eccentric Brain: Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown, Back to the Future
Dangerous Brain: Dr. Mindbender, GI JOE
Technical Brain: Dr. Egon Spengler, Ghostbusters
Action Brain: Dr. Henry Jones Jr., Raiders of the Lost Ark
Prodigy Brain: Dr. Douglas Howser, Doogie Howser, MD.
Investigative Brain: Jessica Fletcher, Murder She Wrote
Medical Brain: Dr. Beverly Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation
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The Basket Case
“Yes friends, act now, destroy Unicron! Kill the Grand Poobah! Eliminate
even the toughest stains!”
-Wreck-Gar, The Transformers: The Movie
Unpredictable, unexpected,
and unreadable, the Basket
Case can be quiet, loud, shy,
outgoing, comedic or intense,
or even all of the above at once.
The Basket Case isn’t necessarily
crazy. They’re just the weirdos
and misfits who hang around
the fringes of other more defined
social circles. Of course they
might also be crazy. There’s a
certain freedom that comes with
being unrestrained not only by
social convention, but also by
traditional morality.
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character creation
Examples
Brilliant Basket Case: Jordan Cochran, Real Genius
Unhinged Basket Case: Carl Spackler, Caddyshack
Creative Basket Case: Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice
Lovesick Basket Case: Phillip “Duckie” Dale, Pretty in Pink
Neurotic Basket Case: Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Foreign Basket Case: Balki Bartokomous, Perfect Strangers
Manic Basket Case: Zed McGlunk, Police Academy 2, “Their First Assignment”
Wild Basket Case: H.M. Murdock, The A-Team
Tense Basket Case: Al Bundy, Married… With Children
Vacant Basket Case: Rose Nylund, Golden Girls
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The Criminal
“You want to find an outlaw, hire an outlaw. You want to find a Dunkin’
Donuts, call a cop.”
-Leonard Smalls, Raising Arizona
The Criminal doesn’t care
what you think. While the
Criminal may or may not be
an actual lawbreaker, they
are invariably rebels and
iconoclasts who care little for
social mores and “civilized”
society. The Criminal can be
expected to think outside the
box and bend the rules, if not
break them completely.
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character creation
Examples
Intense Criminal: Otto Maddox, Repo Man
Murderous Criminal: Veronica Sawyer, Heathers
Irreverent Criminal: Jeff Spicoli, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Violent Criminal: Grimlock, The Transformers
Bloodthirsty Criminal: David, The Lost Boys
Sadistic Criminal: Ace Merrill, Stand By Me
Charming Criminal: Han Solo, The Empire Strikes Back
Sexy Criminal: Trash, Return of The Living Dead
Cool Criminal: Arthur Fonzarelli, Happy Days
Omnipotent Criminal: Lisa, Weird Science
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The Prince(ss)
“You wanted to be a member of the most powerful clique in school. If I
wasn’t already the head of it, I’d want the same thing..”
- Heather Chandler, Heathers
The Princess or Prince is
a golden child: blessed by
circumstance by wealth,
good looks, and popularity,
the Princess or Prince may
choose to either embrace
or
reject
their
good
fortune. They can use this
considerable might for either
good or ill, though there
are definitely responsibilities
that come with such high
expectations.
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character creation
Examples
Spoiled Princess: Jenny Prezzioso, The Baby-Sitter’s Club
Trickster Prince: Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Reluctant Prince: Blaine McDonough, Pretty in Pink
Heroic Prince: Adam Randor, He-Man and the Masters Of The Universe
Adopted Prince: Arnold Drummond, Diff’rent Strokes
Bully Prince: Johnny Lawrence, The Karate Kid
Pop Princess: Jerrica Benton, Jem and the Holograms
Innocent Prince: Pee-Wee Herman, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
Warrior Princess: Kristin Parker, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors
Troubled Prince: The Kid, Purple Rain
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What You Know
Your Training
This is the skill set that defines the Character’s knowledge and abilities.
Remember, your Training is an all-over assessment of your entire trainingphysical, mental, and spiritual, so a ninja or priest would want to list that
here.
As a child of the ‘80s, your training is probably largely incomplete, but
this was also certainly the era of the child prodigy. Even as the most general
student, you probably had a place where your studies focused.
Examples
Mental
Training
Physical
Training
Social
Training
Techie
Star Player
Wall Streeter
Scientist
Karate Kid
Student Body President
Journalist
Classic Bully
Meanest Girl
Know-It-All
Heavy Hitter
Offbeat Entrepreneur
What You can do
Your Talent
This is exactly what make you so special, a quality that is unique to your
character that sets them apart from everyone else like him. Sometimes this
trait might be restricted to a given list of abilities for a specific game.
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Character creation
In Rememorex, feel free to go wild. A popular turn of phrase or song
lyric can work, and it doesn’t have to be too specific. A misunderstood
metalhead’s Talent might be something like “Rainbow in the Dark.” A D&D
nerd might go with “Rules Lawyer.” A muscle headed gym rat might go
with “No pain, no gain.” As long as the Director and player agree on it, it
works.
Examples
You can use these three Elements to comprise just about any character
you can think of. For example, we’ll start with a few well-known 80’s Icons:
Ferris Bueller, Optimus Prime, and Mr. T.
Type: Mr. T might put “Badass” here. Optimus Prime would undoubtedly
put “Transformer.” Ferris, being a bit more open-ended, would perhaps put
down “Rich Kid” or “Suburban Teen.” Depending how wild the game can
become, both he and Mr. T could use the descriptor “Human.”
Training: Ferris, the Trickster Prince, would maybe put “Party King” here,
or “High School Hero” Optimus would be harder to sum up- he might
want to go with “Inspiring Leader” “Autobot Commander” or “Warrior”
depending on how you interpret him. And Mr T. got his start as a bouncer,
so he would want to go with that, perhaps kicking it up to “Ultimate
Bouncer,” of course.
Talent: In Ferris’s case, this would undoubtedly be “Getting Away With It.”
In Prime case, it would be something that sums him up: “Transform And
Roll Out.” Mr. T. might go with “Pity the Fool.”
Ferris Bueller
Type
Trickster Prince
Training
High School Hero
Talent
Getting Away With It
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Optimus Prime Mr. T
Type
Autobot Brain
Training
Inspiring Commander
Talent
Transform and Roll Out
37
Type
Badass Athlete
Training
Ultimate Bouncer
Talent
Pity the Fool
Assigning Values and Dice
So What Do
We Do With This?
It’s time to assign a value to each element- Primary, Secondary, and
Tertiary. Ultimately, all of the aspects that we’re bringing up are judgment
calls. It could be argued that the most important aspect of Mr T was his love
of gold chains or that Ferris would be nothing if it wasn’t for his smooth
talking asides to the camera, but for the purposes of this demonstration,
assume these are the choices that the player is making.
Starting with Ferris, it’s easy to say the most important thing about him
was that he was the greatest at getting away with everything. So that
becomes primary. Then it was pretty important that he was a Trickster
Prince, and finally that he was a high school hero.
Ferris Bueller
Trickster Prince
2 Type
3 Training High School Hero
1 Talent Getting Away With It
Our friend Optimus is trickier. Clearly, the biggest deal about Optimus
was that he was an Autobot. That comes first. It’s then important that he is
a great leader, and lastly, it doesn’t hurt that he’s a damn truck.
Optimus Prime
Autobot Brain
1 Type
2 Training Inspiring Commander
3 Talent Transform and Roll Out
As far as Mr T. goes, The most important aspect of his character is that he
is a badass, which was immediately augmented by his time as a bouncer.
It’s not a huge deal where he comes from.
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character creation
Mr. T
3 Type
2 Training
1 Talent
Badass Athlete
Ultimate Bouncer
Pity the Fool
Now to assign dice to each Element. This is the last and fiddliest step.
Primary Trait
8
Secondary Trait 6
Tertiary Trait
4
Each Element gets a certain number of dice assigned to it, and these are
divided between Active and Passive uses of this ability. For example, for
Mr T to use his “Ultimate Bouncer” element to beat up a drug dealer would
be an Active use, but for him to to notice a coke dealer in a school zone
would be a Passive use. In either case he would simply roll an amount of
dice equal to his statistic against a difficulty set by the Director.
Truths and Ideals
Now, every kid believes in something. It might be their country, their
school spirit, Santa Claus, the power of Heavy Metal, or just their own bad
luck. These tenets help round out the basis of your characters’ worldview.
To finish up you character, fill out this small series of three closely-held
tenets that you keep only to yourself.
I love that...
I hate that...
I can count on...
Remember these truths are important, but they’re also deeply personal.
They can be shared with others, but only in times of extreme duress.
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Establishing Connections
Next are the tables: Each character then develops connections. From
right to left, each player rolls one die to determine their relationship with
everyone else at the table. These connections are highly subjective and
open to interpretation: it’s up to the two players (and them only) to decide
what the relationship means. Two players who get “Against the Rules” can
decide they both smoke together in the bathroom, or they date despite
their parents’ wishes, or that they both play their own version of chess
together. Let the players get creative.
Romance and Queerness
Obviously, no one should have to play a relationship that they are
uncomfortable with, and if any two players say they are uncomfortable
playing a romantic couple, they can simply re-roll. It’s also worth noting
that there’s nothing in the table preventing or discouraging same-sex
characters from dating, despite LGBT + relationships being conspicuously
absent from genre materials.
That said, it’s worth noting that in 80s suburbia, a same-sex relationship
would be much more likely to be in the closet, which brings its own
complications. There was a heavy stigma leveraged against the LGBT+
community by the conservative government in the wake of the AIDS crisis.
This is certainly an interesting angle to explore against the backdrop of
suburban aliens and mundane whatnot.
Relationship Tables
The Tables are designed for members of the same age group. Cross-age
relationships tend to be less nuanced: The kid I teach in History, that scary
teenager at the Slurpee machine, and most often, a kid/adult I don’t know.
Groups tend to form within similar age brackets.
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character creation
Adults
1 Criminal
2 Friendship
1
Drug Dealer
1
Met in College
2
Share an Unpaid Loan to
Vito Fratelli
2
3
Cheating With
Former Teammates at
Clayton M Abernathy
High School
4
Scammed the Clearfield
County Savings and Loan
3
Drinking Buddies down at
Tucker’s
5
Knows What you Did
4
Childhood Friend
6
Illicit Photos/Video
5
Former Friends
6
Enemies
3 Love
1
4 Recreation
1
Weekly Poker Game in the
basement at Wing Kong
Chinese
2
Bowling League
Teammates down at
Clemons Alleys
3
Bushwood Country Club
Members
4
Social Drinkers
5
Hunting Buddies
6
Competitive Rivals
Secret Lovers
2
Dating
3
Having Casual Sex
4
Still Friends
5
Unrequited Love
6
Bad Breakup
5 School
6 Work
1
Former Co-Workers at
Lockheed
2
Boss/Employee
Same College
3
Fired From
4
Student/Professor
4
Partners
5
Cheated on Exams
5
Rivals
6
Did Homework For
6
Seller/ Buyer
1
Met in K-8
2
Met in at Clayton M.
Abernathy High
3
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Teens
1 Criminal
2 Friendship
1
Cheated With
1
Former Friends
2
Knows what you Did
3
Illicit Photos/Video
2
Hang out together on
Wallace Island
4
Dark Dirty Secret
3
Best Friends
5
Drug Deal
4
Enemies
6
Committed a Crime
5
Study Group
6
Childhood Friends
3 Job
4 Love
1
Employees of the Month at
Hoagan’s Hoagies
2
Boss/Employee at the Roy’s
3
Slackers at Perry’s Pizza
4
Work Flirtation at
Bushwood Country Club
5
Co-Workers at Trimax Video
6
Fired From Wing Kong
Chinese for Stealing Egg
Rolls
5 School
1
Did Homework For
2
Cut Class
3
Student/Tutor
4
Cheated on Exams
5
Academic Rivals
(Clearfield Mathletes)
6
Schoolyard Crush
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Unrequited Love
2
Bad Breakup
3
Still friends
4
Casual Sex in the Parking
Lot at Kingston Cinemas
5
Secret Lovers
6
Dating
6 Sports
1
Teammates in the Clayton
M. Abernathy Hawks
2
Competitive Rivals in the
Clayton M. Abernathy Hawks
3
Star/Fan
4
Rival Teams (Clayton M.
Abernathy Hawks Vs.
Gossettville Eagles)
5
Living Vicariously through
successes
6
Former Teammates
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character creation
Kids
1 Criminal
1
2 Extra-Curricular
Knows what you did
Volunteers at the
Lake Madeleine
Environmental Center
2
Fellow Delinquent
1
3
Ran Away to Gossettville
together
2
The Arts
4
Experimented Illegally
3
5
Against The Rules
Skateboarding at the
Abandoned Municipal Pool
6
Cut Classes
4
Pen Pals
5
Computers and Video
Games at the
Centauri Arcade
6
Gaming at Arneson’s
Hobbies
3 Friendship
4 Love
1
Enemies
1
Mutual Crush
2
Best Friends since forever
2
Experimented
3
Bully/Victim
3
Unrequited Feelings
4
Forced Friendship due to
Parents (Why?)
4
Dating?
5
Hurt Feelings
5
More than Friends
6
It’s all too confusing
6
New Best Friends
5 School
6 Sports
1
Academic Rivals
1
Star/Fan
2
Schoolyard Crush
2
Teammates on The Dr.
Elias. Thorne Middle
School Thunder Lizards
3
Cheated on Exams
4
Did homework for
5
Troublemakers
3
Rival Teams (Elias Thorne
Dinos Vs Gossetville Miners)
6
Student/Tutor
4
Former Teammates
5
Competitive Rivals
6
Awkward and
Un-athletic together
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…In Front of a
Live Studio Audience
How REMEMOREX Works
This is a storytelling game that leans on memory and nostalgia quite a bit;
even if these elements aren’t genuine. Chances are not all of your players
were alive in the 80s, much less have fond memories of the time. But the
nostalgia in Rememorex has a terrible, terrible secret:
It isn’t real.
In a certain book about a theme park that featured genetically recreated
dinosaurs as an attraction, there’s a brilliant conversation between a scientist
and the kindly old investor who runs the park. The old man suggests that
visitors might be put off by how fast the animals are. The scientist suggests
simply recreating them to be slower. The old man suggests this wouldn’t
be genuine. The scientists laughs: NONE of this is genuine. We’ve created
what we expected to see. The real dinosaurs are gone and can never be
recreated.
What’s my point? Nostalgia is never about what’s real; it’s simply an
exaggerated version of the past viewed through rose-colored glasses. We
don’t remember the boredom, the existential dread of WWIII, the racism
and sexism that were an accepted part of daily life. We remember Garbage
Pail Kids and MTV and neon colors. We remember an 80s that didn’t exactly
happen. This version of the 80s has transcended history and become a
genre unto itself: one need only look to the success of things like Ready
Player One or Stranger Things to see the “ideal 80s” as genre.
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SYSTEM
This Genre cleaves to three core tenets:
There is comfort in the mundane.
This cannot be stressed enough. In Rememorex, let the game play as
long as you possibly can without introducing the supernatural. The longer
they wait, the longer the story is simply about the characters in their regular
life, the harder it will hit.
There is hope for the future.
This is not a self-aware 80s. This is a time of boundless hopeful optimism.
The Space Shuttle is an icon of American, and to a lesser degree, global
hope. People weren’t afraid to look to the stars. They genuinely thought
the future would be up there.
A kid can win against anything if they have
enough heart.
Perhaps the most crucial element of the 80s as genre is the kid that wins
against impossible odds. From Eliott to Mikey Walsh to Charlene McGee to
Mike Wheeler, the kid that the unnatural seeks out has it within themselves
to rise to the challenge, even if they don’t always believe it.
Let’s create some memories.
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Setting the Stage:
The Opening Theme Song
You are returning to a time that might have fond memories for some of
your players. The rest have grown up in an time that has endlessly idealized
that era for those who were born afterwards. Help them return to that
place with one of the most powerful weapons in your arsenal: music. Your
story should have an opening theme song. Something appropriate to the
time, not too long or involved, and most of all memorable. An ideal choice
is something that will remind the players of the game when it comes on
the radio. Perhaps more than any other element of your game, 80s music
is not hard to come by.
This may seem like an unnecessary or even self-indulgent detail. It is not.
An important part of the gaming process is ritual. A game rooted in this
level of nostalgia gains power in it’s rituals, starting with gathering at a
table to tell stories in person as opposed to doing it online. You’re there to
collectively feel something, together, as a group. Music will help you do
this. Your theme song will make the game feel cohesive and emotionally
complete.
You may wish to keep background music playing through the game,
and that is certainly a good idea. It may also seem overwhelming to try and
DJ the background music while telling the story. This is a balance you’ll
have to strike. Once you’ve got background music going, however, you’ll
find it can be a valuable tool. Even if you just let an 80’s station play in
the background, under certain circumstances even silence becomes an
interesting effect if the players become used to the music.
Getting started in the game:
Roleplaying Characters into Being
Your first few games are always best if they are overwhelmingly playeroriented and character driven. (This could be argued for all sessions, of
course, but in the first few it is very critical.) Think of these games like origin
stories, or character introductions.
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SYSTEM
The Intro
For Directors: The first game that a character participates in is called the
Intro. This can be a one-off event or, if the characters “click”, a lead-in to
bigger and better things. An Intro doesn’t need to start at the beginning of
the character’s story- in fact, it may be better to reveal a character already
in their natural element to some degree, so that the player can learn where
they’re coming from and determine where they’re going.
For Players: The character at this stage is deeply embryonic. As they move
through the story, make sure to feel out every aspect of the character- find
what works and what doesn’t.
Inciting Incident
For Directors: Next game. Now it’s time to dig deeper into the character’s
past. This story should relate directly to the characters as they developed
last game. For example, if the sheltered religious kid learned that she has
an amazing capacity for Karate, perhaps here is where the story delves into
where this came from and what it means that she possesses it. At the end
of the game, she should be able to flesh out the character a bit more.
For Players: The character at this stage is more developed, and will begin
to change and grow. Try to explore who the character is, where they came
from, family, old friends and relationships, and how their relationships with
the other players might be important to them.
Crossing the Threshold
For Directors: The third and final “origin story” game. Now it’s time to dig
deeper into the character’s past. This story should follow threads that were
left by the last game’s story, and should be a good place to introduce the
Strangeling (See Page 121) Taking our example of the religious kid above,
let’s say she learned of her gift when she had to protect her brother from
a bike-stealing bully. Now we follow up with the her teacher, the origins of
the gift, and what her future holds.
For Players: The character at this stage should be pretty solid. Now it’s
all about details. If your character hates guns, why is that? If he viciously
protects a specific item, why? Where did he get his love of salsa music or
her strange hairstyle from? And what’s next for them?
Consider, when developing your story, what sort of events troubled kids
in the 80s? Fear of the Russians. Drug use. Getting lucky. Homework.
Status symbols. Crashing your dads car. Calling a friends house and their
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parents answering. Passing notes. Getting enough quarters for the arcade.
Losing top score in Galaga. Finding pornography. Don’t be afraid to mess
with the extant tropes as long as you’re willing to circumvent them and
twist them against what your players might expect. The story can go to a lot
of great places by retracing the steps of the what establish the genre itself:
Finding a dead body. Drag racing. Saving the reec center, or some other
beloved landmark. Garage bands. Nerds vs. jocks. Girls vs. boys. Dig into the
entertainment of the era, and the examples will quickly reveal themselves.
Simple Systems
Rememorex plays like most tabletop storytelling games, or Role Playing
Games. The players meet with the GM, who runs the game normally,
narrating the events of the story and responding to the Player’s reactions. The
basic mechanic for the Omnisystem is one of difficulty comparison. This is a
simple system for conflict resolution based on the common six-sided die. The
Director sets a difficulty number. The player determines their most applicable
trait, (Active or Passive Element) then rolls the dice and adds them up. The
player’s total is compared to the difficulty of the action being attempted, and
if the player’s total is greater, the action succeeds.
Perception
In order to notice something that might be pertinent to their safety, a
character will always default to their highest passive element. This is a a general
rule unless another element is more directly related to what they are noticing.
Initiative
Combat
At the beginning of combat, the GM sets difficulty numbers for nonplayer combatants like any other challenge. Then, all players involved in the
fray roll their highest active Active Element. Highest number goes first, and
so on in descending order. Don’t forget to enter non-player combatants’
actions into the roster!
Fighting
Two characters in combat will roll their most physically pertinent active
element. The highest number wins. Generally, any combat will drop a
character one health level, unless something very dangerous (a gun or
axe) is involved, in which case damage is at the Director’s discretion.
