On February 16, 1931 Black Mountain Coal Company announced miners’ wages would be reduced by 10%. Already dealing with underemployment, lack of other job opportunities, and starving families, Harlan County miners decided to strike in May 1931. Local elites, coal operators, and the local police force quickly persecuted miners and their families disrupting aid sent by the National Miners Union. Tensions came to a head on May 5, 1931 in the town of Evarts, striking miners and local police engaged in a shootout leaving two policemen, a store clerk, and a striker dead. The Harlan County Coal Mine Strikes were set in motion. Following the infamous battle in Evarts, Harlan County earned the nickname, Bloody Harlan.
Well, that's what they told us happened family. But we know better, don't we? We know in Alternate Appalachia the story of what really happened in Harlan County Kentucky in 1931 has no business being reported in those fancy newspapers back east. We know there are far worse things in these woods than the Black Mountain Coal Company. Old things, wet things, that have been here longer than the trees themselves.
This is the story of a diverse group of six people that knew what was really going on in Harlan County in May of '31 and took it upon themselves to stop it before it was too late.
Too late for us all.
Old Gods of Appalachia is a roleplaying game of the Green, the Dark, and things even more ancient, in which player characters protect what’s important and try to know the unknowable. It is set in the Alternate Appalachia of the Old Gods of Appalachia podcast, a captivating eldritch horror anthology created by Steve Shell and Cam Collins, and the winner of the 2021 Discover Pods Best Overall Podcast and Best Audio Drama or Fiction Podcast awards.
With the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game, you step into the world of the podcast and bring your own stories of Alternate Appalachia to life.
The Psalms of Harlan County makes use of detailed digital props such as photographs, journals, letters, and audio recordings. The characters will decipher clues, vying with terrible ambition and petty human desires, where evils abound and the cost of battling them may be too high to bear. A grim and sordid saga of human vice with escalating stakes, culminating in a chance to save their world from wicked and deceitful forces.
Our expectation is the scenario will entail 2-3 sessions of gaming time, with a schedule of gathering every other week.
The Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game is a standalone tabletop RPG driven by the Cypher System. It’s a hefty corebook with everything you need to play, including complete rules; character creation; extensive lore of Alternate Appalachia in the 1920s and 1930s (plus guidance on playing in other time periods); a bestiary of creatures and entities from the Green, the Dark, and elsewhere; magic; equipment; adventures; and more.
Warning: The subject matter of The Psalms of Harlan County deals with mature topics and themes. This is largely due to the disturbing nature and activities of the scenario antagonists. Some discussion of their methods will need to be addressed at the table, but under no circumstances will violence of a sexual nature be directed towards the human players in this scenario, or the characters they represent by any participant. Images of a graphic nature will be marked with a <Spoiler> tag to facilitate optional viewing. Such images will never contain core clues for the scenario but are presented as an optional visual insight into the nature of the antagonists.
Our scheduled games are Friday evenings 8-11 PM CDT, every other week. Occasionally we need to alter our schedule due to real life conflicts, and we try to work around whatever solution allows for a majority of players being present.
We'll be using Roll20 for character sheet management and dice rolling, Discord is required for voice communications, video is not.
