How do you handle your 'small middle-America town' horror games Veeky Forums?

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I've been traveling through Kansas and Missouri for business, and it's definitely inspired me and made me want to run or play a game in just this sort of setting.

yes, far better to shitpost on the internet, gather in poorly lit rooms for gamenight with the same 4 people every week, and watch netflix where the CULTURE is.

Thinking about it a little more, how about this for a very, very basic premise:

>A group of travelers from all walks of life is stranded at a sort of "truck-stop oasis" on the side of the highway.

>An old gas station with convenience store, a rundown fleabag motel, and a weird old diner with a shared parking lot.

>No matter how long anyone drives in any direction, they eventually return to the truckstop, unable to leave the area.

>There is only so much fuel and food at the gas station and convenience store for escape attempts and survival.

>Slowly, the stranded travelers begin to notice stranger things at the truckstop, watching them, stalking them, taking them.

Well first I establish the "normal" by having the party stop at a different town that will be similar enough to their destination along the way and spend the day there.

If they ask the locals of that place about the town their headed to they might suddenly get quiet and try to change the subject.

Once theyre there though i start building dread by showing how off things are here compared to the town they were in before.

Maybe the town has a strictly enforced curfew.
Or a large burnt out factory in the center of town that no one will address or even talk about other than strongly recommending the party to go nowhere near.
Either way I have it be a slow burn with the party in town for a few days. Either stuck there when their means of transport breaks down or stuck there looking for the missing person who asked them to meet them there.

I've noticed you really need to build the dread and save the actual horror for the end because once shit pops off the fear is gone and the party goes into full murderhobo mode.

First you need to define "small town." My home town has a population of 8000, is the county seat, has a small downtown area, and ranges from super expensive lakeside homes to rundown trailer parks in less than a five minute drive. Twelve miles down the road you've got an unincorporated community of 200 people with a gas station, a Dollar General, and a church or two. You're looking at different approaches to and opportunities for horror despite both of them being considered small towns within the same geographical area.

My fellows!

Everyone knows each other.

Everyone is hiding the secret.

Some are just more obvious than others.

i point out that, statistically, most of the town voted for trump, a far greater horror than a few spooks or creepy motel owners.

Read Lord of the Barnyard, OP

People like things the way they are, even if something dark might be happening behind the scenes.

(Cliche as fuck, I know. Speaking of cliches, just steal the plot of Hot Fuzz for one of your stories and throw a supernatural twist in there).

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>Twelve miles down the road you've got an unincorporated community of 200 people with a gas station, a Dollar General, and a church or two
Well, APPARENTLY the definition of a town is pretty fuzzy, but I for one would call a community of 200 people a village rather than a town.

Not OP, just thought I'd point that out.

>has a small downtown area
You mean where the roads cross?

Use unknown armies. The new edition is built for this kind of game. Rppr also just did an episode on small town mysteries.

Also, it's hilarious that you'd use a twin peaks image for middle America. Twin peaks was in Washington.

Another good example of subtler weird is northern exposure.

Please don't bring up that show. I know OP wanted to discuss it, but that is absolutely barren of any good ideas.

I really want to run a weird small town game using monsters and other childish things. I like the idea of a small living setting with a recurring cast of characters that reacts to what the pcs are doing. It may seem lame to some, but I think a teen drama like Riverdale, or all those goofy cw shows, are a good template on the way to run it. In every session, you have a "villain" or problem of the week, but you also have a season long plot relating to the weirdness or secret history of the town, and you also have little plots going on for each pc. It seems like a lot of work out front, but really much of it is rp and character shit, you could keep it down to 1 or 2 good actions encounters a session and still pad out a solid session.

I want to run this campaign so bad, but... Me and my group and terrible drunks, and making this happening would be like dangling cats.

Holy shit did you guys get triggered. You okay? How is it living in Indiana? Do they still tase you if they think you're not straight enough?