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SYSTEM
Omnisystem Difficulty Scale
Simple: 5
Making Cereal
Jumping a puddle
Easy: 10
Making a Sandwich
Jumping a creek
Tricky: 15
Making Soup
Jumping a stream
Complicated: 20
Making a Thanksgiving Turkey
Jumping between buildings
Difficult: 25
Baking a Croissant
Jumping from a moving car
Very Difficult: 30
Making Consommé
Jumping from one car
to another
Nearly Impossible: 35
Beef Wellington
Virtually Impossible: 40
Preparing a 3-tiered wedding
cake in an hour
Leaping across a canyon
Jumping from one airplane
to another
Injury and Death
Investigating Suburban Horror can be deadly. There are all kinds of
threats, from dangerous street toughs to deranged slashers and all manner
of threats in between. Characters have, essentially, five states of healthHealthy, Scraped, Injured, Critical, and Dead. Failing certain rolls can drop
a character one or more health levels, based on the Director’s discretion.
Healthy: Healthy characters are just fine and operate normally.
Scraped: Scraped characters have suffered some cuts and bruises but are
otherwise fine.
Injured: Injured Characters have sustained enough injury to be crippled
or hindered in some way. Characters that drop straight to injured may be
knocked out.
Critical: Critical Characters have sustained enough injury to be unable
to move without help. Characters that drop straight to Critical are almost
definitely knocked out.
Dead: Dead characters are essentially done for barring the intervention of
something very strange.
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Advanced 80’s Storytelling
Tracking Errors
Storytelling in a narrative like Rememorex naturally causes rifts: characters
will fight, they will split up, they will be drawn apart but the simple realities
of their lives. The conventional approach of most tabletop storytelling
games is that when this happens the uninvolved players simply wait until
the story re-involves them, but in Rememorex, this is when the players have
a great deal more power over the outcome of a scene. Any player not
directly involved in a scene has the option to throw a “Tracking Error.”
This is done by the uninvolved player throwing dice on the table and
calling a Tracking Error. This gives them the ability to affect the scene. The
number rolled is irrelevant, the point is more the ritual and sound of the
dice hitting the table. In a tabletop role-playing game, dice being thrown
always means something is about to happen, something is about to
change. When you are playing, your ears become attuned to the sound of
dice, because they indicate danger.
Once the Tracking Error is called, the player who calls it chooses how
they’re going to change things, and they have four categories of changes.
These changes are always explained quickly and succinctly so that the story
can get back to the action.
For example, in this scene, Tabby Gibson, a popular cheerleader, enters
a shady bar on the wrong side of town looking for her missing sister when
another player throws dice on the table.
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system
Jam Up: The Tracking Error makes things more difficult for the player.
“Tabby immediately bumps into the jukebox, scratching the record.
Everyone in the bar looks up at her. An angry biker sneers and walks
toward her.”
Special Guest Star: The player calling the Tracking Error requests to jump
in as a minor Non-Player Character. “May I play the Bartender?” The Director
might have plans for the Non-Player Character in question and has the
right to suggest someone else. “Actually, the Bartender has some critical
information, but you can jump in as the nosey barback who recognizes
Tabby from the parking lot.”
Helping Hand: The Tracking Error works in the player’s favor. “The
bouncer is Tabby’s cousin from the other side of town, so he’ll keep an eye
on her in case anyone tries anything.”
Jump Cut: The “camera” zooms in on a detail that we might not have
noticed. While the players may not be affected at all, it improves the story in
general. “As Tabby walks past the bikers playing pool, one stands revealing
the same Eye of Horus symbol on his jacket that the senator had on his
lapel.”
The changes can never directly affect a character in a permanent
manner. A Tracking Error can’t be “And then he dies of a heart attack.”
or “Then she breaks her leg” although “She trips and and stumbles while
running from the killer” is applicable, causing the player running to roll dice
to prevent a fall. A Tracking Error can never be used to introduce your own
character to a scene, but you can introduce other player’s characters. The
Director has final say on any changes made by the players, but the director
is strongly encouraged to adopt a “yes and” mentality for Tracking Errors.
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Calling a Montage
Another special mechanic in Rememorex is the ability for the player
group to agree to “Call a Montage” to take on an otherwise impossible task.
The underlying feel of a 1980’s TV Show should bear out in the gameplay
of ReMemorex. The players are a special breed of larger-than-life people
who can do anything when they set their minds to it.
Need to turn a conversion van into an unstoppable tank?
Call a Montage!
Need to train for the big fight against an unbeatable opponent?
Call a Montage!
Need to study for that big test even though you’ve never been to class?
Call a Montage!
Each player describes a scene about their character is doing. The Director
then assigns them dice (1-5) based on how helpful it would be, and how
in character it is. So if there are three characters trying to build a boat,
and one is notoriously lazy, she might describe him sleeping below deck,
and this would be worth more than if he was laboriously sanding boards.
Once they’re all done, add up the final tally and roll, allowing a group to
collaborate and take on up to 100+ difficulty operations.
Running a Clip Show
Another special mechanic in Rememorex, running a Clip Show is, much
like in television, a more relaxed, less-high-stakes game. Clip Shows are
good for things like road trips or informal gatherings, when players want
to dabble in the game but it might be inconvenient or impossible to run a
full event. In a Clip Show game, the Director starts by placing the players in
a situation wherein the characters are forced to interact, like an afternoon
in detention or sharing a pizza at a local hangout. They will kick off the mini
story with a set up:
“Remember the time Morgan and Yolanda were locked in the Arcade
overnight?”
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SYSTEM
This kicks off a flashback wherein the two characters resolve the scene.
Uninvolved players can each suggest one incident: Something goes
wrong, a new character is introduced to the scene (no suggesting your
own character!) something goes right, etc. See the “Tracking Errors” section
for ideas.
Once the scene has resolved to the player’s satisfaction, the narrative
returns to the “contemporary” story and the players from the last scene sets
up the next scene, while maintaining three simples guidelines:
• A player suggesting a scene can not include their own character
in the scene.
• A character can not be suggested if they’ve been in two
consecutive scenes, although they can be introduced later.
• All scenes must be set up in the form of an in-character
suggestion that resembles the “Remember the time when…?”
format.
• Since it’s all in fun, don’t be afraid to throw in a celebrity guest
star. “Remember when Derek met Mr. T?”
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Is It Live?
LARP and Rememorex
Eventually, you and your players might be inclined to try moving a
Rememorex scenario into the Live-Action arena. Live Action Role Play, or
“LARP”, is a form of play that blends improvisational acting, storytelling,
strategy, and socializing into a seamless real-world experience. Simply put,
instead of imagining the action while gathered at a table, you’re living and
acting it out in real time. This brings a whole slew of new challenges and
rewards. When handled right, LARPing is a highly immersive role playing
genre. However, with that immersion comes a tremendous amount of
logistics, complication, and expense. Remember to keep safety and player
comfort levels front and center in a live experience.
There are a great many considerations when making this change;
remember, your set will shrink from an entire town to likely one or two
rooms. Is your story one that can be told in such a limited environment?
Do you have anyone willing to assist you with Directing? Do you and your
players have access to fun things like vintage props and costumes that can
help evoke the era? Do you have access to a safe location?
Sets and Props
Since LARP is innately confined by space, you can utilize this in order to
evoke a setting, and the perfect example is something like detention. This
is an ideal scenario to force a bunch of kids into a boring and mundane
room together. If you have access to a school this would be an ideal setting
since most schools look roughly the same as they did in the 80’s. A few
simple details like a “Hang In There” Kitten Poster or a Trapper Keeper can
really drive home the aesthetic.
If you don’t have access to a school, another fine setting idea is that
classic 80’s movie location: The summer camp. If you don’t want to go to
the time and trouble of renting an entire camp, simply finding someplace
like a state park with a few cabins will do. Putting a little time into creating
a sign for Camp Arowak or Crystal Lake or whatever strikes your fancy will
really help bring the players into the world.
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SYSTEM
Lastly, depending how dark you want to go, a good old-fashioned cabin
in the woods is perfectly evocative. Most cabins aren’t explicitly designed to
be terrifying, but some dimmed light and a few old dusty bits of taxidermy
from a local junk shop can do wonders. Consider props as well in any
of these locations. Props are a lot of fun in Rememorex; things like pushbutton phones, Rubik’s Cubes, and a nice old Zenith TV can have a brand
new life as a beloved prop for your game, turning your ordinary suburban
rumpus room into a perfect 80’s set piece.
Costumes
Thrift stores. Thrift stores. Thrift stores.
Thrift stores are your friends. Right now the thrift store nearest you has
some ghastly neon-pastel atrocity that would make for the perfect costume.
Your job is to go find it before some hipster finds it instead and wears it to
a coffeehouse. You’ve got LARPing to do in those neon Adidas sneakers!
Remember to keep your archetype front and center for your look- a
Brain is going to probably dress conservatively, with lots button-downs and
simple patterns. If you’re lucky, you might find an actual pocket protector,
although they’re increasingly difficult to track down in the wild.
If you’re a Princess or Prince, you’ll want to go avant-garde, so don’t
be afraid to go over the top. If you’re not wearing huge shoulder pads,
well, why not? Don’t forget to pop that collar and roll up the sleeves on
that blazer. Also, brand names became hot; Ralph Lauren, Esprit, Members
Only. You’ve got the money to spring for them, get fancy.
If you’re an Athlete, you’re going for the shortest possible shorts you
can find. 80’s shorts were an arms race to the groin that only ended in the
early 90s when boardshorts re-asserted themselves. A letter jacket is also
a good idea (remember, the 80s were subjected to a massive 50s revival)
and some sneakers will finish off the ensemble.
If you’re a Criminal, a leather or denim jacket would be a good idea, and
don’t forget the band patches. The rise of band shirts and patches in the
80s meant that you wore a uniform of the sort of music you listened to.
Punk, Metal, New Wave, or Rap, you would literally wear your allegiance
on your sleeve. A little sandpaper on the knees of your jeans will also add
to your Criminal’s rough edges.
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Lastly, of course, if you’re the Basket Case, feel free to go nuts and mix
and match. In movies like “the Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles,” the
Basket Cases usually dressed like they themselves shopped at a thrift store
(and they probably did), so styles from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s are all
viable. And don’t forget to accessorize! Go big with pins, earrings, and as
many bracelets as humanly possible.
Now that you have a look, there is one last thing to do, and this can
not be overstated: the hair. Hairstyles in the 80s were pretty bizarre and
dynamic, even outside the Punk and New Wave styles. Hairspray, gel, and
mousse went into styles both in the clubs and at the mall. Even picking up
a wig from a costume shop will work wonders to resolve your 80s look.
Lastly, The Strangeling will likely be the most interesting and involved
costume (if it is a costume at all; a puppet, toy, or other prop could also be
the Strangeling) that you will build. Take some time and look into some of
the more interesting ideas on cosplay sites and even in special effects howtos. Clever uses of puppetry and lighting can really make your Strangeling
something special.
Rules
There are a few ways that the rules of Rememorex can be altered to
adjust to live play. Since the players in Rememorex (at least start out as)
regular humans, a ready-made universal Live Action role-playing system like
Eschaton Media’s “Chronos” is almost ideal. Alternatively, a basic homebrew
method is to carry a deck of cards, 1-10, which can be shuffled and drawn
from to simulate rolling dice. There are plenty of simple LARP systems
that lend themselves to basic character interaction, but the tricky part of
Rememorex, LARP-wise, is the Tracking Error. Tricky, but not impossible.
Tracking Errors in LARP
You will need some sort of bell, buzzer, or noisemaker, and small tokens
for the players. At the beginning of play, assign each character one token
that they can turn in to enact a Tracking Error. The most obvious tokens
to maintain the whole “ritual of gaming” would be gaming dice, but
whatever you have a lot of on hand will work. They only get one per game;
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SYSTEM
otherwise, it’s too powerful a mechanic for live play. When a player wants
to use the Tracking Error, they must:
A: Exit the scene. This might be easy, or this might take some work, but
they can’t call a tracking error while currently engaged with any other
players.
B: Turn in their token to the GMs and explain the Tracking error they’d
like to enact
C: The GM hits the buzzer, declares a tracking error, and makes it
happen.
When the players hear the buzzer and the words “Tracking Error!” They
must all freeze in place and await instructions. The GMs will quickly enact
the Tracking Error that’s been approved. Since the conventional tracking
errors don’t exactly apply, here are some new options;
1. The Swapout
The GM comes in, taps two players, and swaps their positions. They are
to continue any conversations, conflicts, romance, or whatever exactly
as though they had been in the situation all along, with no in-character
confusion or hesitation.
For Example: John and Sally are discussing their relationship while,
unbeknownst to them and one room over, Tamika, and Rose are righting
Space Gremlins. A Tracking Error is called; it’s a swapout. Tamika and John
switch. Diagetically, those characters have been there all along- now
Tamika and Sally are discussing their relationship as John and Rose fight
Space Gremlins.
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2. The Reset
The GM Comes in and announces that all players are to walk back to
their approximate positions sixty seconds prior and start over. Do not use
this in combat unless you’re certain the GMs and other players will not kill
you.
For Example: John, Sally, Tamika, and Rose open a box that is secretly a
portal to the same dimension. Rose reaches into the box and is immediately
and painfully pulled into the ooze. A Tracking Error is called. They all walk
back to the doorway. On the table is a box they have never seen before.
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SYSTEM
3. The Special Guest Star
Similar to the tabletop version of the Tracking Error, the player exits the
scene, asks the GM to come in as a specific non-player characters, and they
hastily create a rapid costume change.
For Example: John, Sally, and Tamika, want to know why Space aliens
are attacking the detention Hall, so they seek out Mr. Crawford, the Science
Teacher. After donning a fake mustache and a lab coat, Rose enters as Mr.
Crawford.
Live Action Roleplaying is daunting and challenging, but it can be fun
if you remember not to take it too seriously. Establish a few ground rules
(“No Touching” and “Everyone Stops when someone calls “hold” are a few
good ones) and you can have a fun time having adventures in costume
as well.
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Clearfield
The Suburban ‘80s Experience
Welcome to Clearfield, Delaware. The pinnacle of suburbia. The year is 1986.
This world is smaller and brighter. You’re warm and comfortable, a child
of cold war America, thrust into the capitalist utopia the Baby Boomers
have created from the turmoil of their own upbringing. The world makes
sense. There are just fewer variables. This is suburbia, after all.
Growing up in
Clearfield, 1986.
Clearfield is the classic example of a place where nothing interesting
ever happens. Bored kids hang out at the arcade, waiting for something
entertaining or cool to take place, but it never does. The school day is a
monotonous slog. The week is a slow, steady push towards the weekend,
when one can at least head up to the lake and swim or play on a jetski. The town is a suburb almost equidistant from both Washington and
Philly (somewhat favoring Washington) and its local industry comes from a
classified aeronautics division of the military-industrial complex. Because of
this, wiser folks realize that the boring nature of Clearfield is likely an artifact
of careful design rather than mundane accident.
The youth here, however, have little contact with the broader world.
They, like most kids, tend to get caught up in minutiae of their social lives;
of work, school, sports and pop culture. Marijuana, heavy metal, and
dungeons and dragons for some, top 40, football, and Members Only
jackets for others. The kids don’t usually get into too much trouble, and
their yuppie parents tend to stay out of their way.
Clearfield County is home to three small towns: Fairview, Gossettville,
and Clearfield. Fairview is rich and almost entirely residential, Gossettville
is mostly industrial, and Clearfield is somewhere in the middle. There is a
movie theater, a shopping mall, an arcade, and a downtown, all of which
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setting
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are perfect for hanging out. There are rows of similar late-colonial houses
with garages and driveways and manicured lawns. Some of these are
home to ideal families wherein things rarely go wrong. Most are not. For
the most part, predictably, Clearfield’s bland, suburban lifestyle is a facade
for deeper aspirations and greater fears. After all, It’s 1986, and the world is
still staring down the very real threat of oblivion.
Clearfield County
Clearfield county is in Southern Delaware, about an hour from
Washington and Baltimore, and maybe two hours south of Philly.
Clearfield, Delaware
An innocuous, normal 1980s suburban town, with a mall, a downtown
area, and a lot of vaguely similar colonial houses on sleepy streets and culde-sacs. The vast majority of people in Clearfield live and play here.
Gossettville, Delaware
The site of an important aeronautics facility, Gossettville is the industrial
center of Clearfield county. There are a lot of factories and warehouses
here, and Gossettville J-867 Aeronautics is where most of Clearfield’s adults
work.
Fairview, Delaware
The wealthiest town in Clearfield County, Fairview split off from Clearfield
and incorporated into a town in the 20’s. Home to rows of lakeside boat
houses and even a few modest mansions, Fairview is where Clearfield’s
wealthiest citizens reside.
Lake Madeleine
A man-made lake in the center of the three towns, Lake Madeleine is
geographically in the center of the county. Lake Madeleine has a single,
lonesome, forested island and is a popular recreation and fishing spot. Well
stocked with perch and trout, the lake covers the remains of Madeleine
Valley, an abandoned factory town that was flooded by the Army Corps of
Engineers in the Early 50s.
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setting
Clearfield History
Clearfield County was founded in the early 1700s by Dutch settlers.
Legend has it that Ichabod Wallace, an early Clearfield resident, fought
off an entire British battalion during the American Revolution. He then set
up his modest cabin atop Wallace Hill, which is now Wallace Island in the
middle of Lake Madeleine. Clearfield enjoyed some sluggish growth in the
19th century, with Gossettville branching off in 1867 to form a small town
around a tool and die shop that sprung up there about two years prior.
Shortly after, Madeleine Valley was formed as well in response to a bicycle
part factory about a mile north of Clearfield town center. Eventually, in
the 1920’s, a small cadre of Clearfield’s wealthiest citizens in the affluent
“Fairview” district branched off and incorporated Fairview into a town
of its own. This worked out well for both Fairview and Clearfield, while
Gossettville and Madeleine Valley languished as less residential, more
industrial towns.
In 1935 a series of new buildings and lots were erected in Clearfield
county as part of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, including the Claremont
River Bridge, which connected Gossettville and the nearby RT 13. Due to
this and other factors, by the late 40s Madeleine Valley was struggling.
Despite attempts like an ill-fated “Pinocchio’s Wonderland” theme park
and various real-estate stimulus efforts, Madeleine Valley went bankrupt
and was left largely abandoned. In 1952, the Army Corps of Engineers
constructed the Toynbee Dam and Madeleine Valley was flooded by the
Claremont River, creating Lake Madeleine.
Since then, Clearfield has grown steadily with the times. Many of its
residents are commuters who work in Washington or Baltimore. In the
late 1950’s Military-Industrial giant Lockheed leased a generous lot in
Gossettville and built a rather large Aeronautics facility. As part of the
military-industrial complex, Lockheed J-867, as it is known, has solidified ties
between Clearfield, Washington, and the Pentagon. The facility is highly
classified, although rumors among the locals seem to indicate that they
produce some sort of high-speed spy plane at the facility.
Meanwhile, Clearfield has become the epicenter of life in the county. The
High School was built in 1938, and the downtown district boasts around
dozen small businesses. The Big Town mall was built in 1978, and borders
its neighbor, Gossettville. Now, Clearfield has a population of almost twenty
thousand, and an additional ten thousand in Gossettville and Fairview.
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Life in Clearfield
School
Most students attend Clayton M. Abernathy High or Dr. Elias Thorne Jr.
High. Here, they while away the hours either staring at the clock, verbally
abusing each other in the parking lot, or quietly suffering the scorn of the
teachers. Most of them act like inmates, and in a certain sense, they are.
It may not be clear to them, but their time is accounted for, and they are
not in control of 60% of their waking hours. This is a truth they have no
agency over, causing pressure and aggressions that vent in all manner of
bad behavior. Kids act up and act out, which is hardly unexpected.
School was largely an inevitability to kids in the Eighties. It was a force
of nature- no matter what happened, no matter what monsters attacked,
no matter what emotional devastation had been wrought the night
before, school would be there in the morning for good or for ill. Avoiding
it was almost its own adventure, as playing hooky brought its own share
of complications. For all those who accepted their fate, school was a
recruiting ground, a safe zone, an emotional crucible, a war zone, and a
million other things.
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setting
The Home
To the kids of Clearfield, their world is their room in their parent’s house.
Decorated with posters and magazine cutouts, these walls are how 80s
kids express themselves in their microcosm. Your parents may be divorced,
your teachers may hate you, and the other kids might pick on you, but
that was out there. This is your world, your posters, your bed, your dresser,
and your window. It is often your only escape, if only from the parents just
outside the door.
Naturally each home is different, but as a typical 1980s suburb, the
average home in Clearfield was a two-story colonial with at least two
bedrooms, a kitchen, a den, a foyer, and a small porch. Some are much,
much nicer, and others are much much worse. But for the average, this
sort of setup was fairly baseline in better economic times.
