McConnelsville: The Village at the Crossroads

By J Alan Erwine

McConnelsville, Ohio was a sleepy little village that most of Ohio had forgotten before the war, but now it has become a center of trade, and a growing political power in the world that’s rebuilding after the war. Your characters are headed there. Are you going to try to take things over for yourself, or are you going to try to join up with Victor Edmundson and use the little town as your base of operations? This Rocks on the Other Side RPG adventure is designed for a group of characters between 8th and 12th level.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nomadic Delirium Press
• Release date: Jul 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215587065

J Alan Erwine

J Erwine was born Oct. 15, 1969 in Akron, Ohio. Early in his life he was exposed to science, and specifically astronomy. From there on, J’s passion turned to science fiction, a passion that’s never died.Due to family issues, J eventually found himself in Denver, Colorado, where he still lives (well, right outside now.)From the time he could put subject and predicate together on paper, J has been writing stories. None of those early stories exist anymore (thankfully), but that passion for writing has never waned.After several years of rejection, the story Trek for Life was eventually sold to ProMart Writing Lab editor James Baker. It wasn’t Asimov’s, but it was a start. Since that time J has sold more than forty short stories to various small press publishers. In addition ProMart also published a short story collection of J’s entitled Lowering One’s Self Before Fate, and other stories, which is still available. ProMart also published a novel from J entitled The Opium of the People, which sold a few copies before going out of print.The relevance of the novel after the events of September 11th caused J to self-publish the novel, as he felt the story had a lot to say in the new reality we now find ourselves living in. Now, this same book has been re-released by Nomadic Delirium Press.Eventually J would become an editor with ProMart. Then, after the untimely death of ProMart editor James Baker, J would move on to ProMart’s successor Sam’s Dot Publishing. J also spends most of his time working as a freelance writer and editor.J’s novel was voted a top ten finisher in the 2003 annual Preditors & Editors contest, and his short story The Galton Principle won a ProMart contest for best story over 5,000 words. In addition, a number of his stories have been voted “best of” in various issue of The Martian Wave and The Fifth DI... and have been included in Wondrous Web Worlds Vols. 2, 3, 4, and 6.In 2009, the Ephemeris Role Playing Game was released. J is the co-creator of this game, and has written numerous supplements for the game.J has now sold three novels and four short story collections, all of which are still available from various sources, including Smashwords.J currently lives with his amazing wife, three wonderful children, three cats, and a very quiet turtle.

Book preview

McConnelsville, The Village at the Crossroads

A Rocks on the Other Side RPG adventure

By J Alan Erwine

Published by Nomadic Delirium Press at Smashwords

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Aurora, Colorado

Before the war, McConnelsville was a sleepy little village in southeastern Ohio. Not much happened there. The Muskingum River passed through town, but there really wasn’t any commerce on the river anymore. Route 60 went through the heart of the town, which meant trucks transporting materials across Ohio might pass through, but for the most part, nothing really important happened there, at least nothing on the grand scale. People lead their lives, and important things happened to them, but for the most part, most of Ohio didn’t even know about McConnelsville.

When the war hit, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati were all wiped out, and many of the other larger cities like Akron, Dayton, Toledo, and others suffered major damage. This was true all over the world with major cities being destroyed. McConnelsville, like many smaller towns suffered from radioactive fallout, but the village itself was never actually hit by any of the nuclear missiles. With the destruction of the larger cities, smaller towns throughout the world suddenly became important, and this is what happened with McConnelsville, especially once Victor Edmundson moved in and took over.

Half politician, half crime-lord, Victor made McConnelsville important. Trade along the Muskingum Ricer began to increase, and Victor made sure that the town got their cut from any ships or boats wanting to pass through the locks. Suddenly everyone in southeast Ohio was taking note of Victor and