Monsterhearts: Prairie Rock

Characters

Ash, the Fae

AJ, the Ghost

Liz (Elizabeth or Beth), the Ghoul

Sam, the Werewolf

Khader, the Witch

Places

The high school's in the small town of Prairie Rock (technically a Village), which is somewhere not too far from Madison, but it's still a bit of a drive, and there's really no significant public transportation. Prairie Rock is still bigger than the two villages nearby, however. The high school in Prairie Rock draws on all three, along with some students outside these boundaries.

Birch Grove may have had birches or groves once, but is now a rundown ex-industrial town. The abandoned factory is here.

The more upscale Lutetia, on a lakeshore, is mostly affluent and not very diverse, but there are certainly exceptions. Lutetia also contains a fancier private school,

The Meth Cabins were never used to cook methamphetamine. The worst that's happened there is smoking weed and breaking into the abandoned A-frames to have a place to sleep overnight. A travel company built the complex a few miles outside of the city to attract hunters and nature-lovers, but they never opened to the public; the company built the cabins and then folded without ever taking a reservation. On the one hand that means the cabins aren't actually hooked up to the power or sewer mains. On the other hand that means there's not actually anyone who cares when teenagers go out there and smoke weed. Mostly the police walk through there once or twice a week to roust out vagrants.

The old sign painted on the diner window says Sal's, but it's changed owners a bunch of times over the years and nobody remembers who Sal was at this point. The food is standard diner fare, but it's cheap and decent enough; Maya is actually a pretty great cook at home, when she can get hold of reasonable ingredients, but there's no demand for Indian food in the town.

Legend Lore, Prairie Rock's friendly local game store, the D&D crowd hang out.

Lutetia State Wildlife Area is large enough to border Prairie Rock as well as Lutetia itself. While it's got hiking trails, they're not exactly heavily trafficked, with this area not really being much of a destination (hint: not a lot of witnesses). There's a creepy abandoned cabin in the woods.

The curio shop in town has always been run by a Mrs. Tabitha

Mitcher's Hill, among highschoolers known as Mount Loser, is a good spot to drink and smoke away from prying eyes.

Craftwell's, a mystic shop that sells trinkets, crystals, etc. but also has a small library with very interesting books.

Relatives

Maya, AJ's mother. Works in a diner, has raised AJ as a single parent for most of her life.

Supal, AJ's father. Factory worker. Vanished without a trace about ten years ago, allegedly running off with another woman. Maya never believed it, insisting the company was covering up his death in an industrial accident, but was never able to prove anything.

Paul and Gillian Reed: Sam's parents. Paul works at Prairie Rock's branch of Bank of America doing data processing, Gillian as manager of the town's Bed Bath & Beyond. They've been one of the few sources of genuine love and support Sam's had in his life, but lately, they've made clear their concern about the changes in his behavior--the lack of sleep, the reports of him getting in fights at school, the sneaking out at night. They haven't outright said they disapprove of him and Margot, but Sam is sure that's part of it.

Reverend Bridges, Ash's father and the town pastor, has a very black-and-white worldview. Something is good or bad, yes or no, right or wrong, and he knows which is which. He knows he knows, and how can you dispute otherwise because he's the voice of moral authority in the community.

Vanessa Caron-Bridges is the terror of the PTA, trading liberally on her position as the pastor's wife.

Melody Bridges is very devoted to getting her parents' approval, very Type A, and thinks that Ash is abusing his position as the eldest with this whole "zi/zir/zie" thing. She loves pointing out when Ash fails at something or reporting his misdeeds to their parents or the authorities. At the same time she likes to use her position as "the pastor's daughter" to get out of trouble herself.

Leila, Khader's younger sister, 15, who, contrary to him, really seems to enjoy moving to the US.

Liz's father, calls her Lizzy

Classmates

Catherine, AJ's former best friend. They've known each other since they were kids. Popular, arty, dating Logan. Used to see fairy lights and songs from the woods out back of her house. Her parents have long since fallen out and are essentially living separate lives at this point, with her dad spending most of his nights at a second home. They're only still married for appearance's sake; small towns love a scandal.

Logan, Catherine's boyfriend. School's star basketball player

Shannen, Logan's twin sister and Catherine's new best friend. Always trying to get enough people together to make a Photography Club. There's some school rule about needing a certain number of members and she can never get enough, but every year she tries. Also wants to make Ashley one of the cool kids. Was dating Cory but dumped him after the dirtbike stunt.

Blake, one of Logan's basketball buddies, hooking up with Ricky on the down-low. Keeps trying to pin the blame on Margot for some random acts of vandalism.

Stella Ringer, bullied Khader, dating Ricky. Straight-A student. On Adderall.

Margot Everly, Sam's girlfriend. The only other werewolf in Prairie Rock as far as either of them know, she was the one who attacked him (it's complicated). Known as a troublemaker, spends more of her days at Mount Loser than in class. From what Sam understands, she has no idea who the werewolf that turned her was, and has never encountered another. Secretly likes making her own stuffed animals. They look pretty ugly, and she knows it, but she loves them anyway. Possibly responsible for some random acts of vandalism.

Peter Hale, one of Sam's D&D group. Shy friendly. Originally from China, and took a Western name when his parents came over when he was a young child. Tries a little too hard at being visibly into popular music. He wears band t-shirts and injects discussion of music into conversations a little more often than feels entirely natural. Has a crush on Cory.

Dennis Kaminski, one of Sam's D&D group. WASP. Well-meaning but kind of ignorant about other cultures. Knows about Peter's crush.

Ashley Griswold, one of Sam's D&D group. Big glasses, third-hand clothes, carries sketchbooks full of fantasy drawings.

Ricky, not quite Liz's friend, has an older brother. Dating Stella. Hooking up with Blake on the down-low.

Cory tried a dirtbike stunt and managed to smash his bike through the gym's glass doors. Most kids know about it, the teachers don't, but a videotape exists.

Raquel, total Trekker or Trekkie or whatever they're called. Introverted, but get her started on Trek and she won't stop going on about it.

Mike, jock, tries to show off with jokes. Wants to be in a band but has no musical talent.

Ari, non-binary, they/them pronouns. Their parents recently left the church.

Backgrounds

Ash wears zir heart on zir sleeve; Everyone gets a string on Ash. Ash has captured Sam's fancy and gets two strings on him.

Liz knows AJ is dead and how she died. She gains gain two strings on her. AJ has been inside Khader's bedroom when he was sleeping, and gains a string on them.

Ash reminded Liz what love was, and gains a string on her. Ash saw Liz die; they both gain two strings on each other.

Sam lacks subtlety; everyone gets a string on Sam. Sam has spent weeks watching AJ from a distance, and gains two strings on her.

Sam caught Khader going through Stella's stuff, and gains a string on him. Khader starts with two sympathetic tokens, which count as strings; Ash's jacket patch and AJ's diary.