Television
This is a third parent. In the latchkey society of an Eighties teen, more
time is spent with TV than almost any individual family member. As such
it is often subconsciously and un-ironically regarded as a member of the
clan. Each family member has a personal relationship with the TV. Dad
might enjoy Nightline or Riptide; mom has her soaps; the kids have things
like the Transformers and the Smurfs to keep them company. The TV was
on more often than not, and if the family didn’t have cable (which was a
luxury) you had about three to seven networks to choose from. TV ads
were virtually inescapable, making jingles and slogans a cultural shorthand
on the schoolyard.
The comforting omnipresence of television is terrifying when it goes
wrong. Perhaps most existentially horrific of all was the test of the Emergency
Broadcast System. Amidst the stream of advertising and sitcoms, the TV
brings steady reminders to everyone, young and old, that it could all be
vaporized in an instant. The Emergency Broadcast system is always there
to break into its droning dirge, indicating that the end is potentially just
around the corner.
And now, back to “Alf.”
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The Mall
This is a strange refuge for the kids. A mutually-agreed-upon safe zone, the
mall is more than a conglomeration of stores, but a rare thing in the life of an
80’s teen: a place you choose to be rather than have to be. As such, it is usually
overrun with kids on the evenings and weekends; shopping, playing video
games, listening to new music, or just hanging out. As a teenage Casablanca,
it has its own bizarre rules. There is a ruling clique that is bizarrely agreed upon;
in Clearfield, it’s the Fairview Girls. The meanest rich girls in Fairview, when they
walk by even the burnouts and metalheads stare quietly at their shoes. In other
corners of the mall, kids prowl the record shops for New Wave or Metal or Rap;
the latest fashions from Express or Chess King; new sporting gear or shoes or
Garbage Pail Kids are all in the offing.
Movies
Combining the late 70s advent of the blockbuster movie, genre film being
on the rise, and an increased regularity of sequels, the 80s offered a veritable
Cambrian explosion for viewing audiences. Thanks to Star Wars, Jaws, and
Indiana Jones, Spielberg and Lucas became household names and led the way
for a new wave of action, adventure, and effects driven films. It was around this
time that the MPAA added the PG-13 rating allowing more teens to head to
the mall and catch a movie on their own. Add to this smaller films dealing with
the average (or not so average) teen experience in films like Breakfast Club, 16
Candles and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and you have teens attending in
droves and making more and more of their own viewing choices.
The real innovation, of course, was the video store. The VCR allowed families
to bring more of the cinema into their own homes. This brought with it an
entire new market for lower budget straight-to-video B horror and sci-fi, as well
as a farther reach for smaller independent films. The embarrassment of options
in the local video store led to a certain paralysis of choice, a phenomenon that
bore out in record stores as well. There was a certain lurid attractiveness to
video stores for kids; the grotesque and gory boxes of the horror movies belied
the gruesome delights within, and of course, just beyond a pair of swinging
saloon doors was a promised land of limitless pornography.
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The News
The beginning of the 24-hour News Cycle brought with it a new
phenomenon: terror. If the Cold War was a horror movie, the news was its
version of jump scares. From AIDS to Chernobyl to Iran-Contra, every story
appeared to usher in some new breed of apocalypse. Still, it seemed more
detached, more resolute. In the age before the internet, the average citizen
had far less power and input over even the most mundane stories than
they do now. The news was simply more television. It was about what the
powerful were doing. All you could do was watch.
Music
A strange thing happened to Music in the 80’s. On August 1, 1981, the video
for “Video Killed The Radio Star” launched the pop-culture overlord of the era
that was MTV. For the entire decade, musical success or failure was almost
unilaterally dictated by the channel that ushered in and tended movements from
New Wave to Hair Metal to Hip Hop. As technology transitioned from 8-Tracks
to Cassettes to CDs, MTV walked the country through every step. Because of
this, the channel had an almost cult-like control over the youth in particular.
New Wave. Metal. Punk. Rap. Goth. The stratifications forged themselves in the
suburbs against the backdrop of twenty-four hours of music videos.
In Clearfield, like so many other suburbs in the 80s, your music defined you. In
fact, you had to be prepared to fight for that identity. Gatekeeping abounded in
1986. If you were going to wear an Iron Maiden T-Shirt you’d better be able to
tell who the guitarist was on the World Slavery Tour, and you’d better be able to
identify that leathery zombie on their album covers by his first name. To fail meant
you were a “poser,” and no one wanted that.
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Places of Note
Gossettville
The Industrial town on the West end of Clearfield county, Gossettville is a stark
landscape of cracked asphalt, low, flat warehouses and trash-filled empty lots.
Astro-Putt
In the mid 70’s, Astro-putt Mini-Golf was a popular Saturday afternoon
activity for Clearfield County, complete with an unnaturally blue waterfall,
an inexplicably rocket-themed windmill, and a snack bar. However, the
advent of the Big Town Mall slowly sapped business from the Astro-Putt,
and it shuttered in 1981. It’s still there, protected only by a single chain
across its driveway. The fiberglass aliens and rockets, now overgrown
with weed and scrub, lie silent and pitted as the weather slowly chips
and flakes the paint away. It’s a popular spot for local teens to scare each
other with ghost stories, make out, or some combination of the two.
Col. Charles Sinclair High School
While Gossettville is not as populous as Clearfield, it has enough people
living in its borders to have its own smaller school system. Charles Sinclair High
is less attended, less well funded, and smaller than Clayton M Abernathy High
in Clearfield, but the hardscrabble nature of the school does seem to make
its students a bit tougher. Gossettville High maintains a higher emphasis on
vocational electives. There is a savage rivalry between Clearfield’s Hawks and
the Gossettville Eagles, and the Eagles don’t like to lose.
Harrison Lumberyard
Harrison’s has grown from its humble beginnings as a small Gossettville
hardware store to a large, construction supply business. Owing partially
to the rise of “do-it-yourself” projects in the late seventies, Harrison’s now
supplies everything from lumber, to hardware, to concrete and building
supplies. Behind Harrison’s is a rusty shed that remains legendary to the
local junior high schoolers. As such, it has been the site of countless double
and even triple-dog dares. Locked with a heavy chain, the kids claim it
contains anything from aircraft parts to pornography to an angry ghost, or
perhaps all three.
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Ericsson Site 31
This ill-fated factory built cheap rotary-dial phones in the 60’s, but closed
in the 70s and never found another buyer. It’s now just a massive, shabby
brick husk, punctuated by shattered windows and ugly graffiti. In the
winter, it provides a comfortable respite from the cold for a few vagrants,
but remains otherwise quiet. Boarded up and surrounded by a rusty chainlink fence, it has been nothing but a sad eyesore out by the interstate for
years. Few people even notice it anymore. Ironically, it’s only value is a bank
of payphones by the road in front of it. Tragically, none of them work.
The Lot by the Exxon
Across the street from an abandoned gas station is a single, shoddy,
tilting garage with a missing door. The only particularly noteworthy thing
about the garage is that it provides shelter and power for Vermithrax
Pejorative, Southern Delaware’s loudest, angriest, fastest thrash metal
band. Vermithrax is actually not half bad, and they managed to cut a short
demo LP in Baltimore called “Teach Me How to Die.” The band practices
on Sundays and Thursdays, which are punctuated by a decent crowd
of the band’s admirers. Vermithrax is, despite their parents’ and teachers
insistence, potentially going somewhere, provided bassist Sid Clifford
doesn’t wind up dead or in jail first.
Roark’s Liquors
An institution to some and a blight to others, this family owned store
first opened its barred-window doors in 1958. Originally owned by local
expropriator and Korean War vet Jared Roark, this otherwise unassuming
liquor store has all the usual provisions- beer, wine, spirits, chips, tobacco, and
lotto scratchers.
Be it a kid buying their first beer via fake ID or and old-timer stocking up on
whiskey and wine for a lonely weekend, Roark’s is your one stop shop for all
things alcohol and cigarettes in the Clearfield area . For a time during the mid
70s Roark’s was a regular hangout for local one percenter motorcycle club The
Storm Guard. Rumors of the basement being used for underground boxing
and fight rings still persist. Recently, the store has come under new management
by Jared’s daughter, Bessie, and she’s overseen the establishment of a nicer
exterior and a more current selection of products, but still to this day Roark’s is
still a favorite stop over for the local Storm Guard MC.
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The Lake Madeleine Environmental Center
Lovingly curated by Ranger Rick Wagner, the environmental center is the
site of countless field trips. A small, grey, two story building about twenty
yards from the lakeside, it is home to a dozen terrariums filled with all manner
of local wildlife, from Freddie, the beloved captive Muskrat, to leeches, frogs,
and even a couple of Clearfield County’s infamous hellgrammites. Lake
Madeleine is notorious for its hellgrammites, nasty, thick-bodied aquatic
black insects with massive jaws and a mean bite. Ranger Rick genuinely
loves the wilderness around the lake, and is enthusiastic and helpful when
helping local kids learn about environmental science.
Lockheed J-867
The Lockheed plant is a testing facility as well as a factory that produces
planes for the United States Air Force, and as such is protected by the
United States government. As a classified research site, the facility has
three different sections each with a corresponding security level. Site “C”
is the lowest security, and has the majority of the town’s workforce. Site
C is a factory that assembles parts and finished planes, including the F-16
Fighting Falcon and the SR-71A “Blackbird.” Site “B” is a research facility
testing high-performance materials and designs. Site “A” is the highestsecurity facility on the campus, and little is known what is developed there.
Transports regularly move between “Site A” and the Pentagon, but rarely
during daylight hours.
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Gossettville Locals
Willy “Mac” Macnamara
Ol’ Mac is an institution in Gossettville, and the well-to-do parents of
Clearfield and Fairview often point him out as he carefully sorts out glass
bottles from the trash for recycling or smokes butts from the ashtray out
in front of the A&P as an object lesson as to what happens when you get
bad grades or don’t pay attention to your parents. What they don’t know is
that Ol’ Mac is something of a beacon to the kids. He lives in an abandoned
home at the end of a forgotten cul-de-sac in Gossettville and is more than
willing to indulge kids who want to go smoke or drink with him and listen
to his stories of the fighting in Korea. Ol’ Mac is harmless, just a lonely man
discarded by the country he fought for. However, his kindness has opened
the eyes of more than one kid to the dichotomy of the country they are
growing up in and how it treats some of its older heroes.
By Eric Thomas
Jack Anders
Every town has a graveyard, and Clearfield has two. Resurrection
Cemetery over by the church is the nicer one, but Anders’ Field, as it is
known, is the older of the two. Located on the Outskirts of Gossettville,
Anders’ Field is usually pretty quiet save for the occasional grieving family or
Goths getting high and doing rubbings of the older stones. Anders’ Field
is also legendarily haunted by a gravedigger who, according to conflicting
reports, either died after falling in a grave and passing out or being
eaten by wolves. The truth is that Jack Anders inherited the position of
caretaker from his father, as well as a recessive condition (called Xeroderma
Pigmentosum) that makes him highly susceptible to sunlight, so he can
only take care of the grounds in the evenings or at night. Jack is vaguely
aware that the kids talk about him, but doesn’t know the extent of the
stories his “hauntings” have caused.
By Jason DeLuca
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Ordell Gibbs and Tracey Cheng
The gangly kid with the glasses and the winning smile is Ordell Gibbs,
who is quietly the second smartest kid in the Eighth Grade. He’s also smart
enough to realize that his best friend, Tracy Cheng, the quiet girl with the
pigtails who speaks only to him, is the smartest. He’s found a niche for the
two of them as the primary suppliers of rare or hard-to-find artifacts for Dr.
Elias Thorne Jr. High. Nunchucks? Nudie mags? M-80s? A betamax copy of
Faces of Death? Go see Ordell, and Tracey will somehow make it happen.
Fairview
Fairview is where Clearfield’s money lives. Home to rows of immaculately
trimmed lawns and four-car garages, Fairview holds a disproportionate
amount of clout in Clearfield County.
Bushwood Country Club
Elitist, exclusive, and oh-so-fancy, Bushwood is where Fairview’s Cremede-la-creme meet to rub shoulders, play golf, and enjoy lunch in the Club
Room. Bushwood is a comfortable and tastefully appointed 82 acres, a
versatile facility with a challenging 18 hole golf course, four clay and two
“hard tru” tennis courts, a beautiful pool surrounded by an attractive deck,
and an elegant dining room and a comfortable grill room. Gossettville
residents needn’t apply.
Kitner’s Wash
Right on the Clearfield county border, Kitner’s Wash is the best beachfront
on all of Lake Madeleine. And it’s one of the few places where people
from all three towns can be found on a hot day. For some inexplicable
reason, Kitner’s Wash has always been a sort of “Neutral Ground” for local
kids. It boasts a snack bar, a lifeguard, and even a Jet Ski rental on certain
weekends. Every summer the local radio station WKDAM hosts a party at
Kitner’s Wash, complete with a manic contests like “Hands on Hardbody”
or “24-Hour Scavenger Hunt.”
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Billy Sawyer’s House
The biggest, best, and most outrageous parties are always at Billy
Sawyer’s place. Billy is a High School senior (for the past two years) and a
metalhead who spends most of his time hanging out with Vermithrax and
the other burnouts. Unlike the others, his parents are rich, but he rejects
their overtures and offers of financial assistance with the exception of his
signature cherry red pickup truck. Instead, he maintains his credibility with
the other burnouts (who call themselves the “Spider Lords”) by trashing his
hapless step-father’s house fairly regularly with wild parties. Billy is friendly
enough, and prides himself on being “the guy who can get you anything”
at Gen. Clayton M Abernathy High School.
Camp Arowak
Beyond the evergreens of Wallace Island, deep in the wilderness beyond
Clearfield Reservoir sits Camp Arowak. What once was a civil war rail camp
and a supply depot for The Union Army is now a family friendly summer
camp for Clearfield and Gossettville’s youth. Retired Clearfield doctor Dr.
Tobe Hiltzik maintains and fundraises money for the camp. He’s recently
launches a new low income youth program to get underprivileged kids to
be able to enjoy Camp Arowaks’ many hiking trails, sports fields, arts and
crafts, canoeing classes and much more.
Of course, as with any good summer camp, it has its share of ghost stories
and rumors. Favorites like teens going missing to take canoe trips under
cover of night to Wallace Island (only never to be heard from again) to
the ghosts of doomed, drowned ghosts of the people of Madeleine Valley
who for whatever reason didn’t get out in time are commonly whispered
over marshmallows with unpleasant regularity.
However, the most popular legend is that of Indrid Cold, the grinning
man of Wallace Island, who stands on the shores to make impossible offers
to kids that are never heard from again.
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Fairview Locals
Bryce Massingil
The Clearfield Hawks all tend to party in this neighborhood. Running Back
Chris Egan, Full Back Sexton Hardcastle, Quarterback Simon Dukakis, Cappy
Rowe, Roger Heller, Tyson Miller, and even the Kicker Lewis Dinkleman are
an inseparable pack who tend to party at the home of Running Back Bryce
Massengil. Since his father is almost never in the house, there’s an entire
wing of the Massingil home that’s more or less a flophouse for the Hawks
parties and general use.
Bryce was a heavy kid who was teased a lot for his last name growing
up, so he compensated by spending the last three summers working out.
He made the team easily, but he’s still got a lot of anger which he tends to
reveal itself in the way he treats underclassmen and anyone unfortunate
enough to be charmed long enough to date him. Bryce nearly hospitalized
Dinkleman for the obvious nickname, “Not so Fresh.” He’s come to respect
Dinkleman’s commitment to the bit, so in the face of continued violence
they’ve agreed to “Notso,” and only Lewis gets to call him that.
By Phillip Mozeika
Mercedes Chandler
Others can be bullies at times, but Mercedes makes a career of cruelty.
The de-facto leader of the Fairview Girls, Chandler is the daughter of the
town’s premier real estate developer. (Peter Chandler has bulldozed more
Rec Centers then he can remember.) Mercedes has sent girls spiraling into
a crying jag or even an eating disorder with a single barbed comment. To
a certain element of the school the Fairview Girls effectively rule the world,
and Mercedes is on top of it all. She’s always dressed in the coolest clothes,
she’s dating Roger Heller, she drives a car with the same name as her. She’s
a spoiled and entitled princess in every way- save one.
Mercedes harbors a dark secret under the shoulder pads and the eyeliner
and the cars. Last February, she disappeared to Guatemala for a nose job
that was barely noticeable upon her return. In truth, the “nose job” never
happened. She was in Lombard Illinois, serving with the US National Video
Game team. There are untouchable high scores one three games at the
Centauri that are so high that even Tommy Johnson and DJ Battlebeast
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never even tried to tie them. They’re listed as MALIBU in Out Run, Pole
Position, and, interestingly, Punch-Out!! Mercedes has been dropped off
at the Centauri weekly since she was a little girl, and due to this, she’s
one of the fastest and best video game drivers in the city. She has trouble
reconciling her love of video games with her Mean Girl position, so she
prowls the arcade at the wee hours in disguise, quietly shattering the boy’s
expectations and their high scores.
Dansforth Dukakis
The son of a Greek immigrant, Dansforth grew up poor in Gossettville
working in his father’s shop until he went off to serve in the Korean War.
The place he returned to was radically different; his family had leased the
lot the his father’s shop was on in the quiet industrial town to defense giant
Lockheed. Thanks for Lockheed site J-867, Dansforth went to war the son
of a poor immigrant and returned as the wealthiest man in the city. The
American Dream came true for him.
Dansforth works closely with the developer Peter Chandler investing
heavily in Southern Delaware. The Dukakis family, in general, is on the rise,
with talk of a shot at the presidency in 1988. This puts an inordinate amount
of pressure on Dansforth’s son Simon, who is currently quarterback of the
Hawks, running for Class president, and applying for Harvard, Yale, Cornell,
and Princeton all at once. Simon is on the edge of a rather dangerous
breakdown and really needs a friend, but he’d be the last one to admit this.
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Clearfield
Clearfield is an ordinary town with ordinary problems and ordinary
people. Nothing to do, nothing to see, a normal town where the
watchwords are boredom and teenage angst.
Downtown Clearfield
The Centauri Arcade and Family
Entertainment Center
The heart of the social scene for Clearfield’s youth, the Centauri is
considered by many, not only the Locals, to be the perfect arcade. The most
up-to-date video games are kept up in the front, like current top games
Rampage, Out Run, and Rolling Thunder, while classics like Pac Man, Space
Invaders, Galaga, and Zaxxon can be found further inside. Ticket-granting
games of skill like Skee-ball and hoops are towards the back near the prize
table. It’s a good one, complete with an NES for 10,000 Tickets and GI JOE
figures for about 500. Owner Ronnie Preston can often be found in the
change booth, and if not him, it’s local DJ Douglass “BattleBeast” Sinclair
hyping the kids for his next gig. An often-ignored “snack bar” serves heatlamp congealed pizza and Pepsi products.
Convenient to both the High School and the Junior High, it’s a short bike
ride from either. Members of Vermithrax Pejorative blast heavy metal from
their cars in the parking lot while intimidating younger kids and cruising for
girls. Occasional impromptu breakdancing competitions or fistfights break
out, but are usually smoothed over by Preston offering both parties a go at
the Air Hockey or the grease-stained Missile Command Table to settle their
differences.
The Wing Kong Chinese Restaurant
Hong Kong expat Bob Wong opened The Wing Kong in 1971, when
it was the first ethnic cuisine in Clearfield County. The interior of the
restaurant is bedecked with faux Chinese artifacts and finery as if it was part
of a Disney attraction and the food, while tasty, does not always match
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what exactly was ordered. The most interesting thing about the Wing Kong
is not the mysterious “Cantonese Special,” it’s the back room that most people
don’t get to see. The “Miao Yin” room has seen many poker, mahjong and
blackjack games with money changing hands between Clearfield’s social
elite and petty criminals. There’s always something unusual going on at
Wing Kong, and only Bob Wong knows for sure what it is.
Bushnell Electronics
When Benjamin’s Electric went out of business, Bushnell’s popped up
about a year later to fill in the gap. The small shop prides itself on carrying
the most cutting edge technology- especially stereo CD players, which
proprietor Eric Bushnell insists are the way of the future. There’s an entire
rack dedicated to new CD releases, but they don’t see much interest outside
of the Fairview shopping crowd, which boasts enough audiophiles to keep
Bushnell’s in business. Other cutting-edge items include the brand new
Nintendo Entertainment System, which is hard to find almost anywhere
else, along with a exhaustive supply of games.
Bushnell’s also does repairs and carries a wide range of electronic
components for home enthusiasts. They’ve started carrying computer parts
as well, to appeal to the engineers from J-867. This has lead to Eric Bushnell
himself becoming something of an expert in computer hardware and
electrical engineering. He’s become obsessed with what he says seems like
“pirate radio and video broadcasts” coming from somewhere near the Lake.
