Darkened Hill & Dale contains seven horror scenarios for tabletop roleplaying games, set in the modern British countryside.
Tonally, they're a mix of cosmic and folk horror, with unique situations and threats to negotiate. The settings encompass market towns, garden centres, sleepy villages, moorlands, and beyond.
These scenarios are intended to run in 1–3 sessions and be useable with a variety of systems, so each scenario includes notes for player characters who are occult-aware and those who are not.
The scenarios are accompanied by a separate collection of hand-out ephemera, with 2–3 items per scenario including maps, news articles, folklore book 'photocopies', etc.
Visit https://www.patchworkfez.games/ for more information!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
May: interior art, hand-outs, add-ons & pledge management, and playtesting opportunities!
7 months ago
– Wed, May 08, 2024 at 09:47:59 AM
Hello Friends,
It's your scheduled monthly update, and there's quite a bit in this one!
Interior Art
The talented Jazmin has been working on both scenario art and some NPC illustrations, so I thought you might like to see how that's going.
On the left we have the title art for Fools' Fire, which is the scenario you unlocked as a stretch goal! I'm sure you're all looking forward to visiting the that perfectly normal and charmingly scenic church.
On the right we have have Dennis Radova, from the scenario Fatstock. He's head of the local hunt, and about as pleasant as he looks. We're illustrating one NPC character from each scenario—these characters have been selected and described by the backers who chose the 'Name an NPC' add-on, and they're going to be a lovely bunch! Well, mostly. Dennis is definitely not lovely.
I may not share all of the interior artwork before you get your copies but you can expect to see a few more items before then!
Add-Ons & Pledge Management
This segues neatly into the topic of add-ons. Thanks to all of you who filled out the survey in my last update—I really appreciate it! Based on your responses, I think there's enough interest to offer a few art-based add-ons.
I'm currently planning to offer a set of postcards featuring all of the NPC portraits, another set featuring the title art from all of the scenarios, and A4 giclée prints of the cover art. The idea is that you'll be able to hand the postcards out to players for flavour—or frame them if you prefer!
On a related note, I've changed my mind about using a pledge manager, so I'll be setting that up in the near future instead of a full shop. This will let you choose any add-ons you want, and let those of you who backed at a digital-only level upgrade if you feel so inclined. If you're adding postcards and suchlike to your pledge it will probably incur a small additional postage cost (as it'll make the package heavier) but I'm aiming to keep that at-cost for you all. It will hopefully also allow for late pledges, because I know a few folks missed out.
I'll aim to set the pledge manager up for early June, before the next monthly update, so keep an eye out for emails about that.
Hand-outs
I spent part of this bank holiday weekend drawing up a map for the local 'open gardens' event in the scenario It Takes A Village, which currently looks like this:
Before you ask why I've drawn this in pencil like it's 1998, the amateur look is deliberate—in-game, it's been drawn by a teen from the village in question as the insistence of her mum, because "You're good at art, and I've already told Mrs Rogers you'll do it". I'm aspiring to, as I've done here, borrow a photocopier and copy this onto pastel-coloured paper to capture that authentic, low-budget village event vibe.
(If you haven't heard of an open gardens event, the gist of it is that a bunch of people let strangers wander around their lovely gardens for a day while the village hall runs a café, etc.)
Other hand-outs I'm currently working on are pages from clue-filled folklore books and peculiar news articles. There's going to be at least one item for every scenario, which will be supplied in a neat little folder to match the book cover.
Playtesting Opportunities
I've been spending a lot of this last month fleshing out and overhauling the scenarios a bit—you may catch me posting sporadic pictures of filled notebooks over on Instagram as I tend to write/rewrite chunks longhand while on my near-daily trains.
Anyway, this means that we're finally approaching the phase of concentrated playtesting, and I'm wondering if any of you would like to get involved? If so, please fill out this very short form that also includes a Discord link to the dedicated server where we'll be scheduling the test games. Filling out the form doesn't mean you're obliged to do anything—it's just to let me know that you're interested and help me keep track of things.
I'm expecting that most scenarios will be presentable enough to playtest by mid June, as I'd like to make some more revisions and finish some more handouts before we kick off.
