Welcome, traveler, to Gulch. This town ain’t much, but it’s ours, and we’d appreciate it if you’d not muck about in our business, thank you very much. You might be tempted to dive under the surface, get to know the people here, and try helping them out. Don’t. That’s just going to piss someone else off, you see? Best to fill up your car and keep on moving on.

Credits

Design:

Ty Pitre & Norn Noszka

Writing:

Ty Pitre

Illustration:

Norn Noszka

Cartography:

Ty Pitre & watabou

A Modern Day Setting

Gulch has been designed as a “starter town” of sorts for games set in modern times. There are plenty of great towns out there for starting a fantasy campaign (like Fishtown and Mautbek) but we wanted to cook something up that you could use with more contemporary characters.

If you’re running a horror game, Gulch is tilted enough that you can seed in cosmic horrors and serial killers.

If you’re running an urban fantasy game, Gulch has strange characters that can be easily adapted to your game’s mythology.

If you’re running a strict no-fantasy game, Gulch is wide enough that you can use it for several sessions worth of modern day questing.

A Day In The Life

Gulch is situated somewhere in the badlands, accessible by paved road from the north and west. Both roads lead to highway onramps. The terrain around the town is punctuated by narrow gullies, steep ridges, hoodoo rocks, and loose stones. Scrubs, crooked trees, and other resilient vegetation grow along the riverbeds. The town is situated along the Pronghorn, a wide and deep river which cuts through the canyons in a winding, snaking path.

Gulch as a town is big enough that it’s hopeless for transient visitors to learn the names of everyone but small enough that anyone from out of town is easily identified. Many folks come into town to hike the trails marked out by the Gulch Hiking Association, which range from light walks to grueling overnight adventures.

Two groups also call the surrounding area around Gulch home, locked in a bitter turf war. To the east, the Midnighters rev up their dirt bikes and ride through town doing wheelies, taking what they want. To the west, the Ivory Owl Radicals hide out at their opulent ranch with their stallions, thinking themselves kings of the badlands and acting not dissimilar to their rival counterparts. Everyone in town deals with the two gangs to their own chagrin, but there’s no hope coming from the sheriff station to settle the grievances.

Spawning Situations

If the group is already in Gulch it can be helpful to start a new session with a spark and hard framing to get the party involved.

• All of your clothing is dirty and needs a wash. Session begins with the group arriving at the Sudsy’s.
• You’re out of food and just managed to snag one of the two carts at Bull’s—much to the chagrin of one of the locals.
• You’re piled in your vehicle, stopped at a red light, when you can hear the whine of two-stroke engines. The Midnighters ride up all around you, hooting and hollering.
• You’ve just sat down to order breakfast at Duke’s Diner when the Ivory Owl Radicals pile in, raucous and demanding enough tables to seat them all. Kerry Duke kicks out visitors before locals.
• You’ve filled up for gas but nobody is at the counter at the Gas-N-Go. (Ethan Bell is outside and around the back awkwardly flirting with an almost-receptive Mikaela Bullock.)
• Sirens flashing, Sheriff Simmons pulls over the group. Session begins as he’s asking for the driver’s license and registration. He’s going to want everyone to sign up for at least one of his apps.
• It’s pouring rain today and everyone is staying inside. Session begins as you’re driving by the Old Water Tower and see Terry Hoyer, in the middle of the street, dancing in the downpour.

The Surrounding Area

The area around Gulch is scrubby badlands with rolling hills and not much in the way of shade. It’s easy to get lost out here. Only the roads directly connecting the highway are paved—everything else is dirt and mud.

Geri’s Place

A maze of singing slot machines and card tables. Twisting lanes that draw visitors closer and closer to the center of the casino’s web. A pleasant rosy smell that eases the worries of a troubled mind.

Geri runs her casino from her elevated office at its center, watching over her domain and lounging in a wraparound crescent shaped sectional couch. Below, slot machines spread outwards from the center like a web, littered with poker tables, roulette wheels, and craps. Gamblers and card sharks wander the casino, never quite able to escape, unaware of the deliberate trap they’ve stepped inside.

Locke (brooding, gruff), a former bounty hunter, is head of security and Geri’s lover. He’s got no problem roughing up the troublemakers before tossing them out.