Trimaxx Video
Trimaxx Video started its life as Benjamin’s Electric in the late 60s. As
Bushnell’s started to carry more specialized items, Benjamin’s aging
proprietor, Walter Benjamin, left the day-to-day of the shop to his nephew
Ben. Benjamin Benjamin, a noted cinephile, began storing his film collection
in the small storefront, much to his uncle’s chagrin. As more and more of
the electronics business waned, Ben started secretly sneaking more and
more of his collection in the store. He also used the space to trade and sell
to other private collectors. Walter Benjamin eventually passed, leaving the
business to his nephew who carried on running the electronics store as a
video store.
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Now Trimaxx is the place to rent movies, with a wide selection and a
pretty unusual and esoteric collection for a small-town video store. A wide
range of foreign films and underground movies, especially action and kungfu flicks, find their way to Trimaxx’s shelves. There’s even a small, untended
section just labeled “unknown” by the back door, full of unlabelled and
bizarre films Benjamin Benjamin just “found in his collection one day.”
Along with the “be Kind, Rewind” policy, Trimaxx hold a strong “rent at
your own risk” policy regarding the “Unknown” section.
Arneson’s Hobby Shop
A family-owned business, Arneson’s has been a staple of downtown since
the mid-thirties. For three generations, Arneson’s has supplied Clearfield
with train sets, model kits, and RC cars. A wide, spacious shop with ample
room for displays, Arneson’s has recently change hands from “Old Man
Gary” Arneson to his daughter, Nicole. Almost immediately, Nicole has
taken an entire aisle of the shop and dedicated it to new RPG releases
from TSR, Palladium, and West End along with war-games from Games
Workshop and FASA. Nicole is an avid gamer and has reaped the rewards
of aligning her shop with this new trend in gaming. Once every summer,
she shuts down the shop and organizes a road trip all the way up to Lake
Geneva, Wisconsin, for reasons that baffle and confuse all of the locals.
Medusa Records
Although Traxx, down at the mall, has a better selection and gets new
releases faster, if you’re looking for a hard-to-find album, you come to
Medusa Records. Run by new-wave matriarch Iona Potts, the staff is all
decked-out new wavers, punks, metalheads, and b-boys/girls who are
friendly, knowledgeable, and happy to help you find something you’ve
never heard of before, often to the point of casually dissuading you from
what you’d come in for in the first place.
Hoagan’s Hoagies
Sometimes there’s a hunger that can only be sated with the perfect
sandwich, brother. Decorated with an over-the-top “America” theme
and yellow-and red booths, Hoagan’s boasts foot-long sandwiches for
the hungriest patrons. Despite a long-running feud with Savage Subs
in Gossettville, both establishments do pretty well for themselves. Gene
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Hoagan is a pretty decent cook and employs more than a few local High
School students as waitstaff and delivery drivers. A Decorated war Vet,
Hoagan loves to tell stories of his time in Vietnam although he refuses to
talk too much about his buddies who he claims were “brainwashed” by a
secret project knowns as MK-Delta in the mid-seventies.
Toys 4 All
A wide, spacious store with beige linoleum floors and buzzing
incandescent wiring is not exactly the first thought that springs to mind as
a child’s paradise. But Toys 4 All’s selection and price means that kids from
as far away as Washington and Philly make special trips to Clearfield to find
that one action figure or doll the you can’t find anywhere else. Star Wars,
Transformers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Kids or Rubik’s cubes,
Toys 4 All inexplicably has them all in stock, even when no one else does.
The Kingston Multiplex
In the center of downtown is the Kingston Multiplex, a refurbished old
theater that boasts not one, not two, but three whole screens with glorious
new THX surround sound. The Kingston was initially built in the 20s, and it’s
upkeep has been a point of pride with owner Gus Peltzer. Each screen still
has a meticulously maintained red velvet curtain. The lobby is decorated with
priceless old theatrical One-sheets, from “King Kong” to “The Godfather” to
“Return of the Jedi.” However, as a concession to modernity, the Kingston has
a few video games in the lobby, including a Zaxxon cabinet, a few pinball
machines and a brand new sit-down “Out Run” game.
Peltzer himself is a big fan of the classics and every Friday at midnight he
hosts special showings of old monster movies, classic sci-fi serials, and his
personal favorite, “Robot Monster!”
Perry’s Pizza
Perry’s Pizza is the closest thing Clearfield has to Italian food. Run by
Gwen and Walter Murphy, the restaurant is hardly the most authentic spot
in town. However, the Murphys do their best and the pizza isn’t too bad.
The front of Perry’s has two banks of booths bolted square into the walls,
with a long counter displaying the specials Gwen has made that day.
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The Murphys themselves live above the pizzeria with their cat, Perry. This
fat tuxedo colored cat can be seen above the main street of town surveying
all who pass by. The Murphys have no children of their own, but talk of
retiring to Virginia Beach if they could. Every Sunday is “Odd Topping Day”
which has led to a series of escalating dares in both the communities of the
Dr. Elias Thorne Jr. High and J-867’s highly classified aeronautical research
division.
General Clayton M Abernathy High School
A massive edifice, Clearfield’s Gen. Clayton M. Abernathy high school
is a turn-of-the-century brick building that has not aged particularly well.
Shut down multiple times citing Asbestos concerns, the school is situated
over a largely-forgotten fallout shelter that’s been buried deep beneath the
school since the Early 50s.
Since the bulk of the budget goes to PE and younger education, much
of the school’s resources are old and outdated. There’s a computer room
that contains seven three-year-old Apple 2E’s, two of which don’t work.
Many of the history books are hopeful for a time when Americans might
walk on the moon, and the math books don’t contain anything on the
Metric System despite conversion being a pet project of the school board.
The Clearfield Hawks, Clayton M. Abernathy’s Football team, have a strong
rivalry with the Gossettville Eagles, which has led to the jocks recruiting the
burnouts and even the nerds into an aggressive prank war on more than
one occasion. The school is run by principal Vivienne Taylor, who is almost
never present. Instead, Vice-principal George Gleason stalks the halls like
an academic justiciar. Even the sight of Gleason’s scowl is enough to clear
nervous underclassmen out of the halls.
WKOR “ The Core!”
“South West Delaware’s #1 station for today’s pop and classic rock!” Dig
in deep with Kyle West as he and the KOR Crew bring you the top 7 at 7!
WKOR started out as a home brewed HAM Radio outfit set in the basement
of now station VP and manager Corey M Skarka, a former radio operator in
the navy. After he started playing records on his radio rig locals took notice,
and as did one local entrepreneur Joanna White.
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In two years WKOR became the area’s number 1 radio channel for music
and news. WKOR operates out of the second story of the same building
as Medusa Records, but often does on-site events at Big Town Mall and
Kitner’s Wash, like impromptu contests and hosting B-list rock legends.
With any luck WKOR will get syndication to DC and Baltimore in due time.
Dr. Elias Thorne Junior High
Not far from downtown, Dr. Elias Thorne Jr. High was the direct recipient
of an education budget surplus due to a bookkeeping error in the early
eighties. Superintendent Alberta Murray redesigned the entire K through
8 system and opened Dr. Thorne Jr High in ’82. As such, it’s much more
modern and well-appointed than the high school to which its students
graduate. It is replete with science labs, a modern library, a large gymnasium
and even one of these “computer labs” that everyone seems obsessed with
these days. All of this doesn’t faze the kids much who refer to the school as
“The Supreme Monstrosity” much to the teachers’ chagrin.
Downtown Locals
Hambone
If your car needs fixing on the cheap, most people will just bring it to
Hambone. He’ll undercut any estimate they’d give you over at Pep Boys just
to burn them for calling his lady Consuela (the flamenco dancer tattooed
on his arm) unprofessional. If you’re a fellow teen you are most likely to run
into Hambone at the edge of almost any party. He’ll be entering just as you
exit or leaving just as you arrive, usually lighting a cigarette as he gives you
an appraisal of whether the event is really worth your time. He’s almost
always right, and you‘ll wish you had listened to him. Like when he told
you avoid Heather Sheedy’s last house party where she seemed to seek
you out personally just to yak peach schnapps on your brand new Nikes.
Now Hambone is working out of his uncle’s gas station in Gossettville.
He is beloved by kids and feared by most moms. Dads, however, hold
the boy with a strange sort of reverence, as they would the memory of
James Dean, recalling asking as he worked on a busted engine: “Pass me
a wrench, would ya?”
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By John McGuire
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Mr. Mac
Earnest “Mac” Duffee, or Mr. Mac is one of those teachers almost
everyone in the high school loves. An enthusiastic educator with a true
love of history, his youth and looks also don’t hurt; Mac is only in his midtwenties. Some of the students have older siblings that remember when
this personable son of an Air Force colonel first came to town with stories
of distant parts of the country. Mr. Mac is a talker and would spend whole
classes bringing to life the stories of the past that enthrall his students in a
way reading it off the page never could. His love of storytelling has spilled
into after school activities. He caught the attentions of the administration
and the nerdier students alike when he took his well established Dungeons
and Dragons campaign out of the basement at Arnesons and established
Clearfield High’s first D&D club.
By Daniel Duffee
Trozzi
Trying to fix your busted walkman? Talk to Trozzi! Still looking for ManAt-Arms to round out your Masters of the Universe? Talk to Trozzi! Need a
cheat code so you can finally beat Contra? Talk to Trozzi! You’re not sure if
he works at Bushnell’s electronics or lives there. For that matter, you’re not
sure if he’s just out of high school or if he’s in his 30s, but Trozzi is definitely
your man for anything that would be super important to middle school life.
If you’ve got a problem, Trozzi will bust open his blue Jansport like Felix the
Cat and have a solution. If you’re lucky, he’ll impart a little sage advice and
a slice of pizza to boot.
By James Petrozzo
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The Edge of Town
Duke’s Army Navy Store
A dusty shack about half a mile from the Gossettville town line, Duke’s is
the pride and joy of local survivalist crackpot Dale Duke. Filled to the rafters
with old military surplus, Duke’s is a popular hangout spot for local gun
nuts and less savory types. However, if one knows the “password,” Dale
would be happy to let you see his “showroom.” Inside he maintains some
highly illegal firepower, though he claims that he and Sheriff Clifford have an
“understanding.”) However, his true pride and joy is even more disturbing: a
meticulously maintained and cultivated cache of genuine Nazi memorabilia.
Saint Elmo’s Diner
Open all night. Thick cut fries, tasty burgers, and no one judging you
or asking why you’re out so late, St Elmo’s seems unchanged from when
Elmo Dukakis first built it in 1958. As the only 24 hour business in town,
Saint Elmo’s has become a sort of neutral ground. Cops and bikers, punks
and metalheads, jocks and nerds- there’s no fighting at Saint Elmo’s. You
keep to your own burger and talk to your friends here, and anything that
gets out of hand goes straight to the parking lot. Head Chef Marvin Hinton
perfected his cuisine during two subsequent tours in Vietnam and, while
jovial and cheerful, he doesn’t suffer fools gladly and won’t brook any
disrespect to his establishment.
Blackie’s Lounge
The, only real live music venue for “fringe” acts like punk, heavy metal and
even some hip hop, Blackie’s Lounge is a seedy dive on the town line up by
Fairview, about a mile from anything else. Owner Steven “Blackie” Edward
is in deep to about a half dozen different biker gangs that use his joint as a
stop in the corridor up from florida to New York, but none of them lean on
him too heavily, as his place and cooperation is too valuable. Due to this
détente between the gangs, Blackie’s is a weirdly safe place to be despite
all outward appearances to the contrary. It’s enjoyed by acts as varied as
Vermithrax Pejorative, Von Rodd, DJ BattleBeast, and even the Galaxy Girls.
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The Big Town Mall
Big Town Mall, located just off of Rt 13, was constructed in 1959 and was
the first enclosed, air-conditioned mall in the southern Delaware. Three
major chain stores, Sears, Hess’s, and Gimbels anchor the complex. The
attached Bradlee’s is also quite popular due to its sizable inventory and
food court, which boasts Hot Sam Pretzels and an Orange Julius. The food
court is the meeting round for the Fairview Girls, the De Facto ruling class
of Clayton M. Abernathy High. Tiffany Cates, Porscha Chandler, Heather
Sheedy and Tabby Gibson meet once a week to snipe each other’s outfits
and gossip about the other kids. Being invited to join them is a socially epic
prospect, and many girls toil at their beck and call for the opportunity.
The mall is obviously a popular spot with the local teens, with Chess
King and Esprit being particularly popular. The Playtime Arcade, while not
struggling, can’t quite compete with the selection and charisma of the
Centauri downtown, and the adjacent theater runs weekend specials to
draw in larger crowds. One of the most popular stops at the mall is Jeff’s,
a central kiosk that will iron-on transfer any of hundreds of designs onto a
t-shirt for you, or you can even design your own. “Avoid the Noid” has just
eclipsed “Where’s the Beef” for the first time in two years.
Clemons Bowling Alley
Sometimes, an event calls for a few frames, a dim smoky building with an
ugly blue carpet, and some gummy, cold pizza. Clemons has existed more
or less unchanged in this way since the mid-50s, and is still where the local
shriners meet once a week to bitch about their wives. Still, there’s a peace
and quiet to Clemons, and a purity of its atavism that appeals to a certain
type of person. Some people go to Clemons to bowl, others go there to
think. The truly zen do both.
Local 58 WCLV-TV
In a low flat building out by the Fire Station, Local 58 provides local
News, Weather, and some pretty odd public access TV. A line item in some
early Cold War FCC local spending, Local 58 was created to bolster the
Emergency Broadcast System for Clearfield in the event of a Soviet attack.
Local 58 became a sort of storage area for Washington and Philly’s darker
contingency tapes and even some highly classified footage.
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Consistently understaffed, WCLV-TV is prone to some troubling mix-ups
in the wee hours. Two televisions tuned to the same station might receive
wildly different programming and many strange reports have flooded in
during the wee hours: static with an audio broadcast of a droning buzz
interrupted by someone saying numbers in Russian, a bizarre children’s
show that appeared only as static to baffled parents, and even once, an
accidental broadcast of a “worst case scenario” transmission put together
by an (otherwise effectively non-existent) government group known as the
United States Department for the Preservation of American Dignity. Most
troubling is the steady regularity with which the police receive calls from
latch-key children and the elderly: “The Grinning Man just keeps watching
me through my TV.”
Edge of Town Locals
Jimmy Armstrong
Blackie’s Lounge, out on Rt. 29, hosts all the shows that nowhere has the
courage to put on. “Satanic” metal acts like Vermithrax and the Spider Lords
play there a lot, and Punk shows are not uncommon, even DJ Battlebeast
has done a set or two on the stage there. But the fact is, it’s the safest place
for the kids in the punk scene, and thus it’s the default hangout for Jimmy
Armstrong and his friends. Jimmy is a local transplant from DC, where he
saw the rise of bands like Bad Brains (whom he managed to get to play a
show in Blackie’s once) and Minor Threat.
In the early 80, Punk was considered a straight shorthand for drugs and
crime, so Jimmy has been relentlessly hassled by the cops for his green hair
and his spiked bracelets. He endlessly stymies and mystifies Sheriff Clifford
through countless drug tests with his “Straight Edge” ethos, despite him
repeatedly and patiently explaining that that’s not how it works. Meanwhile,
to new kids coming into Blackies, Jimmy is friendly and helpful. Along with
Julie Thompson (auteur of Cats Pooping on Cats), he publishes the town’s
other only other Zine, Stained Glass Hearts, and he’s flirted with the idea
of starting his own punk outfit a few times. For now, Jimmy is content to
be the guardian angel of Blackie’s Lounge, proving to local kids that the
fringes where the outsiders live might not be so inhospitable as they had
once believed.
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By Peter Woodworth
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Charles Thompson
Local 58 operates out of a nondescript concrete building on the Gossettville/
Clearfield Border. They deal with a little bizarre public access TV and, primarily,
local news and weather. “Charles Thompson, on the scene,” is local parlance
for “things have gone awry.” He covered the Roark’s Liquor robberies of ’83
and blew the lid off the School Board Scandal in the late 70s. Rumor holds he
uncovered a bizarre cult operating in Dixon City before coming to Clearfield. He’s
got sources everywhere, but is not widely loved or trusted by the powers that
be in Clearfield. Lately, his job has been a lot harder. Charles is getting desperate.
He’s sure there’s a story connecting the Lockheed site to the strangeness at
Lake Madeleine. He’s eager to talk to anyone who has “hallucinated” about
the Grinning Man on Wallace Island or seen a strange armored figure rise up
from the waters: There are too many similar accounts for this “Paladyn” thing
to be a coincidence. However, he’s also found his apartment broken into and
entire files of evidence stolen from his office in events that were officially listed as
“simple burglaries” on the police record. He’s been coping the way any hardnosed news man of his era would: drinking too much and getting increasingly
aggressive about his search for the truth. The stakes are high: This could either be
the story of his career or the one that buries him for good.
By Jon Rockwell
Hal Ween
No one knows Hal’s real name, but Benjamin Benjamin, the proprietor of
Trimaxx Video, swears it’s actually Hal Ween. No one else really believes this or
cares that much. Hal is a nuisance to the adults of Clearfield and nothing short
of a legend to the Junior High kids. He is thought to run either the roller rink, the
pizza place, or even a drive in a few towns over, but no one is certain exactly
what Hal does. Except the faithful.
To the kids at the Junior High, Hal is a kind of god. He smells like Drakkar Noir
and popcorn butter and hunts for Bigfoot in his spare time. He drinks Bartles and
Jaymes wine coolers like it’s his job and is willing to share. He dresses like Paul
Stanley and talks like Fletch. He holds court in front of his red Pontiac Firebird in
the parking lot of the Roy Rogers while giving demonstrations of his ability with
nunchucks or talking about the time he partied with Van Halen in Jacksonville
before they became such big sellout losers. He always has a rapt audience. And
just like that, his beeper (that really resembles a pack of Marlboros) will go off, and
he’ll vanish. Hal is unique to Clearfield. Hal has no regrets.
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By Deborah Arndell
Lake Madeleine
Lake Madeleine has some sights to call its own, as well. The still waters of
the deep lake seems to contain a multitude of secrets for those willing to
seek them out.
Wallace Island
Just big enough to get lost on, Wallace Island is about a quarter-mile square
of crooked, rocky, forbidding island covered with trees and thick, forested
bramble. It’s got nothing of value except solitude, so the forest remains largely
untouched save for the chalky sand near the Gnarltree. Small animals abound
in the forests, including otter, beavers, ducks, raccoons, and rumors abound of
a family of porcupines despite them not being local to the area’s wildlife.
Wallace Island is only reachable by boat, although row boats, canoes, and
even Jet Skis have reached the shores of Lake Madeleine.
The locals whisper that there are two things that keep them away from
Wallace Island. First is the legend of a the Grinning Man. Some say he’s the
devil, others think he’s a ghost, and others think he’s an alien. There have been
multiple reports of a grinning, dark-haired man in an immaculate white suit
(despite the legendary mud and bramble of the island) greeting boaters and
engaging them in strange, sinister and intense conversations about their lives,
their families, and their dreams and goals. The man, who calls himself Indrid
Cold, will invoke details about their lives he couldn’t possibly know. Multiple
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people claim to have seen him, and everyone in town has a friend of a
friend who’s had a chat with Mr Cold.
Second, and perhaps more demonstrably, Wallace Island is a breeding
ground for Hellgrammites. Repulsive, aggressive, and capable of a nasty
bite, Hellgrammites are the larval form of the Dobsonfly. They resemble a
large, aquatic centipede with massive, sharp jaws, and can deliver a pinch
hard enough to draw blood. For whatever reason, Hellgrammites abound
near Wallace Island, which makes for great fishing, but unpleasant wading
conditions. In the early fall, the water in some of the wooded areas near
the island appears to just be boiling with the hideous bugs, which is good
for fish, but a revolting sight to behold.
Gnarltree
A legendary spot to the local teens, Gnarltree has always been just
“Gnarltree” to everyone in Clearfield. Everyone over fifteen has pretty epic
memories of something happening here. A huge, dead oak set about
twenty yards up from the beach on Wallace Island, carved with hundreds
of names and declarations of love or eternal devotion to Iron Maiden,
Judas Priest or a local outfit called the Spider Lords, Gnarltree is a gathering
place devoid of adult judgement.
Since it can only be reached by boat, it’s far enough from civilization that
one can safely be free of teachers, cops, or any form of parental supervision.
As such, its twisted roots are almost always littered with cheap beer cans,
condoms, roach ends, and other detritus of teenage indiscretion.
The Wallace Cabin
The single room cabin, made of local timber, isn’t much to look at. The
river stone chimney and fireplace are frequently being repaired by the park
rangers and the windows get replaced every other year, when some kids
inevitably throw stones at it. The floor was originally just a dirt floor, but a
wooden floor was put in during a refurbishment in 1963 that also brought
power lines to the small structure.
