A poacher's widow sat sighing On the side of the white chalk bank, Where under the gloomy fir-woods One spot in the ley throve rank.
She thought of the dark plantation, And the hares, and her husband's blood, And the voice of her indignation Rose up to the throne of her God.
'I am long past wailing and whining- I have wept too much in my life: I've had twenty years of pining As an English labourer's wife.
'There's blood on your new foreign shrubs, squire, There's blood on your pointer's cold feet; There's blood on the game you sell, squire, And there's blood on the game you eat.
‘So I’ll take up my poor husband’s bow, Squire Fletch arrows of ashwood and yew I’ll ‘scape to the Brinkwood this evening And there will I join with the few
‘And I will not put down my labors I’ll take forest leaves for my bed Until this arrow pierces your cold heart, Squire And you in your coffin lie dead
‘So to kennels and liveried varlets Where you starved your own daughter of bread And worn out with liquor and harlots See your heirs at your feet lying dead Sample‘When you follow them into your coffin file And your soul rots asleep in the grave Then Squire, you will not be forgiven By the free men you took as your slaves
-Excerpted and adapted from “The Bad Squire,” by Charles Kingsley Table of Contents
Basic Premise 1
Key 4
What You Need 4
Getting Started 6
Player Characters 9
Custom Mechanics 11 Starting Situation 17
A Meeting in Sothsmere 20
Downtime 24
Planning the Foray 26 Resources 26
The Foray 34 Potential Obstacles 34 One Ending, Many Beginnings 36 Payoff 36 XP 36
Tiers and Goals 37 Ally Tiers 37 Tier Goals 38 FriendlySample Factions file39 Enemies, Vampiric and Mundane 42 Mundane Enemies 42 Vampiric Classes 43 Basic Premise
The world is not as it should be. The rich feed, literally, upon the poor, as blood-sucking vampires who barely bother to conceal their horrific, parasitic nature. The downtrodden peoples of the world struggle under the burdens of rent, payable through the sweat of their labor or the blood of their veins. Evil has triumphed. Many have given in to despair. But all is not lost.
In Brinkwood , you take on the role of renegades, thieves, and rebels struggling for freedom and liberation in a castylpunk world controlled by vampires. Radicalized by tragedy, you have taken up arms and fled into the forests, where you were taken in by unlikely allies - the fae, forgotten creatures of myth - who offered a different path and the means to fight back against your oppressors.
Masks, forged of old wood and older magic, are the final tool left to fight a war long ago lost. If you wear them, they will take their price, etching themselves upon your very soul. But they will also let you spill the blood of the rich and powerful vampires that now rule the land, and from that blood strengthen yourself and your movement.
Drink the rich, before they drink you.
Introducing the Game
Before you start playing, you should distribute the one-pager to your players (or people you want to get interested in playing), as this document will introduce the concept of the game and explain the basics of whatSample they’re getting into. file
1 Media Inspirations
“Robin Hood vs. Vampires” would be an accurate summation of Brinkwood, but here’s a few more inspirations that might help you get a handle on what this game is trying to do.
● Video Games: Castlevania, Devil May Cry, Bloodbourne, Tyranny, Vampyr ● Literature: Robin Hood, Anno Dracula, Altered Carbon ● Tabletop Games: Castle Ravenloft, The Fury of Dracula ● Music: English Rebel Songs - Chumbawumba
Castylpunk
Castylpunk is an aesthetic genre that blends elements of gothic horror, medievalism, anachronism, victorianism, gas-punk and fantasy. Castylpunk worlds are usually medieval in setting, but aren’t too terribly concerned with historical details so much as aesthetics. You might find factories, gearworks, victorian fashion and other out-of-place setting details, but still set against a backdrop of gloomy castles, old decaying cities, and vaulted gothic architecture. This is a world where you’ll still find faeries and other supernatural creatures, but driven to the fringes, back into the darkest parts of the forest where few dare tread. The notable exception in this case, of course, being vampires.
The “punk” in Castylpunk implies a punk aesthetic and intention brought to bear on the setting. You aren’t here to admire the scenery, or brood in secret castles, or soliloquize on your moral complexity or the depths of your depravity while you drink the blood of virgins from a crystal chalice; you are here to fuck shit up. This isn’t a game about havingSample sympathy for blood-drinkers and oppressors; it’sfile about staking them through the goddamn heart. Be reckless. Be active. Stay mad. Stay punk.
2 What is this Game About?
● Coming together, finding unlikely allies, understanding cultures and people that might at first seem alien to you. ● Organizing people. Recruiting in secret. Staging a full-fledged rebellion against the oppressors that drain people, both literally and figuratively, of everything they have. ● Blowing stuff up. Assassinating collaborators and vampires alike. Planning raids, taking what you need from the stores of your enemies, waging guerilla war, and slowly but surely growing your movement. ● Navigating the politics of underground resistance and, eventually, revolution. Making hard choices about whose needs to prioritize, and giving voice to a collective, democratic will in a tyrannical world. ● Taking back power for the marginalized, dispossessed, and poor. Putting fear into the hearts of your oppressors. Drinking the Rich.
Dramatic Questions
● What does it take to win people’s trust, organize a rebellion, and achieve victory? What sacrifices must be made? Who must make them? ● How do you balance the needs of the people you’re trying to liberate, versus the costs of overthrowing those that keep you all in chains? ● What amount of violence, be it physical, political, emotional, or economic is necessary to achieve liberation? How do you keep Sampleyour focus on your goals, without devolving into file vengeance and bloodlust?
3 Key
GM: Notes for the GM / the GM’s role in the game
Player: Notes for the Players / the Player’s role in a scenario
Idea / Note: Further description of mechanics or something else.
One-Shot: Information useful to those playing a one-shot version of Brinkwood .
What You Need
● 3-7 people, one of whom will act as the GM. ● This printed rules document, a copy of the player reference sheet for each player, a copy of the GM reference sheet. ● A copy of each pre-gen background character sheet and each mask sheet. ● Pencils, paper, laptops, tablets or a virtual tabletop such as Roll20. ● Some standard 6-sided dice. ● Some way to access the Blades in the Dark SRD or a copy of the Blades in the Dark rulebook. Sample file
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