Black Lake

Black Lake is a small mountain town in California, known for its logging, mining, and quaint tight-knit community. It has a population of around 1,000, most of which live in the outlying rural areas of the town proper.
== An Introduction ==
A few days back, a powerful storm blew in and drowned three folksThe Homencik boys; Peter, Ivan, and Leo in Black Lake. The town's still in mourning. The Sheriff has banned fishing in Black Lake until the dry season.this is kept vague for GMs to interpret If you want to stay the night, check out Dent's Best Motel, at the south end of main street. 
The phone lines are down (which is expected, considering the storm damage), which has a lot of folks inconvenienced to say the least. Everyone's hoping the whole thing is fixed by the weekend, when everyone tends to meet at the Pinetree Pub.
== Getting In and Out of Town ==
On an ordinary day — assuming no zombies, spike strips, or mutant deer migrations — it takes less than half an hour to get from Black Lake to Redding, California, the nearest major town.
== Buildings (by quadrant) ==
* Northwest
**Dent's Best Motel
** Ortega's Truckstop / Garage
** The Cave Bar
** Black Lake Dental Clinic
** Black Lake Medical Clinic
** Church of Pure Value
** Five Cents to One Dollar Store
* Northeast
** Black Lake Library and Museum
** Black Lake Free Church
** Black Lake Review / KNEW Radio
** Pinetree Pub
** Brewin's Food & Feed
* Southwest
** Zen House / The Granola
** Bank of Northern California
** Joe's Restaurant
** Black Lake Town Hall / Sheriff's Department
** Chew Foods
** Black Lake Seniors Activity Center
* Southeast
**Homencik's Bakery
** Godot's Flower & Garden
** Jerry's Consignments
** Bill's Hardware and Sporting Goods
** Mrs. Brown's Boarding House
** The Queen (restaurant)
== Off the Map ==
*Black Lake's Lake
*Fred's Farm
* Fish and Tackle Shop
*The Estate / Mansion
** Walter Wong
** Estate Guards
** Ezra Nash
*Logging Camp
*The Mines
== Black Lake Rumor Mill ==
* Black Lake is supposedly home to a lake monster, Blacki.
*Folks think the couple, Josef Homencik and Sheilahomebrew name, as no name was given Homencik have been getting into fights. They did lose their offspring recently, and no one's been hit harder than them.
* Bill O'Keefe of Bill's Hardware claims he hunted the stuffed grizzly himself, although grizzlies haven't been seen in California for years.
* The Black Lake Free Church expected Christ's return several years ago, but no such event happened, resulting in a crisis of faith. The Church has since developed into an autonomously organized network of churches, participating in bandit reintegration programs. They meet at the Seniors Activity Hall once a week.
*There's a well-guarded mansion out by the lakeside that's been occupied by some bigwig, and they never leave the property. Locals call it the Medtech Mansion, since last anyone heard, it was bought up by some executive from Columbus Meditech. Rumors about the mansion range from mad science to mad parties.
*The old anti-tank gun near the Senior Center still works, and was only fired once "in anger"to fire "in anger" is to fire with intent to destroy, as opposed to practice shots and the like during an old battle with bandits.
== NPCs in Black Lake ==
* The Ortegas
**Jesus, Uncle, Maria
*Mayor - Sheriff - Deputies
**Dent Motel — Norman Barstow
**Sheriff Muldoon
**Deputy Christine Canyon
**Deputy Amber Lane
**Deputy Pasha Lee
* Out-of-town DocuLife news crew
**Tony Brummet
* The Black Lake Review (newspaper)
** Barbara Fram, editor
**Sydney Jonathan, reporter (and radio DJ)
**Alfredo Pagliacci, librarian
* The Clinic
** Dr. Willy Basset, doctor
** Nelson Tambo, ambulance driver
** Jane Hall, nurse
** Malcolm Fraser, dentist (next door)
* The Bank
** Lisa Bellechampes
** The Tellers
* The Senior Center
**Wiley Kiley
*Church of Pure Values
**Reverend Jim Fisher
*Black Lake Free Church
**Alice Johnson, Chairwoman of the Free Church
*Shopkeeps
**Maggie Brewin — Food & Feed
**Adrian and Sarah Chew — Chew Foods
**Codhead Ed Conroe — Fish and Tackle (by the lake)
**Simpson Godot — Godot's Flowers 
**Josef Homencik — Homencik Bakery
**Eve Kosnowski — Jerry's Consignments 
**Jerry Low — Pinetree Pub
**Ben McKinley — The Granola, restaurant
**Bill O'Keefe — Hardware and Sporting Goods
**Joe Renko — Joe's Restaurant
*The Shards
**Vic the Knife (leader)
*Graveyard
**Smiley Smyth
=== Unnamed Characters ===
* Waiting staff at some locations, such as Joe's (the ones at Mrs. Brown's are very odd)
*Employees at some locations, like Five Cents to One Dollar Store
*Dozens of members at the Senior Center
* Out-of-towners like truckers and bikers
== Fandom Notes ==
* Giant Mystery Man: Uncle Ortega is a gentle giant who seemingly never speaks. His name in the book is just "Uncle", and his age says "about 36", instead of "36". He has ST 16, making him one of the strongest characters in the game—in a three-way tie with the infamous Red the Horseman and a literal black bear.
* Teenage Genius: Maria Ortega is the teen daughter of the Ortega family. She knows English and Spanish, as well as Greek and a bit of Latin, and is learning nuclear physics.
* A Different Shade of Punk: While the Cave Bar is popular with truckers, bikers and the infamous Shards gang, there's more than one meeting place for the lawless. There's secretly an ARF cell meeting at The Granola, although they're cut from a very different cloth.
*Clear Allusion: The Four Horsemen gang consists of four members; Linda Lovewar (with stark white hair), Red, Yeller, and Blackie, representing the four horses more than the four horsemen. Linda is clearly conquest (being greedy and sadistic) but the others are clearly more color-themed — Yeller isn't Death (he's the team's thief) and Blackie certainly isn't famine (he's a sniper). Red, of course, has red hair.
*Refined Tastes: While Alfredo Pagliacci is listed as a librarian, he is also a historian, curator of the museum, and opera aficionado. He even dines at Mrs. Brown's Boarding House once in a while.
== Autoduel Notes and Vehicles ==
Black Lake's Autoduel counterpart should have its own page, as the details of building DR and personal vehicle choices are extensive! 
* Sheriff and Deputies use either Police CarsAutoduel, p.38 or LumberjacksAADA Vehicle Guide, p.11 
* The Ortega family drives a Scarab repair busAADA Vehicle Guide, p.38 or Guiding Light heavy tow truck.Autoduel Quarterly #3/3, p.21 They're both a bit cumbersome, but can switch out tires and do repairs on-site fairly quickly.
*The Shards drive Road Misers
== City Stats ==
== Notes ==
*Interestingly there is a real Black Lake (lake), Blacklake (town, Pop ~900 in 2020), and Mount Baldy in California, though they are all in southern California. The lake has a local ghost.
===Comments===
*GMs can use these facts to add another layer of mystery to the town by allowing a Research-2 roll to reveal that this town should not exist and what information the players know is actually regarding the other Black Lakes in southern California.
==References==
* Classic Horror: Zombietown U.S.A.
Category:Zombietown U.S.A.
Category:Template Examples