The building has no plumbing but a water pump was added in the case
a fire caught on the island itself. Wallace Cabin is not open as an exhibit
and does not have any furnishings inside beyond a desk and a radio that
the rangers have there in case of emergency. Local kids have believed the
cabin to be haunted by Ichabod Wallace’s Ghost since the late 50’s.
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Abram’s Bridge
Connecting County Road 16 with Rt 13, the Abrams Bridge passes
over the Claremont River from a dizzying height. A day’s bike ride from
downtown Clearfield and Gossettville, the bridge is a bit of new-deal-era
infrastructure that carries both cars and trains across the gap. Supposedly,
a few years ago, a kid (Ronan O’Conor himself, according to some, despite
his still being around town) was on the bridge looking for pennies flattened
by the trains when a freight express out of Pittsburgh got the better of him.
However, no body was ever found, and the case remains unsolved.
The Wheel
An urban legend among the kids at Camp Arowak and among the piers
at Kitner’s Wash is that out, on the far side of the island, deep underwater,
lay the last remnants of Madeleine Valley. In fact, this is true- they even can
be seen on a rare clear day. A rusty arc of metal and tattered cloth hangs
deep below the surface, and those brave enough to have swam down
to it claim it is a ruined, rust-choked ferris wheel, the top of which decays
some twenty feet beneath the surface of the Lake. One kid, Cameron
Reece, once took a dare to actually touch the thing in the summer of ‘84.
He was supposedly under water for fifteen minutes, and bobbed to the
surface with no memory of what happened. Now he hangs around the
Centauri and mutters to himself a lot. If asked what he saw, he only utters
the phrase “Twelve Omaha Solemn Certainty” and looks away. No one has
ever managed to get him to explain what it means.
Lake Madeleine Locals
Prof. Newton
No one actually knows who Professor Newton is working for, if anyone.
He looks to be in his mid-50s or potentially much older, and he talks about
events in Clearfield’s history as though he were there, including the flooding
of the ruins of Madeleine Valley and even the battle of Wallace Hill. He’s a not
unfamiliar sight near the Environmental center or even conducting strange
experiments on the shores of Kitner’s Wash. He’s always looking for help, and
pays two dollars to any “lab assistants” willing to help him with his bizarre
experiments. However, a few of the kids have made some pocket change as
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repeat assistant to Professor Newton, and they’ve learned he always seems
to know just a little too much about what’s going on. He seems to trust kids
with information more than most people, and has a strange grudge with the
scientists as Lockheed J-867, or as he refers to them, “Jackasses.”
By Dr. Michael Jaffe
Dr. Emily Sparrow
When a substitute teacher enters a classroom that usually means the
kids have free reign, but this is simply not the case when Dr.Emily Sparrow
steps into a classroom. There are few students in all of Clearfield County
who are brave enough to step out of line when this military trained morgue
attendant steps into their classroom. The rumor mill really started working on
overtime when some middle schoolers caught wind of her peculiar hobby
of collecting different biological specimens from in and around Kitner’s Wash
and late night visits to the environmental center. None of the kids could get a
word about it out of Ranger Rick Wagner who has been uncharacteristically
tight lipped about Dr. Sparrow, but they are pretty sure it has something to
do with a Frankenstein made out of frog parts and dead bodies.
By Jennifer Manvell Bowersock
Sheriff Al Clifford
The last thing any kid wants to see behind the bright glare of a flashlight
at their car window is the scowl of Sheriff Al Clifford. Al, once the golden boy
of Clearfield, came back from Vietnam an angry and soured man. His wife
left him about ten years ago with two unruly boys that his job prevented
him from being able to look after properly, and the subsequent cycle of
bitterness and neglect has created two budding criminals continually
undermining him in his own home.
Al is doing the best he can, but his anger and resentment make him an
unpleasant man. The years have been unkind, making him appear a full
ten years older than his forty-odd years should. He’s a lonely guy, but he
plugs away at the job of Sheriff, hoping that one day maybe an outside
shot at some last-minute heroism could help him recapture some of the
glory he remembers from his youth.
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The Strangeness
The White Noise
of Clearfield County
In a world before the internet, television is still the all-encompassing, allengrossing technology that no one quite trusts. However, as previously
stated, in a society wherein divorce and parents working multiple jobs
is increasingly common, television is a surrogate parent to an entire
generation. The rise of cable means that what was once just a few
channels is now hundreds, and from music video to home shopping
there’s something for everyone.
The TV is comforting and soothing. Commercials, sitcoms, even dramas
wrap up neatly and easily. It distracts. It’s not real. But in 1986, there
was a system in place to remind the populace that at any time, nuclear
annihilation was a very tangible, real threat.
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The Emergency Broadcast System
“This is a test. This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.
The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the
Federal, State and local authorities have developed this system to
keep you informed in the event of an emergency. In the event of a
real emergency, please stand by for official information, news and
instructions. This station serves the greater metro area. Repeat, this is a
test. This concludes this test of the the Emergency Broadcast System.”
This sinister message made it clear to a generation that this wasn’t just a
random test. It was a message, a countdown. The ominous drone, like a
dial tone, indicated that the TV, your surrogate parent, had checked out.
It was a machine, indifferent and unfeeling and it could not, it would not
save you. You were, in fact, actually alone. It was only a conduit to a signal,
and that signal could potentially be used to tell you you and everything
you had ever known were going to die.
Today.
In Clearfield the Emergency Broadcast System is the tip of the iceberg
for strange and troubling broadcasts. Sometimes referred to as “The
White Noise,” strange broadcasts plague the radio and television airwaves
of the sleepy Delaware town. These broadcasts tend to be followed by
bizarre neurological after-effects; hallucinations, blackouts, long stretches
of lost time, even inexplicable injuries and bruises. In some cases, these
experiences will be shared among two or more people. The younger that
a person is, the more susceptible to the broadcasts they tend to be.
Local 58 is a repository for these messages, from the standard “Emergency
Broadcast System” tests, to “Duck and Cover” PSAs, to stranger, forgotten
messages, some never intended for broadcast. They don’t all play at once,
or even often, but they do show up if one watches long enough.
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Strange Broadcasts from
Local 58: Clearfield County
CHANNEL 5
An otherwise completely nonexistent episode of Cheers in which
Sam and Diane have a child that has glowing white eyes. The child will
occasionally give nonsensical instructions directly to the camera, followed
by a laugh track.
CHANNEL 9
Fifteen minutes of a press conference with what appears to be a local
politician. Something’s wrong with the sound, and it’s hard to hear what
he’s saying, but he keeps pointing to a map with concentric circles radiating
out from Clearfield, indicating the spread of something over time. It covers
the entire eastern seaboard by hour 17. The sound comes back just in time
for him to say “and you understand why we have no choice. I’m sorry.”
CHANNEL 13
A full hour of footage of the full moon, punctuated by chaos and people
screaming below.
CHANNEL 16
An episode of “Highway To Heaven” in which all of the dialogue is
replaced with heavy machinery. NTSC font in the lower right corner reads
a series of obituaries dated for next week.
CHANNEL 21
A long shot of downtown, rusted and underwater.
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CHANNEL 22
Grainy footage of a car that has crashed on a moonlit road at night.
One headlight illuminates the forest. After ten minutes the driver, bloody
and covered with broken glass, gets out and starts feeling around for her
severed head.
CHANNEL 28
Twenty minutes of what appears to be a heartfelt and tearful funeral for
a puppet shaped like the viewer.
CHANNEL 31
A black-and-white old public access show from 1952, “Penny Bedlam’s
Kartoon Karnival.” Penny Bedlam, a boisterous, friendly clown, does tricks and
capers about. He appears to be crying the whole time. Behind him a cheerful
banner reads “WHY WON’T ANYONE HELP US”
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The Strangeling
PALADYN
After watching these broadcasts, people exhibit strange symptoms. Adults
will suffer from headaches and blurred vision. Those under the age of 21,
however, will experience what can only be described as highly advanced
and complicated hallucinations. Some see humanoid images on the
periphery of their vision. others experience strange noises. However, there’s
a large contingency of the local kids that have seen or have a friend of a
friend that has seen Paladyn. He always appears the same way- impossibly,
a knight, sometimes on horseback, both clad in gleaming silver chrome
armor. Pink and purple neon sneaks out of the armor’s joints as if all that
is under the armor is light. He appears, places his sword in the ground
point-first and holds it by the pommel, and always gives the same speech:
Greetings, Cadet. I am Paladyn.
This mission represents the last and only hope for humankind.
I am here to aid you.
Paladyn is tall, imposing, and occasionally invisible to adults. He answers
question sporadically, and seems to be reacting to something happening that
no one else can see more than the immediate needs or requests of the people
directly addressing him. However, he does seem to be genuinely helpful and
altruistic. Whispered stories in Clearfield all maintain that a friend of a friend’s
cousin was saved from bullies or from an oncoming car by Paladyn’s assistance.
A full-system scan has revealed that your body remains in it’s
un-augmented state.
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I can perform baseline alterations to assist you in the mission.
Would you like to upgrade? Y/N
These last word, along with a blinking cursor, appear before the viewer,
hanging in the air like a hologram. If the person selects Y, a new set of
words appears:
CONTROL_ COVER_ EVAC_ SCREEN_ SERVICE_ RESTRICTED:PAYLOAD_
Regardless of which the user chooses, they will immediately double over
in pain and begin to cough up what looks like mercury mixed with blood.
Afterwards, they may start to exhibit strange, unpleasant, and deeply
unreliable powers. However, there seems to be some degree of similarity
to the powers gained:
Those who choose CONTROL_ seems to gain a small degree of control
over magnetism and telekinesis over metal.
Those who choose EVAC_ seem to become incredibly resistant to damage,
heat, or cold and don’t seem to need to breathe.
Those who choose SERVICE_ gain the ability to heal wounds with a
touch, and heal their own wounds rapidly.
Those who choose COVER_ gain the ability to move unseen, as though
invisible to anyone who isn’t “augmented.”
Those who choose SCREEN_ gain the ability to create ghostly, impermeable
planes of light, like a forcefield.
Those who choose RESTRICTED: PAYLOAD_ are generally never heard
from again.
Paladyn is a mystery to almost everyone. His motivations, his origins,
his powers: all are a complete unknown. He has never appeared outside
Clearfield County, and he only appears to kids who’ve watched TV that
day. There are multiple theories- he’s a ghost, a spirit, a living TV channelbut no one knows for certain.
The RULES of Paladyn
1) Never call for him or speak to him in the presence of adults.
2) Don’t try to touch him or see under his armor.
3) Never, ever, ever choose the Restricted Upgrade.
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The Monster
Indrid Cold
Conversely, Clearfield County has a very real, very dark secret, and his
name is Indrid Cold. The Grinning Man appears as a smiling man in an
immaculate white suit, white tie, white shoes. His hair and eyes are black.
He is always smiling, always well-trimmed and freshly-shaven, and always
spotlessly clean no matter where he is. He always appears directly on the
periphery of the vision of the person he’s talking to, as though he’d been
there all along.
Indrid Cold is a terrifying entity. Like Paladyn, he appears as a spirit or a
ghost. He’s not intangible, but he does seem to be out-of-sync with his
environment. He can appear anywhere, at any time. He’s obsessed with
something on Wallace Island. He seems to have terrifying power, but can’t
seem to affect anyone personally. He never attacks anyone directly. In fact, he
never even raises so much as a a hand against his enemies, but those who
displease him do tend to find themselves the victims of inexplicable freak
industrial accidents, as though plagued by bad luck or marked by fate itself.
He never seems to tell people what to do, but offers bizarre, inexplicable
choices. His predictions are never bluffs:
“If you want K.C. and his cronies to stop bullying you and turn their
attentions to someone else, let me know what that telephone number
you saw in the scientist’s notebook was.”
“In two weeks, your mother will file for divorce. I can prevent this, but I
need you to go to Wallace Island at Midnight. Alone.”
“Tomorrow, your brother will be killed in a drunk driving accident. If you
don’t want to see that happen, leave the disk you found at the arcade
in your mailbox before sunrise.”
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setting
Those who do as he asks tend to have no memory of having done so,
even if the night before they were bloodied and terrified carrying out his
inexplicable orders. Those who deny him tend to vanish. Worse yet, within
a week, they’re forgotten completely. Missing kids no longer appear on
their teachers’ roll calls. Parents respond with blank stares. Rooms once
full of posters and records set are forgotten closets or strange rooms. They
don’t just cease to exist- it’s as if they never were in the first place.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
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The Threat
The United States Department
for the
Preservation of American Dignity
A cruel relic of Mccarthy Era politics, tsinister committee inexplicably still
exists as a line item in a few Capitol Hill budgets. The USDPAD is the perfect
place for the sort of mind that sees mutually-assured destruction as a viable
alternative to ceding even a single third-world country to Communism.
Because the sort of power-mad sociopath that would literally threaten the
entire world for their political agenda is also the sort that does VERY well for
themselves in a place like Washington, the USDPAD has all but vanished,
existing now as a shadowy cabal that acts as political puppet masters for
the entire nation. And to them, there is no Glasnost, no Perestroika. Only
an enemy that must be destroyed at any and all costs.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
100
setting
The USDPAD has been very, very closely interested in the goings-on of
Clearfield since the early 50s. They know about and believe in the White
Noise, Paladyn, and Indrid Cold, and seek to control them. As they see it,
the White Noise is a weapon that could be used not only to win the Cold
War, but perhaps eliminate the USSR from history entirely, ushering a brave
new world of American Supremacy.
To this end, the USDPAD can mobilize agents from the CIA, FBI, and
NSA to do it’s bidding. Beholden to no real law, the USDPAD is prone to
use everything from wiretapping phones to kidnapping (and potentially
harming or even killing) minors to achieve it’s ends. Of course no one
associated with the USDPAD is under the age of 30, meaning they’re
forced to cajole, coerce, and threaten those who have had contact with
the White Noise to do their bidding. It’s nothing new to them. They’ve
been threatening, kidnapping and killing American citizens since Truman.
There’s literally no legal power that can stop them. No legal power.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
101
What Is Happening
In Clearfield?
Is It Aliens?
Clearfield, Delaware is the site of a massive alien experiment that causes
deep-seated full-sensory Hallucinations. In 1952, an alien craft crashlanded in Madeleine Valley, and the USDPAD hastily extracted the aliens
and flooded the town to cover up the crash site. In the following days,
Lockheed J-867 was constructed to house the craft and its occupants
as they recovered. Massive amounts of information was passed back
and forth between the aliens and the American scientists. The creatures,
who identified themselves as the “Consadians” explained that they were
forward scouts for the Consadian Preceptors in the second spiral arm of
our galaxy. They were even capable of taking human form for a short
while and interacting with the townsfolk for small fact-finding missions
among humankind.
In 1977, however, disaster struck when word surfaced of a second craft
that had been in Soviet possession since 1908. J-867 devolved in chaos
as top brass accused the Consadian of collusion with the Soviets, and
they dissolved contact between the aliens and the scientists. One of the
Consadians was captured and later vivisected in Nevada’s Area 51. The
others managed to escape, and have not been seen since. Both the Soviets
and the Americans have been using the strange weapons and devices
against each other in the Cold War, often tampering with technologies
they couldn’t possibly understand. Clearfield has become a sort of proving
ground, specifically for the alien’s special transmitters and radio devices that
seem to be the source of the hallucinations. The use of these transmissions
has caused a particular recurring hallucination- Indrid Cold. Furthermore,
by using a transmitter on Wallace Island, the USDPAD has learned it can
even implant suggestions in the target’s mind:
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
102
setting
“If you want K.C. and his cronies to stop bullying you and turn their
attentions to someone else, let me know what that telephone number you
saw in the scientist’s notebook was.”
However, recently, another hallucination, that of “Paladyn” has started
to appear and empower certain kids in the town. The USDPAD thinks that
these transmissions are Soviet in origin, but the truth is even stranger. The
Consadians have not forgotten this planet. Now they’re back, hiding in the
shadow of Halley’s comet. Their fact-finding mission involved connecting
with multiple pregnant women, creating a psionic bond with many, many
children born in the 70s.
These children, these Paladyns, would be given powers to make the
world safe for the Preceptors to initiate contact with the people of Earth
and welcome it into the Galactic Alliance. Their power over a force known
as the White Noise could be catalyzed by a code phrase: Twelve Omaha
Solemn Certainty. However, certain elements (like the USDPAD) would
need to be neutralized first. The Paladyns would have to be trained in the
use of Consadian technology, but fortunately a Centauri-Class training
facility is onsite already.
Is It Ghosts?
Project Paladin actually started in the 1940s as an attempt to transmit
matter across long distances. Although the initial transmitter was in Dayton,
Ohio, a truck was transmitted to a random location that happened to
be the Acacia Field Christmas Tree farm in Madeleine Valley. Madeleine
Valley become the new home of Project Paladin and a new top secret
facility known as the HELIX was built by the USDPAD to coordinate the
experiments. There they met with continued success, as the target locations
were shifted from Germany and The South Pacific to Eastern Europe and
the Soviet Union. The transmissions would occasionally show up a little
after, or even a few milliseconds before they were transmitted. An entire
tank was dropped into the ocean near Florida, and a whole train car was
teleported to the Alameda Naval Yard before Project Paladin become more
brazen in their experiments.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
103
The first malfunction was in 1951. A soldier named Lt. Corbin Dresden
was teleported to Colditz, East Germany, but there was a malfunction in the
transmission, and he never fully re-incorporated. Despite the HELIX’s best
efforts, he simply faded away shortly after he returned. Although officially,
Lt. Dresden vanished, there is a transcript of his last words before he was
gone, attempting to give his name and location:
“…-in Dre… Cold-…”
He was sighted around town after that. Meanwhile, Paladin became more
brazen with their experiments, including sending a 15 Megaton weapon
into the Tunguska Region of Siberia, that reportedly never arrived. In 1952,
for a last-ditch attempt to secure funding for the upcoming financial year, a
broad-spectrum transmission was planned. In an experiment codenamed
“Twelve Omaha,” the device would be used to teleport two dozen small
briefcases with transmission markers all over the town of Madeleine
Valley. However, that’s not what happened. After the device successfully
completed its widest broad-spectrum transmission, the cases still sat in the
target area of the hangar unmoved. It wasn’t until the scientists tried to
call the Pentagon that it became clear something else had gone radically
wrong. Half of their own people had been lost as well. Madeleine Valleythe houses, the people, the shops, the small theme park, even the pets.
All of it was gone, evidently accidentally teleported into itself, or eternally
trapped between transmissions. The HELIX was immediately vacated as per
protocol: Solemn Certainty. The former site of town was flooded by the
Army Corps of Engineers and all evidence of the HELIX was redacted.
However, now, in the 1980s, it seems the people of Madeleine Valley
have found their way back through the broadcasts, seeking revenge, or
at least closure. They can communicate through radio and TV broadcasts
and some, like Indrid Cold, can also cause high-immersion hallucinations,
and seek only revenge. Others, like the last vestiges of the Project Paladin
scientists, desperately reach out to the youth to try and find someone who
can develop a method to bring them home from wherever it is that they
remain trapped.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
104
setting
Is It Something Stranger?
In 2498, following a brutal war with the Hellgrammite Swarm, a bizarre
alien threat from seemingly beyond our galaxy. Humanity is down to less
than 200 people, mostly hand selected geniuses and military in a bunker
on Mars. Desperate scientists have no choice but to delve back into
forbidden “White Noise” Disassembler Nanotechnology for a weapon to
destroy the Hellgrammites once and for all. They used the last three “Alpha
Probe”class starships in the Human Fleet: The Crusader, the Paladyn, and
the Redeemer.
These nanites, common in this time, can build fully realized hallucinations
people can still touch, smell, feel, taste, and hear due to surface level nanoassemblers. Let’s say, a flower: Microscopic robots manipulate your cornea,
tympanic membrane, and nerve endings to make the thing “real” to all
of your senses, but the flower isn’t there. But everyone who has these
assemblers experiences the same flower. The White Noise, however,
is a disassembler, rebuilding matter molecule-by-molecule as it sees fit.
Disassemblers are notoriously dangerous nanites, not just for their ability
to self-replicate when defective but also for strange, tachyon-related sideeffects in their use.
In the battle the White Noise Containment device was damaged by
a comet and failed, and knocked the Paladyn back in time a few million
years. The Autopilot kicked in and took it back to “base:” a now-ancient
Aerospace research Hangar on the East Coast of of North America. That
hangar base is Facility J-867: the Lockheed Facility in Gossettville. It crashed
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
105
not far away, and the impact crater became known as the Wallace Basin.
The wrecked ship became a small hill in the crater basin, where a small
colonial village eventually stood.