Locke’s Quests:

• Locke has, on three separate occasions, paid Magpie at Bull’s Market to import a bag of expensive artisanal coffee beans for Geri. She has, unfortunately, forgotten about him each time and sold it off the shelf. Locke needs those beans, either from the residents Magpie sold them to or the next order that should be in today or tomorrow.
• An overbearing pang of jealousy has struck Locke as Geri has been leaving the casino at night and he doesn’t know who she’s out meeting. Geri knows his tricks too well to be able to stalk her, but perhaps some unpredictable out-of-towners could do the job. (It’s a 50/50 chance that it’s either Mansfield Kensington to run a money laundering scheme or to the Riverside Motel to help out the abused women staying there.)
• Locke’s old bounty handler, Mister Utopia, has a new big job but Locke’s out of the game. The bounty, Reggie Wells, was spotted heading towards Gulch. Locke’s willing to pass the job on to anyone competent enough to handle it. Wells shouldn’t be dangerous (he is actually quite dangerous).

Twin Pools

Matching deep, still water pools surrounded by an oasis of vegetation. Oppressive canyon walls encircling the pools. A seemingly endless depth.

Tarot Card: The Moon (secrets, uncertainty, illusion)

These two pools, called “The Twins” by locals, are about a half hour hike straight out of Gulch. The hike, made of tight turns and narrow canyons, is impossible by car or truck, though horses and dirt bikes can ride the trail. The pools are both unfathomably deep, separated by a shelf of flat rock that’s perfect for sun tanning.

When the characters arrive at The Twins, roll 2d6 on the table below to see which two groups are occupying it.

Roll	Group	Doubles
1	Members of the Ivory Owl Radicals are trying to kick out the other group for “harshing their vibe.”	The Ivory Owls are holding an impromptu club meeting here with Percy Fitzcharles going up against Mansfield Kensington for control of the club. Interlopers will be rudely turned away or roped into the conflict.
2	Locals from Gulch haul up boomboxes, beer, and grills to celebrate a big event.	A mass of locals have crowded both pools. Sheriff Simmons and his deputies have come to break things up, but he’s really trying to sell app subscriptions.
3	Camilla Lanzo and her hangers-on show up to lounge. Camilla works her way into the good graces of the other group.	Camilla Lanzo is here, sans all of her followers, with either Mansfield Kensington, Blaze, or Magpie.
4	The Gulch Hiking Association, led by Drew Cook, has arrived, angry at the other group here for despoiling nature.	The GHA is here in full force cleaning up after another party and trying to install signs to prevent people from coming here. Drew Cook blames the group that just arrived for last night’s mess.
5	Out-of-towners, having heard about the spot, invade the area and act belligerently.	Three party buses worth of college students have trekked up to the pools and are throwing a rager. The Tattered Romeos are performing wonderfully and their music is riling up the out-of-towners beyond reason.
6	Members of the Midnighters gang are cracking beers and teasing the other group relentlessly.	The Ragman holds court like some fey-king of old, seated on his dirtbike while all of the Midnighters sit cross-legged around him. He revs the engine to punctuate his words.

Abandoned Missile Silo & Bunker

A single door in the scrublands leading down into the bunker. Old rusted pipes and squeaky steel hinges. A drop into darkness where a missile once was.

Tarot Card: The Lovers (unions, balance, bad choices)

The entrance to the missile silo is a single door that leads down a staircase. Rusted hinges prevent the door from fully closing. The stairs lead to a fallout bunker, and from there, to the silo itself—the missile removed. The drop in the silo is long and deadly with steel walkways falling apart and threatening to plunge into the depths.

The bunker has been renovated into a ramshackle living space, complete with too many sofas, an icebox filled with rotten food, and a lane of old arcade machines. All around the bunker are dozens of mannequins each dressed neatly in various outfits and posed as if living in the space. In the main part of the bunker there is a wedding ceremony set up, complete with audience, chaplain, and bridal party. The two places where the couple would stand are empty.

There is a storage locker in the bunker that was filled with cold-war era weaponry, but all that remains are the dust marks of the missing M16s and MREs.

