Old Gods of Appalachia RPG powered by The Cypher System!

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I'm still on the fence on this one, I mostly RP for escapism, so I'm not sure about playing in the time and place of my great grandparents.

I wonder how hard it would be to use the background info, and run it in a Gumshoe hack (thinking a Trail of Cthulhu and Casting the Runes kitbash)?

 

[Pulpfan1971]

The Podcast does a wonderful job of weaving stories into narrative quilt that allows for so many emotions.

We will spend an episode with a person who isn’t as innocent as they first appear. And the story unfolds both their transgressions and their doom.

And we will see folks that are goodish people that sadly stumble onto things they cannot comprehend or stand against.

But the story arc also has knowledgeable and more powerful people standing up and trying to protect their communities and loved ones. I’m assuming the player characters will look more like these characters The Inner Dark isn’t ever defeated but it can be bound/banished/bargained with.

While this would still be an great game. I am hopeful that there will be ways to somehow experience the fullness of the podcast with something like troupe play.

 

[Aldarc]

Yeah the creators genuinely love Appalachia, which is their home of course. They're whole ethos is to do exactly what you're supporting them for doing, which is to uplift Appalachian voices and to treat the folk lore and the folk of Appalachia with respect and care.

My initial worries vanquished after I asked them how they pronounce 'Appalachia.' That was months ago when Monte Cook Games announced this product and I had little to no familiarity with the podcast.

I also recommend this documentary on the (North Carolina) Appalachian dialect.

I don't listen to it as much as my wife does, because like you I'm not into horror or cthulu stuff (I mostly just don't experience any discomfort at the thought of an indifferent universe or of my own insignificance, so a lot of what makes mythos stories work for a lot of folks just doesn't move me at all).

But the pod isn't really about those aspects, if it helps. For instance there is a force called The Green, which is a force that wants the life on the mountain to thrive. The villains are as much the people who want to dig too greedily and too deep, who want to level mountains, who want to unleash terror upon the people in order to enrich themselves, basically the people who own the mines, as they are the unknown powers that dwell in the deep.

And they are stories where hope is not gone.

It's still got a lot of dark, and it is a horror podcast, but it's definitely very distinct from Lovecraft's mythos.

As I said in another thread, I believe the one on favorite cosmology, I am a big fan of the Green vs. the Dark as a game setting concept. It was also crucial part of Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved/Diamond Throne setting, Pirates of Dark Water (e.g., Dark Water vs. Ecomancy), and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Balance/Harmony vs. the Darkening).

 

[CubicsRube]

I haven't got a lot to add, but i do like in the initial podcasts I've heard this sense that there are these two colossal power groups - the inner dark and the green - and neither are friendly to humanity, but we're seen as pretty insignificant and we're just trying to survive.

I haven't seen many RPGs that have 3 core power groups embedded in the game and I hope they retain some of this dynamic.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My initial worries vanquished after I asked them how they pronounce 'Appalachia.' That was months ago when Monte Cook Games announced this product and I had little to no familiarity with the podcast.

I also recommend this documentary on the (North Carolina) Appalachian dialect.


As I said in another thread, I believe the one on favorite cosmology, I am a big fan of the Green vs. the Dark as a game setting concept. It was also crucial part of Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved/Diamond Throne setting, Pirates of Dark Water (e.g., Dark Water vs. Ecomancy), and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Balance/Harmony vs. the Darkening).

Yeah it was present in 4e D&D as well, with the Primal Spirits vs Aberrations.


Sometimes the narration gets a little to overwrought for me, but it’s a really excellent podcast and I can’t wait to check out the game.

I almost wish it didn’t overlap with my own game and world as much as it does, but oh well. Lol

 

[Pulpfan1971]

. I almost wish it didn’t overlap with my own game and world as much as it does, but oh well. Lol

Hey, forgive my ignorance but is this game or world out for public consumption? Cause I always have room for more creepy woods and dark mountains.

Before I listened to Old Gods, I was working on an idea of a modern Cosmic Horror idea centered on. "Speaker" a fellah who could see all types of spirits and could communicate with them. He relied on a some friendly mountain witches for magical help. And beyond the nature spirits and ghosts and all were things darker....

My setting was upper East TN and Southwest VA in the late 1990s.

Then I heard the podcast and was like "and they do this so much better than I ever could"

So I totally get how you're feeling

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Hey, forgive my ignorance but is this game or world out for public consumption? Cause I always have room for more creepy woods and dark mountains.

Before I listened to Old Gods, I was working on an idea of a modern Cosmic Horror idea centered on. "Speaker" a fellah who could see all types of spirits and could communicate with them. He relied on a some friendly mountain witches for magical help. And beyond the nature spirits and ghosts and all were things darker....

My setting was upper East TN and Southwest VA in the late 1990s.

Then I heard the podcast and was like "and they do this so much better than I ever could"

So I totally get how you're feeling

Not yet! I’m working on it. And it more overlaps in terms of dealing with a world where folklore is true, even if sometimes the stories are just one or two degrees off from the actual truth.

 

[Mannahnin]

This sounds pretty great. Does the podcast or crew make any reference to Wellman's Silver John/John the Balladeer supernatural Appalachian stories, by any chance?

John the Balladeer by Manly Wade Wellman - Baen Books

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This sounds pretty great. Does the podcast or crew make any reference to Wellman's Silver John/John the Balladeer supernatural Appalachian stories, by any chance?

John the Balladeer by Manly Wade Wellman - Baen Books

You know, I don't know. I'll show that to my wife and see if she recognizes it.