My hope is that some of you might like to run a game or two (in your preferred systems) as well as play in them. Whilst I can run games, I don't think that's a great way to test the scenarios properly—it's easy for me to accidentally add in details that aren't actually on the page because the scenarios are so fully developed in my head. The scenarios are ultimately going to be read and run by others, so I really want to test that aspect and make sure they work for GMs as well as players! That said, I do have a couple of GMs already lined up, so if you're only interested in playing that's totally fine—we can't test anything without players, after all!
And that's it for this month! As ever, let me know if you have any comments or questions. :)
- Sarah
April: progress update, revised page count, and new cover art!
7 months ago
– Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 07:09:46 AM
Hi Folks,
This month's update includes a summary of progress, a visual treat, and a couple of questions...
Progress first. I've primarily been revising the scenarios this month. The challenge of making these scenarios genuinely work well with different systems is generating interesting results; I'm aspiring to have every scenario work for investigators who are oblivious to 'unnatural threats' and for those who have seen this kind of weirdness before. In some cases this doesn't have a massive impact on the scenario. However, in one case I've written a scenario for oblivious player characters which also contains notes for players investigating the disappearance of those oblivious characters. If this seems confusing, don't worry—it makes more sense on the page! I'm happy with how it's going, and looking forward to playtesting some of these revisions in the coming weeks.
I've also been out taking photos as references for illustrations, and done some work on the layout of the book, which has resulted in two things:
I'm now planning to create a web resource which will feature a collection of photo references to help you visualise some of the settings. Many of the locations in the scenarios are inspired by real places, and I have pictures of those places, so I thought it'd be nice to share those with you.
In the campaign, I stated that Darkened Hill & Dale would be "in the region of 40 A5 pages". This was definitely incorrect (and I think I knew that at the time of writing, so I'm not sure what I was thinking there). Factoring in the artwork, notes, and scenarios, the page count is actually going to be in the region of 80 A5 pages! This increase does mean that the softcover version will now have to be perfect-bound because it'll simply be too thick for staple-binding. I hope this change doesn't bother anyone too much.
I should mention that this does not include the ephemera-style handouts, which I'm currently intending to package in a separate, slim A5 wallet that matches the Darkened Hill & Dale cover art so that it can all sit together neatly on a shelf.
Speaking of cover art...
The fabulous Camilla Sicignano has already produced a stunning landscape for Darkened Hill & Dale's cover. Here you can see a draft of how it'll look if the cover were laid out flat.
I like this artwork so much that I'm considering offering prints of it (without the text text and whatnot). If the prints were to be A4 or smaller, I may well be able to slip them in with the physical books when those are shipped out... I need some feedback on this idea, though! Whether or not you like the idea, I'd really appreciate it if you could blast through the four multiple-choice questions on my mini survey here.
The wonderful Jazmin has also be busy with interior artwork, so keep an eye out for some of that in next month's update!
In other news, a couple of folks have expressed an interest in ordering second copies, so I'll be rolling out a web shop next month for that! If enough people are keen on picking up art prints I'll add those to the shop too.
That's it for now! I'll be back at the end of the month with the next update. Until then, let me know if you have any comments or questions.
- Sarah
Thank you!
9 months ago
– Sun, Mar 10, 2024 at 08:31:14 AM
Hi Folks,
The campaign is over! A huge thank you every one of you for your support. I'm honestly blown away by all the enthusiasm for Darkened Hill & Dale. The campaign has reached 740% of its original goal, which is amazing and far beyond my expectations.
The campaign may be over but the project certainly isn't!
What to expect now:
Project Updates I'm not going to be bombarding you with updates because I think we all get enough emails already. My intention is to send out a general progress update about once a month, and special updates at key milestones (e.g. when the books go to the printers). If you have questions in the interim, just give me a shout on here or via social media! I've set up an Instagram account for my TTRPG work, and I'll be posting occasional photos of bits and pieces (e.g. inspirational books and haunted locales) there in between full updates. If that's of interest, you can follow PatchworkFezGames on Instagram here. I'll also be sharing similar snippets and broader personal nonsense on BlueSky.
Delivery As specified on the project page, my goal is to have every copy of Darkened Hill & Dale dispatched by the beginning of October. I'm hoping to get them out before then, but I'll keep you posted on progress. I'll send out a backer survey to get your shipping addresses nearer the time.
Naming NPCs Those of you who've chosen the 'Name an NPC' add-on will receive a message from me in the next few weeks with a selection of perfectly normal individuals to choose names for, so keep an eye out for that!
