It's not easy being a kid. Not in the '80s, not ever. School is a dog-eat-dog world of social hierarchies, judgement, embarrassment, and endless potential humiliation. It's been a year since the events at the Old Barnaker House. Memories have faded, for those who were there things seem fuzzy, could that really have happened? Any kudos from surviving the fire is wiped out by the dark whispers about why you survived and the other kids didn't, about drugs, and mental illness.
And kids move on, they make new friends. The events of the last year are put behind you. And you're back on the bottom of the social pile. Trying to claw your way back into the acceptable cliques at middle school. Then someone's older brother tells them about an abandoned amusement park on the outskirts of Northfield. Someone else challenges you to visit on Halloween Night, says you wouldn't dare, called you chicken. But you would dare, you know you would. Nothing scares you anymore.
So it's 1987, kids still roam free on Halloween Night. And here you are, walking up the overgrown driveway to an old, forgotten amusement park. On Halloween Night. Didn't want to be called a chicken again...
And here you are. Something tugs at the back of your mind. A forgotten memory. This isn't right. You shouldn't be here. What was once a place of joy is now cold and dark and empty. There's a metal arch over the front gate, topped by large, rusted metal letters. The remaining letters spell out 'UNLAND.'
So get your slingshot and your pocket knife. Grab some candy and ready your Rubik’s Cube. You and your friends are going to sample all the thrills that Unland has to offer.
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Unland is a 1980s set, classic Halloween-set one-shot adapted from a Scott Dorward scenario from Fear's Sharp Little Needles and following on from last year's The Dare Halloween one-shot set in the small Indiana town of Northfield. We'll continue to use the simplified Call of Kid-thulhu rules and you are welcome to bring back any of the surviving characters from The Dare, to create your own, or get a pre-gen. As with The Dare it is intended to be particularly suitable for novices and to continue the 1980s pulp horror vibe.