It’s derived from a podcast, which is probably one of the best fiction storytelling podcasts out there. It made me fall in love with Appalachia and I’ve never been there.
There's a pretty good campaign setting / adventure from Dungeon Crawl Classics called the Chained Coffin. It's set in the Shudder Mountains which is basically Appalachia for D&D. If your players are hesitant about switching to a new game, you might consider running this for them and then, if they enjoy it, introducing the idea of running an Old Gods campaign. You could also incorporate elements from OGoA into Chained Coffin to warm them to it.
For those of us that are old enough, the old "urban legends" have an origin in the old "traveler's tales" and "folk tales." Any time a story starts with, "my cousin's friend's brother said..." it is a tale which could potentially occur in OGoA. As someone who grew up rural, I can relate somewhat to the folk protagonists of the setting.
It occurs to me that you could easily transit adventures from this game to the Call of C'thulhu system and vice-versa. The vibes and background are so similar.
Deepnerd is very opposed to HPL though, they aren't having it. The thing -the black stag - is very much steeped in our humanity. No matter how how "cosmic" it might be, it very much is among us and of us. As is Barrow and Locke. If HPL made Earth seem tiny, OGoA instead makes Earth properly huge to where many an isolated copse of trees might hide a secret. Our Earth is big enough for all our adventure.
I actually do think this would be interesting back and forth. One of the players for the game I wanna run is coming from a university and since we all play CoC, I said it could be Miskatonic University and he had a brush with the dark things while in school.
Thanks for covering this content! I heard of this podcast in the past but didn't listen to it. Then I had been researching the Cypher System for a few months and interested in it when i went to Gen Con this year and saw this book. Started listening to the podcast on the way back from Gen Con and got hooked. Bought the book from my local game store and almost finished reading it. A note for you since you arent from the USA. I live not far from Appalachia and have visited the Pennsylvania region of Appalachia many times, seen the coal mine museums and toured an actual mine. As you get into the podcast you will see that a lot of the horror stems from the damage that rampant capitalism caused in that era. People working terribly dangerous jobs in the dark bowels of the earth, earning barely enough to survive. Essentially slaves to the coal companies. And even very young boys forced to work in the dark, where many died of mining accidents. The podcast does a fantastic job of showing us how we created our own horrors. Happy gaming!
The real Appalachia is as scary (or more scary) than the podcast/rpg presents. For example when you go hiking in the woods if you hear someone call your name ... Don't answer! There are tales of skinwalkers, ghosts, werewolves, another things in those woods.
FYI, Monte Cook doesn't take a 'é'. 😉 And I've bought this book. It's very atmospheric. Don't know if I'll get to play it but in terms of inspiration, it's fantastic.
When Monte Cook first announced the release of the game, I'd never heard of the podcast. The video they put out didn't make the game sound that interesting, more like a cheap knock off of Lovecraft's C'thulhuverse. A few weeks back I attended a gaming convention and signed up to play a one-shot of this game. I've been hooked ever since. I even listened to all 4 seasons and the ancillary episodes of the podcast. It is REALLY good. The Appalachian range runs from Georgia all the way up to New York. So you can always expand the game outside of the "canon" areas.
They at Deepnerd really seemed to want to create an emphatic rebuttal to HPL's derision of rural America. They wanted to stand in opposition to the racism of HPL as well. The protagonists are the very people HPL would look down upon via his "White men of knowledge and culture" that were his omnipresent protagonists. Granny Hodges burying a spell jar on the property line to ward against the eerie evil of the smooth talking man from the railroad - that all runs counter to HPL who'd champion that railroad man and his bringing of culture and progress. I RUclipsr I follow has a line I like: "beyond your borders do not exist a lesser people." For me, the clear variant would be, "beyond your gleaming city do not exist a lesser people" as a retort to HPL. As one who likes the cosmic horror and the Call of Cthulhu RPG, I must do so despite fully knowing who and what HPL was. With OGoA, I need not have a similar concern.
You are mistaken. Appalachia doesn’t go up into Canada. CASTLES?!?! No abandoned castles over here. Mines though. Lots of abandoned mines and unexplored caves. We practically have the under dark here. edit: I stand corrected.
There are castles. Just in driving distance from my house there is DuPont Castle, Berkeley Springs Castle, and Holiday Castle. Heck, just a few miles from where I live is the Good Counsel Friary. The aren’t abandoned, per se, but they are legit castles. Some older than the United States-so genuine products of the Monarchy.
If I'm not mistaken the Appalachian mountains go into Nova Scotia, at least that's what maps are telling me. I offcourse am not from around there so I might be comepletly missing something.
I live in Appalachia, but this is the first time hearing about this game. There really is a ton of variety in the local mythology.
Yes. It is a rich unique culture.
The podcast (also on RUclips) has been great too.
It’s derived from a podcast, which is probably one of the best fiction storytelling podcasts out there. It made me fall in love with Appalachia and I’ve never been there.
The movie Pumpkinhead would seem like a good example of something that would happen in this setting.
I was honored enough to illustrate the cover and a lot of interior work. Always awesome to see such a great response to the book.