Cornelius (meticulous, resourceful) is the owner of the bunker and has placed (and dressed with stolen laundry) the mannequins. He had chosen one to finally “settle down” with and was in the middle of the wedding when the Midnighters broke in, left him for dead, and stole his spouse-to-be along with the military gear. He is now camped in secret outside of their gang house waiting for the right opportunity to strike and recover his blushing bride.

Foster’s Autobody

A junkyard of dead cars and trucks out amongst the scrublands. Torn apart engines and parts taking up every inch of space. A half-hearted ceiling fan in a ramshackle shop failing to keep the heat down.

Derek runs Foster’s Autobody like a lazy cat, lounging about in an old red lazy-boy in the shop while his children, Erin and Sammy, scuttle about. Erin (materialistic, petty) is obsessed with fancy and flashy objects, especially the newest cell phone and American firearms. Sammy (hedonistic, petty) can’t get enough of his vices: drugs, food, alcohol, and flesh.

Gilmartin Oil Site

Three old drill sites, but only one still pumping. Chain-link fence surrounding the compound, hastily repaired in patches. Old trucks, rusted and refusing to start, lie in disrepair.

Leelah, the foreman of the site, is at war. Cade Barlow (equally resourceful) is an environmentalist dead set on shutting down the Gilmartin site. He is using every technique and trick he has at his disposal and Leelah has been charged by the company to take care of it.

Barlow has a small number of fellow activists with him, camped out in the badlands, but they aren’t his most precious asset. He has made a deal with Louie Dixon, the Ragman, and the Midnighters are lending their chaos to the cause. This has resulted in ride by fire-bombings, equipment theft, and countless property destruction.

Max Bell (rough and mean), Leelah’s right hand man, wants to take the fight to the Midnighters but Leelah knows they’re outnumbered and if they break from work they won’t meet daily quotas. If that happens the Gilmartin company will terminate all of their contracts.

Midnighter Gang Hideout

Steel shacks barely propped up. The smell of diesel, gasoline, and grease. Charred meat forgotten on a grill.

The Midnighter Gang hangs out here, parking their dirt bikes and ATVs haphazardly wherever they manage to stop. No matter the time of day, there’s a party happening, with alcohol and cocaine in abundant supply. The lack of tight security is made up by the immediate and ruthless violence the Midnighters enact on trespassers.

The camp is made of a maze of tents and tin shacks, with the Midnighters’ dirt bikes haphazardly dropped anywhere. The Ragman’s shack isn’t any more special than the rest, but there’s a tense feeling in the air around it.

The Midnighters weren’t much of a gang before Louie took over. The crew liked to party but mostly kept in their lanes. The Ragman was just someone’s shitty kid, tasked with maintenance on the machines they rode. One night at midnight they strangled the top dogs of the Midnighters with their rag, staining it red with blood, and by morning they were crowned proverbial king. That’s when things started getting dangerous.

Ivory Owl Radicals Ranch

An old fenced-in luxury estate with its own water and power supply. Stables for the horses and a mansion fit for a millionaire. Signs of disrepair and negligence are beginning to seep in.

Mansfield Kensington is an ivy league drop out that came to Gulch to take over. Back in school, he was head of URLA, the Unorthodox Radical Leaders Association, where they would endlessly theory-craft the perfect utopian way to run a community, town, city, and country. After dropping out Mansfield declared it was time to put “action to words” and gathered up all the firebrands of URLA, purchased the old estate outside of Gulch using family money, and set off to prove their theories.

Unfortunately for him, Kensington has been fully cut off from his family fortune. He keeps this secret from the Radicals, but the money is drying up and the utopian lifestyle mainly consists of impromptu beer pong, polo tournaments, shooting contests, and endless martial arts demonstrations. When they want to put their radical ideas into motion, the club rides into Gulch and bullies the residents.

Sidney Sharp (addictive personality) serves as Mansfield’s number one lieutenant and puts anyone in place with her aptitude for karate, kung fu, and boxing.

Percy Fitzcharles (disloyal, cruel) is Mansfield’s rival, always pushing back on his plans and ideas. The Radicals are split almost evenly between the two, with the majority siding with Mansfield. If the balance shifted Percy would push the Radicals towards more violence and theft.

