Hello, Family!

Once again we find ourselves thanking you for your support and enthusiasm. You’ve amazed and humbled us since this campaign launched, and over the weekend you did it again: you unlocked another stretch goal, this one making All Your Gods Are Dead even bigger and better.

We’ve expanded Dig Your Own Grave, and now All Your Gods Are Dead. Would it surprise you to learn we also have our eyes on expanding Come Hell or High Water? This one’s a little different, though, because it isn’t just down to Shanna and MCG’s amazingly creative design team. Cam Collins and Steve Shell, the creators of Old Gods of Appalachia, are contributing directly to Come Hell or High Water.

They’re already planning to write up a couple of specific sites straight out of the podcast’s stories, starting with the Walker House. Like all of the sites we’re detailing in this title, it’ll include maps, descriptions, and highlights of things, people, and other beings you might find there. We expect you’ll find details you’ve never come across before—stuff that’s never been shared outside of Steve and Cam’s collaborating imaginations.

With this stretch goal, Cam and Steve will add another site to their contributions. What will it be? They’ve discussed the Clutch and the Tabernacle of the Elder Covenant as a couple of options. Ultimately they’ll make the call, but if you have some thoughts we’d love it if you shared them in the comments.

We’ll unlock these secrets at $575,000. And since you hit the last goal over the weekend, we're already well on our way to this one!

Seriously, family, what Old Gods of Appalachia fan doesn’t want a tour of the Walker House, the Clutch, the Tabernacle—or who knows what other legendary sites—straight from the minds of Steve Shell and Cam Collins? With your help, we can hit this goal quickly—but only with your help!

Speaking of contributions, we’ve been profiling some of the Appalachian and horror creatives who are contributing brief bits of color, inspiration, and atmosphere, to these supplements. You can read about Cherie Priest and Lee Mondelo in earlier updates. Today let’s introduce you to Alder (Ash) Van Otterloo.

Alder (he/they) was born and raised in the Appalachian foothills, then made his home for eighteen years as an adult in Eastern Tennessee. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with a pack of wild forest changelings, their chosen family, and a frankly shocking number of stinging nettles. Alder is the author of CATTYWAMPUS, A TOUCH OF RUCKUS, and THE BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING ELSE. You can see what Alder’s up to on their website.

We’re looking forward to what Alder—and all the contributors—bring to your alternate Appalachian experience!

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG

Hello, family—

What’s better than a three-day weekend? A three-day weekend in which we unlock a new stretch goal, of course!

Today you took us over the line to unlock the expansion of All Your Gods Are Dead. We're excited to bring more creatures, NPCs, artifacts, cyphers, and other goodies to your game table. Thanks so much for making it happen!

Our next goal is a real scorcher, family—it's truly special, and you're going to love it. But as was just pointed out, we (including the MCG team) are enjoying a pleasant holiday weekend. We’ll be back Tuesday morning with news about this goal. For now, thanks for helping us tell the world about this campaign, and we hope you're enjoying the weekend as much as we are!

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG

Hello, Family!

Want to try out a deeper, darker character full of secrets and new, interesting gifts? Perhaps you'll become a Ruint Speaker who Talks the Ears off a Jackrabbit. Or a Ghostly Explorer who Whistles in the Woods. Maybe you've Seen Some Shit or are someone who Would Steal the Nickels off a Dead Man's Eyes.

To get you to these ideas—and a seemin’ endless clutch of others—what about a whole new way of coming up with background and connection options? A choose-your-own-adventure-style manner of discovering more about where your character came from and what they went through before they got to this place. They might have been a hometown hero who made a bad deal, or somebody who lost it all and is still trying unsuccessfully to get it back.

That’s the sort of stuff you’re going to find in Dig Your Own Grave. And congratulations: you’ve unlocked our first stretch goal, and Dig Your Own Grave is getting bigger. Welcome to day two of our journey. We’re just hittin’ midday (Appalachian time), but the good news has already started!

Which begs the question: What’s next?

What do you do when The Taxman comes a-knockin' at your door, nearly pounding down the house, that rasped voice saying again and again, “I've come for what I'm owed”? When the rot witch grabs your ankle and spreads her melancholia and decay even through your bone armor? When the Whistler in the Woods hears your footstep break a branch, and that eerie, tuneless sound gets closer and closer and closer and you turn to run, only to find that you cannot?

Hopefully you have your Mawmaw's fiddle with its mother-of-pearl inlay that plays a tune only the bravest and best dogs can hear. And maybe a friend or two, one who found an old and powerful ring between a couple of floorboards and another who's got a bag that seems to produce almost exactly what you need, whenever you need it.