You did an amazing job
Their Podcast is one of the best I've ever been involved in
There's a pretty good campaign setting / adventure from Dungeon Crawl Classics called the Chained Coffin. It's set in the Shudder Mountains which is basically Appalachia for D&D. If your players are hesitant about switching to a new game, you might consider running this for them and then, if they enjoy it, introducing the idea of running an Old Gods campaign. You could also incorporate elements from OGoA into Chained Coffin to warm them to it.
For those of us that are old enough, the old "urban legends" have an origin in the old "traveler's tales" and "folk tales."
Any time a story starts with, "my cousin's friend's brother said..." it is a tale which could potentially occur in OGoA.
As someone who grew up rural, I can relate somewhat to the folk protagonists of the setting.
I love that podcast - Now I want to play the RPG
Grew up in Kentucky in Appalachia and so glad to see this
It occurs to me that you could easily transit adventures from this game to the Call of C'thulhu system and vice-versa. The vibes and background are so similar.
Deepnerd is very opposed to HPL though, they aren't having it.
The thing -the black stag - is very much steeped in our humanity.
No matter how how "cosmic" it might be, it very much is among us and of us.
As is Barrow and Locke.
If HPL made Earth seem tiny, OGoA instead makes Earth properly huge to where many an isolated copse of trees might hide a secret.
Our Earth is big enough for all our adventure.
The conversion would be very easy, but the vibe would be quite different.
I actually do think this would be interesting back and forth. One of the players for the game I wanna run is coming from a university and since we all play CoC, I said it could be Miskatonic University and he had a brush with the dark things while in school.
Thanks for covering this content! I heard of this podcast in the past but didn't listen to it. Then I had been researching the Cypher System for a few months and interested in it when i went to Gen Con this year and saw this book. Started listening to the podcast on the way back from Gen Con and got hooked. Bought the book from my local game store and almost finished reading it.
A note for you since you arent from the USA. I live not far from Appalachia and have visited the Pennsylvania region of Appalachia many times, seen the coal mine museums and toured an actual mine.
As you get into the podcast you will see that a lot of the horror stems from the damage that rampant capitalism caused in that era. People working terribly dangerous jobs in the dark bowels of the earth, earning barely enough to survive. Essentially slaves to the coal companies. And even very young boys forced to work in the dark, where many died of mining accidents. The podcast does a fantastic job of showing us how we created our own horrors.
Happy gaming!
Thanks for this comment
I'm so excited to try this one out. I've been listening to the podcast too and I'm hooked
The real Appalachia is as scary (or more scary) than the podcast/rpg presents. For example when you go hiking in the woods if you hear someone call your name ... Don't answer! There are tales of skinwalkers, ghosts, werewolves, another things in those woods.
Appalachia is number 7, I think as being the oldest mountains in the world.
What's number 1😢
I really gotta find a way to go back to podcasts.
RUclips has them, the free ones at least.
If it's talking to you, try a ring of salt. Works every time. Pesky not-deer.
FYI, Monte Cook doesn't take a 'é'. 😉 And I've bought this book. It's very atmospheric. Don't know if I'll get to play it but in terms of inspiration, it's fantastic.
Woops, thanks
When Monte Cook first announced the release of the game, I'd never heard of the podcast. The video they put out didn't make the game sound that interesting, more like a cheap knock off of Lovecraft's C'thulhuverse. A few weeks back I attended a gaming convention and signed up to play a one-shot of this game. I've been hooked ever since. I even listened to all 4 seasons and the ancillary episodes of the podcast. It is REALLY good.
The Appalachian range runs from Georgia all the way up to New York. So you can always expand the game outside of the "canon" areas.
They at Deepnerd really seemed to want to create an emphatic rebuttal to HPL's derision of rural America.
They wanted to stand in opposition to the racism of HPL as well.
The protagonists are the very people HPL would look down upon via his "White men of knowledge and culture" that were his omnipresent protagonists.
Granny Hodges burying a spell jar on the property line to ward against the eerie evil of the smooth talking man from the railroad - that all runs counter to HPL who'd champion that railroad man and his bringing of culture and progress.
I RUclipsr I follow has a line I like: "beyond your borders do not exist a lesser people."
For me, the clear variant would be, "beyond your gleaming city do not exist a lesser people" as a retort to HPL.
As one who likes the cosmic horror and the Call of Cthulhu RPG, I must do so despite fully knowing who and what HPL was.
With OGoA, I need not have a similar concern.
@@Skeloricvery true, on all points.
See I had a different reaction. We released Stokerverse around the same time and I was "hell there goes my beer money"
Lore please
Skip to 5:53 to talk about the actual product
This video has chapters for that exact use
You are mistaken. Appalachia doesn’t go up into Canada.
CASTLES?!?! No abandoned castles over here. Mines though. Lots of abandoned mines and unexplored caves. We practically have the under dark here.
edit: I stand corrected.
There are castles. Just in driving distance from my house there is DuPont Castle, Berkeley Springs Castle, and Holiday Castle. Heck, just a few miles from where I live is the Good Counsel Friary.
The aren’t abandoned, per se, but they are legit castles. Some older than the United States-so genuine products of the Monarchy.
Also, the mountains do stretch into Nova Scotia.
If I'm not mistaken the Appalachian mountains go into Nova Scotia, at least that's what maps are telling me. I offcourse am not from around there so I might be comepletly missing something.
Geologically speaking, the Appalachian Mountains run from central Alabama in the US to the island of Newfoundland in Canada.