Nostalgia Prep- A Depth Crawl from my Tales from the Loop campaign

05 Jan, 2025

While digging through some old files, I found something I thought was long lost--an adaptation of Cavegirl's Gardens of Ynn for my Tales from the Loop campaign which was, god, probably about a decade ago by now.

For the record--I believe I came up with this before The Backrooms were a thing. But even I have to admit that it has big Backrooms vibes.

This won't be meaningful to anyone, but I think it would be fun to post it here for posterity. Most of the text at the start is just straight ripped from Ynn. Thanks Cavegirl for having similar feelings about copyright as I do. The writing is more my own as it goes on.

A lot of it won't make sense either, but I'll try to explain some context:

1. My Tales from the Loop game was set in Salmon Arm British Columbia, mostly because my table thought the name was funny.

2. Zellers is a long out of business Canadian store similar to Wal-Mart or Target. Hilariously, at least to me, they were owned by the Hudson Bay Company. In the time period where the campaign was set, out of business Zellers stores were everywhere. This campaign had theming around the impacts of colonialism on the Canadian landscape, so between that and the nostalgia factor it was a good location.

3. Fungus are always fun. IDK why I put so much fungus in here, but it was fun

4. The "camps" in the location table are locations where other groups of kids from other Canadian cities have set up a camp after being trapped in the funguslands between worlds.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading some of the most over-prepared campaign notes I have ever produced. This campaign arc took about 6 4 hour sessions to play though, and was one of the highlights of that campaign.

The Spooky Zellers

Adapted by J. Carter from The Gardens of Yuun by Emmy Allen

Traversal Procedures

When the players first step into the abandoned Zellers, roll a d20 on the table for locations to see where the doorway leads. In addition, roll a d20 on the table for details for the specifics of the place, and on the table for vents for anything that’s going on there.

You will map out The Zellers every time the players visit it.

Take a sheet of paper. In the centre, at the top, write in the location where the players entered. This is layer 0. Here, the players have 3 options. These are:

I. Stay Here

II. Go Deeper

III. Go Back.

When the players Stay Here, they remain in the same location. Every turn after the first, roll for Events.

Whenever the players Go Deeper, draw a line from their current location, leading down and write the location they find at the end.

Roll on the location tables for the location and its details; a d20 plus the layer they are now on. So, the first time they Go Deeper that takes them down to layer 1, so roll d20+1. If they go down again from there, that’s layer 2, so d20+2.

Combine the results. The Location rolled will give you the core of the place, and the Details will modify it.

From a given location, the players can Go Deeper multiple times. Each time they do, draw a new line from the current location, branching off.

When the players Go Back, they travel back up the line, to a previously visited location. (This is probably on the previous layer, but the map can get complex as players double back and find paths linking disparate locations.) They can Stay Here there, Go Back Again, or Go Deeper again, either to a location they visited before or to a new location (roll it up).

Going Deeper and Going Back both take a turn as the players search for pathways.

The Zellers shifts and rearranges itself. Until the PCs actually look, the next location exists in a state of quantum uncertainty. There is, therefore, no need to roll up locations ahead of time.

Every time players visit the Zellers, roll up a new starting location from scratch.

Running Blindly

The normal exploration procedure of going deeper assumes that PCs are moving carefully; drawing maps, taking note of landmarks, following paths and so on, but this is not strictly necessary.

Perhaps PCs flee a fight. Perhaps they chase after something at full tilt. Perhaps they are driven by encroaching weather conditions. Perhaps they’re just idiots.

Their flight takes them d4-1 layers deeper, not one layer deeper. They lose track of just how deep they are.

If they roll maximum for how much deep-er they go, step up the dice size (from a d4-1 to a d6-1) and roll again, adding the result. If that is also maximum, step up the dice size again (to d8, d10, d12, and then d20).

For each extra dice rolled, something bad has happened: perhaps their path crumbled, they fell down a steep slope, a shelf collapsed behind them or similar.

Regardless, they take 1 condition from minor accidents while fleeing.

Once you’ve determined how much deeper they go, roll up a new location at the appropriate depth.

Do not link the new location to where they came from (don’t draw a line between them on the map). The PCs do not know the way back to where they came from. Instead, they must press on.

Results on the Events chart will likely link their new location back to previously explored areas, but until then, they’re stranded.

Events

While PCs are actively interacting with a location - either exploring it, moving through it or dealing with the things in it, roll a d20 every exploration turn for events. If they are not exploring or paying attention to the location, instead roll a d12. This will produce more encounters with creatures, and won’t find hidden things.

Between Locations

Locations tend to have their edges marked by shelves, higher shelves, crumbled floor, cleaning signs and so on. Between locations, the Zellers is relatively boring. Nothing interesting; if it was interesting, it would be a location. Traveling from one location to the next is quick. It takes about a turn (ten minutes), most of which is spent doing things like wandering through aisles or looking for interesting looking landmarks.

Life in The Zellers

The days in The Zellers take twice as long.

There is fungus-like wildlife in the Zellers. Long coils of the Fungus seep throughout the shelves between the rotten items. They have taken over machinery, and use it as exoskeletons.

At the bottom of the Zellers is a link to the home dimension of the Fungus Kin. It is a dangerous place, and the Mycelium is attempting to enter our world.