The creatures and NPCs in All Your Gods are Dead are powerful, dangerous, and sometimes willing to make a bargain or two. But you're, well, not equally powerful—that would surely be overstating things—but almost as powerful, thanks to a whole slew of new cyphers, artifacts, and weapons that you can discover, craft, buy, and barter for.

Unlock our next stretch goal and you’ll get even more. Just as you did with Dig Your Own Grave, take us to this stretch goal and we’ll expand All Your Gods Are Dead by at least 16 pages, with more creatures, NPCs, artifacts, cyphers, and other goodies to help the game master run an amazing campaign. We’ll hit this one at $500,000.

Now that the frenzy of the first day has settled just a bit, it’s up to all of us to keep getting the word out. You can find great art, info, and inspiration on MCG’s social media. Give them a share, or inscribe your own words about why other gamers should check out this campaign.

Lee Mandelo (he/him) is one of the several Appalachian and horror creatives bringing brief bits of inspiration, atmosphere, and color to these books. Lee is a writer, scholar, and sometimes-editor whose work focuses on queer/trans and speculative fiction. His recent books include debut novel Summer Sons, a contemporary gay Southern gothic, as well as the novellas Feed Them Silence and The Woods All Black. Mandelo's short fiction, scholarship, and criticism can be read in publications including Reactor, Post45, Uncanny Magazine, and Capacious; he has also been a past nominee for various awards including the Lambda, Nebula, Goodreads Choice, and Hugo. He currently resides in Louisville and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Kentucky. Further information, interviews, and sundry little posts about current media he's enjoying can be found at leemandelo.com or @leemandelo on socials.

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG

Wow, Family!

What a great day it’s been. (And it’s not like it’s over, either!) You’ve kept us spinning like a whirligig all afternoon. The response to this campaign has really bowled us over. Thank you!

Now that the mad rush of the first few hours is starting to settle, let’s talk about stretch goals. We’re over the moon to be making these new books—plus the witch jar, the hats, the dice, and all the other pieces-parts. But we know that with your help we can make them even bigger and better.
Let’s start with the books. For our first goal, we’d like to expand Dig Your Own Grave. This is the player-centric book, chock full of new descriptors, foci, background ideas, and other elements that will enrich your characters, deepening your immersion and authenticity. It’s already intended to be a hardcover (for comparison, most of the player option books we’ve made for games like Numenera, The Strange, and Planebreaker are softcovers), but we think it could be even bigger. So at $400,000 we’ll expand its page count by a minimum of 16 pages.

As exciting as this day has been, we might easily hit that number in a matter of hours—particularly if you help spread the word! If you know someone who’s into Old Gods of Appalachia, horror RPGs, or folklore (or, better still, isn’t yet but wants to be), won’t you tell them about this campaign? You can also follow us and share our posts on these platforms:

While we have you, friends, let’s talk a bit about the wonderful Appalachian and horror creators who are contributing to these books. The bulk of the content—and all of the game design—will be written by our design team, led by Shanna Germain (who led the design of the core game). But we thought it would be interesting and engaging to bring in a few other voices from around Appalachia and in the folk and horror genre. These creators will provide additional bits of color and atmosphere—a page here, a verse there—to take us all deeper into the alternate Appalachia we all love.

We’re going to profile some of these amazing contributors in our updates, starting today with Cherie Priest. Cherie is the author of two dozen books and novellas, including the Booking Agents mysteries Grave Reservations and Flight Risk, southern horror novel The Toll, acclaimed gothic Maplecroft, and the award-winning Clockwork Century series, beginning with Boneshaker. Check out her books today for some excellent, atmospheric horror.

We're elated Cherie is on board and we can't wait to introduce you to the other fantastic voices, too!

Thanks again for your support!

—Team MCG

Hello, Family—

That was … welp, that was fast! You all have funded this campaign in what seems like record time. Your support has warmed our hearts and fired our excitement for these three new books, which are now going to take your games into darker places, make your characters richer and more full of life, and give your game table even deeper atmosphere and authenticity.

This, of course, is a beginning, not an end, and the road ahead promises more treasures. We have many an idea for growing, expanding, and further improving your rewards. We’re looking forward to bringing you even more lore, art, creatures, characters, cyphers, artifacts, locales—and maybe even entirely new items—through stretch goals.

Your enthusiastic response has bowled us over a bit, though, and right now we’re up to our elbows in managing this campaign. Give us just a bit of time to catch up, and we’ll start talking about those goals. In the meantime, thank you so much for an incredible launch!

—Team MCG