Heroic Horror

Ed:
The sandbox of Pinebox was always meant to be a place of Heroic Horror. This is because Preston and I like to believe that good always defeats evil.  In ETU, the heroes are not victims.  They are students that stand up to evil, fight it, and come out stronger on the other side.   Some folks play ETU as more of a Scooby gang, more tongue and cheek with humor and fighting evil.  Some play pure horror, and some mix the two. 

There is no wrong way to play if y’all are having fun.

The setting is East Texas in the Big Thicket, also known as the Piney Woods.  Loblolly pine trees more than 80 feet tall, pine needles layer the floor of old growth woods, and wild hogs and more fill the woodlands.

Some folks talk about Chupacabras.  Others believe in the Skunk Ape, also known as Big Foot, panthers, coyotes, and more.  Massive fire ant colonies, cotton mouths and copperheads (snakes), alligators, and who knows what else bring threats both natural and supernatural.

In Fresh Blood, the heroes are introduced to the cults and crazies of Golan County, Texas. Throughout Pinebox history there have been periods of extreme hauntings, cult activities, strange sightings, and more and much of it seems to be cyclical.  The 1970s saw many cults and supernatural activities and now, 50 years later, it’s happening again.

The heroes must investigate the who, the what, and most importantly the why and how of what is happening in Fresh Blood.  It should be a fun.

Preston:
Ed’s right– as long as everyone at your table is having fun (heck, I’d settle for 80%), then there’s no wrong way to play ETU. Buuuuuuut…when we craft adventures, it’s with a certain tone in mind. A good percentage of the adventures we write can be characterized as mysteries:

• There’s an initial encounter, sometimes with a supernatural hook, sometimes not.
• There’s a situation to investigate or research.
• The investigation leads the students to the source of the problem, allowing them to resolve it.

That structure leads to just the kind of tone that Ed wrote about–it’s Scooby Do meets Buffy meets Supernatural, and maybe a little Ghostbusters for good measure. That’s not to say that you can’t craft adventures with a different tone, for instance there’s no reason you couldn’t run ETU as a sort of creeping, Cthulhu-like dread with cults and mind-warping gods. Or, to borrow inspiration from other properties, a college-themed gateway to Hunter: The Reckoning, Monster Hunters International, or Agents of Oblivion.

Take your favorite supernatural inspirations, add our unique rural Texas twist, and Study, Party, Fight Evil!