Give me the best of your USA!

[Thieves]

Hello everybody. Wanted to share something you may or may not consider fun doing: in an attempt to create the most bizarre campaign setting I can, I started writing down stuff that, for me, is a significant part of the american 'mythology', i.e., the media-image of the USA. Not everything (or anything) here has to be considered essential for the culture of the USA, and some things are obviously media-present only, but... hell, what's there to explain, just put down anything that makes you think "America!"!

Just off the top of my head, order completely random, mind-flown and not aiming to insult anybody:

Chainsaw-wielding mask-wearing psychopathic murderers, Charles-Manson-like sectist cults, Scientology, get-in-everywhere paparazzi, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, George W. Bush, suicidally brave firefighters, sewer-crocodiles, Dr. Steel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Steel), freakozoid steam- / cyberpunksters, detroit / new jersey mohawk speed demons, lumberjack commandos, the jersey devil, big foot, yeti, hawaii penguins, the cult masks of hawaii / fiji shamans, easter island, voodoo, steamboats, swamp creatures of mississippi, billy kid & wyatt earp, tight-clothed western-style femmes fatales with dominatrix-prone looks, clint eastwood, john wayne, jackie chan, miami vice, colombian cartels, the triad(s?), jiu-kung-fu-rate masters, plum island bioexperiments, DRAGONS, the skunk ape, central park hobos, seattle checkered-shirt-wearing grunge junkies, texan rangers in their red pickups, Hell's Angels, chain-swinging rednecks, fiddle-playing double-barrel wielding straw-hat-no-shoes hillbillies, the angry sludge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_New_Orleans#Heavy_metal) people from New Orleans, the she-wolves of the SS, Nazi bio superweapons, sexy female nuclear scientists, amish XIX c. villages, New York lawyers, independent careerwomen, poor ghetto rappers, rich-pimp-musician-but-still-poor rappers, the bat**** crazy world of Commercialfornia, motels, absolutely-nowhere highwayside gas stations, oil derricks in texas, the neons and hotelfront fountains of Las Vegas, Elvis Presley, James Dean, Kurt Cobain, Area 51, <anything>-con attendants, Godzilla, Martin Luther King, King Kong, Titanic-n-Dirty-Dancing-n-Bodyguard-like movie songs that make you wish you were dead and deaf, Cthulhu, Mecha-Godzilla, D&D, Fallout-game bramins, The Cow Level, moth man, the original x-files flukeman, ZOMBIES, The Alien, the Predator & the Ugly, HULK HOGAN, power rangers, dukes of hazard, Ninjas, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spiderman, Batman, Superman*, white-trash trailer parks, Jay & Silent Bob, "hello i'm from the internet" xkcd-style people...
you take it from here!

* the big, relevant three as for me, please do not ennumerate more 'generic' superheroes, the same with internet memes - unless you are absolutely positive they should be noted b/c of something extra-extra-extraordinary... on the contrary, I'm always most interested in various cryptids :smallwink:

In general, I'd be most happy if you put in stuff that could be understood by someone who doesn't live in the USA (such as me; getting food-product-related references is real tough this way).

Shoot away and bring all your USA in for the win :smallbiggrin:

[Catch]

I've got the feeling that this doesn't jive with the Rules of Posting. :smallconfused:

[SurlySeraph]

Eagles. Eagles everywhere.
Stars and Stripes. The Stars and Stripes everywhere.
Pickup trucks, especially those with actually cargo in the back rather than people. Gun racks and Confederate flags optional.
Small suburban towns full of cheerful people.
Big cities with nationally recognizable landmarks.
But honestly? Just read the TV Tropes article Eagleland (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Eagleland). It'll be much faster than waiting for people to list relevant examples.

[Xallace]

Was Paul Bunyan in there? Or John Henry? Johnny Appleseed?
George Washington? Actually, we generally consider the founding fathers as some sort of superhumans. Mostly for humor purposes but hey, it works.

Apple Pie. Lots of Apple Pie.
Baseball. Have everyone play baseball. Oh, and have everyone watch American Football.

[Starscream]

And Stephen Colbert is president (VP is Bruce Campbell just because).

[Nerd-o-rama]

Confederate flagsThe irony is palpable, really.

[Xallace]

And Stephen Colbert is president (VP is Bruce Campbell just because).

No. Stephen Colbert is VP. The Prez is Michael Wilson. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Genl242_ZU8)

[AlterForm]

No. Stephen Colbert is VP. The Prez is Michael Wilson. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Genl242_ZU8)

CURSES! Beaten to the punch PRESIDENT OF THE GREAT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

[Mikeavelli]

The entire military consists of Team America: World Police

America, **** Yeah! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M)

[Rutskarn]

But honestly? Just read the TV Tropes article Eagleland (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Eagleland). It'll be much faster than waiting for people to list relevant examples.

Probably less rule-line-toeing, at that.

[GoufCustom]

Charlie Brown. It's not so in-your-face, but to me the Peanuts gang is pretty definitively America.

[chiasaur11]

Every government agency is secretly run from behind the scenes by:

The Illuminati
M-12
or
Aliens

[thegurullamen]

Every government agency is secretly run from behind the scenes by:

The Illuminati
M-12
or
Aliens

Or the Discordian Society, the Servants of Cthulu, The Network/Grid, The Church of the SubGenius or the Hollywood Cult DuJour.


Charlie Brown. It's not so in-your-face, but to me the Peanuts gang is pretty definitively America.

Or rather, a reimagined charlie Brown gang cast as The Warriors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV4cgs-bPic).

Also Lebowski. And other cult hits.

[leafman]

:
yeti, fiji shamans, easter island, colombian cartels, jiu-kung-fu-rate masters, DRAGONS, the she-wolves of the SS, Nazi bio superweapons, Godzilla, Mecha-Godzilla, ZOMBIES, Ninjas, "hello i'm from the internet" xkcd-style people...


These things have little to do with the U.S. actually.

The yeti are from the Himalayan Mountians.
Fiji and Easter Island are not U.S. territories.
Colombian cartels are in Colombia.
Masters of the martial arts are generally associated with the martial art's country of origin.
I don't even know what "she-wolves of the SS" even is.
Nazi bio superweapons? err-what?
Godzilla and Mecha-Godzilla are Japanese.
Zombies were created in Haitian Voodoo but are popular in North America and Europe.
Ninjas are Japanese.
I don't know what '"hello i'm from the internet" xkcd-style people' is supposed to mean.

Edit: forgot to address dragons, which is a global phenomena as they can be found in the art of many cultures around the world, many of which are not believed to have had contact with each other prior to the creation of their dragons mythos.

[Fawkes]

I'm trying to figure out whether the OP has never been to America, or has never been anywhere else.

[xPANCAKEx]

you have the moon in your passports

its like you're saying "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THE MOON! We've BEEN there, man! We, like, OWN it and stuff! UP YOURS, COMMIES!"

its inspirational

[Fawkes]

The Moon: Our 51st State

[Nerd-o-rama]

leafman: I think the OP meant all those things were staples of American pop culture, despite being based on the history of other countries. You see a whole lot more weird things about Nazi Germany in American cinema and comics than ever actually existed (probably).

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: Campaign setting stuff should go in Homebrew, but much of the OP violates the Forum Rules against real world religion/politics or invites other posters to do so. Thread locked.