Gulch

Gulch is a (mostly) quiet town that had its heyday fifteen years ago but has been in decline since then. A few derelict houses and abandoned lots become the hangout spots for teenagers looking to rebel, the only grocery store is run by an eccentric woman and her cat, and the main draw and money-maker is hiking tourism (and the annoying subjects that hobby attracts).

Gas-N-Go

Ancient pumps and a cracked sign. Outrageous prices for food and candy five years old. Not enough cash in the register to break a twenty.

Ethan can’t wait to get out of this town. He’s going to become a limo driver for big shot celebrities (he doesn’t have his license yet). When serving customers at the Gas-N-Go his mind immediately wanders and it always takes him at least a minute to count out someone’s change.

Bull’s Market Store

Aisles of steel shelving, bare in one section and overflowing in the next. Quaint homemade decoration contrasted with corporate big-brands. Only two shopping carts: one with a squeaky wheel, the other a tendency to veer. A friendly black cat, Starlight, perched on an old wooden barrel.

Magpie, a hippie that smells like tea leaves and cinnamon, runs the grocery store. Every Tuesday night she runs the coupon lottery—an event that brings the rich (looking to stay rich) and the poor (trying to save money and survive) together. She draws coupons of varying degrees (50–90% off!) for the attendees, though the event quickly devolves into a ruthless black market auction in the parking lot behind the store.

Looking for something at Bull’s is always a toss up—Magpie doesn’t care about supply and demand and orders “based on the stars” that week. Either there is an abundance or famine, typically of opposing goods. If there’s lots of fresh meat, there’s nearly no vegetables.

Mitsuhiro Takahashi (love-struck) helps out and runs the cash register when Magpie isn’t around. Nina Baker (struggling writer) stocks the shelves and does inventory overnight.

Abandoned Shop-Smart Lot

Asphalt and faded paint lines. The skeletal remains of a big box store, abandoned and locked up. A mound of shopping carts pushed into the ditch.

A few years ago the Shop-Smart corporation opened up one of its big box stores in Gulch, and less than a year after opening, it shut down and moved out of the town. What remains behind is the dilapidated building and the three-times-too-big parking lot for it.

Most of the time the parking lot is abandoned apart from the occasional car with sleeping traveler or drug deal. However, on Sundays, the lot fills up with classic cars as the Smokin’ Axles Vintage Club meets up, drawing in collectors from Gulch and beyond.

Harvey Steele (covetous) runs the Smokin’ Axles and has a collection of twelve cars kept in storage somewhere outside of Gulch. He is a retiree living out his days in Gulch but the topic of his past life and career is a highly gossiped-about mystery. Harvey’s collection, contacts, and leadership have grown the club to a decent size, and on the major Sundays (once a month) the lot is almost completely full and becomes a roaring tailgate festival.

Roadhouse Saloon

A long bar stretching the entire room. Cigar smoke and spilled liquor. Sticky floors and bowls of old peanuts.

Doyle runs the Roadhouse with his husband Toby (jealous). While the bar isn’t large, it is the most popular place in Gulch to grab a quick drink. The lack of space means that not everyone can find a seat, and over the years an unspoken agreement has settled like silt at the bottom of the river. Who’s at the bar at any given time depends on the day of the week.

Day	Customers
Sunday	After their classic car meet up the Smokin’ Axles Club spends their evening here.
Monday	Punks from the Blood Smear stumble their way over for the Monday night special: cheap PBR.
Tuesday	The roughnecks from the Gilmartin oil site pop in after shift change and start their weekend.
Wednesday	A hodgepodge of residents from Gulch show up for Wing Night (Kerry Duke brings the wings).
Thursday	The Gulch Hiking Association, after their weekly meeting, meet up to try new cocktails.
Friday	Locals avoid the place as out-of-towners take over the bar. Toby is in a terrible mood.
Saturday	The Midnighters ride into town. Louie always makes sure that the bar is treated with utmost respect.

Getting a drink made from Doyle always has him lending an ear to your problems. He has an uncanny ability to offer advice that changes your life, though sometimes that isn’t always for the best. The locals only start asking for help when they’re at the end of their rope.

