Little (Eldritch) Town Playthrough Pt. 1

Little Town and its supplement Eldritch Town has all the vibes of Twin Peaks, Public Access, and Lovecraftian horror in a solo ttrpg package that is not only enjoyable but highly re-playable without feeling like you’re in the same town or mystery.
I not only was stoked to find it but also couldn’t stop thinking about my game even when I was working on other things. I just had to know where this mystery was taking me…

Content warnings: Little Town, and its supplement, is a horror game. While the prompts are open ended enough that players can make it as dark or as comedic or just weird as they like there are themes of death, violence (against the PC and NPCs), kidnapping, drug use, cults, sex work, and more.

This playthrough was made using Little Town as well as the Eldritch Town supplement. You do not need to use the supplement for a good spooky weird horror play through.

Pine Haven

“the Town, a place that seems to have stopped in time, simultaneously in the 1950s and 1990s. This is where your Investigation will take place.”
~Little Town

“A long way from the world. You’ve noticed that. And that’s the way we like it. But there’s a back end to that that’s different too. Maybe that’s the price we pay for all the good things. There’s a sort of evil out there. Something strange in the hills. It takes different forms, but it’s been there for as long as anyone can remember. And we’ve always been here to fight it.”
– Sheriff Harry S. Truman, Twin Peaks

“There is an uncharted and long forgotten Town. It is a place full of secrets, and its
few inhabitants are not welcoming to outsiders. Some even say that it is a sinister
and dangerous place to visit.”
~ Eldritch Town

(Player’s Note. In my mind, Pine Haven is in West Virginia. I do not know if there is a place in WV called Pine Haven. The name for the town came out of a local paranormal investigation I did in TN regarding a building with a similar name.)

Bobbie Green

she/her
Student archetype (University, not high school)
Items:

• Backpack
• Notebook
• Pen
• Walkman – mixtape includes The Cure, Concrete Blonde, London After Midnight, Sisters of Mercy, The Smiths
• Compass
• Calculator
• Ruler
• Protractor
• Square

Mind +2
Presence +1
Agility 0
Strength -1
Starting Instability 0

Secret – Bobbie is living a double life. Everyone in Pine Haven sees her as an ordinary, innocent girl but she is actually blackmailing various people with secrets she’s discovered through keen mind, good ears, and the hacking skills she is going to University for.
Bobbie is interested in the kidnapping of Jolene Rogers because Jolene is one of the people she is blackmailing. If she doesn’t solve this, the person doing this will become more powerful.

The Notebook of Bobbie Green

We are truly ourselves when no one is looking.
Or rather, when we think no one is looking.
Someone is always looking.

November 3

Jolene Rogers is missing. Rumor around town is she was kidnapped but there’s no official report announced in the Pine Haven Post or on the website. This would be big news in our town so it’s weird that the church lady rumor mill is the only notice.

Hit the Coffeeshop.
You’d think Reggie would actually name this place but he just says everyone knows what it is and there isn’t another one until you hit the next county so he isn’t worried about it. The smell of fresh coffee is better than how it tastes here. Denise has radio on low but Acky-Breaky-Heart is still audible.
Denise Hayward is an introvert so we get along. However, her desire to keep to herself today is frustrating. She’s friends with Jolene. I know she knows something even if she doesn’t know what I had on Jolene or that Jolene was paying me. Still…friends talk and I can only hope that maybe she will tell me something.
Dr. Rick Foster was the only other patron. He is the only person I know who purposefully moved to Pine Haven rather than away so I mostly avoid him. The thing is, as the only doctor in town, he is probably one of the few other people that know as many secrets as I do.
Thankfully, Rick is one of those people who is eager to be liked. So when I asked if he heard about the Jolene rumor, he was ready to talk. “It’s a shame that their good fortune led to this.”
When I pushed he told me he heard the Rogers had recently received some sort of inheritance and that was likely the cause for the kidnapping – a ransom for that money.
This was followed by inane small talk – my mom is doing well, school is going fine, the dive to university sucks, the weather is probably about to get bad, and so on. I silently disagreed with his comment about the damn fine coffee the place served. It was mindless and gave me mental space to consider what he’d said.
Jolene didn’t have access to money. It was why she was late on her payment to me. It wasn’t that she was lying to get out of paying me off. I knew how to spot that by now. So did her parents just have money she couldn’t get to or was the rumor of an inheritance just that, a rumor?
I had to try Denise. I cornered her in the back where she was bagging up used coffee grounds for the ladies in the garden club.
Denise finally broke down and told me Jolene’s last known location – the cemetery. Apparently she got off taking her boyfriends there to bang. I said something about Mary Shelley but the reference was lost on Denise.

Pine Haven Cemetery was actually kind of peaceful in the evening. Its where everyone in the area is buried unless they get out or decide to go against the cultural norm and get cremated. I wandered through the headstones – most of them simple but we have a few statues and a mausoleum that stands out. I found the Rogers headstones – Jolene’s grandparents and some other relatives that I wasn’t sure of the connection. Nothing there until I reached the closest statue – a weeping angel. At its foot sat a book.