The story goes that a man named Ichabod Wallace set up a farm here
before going off to fight in the Revolutionary War. He found that a group
of Hessian mercenaries were moving near the village and he somehow
called upon a power called “Paladin” to destroy them, savaging the village
by accident. Fearing his power, he became a hermit, naming his abode
Wallace Hill. The cabin stood for centuries. (It’s recently been rented as a
writer’s retreat by Harry Selene, AKA Mason Moone.) A small town grew
around the base of the hill, Madeleine Valley, DE.
In the early 1950’s COINTELPRO somehow learned of the Paladyn’s
existence, passing the information to the USDPAD. They set up a base
there, codenamed the HELIX. The Wallace Hill facility they set up led to
disaster, and the entire town of Madeleine Valley was destroyed by the
White Noise in 1952. Following protocol Twelve Omaha Solemn Certainty,
the USDPAD destroyed the town with a surgical “Cold Neutron” strike,
and then flooded the basin to create Lake Madeleine and cover up the
massacre.
Now, the lake itself is completely full of the malfunctioning nanites.
Most follow the programming of the PALADYN’s original ship AI, and
remain inert unless confronted with a threat, even being so beneficial as to
reconfigure the host to best deal with the threat. However, a few have the
White Noise weapon’s programming, now calling itself Indrid Cold after it’s
original program name.
In the wake of Halley’s comet, The Programs find themselves in conflict.
PALADYN’s AI seeks only to protect humankind and fulfill its mission to save
humankind from a terrible fate. The White Noise, now aware and awake
as Indrid Cold, seeks to preserve itself by any means necessary until 2498,
when it will be pulled again from an ancient top-secret facility and used to
save humankind.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
106
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Douglas Sinclair
aka “DJ Battlebeast”
April 20, 1970
Voted most likely to meet J.J.
Jackson on MTV
Douglas loved music his whole life. When he
was young, in a snarky act of vengeance against
his own noisy son, his grandfather bought Doug
a used Casio Vl-Tone that rapidly became his
favorite thing in the world. He’d park himself in
front of the television, carefully picking out the
notes to play all of Michael Jackson and DuranDuran’s hits. However, his life changed when
he first heard “Sucka M.C.’s” when visiting his cousin in Philly. He nearly drove his parents crazy
repeating “I’m D.M.C./ in the place to be/I go to St. John’s University/ and since kindergarten I
acquired the knowledge/ and after twelfth grade I went straight to college.” But they didn’t dare
say anything because they liked the message. He learned to mix beats on his old VL-tone, and
learned girls liked it when he’d rap over the beats. It didn’t hurt that he’s tall and good-looking.
When he got older he became infatuated with the Casio SK-1 at Bushnell’s, but he knew
he couldn’t afford it on his meager allowance. He started working odd jobs, but his technical
expertise attracted the attention of Ronnie Preston, who gave him steady after-school work at the
Centauri. With an income as well as steady supply of spare parts, he’s managed to set up a fairly
impressive DJ booth at the Centauri, all with Ronnie’s blessing. Some of the more conservative
elements in Clearfield find his record scratching sound on the Centauri’s Saturday Night Def Illest
Jam nights a little scary, but they agree it’s less dangerous than the Satanic heavy metal going on
down at Blackie’s Lounge at the edge of town. However, they don’t yet know about his upcoming
collaboration with Vermithrax Pejorative, “Wood/Water/Fire.”
Type
Training
Talent
Musical Brain
Hip-Hop DJ
2/4
4/4
Diamond in
the Rough
3/1
DJ Battlebeast loves that... he can always find solace in music.
DJ Battlebeast hates that... the world is run by Sucka MC’s.
DJ Battlebeast can count on... Hip Hop will rule the world one day.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Julie Thompson
Oct 29, 1969
Voted most likely to be arrested
at a wedding
Julie is unpleasant. Her mother died when
she was very young, her father remarried, and
she simply never even pretended to get over it.
She smokes like retiree at a slot machine, curses
like a sailor, and insults virtually everyone she
spends more than thirty seconds with. She’s the
most obnoxious of Clayton M. Abernathy High’s
“Weird Sisters,” a trio of vitriolic proto-goths that
include Julie, the more stylish Yolanda Harrison,
and the laconic and unsettling Morgan Chase. Julie is a seventeen year old girl who hates the
world, and everything that comes with that. Julie is mean and sarcastic to such a degree that she
tends to conflate the idea of maturity with isolation.
Julie has one real passion, and that’s a dogged admiration for the truth. She is a reporter for the
School Paper, the Hawk’s Screech, and since it is literally the only thing she takes seriously, she takes
it far, far too seriously. She is disturbingly good at her job, having broken the stories of Billy Sawyer
selling the freshmen toasted grass clippings or the illegal poker game in the teachers lounge
where the ante was substitute teacher’s hours. She made no friends but one: Robert Woods,
the Journalism teacher. He’s the closest thing she has to a mentor, and he finds her abrasiveness
almost endearing. Conversely, she nurses a crush on him like an open wound. In general, she just
wants everyone to die or go away and leave her be with her disillusionment. But Woods, to her,
represents a possible place for her in the world. A path by which her spiky quest for the truth, no
matter who it pisses off, isn’t ignored but rewarded, and the unsettling notion that maybe she
doesn’t have to kill just to be happy.
Type
Training
Talent
Pissy Basket
Case
3/1
Gonzo
Journalist
6/2
Dogged
Investigator
3/3
Julie loves that.. everyone else is wrong all the time.
Julie hates That... no one seems to care about that.
Julie can count on... mom has got to be out there somewhere.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Sid Clifford
August 7 1969
Voted most likely to summon the
actual devil
After Sid Clifford was born in 1969 as the
direct result of a fumbled backseat celebration, Al
Clifford got a job as a cop instead of a position
with the Baltimore Ravens as he’d dreamed.
Eventually, bitter single dad Al Clifford made
Sheriff. Sid went a different way.
The new gods of rage asserted themselves
in 1982 with an album called “Number of the
Beast.” America, already in the throes of a “Satanic Panic” about heavy metal, collectively lost its mind
at the nerve of these foreign devil-worshippers who called themselves “Iron Maiden.” That year,
on his birthday, a freshly bruised Sid was in Traxx Records with ten dollars he’d received from his
mother in a card with no return address. That day, he became a priest; his sermons were fury and
his faith was Heavy Metal. He saved and stole until he could buy a bass at the mall, and formed a
band with four other burnouts. The name Vermithrax Pejorative was suggested by their “manager,”
Billy Sawyer, and following a single show at Blackie’s Lounge, they became local legends.
Obviously, Sheriff Al Clifford found this entirely repellent. He gave up on Sid completely, offering
the boy little more than a bed and a room, focusing his attentions on Sid’s little brother Kirk “KC”,
who in his opinion still had a chance at being a productive American. Sid is now leader of the
town’s burnouts. Just the sight of his primer-gray GTO with its one red door is enough to cause
the more nervous kids to run from the area. He’s become a low-ante criminal mastermind, moving
porn, knives and fireworks, and even drugs. Sid is a bully and a thief, but he’s not without his
own sense of justice; when Carter Freemont stole his little brother’s lunch money, Sid quietly broke
Freemont’s hand in three places and used the money to buy KC a copy of Anthrax’s “Spreading the
Disease.” The next generation of rage has already begun.
Type
Training
Talent
Intense
Criminal
2/2
Heavy Metal
Bass Player
3/3
Rainbow in
the Dark
6/2
Sid loves that... Metal is the sound of fear.
Sid hates that... his father will never change
Sid can count on... the other members of Vermithrax to back him up.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Lewis J. Dinkelman
April 1, 1970
Voted class clown
The eldest of two children, Lewis Dinkelman
was once told that he could be a very successful
CPA, like his old man. That life would never be
enough for Lewis, who was more concerned with
being be the center of attention. He wanted to be
Mel Brooks or Jackie Mason from the time he was
old enough to talk. Back when he was a Freshman
he enshrined himself as the most dangerous and
hysterical youth in Clearfield County. Sure, the
cheerleaders’ eyebrows eventually grew back… but by then, the legend was eternal. Shortly after,
around sophomore year, Lewis discovered women and women discovered Lewis.
His escapades were among the most flamboyant and well documented among his peers. He
discarded his first name, preferring to go by “Dinkelman” because he loved hearing the vice principal
snarling it at each new prank. He hooked up with girls from his own class to the graduating seniors
with regularity, all the while bedeviling poor Vice Principal Gleason with everything from exploding
toilets to a pool full of fresh lobsters.
Eventually, Clearfield’s most overly flirtatious and flamboyant teen met his match in Lacey Wong.
The daughter of the Chinese Restaurant owner stole his heart and proved to be just as promiscuous
and flirtatious he was. Their fights are obnoxious, common, and legendary, but somehow they kept
winding up together. After running for class president as a joke, Lewis Dinkelman has discovered a
better use for his showmanship: politics. It’s had a profound effect on him. He’s decided he wouldn’t
just be famous, he’d be powerful. Some day, he and Lacey Wong would screw in the Oval Office,
maybe on national television.
Type
Training
Talent
Prince
of fools
3/3
Mischief
Making
5/3
Pratfalls
3/1
Dinkelman loves that.. he can always be the center of attention.
Dinkelman hates That... Lacey won’t settle down with him.
Dinkelman can count on... the Vice Principal, always being on his case.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Finn Petersen
July 9, 1974
Voted most likely to work for
Parker Brothers.
When Finn arrived in Clearfield from LA in 1984,
he was the dorky new kid that didn’t know anyone.
After his parent’s divorce, he counted his lucky
stars that it was pleasant and amicable. He’d seen
other families torn apart by litigation but his mom
quietly moved away while his dad moved in with
his friendly new roommate Greg. He and his mom
moved a zillion miles to the middle of nowhere,
Delaware, with all new kids and an all new school.
It would have been devastating had it not been for one thing: Tuesday Nights.
His mom took him to Arneson’s with the promise that he could get whatever he wanted, and what
he found was in a red box with a wicked-looking red dragon on the cover. From there, he found a better
situation than he’d ever had back in LA. In LA he was just another kid. In Clearfield he’s the Dungeon
Master. He’s run games for Derrick Thompson, Ordell Gibbs, Patrick Doyle, and even KC Clifford, the terror
of Elias Thorne Jr. High. He’s even had a few girls play once or twice, and Tracey Cheng came back a
few times before her halfling was eaten by a bugbear. Carol-Anne Egan wants to play again, but her
mom said it was satanic, so they’re going to have to figure out how to sneak her in. Finn is deeply proud
of the world he has created and the Characters within it. In Eternica, there are elves and dwarves and
even a home-brew race called the “Crystarri” that he created that are translucent crystal-people who are
natural illusionists. At Dr. Elias Thorne Jr High, he and his friends are powerless: powerless against bullies like
Tyson Miller or KC’s brother Sid, powerless against their parents, powerless against the teachers. But in the
world of Eternica, the gods themselves have bent knee to their Paladins and wizards. They’re unstoppable.
They’re powerful. And since Finn created the world, Finn’s power is absolute. He’s found that he’s less and
less excited to return to LA in the summers to see his dad and more excited to stay with his friends drinking
soda and telling stories. In LA, he’s just a kid. In Clearfield, Finn can be somebody.
Type
Training
Talent
Improvisational
Brain
1/3
Rules Lawyer
Fudging
the Dice
4/2
4/4
Finn loves that... his players will always be in his basement every Tuesday night.
Finn hates that... D&D isn’t recognized as a legitimate extracurricular activity.
Finn can count on... the dice to be impartial.
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Mr. Morningside
June 30, 1908, but he looks 35
Voted favorite teacher
Mr. Morningside (his first name is Christopher,
but very few know this, and those who do rarely
ever call him that) showed up at Dr. Elias Thorne
Jr. High in May of 1977 and has been there ever
since. He appears (and lists his age) as being
thirty-five, but he’s absentmindedly written his
birthdate as being June 30, 1908, which would
actually make him nearly 80. He speaks with
no accent but claims to be an immigrant from
somewhere far, far away and follows the local
politics in Asia, Africa, and Europe all ask though he’s lived there in the recent past. In fact, he’s
fascinated with politics, following not only American politics but tracing out it’s global ramifications.
Mr. Morningside has been teaching Social Studies for nine years. His lessons are a little dry for
the age group that he’s teaching, but he’s found that for the kids who can keep up, he can really
get them inspired. Furthermore, to those kids who maintain interest, he’s a font of in some cases
impossible information. He’s given his students everything from insider info into what Kennedy had
for breakfast on the morning that the Bay of Pigs broke out to the precise moment a fire drill was
going to be pulled that day. Given the realization that these are things he couldn’t possibly know,
a rumor mill has started about Mr. Morningside at Elias Thorne Jr. High: he’s an ex-soviet spy or he
used to work for NASA, or he’s actually just an alien who’s waiting for his chance to get back home.
He’s definitely a weird guy: Twice he’s been found on the roof of the school at night wordlessly
staring at the stars or hours. There is some evidence that puts him in the Tunguska region of Siberia
before he came to Clearfield (passports and travel records,) however, he speaks American English
with no noticeable accent. Mr Morningside is a perfect teacher and a font of knowledge and
inspiration to his students. The school really doesn’t care why.
Type
Training
Talent
Outsider Brain
3/3
Social Studies
Teacher
1/4
Not From
Around Here
2/6
Mr. Morningside loves that.. America has freedom of speech, even for teachers.
Mr. Morningside hates That... There are problems he cannot solve.
Mr. Morningside can count on... he will get home someday.
By Sean Skipworth
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Ronan O’Conor
Uncertain. Probably born
between 1968-1970
Voted most likely to either stay
in Clearfield forever or vanish
completely
In a town with a reputation for the bizarre, Ronan
is one of the stranger elements. He could be any age
from seventeen to twenty-one, he’s not telling and
his ID is clearly one of Billy Sawyer’s better fakes. He
seems to be perpetually out of smokes, but full of juicy
new tidbits about what’s going on around the town
that he’s willing to exchange for one. He graduated
high school either a year ago or three years ago, depending who you ask, and he works delivery at Perry’s
Pizza and Bushnell’s Electronics when he can to make ends meet. He’s always around town, and he’s just
pleasant and quiet enough that no one really notices him until they need something from him.
The Junior High schoolers have theories, however, about the strange shadow of an older kid who
seems to haunt their town. They whisper that he’s Cameron Reece, the older brother of Jackson Reece, a
quiet kid with some serious issues who was suspended last year for freaking out in math class and throwing
a desk at Mr. Alford. Word was that not all was well in the Reece household, and that when their mom
died, their dad kind of lost it and retreated into a bottle with his memories of ‘Nam. He works at the garage
in Gossettville, but no one looks him in the eye anymore. Meanwhile, Ronan, or Cameron, or whoever he
is, skates by on the fringes, the kid everyone’s seen but no one knows; the kid under the bridge.
Type
Training
Talent
Mysterious
Criminal
3/3
Resourceful
Loner
2/2
Play with
Madness
4/4
Ronan loves that... he can help others, even if he can’t help himself.
Ronan hates that... he can’t seem to get his brother out yet.
Ronan can count on... the can find what he needs.
By Dan McAuliffe
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
Thalia Elizabeth Blackstone
July 9, 1971
Voted m ost likely to join either
the NBA or GI JOE
Thalia, usually Tali to her friends, had the
singular misfortune of being five-foot-nine in her
fifth grade class, the tallest kid in the class and
a girl, to boot. The mockery she received was
fairly brutal until she stole Ryan Cunningham’s
lunchbox and simply held it out of reach until he
apologized. Her relationship with her unusual
height changed that day; what had been a curse became something else entirely when, that
afternoon, Terrell Watson picked her first for softball. In other classes she was a tall, gawky girl who
often tried and failed not to be noticed, but in gym class, she was an asset. Tali liked running, and by
eighth grade she was the fastest, strongest kid in the class. This earned her a new group of friends,
and when Terell, Sam, and Curtis met after school, she got to play two on two, or otherwise she’d
be Wonder Woman regardless of what the afternoon’s adventures were, from storming the Death
Star to ridding the world of Communism.
Now, she’s a star forward for the Clearfield Lady Hawks and led the team to State last year. That
gawky muscle is becoming long and lean. She’s six feet tall and her tangled nest of mousy brown
hair has become a long, glamorous mane. People are noticing her at the mall, and Terrell, Sam, and
Curtis don’t look at her as another guy anymore. She’s started actively combatting this through the
vigorous use of dirty jeans, leather jackets, Van Halen T-shirts and hair ties. She’s happiest running,
jumping, pushing herself the the utmost limit. She knows it’s a losing battle to reclaim the sort of
friendships she used to have, so she takes out her frustrations on her opponents. On the court, she’s
truly free, and god help anyone who stands in her way.
Type
Training
Talent
Frustrated
Athlete
3/3
Fadeaway
Queen
6/2
“I Can Do
Better”
2/2
Thalia loves that.. with her hard work and fundamentals, she can win this.
Thalia hates That... they all look at me like that no matter what I do.
Thalia can count on... the Boston Celtics.
By Darren Carneski
Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)
This Is
Only A Test
Crafting A
Small-Town Phenomenon
The 80’s were a time of considerable growth in America, especially in
urban areas. This often came at some cost to more rural regions. The twin
phenomena of “White flight” and “Urban Sprawl” gave rise to a suburban
heyday, reaping the harvest of seeds sown in the early fifties and carefully
nurtured by the government to generate a safe and happy middle class that
would stand firm against any inkling of Communism. Through meticulously
crafted development, the suburbs were one of America’s most prevalent
byproducts of the Cold War.
Quietly emerging from the outskirts of the burgeoning sprawls of New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and other massive population
centers, suburban towns took shape, defining the generation that grew
up within their sheltering environs. In a typical 80’s suburb, you were rarely
more than a determined bike ride away from downtown, the Mall, or the
edge of town. This was your world. This was your home.
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Creating a Suburban Town
To create a suburb setting of your own, carefully weigh the variables to
make a place feel real and lived-in. The town shouldn’t merely be a set or
backdrop for your weirdness, but a living, breathing place with real people
and real lives who are upended and confronted by the town’s mystery.
Remember, the clearer the vision of what your town looks like to you, the
clearer it will be to your players. Bring them home to it.
First, Pick a town name: One with a small town feel. Usually two-words
(Adjective-noun) or something with name of the town’s founder. Even the
town’s name can contribute to it’s mystery, so consider that when coming
up with it.
Then determine the town’s location, and what city nearby gave rise to
its existence. Clearfield County is near both Philadelphia and Washington
DC, so it is influenced by both. However, it’s a closer to Washington, so it is
somewhat colored by that city’s influence: the politics, the culture, and the
graft all find their way into Clearfield, brought home by the people who
commute back there from work in the nation’s capital. Clearfield isn’t where
the big players live- they can afford to be closer, in nicer areas, but you can
be assured that the people of Clearfield County are certainly reaching over
each other for the prizes they can offer.
Next, decide on features that define the town. Is there a Lake? River?
Waterfall? What is the wilderness like? In the Northwest and East Coast,
you’ll likely find huge forests. In the midwest there might be endless rolling
plain. Maybe it’s a beach town that relies on the fragile tourism of a few
summer month to stay viable. Maybe it’s a southwestern oasis nestled deep
in the desert, miles from the next town over. Is it in the middle of the
state, or near the border? This question is important because these are
the environs that will shape your characters’ lives. Do they look forward
to partying by the lake? Do they take special care to insulate their homes
against the frigid northern chill, and skate on a frozen pond every winter?
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Crafting your Mystery
The old chestnut of the town beset by mystery is a fun one to explore.
However, the “monster of the week” approach is much more a product of the
90s and the supernatural-based TV shows that came with it. In the 80’s, small
town mystery follow a central core theme, and it played on a conventional
fear of the era. Look to films of the era, especially films designed for the youth
demographic, for simplifications of these larger threats. By tapping into these
fears you can create a single, central mystery for your players to slowly unravel
over a longer period of time, making each small victory and each new clue
that much sweeter, as opposed to merely determine that this week’s threat
is a werewolf, when last week was aliens probing farm animals. So what sort
of themes did the latch-key kids of the 80’s confront?
The Cold War
The big one. Impossible to ignore, the omnipresent threat of unilateral
oblivion was as normal to the child of the 80’s as a cartoon-themed
lunchbox. In fact, the obliteration of everything that one knew became
an almost banal theme explored in literally every single aspect of pop
culture- music, TV, Cartoons, Music Videos, Books, Comics, Movies, even
commercials. It was constant and inescapable, and although it may seem
crazy now, the fact that you and everything you ever knew and cared
about could be wiped off the map in the blink of an eye was as simple a
fact of life to 80’s kids as milk being good for your bones and teeth. It was
impossible to do anything about it, so you simply went about life as normal
with the shadow of death- not conventional, unpredictable death but the
very real threat of nuclear annihilation.
