#RPGaDAY2026: Day 10 Secret

Jackson, IL is full of secrets.

What small town doesn’t? There are the family, school, and church kind of secrets. The sort of things that are common knowledge yet never voiced, or at least put out of mind because to remember them would be to have to deal with them.

Then there are the older ones in Jackson.

They can be found in the high school or the library stacks, in old houses and derelict buildings, in hospital tunnels and church basements, even in a family Bible where some pages are best left unread. Some are buried or put under lock and key, others are handed down like an heirloom. And then you have the ones strolling about town with a pleasant smile for all to see, pretending to be harmless.

It is what makes Jackson ideal for horror gaming. One does not always need a fresh monster from out of town to provide the terror; more often than not, the horror is built into the place, woven into the stories told and those that are not. The secrets are part of the town's foundations and even lower than the foundations. 

For a witch, secrets are a particular danger.

She understands the worth of silence, that certain truths and names should remain unspoken and some doors closed. At the same time, she is aware of their weight; the longer a secret is concealed, the more power it accrues. 

This is what is so compelling about Jackson. A secret held for protection is one matter. One held for power is quite another. The trick is knowing which secrets to keep and which ones to uncover.

Jackson, IL NPC

New week and a new topic. This week is Associates, and it's Monday, so back to Fair of Face. 

Julie Ann Keene is a pretty, popular Jackson girl somehow connected to every rumor before anyone else hears it. Many of the occult-minded think she might be a witch or an empath, but the truth is Julie is just well connected, and she pays attention. If the PCs can discover this, then they have found a useful resource.

Jackson Soundtrack

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 9 Privilege

There is a certain kind of privilege in Jackson, IL and it comes with a name.

Vale. Thompson. Morgan.

These are old families, respected families, the sort of names people recognize before the person attached to them has said a word. That matters in a small town. A name can open doors, smooth over questions, excuse bad behavior, or make adults listen when they might ignore someone else.

Stephanie Vale is aware of it, if she does not put it in those terms. Then there is Andy Thompson, who reaps the same advantage, but in a more decent, unassuming way. The Morgans have a different brand of it altogether, the kind born of money and property and age, and of secrets others are happy to shield for them. Even Roderick Morgan, who despises his name, reaps the benefits of it. 

But in a horror game, such social standing is more than background. It is armor. A blind spot as well.

Some characters are believed because of who they are. Others have to fight twice as hard to be heard at all. And in Jackson, where the monsters are often hidden behind good manners and old reputations, privilege can be the thing that saves you.

Or it could be what allows the horrors to continue. 

Jackson, IL NPC

This is the last day of Week 2, and the topic is Intellect. Since it is Sunday again, the topic is Blessed.

Brother Anselm Grey. A Jackson Jesuit monk-scholar who knows more about witches than he admits, and likes them better than he should. He has an appointment at MacAlister College as a visiting lecturer, but it is St. Michaels High School that brought him to Jackson. 

Brother Anselm lectures at MacAlister on the history of the witch trials and the "Burning Times." His students are generally surprised when his lectures take an extremely positive point of view on the "witches" and a dismal point of view on the religious authorities of the time. When asked, he only claims that they should have known better.

Jackson Soundtrack

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 8 Resolve

 Resolve is doing the thing anyway.

Not because it is easy. Not because it is fun. Not because anyone is going to thank you for it. Sometimes resolve means standing there when every sane instinct says to walk away, go home, lock the door, and let someone else deal with the nightmare.

Cases in point: Larina Nichols and Vera Rook of Jackson, IL.

Larina does what she believes is right, even when it costs her. Especially then. She will argue, complain, lose her temper, and probably make some deeply sarcastic comment along the way, but when the moment comes, she stands.

Vera is different.

Vera does what she wants. That can look like resolve from the outside, because she is stubborn, sharp, and hard to move. But there is a difference between holding your ground because something matters and refusing to move because you do not feel like it.

That is the real test of resolve for a witch.

Not whether she has the power to act, but whether she can make herself do what must be done when walking away would be so much easier.

In Jackson, walking or running away always feels easier.

Jackson, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect. Back to Saturday and "Works Hard." 

Kevin Pike: A JPHS AV-club kid who records every ghostly sound in the old school and catalogs them like science. One of the first kids in the school to own a camcorder; a JVC GX-N7 Lolux. 

Kevin is a good but odd kid. He doesn't trust anyone with his video collection so it sits in his room with his own organization and label codes. When asked, he says he is filming local wildlife. His mom thinks he is harmless. His dad is worried he is sneaking off to film the girls' dorms at Beecher College. But his tapes are filled with video footage of monsters, ghosts, and in one case a red-headed girl with glasses shooting fire from her hands.

Jackson Soundtrack

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 7 Mercy

Mercy is the hardest magic for a witch to learn.

