The Woods at Blight's Hollow is now live on Kickstarter
6 months ago
– Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 07:48:15 AM
Our new game of folk horror and fairy tales, The Woods at Blight's Hollow, is now live on Kickstarter. You can check it out at blightshollow.com
The Woods at Blight's Hollow is a folk horror tabletop roleplaying game of mystery and imagination illustrated by Corey Brickley (Penguin, Disney, Harper Collins) and written by Oli Jeffery (Quietus, Extreme Meatpunks Forever, Trophy). It concerns the children of Blight’s Hollow, an isolated village surrounded by a trackless forest in a time before electricity and radio, a world of hearthside tales and nights to be feared. Inspired by the works of Guillermo Del Toro, Angela Carter, The Brothers Grimm, Kirsty Logan and Mary Shelley amongst others, this is a tabletop roleplaying game of the darkest fairy tales and the queerest folk-horror.
Mysteries in The Woods at Blight’s Hollow have no set outcome. Using the innovative mystery system seen in games like hit Grannies-vs-cosmic-horror TTRPG Brindlewood Bay, the players may uncover clues called Breadcrumbs provided by Mother (our name for the Games Master or GM) by Sticking Their Nose Where It’s Not Welcome, but no one - not even Mother - knows what the Breadcrumbs mean at the start. Once the players have gathered enough clues, they will Tell a Tale Out of School, collaboratively answering questions that will allow the children to defeat the Beasts plaguing their town. Even though there are no canonical answers to how to defeat the beasts, this system makes it feel like you're really solving the mystery yourself!
Play conducted in the village is, relatively speaking, safe; but the final clues needed to solve any mystery will always require the children to enter the forbidden woods, where their lives and perhaps their very souls are at risk.
The children of Blight’s Hollow may not have the sword and shield of a traditional fairy-tale knight, but they are armed with knowledge and blessings: hearthside tales and nursing rhymes, told to them by their grandparents before their parent’s veil of silence fell, allow to avoid the most perilous hazards by remembering the fate of the children-within-rhymes. No crown nor mother’s back shall be broken if you have the right tale or rhyme to hand.
Each child also has a Patron Saint assigned to them at birth that grants them powers beyond the realm of adulthood, and perhaps beyond the realm of humanity altogether. Children watched over by Saint Sibel, the Seer, may find themselves possessed of worrying supernatural visions, while those under the guardianship of Saint Lohan, the Crow Wife, have a special relationship with corvids who bring them trinkets and clues. The full book contains 26 saints (one for every letter of the alphabet) bringing a variety of disquieting powers to your characters, alongside darkly comic stories of how the saints they were martyred.
The details of exactly when and where Blight’s Hollow is are known only to a few. Blight’s Hollow is plagued by all sorts of supernatural threats which the adults of the township can’t - or won’t - deal with, and so it falls to the kinder to investigate and defeat or make peace with these threats so that the Hollow may see another sunrise.
In addition to the individual mysteries and threats that the Children will investigate, there is a greater mystery at the heart of the town - why is it beset by such awful things, what of the rest of the world, and why will nobody but the children take action? Across a campaign spanning a year and a day of in-game time, each season bringing new themes and challenges, breadcrumbs can be found in each individual mystery that reveal the larger truth; or, as breadcrumbs are want to do, attract vermin.
We hope to see you soon at blightshollow.com
Update on missing rewards, and a free Halloween gift.
6 months ago
– Wed, Oct 25, 2023 at 11:41:30 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
The Woods at Blight's Hollow, a ttrpg of folk horror and fairy tales from Sinister Beard Games, coming to Kickstarter this Halloween
6 months ago
– Sun, Oct 22, 2023 at 10:15:50 AM
Sign up to be notified when the game goes live!
Sinister Beard Games are launching their 4th tabletop RPG Kickstarter on October 31st this year, and it's an appropriately spooky one: The Woods at Blight's Hollow is a folk horror tabletop roleplaying game of mystery and imagination illustrated by Corey Brickley (Penguin, Disney, Harper Collins) and written by Oli Jeffery (Quietus, Extreme Meatpunks Forever, Trophy). It concerns the children of Blight’s Hollow, an isolated village surrounded by a trackless forest in a time before electricity and radio, a world of hearthside tales and nights to be feared. Inspired by the works of Guillermo Del Toro, Angela Carter, The Brothers Grimm, Kirsty Logan and Mary Shelley amongst others, this is a tabletop roleplaying game of the darkest fairy tales and the queerest folk-horror.
Mysteries in The Woods at Blight’s Hollow have no set outcome. Using the innovative mystery system seen in hit Grannies-vs-cosmic-horror TTRPG Brindlewood Bay, the players may uncover clues called Breadcrumbs provided by Mother (our name for the Games Master or GM) by Sticking Their Nose Where It’s Not Welcome, but nobody - not even Mother - knows what the Breadcrumbs mean at the start. Once the players have gathered enough clues, they will Tell a Tale Out of School, collaboratively answering questions that will allow the children to defeat the Beasts plaguing their town. Even though there are no canonical answers to how to defeat the beasts, this system makes it feel like you're really solving the mystery yourself!
Play conducted in the village is, relatively speaking, safe; but the final clues needed to solve any mystery will always require the children to enter the forbidden woods, where their lives and perhaps their very souls are at risk.
The children of Blight’s Hollow may not have the sword and shield of a traditional fairy-tale knight, but they are armed with knowledge and blessings: hearthside tales and nursing rhymes told to them by their grandparents before their parent’s veil of silence fell allow to avoid the most perilous hazards by remembering the fate of the children-within-rhymes. No crown nor mother’s back shall be broken if you have the right tale or rhyme to hand.
Each child also has a Patron Saint assigned to them at birth that grants them powers beyond the realm of adulthood, and perhaps beyond the realm of humanity altogether. Children watched over by Saint Sibel, the Seer, may find themselves possessed of worrying supernatural visions, while those under the guardianship of Saint Lohan, the Crow Wife, have a special relationship with corvids who bring them trinkets and clues. The full book contains 26 saints (one for every letter of the alphabet) bringing a variety of disquieting powers to your characters, alongside darkly comic stories of how they were martyred.
The Woods at Blight's Hollow is a standalone, beautifully illustrated, lavishly printed complete TTRPG. Within the ~140 page hardback tome you'll find rules for character creation and advancement, a full campaign guide spanning an in-game year, an innovative mystery system, and eleven mysteries to solve and Beasts to defeat.
We hope to see you at The Hollow this Halloween!
Have you received your books?
8 months ago
– Sun, Aug 13, 2023 at 03:01:01 AM
Hey Meatpunks!
It's been really exciting to see people receiving their physical copies of the books, but there have been a few backers who haven't received them yet. If you've yet to receive your physical copy of Meatpunks, email me at [email protected] with the email you used to back and your backer number and we'll find out where they are!
Thanks, the Meatpunks team.
Books are printed and on their way!
11 months ago
– Sun, May 28, 2023 at 12:17:58 PM
Meatpunks hardbacks are printed and at the distributors and will start flapping their skin-flap wings to make their way to you starting next week. Can't wait to see them in the wild!