AIDS
Hand-waved by a complacent administration as a “gay disease,” AIDS
rose to the status of a full-on epidemic by 1985. Clouded by stigma and
misinformation that was exacerbated by the rampant homophobia of the
time, the disease became a cultural boogeyman. The truth of AIDS was
mired in urban legends and insipid rumors that were treated as gospel
fact, such as AIDS having been created by the CIA or the Soviets, or that
it could be transmitted through touch or a cough. This fear of AIDS led to
a through line of fear of disease of all stripes in 80’s media, perhaps most
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setting CREATION
obviously in the resurgence of the Zombie Horde in pop culture. Originally
created in the 60’s as an allegory for Marxism, their resurrection (ugh) in
the 80s was a bold-faced metaphor for the new lepers.
Crack and Other Drugs
Perfected in the early 80’s, crack cocaine took the inner cities by storm,
forging bloody empires for the drug lords who perfected its sale and
distribution. For the forgotten black and latino communities of the inner
city, it was an impossible-to-resist way to generate instant income in a
world that denied them opportunity more often than not. Conversely, in
the whiter suburbs, the drug problem became a very real concern that
could be used against inner city youth at every turn. An utterly incompetent
“war on drugs” was declared and the insipid catch-phrase “Just Say No To
Drugs” was deployed in every school in the country. It went over just as
poorly as one could imagine it would. The “Pusher” or “Drug Dealer” trope
was created, a cartoonish villain with no bearing on the actual problem,
but cathartic for action movie purposes.
Crime
Crime was at an all-time high in the 80’s, giving rise to a bizarre rightwing fantasy of the “good guy with a gun” that echoes to this day. Starting
with Charles Bronson and resulting in characters like The Punisher, this
daydream assumes that crime springs into being from “bad guys” and not
from desperate people in a terrible situation. The 80’s were something of
a Golden Age for bad guys. Villains were everywhere and simply relished
in the sheer joy of doing evil for its own sake, perhaps none so much as
criminals and drug dealers. This was a lot of cathartic fun for movies and
TV, if not particularly productive for actually fixing any problems.
Stranger Danger
There was a rise in the awareness, if not frequency, of children being
abducted by unknown parties for untoward means. A concerted effort was
made among educational elements, television PSAs, and local grassroots
small businesses to teach children a “healthy mistrust” of strangers. Seeing
as how most children were spending more and more time alone, it was
valuable to teach them to comport themselves when faced with unknown
persons offering candy or treats if they’d just get in the van or whatever.
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Vietnam
This was a massive thing that loomed large in the subconscious of
America in the 80’s, a ghost that’s not quite understood by the subsequent
generations. As a stain upon the omnipresent monolith that the baby
boomers represent to all subsequent generations, the sting of the Vietnam
War was being explored in every single aspect of American media.
Everywhere from GI Joe to the A-Team to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the
USA”, the strange mixture of despair and jingoism gave rise to some very
powerful work that resonates to this day.
The Japanese
Very few people are aware of the bizarre xenophobic panic that took
place in the mid-80s, as Japanese business began an aggressive campaign
of buying American assets. The more alarmist elements in business thought
this indicated sub-rosa financial takeover was taking place, and the response
was very reminiscent of the “Yellow Peril” racism of the 19th Century. While
the wholesale transfer of power obviously never came to pass, it was a very
real fear for some Americans, particularly those in certain aspects of the
financial sector and the automotive industry, that Japan would supersede
America as a financial superpower.
Be mindful that it’s a radically different cultural era. Players may have
modern concepts of the way the world worked back then. They’re wrong.
The world works how you, as Director, say it does. Make sure to banish
any meta-notions they have on Russian efficacy, drug rationality, and sexual
safety. Oblivion was nigh, crack was everywhere, and Americans genuinely
believed that communist spies were trying to infiltrate the Midwest for
inscrutable, sinister reasons. It was a weird time.
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Deepening
Your Mystery
Introducing the Strangeling
Into this bucolic world of your small town comes the other. Something
inexplicable, something powerful, and something otherworldly. It may be
an alien, a bizarre egg, a tiny adorable creature, a psychic child, even just
a strange device. This element is called, for the purposes of Rememorex,
the Strangeling. The Strangeling usually follows a few simple guidelines:
The Strangeling MUST NOT BE FOUND
It must be protected from the outside world. Virtually always this means
keeping it hidden from adults who would no doubt report or take it to the
authorities, guaranteeing its certain doom. This thing must be dealt with by
a small group of kids with a little luck, and a lot of heart.
The Strangeling is Innocent
At least initially, the Strangeling is innocent. It certainly has things following
it, dangerous things that may still be mundane but seek to control its power.
The Strangeling will almost never fight as hard to protect itself as it will to
protect its new human friends. It does not want to be violent. At least, not
at first, but once it has begun, it usually gains momentum very quickly.
The Strangeling has Rules
There is almost always a short list of critically important rules to dealing with the
Strangeling to prevent it from going haywire. Maybe you can’t get it wet. Maybe
it doesn’t like enclosed spaces. Maybe it gets irrationally terrified of vacuums.
Whatever the rules are, they must not be broken, lest chaos and havoc ensue.
Of course, for the story to move forward, someone, somewhere, has to break
the rules. The players will no doubt be super careful to follow the rules- far, far
more careful than movie or television characters, in fact, because they’ve seen
these films before. However, as sinister forces close in, the Strangeling can’t
be with the characters forever. Sooner or later, they’ll be left alone, and then
meddling outside forces can move things forward. It’s all about patience. That
said, the rules are sacrosanct and must be followed to the letter- you cannot
change them to suit your whims. Once they’re set, they’re set, and as Director
you must ascribe to the parameters you have determined.
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The Mysterious Child
She has violet eyes that appear to glow at
night, and appeared once during a storm. She
rarely speaks, and when she does, it’s almost
either a yes or no answer, or a short, singsongy
if somewhat disturbing rhyme. It’s troubling that
any electrical device around her seems to go
haywire, and she can command your blender
or your Atari simply by speaking to it.
The Rules
She is deathly afraid of water.
She does not like magnets at all.
Never, ever cover her eyes with
anything.
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The Runaway Robot
A google-eyed robot, initially thought to be
alien but bearing the remains of a scratched
“USAF” logo on it’s shoulder, is on the run
from shadowy men in floral vans. He’s
endlessly curious about humans and human
entertainment, and loves video games. He
seems to like being called nicknames, because
“ALL I HAD BEFORE… WAS A NUMBER.”
The Rules
He must be plugged in to charge every
24 Hours, or he will power down.
Never aim any weapon at him, even
in jest.
He has a code phrase, “Activate X
Protocol,” which must never, ever be
uttered in his presence.
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The Adorable Critter
He just seemed to show up in the luggage
following dad’s strange expedition to Rapa
Nui. He’s utterly adorable, with huge fuzzy ears
and big, sad eyes. He loves Pop Rocks and will
do almost anything for them, making grabby
motions with his tiny three-fingered hands
and mumbling “Poppy Nommy” in his squeaky
voice. Oddly, the Amulet dad brought back
of the twenty-foot Blood God At’Arishnakh
vaguely resembles a twisted, sinister version of
his face.
The Rules
He’s deathly afraid of the ground and
climbs everywhere.
He doesn’t like to be out in the open.
He prefers to squeeze into tiny spaces.
Never, ever, ever let him see the light
of a crescent moon.
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The Furious
Keyboard
What looks like a simple, unassuming Casio
SK-5 found in an out-of-the-way pawn shop
actually contains and feeds on the the negative
energy of countless musicians who never made
it big, causing the player to create powerful
music able to cause deadly visions of the
musician. These visions vary depending on the
player, common forms include dinosaurs, sci-fi
monsters, or psychedelic synth demons.
The Rules
Play at least once a day.
Perform for an audience once a
month.
Make it big within one year… or feel
the Fury.
By Alexander Cubi
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The Endless
Underground
Everyone knows to stay away from the caves
out in the woods, but no one remembers
exactly why. They used to be a tourist trap, but
it was shut down right after that meteor impact
back in the 50’s. There’s even a crazy rumor that
the caves are a living being, now. Like walking
down a long throat ringed with razor sharp
teeth. Crazy. Now no one goes out there…
well, no one local, anyway. Every so often
some damn kid or some blamed-fool traveller
comes in screaming and wheezing about the
kids trapped in the cave. They’re not trapped.
They’re bait.
The Rules
Never go in alone.
You cannot exit the way you entered.
People lost in the caves never come
back... as themselves.
By David Groveman
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The Alien Beauty
This isn’t right. The new kid is always awkward,
weird, and take a while to get the others to
warm up to her. The new kid doesn’t just waltz
into school on day one and instantly take over
the most popular clique, start dating the captain
of the football team (and the head cheerleader),
and wrap all the teachers around her finger.
Straight A’s, homecoming queen? Somethings
up. What’s with those guys in the red coats
following here everywhere? Come to think of
it, you’ve never seen her house, or her parents.
But, even despite her popularity, she’s not mean.
She even seems to really like setting up lonely
kids on dates. Mean Old Mrs. Cotton down
by the tracks says
she’s a renegade
succubus, whatever
that means. But she
is always looking
over her shoulder
like she’s on the run from something…
The Rules
Never let her get you alone.
Never tell any of the men in redcoats
how to find her.
If she sets you up on a date, you go.
By Bri
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The Kindly Mr. Smith
To the local teens, he’s the science teacher
everyone wants to talk to after class as he’s a
bit odd, but incredibly intelligent. For the middle
schoolers he’s the guy who always turns up
when weird things happen. They know he’s a
teacher from brothers or sisters. There’s rumors
he isn’t right in the head, but he’s too beloved
to get rid of. However, he talks about history
like he was there, like he witnessed it firsthand.
And sometimes, his students seem to come
back from short trips, like to get a hall pass,
seeming dirty, shaken, and confused, as though
hours had passed and they’d been on crazy
adventures. The weird kids all swear his watch
is a time machine.
But that’s impossible,
right?
The Rules
He will never let any harm come to
one of his kids.
The fob watch that’s on his desk in
the classroom must never be opened.
Do not point a gun at him. Ever.
By Harold Delaney
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The Curio Shop
Out by the highway, there’s a little brick shop
under a modest sign offering antiques and
curios that’s never open consistent hours. It
always seems to be open just at the right time
(or in some instances the wrong time). The
shopkeeper, a strange man who seems to be
in very good shape despite his advanced age
(which he attributes to his other job a a special
kind of hunter) will generally spin grandiose
stories about his “new hot item” even though he
may not understand the true power or dangers
of it. Everything in the shop has a history and
it’s usually tragic, if not horrific. A superstition
person might think everything for sale is cursed
in some way…
The Rules
Never pass up on a good deal.
Always heed the shopkeeper’s
warning.
Absolutely no refunds or exchanges.
By John White
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The Mild-Mannered
Professor
The Professor came from out of town with
a lot of equipment and helpful interns eager
to help on a real-live dinosaur dig. Imagine!
Dinosaurs right here in your boring old
hometown! However, after a few nights, the
professor seemed pretty strange, digging
constantly, even after it’s dark and his students
have all gone home. He seems bizarrely driven,
muttering about a “cure” when he thinks no
one is listening. A bunch of the younger kids
swear on their lives they saw a real-live dinosaur
in the fog by the quarry last Saturday, but
oddly, the professor
was nowhere to
be found. He finally
showed up early
Monday morning
looking dirty and
bedraggled, looking
to replace his torn clothing. And why are
all the local pets vanishing?
The Rules
Try not to talk to the professor about
his work too much.
Stay away from the dig after dark.
Never, ever let it bite you.
By James Monty-Carbonari
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On Playing the Strangeling
Of course you may choose to let a player take on the role of the Strangeling,
however, this is a delicate balance that all players must agree to on the
outset. Since so much of the story hangs on its mystery, the Strangeling
player may have an sort of unfair advantage in the game if they know
all of the answers. An amnesiac stagnating is a common enough trope,
or perhaps a co-director situation can also work. Be aware, however, that
bugging the game with a player-character Strangeling means that you’re
opening up with a tremendous level of imbalance out of the gate.
Small-Town Cartography
Now that you’ve established the basics, it’s time to make this town real,
a place where people live. Figure out what’s where. Draw a map. What’s
downtown? Where is the school, and what is it called? Where are the
police and fire stations? It’s good to determine where the residential areas,
institution, and business are situated. A fun way to go about making these
locations and people is to try and insert references and homages to pieces
of 80’s pop culture. These in-jokes are more for you, and players clever
enough to get them, but they’ll also help you remember each bit of minutia
you put into the game.
Remember to focus on what’s important for each age bracket. While
the neighborhood bar is an important place for the adults, it will have little
value to the age brackets that must drink in clandestine locations. Consider
that High Schoolers and Middle Schoolers have overlap, and that High
School locations of import would likely be legendary for middle schoolers.
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The Secret Locker
Weapons And Equipment For
Suburban Adventuring
Inmates in any sort of incarceration rapidly develop their own economy,
and the schools of 1980s suburbia were no different. Although money had
value, it wasn’t common among the average kids. High schoolers had more
immediate access to cash and drugs, but among the Junior High School set,
other things had to fill in the blanks.
It’s important to stress that the suburban youth of the 80s fetishized ninjutsu
and martial arts almost in a direct inverse ratio to their knowledge of it. Every
boy between five and fifteen knew a katana was bulletproof folded metal
and could cut through a car door like a lightsaber when properly wielded
by an expert, like Chuck Norris or Storm Shadow. Thus an undue amount of
value was placed on “ninja weapons” with little to no actual knowledge of
the use or application of them. Furthermore, the quality of materials available
to a Junior High School kid was dubious at best.
Armament had to be scavenged from household items, purchased
surreptitiously from disreputable dealers at army-navy shops or flea markets,
or obtained by proxies like high school kids or crazy relatives. This last prospect
was particularly fraught with danger because both elements were known to
demand great sacrifices exchange for their efforts. It was taken in stride, as
this was the sort of thing a heroic junior high school kid would have to deal
with in order to protect his or her hometown from supernatural threats and
the looming specter of Soviet Communism.
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Inventory
Treasure Types
It’s important to stress that every single weapon in this section is a gamechanger. They’re not well made or even necessarily designed to be used
as a weapon at all, but they will mess a kid up all the same. We’re past
detention here. Police are going to get involved, and that will go on your
permanent record.
In the world of junior high, there are four types of weapons: blunt, sharp,
unpredictable, and terrifying. A blunt weapon is considered fair game. It
could be a stick or a riot baton. The misconception was pretty common:
you couldn’t really kill anyone with a conk to the head, only knock them
out.
Sharp weapons, from knives to broken bottles, are an immediate
escalation. You are now fighting with intent to kill. This is going to go on
your permanent record, and you may well be sent to Juvie, so you better
be absolutely certain before you break out something like your scout knife
or the machete you swiped from Uncle Tommy that you know what you’re
getting into.
The third kind of weapon was ranged, and therefore unpredictable. A
gun was obviously not in the cards- most suburban kids didn’t have access,
and the more rural kids were usually taught proper reverence for that kind
of weapon. If you wanted to hurt someone outside melee range, you were
stuck with slingshots, airguns, and dangerous fireworks if you were really
nuts. Everyone knew some kid who had a BB lodged in them, so it was a
non-trivial issue to level such a weapon at a target.
The last type, terrifying, was something you knew could definitely kill.
Maybe it’s a solid, well-made knife, a spiked baseball bat, or a reliable
crossbow. This weapon meant business and was only to be used to
threaten…. Unless things were utterly dire.
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Weapons
Blunt Weapons
Stick
Not ideal, but you work with what you can find.
Rusty Chain
Just a hunk of chain. Gets your point across, but loud and hard to
conceal. A trip to detention waiting to happen, really.
Homemade Nunchuks
Two ugly hunks of wood nailed to a rope. Not particularly reliable, but
produced a satisfying enough bonk when swung against an opponent.
Flea Market Nunchuks
Slightly more reliable, these at least
boasted a real chain. The wood was
pretty but often delicate and would
shatter when used on something
stronger than a trapper keeper
or little brother.
Broken Bottle
Harder to come by as plastics became more common, there are still more
than enough beer bottles easily recovered and weaponized in parking lots
and forests. The trick is not shattering it in your hand.
Cheap Riot Baton
Available at some army-navy stores, this black-laquered L-shaped stick
looks tougher than it is. Prone to splintering.
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Inventory
Sharp Weapons
Cheap Knife
Available almost everywhere, from gas stations to sporting good shops
to army-navy shops, this nasty shard of metal might snap shut on your
knuckles, but thats the risk you take.
Samurai Sword
Often manufactured in Pakistan, these overpriced decorative pieces
were virtually impossible to conceal and not even a little bit designed to be
used in combat. While they would no-doubt deliver a wicked, potentially
even fatal cut, the force of the blow would often cause the weapon to fail
spectacularly.
Scout Knife
The first knife your parents got you, this is a solid, reliable weapon. Feels
dirty using it, though. After all, if you have this item, that means that at some
point you did swear some oaths about not doing this kind of thing.
Rambo Knife
The brass ring. This was the ultimate
schoolyard weapon of the 80s: a heavy
Vietnam-era combat knife with a hollow
handle for twine, matches, etc. Some even
had a compass built into the pommel.
The popularity of this weapon prompted
millions of shoddily-made knockoffs
that found their ways into the lockers,
backpacks, and post-apocalyptic fantasies
of countless unstable children.
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Unpredictable Weapons
Tin-Snip Throwing Stars
Painstakingly crafted in a garage with time, sheet metal, and a lack of
foresight, these are as sharp as they are unpredictable. Lots of potential for
hospital visits here.
Flea Market Throwing Stars
Heavier and more solid, a “real” throwing
star was more easy to throw but often
bounced un-satisfyingly off the target
unless a considerable amount of English
was applied to the throw.
Wrist Rocket
How bad can a slingshot be? This mean bastard, made of aluminum,
plastics,and surgical tubing answers back: pretty bad. Accurate, strong and
powerful, a pebble fired from this thing isn’t quite a bullet, but it can do
almost as much damage.
Crappy Crossbow
Obtained from countless survivalist uncles and military surplus catalogs,
this was a kids gun-but-not-a-gun. They were usually made of plastic and
the high-tension bowstring could painfully collapse the weapon in the
user’s hands.
Air Rifle/BB Gun
This is basically a gun that will pierce everything but bone. This is an
argument-ender.
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Inventory
Terrifying Weapons
Baseball Bat
Big, heavy, and mean. It’s not glamorous,
but it will get the job done.
Broomstick Bo Staff
A surprisingly effective weapon. Combining reach with ubiquity and
durability, kids who manage to master the broomstick stave have a strong
advantage in combat.
Brass Knuckles
Totally illegal you guys. These nasty weapons have surprisingly effective
results, especially for something so easily hidden in your pocket.
Punch Weapon Keychain
Invented as a response to the rising crime in city centers like Chicago, LA,
and New York, this device was particularly popular with women. Intended
to weaponize a set of car and house keys against an attacker, this small
hunk of metal is intended to be used against the face and groin.
Retractable Baton
A small black metal cylinder that extends into a spring loaded baton with
a sinister “clack!,” this is a concealable, reliable weapon… Provided you can
resist the urge to fidget with the locking nut and not have the pieces of it
drop out everywhere.
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Weapon Use
and Damage Charts
The weapons available to a teen in the mid-80s are not comparable to
the weapons your characters might have in other games. They’re cheap,
shoddy, and unreliable, often just as dangerous to the wielder as to the
intended target no matter what your skill level. When used, they don’t
always act as intended. These charts can be used to reflect the unexpected
outcomes of violence in your game.
Blunt Weapons
6
5
4
It works. 1 Level of damage.
3
It breaks and smashes you in somewhere delicate. You’re
crippled for ten seconds.
2
It breaks and zings off, hitting your friend. They’re okay but
they’re probably mad now.
1
It breaks and hits you. You take 1 level of damage.
It breaks
It breaks and hits you. Embarrassing but nothing serious.
Sharp Weapons
6
5
4
It works. 3 Levels of damage.
3
It breaks, spitting shards of cheap metal that do 1 level of
damage to a random nearby person.
2
It breaks, slicing you for 1 damage.
1
It breaks, slicing you for 2 damage.
It works. 1 Level of damage.
It breaks, doing 1 level of damage to you and your opponent.
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Inventory
Unpredictable Weapons
6
It works. 1 Level of damage.
5
The projectile zings off in an unexpected direction, and gets
lost forever.
4
The projectile zings off in an unexpected direction, and gets
lost forever.
3
The projectile zings off in an unexpected direction, and hits
you for 1 damage.
2
The projectile zings off in an unexpected direction, and hits
your friend for 1 damage.
1
You miss as the device snaps apart, jabbing you for 1 damage.
Terrifying Weapons
6
5
4
3
It works. 2 Level of damage.
2
It works. 1 Level of damage.
1
It bounces back and hits you. You take 1 level of damage.