Details (roll d20+ Depth)

1. Empty
2. Treasure-pile
3. Graffiti
4. Well Maintained
5. Dead People
6. Nests
7. Rumbling
8. Graffiti
9. Fungus Covered
10. Glass Tubes
11. Steel Frames
12. Dead Birds
13. Flooded
14. Burned
15. Frozen
16. Thorn-covered
17. Loudspeaker
18. Glass-roofed
19. Fungus kin
20. Clockwork Parts
21. Inverted
22. Doorway Out
23. Chasms
24. Smouldering
25. Churning
26. Predatory
27. Fleshy
28. Entrancing
29. Fertile
30. Luminous
31. Low Gravity
32. Hypnotic
33. Parasitic
34. Doorway Out
35. Tangled Madness

Locations (roll d20+ Depth)

0. Entrance and the Front Tills
1. Curtain Section
2. Pharmacy
3. Fruit Vines on the Shelves.
4. The Discarded Fruit
5. The Salmon Arm Camp
6. Shoe Section
7. Zeddies Restaurant
8. Hothouses
9. Fox Dens
10. An Acre of Carpet
11. Antoine’s Home
12. Toy Section Maze
13. Pet Section
14. Lawn Furniture
15. The Electronics Section
16. Mausoleum
17. Good Luck Fountain
18. Sport Section
19. The Bad Restaurant
20. The Salmon Arm Camp
21. The Hull Settlement
22. Improvised Ice Rink
23. Fire-pit
24. The Funganoid Cemetery
25. Steam-pipes
26. The Edmonton Camp
27. Mushroom Beds
28. Halloween Section
29. St. Johns Settlement
30. Funganoid Splicing Vats
31. Incubation Beds
32. Vivisection Theatre
33. Electrodyne Thicket
34. The Funganoid Council
35. Ruin

Events (roll d20)

1. A sudden change in the weather wells up. Either howling winds, torrential rain, heavy snow, a thunderstorm or a rapidly-encroaching wall of fog; pick one.
2. An ominous ticking can be heard from beneath the ground. Nothing has happened yet. Next time an Event is rolled in this location, roll two events instead.
3. Something turns up; it is hostile. Roll for an encounter.
4. Something turns up; it’s merely curious. Roll for an encounter.
5. Something is disturbed while eating. Roll for an encounter.
6. Something is found trapped. Maybe it’s caught in tangled vines, or its foot is in a snare, or it’s locked in a cage. Roll for an encounter.
7. A fight spills into the location. Roll two encounters, they’re already fighting each other before the players get involved.
8. Something’s territory is disturbed and it defends its lair. Roll for an encounter.
9. Something turns up, badly injured, totally lost or otherwise at a disadvantage. Roll for an encounter.
10. Something is returning to its home, and is surprised to find PCs here. Roll for an encounter.
11. Tracks, litter, or other signs of passage are found. Roll an encounter to see what left them. The next encounter in this location will be with that.
12. Beneath the earth’s surface, something grinds and churns, and ripples of change flow through the garden. Roll a new Detail for the location and apply it in the most logical way.
13. Something’s empty home is found. Roll for Strange Technology for what’s there, and roll an encounter to see what lives there. The thing’s not home currently. Next time you’d roll an encounter in this location, instead the creature whose home you found comes back.
14. A piece of Strange Technology is found! Roll for what the treasure is.
15. A piece of Strange Technology is found! Roll for what it is.
16. A set of steps are found, leading to a subterranean passageway. The passage is lined with black and white tiles, and lit with christmas lights. It leads somewhere else on the map-draw a line leading to a previously explored location, ideally one less deep than the current location.
17. A neat brick pathway is found, covered in an arch of thick shelving that hides the ceiling. It leads to an area d6+1 layers deeper.
18. A kid train ride is found, complete with a little trolley. If you ride the train, it takes you to another location you have already explored, preferably one quite deep.
19. A sewer canal is found, a few feet down, concealed by an iron grille overgrown with plants. The little canal-boats in here will take you somewhere else; a new location 2d6 levels deeper.
20. The pathway crumbles away, collapsing in on itself and vanishing under rapidly-growing ivy and rose-brambles. Erase one of the exits leading from this location.

Encounters

(roll d20 + depth)

1. Plastic Serpent
2. Hermit Crab Robots
3. Speaking Bird
4. A Swarm of Rats
5. 2d4 Fungus Mannequins
6. A Giant Plastic Frog
7. Somebody from Edmonton
8. Somebody from Hull
9. A Mannequin Gardener
10. A Walking Hive
11. Antoine Delorme
12. Signpoast with The Idea of Thorns mentioned
13. A Glass Butler
14. A kid overtaken by fungus
15. An Animate Statue
16. A pack of 2d4 Fungus Foxes
17. A choir of 2d4 Fungus-maidens.
18. D4 Robotic Spiders
19. A Sentient Lawnmower
20. A Chess Set (1 king and queen, 2 rooks, knights and bishops, and 8 pawns)
21. D4 Fungus kid, all the same kid.
22. Antoine Delorme
23. Fungus Fox
24. A choir of 2d10 Fungus Maidens
25. A Shepherd of the Aisles
26. The Idea Of Thorns
27. A Boxen

Strange Technology

If above 15, ask players what they find

1. Goggles with HUD
2. Climbing Cleats
3. Hover Boots
4. Lego that form into a solid object
5. Protective Shield hoola hoop
6. Voice Alternator
7. Ear Specific Wolf Box
8. Sonic Air Horn
9. Vertigo Pen
10. Typewriter Hat
11. Com Tech (Pulp Cthulhu Cell Phone)
12. The Disintegrator
13. A Portal Gun
14. Time Stop Flashlight
15. Haftering Device