A faded manuscript detailing occult rituals and their purpose. I flipped through it, a lot of it is in another language and no sign as to if this belonged to Jolene or not. Still, I put it in my backpack for later.

Just as I was about to head out, I was no longer alone in the cemetery. Two other people stood near the mausoleum. Carefully, I approached.
Jolene’s mother, Lynette Rogers, was talking to a woman in a long black coat. An Outsider. I didn’t recognize her as anyone in town.
Listening in without getting close enough to be spotted was difficult.
A cult has been established on the outskirts of town. They believe they are “Returning Home.” The leader wants to run for mayor in next year’s election.
The outside is the Leader of the cult but…must solve some sort of secret. Lynette doesn’t now the information the leader is looking for.
Lynette called her Eleanore.

Suspect – Leader of a Cult just outside of Pine Haven – “Eleanore.”

I watched them separate and tried my best to tail the outsider.
I managed to track her for a while before being spotted. She sped up and when I turned the corner, her car was turned around and attempted to run me off the road. She failed thankfully but I still lost her.
I drove on past the old Bransen place where a newly paved road has been put in. I parked off the side of the road and decided to check out the rest on foot. It was difficult in the dark especially farther in the pines.
That was when I saw it.

Image: Brown Jenkin of Dreams in Witch House.

At first I thought it might be a badger or groundhog. It didn’t run off when I made a noise, rather came closer. That was when I saw it in the dim light – a huge rat with the face of a man!
Yes I know. Crazy.
I grabbed a fallen branch and tried to hit it or scare it off. Instead it lunged at me and bit me on the leg.
I ran but it bit me again, latching on until I could kick it off and get away.

Bleeding pretty bad, I headed to Dr. Foster’s house. Thankfully he was still feeling amicable and treated me there. I told him I had gone for a walk in the woods to clear my head and was attacked by some animal. He told me not to go walking around at night and wrote me a script for antibiotics to make sure the bites don’t get infected.

November 4

I decided to try approaching what I suspect is the location Eleanore was headed to from the other direction – the long way, around the sawmill.
I parked at the edge of one of the pine clearings and walked in. Even in daylight, the woods get pretty dark and I couldn’t help but keep an eye out for that rat-thing.
When I heard a noise, I nearly screamed. It was only Tommy Moore – sawmill worker, hiker, nature lover who prefers animals to people.
I decided to ask him a few questions and hope for the best – had he heard about Jolene? Knew of any new construction in this area? Seen any strange critters in the woods?
Best lead I’ve had so far.
He not only was able to point me to the exact location of a new, very large house just on the other side of the sawmill’s land but said that he knew that the Roadhouse bartender, Dwayne Edwards, was in good with the people there.
The last part gave me chills. Tommy had seen strange creatures in the woods – things he knew people would tell him he was crazy if he said anything about them. They come out at night.
I gave him my number and asked him to call me if he saw anything else. This made him curious but thankfully Tommy isn’t like me – he doesn’t ask questions.

I drove over to the new place. It was indeed huge, fenced, and even has some new security cameras. I watched for a couple of hours but no one came in or out. The lead is a dead end unless something comes up to get me in there.
Is that where they are keeping Jolene?

Not wanting to go back in the woods at night, I headed to the Roadhouse Pub.
Weather turned cold and the first snow flurries fell.
Inside was warm but the vibe was all wrong – dark, even threatening. I felt a little like I had when facing that rat-thing.
Dwayne wasn’t there. The bartender on duty, Al, became hostile when I asked about him.
The bouncer escorted me out and watched me as I sat in my car so I couldn’t even sit and wait to see if Dwayne showed up.
So much for that lead.

November 5

Found Lynette Rogers home in the early hours. Was invited in for coffee.
When I asked about news on Jolene, Lynette said there was a new development.
“The police have found evidence that Jolene ran away.” Lynette’s energy is now being put into reaching out to her daughter to encourage her to come home.
Its easy to tell she is lying.
I asked to go to Jolene’s room and look at some old photos. Lynette seemed suspicious but was still friendly and took me upstairs. We looked at photos and momentos on Jolene’s vanity until the phone rang. Once Lynette was out of the room, I did a quick rush search. The only thing out of place was a key hidden in Jolene’s jewelry box.
Lynette came back after she got off the phone. Telemarketer, she said. Another lie. I left.

Outside, I saw someone parked across the street in a blue SUV, watching the house. When I pulled out, it followed.
I took the long route out of town, headed towards University rather than back home, despite no classes on Sunday.
They must have caught on because they sped up, rammed my car hard enough I drove off the road.

Want more?

Thank you for reading part 1 of my playthrough of Little Town. I hope to have part 2 for you soon.
In the meantime, feel free to check out the game. Want more of my work? You can read playthroughs of Tangled Blessings and other games here on the blog. I also create solo horror games like Father Dagon, Mother Hydra and Village Necromancer.
Want more small town horror? Check out my podcast – Can’t Stop the Signal is a Public Access campaign dealign with small town analog horror with plenty of Little Town vibes.
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