Spark Tables for Modern Appalachia
I swear this isn't procrastination. I was reading Knock! Volume 5 this past week and came across a wonderful article by Nicolas Dessaux that I would link if I could find evidence of it on a search. It's called "This Village..." and it contains some excellent d20 and d10 spark tables for generating a fantasy village with great flavor baked in. I figured this would be a good tool for anyone outside of Appalachia thinking about trying out our game - if you don't live here, it may be a hard ask to spin up a region map!
We have a couple of tables captured below. In reality, most Appalachian towns are made up of at least a few of the neighborhood ideas here, but as we all know an RPG town basically consists of a shop, an inn, and an NPC or two. If you want players to stick around a town for a bit, then maybe you can give it a few districts or a few roadside attractions. Since we are playing with a deck of cards, I am going to use card draws rather than dice for our spark tables.
Main Neighborhood/District
| Rank | Town Layout |
|---|---|
| Ace | Holler. A small, sheltered valley between two mountains or hills. Usually has small homes built inconspicuously into the hills. Hard to pick an example for this one because they usually aren't named places on a map! |
| 2 | Diffusely Settled Broad Valley. Homes and businesses sparsely dot the landscape, although a few close-packed buildings usually crop up around gas stations. Ex: Johnson City, TN |
| 3 | Artisan Community. A small neighborhood built up around a respected craftsperson and their studio. Hearts: Luthier. Spades: Specialty Forge or jeweler. Diamonds: Potter. Clubs: Writer/author. Ex: Floyd, VA |
| 4 | Creekside Main St. The small creek that runs through the brick downtown swells and runs dry seasonally. Ex: Lansing, NC |
| 5 | Railroad Main St. The town cropped up when the freight train still ran through these parts. If the town is old enough, it might have been a water stop for the old steam trains. Ex: Jackson, KY |
| 6 | Strip Mall Town. The town built up some time after WWII and is more sheetrock than structural elements. Fine place to get a chain meal if that's what you're after. Ex: Marion, NC |
| 7 | Clinging to the cliffside. Maybe the main drag is on a flat strip, but each side street is about 30 feet higher in elevation than the last. Ex: Thomas, WV |
| 8 | Pastoral Community. Not much of a town, although there is a post office with a ZIP code around here somewhere. Farms, orchards, and pastures cling to the sides of steep hills tended to by stout little farmhouses. Ex: Grassy Creek, NC |
| 9 | Lumber yard. This heavily wooded area has just-barely-convenient access to a highway, a river, or a rail depot and either still maintains a logging industry or has been converted to a protected area to replenish the woods. Ex: Sunburst, NC (near Asheville) |
| 10 | Resort Community. Ski mountains and natural springs attract outside investors, often displacing locals in the process. Many of the service and hospitality employees commute in from poorer areas to cater to tourists. Ex: Snowshoe, WV |
| Jack | Wealthy Planned Development. A mix of gated communities and intentional villages dot the rolling hills and valleys with a disproportionate concentration of luxury goods stores. Many of the homes are owned by seasonal residents and/or rented out on some app-based service. Ex: Blowing Rock, NC |
| Queen | Postindustrial Company Town. The center of town is some derelict campus originally built up to support: Hearts: Textiles. Spades: Mines. Diamonds: Manufacturing. Clubs: Paper Mills. Ex: Canton, NC |
| King | Functioning mining town. Somehow, against all odds, this town still has a functioning mining industry. Ex: Charleston, WV |
Roadside Exhibit
I love the roadside oddities in rural Appalachia. Something like Mystery Hill or Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, NC which serve as year-round tourist traps and usually result in a day ending with a long conversation with disappointed children about setting reasonable expectations for outings. I probably could redo this table and have the entire thing be the "believe-it-or-not" option.
| Rank | Attraction |
|---|---|
| Ace | Educational Site. Hearts: Public Library. Spades: Civil War Battlefield. Diamonds: Community College. Clubs: Local History Museum |
| 2 | Appalachian Trail access or Blue Ridge Parkway access. If you are playing a strict map, this may not make geographic sense, so maybe your town has an abandoned spur of one of these Appalachian arteries! |
| 3 | Nature preserve. Hearts: State Park. Spades: National Forest. Diamonds: Community Park. Clubs: Wilderness Area. |
| 4 | RV Park, Campground, or Wilderness Outfitter |
| 5 | Some locally significant art |
| 6 | Farmer's market |
| 7 | Hearts: Brewery. Spades: Distillery (legal). Diamonds: Vineyard. Clubs: Distillery (less-than-legal) |
| 8 | Fishing lake |
| 9 | Drive-in movie theater |
| 10 | Exotic Animals or a Safari Park |
| Jack | Narrow-gauge railroad |
| Queen | Some sort of believe-it-or-not attraction |
| King | Limestone Cavern |
Who Lives There?
I honestly could have kept going all day on this one.
| Rank | NPC | Complication |
|---|---|---|
| Ace | Tourist | Wants to be an influencer |
| 2 | Chiropractor | Is quite ill |
| 3 | Musician | Has recurring nightmares |
| 4 | Fabricator | Recently pawned a family heirloom |
| 5 | Trucker | Has body odor or is dealing with a stench |
| 6 | Teacher | Has a nemesis in town |
| 7 | Backpacker | Experiencing a crisis of faith or midlife crisis |
| 8 | Sheriff | Is some sort of evangelist |
| 9 | Pastor/Preacher | Is lonely and looking for a friend |
| 10 | Retiree | Is currently open carrying a firearm |
| Jack | Handyman | Has a secret love |
| Queen | Local politician | Not revealing their true nature |
| King | Park Ranger | Cares for colonies of feral animals |
Main Church in Town
I left this one for last because I know not everyone cares to include literal references to Christianity or other religions in their games, but in small town Appalachia there are simply a lot of churches - especially on the main street(s). I think it would be ignoring a key part of the layout of these towns to ignore or background them.
| Rank | Church | Tendency |
|---|---|---|
| Ace | Unitarian | Schismatic |
| 2 | Southern Baptist | Generous |
| 3 | Cooperative Baptist | Suspicious |
| 4 | African Methodist Episcopal Zion | Active |
| 5 | United Methodist | Aging |
| 6 | Jehovah's Witness | Entrepreneurial |
| 7 | Latter Day Saints | Musical |
| 8 | Mennonite | Evangelistic |
| 9 | Church of the Brethren | Private |
| 10 | Presbyterian | Progressive |
| Jack | Episcopalian | Snake-Handling |
| Queen | Lutheran | Fire and Brimstone |
| King | Catholic | Cowboy |