It works. +1 Initiative, 1 Level of damage.
It works. 1 Level of damage.
It works. 1 Level of damage.
M-80’s
Although all kinds of fireworks had their own value and were often illegal
in their own right, the legendary “M80” was the top of the pile in terms of
dangerous objects coveted by ‘80s kids. Whispered to carry the explosive
power of a quarter stick of dynamite, the M-80 was essentially the nuclear
option of any Junior High.
This has too much potential to fail/succeed spectacularly based on the
circumstance. Be aware that these item can very easily seriously injure or
kill your character, which can change the tone of your game very quickly.
Just like in real life, use these with caution.
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Equipment
Weapons are just the tip of the iceberg. A true suburban adventurer
needs to be prepared.
Walkie Talkies
This was more than a simple toy: In
a world without much in the way of
wireless communication, this is a critical
piece of communication equipment.
Yeah, you might wind up telling local
truckers or ambulance drivers who you
have a crush on in fourth period, but
that’s a small price to pay for unfettered
communication.
Binoculars
Every home had some somewhere left behind by an errant relative or
purchased by a hopeful parent with dreams of birdwatching or stargazing.
Whether or not they worked was often another story.
Compass
There seemed to be no end of people who tried to give kids compasses
in the 80s, not that they could read them. Being able to find North was of
highly limited value if you didn’t know what it meant in regard to any other
landmarks.
Signal Mirror
Yeah, usually just a shiny hunk of plastic. It could be a hubcap from a
model car. It got the job done… during the day, at least.
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Inventory
Flint & Tinder
The ability to set a fire quickly is problematic in 80’s suburbia. It makes
you a sort of impressive figure among the local kids, but even in the 80’s
too much skill with a lighter was a red flag among parents. Use it sparingly.
Headband
No specific game effects. Just be aware that when this goes on, things
have officially gotten serious.
Ninja Outfit
Super cool. All back, sweet hoods, those awesome boots with the big toe
thing going on… You’re definitely invisible in this. Definitely.
Denim Jacket
This is a billboard. It’s not great as armor on its own, but when properly
emblazoned with dozens of patches for your favorite heavy metal bands,
it speaks of your allegiances as well as providing better-than-nothing
protection from incoming insults, punches, and sticks.
Leather Jacket
This is actually decent as armor, if you can get your hands on it. Plus it’s
the pinnacle of metal tough. It’s probably a few sizes too big, but it’s cool
enough that you’re willing to overlook this fact.
Local Maps (unmarked)
Sure. You need to keep yourself from getting lost somehow.
Local Maps (Caches and Shortcuts drawn in)
Now we’re talking. A drainage chute runs straight from the tool shed
by the lumberyard to the abandoned Astro-putt course? That’s valuable
information.
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Other Valuables
and Forbidden Knowledge
While not immediately useful in the same way, certain schoolyard items
had other levels of intrinsic worth. Like any inmates, students develop a
complex barter system. Your average Junior High fosters a thriving pseudoeconomy based on the relative value of many different things.:
Test Answers
Obviously, this is a big-ticket item on the trading circuit. Even a smart kid
won’t turn down a sure thing.
Porn (Magazines)
Not as one-sided in it’s value as you might think. Girls are also curious
what’s going on, although they’re more subtle in their interest. Usually
recovered at some risk from an older sibling, relative, or stolen from the
local convenience store. Sometimes found randomly in the woods, one of
the last great unanswered suburban mysteries.
Porn (Videocassette)
Highly prized and deeply valuable, an actual video recording of doin’
it will fetch a high prices in the hallways indeed. However, procuring this
treasure is only half the battle, with the other half being somehow actually
watching it without getting caught.
The “Anarchist’s Cookbook”
According to schoolyard folklore, this book was the difference between
fifth period and Che Guevara. Believed to be a comprehensive guide for
making everything from Thermite to learning ninjitsu, this tome rarely lived
up to the legends surrounding it. William Powell’s screed was disseminated
into countless lunchrooms as a thick ream of un-numbered Xeroxed sheets
full of secrets too volatile for conventional America.
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Inventory
Martial Art Magazines
There was no real oversight into these sorts of publications in the 80’s
and they were full of the sort of whimsical exaggerations that modern
media calls “lies.” Each issue came complete with pictures and diagrams
of appropriately butch weirdos casually displaying abilities like jumping
straight up twenty feet from a relaxed standing position or deflecting
shuriken (“Chinese stars” to you lay people, as they loved to point out) with
nunchucks.
Crime Scene Photos (Fake)
Gross and bloody. Sure to bring sixth-period math to a screeching halt.
Crime scene Photos (Totally real you guys)
Grosser and bloodier, and probably just stills from an Italian horror movie.
Guaranteed to give your little sister nightmares.
“Video Nasty” Horror Movies
There are your basic horror flicks: your Elm
Streets and your Poltergeists and then there
are these: banned in the UK, (which became
a point of pride) films like “Anthropophagus,” “I
Spit on Your Grave,” “Gestapo’s Last Orgy ” and
the legendary “Faces of Death” were a rite of
passage for the weird kids.
“Satanic” Heavy Metal Albums
Although it was all satanic to your mom or your math teacher, the harder,
heavier stuff suffered more scrutiny. Ironically, bands like Anthrax, Metallica,
and Megadeth had some fairly positive anti-war, socially conscious lyrics,
but none of it would make Nancy Reagan happy. The really dark stuffSlayer, King Diamond, and Deicide- could spell deep trouble for a kid with
the wrong kind of parent in the height of the 80’s “Satanic Panic,” making
them all the more valuable.
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To The Max!
A Timeline of the ‘80s
1980
Politics
• Iran-Iraq war began on September 22, 1980. It is also
widely known as the First Persian Gulf war.
•
Ronald Reagan was elected as President of the United States until
January 1989.
Science
• Mt. St. Helens in Washington erupted after precisely
123 years; a total of 34 people were killed.
• Hurricane Allen devastated Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico,
Texas, and St. Lucia, killing 270 people.
• An extremely harsh heat wave killed over 1,250
people in the United States.
• Two successive earthquakes in Algeria claimed 3,500
lives.
• Over 9,000 were injured and 3,000 were killed by a
powerful earthquake in Italy.
• The World Health Organization declared that
smallpox was eradicated.
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Timeline
Pop Culture
•
John Lennon, lead vocalist from the ever-famous and
loved band Beatles, was shot dead by Mark Chapman
on December 8, in New York City. The murderer later
pleaded “not guilty” by stating insanity as the reason.
• CNN, founded by Ted Turner, was broadcasted
worldwide.
• Summer Olympic Games was held at Moscow, USSR
This event was boycotted by over 60 countries, US
being the foremost to this protest.
• Winter Olympic Games were held at Lake Placid, USA.
• The “Miracle on Ice:” the underdog US Olympic
Hockey Team won a gold against the favored Soviets.
• First broadcast of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.
• Rubik’s cube invented
• Post-it notes invented
• The Empire Strikes Back, The Shining, Airplane! Blues
Brothers, Flash Gordon, and Raging Bull released.
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1981
Politics
• Hostages taken captive from the US embassy in Tehran were finally released by Iran on January 20,
1981 after a total of 444 days.
• On January 20, Ronald Reagan was ushered in as the
President of the United States.
•
Mark Hinckley attempted and failed to murder
president Ronald Reagan on March 30A Turk,
allegedly from the group ‘Grey Wolves,’ attempted to
murder Pope John Paul II on May 13. Though the
Pope was shot, he recovered from his injuries.
Science
•
Early cases of AIDS reported: Many homosexuals were
infected by what was suspected to be a strange
form of cancer. Called GRIDs or “Gay-Related Immune
Disease” Not much was known then, other than the
fact that it was highly contagious and fatal.
Pop Culture
• MTV airs its first broadcast on August 1, leading with
the Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star”
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Timeline
• Reggae legend Bob Marley dies of cancer on May 11.
• Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh moves his Rajneeshee cult
to America, to open Rajneeshpuram in Oregon.
• Boxing legend Muhammad Ali retires after 20 years as a
professional boxer.
• Prince Charles and Diana Spencer marry, with a TV
audience of over 700 million viewers.
• Pac-Man was released in the US, the first true video
game craze.
1982
Politics
• Great Britain and Argentina go to war.
• Argentina invades Falkland Islands.
• Canada gains complete independence.
Science
•
First Liposuction Surgery: Though the idea of
something similar to liposuction had been around since
several decades before the 80s, most of the
experiments performed were unsuccessfu. Dr YvesGerard Illouz perfected the technique.
•
The first artificial heart recipient ever was Barney Clark.
At 61, he was too old to be eligible for a human heart,
thus Barney became the first one to receive a
permanent artificial heart and lived for 112 days after.
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• Compact Discs were developed, commercially
launched, and distributed by Philips and Sony.
Pop Culture
• ‘USA Today’ newspaper begins with circulation in
Baltimore and Washington.
Miscellaneous
• Reverend Sun Myung Moon married 2,075 couples at
the Madison Square Garden.
• UK Royals Charles and Diana have a baby boy, Prince
William.
• Braniff International Airways, the ninth largest airline in
the US, filed for bankruptcy on May 11.
1983
Politics
• Hindu-Muslim riots in Assam, India claimed 1,500 lives.
• US Embassy was bombed in Beirut, Lebanon by a
suicide bomber in a truck. Over 400 injured, 63 dead.
•
Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. was assassinated in Manila,
Philippines. He was known to have a strong political
rivalry with the then-President of Philippines,
Ferdinand Marcos.
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Timeline
• Vanessa Williams became the first African-American to
win Miss America. She is later dethroned after old
nude photos of her are published.
Science
• The virus behind AIDS, the Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (or HIV) was discovered by French scientist Dr.
Luc Montagnier.
• Motorola introduced the first
mobile phone in the US.
•
Sony developed the first
camcorder, which was mostly
used to cover news stories, or
other events.
Pop Culture:
• 125 million people were watch as the all-time favorite
sitcom M*A*S*H aired its last episode.
Miscellaneous
• ‘Crack’ cocaine is created in the Bahamas and proceeds
to take the US by storm within a couple of years.
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1984
Politics
• The US and the Vatican reinstated diplomatic ties after
more than a century.
• British coal mine workers went on a strike in March.
The strike continued for almost a year.
• Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated
on October 31 by her own bodyguards.
• Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre was kidnapped and
murdered in England.
Science
•
Large-scale chemical disaster in Bhopal, India on
December 3 claimed over 2,000 lives overnight.
Almost 13,000 others passed away later due to gasrelated diseases. Several thousands are still suffering
from permanent disabilities till date.
• The death toll in the Ethiopian famine was a shocking
1 million (lasted throughout 1984).
•
Stormie Jones is recipient of a Heart-liver Transplant.
Dr. Thomas Starzl, an organ transplant expert and the
father of modern transplantation, performed the
surgery on this six-year old.
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Timeline
Pop Culture:
• Michael Jackson suffered from serious burn injuries
while shooting for a Pepsi commercial.
• Videotaping movies for personal, home-viewing
purpose were legally permitted henceforth by the
Supreme Court.
• Gremlins, Ghostbusters, Terminator, and Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom released.
1985
Politics
• Soviet leader Gorbachev and US president Reagan
met for the first time at the Geneva Summit of 1985 to
discuss disarmament and diplomatic relations.
Science
• First hole in the Ozone layer was detected near the
Antarctic region by scientists Farman, Gardiner, and
Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey.
• Titanic wreckage was discovered and filmed.
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• A shocking total of 25,000 people died due to a
volcanic eruption in Columbia.
• 10,000 lives were lost due to a cyclone in Bangladesh.
• Mexico City was struck by an earthquake of 8.1
magnitude on the Richter scale, leaving more than
9,000 dead.
• Actor Rock Hudson dies of AIDS; the first celebrity
claimed by the disease.
Pop Culture
• Pictionary board game came into being.
• The Macintosh 128K, launched as the ‘Apple
Macintosh’ and developed by Apple in 1984 is
discontinued in 1985.
•
New Coke: Coke develops a new formula, which
receives an extremely poor response. The original
formula is re-introduced as Coke Classic and the new
formula is sold as the ‘New Coke’ until the early 90s.
•
After the success of it’s Rock n Wrestling Program
of the past year, the World Wrestling Federation
successfully hosted Wrestlemania, headlined by
Mr. T and Hulk Hogan taking on Roddy Piper
and Bob Orton Jr.
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Timeline
1986
Politics
•
Iran-Contra Affair: Later in the year, it was found that
Ronald Reagan went against the official policy and
assisted in selling arms to Iran as ransom in exchange
for the six American hostages. Furthermore, the profits
from this sale were redirected to the rebels uprising
against the Nicaraguan government.
•
The Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme was shot
dead on the night of February 28, in Stockholm,
Sweden when he and his wife were walking back
from a cinema. The case of his murderer has several
theories but remains unsolved.
Science
•
The US Space Shuttle ‘Challenger”’ went up in flames
immediately after its launch, killing all seven astronauts
inside. The launch was widely televised, especially to
children.
•
AIDS test was developed by the Pasteur Institute in
France. However, the National Cancer Institute
(America) filed for patent rights of the AIDS test kit
before the Pasteur Institute. A lawsuit ensues.
• Two earthquakes rock Northern Ohio.
• Earth passes through the perihelion of Halley’s
Comet. Children are encouraged to view this event
with telescopes and observatories.
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• A safety breach at the Chernobyl power plant renders
the immediate surrounding area uninhabitable for the
next several centuries.
• The first laptop computer was developed for
commercia distribution by IBM.
• The first modern disposable camera was developed
for commercial use by Fujifilm.
• The first computer Virus was designed for MS-DOS,
named ‘Brain’.
Pop Culture
• Local show “A. M. Chicago” is renamed the “Oprah
Winfrey Show”
Miscellaneous
•
Hands Across America: Seven million Americans
participated to help the poor and homeless.
Participants held hands to form continuous chains; the
longest one is around 4,152 miles. The $34 million
raised was directed to local charities.
• “Captain Midnight” interrupts a Chicago broadcast of
HBO to complain about high prices.
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Timeline
1987
Politics
• On October 19 -- the ‘Black Monday’, the global
stock market crashed, starting from Hong Kong,
Europe, America, and so on.
•
The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF)
treaty was signed between the US and the USSR at
Washington D.C. on December 8. Hereby, neither of
the nations could use nuclear or mid-range
weaponry.
• Margaret Thatcher was elected as the British Prime
Minister for the third consecutive time.
Science
• Typhoon Nina devastated Philippines, submerging 14
islands and killing 1,000 people.
• Prozac, the drug that helped thousands battle
depression, became available as a prescription drug.
• In Germany, for the first time ever, two occipital
craniopagus twins are separated.
• Vistakon-invented Acuvue is introduced as the world’s
first disposable soft contact lens.
• Cardiac Defibrillator Implant: The first Internal
cardioverter defibrillator pacemaker was implanted at
the Lawson Health Research Institute.
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• Cardiac Defibrillator Implant: The first Internal
cardioverter defibrillator pacemaker is implanted at the
Lawson Health Research Institute.
Pop Culture
• Fox TV began regular broadcasting.
• The infamous televangelist Jim Bakker scandal broke out.
• Condom Commercial: KRON-TV, San Francisco, US
aired the first major condom commercial for Trojan
Brand Condoms.
Miscellaneous
•
In August, a Northwestern Airlines jet crashed before
it even took off from the runway, killing all 156 on
board except a four-year-old girl. A fault with the
plane’s flaps is believed to have caused the crash.
• 193 died as a ferry capsized in Belgium outside Port
of Zeebrugge. Shockingly, only 100-feet away from
the shore, the ferry sunk in a matter of seconds.
•
A Chicago broadcast is interrupted by an unknown
man in a “Max Headroom” Mask for three hours,
making strange, garbled announcements. The source
of the broadcast is never found.
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Timeline
1988
Politics
• Benazir Bhutto became the Prime Minister of Pakistan
and the first woman to ever lead a Muslim nation.
• The Iran-Iraq war or the Persian Gulf War finally came
to an end after eight years on August 20, 1988. The
reported death toll was one million.
•
George H. W. Bush was elected as President of
the United States, despite his much maligned
choice of running mate in Dan Quayle.
He is said to have played
a key role in improving
relations between the US
and Soviet Union.
• Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir, founder of the nationalist party
‘Fatah’ and commander of its military wing, died due
to multiple gunshots on April 16, 1988 in Tunis, Tunisia.
Science
•
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Shroud of Turin: Radiocarbon dating tests indicated
that the shroud wasn’t Christ’s. The results implied
the cloth to be much younger than expected. It is to
be noted that not too many people agreed with the
test’s conclusions. Most doubted the test’s accuracy
in itself while others considered the possibility of the
sample’s contamination.
157
• Spitak earthquake in Armenia claimed a staggering
25,000 lives.
• One of the worst heat waves struck US with the death
toll ranging between 5,000 to 10,000.
• Invention of Doppler radar took place.
•
Plutonium Pacemaker: Earlier, pacemakers ran on
batteries that needed to be changed every two
years or so, making them risky. In 1988, a plutonium
pacemaker was fitted into a 47-year-old man in 1982.
The plutonium inside it could generate enough
power to run the pacemaker for almost two decades.
•
Transatlantic Fiber Optic Cable: Costing around $335
million, TAT-8 was the eighth transatlantic cable and
the first optical one. Connecting France, England, and
USA, it was constructed by a gamut of companies
led by AT&T corporation, France telecom, and British
telecom.
• Devastating Heat Wave causes thousands of deaths
in the US.
Pop Culture
• ‘TNT’ was started by Ted Turner.
• Nike came up with their
famous tagline ‘Just Do It’.
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Timeline
1989
Politics
•
End of the Cold War: The cold war ended in 1989
with the fall of the Berlin wall. Alternatively, it is said
to have ended in 1991 with the disintegration of
USSR; both the theories are considered equally
correct.
•
Tiananmen Square Massacre: Student protests for
democracy in Beijing, China gained mass popularity
during this period. Eventually, on May 20, the Chinese
government declared martial law, leading to army
intervention. Though the exact figures are unclear
with different organizations going back and forth with
their numbers, the government statement eventually
listed 7,000 as injured and 241 as dead.
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•
Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious political figure
behind Iran’s Islamic revolution, passed away on June
3, 1989. The cause of his death was a heart condition
he was ailing from over the previous three decades
(almost). US intelligence suspected him to be suffering
from cancer; however, the same was neither
confirmed by the family nor doctors.
Science
• A 4,400-year-old mummy was discovered in Egypt, in
the Great Pyramid of Giza.
•
Hillsborough Disaster: In a shocking turn of events,
the semifinal match of the FA cup between
Nottingham Forest and Liverpool turned into a
bloodbath as 96 people were crushed to death
against a high-wired fence.
• WWW: The initial proposal for the World Wide Web
was framed early this year by a scientist at CERN.
• The Human Genome Project was initiated.
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Timeline
• The first successful case of PGD (Preimplantation
Genetic Diagnosis) was conducted during October.
Pop Culture
•
Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’: The infamous novel
was published during this year, sparking controversy
like wildfire. Iran’s political head Ayatollah Khomeini
issued a ‘fatwa’ against him in the same year.
• Faux Fur: Though it was available since the late 1950s,
faux fur was imbibed by several fashion houses during
this year as a measure to prevent animal slaughter.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The super hit game
developed by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment
System was launched during this year.
• The Simpsons’ first episode appeared as a part of ‘The
Tracey Ullman Show.’
•
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Game Boy, the handheld video game player
developed by Nintendo, was released in Japan in
April 1989, and soon it was released in North America
in August.
161
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Westbrook, Brian Hollenbeck, Olle Svensk Strand, Dain Lybarger, Ericka
Skirpan, Edward Gordon, Margaret Lee, Miles Lizak, Ian Powell, Jamal L
Wilkins, Geoffrey Rabe, Jeremy Ryan, Christophe B, Scott Mohnkern,
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asmodaios, Roxy, Patrick Murphy, Alan Sells, Svend Andersen, Wright
Johnson, Cameron Woodard, Patrice Mermoud, Michael Cody Meyer,
Jason Hall, Pedro Araujo Bernils Fonseca, Steven Thesken, Vincent Arebalo,
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Noach, Philip Espi, Jonathan Korman, Antonio dell’Aquila, Daniel, Levi
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McAndrew, James, Tim Partridge, Darragh Fahey, Bryan Evans, Jason R.
Weaver, Angus Abranson-Chronicle City, Richard Ruane, Monique, Angela
Green, Jay Mac, Donnie Hanby, 9thLevel, David Stephenson, Carl Rigney,
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Davis, jeremey bibey, Filipe Tibério, Matthew Burke Carey, NecroNuke9,
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Real Cool!
Bob Hanks, Jenn Iannaconi, Chris Stewart, Player HEG
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Katherine Karl (Order #33897539)