Jun 30, 2023 6:05 pm
THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE COME FOR
The woods are thick here, a tangle of ancient trunks and limbs that groan and sway like lungs breathing their last desperate gasps.
But these trees—moss-etched and rife with the hungry mouths of a thousand more hungry insects, these broken fingers grasping for the moon-hung sky—these trees are not what you or I would understand as being . . . alive. See, that would be far too simple.
This cursed clutch of branch and shadow is something else entirely, something born of blood and betrayal, nurtured with petty thoughts and poison promises.
You breathe and they breathe. And through them, beneath them, all around them and therefore you, something else emerges. From all the tales you were told, and all the books you’ve read, and all the ones who said "Don’t go," you expected darkness.
And she is light.
Ball lightning come to earth, tendrils touching each tree like a long-lost lover arrived home at last, the earth beneath her cracking deep as it gives itself up to her. Forward she moves, or maybe she moves you, and when she stops or you stop or the world stops, there are no woods, no grove nor ground. There is only her and you and what comes next.
Dazzled, your mind says mother. Dazzled, your mind says beloved. Your mind says run and retreat and no.
This is what you have come for.
She is who you have come for. She lifts her blinding head, one eye black and deep as a coal mine, and she says, "Ask."
It's modern era America, the year isn't important as things in your corner of the world never change. The distance is measured in towns you've never seen. There are places in the world that are older perhaps, inhabited longer, maybe, but there are none with secrets more ancient. Time is forgotten here in Appalachia, a place where tomorrow does not mean the future.
Here you are home, and while it's objectively horrible, the rest of the world is chaos and filled with fools, right? Right?
The Things that once slumbered in the hills and hollers, beneath the earth and beyond the eye, have begun to wake. They stir and breathe. They see you and know your innermost heart, those long shadowy tunnels of pain and sorrow and secrets. They call to you in voices deep and dark, voices ancient and unknowable, voices full of pain and promises and no way to tell between the two. Come to us, those voices say. We have only just begun.
Yet something has changed. Those old legends walk in the dark places and prowl on the edge of the known. Folks are missing, mutilated animals are found on the roads. Strangers tell insane stories of their frightful experiences archiving here in the Appalachians.
Yes, something old is waking. Each night you ask yourself, are you the type to wait for the weird, or to go a lookin' and sees for yourself? Before it's too late.
In the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game, you try to protect what matters, be that family, community, or something else that’s important to you, all while trying to know the unknowable.
Perhaps you play a local Miner who delved too deep into the earth and uncovered something that now stalks your dreaming hours—and your waking ones. You might be a charismatic Preacher who stands in the pulpit, extolling the virtuous life, trying your best to atone for the dark bargain you made long ago. Or maybe you’re an outsider, a Reporter come to debunk a tale of monsters from the mountains, only to learn that everything you heard isn’t just true—it’s yours now, a story that literally lives inside your blood and bones.
Working with the other players, you might try to protect your community against the ravenous creatures of the Green, uncover the plots of the sinister Railway Men, or unearth a beast who’s long been dreaming in the Inner Dark. And you’ll accomplish all this through might, skills, and magic—which could come in the form of spirit voices, music, knowledge, herbal concoctions, hand-carved walking sticks, dark bargains, and more.
Players Sought: This is a game that will use the Cypher System, specifically the The Strange. Characters built with Numenera or Cypher System will easily be adapted to The Strange. Unlike other games of The Strange, however, we'll ignore the Recursion/Translating elements; this game will be entirely contained in the setting presented.
Characters: The setting is modern, to be clear, it's late 90s, early 2000s Earth, in the backcountry of the mountainous eastern USA. The Law is Weird Science. Types that seem to fit that will work well. Occult and overt magical abilities will have to be specifically reviewed first by the GM.
Tone and Warnings: Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror game, and may contain material not suitable for all audiences. They encourage using RPG safety tools such as those described in Consent in Gaming, to keep everyone safe at the table. That being said, expect monsters in the dark that care not for your PCs feelings.
Duration: I'm not sure. I find my games work best when I have defined end points. There will be no winning, no throwing a virgin into a volcano to appease the Old Gods. However, a possible end point is discovery of WTF IS GOING ON™. Let's say six to nine months. We can review it there for continuance or closing the curtain.
Frequency: I will be available to post daily mostly in the evenings, more often on weekends and holidays. I don't take breaks, don't take weekends off, or vacations. I am looking for players who will be checking in every day or two at least.
Materials: If you don't have a core book of one of the MCG "Cypher System" games, we can work around it and I can walk you through making a character from scratch in the forum.
Inspiration: This is Call of Cthulhu meets the TV show Justified. So for inspiration, I've taken the two television series Justified and Ozark and combined them for the setting, then added the tone and story ideas from the Old Gods of Appalachia podcast, and the Monte Cook Game's forthcoming game, also called Old Gods of Appalachia.
BIG WARNING
I don't actually have the Cypher System book. It comes out sometime soon, purportedly August 2023. But that's just fine with me. We don't need no stinking book to tell us what to do. We'll use The Strange, and while I'll buy OGoA when it emerges from the haunted tunnels beneath Monte Cook Games, I'll use it only for additional setting ideas. This recruitment thread has borrowed liberally from teaser material released by MCG, but again, it's merely the inspiration.
If you want to tread the path of the actual OGoA book and not my crappy homebrew amalgam, go elsewhere, go quietly, and go in the light.
What's next? Post your interest, and something that intrigues you enough to explore this setting/topic. I'll choose from those who have posted or have reached out to me directly. I'll make the choice for players on the evening of Sunday, July 2, specifically during the evening that occurs in North America.
This game will be character driven. I want to see this setting come to life on the page, evoked by descriptions and personality. This will not be a monster hunting game where I tell you there is an evil bear, you find the evil bear, and kill the evil bear. No, it's only horror if it's personal.
My choice will be tempered between at least three few people I know are reliable, with one or two spots reserved for those who are less familiar or entirely new to me.