Any witch can curse. Any witch can hex. Any witch can call down fire, rot, silence, madness, or whatever else the old books and older powers are willing to teach her.

Mercy is different.

Teenaged Larina is powerful, loyal, brilliant, and brave. But she is not famous for her impulse control or her anger control. Sometimes she sees the cruelty, the monster, the threat to someone she loves, and her first instinct is simple enough.

Burn it all down. Burn fucking everything.

And sometimes, that is the right call.

But mercy asks something harder of her. It asks her to stop. To breathe. To decide whether justice really needs fire this time.

For a witch, mercy is not weakness.

Often, it is choosing not to become the next thing people need saving from. 

Jackson, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect.  It's Friday, and Friday's Child is "Loving & Giving." 

Mara Ashcroft.  Mara is a librarian at St. Michael's Catholic School who quietly places the right forbidden book in the right frightened student’s hands. She likes most students, and more to the point, she knows which books NOT to give to which students.

Miss Ashcroft is not a "witch," at least that is what she tells herself. She says she is like her gran; a woman who knew how to "see around corners" and who always knew who was sneaking cookies from her drawer in the kitchen. Miss Ashcroft likes to think that she knows which books to give to which students because she is a good judge of character. And she is. It's just she often has the book in hand before the student even enters the library.

Jackson Soundtrack

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 6 Reach

Learning and dealing with occult magic is all about reach.

It reaches across the veil, into dreams, through mirrors, down bloodlines, into old books, forgotten places, and the spaces between worlds. It is not always about power. Sometimes it is about contact.

That is what makes it dangerous.

The Witch Queen Larina of West Haven knows this better than most. The white streak in her otherwise red hair is not just cosmetic. It is a reminder. A mark. Proof that sometimes her reach goes farther than her grasp. It is also something that Teen Larina of Jackson, IL has yet to learn. 

And really, that is the risk every witch takes.

To be a witch is to reach for something beyond the safe and ordinary world, knowing that sometimes something reaches back.

Iriandor NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect. Today is Thursday, and that is "Far to Go." Today's NPC is from Iriandor, my Daggerheart setting. Neris of the South Road. They are an Iriandor mapmaker who believes the world changes when no one is looking. Given the flux that Iriandor is in, they might be on to something.

Jackson Soundtrack

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 5 Burden

It is Witchcraft Wednesday, so let's make today witch-focused. 

Every witch carries a burden.

For some it is knowledge, either learned through books or experience. For many it is power. And for others still it is the terrible understanding that the world is larger, older, stranger, and crueler than most people will ever know.

Larina carries the burden of knowing what is really out there. Faye carries the burden of what was done to her. Rowan carries the pain of others. The witches of the Threefold Goddess carry faith, mystery, and contradiction. The High Order carries secrets. The Scaled Sisterhood carries ancient blood and older obligations.

That is part of what makes witches different from other magic-users.

A wizard learns spells. A cleric serves a god. But a witch inherits something. Often it is a terrible inheritance. A promise. A scar. A duty. A curse. A family. A coven. A town. Often all of them at once.

Jackson, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect. Today is Wednesday, Full of Woe, which is why Wednesday Addams has the name she does. 

Lots of students at Jackson Public High School and St. Michaels know what is going on. David Cross is one such student. A Jackson Public student who keeps dreaming true things and writing them down before they happen. Sadly, it is likely he will come to the attention of the PCs when his diary shows up, and he predicts his own death. And others. 

Jackson Soundtrack

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 4 Charm

Today we move over to Rowan's boyfriend, Andy. Anderson Thompson has Charm. 

Not in the slick, silver-tongued way one usually associates with the elites. Andy's charm is quieter. Maybe because of who his family is, he has developed his own way of dealing with people. He does this by raising others up. He is the kind of person who makes others want to be better because they are sure that is what Andy already thinks of them. 

That is powerful.

He doesn't bully, guilt, or cajole people into doing the right thing. He doesn't shame them. He just looks at them with his strong, steady confidence and enthusiasm, and suddenly they want to be whatever it is Andy sees in them. And when they do it, Andy is there saying, "Yeah! I knew you could do it!"

That is a different use of Charisma/Persona that what Stephanie has. No seduction, no manipulation. But rather trust. Andy already knows you can do it; you just need a little encouragement.

Jackson, IL and Carbon Vale, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect, and Tuesday is Full of Grace. Today I reach into TWO campaigns. This character is part of my Carbon Vale, alt-universe setting, but she also makes appearances in Jackson due to her connection to Lars Nichols.   

Professor Étaín Ní Mhaoláin: A Carbon Vale folklore professor whose lectures feel almost like rituals. An Irish national in Illinois on a scholar's visa. Larina is obsessed with her research. 

Étaín Ní Mhaoláin is, of course, the modern horror version/echo/shard of Étaín Moonshadow. She is also based on a Classics professor I really liked.

Jackson Soundtrack

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/