Feb
A DramaSystem Series Premise
For nearly a century members of the long-lived Zharraeus clan have dwelled on the borderlands near the Big Pit. Operating a combination tavern, inn, and supply store near a dangerous dungeon might give pause to the faint at heart. The hardbitten Zharraeuses revel in their survival in a place where all other would-be settlers either gave up or died.
Their habit of bushwhacking inn guests when they emerge from the Pit laden with gold has much to do with that. If anyone ever dug in their basement they’d find bones belonging to a dozen adventuring parties. Some were scions of great noble houses, or archmages of the arcanist’s guild. Best that their heirs and allies never find out.
Recent developments raise the specter of such a discovery, unsettling the family’s comfortable, if brutal, routine. The human hero Jordaca and her crew finally slew the Mugworm, the super-intelligent boss monster at the bottom of the Pit. Without its constant spawning of fresh monstrosities, the dungeon lies wide open. You don’t have to be a hero to enter its gates and come back swaddled in gold. Any fool with a strong back can do it.
Armed with a charter from King Morcelus, the previously inattentive nominal ruler of this region, Jordaca has started building a town to exploit Pit’s seemingly inexhaustible riches. The rush to populate the place brings new people, new ideas, and new competition for the Zharraeuses. These stresses might bind them tighter together, or tear them apart.
Players take the roles of Zharraeus family members. One can play a longtime member of the household not related to them by blood. Expect them to create such characters as:
- The hidebound family elder determined to retain control and put everything back the way it was. Even if that means summoning a new incarnation of the Mugworm.
- The rebellious offspring tempted by the possible freedoms of Jordacaville.
- Their hotheaded sibling, spoiling for acclaim, aching to avenge the merest slight.
- A member of the resentful middle generation, pulled between domineering grandparents and impulsive children.
- The family peacemaker, trying to keep its uncompromising personalities from doing or saying things they can’t take back.
- The faithful servant who for decades has carried out the bulk of the actual murdering, waiting eagerly for the chance to cut a gory swath through the new town.
Pitch to your players as: Deadwood and Dragons.
Hillfolk is a game of high-stakes interpersonal conflict by acclaimed designer Robin D. Laws. Using its DramaSystem rules, you and your friends can weave enthralling sagas of Iron Age tribes, Regency socialites, border town drug kingpins, a troubled crime family, posthuman cyberpunks and more. Purchase Hillfolk and its companion Blood in the Snow in the Pelgrane Shop.