Review: Rural Gothic

In a nutshell: Rules-lite RPG of supernatural horror in the backwoods of Colonial America from Smart Bonsai Games, written by Umberto Pignatelli; available here on DriveThruRPG for about $5 (although mine was a gift).

While the genre is not my usual cup of tea, I think it does me good to get out of my normal rut from time to time, and Sig. Pignatelli's work is reliably good. So, what do we have here?

What You Get

The download contains five PDFs, each two sides long:

• Townsfolk Pamphlet. Setting outline, what the game is about, how to create and improve PCs ("townsfolk"), core game mechanics.
• Chronicler Pamphlet. Running the game, rest and recovery, optional rules, tips and tricks.
• The Mystery of the Dutch Hangman. A starter adventure; a tale of murder and supernatural revenge. The first page has the background, the underlying story for the GM, and possible outcomes depending on what the PCs achieve. The second page has a map of the village where the scenario takes place, a timeline for events, and paragraph descriptions of key NPCs.
• Blank Townsfolk Sheet. Six blank character tents. It looks like these are meant to be printed double-sided, with the character's Terrible Secret concealed inside the folded tent.
• Pregens. Six pregen characters on character tents, see above. To list them by concept, we have the Outspoken Constable, the Defiant Schoolteacher, the Giant of a Lumberjack, the Pale Undertaker's Daughter, the Cynical Town Doctor, and the Young Vicar.

How It Works

Character creation: Allocate three Traits; a Concept (let's say Heroic Hunter) and up to two secondary Traits (perhaps Expert Tracker and Sharpshooter). One Trait may be supernatural in some way. Give your character two Assets, treasured iconic possessions. The character begins with 2 Luck (which allow you to reroll Threats or influence the narrative) and 4 Endurance (basically hit points). Optionally, a PC may have a Terrible Secret which gives them an advancement - increased Luck, Endurance, new Asset, etc.

A PC who is reduced to zero Endurance is (as FATE would say) "taken out"; they might be dead, incapacitated, captured, insane or whatever else best serves the story.

Surviving scenarios, defeating evil, and learning terrible truths give experience, which is used to buy advancements.

Threats: These are risky situations involving time pressure, including combat; if it isn't both dangerous and urgent, you're assumed to succeed. Assemble a dice pool; this will typically be 1-3 dice, one per relevant Trait or Asset, one for assistance, etc.; you need to be able to distinguish the die relating to a supernatural Trait, if there is one. Roll the dice, and the highest single die defines the outcome; critical failure, failure, partial success, success, or critical success. Failure may cost you an Endurance point or an Asset, critical failure also recharges Luck by one point. If the highest score came from the supernatural die, the outcome is obviously supernatural, and the GM gains a Terror Token. If the PCs overcome a dangerous threat or uncover a vital clue, they gain a Mystery Token.

Mystery Tokens are used to regenerate Luck or get useful hints from the GM. Terror Tokens are used to reduce the PCs' dice pool or help monsters survive.

What I Think

This is a simple, straightforward game, to the point that I felt I'd pretty much memorised the core rules on the first read-through. The images and characters that sprang to my mind as I did that were from James Fenimore Cooper's  Leatherstocking tales, although the author cites more eerie tales as inspirations.

It reminded me strongly of the author's earlier works in the Adventurers! series; everything fits on one double-sided page. If you liked those games, you'll probably like this one, too.