The book provides nine locations for characters to explore (or become trapped within). The strongest ones either provide the player characters (PCs) good reasons to visit or else escalate the situation to the point where their interests are threatened.
The stories and locations are intended for mortal characters but most could be used for any of the supernatural templates with only a little work. For that matter since much of the material is system independent, it would also be easy enough to translate into the modern-day setting and game system of your choice.
With that let us the review the specific locations as well as how they've worked out in my own games.
The Swimming Hole
As second story I used from this book (for my Promethean Chronicle), the swimming hole seems innocuous. An unused quarry, it filled with water when workers hit an unexpected underground lake. Now it is occasionally used as a swimming spot. But the waters hold a secret. Those that bleed into them are granted wishes.Of course this being the world of Darkness, wishes come at a cost. This chapter offers a couple of options for how severe the price is as well as a nice cast of characters who made their wishes and now must live with the price one way or another. The players might take them a warning to leave it alone or examples of what not to do.
Either way there is another complication. A new company has bought the quarry and is busy draining the swimming hole. As the waters recede, wishes become easier. Soon you don't need to bleed or even speak the wish aloud. Soon selfish thoughts lead to unintended murders, bizarre deaths and accidents, and other strangeness. The nearby town begins to destroy itself as the waters vanish. And what happens when the water is gone? What is at the bottom of the swimming hole? Mysterious Places gives us several interesting options to keep players guessing.
In my game all the PCs made wishes but only two fulfilled the requirements. One wished for a very specific gun and its accessories. He found them and the bloody mess its previous owner left behind. The owner's friends were soon on his trail. The other character wished to always have an internet connection. After a car crash destroyed her car and computer (and crippled her), she found strange gremlins (from Midnight Roads) rebuilding her, adding a unique implant to her head.
The University
Another site I've added to my games, the University focuses on a conspiracy of professors who accidentally summoned "something" which animated their campus. At first disbelieving, they now try to control and perhaps reverse the effect. Meanwhile the intelligence manipulates the student body playing with them and driving some insane. Along the way it recreates some of the classic college urban legends (like getting straight A's if your roommate commits suicide). Mysterious Places provides a number of NPCs within the conspiracy, some campus politics, and a whole host of directions to go.The chapter also gives us a host of college rumors, directions for escalating the situation and several different end games. It includes a system for investigating the situation and what information the PCs might uncover along the way. The nature of a place as the antagonist I found poses a unique challenge even to powerful supernatural PCs.
In my own game, the PCs dealt with the spree killer and zombies created by the University before tracking down a member of the faculty who made deal with it. After neutralizing her, they realigned the pattern that forged the University's mind with their knowledge of geomancy (and notes from their experiences with Chicago Workings). They placed the 'tamed' entity under the care of the local Mysterium and a ghost ally of theirs.
Swamp Indian Hollow
I've yet to find a good use for this one. A quirk of the land allows one to reanimate dead materials. The local crematorium owner has used this to create strange dolls out of human remains and plant fibers. These dolls wander the grounds, invisible to mortal eyes unless they outnumber the living. It is very creepy but it is unclear how to one would make it a threat to others.A few entry points are suggested for player characters but I don't see many of them leading anywhere interesting, except for the one where they are rival supernaturals seeking to exploit the effect. It could be fun to use this in a Promethean game though. Perhaps one of the dolls gains Azoth and a 'real life'. Do they go back for the others?
The Village Secret
This setting starts with a location that will cure all illnesses and restore youth. But the focus is really on the village that guards it. In this case, it is your typical insular town where the inhabitants are all secretly working to distract or murder visitors. For PCs this might seem reminiscent of many horror movie locations. In other words, expect them to spot the trap and attempt to leave. Unfortunately the chapter does not provide many options to keep them there or escalate the situation.I only barely used this location in my long running Mage game. My players were not ones to be easily dissuaded or (at that point) to need supplies or shelter. They bypassed the town entirely and trekked to their goal. I'd suggest only using this location if you feel your PCs would actually stop in town and could be actually slowed/threatened by mortals (none of whom are particularly skilled combatants).
