thirteen towns with dark secrets
as always, you don’t need to ask permission to use these
this city is run by the underground; drow, svirfneblin, and duergar criminal families vie for power, manipulating elected officials/influential merchants/inherited rulers and control the black market.
a village with no elderly people; as folks age, they allegedly vanish –into thin air, or disappear from their beds, or go out one day and never return.
a bustling town known for its excellent medical care. people come from all over to be treated at their facilities, but when they come home, they aren’t quite the same.
a town plagued by a shape-shifting serial killer: the murderer can pose as anyone, even a trusted family member.
a city on the rise whose citizens ignore the activities of a cult. the cult may sabotage politics, set fires, or sacrifice people and livestock, but if the news got out, the city’s reputation would be ruined; better to pretend nothing is wrong.
the village/town’s population is almost entirely controlled by a hivemind, either magical or parasitic; the few who are immune to the hivemind live in hiding, terrified of their own family and friends.
a town where community members are transformed into livestock as punishment for crimes or nonconformist behavior. the worst offenders are turned into butcher animals.
the townsfolk live under the tyrannical rule of a fiend, dragon, or other powerful entity. depending on the creature, they may have to pledge goods, labor, loyalty, or even lives to their overlord.
a monster preys upon the people of the town, but because the creature is believed to bring fertility and good fortune to the rest of the community, the townsfolk do nothing to stop the bloodshed.
the people are building, clear-cutting, or digging for some unknown purpose–they may be looking for a powerful artifact, serving the will of a local deity, or attempting to finance some other terrible goal. The locals may or may not be aware of the ultimate intent of their work.
the town sits over a portal to a dimension of euphoria, and are constantly cheerful even when experiencing terrible pain or tragedy.
the townsfolk slaughtered the previous inhabitants of the town and now occupy the houses of the dead; they are haunted by the ghosts of the former citizens and are unable to sleep for the wailing of the deceased.
the living share their homes with the raised dead, exchanging the lives of travelers for the lives of their loved ones or magically prolonging their own lives. the graveyards are full of unmarked tombs, filled with the corpses of murdered strangers.
titsay
stormborns
snowghoul
kianamaiart
kaledo-art
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
tangentwithtanner
annaxmalina
