Interview: Weird Heroes of the Great Outdoors
Broadcasting from the North Woods of Minnesota
Kyle of Vampyre Cinema is bring us not one, not two, but three new zines for WHPA! There’s Weird Heroes of the Great Outdoors, filled with 5 new classes, setting location, and referee tools. Terrifying True Stories to Tell Around the Camp Fire, filled with adventures inspired by the tales told in the North Woods. Last but not least, The Legend of Paul Bunyan, an adventure zine focused on the legendary lumberjack is real and causing a giant mess of the North Woods. I wanted to learn more about this super-sized crowdfunding campaign so I asked him a few questions. Take a look over here, or keep reading! Kyle gave some impassioned answers and you can really feel the love coming through for what he’s created.
I first thought the project was just a single zine, but you're doing three! Was that the original plan or did you find WHPA so inspirational that it grew to expand the scope?
I knew it was going to be a big project, and quickly realized that it was not all going to fit in a single zine.
WHPA really lights up my brain in a way that other RPGs haven't before. I grew up too late and too rural to really experience public access TV, but the world that Joey Royale has introduced just hits the same wavelength that I find myself on. Creating scenarios for players to uncover the Weird - whether it is simply strange or insidious, that is either overlooked or actively covered up in the mundane world is endlessly fascinating to me.
I ended up with one zine just for the Setting, Programming Focuses, some new game mechanics for WHPA like Rivals, Sponsors, Good Guy Points, and an adventure generator that I have been calling the Adventure Matrix. It is something between a hex crawl and a point crawl, with a little secret sauce thrown in to keep it exciting.
The other two zines are full of adventures. One is North Woods scenarios, each based on local legends, family stories, or “camp fire tales” tropes. It also has a set of three adventures dealing with a cult trying to resurrect the glacial lake Agassiz as a regional elder god. The other is about X-Tec's shenanigans in the North Woods. I have been finding a lot of joy in challenging myself through the art and layouts, and really going for it design-wise. And that's how we got to three zines!
You've got this set in the Northern Woods of Minnesota! I've put my Fairhaven in a vaguely set New England coast town. Tell us a little why you felt Minnesota was the spot that you wanted to explore?
Officially, it's set in the “North Woods” which could be any forest or at any lake resort that WHPA Hosts may want to visit for a summer vacation. But yes, it is Minnesota with a couple of the serial numbers filed off.
I have lived in Northern Minnesota for the last 20 years, since my partner and I went to college in Bemidji. My partner's family has lived up in the woods for five or so generations , and they are a major inspiration for the setting.
WHGO originally started with a family vacation in North Woods of Minnesota in summer 2024. We were staying in an old lake cabin that had recently had an indoor bathroom added on (swanky digs, I know). All that week we shared stories of summer vacation memories. With so many of these tales I found myself thinking, “This would make a great WHPA adventure!” Except, not really.... because there isn’t a city to set these adventures in. I knew I needed to create a new setting to give these stories life, and now I am inviting everyone to join in the adventure!
I think that Northern Minnesota is one of those places that attracts Weird folks. There is enough space to be yourself and it is isolated enough that you have to be willing to do things yourself and come up with creative solutions to get things done and keep yourself entertained. There is also the constant looming vastness of being surrounded by the deep woods. It's real fertile ground for letting the imagination run wild with what could be just off the road.
The final piece is the struggle between nature and industry/modernization that plays out across the region. Together it is a place that can be very simple or complex depending on how you look at it. It's a place that can be beautiful and dangerous depending on where you look.
So do you think there is a single Fairhaven that simply existing differently in each of our minds? Or are there numerous Fairhavens, scattered across the USA but all with similar oddities occurring in them?
There is only one Fairhaven. Each time a group sits down to play WHPA, that is Fairhaven experiencing itself. Fairhaven contains all possible Fairhavens, so each experience will be unique. Eventually, of course, all the Fairhavens will have been experienced and we will all awaken into a new age of enlightenment as the Weird Heroes in Fairesthaven.
Thanks for indulging me there. Back to the Great Outdoors, you've got 5 new Programming Focuses in here. Please share what you've got in store with those!
The WHGO Hosts are regional public broadcasting personalities. The Programming Focuses are each focused on one skill:
Fishing - Mouth
Hunting - Body
Cryptids - Soul
Regional Interest and Education - Mind
and a non TV, resort act:
Live Impersonator - player's choice of skill
Each Programming Focus also gets a secondary skill bump that includes a minor ability that can be creatively interpreted by players.
The thing that really excites me about these Hosts is the Sponsors. Sponsors are the WHGO version of supernatural abilities. These Corporate Sponsors function similarly to Warlock Patrons, and can provide skill point bonuses, unique items, supernatural abilities, special connections, and much more - - provided that the Hosts stay in their Sponsor's good graces.
Thanks for taking the time to reveal so much! Anything else you'd like to share with folks?
I just got the finished art for the Special Edition cover for the WHGO setting book!
It was done by Matt Houle of Belt & Bone (www.instagram.com/@matthouleart)
He has been a dear friend of mine since we were both living in Bemidji as young metalheads. I said give me your gnarliest, North-Woodsiest cover, and he delivered in a major way!
This cover (and the accompanying extremely rad t-shirt) will only be available during the Backer Kit Campaign, so don't sleep on it!
Thank you for letting me share a bit of this project with you, and I am so excited to share these adventures and this location that I love with the wider world!
Ever imagine a Fairhaven in your neck of the woods? Where might you place your version of this sleepy little town?
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