House of the Jade Lantern

My local game store (Black Diamond Games) brought in the recently released Old Gods of Appalachia rpg (MCG; $69.99 US; 416 pp; full color), and I treated myself to a copy. I’m glad I did, and spent the last day or two rooting around both the rpg book and the inspiring podcast, Old Gods of Appalachia.

I recently completed a several years campaign of Call of Cthulhu, and while taking a break from GMing the horror genre at the moment, Old Gods of Appalachia (or OGoA for short) seems a likely candidate for me getting back to the genre. As an old hand at the Cthulhu Mythos, I find OGoA refreshing (and dark) – it’s more contemporary that Lovecraft, has a different regional American folk lore focus, and doesn’t have the Mythos sort of tying things up. OGoA is much closer to the ghost stories and campfire tiles of my youth, and vibes closer to folk lore than the Mythos of the Outer Gods and such.

Not that it doesn’t have some parallels – Those Who Sleep Beneath and the Inner Dark both get at that same sort of alien otherness to humanity, but with entirely different … and perhaps more familiar notes. There’s less academia and more common folks minded.

I also grabbed the Player’s Guide ($19.99; 32 pp; full color) since I do better with printed materials than digital. It’s essentially an extract of setting material from the core rulebook, plus five pre generated characters (which are also available for free download).

I still have miles to read, but my sense if that if you have friends who enjoy the horror and investigative horror genre, are perhaps a little too comfortable with their library use and little too cozy making the walk from Arkham to Kingsport … well then, you might want to send them on an excursion along the Appalachian Trail. There’s some folks there I think they’ll be dying to meet.

Be well, and good gaming!