The Statue of the Weeping Alice
I used this location to good effect in my first Changeling Chronicle. The setting focuses on a statue of young girl, disused and forgotten in a local park. In the past people left offerings at its feet but that was long ago. Recently the town fell on hard times. Then one day someone kills themselves in front of the statue.The next day the statue begins to cry tears and things in town magically get better. Soon the townsfolk figure out that leaving offerings results in good fortune for the town as a whole. Small items bring minor luck, once living things improve health, personal items improve mental activities and so on. Of course animal sacrifice has an even greater effect. A cult develops, drinking the tears and sacrificing everything they have. Soon people talk about sacrificing people.
The chapter offers several variations on things escalate, how the statue might be stopped and how to tie the PCs into the story. It also outlines the a history of what's going on and how the force behind this is much larger than a simple statue.
Hillcrest Center for Elder Living
This location is a bit different, consisting of several different story seeds. I've only used one to date (in my Hunter: the Vigil game) but I expect to mine the others at some point. The Hillcrest Center is a rest home for the elderly. In this case the residents include many interesting characters. Each could serve as the focal point for a story. They include an ex-mob hitman who might get pulled back in, a former serial killer who hasn't fully quelled his hunger for little girls, an elderly body hopper who leaves his 'vacation spots' near death, a man over a hundred years old who periodically needs to eat people, and a woman possessed by a lust spirit.The bit I used in my own game was a coma ward where every muttering is recorded as a sort of oracle. Creepy and cool, but less exciting than the other characters included here.
The Whispering Wood
This chapter discusses a circus that got lost in the woods forty years ago. Tempted by strange voices they were then manipulated to turn on each other. In the end the freaks were murdered. The rest of the carnival found themselves transforming into freaks afterwards, their sins (and vices) made manifest. Now still trapped, those who enter the woods must deal with this surreal village of mutants while avoiding becoming one of them.The whole experience is very reminiscent of Changeling: the Lost (which was published some years later). We have people turning into monsters, trapped in a thorn lined wood, and the element of the surreal with the broken down carnival.
All in all, it's an interesting scenario. Being trapped with a circus of freaks while turning into one as well is definitely compelling. My problem is I just don't see how I could fit it into any my planned games. Perhaps someone else will have more luck.
The Junkyard
Another story I haven't worked how or why I would include, the Junkyard has less excitement than I would expect. Other than some undead dogs, nasty rats, and a possibly possessed owner we don't get much of a story. What makes this place bad? Why do dead things not stay dead? You'll have to decide that on your own.We get a few possible stories but overall I feel this chapter packs a lot of background for relatively little play value. Nothing suggests that you would spend more than a single adventure (or session) at the Junkyard. The characters seem seeded with dark deeds but then the text weasels out of each implication. We are left with horror without historical justification, the kind of thing that lets a game master weave it into a larger story.
I did play this once, at GenCon when they were launching Mage: the Awakenging. We used the film crew story. There it worked because it was also part of a (surviving) character's Awakening. Sadly the chapter in Mysterious Places doesn't include any such lead ups.
The Empty Room
The first location I used from Mysterious Places was the Empty Room (for the first World of Darkness game I ran, a Mage/Vampire crossover). The premise is simple, the PCs find an empty room, one that shouldn't be there. Later on it teleports them to it. This time however it lacks a door out. They are isolated and trapped. Then the room lets them go. They appear where they last were as if no time passed. Then later it pulls them back in for twice as long. And again. And again. Each time doubling the length of time until they die or defeat it.I ran the first two visits in real-time (1/2 hour and 1 hour respectively) and I have to say it was memorable.
The chapter gives several variations on the room, its purpose, methods of escape, possibilities for its history, and several NPCs with a deep connection (and violent) to it.
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