The Riverside Motel

An old two-story motel with eight rooms. Buzzing neon, cigarette burns, and stained curtains. Hikers and tourists coming and going at all hours.

The Riverside Motel is a hotspot for tourists and hikers coming to Gulch. There are eight rooms available in the two-story building, but only 1d6 available at any given time. Each room is practically the same with two beds, a minimal bathroom, cheap wall art, and a barely functioning TV.

• Room 1: There is a constant dripping sound, as if water was being dribbled out of a pitcher. Surprisingly, this melodic remedy works to give the residents of this room the best sleep of their lives.
• Room 2: On the wall is a giant painting of ibis standing in a side profile. The main draw its the eye of the bird, which is filled with life and light. Meditating on the painting reveals a path to the thing you want.
• Room 3: Someone has scratched seven and a half eight-pointed stars into the drawer of the night table. Finishing the last star brings the carver an undeniable bout of good luck.
• Room 4: Someone has left a clay pitcher of water in the bathroom. Drinking from it unlocks an artistic muse and the drinker feels moved to create art.
• Room 5: The mirror in the bathroom is cracked. Looking deeply at your own reflection through the crack brings you a renewed energy, reminding you that you are not your past.
• Room 6: A small potted fern on the nightstand catches your attention. Watering it before bed brings about a restorative rest that heals wounds.
• Room 7: The water doesn’t drain fully from the shower, leaving behind a small pool in the bottom of the tub. The deluge from the shower smells of fresh mint and energizes the body to the point that you don’t even feel like you need sleep.
• Room 8: In the bathroom is a piece of art—an abstract painting that, when stared at for long enough, coalesces into the image of a naked woman. Looking at it for long enough reveals two things: that the woman has strikingly similar features to someone you know and a hint revealing one of her most vulnerable secrets.

Blackwolf Hunting Supplies and Army Surplus

Locked cabinets of hunting rifles, shotguns, bows, and pistols. Camo-centric clothing strewn about on the racks. The smell of boot leather and tobacco.

Blackwolf has a bit of a notorious reputation around Gulch. Roderick is a famous troublemaker but business is good, only second in tourist money to the Gulch Hiking Association. The hunting around Gulch in all seasons is vibrant and plentiful and Roderick has an unexpected and uncanny ability to drum up business through social media.

The problem, from longtime Gulch residents, is that Blackwolf tends to draw in rough and tumble former-military types that overstay their welcome (usually at Roderick’s house, nicknamed the “den of thieves” by himself).

Sheriff Station

An old Ford Explorer police SUV out front. The building in disrepair, with the siding beginning to collapse. A fuel tank around back for the generator.

Sheriff Simmons is more interested in selling subscriptions to his poorly coded (by him) phone apps than any sort of public service. He’ll take any opportunity he can to get others to install the apps. He has SHRFF (uber, but for police work), BRBE (venmo, but for bribes), and LOCKR (for bidding on things in the evidence locker).

Alvarez Martínez (competent but overlooked) is in charge of the phones and the office. The deputies are Troy Weathersby (gambler) and Maria Lee (stuck at the bottom rung of an MLM for “spirit-aligning mystical materials”).

Sudsy’s

The endless spinning of washing machines and dryers lulls the place to sleep. Two TVs hanging from the ceiling broadcast competing news networks. Gulch residents make small talk amongst themselves and pointedly ignore outsiders.

Frank Harvey has been involved in Gulch for as long as anyone can remember, running multiple successful businesses over the years (a car wash, a pawn shop, and a mattress store to name a few) but has settled into their “retirement” by operating Gulch’s only laundromat. He’s getting up there in age and completely blind, but still works as if he was in his early twenties.

Frank has an uncanny ability to read people with surprising accuracy and reveal their inner truths to them.

Winter Harvey (short-tempered, worrisome), Frank’s granddaughter, helps manage and operate the laundromat.

Duke’s Diner

Big windows, bad coffee, busy as a bee. A long bar that the regulars sit at and chat with the cook. Old booths that could use a cleaning but won’t get one.

Kerry’s dad (Kurt Duke) used to run the diner and she’s taken over. She killed him two years back (no-one knows) and keeps the body wrapped up in brown paper in the diner’s deep freeze. She hears things in the deepest, darkest parts of night and sleeps terribly as a result.

