Recruitment: "Holler" for Savage Worlds

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Apr 13, 2023 10:45 pm
https://i.imgur.com/QKQkUmv.png
Genres: Appalachian Pulp Gothic? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

System: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition.

Number of Players: 4 to 6.

Posting Frequency: 3 per week.

Game Duration: One year.

Experience: Helpful but not required.

Adult Content/Controversial Themes: Some violence and occultism, but nothing too excessive. This game doesn't shy away from some of the harsh realities of life in Appalachia, including poverty and substance abuse. Christianity also has an important place in Appalachian culture, so expect a bit of religious subject matter.

Specialized Resources: You'll need a copy of the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition core book.

Marginalized Groups: All such groups are welcomed in my games.

How to Apply: Drop a post expressing your interest. I'll take the first six people who want to join.



https://i.imgur.com/q9YESar.jpg
Holler is a Savage Worlds setting inspired by Appalachian culture. It's a mix of folk horror, southern gothic, dark fantasy, and mystery. The game takes place in a fictionalized version of the southern Appalachian region (Eastern United States) during the 1920s and '30s. Much like the real Appalachia, Holler is an isolated region of mountains and thick wilderness that serves as home to people with a very distinct culture. Though beset by many social ills such as widespread poverty, unemployment, and lack of education, the residents are also keepers of a rich heritage of music, folklore and kinship ties. While outsiders might see the place as a pocket of ignorance forgotten by the modern world, it is deep within the region's hills and dark glens that magic and the supernatural eek out an existence.

A group of industrialist robber barons, known collectively as the "Big Boys," have come to Holler looking to exploit the land's vast natural resources and the cheap labor of its inhabitants. The Big Boys bring mines and mills, and promises of wealth that will supposedly improve everyone's quality of life. However, the authority of the industrialists soon becomes oppressive, and the land begins to change. Rivers bubble with strange chemicals, once mighty mountains are strip-mined until they crumble, and the air is choked by a toxic fog that makes the residents sick. Even worse, strange monsters start preying on the local population, agitated and emboldened by the destruction of the landscape.

No one's coming to save the people of Holler. They have to take matters into their own hands. Your characters are everday Appalachians: coal miners, moonshiners, granny women, holy rollers, millhands, and others who have chosen to rise up and fight the growing darkness besieging their communities. Your PC group will battle monsters from Appalachian folklore and resist the depredations of the Big Boys in order to protect and preserve their way of life.

Holler is a place where cultural conflicts abound. Old-time religion and superstition clash with coming modernization. The longing to escape one's lot in life pulls against deep-rooted connections to one's land and kin. Veneration of the mines and mills as sources of wealth and stability butts up against the reality of the environmental damage they cause. At its heart, Holler is very much about Tradition vs. Change.

Looking for 3 to 6 players. Please only apply if you can meet the minimum posting requirement of 3 times per week.
Last edited April 14, 2023 5:49 pm
Apr 13, 2023 11:08 pm
Hi, super interested in exploring this setting. I am an experienced SWADE gm and player, and I prefer playing ordinary folks in my games. The 1920s and 30s fascinate me, as does Folk Horror.

For something like this, it would be maybe interesting playing a character who travels through the rural community for a living, like a mailman or milkman... Someone that sees the gradual changes in the community through his route, who perhaps witnesses secrets that folks would rather keep untold...
Apr 13, 2023 11:16 pm
Plz can I play? Probably gonna play a char with the Young hindrance if allowed. If not, I would be some1 who toils the land. A farmer.
Also experienced in SWADE.
Last edited April 13, 2023 11:20 pm
Apr 13, 2023 11:27 pm
I love this kind of setting and am very interested. I'm also very familiar with Savage Worlds. I'd probably play a resourceful kid who against all odds wants to be a writer and pull himself up out of the poverty that he lives in but is still fiercely protective of his family and home.
Apr 13, 2023 11:37 pm
This does sound intriguing, and I enjoy folk horror. I think I’ll give it a go.
Apr 13, 2023 11:51 pm
I'm in a metric ton of games, so skip me if there's any other interest, but I ❤ SWADE and southern/gothic horror.

I'd love to play Norma Jean, a seventy year old woman, former county fair barrel racing champ, Viet Nam widow turned school marm, turned church lady and co-chair of the county squash fair. She's nosy, knows everyone, and has got an eye for doing the Lord's work.
Apr 14, 2023 12:05 am
Qralloq says:
Viet Nam widow turned school marm
@Qralloq, I think the timeline is much earlier:

https://i.imgur.com/oXB3Uv4.png
Apr 14, 2023 12:07 am
oohh, I might be interested. Still haven't been able to really get into a SWADE game on the site
Apr 14, 2023 12:17 am
Dr_B says:

@Qralloq, I think the timeline is much earlier:

Oh no, my inability to read and comprehend has been unveiled!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/db/24/6b/db246b9f81bb14058da07d54e6ce7f2d.gif
Apr 14, 2023 12:20 am
LoL
Your fun concept still works if she is a WW1 widow!
Apr 14, 2023 12:32 am
Looks like it may have filled up, but I'd be remiss if I didn't toss my hat in.
Apr 14, 2023 1:36 am
Cool, that was quick. I’ll start putting something together. Give me a couple days and then I’ll send out invites. I’ll provide the materials needed for character creation.
Apr 14, 2023 5:19 am
Got to play in a live game of this run by Tim Earley (the author) during the playtesting phase, and loved it. Have fun everyone -- Holler is one cool setting!
Apr 14, 2023 6:22 am
Reminds me a lot of the setting for the 'Old Gods of Appalachia' horror podcast. Good luck with the game!

witchdoctor sent a note to Morgan_Freemans_Voice
Apr 14, 2023 8:57 am
Morgan_Freemans_Voice says:
Cool, that was quick. I’ll start putting something together. Give me a couple days and then I’ll send out invites. I’ll provide the materials needed for character creation.
I am camping this weekend - even though it's raining like a son of B!ASH. So If you start sommat and I am included, please gimme till Monday to respond. thanks.
Apr 14, 2023 4:55 pm
Morlaf says:
I am camping this weekend - even though it's raining like a son of B!ASH. So If you start sommat and I am included, please gimme till Monday to respond. thanks.
Not a problem
Apr 14, 2023 4:57 pm
witchdoctor says:
Reminds me a lot of the setting for the 'Old Gods of Appalachia' horror podcast. Good luck with the game!
Definitely. I actually backed the Kickstarter for the ttrpg based on that podcast.
Apr 15, 2023 12:06 am
The genesis of Holler actually predates that podcast, believe it or not.
Apr 16, 2023 2:50 pm
i iz back from an atrocious weekend of camping and glad to see i aint missed nothing. as you were.... :-P
Apr 16, 2023 7:08 pm
I hope to be sending out the invites for tomorrow
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