This season, subtitled "Night Country," is a fantastic idea. It takes place in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska just north of the Arctic Circle. It is a detective drama, but there appear to be elements of the supernatural in it as well. Plus, it ties directly back to the first season of True Detective.
It also sounds a lot like what I wanted to do with my Valhalla, AK.
Now, let's be honest here. The idea is a good one. Plus, I know there is really no way Issa López (showrunner, writer, and director) has read anything I have ever written here. It is just a great idea. Mine might have been a little closer to "Northern Exposure," though my Valhalla would be somewhere south of Ennis and a bit north of Cicely.
While it is a great idea and one I have some fun with, I am not sure I could get away with building anything for it now for publication. Sure, I have the benefit of having my Valhalla predate Night Country and the first season of True Detective, but I am not sure I could really do it justice.
So, I am thinking of going back to my original idea and doing it as something for free here online. Something people can use in their NIGHT SHIFT games. Hell, if I throw in more alien abductions, then I can add in bits of Thirteen Parsecs, or other games from Elf Lair Games.
Something I have been working on for Thirteen Parsecs is the fact that the barriers between the multi-verses are very thin here. People wander and get lost and end up in a different universe. One of those Earths is a planet called Gaia where history is like our own, but due to disease and runaway climate change, the population is only a 10th of Earth's, and the global temperatures have risen an average of 7-10 degrees Celius. Valhalla, AK, on Gaia, is much warmer and wetter than it is here. I mentioned some of this in the Night Companion book for NIGHT SHIFT.
I hope to develop more ideas and ways to use this weird little town in NIGHT SHIFT.
Starting Adventure Seeds
The Last of 97s
In this seed there is a local gold mine. The mine has been shut down since the turn of the last century. Then, one night, a stranger comes to town with handfuls of gold he claims he has taken from the mine. His paperwork is all in order and legal for his purchase of the mine. He begins paying the locals in this gold. Soon he, his miners, and anyone he gave gold too end up dead by mysterious and brutal ways.
The Culprit: The ghosts of the dead miners from the failed rescue of the 1897 Mine Collapse do not want their gold taken away. Getting to bodies is difficult. The only way to quiet the dead miners is to return all the gold taken out.
Prophecy in the Petroglyphs
A cave with petroglyphs from the last Ice Age seems to be depicting scenes in the nearby town. Are these a warning from the past about the future or is history repeating itself?
The Culprit: Unknown as of yet. But it's likely something I can add to another adventure.
The Fur Trapper's Curse
An old abandoned fur trapper's hut is discovered along with the frozen remains of two Russian Fur trappers from the late 1700s. They walked over the frozen sea during one of the coldest winters of the last 400 years. They froze, and their faces were frozen in terror. But what else is there? A nearby cave, now uncovered due to warming temperatures, has the answer.
The Culprit: A giant frozen bear that is a throwback to prehistoric times. It is bigger than any grizzly or polar bear recorded. Maybe it is an Amphicyon.
The Wrath of the Wendigo
This one is obvious.
The Culprit: The wendigo!
The Strange Auroras
The Aurora Borealis are a common sight this far north. But not these. These auroras have strange colors and patterns; if you listen closely enough, you can hear them whisper to you. It is a strange language that worms into your mind, and you can't get it out of your head, no matter how hard you try.
The Culprit: Unknown as of yet!
Utopia
A reclusive tech billionaire builds a self-sufficient town in the Alaskan wilderness, promising a new age of peace and progress. But beneath the sleek surface lurks a sinister secret, fueled by technology and dark bargains.
The Culprit: You think it is the billionaire, and yeah, he is to blame, but it has more to do with the creature he has made a pact with.
These are just a few of the ideas I have. There are more where this came from.
1 comment:
I, too, am all-in for the new season. Jodi Foster does a great job with the "excellent cop, tortured person" template that the show always seems to give us with its main characters. They're rarely innocent people, and seem to inhabit a real moral gray area (especially Season 2 - that was noir on drugs). I can't wait to see what happens next, honestly.
Post a Comment