Backwater Games Kickstarted a game about Southern Gothic Horror.
The RPG deals with social issues, poverty, and religion and, as a post-apocalyptic survival horror, with monsters.
The core rules are on DriveThruRPG and have been since July. They’re also now available in Premium Hardcover.
Backwater is around 220 pages long and covers character creation rules, D20 gaming system rules, player and GM setting information, and NPC/monster data. It also comes with four pre-generated character sheets and a blank character sheet.
Long after The End descended upon the Old World…
Humanity started to rebuild itself, albeit wretched and forlorn. Survivors salvaged what they could of government in the form of the American Lands. They rebuilt roads, though in fewer numbers and inferior quality, and they reclaimed the skeletons of buildings. Nowhere does humankind rebuild so desperately as in the humid swamps of the Backwater, where humanity battles itself and the natural elements to survive. You are a warden here—a roaming peace keeper in the American Lands—protecting order at civilization’s southern reach. You travel the Old World’s crumbling roadways among mosquitoes and snakes. You tend to every small town’s big secret, and you quell strife between old families in a new era. Here in the bogs, you keep mutation at bay, ever-watchful for the wretched cousins of ancient humanity. You protect mankind from supernatural horrors that have only started to emerge.
Welcome to Backwater… where horror writes itself.
There’s a 53-page Quickstart, too: Pay What You Want. PWYW isn’t free, but Backwater’s Asa Donald and Alex Johnson have suggested a $0.00 price.
The quickstart includes character generation, essential rules and pre-genned PCs if you’re in a hurry. The SRD, the systems reference document, defines how other developers can use the Backbone engine.
Backwater is designed to be straightforward. This system is built on four fundamental attributes that give both a modifier (which you add to rolls) and a target score (which others roll against). When you try to roll a skill against another character, you simply roll against one of their attribute objectives, such as:
- When you threaten or deceive a character, you roll against its Intuition goal.
- When you hide from or sneak by a character, you roll against its Vigilance goal.
- When you attack a character, you roll against its Reflex goal.
- When you shove or trip a character, you roll against its Build goal.
Quick Links
- Backwater: Southern Gothic Horror Core Rules | QuickStart
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