The Land of Eem’s corporate dystopia is a bit odd to me, in that it’s kind of capitalism without consumption. There are frequent mentions of corporate overlords, and many if not most of the NPCs in the adventures I’ve looked at so far have a bit in their description about their attitudes towards corporations and the corporate overlords… but there are relatively few corporations named and they’re clustered in the resource extraction and transportation industries: Subterranean Pits and Lairs LLC, Krog & Sons Inc., Mucklands Trading Co. Hasty Hippogruff Shipping Co., Oilmonger Plastic Factory. Factories dot the landscape and turn the sky of the Used T’Be Forest black… but don’t seem to be selling much of anything to anyone. To be fair, you can infer that the 400 products on the mundane items list ranging from fake poop to chemistry sets to gnomish tea sets are produced and sold somewhere, but I think we can expand on that a bit. So here are some companies to add to the list:
Employment
Uncle Al’s Discount Orphans – “Why pay full price?” Providers torch-bearers and linkboys for your next dungeon expedition, as well as apprentices in bulk. This is where your Dungeoneer gets their underlings or crew.
Rugrats R Us – “Ask about our bulk rates!” The more commodified corporate competition to Uncle Al’s, with outlets all over. Wannamuckers uses Uncle Al’s kids in their stockrooms – Grumbles uses Rugrats R Us. That’s why their prices are lower.
Alger & Alger – Success Guaranteed!* *guarantees not guaranteed The upscale alternative, suitable for raising the next generation of corporate overlords.
Department Stores
Needless Markups – Designer fashions at eye-popping prices: Hermies scarves, Grouch bags, La Kwa, it’s all here and it all costs an arm and a leg. Exhaust your coin purse on a 1-3 here, but narratively people recognize and are impressed (or outraged) by the brand.
Wannamuckers – the established “respectable” department store. Genteel, but not too genteel. Their holiday light show is a thing of legend, and families will travel from all over the Mucklands (or at least all over the Used T’Be Forest) to see it during the holiday season.
Mucky’s – mid-tier “value”-oriented. Their Thanksgrumbling Day Parade is a highlight of the season, featuring giant balloons of corporate mascots like Fizzy Wizard, Uncle Al, as well as fading stars willing to standing and pretend to sing while being carted down the street on floats. If the PCs manage to win over Chara the Chicken-Foot Witch in the introductory adventure, next Thanksgrumbling she probably ends up dancing on one of the floats.
Grumbles – Discount/budget items of dodgy provenance. Only exhaust a coin purse on a 1 here, but any success with a twist is probably the item breaking if not trouble with the law over it having been reported stolen.
“Does Mucky’s tell Grumbles?”
Supermarkets
Slop & Shop – From Factory Farm to Table. Aisle after aisle of groceries, but somehow whatever aisle you’re trying to shop in, there’s a clerk unloading a pallet onto the shelves, blocking traffic.
Wholly Foods – For the Whole You. Wholly sustainable, wholly organic, wholly overpriced. Kombucha section larger than the actual food section.
Oil
Bog Standard Oil – We Care* About The Environment! (*care does does not imply actual caring, some exclusions apply, void where prohibited)
Brutish Petroleum – Finders Keepers!
Insurance
KafCo – “You die, you win!”, and for their Health Insurance division: “We take the Care out of Health Care!” The premier insurance company for all of the Mucklands. Sorry, you need to fill out Form 22 to file a claim, but the only way to get a copy of Form 22 is to apply for one with Form 22.
Newspapers
The setting does have the Thurf Tribune, mentioned as the prime source of daily news in the Mucklands in the campaign setting book, and that the High Magistrate shut down the Bogtown Gazette, but I feel there’s room for more, particularly a yellow-journalism style “If It Bleeds, It Leads” style, as well as possibly a Village Voice-esque counter-culture journal
The Muckraker – All The News That Fits In Print!
Mucklands Today – News Barely Used!
Pilot Press – What is Truth? Specializes in long-form think-pieces that provide little-to-no new information (“thumbsuckers”, in the parlance) “What the Rise of Corporate Power Says About Society”, or “The Meaning of the Dungeon Era”. Loudly decries the corporate ownership of papers like the Thurf Tribune, while hoovering up donations from non-profits established by wealthy “philanthropists” running those same corporations, e.g. the Krog Institute for Public Understanding and the Orfong Foundation for Journalistic Excellence.
Tales of the Rambling Bumblers 