The best thing on the menu is the Ham-burger (pork) with the spicy fries. Pair it with a vanilla milkshake and you’ll get Kerry’s nod of approval. Just don’t dip those fries. Or else.

The two servers that help Kerry out are Patricia Ross (bubbly) and Iris Cooper (catty). The cook is Annie Ross (diligent). Kerry operates the diner like a circus ringmaster: half of her bossy bravado is really a show for the patrons.

The Blue House

Bright blue paint peeling off the siding. Sofas and armchairs everywhere, inside and out. Liquor and drugs flowing like water. Transient, ever-changing, unknowable denizens.

Camila is the town’s hookup for any and all illegal substances. She lives in what the town calls “the blue house,” named after its obnoxious paint job. It’s a known hot spot for parties and rowdiness, and the neighbors know better than to bother calling local law—Camila is funding his various app developments and he makes sure to look the other way.

The Old Water Tower

Rusted metal chipping away. The derelict of a forgotten past, guarded by poorly maintained chain-link fencing. Colorful graffiti across every inch.

Terry was once an evangelist, working a circuit of revivalist meetings throughout the rural countryside. His own downfall remains unknown to him, along with most of his memories, but he knows that the key figure of his destruction is somewhere in the town. He wants to find them, and demand the answers he deserves.

One gift that he hasn’t lost is the gift of the future (or so he says). Terry lives in a makeshift tarp tent next to the town’s old water tower. Unused for some time, holes have rotted through it to the core. When it rains, the tower fills up, and then over the course of a few days it eventually drains out of the bottom. Terry watches the patterns on the payment from the draining water and from there he can divine the future. If treated well Terry is willing to give answers to all questions asked—but only after a great rainfall.

Gulch Hiking Association

A tiny, former community-center recently restored. Hiking trail maps pinned up on every wall. One of the two bathrooms always out of service.

Drew Cook runs the GHA, Gulch’s biggest “tourist moneymaker” as the hiking trails in the region draw people in from all over the country. He leads guided tours as well as helps more experienced hikers set their own trails and plans. From the club building he sells every piece of equipment a hiker could possibly need, only slightly marked up.

The people of Gulch are a bit wary of Drew, as only a year ago he was a good-for-nothing mooch and thief, but it’s hard to deny the complete turnaround he’s had.

Mikaela Bullock (risk taker) has been hiking since she was a child and is Drew’s go-to gopher at the GHA. She has a crush on Louie “The Ragman” Dixon.

Hayden Russel (jealous, troublemaker) is Drew Cook’s cousin, recently moved to Gulch and given a job. He hates hiking but doesn’t have any other prospects lined up.

Lost Garden Greenhouse

Two longhouses of glass and metal framing. One is chaos, overrun with flowers, creepers, ferns, and countless unidentified plants. The other is law, neat rows of seedlings, potted plants, and the best topsoil in Gulch.

The Blood Smear Punk House

The dull thumping of bass guitars and boom-boom-boom of a drum set. Beer can ashtrays, bright graffiti, mismatched mildew-crusted furniture. Crusty punk loyalists lounging about, hazy smoke following them around like rain clouds.

The Blood Smear is a large townhome turned punk house, home to the punk band Tattered Romeos. Blaze, the lead singer, makes sure things are fair and honest with a zero tolerance for bullshit and cops.

The members of the Tattered Romeos are:

• Blaze, vocals and guitar.
• Lottie Meyer (dreamy), lead guitar.
• Iron Bill (brooding), drummer.
• Snotnose (hyper and aggressive), bass guitar.

Upcoming Attractions

Gulch is a living piece of work and this post will receive updates! Regular residents can look forward to:

• Fleshed out mini-adventures for dedicated questing.
• Detailed location one-sheets.
• Random tables to create more Gulch on the fly.
• Encounters and more spawning situations.
• More locations, more NPCs.
• Multi-session charged situations to help progress or put a stop to.

If you enjoyed reading Gulch and want to be kept in the loop about further additions (including the eventual production of a Gulch book), sign up to the mindstorm mailing list today!

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