Other Things:
While I'm writing this, here's a couple of other things you might like to know about:
Trick or Retreat I run an annual, not-for-profit event called Trick or Retreat, which is basically just a few unstructured days of hanging out with gamesy folks doing things like playing board games, going for little walks, doing crafts, and generally having a nice time. Last year folks brought an absolute mountain of boardgames—over 100!—so boardgames have become the main activity for the event, but folks sometimes run one-shot RPGs too.
This year Trick or Retreat is running Wednesday 23rd October – Sunday 27th October 2024 in Moira, Derbyshire, UK.
Tickets are already available because I like to plan in advance! Full tickets are £175 (which includes a bed to sleep in and 3 meals a day) and you can pay in instalments if that's helpful. Day tickets are also available.
Ludonarrative Dissidents Podcast: Season 3 My pals over at Ludonarrative Dissidents have just launched the Kickstarter for season 3 of their podcast. LND is a tabletop role-playing game review podcast wherein the hosts analyse systems, adventures, and supplements with in-depth critiques. I'm not involved with the podcast but I am a fan! They're already funded but if you fancy giving them a look you can find the campaign over here.
Well, that's it for now! I'm so looking forward to getting Darkened Hill & Dale into your hands, but for now I'm off to do some additional writing for the scenarios.
- Sarah
Introducing an Artist + Handout Development
9 months ago
– Tue, Mar 05, 2024 at 04:14:23 AM
Hi Folks,
There's only a few days left on this Kickstarter, which is very exciting!
As a heads up—I'm not utilising a pledge manager that'll let you change your rewards/add-ons later, so if you're thinking of upgrading from PDF-only to a physical copy, or adding some This Blighted Isle stickers, now's the time to do it!
Introducing: Jazmin
I'm delighted to introduce Jazmin, a fabulous artist and RPG fan who I'll be working with on this project. Jazmin will be creating some NPC portraits for Darkened Hill & Dale, and maybe some landscapes too! Her painterly style and use of light really caught my eye, and I think her work will be a great fit for the tone of the scenarios.
Just three examples of Jazmin's wonderfully atmospheric portraits and character art.
You've all helped to unlock a variety of additional artwork for Darkened Hill & Dale through stretch goals, and I can't wait to share some of that with you as production continues.
Handouts & Bonus Ephemera
Every backer tier that comes with a copy of Darkened Hill & Dale will include the ephemera-style handouts.
For those of you who are expecting only a PDF, the documents will be provided in a digital format for you to print or use as you like. For those of you who are expecting a printed copy of Darkened Hill & Dale, you'll be getting a printed set of the documents too!
I'm a sucker for an interesting handout that supports the players' experience. For Darkened Hill & Dale I'm working on things players might uncover through in-game research, like printouts of news articles and 'photocopies' of old books. I'm also working on some 'vintage' documents; I may not be able to forge Medieval pages (yet) but I have made passable facsimiles of 1940s documents before and I'm planning to do some more of that here.
Some pictures from Shepherds. The walls are covered in hundreds of shelves, each one holding a different kind of paper.
So, yesterday I dropped into Shepherds, which is a wonderful shop specialising in 'fine papers' and bookbinding materials. They helped me sift through some of their many options for older-style paper and I picked up some samples that I think will be perfect for what I have in mind. I'll be sure to share some photos of the handouts and the process of their creation in a few weeks!
- Sarah
Mini Update: This Blighted Isle Stickers
9 months ago
– Mon, Feb 26, 2024 at 10:27:11 AM
Hello Friends,
Only a little update for you this evening—I've just acquired the stickers that many of you have selected as an add-on and I thought you might like to see them!
They are a very iridescent silver, the design is nice and crisp, and each one measures approximately 7x5cm. Anyone who had selected the related add-on will receive two of these!
If you've selected a physical copy of Darkened Hill & Dale as your reward but haven't chosen this add-on and now think you might like some shiny stickers after all, don't worry—there's still time to adjust your pledge.
To give credit where it's due, the woodcut skull part of this motif reuses an artwork called Memento Mori by 19th century Dutch artist Julie de Graag, who is one of my favourite printmakers. This artwork, along with many others by many artists, has been digitised in high resolution and made freely available for use by the excellent Rijksmuseum in The Netherlands; you can find a whole collection of Julie de Gragg's work on their website.
I'm hoping to have an artwork update for you all by the end of this week, so keep an eye out for that!
