location seed – Page 4

Location Seed: Lodewick, Idaho.

Lodewick, Idaho

At least, that’s what the records in the town all say. The site was discovered by hikers in Idaho’s Salmon-Challis National Forest about three weeks ago, and the panic button was hit almost right away. The Lodewick ruins had literally (and this is not an abuse of the term ‘literally’) appeared overnight; the two hikers in question had walked the same trail the day before, and saw nothing but Idaho. And, as it happened, one of the hikers had the kind of job that would allow him to drop a governmental Cone of Silence over the entire site.
Continue reading Location Seed: Lodewick, Idaho.

Location Seed: Kingkiller Cave.

Kingkiller Cave – Google Docs

Kingkiller Cave

The lack of an apostrophe and ‘s’ there is rather important, in fact. The ‘official’ name of the place is Judges Cave; it’s a place in Connecticut that once sheltered a couple of judges who had been part of the group that sentenced Charles I of England to death. As one might imagine, post-Restoration England was far too hot for them, and even the colonies weren’t exactly safe. But they eventually got away, died in exile, and never were hanged, drawn, and quartered. So, merely a mildly interesting local legend, right?

Continue reading Location Seed: Kingkiller Cave.

Location Seed: Amacaron County, New Jersey.

Amacaron County, New Jersey – Google Docs

Amacaron County, New Jersey

Don’t bother; it’s not on the map. It’s not on any of the maps, or at least the ones that are publicly available. Turns out, somebody in the late 1930s went through the records under the guise of a Civil Works Administration program, and amended, altered, defaced, and in a couple of places outright replaced the relevant entries. And they did a thorough job; the only documents and maps left to the public that still mention the existence of Amacaron County between 1684 and 1785 escaped notice only because they had been misfiled previously.

What’s left is tantalizing. The remaining records only vaguely describe Amacaron County, but it seems to have been somewhere near the border of present-day Burlington and Atlantic Counties in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens. Most of the old county is now part of the Wharton State Forest, and it was never heavily populated; the county ‘seat’ of Ungstead was barely a hamlet, and the population was mostly the descendants of displaced Swedish and Finnish colonists from the former New Sweden colony to the west. There is a suggestion in the records that the latter, at least, were heavily encouraged to settle in the middle of the Pine Barrens — whether they wanted to, or not.

Continue reading Location Seed: Amacaron County, New Jersey.

Location Seed: Atras, Nevada.

Atras, Nevada – Google Docs

Atras, Nevada
Population: 523

This small town is located two miles north of Parrot Peak, Nevada, and it excels in not being noticed. Then again, there’s not much there to be noticed, honestly. Atras is a rural town that’s dominated by a factory that makes metal frames for a particular type of Air Force electronics console; the design hasn’t changed in forty years, the design probably won’t ever change, and the contract is automatically renewed. And, to be fair, the contract is also both fair, and scrupulously adhered to.
Continue reading Location Seed: Atras, Nevada.

Location Seed: Circus.

Circus – Google Docs

Circus

The origins of the pocket dimension known as ‘Circus’ are in the process of being lost to time; there are still a few mages who remember that it was set up a thousand years ago to allow magic users to interact with each other, and the exact details are hardly a secret, but, honestly? Nobody much cares. Circus is Circus, and from the point of view of the modern generation of mages, it’s unaging, ageless, and immortal. Continue reading Location Seed: Circus.

Location Seed: Trivia’s Trinkets.

Trivia’s Trinkets – Google Docs

Trivia’s Trinkets

Description: a slightly cluttered, but scrupulously neat strip retail store (no more than one thousand square feet in size). The air invariably smells pleasantly of cypress, but since the store sells a wide variety of incenses, oils, and scents, this is rarely particularly noticeable. Other products available: herbs, books on a variety of esoteric subjects, charms, alchemical equipment, magical paraphernalia, raw enchanting materials, rare ingredients, and a variety of dietary supplements for magical familiars. All of these items are readily available for sale, and are not cloaked in any sort of euphemism or subterfuge. Trivia’s Trinkets takes all major credit cards. Continue reading Location Seed: Trivia’s Trinkets.

Location Seed: The Lake of Bones.

Lake of Bones – Google Docs

The Lake of Bones

It’s the kind of place best described by a set of coordinates (48°10’05.9″N 113°55’33.4″W); the lake is located in Montana’s Flathead National Park, which is one reason why no-one’s noticed it yet. The other reason is that whatever happened at the Lake of Bones happened a long time ago. A very long time. When they examine the bones, researchers are going to come up with a number like twenty-five thousand years ago, which will turn a lot of scholarly research into the first appearance of human beings in North America into pate.

Continue reading Location Seed: The Lake of Bones.

Location Seed: The Ghost House.

Ghost House – Google Docs

The Ghost House

The Ghost House exists in whichever conveniently rural and semi-arid locale that the GM needs it to be located in. It is a small two-story single-family residence of mixed wood, brick, stone, and metal construction. With a special emphasis on ‘mixed:’ the house is well put together, but regular aesthetics were tossed out the window. Wood slats alternate with metal sheets, the floors are bricks in some places and wood in others, and no step in the staircase to the second floor matches any other. The Ghost House has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a basement, an attic, and is fully furnished (in the same crazy-quilt, ‘eclectic’ style). One other oddity of the place; all the lighting is fluorescent, and obviously antique.

Continue reading Location Seed: The Ghost House.

Location seed: North American Amusements, Inc.

North American Amusements, Inc – Google Docs

North American Amusements, Inc.

North American Amusements (NAA) is run out of a warehouse-office building on the outskirts of Bakersfield, California. It’s been there since about 1974 or so; the company employs about ten or so people, mostly in the warehouse. The company owner is listed as ‘Maggie Rogan,’ but nobody’s seen her for decades. But the taxes and utilities get paid on time, so nobody fusses much. Besides, in some ways working for NAA is a dream job.

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Location Seed: The Frothing Sloth.

Frothing Sloth – Google Docs

The Frothing Sloth

It is (correctly) said that this fantasy inn was first owned by one Jon the Surly, a mercenary of fearsome visage and skill who terrorised whatever battlefield he was on until a magical curse forced him into retirement. It is also said that the curse was one of shapeshifting, which is also correct. Every night, on the night of the full moon, Jon the Surly turned into an equally surly giant sloth.

Continue reading Location Seed: The Frothing Sloth.