Old Gods of Appalachia podcast will become an immersive tabletop RPG

Appalachia’s Old GodsA podcast about horror and anthology was founded in 2019 by Cam Collins and Steve Shell as a passion project. Cam Collins and Steve Shell wanted a way to honor their roots, but add a dark twist to the mix. Three years later, the show is a huge success and has won multiple awards. It’s currently ranked number two in Apple podcast’s fiction and in the top five of the science fiction section. The goal is to get the horror straight to your tabletop.

Collins and Shell started a Kickstarter to support the project Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying gameTheir funding goal was met on April 12th, and they were wiped out in less than one day. The game promises to take you on an adventure that’ll stretch the limits of your imagination and sanity, all while giving fans an opportunity to dive deeper into the weird, evocative world of the show.

“Our fans have been asking for a TTRPG based in our world for the past two years — essentially since the end of season one,” Cam Collins, co-founder and producer for Gods of the OldPolygon was contacted by. “It was a frequent enough request that we thought, ‘Why not?’” She added that players can expect a gaming experience that “will draw them into the creepy and beautiful world we strive to create in Appalachia’s Old Gods.”

“The place we grew up in is complicated. It’s a strange amalgamation of cultures that over centuries of land theft, settlement, and appropriation has become seen as this monolith of poor, white, uneducated America,” Steve Shell, co-founder and host of the podcast, told Polygon. “We know it’s a lot more than that. It can be that in places and at times, but we also know that it’s a really rich world of folklore and that our version of it in the podcast was ripe for something like an immersive game.”

Although the initial fundraising goal for the campaign was set at $50,000, the team exceeded it within an hour. As of press time, more than $1.1million had been raised. It’s something that Shell said “he never expected” to happen.

“Seeing that number being attached to something that we made for our home is kind of mindblowing,” he added.

The Cypher System-fueled RPG is being developed by Monte Cook Games — the same developers behind break-out hit Numenera — and will transport players to an alternate Appalachia set in the 1920s and 1930s. It’s a land of ancient mountains, dark woods, and quiet hollers containing “immeasurable malice and incomprehensible madness,” according to a press release from Monte Cook. Collins said that the team was really impressed with the “simplicity and flexibility of the system, how quick we could create characters and start playing, and its focus on storytelling and roleplaying.”

The core rulebook will contain all you need to play including the game’s rules and mechanics, character creation instructions, a deep dive into the lore of the Old Gods world. You will also find a monster list, magic, equipment and starter adventures that can help you get started in exploring Appalachia’s dark mountains.

Pledge levels start at $25, which includes PDF of the core rulebook and stretches all the way to the premium $265 “Delver in the Dark” level, which includes a limited-edition physical rulebook autographed by the podcast’s producers, early playtest access, a GM campaign journal, GM screen, a dice set, a rolling tray, and more.

Learn more at the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying gameKickstarter page