Hillfolk (Feb 2015)

In April 2023 we revived the February 2015 Hillfolk Bundle. Can’t wait for the new season of The Last of Us or Andor? Why not start your own episodic series of tense, character-driven drama? Hillfolk, the DramaSystem game from Pelgrane Press by designer Robin D. Laws (Feng Shui, GUMSHOE), adapts narrative techniques from literature and film to let your roleplaying group create a compelling serial story of emotional need and conflict within a tightly knit group of people. DramaSystem characters have competing goals that drive the story forward as they face inner challenges and engage in emotional disputes. Weave enthralling multi-session sagas about Iron Age tribes, Game of Thrones-style fantasy intrigue, Regency socialites, border town drug kingpins, troubled Sopranos-type crime families, posthuman cyberpunks, and more. Hillfolk is the “cable series RPG.”

Hillfolk‘s October 2012 Kickstarter campaign earned over US$90,000 and spawned a support line of “Series Pitches” – new settings written by many notable designers. This revived February 2015 Hillfolk Bundle once again presented most of the Hillfolk line, including music, cards, and many Series Pitches, for an unbeatable bargain price. Cast your own series about engineers battling zombies in the Imperial court of a magical 1920s Russia – or the gladiatorial arena of a steam-powered flying city on the brink of revolution – or even the dreamers, has-beens, and never-wills in a touring jukebox musical. (In that one, you sing!)

There were six complete titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $28.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the Hillfolk corebook and five Series Pitches: Encore, Iron Tsar, Narcocorrido, Sheep’s Clothing, and Terminal X.

Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got this revival’s entire Bonus Collection with ten more titles worth an additional $45.50, including the Hillfolk companion Blood on the Snow, a set of atmospheric MP3 music tracks, the handy Hillfolk card deck, and seven more Series Pitches: Art and Murder, Campus Desk, Honor Among Thieves, No Crowns, Niflgap, Promised Land, and a pitch exclusive to this offer and sold nowhere else, Do What Thou Wilt.

Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to this Hillfolk revival’s pandemic-related charity, Direct Relief. Direct Relief sends protective gear and critical care medications to health workers, with emergency deliveries to medical facilities across the US and to regional response agencies across the world.