Imposters In Astoria

Astoria, Oregon is, in many ways, a quintessential small town on America’s coast. It is famous for hosting The Goonies, a film which captured its essence well. The cliffs of Astoria rise up from out of Young’s Bay in the south, and the Columbia River in the north. The waterways then join in the west to border the peninsula before feeding into the Pacific Ocean. Fog often blankets the land, and a mist of rain tends to drizzle on the 10,000+ residents. Or, more accurately, the 10,000+ creatures who CLAIM to be residents. 

The players are here in this quaint slice of Americana to receive treatment from a specialist in Astoria named Dr. Childs, an eminent neuropsychiatrist who specializes in the treatment and research of Capgras Syndrome (pronounced Kuh-GRAW). This is a rare psychological condition in which a person holds the delusional belief that someone they know, often a close family member, has been replaced by an identical imposter. What could be the implications if such a thing were true? What if the family member who was replaced held an important position in government? Or the media?

The players’ treatment for their illness lasted all summer long, and now their therapist feels they are ready to rejoin society - but what society will they rejoin, exactly? All is not as it seems in this adventure. They are given a curriculum at Astoria Community College where they will become familiar with NPCs such as: 

• Dr. Rostov, a Russian biologist who pursues the research done at Fort Astoria so ardently that it almost seems like she has uncovered an incredible secret; 
• Officer Pederson, the campus security guard whose intense focus in the players’ activities might just be attributed to a man devoted to his work, or perhaps something more sinister altogether; and 
• Donnell, the affable shuttle driver who ferries them to and from the treatment facility at Roderick Toombs Memorial Hospital. The very driver who shows that there is more to the people of this town than meets the eye. 

As the players balance the demands of therapy and reintegration into society, they will discover the strange undercurrents running through Astoria and decide their place in this pernicious community. Will they act with faith in the medications and methodologies prescribed by the status quo? Or will they sense the insidious underbelly of this once picturesque town and begin to take action? Welcome one and all to Imposters In Astoria, an adventure marked by deception, shifting identities, and the unease of thinly veiled turmoil hiding just beneath Astoria’s pleasant veneer.