The print copies of The Burn are here! Pre-ordered copies are all packed up and ready to go. You can order your copy here on our website, or add one on during the final hour of the Maskwitches Redux kickstarter campaign – but you don’t have long to do that! Although backers get a free PDF Maskwitches adventure and a whole witch pouch of other goodies!
In this rules-light story telling game you take the role of the Maskwitches, tasked with protecting the hunter gatherer people of the land that now lies under the North Sea – Doggerland – from evil spirits that arise when things go wrong or when there’s disharmony in the community. There’s loads to see and read at the campaign page. Check it out!
The locations in the book are real – albeit seen through the eyes of memory and a kind of folkish magical realism.
The wee folk who you play seemed really the crux of the whole thing. And of course coming out of finishing up the Maskwitches Redux, models and sets were on my mind. But in this case the sets were life size – the real places along the Polmont Burn, just moments from my door, and coincidentally where the author Malcolm played as a child.
It seemed like a good idea to build some figures and I have wanted to do this for a while. The pre-made figures I used for Maskwitches have their advantages, but also many limitations.
I already had some armature wire on hand – it’s thick, but very flexible metal wire that bends easily but stays where you put it. It’s easy to cut, despite being several millimetres thick. I enjoy working with it.
The work is all done, as you can see in the video – the book is complete and ready to print, and we’re really excited to get Maskwitches titles back in production. If that is we can fund the initial print run!
That’s not a dead cert, so please do give the campaign a follow, and if you like what you see tell some friends and encourage them to get involved too!
The Redux Edition is longer than the first version, coming in at 168 pages (rather than 144) and there are some new sections.
• There’s a piece that gives you a load of things your witches know, as prompts to help them decide what to do. Not every group needs this, but it’s a bit of extra help if inspiration is thin on the ground.
• There’s a section to generate how your witch remembers becoming a witch. Whether or not this is strictly factual is entirely up to you.
• There’s a suggested optional mechanic if your group really, really must track injuries, This uses your shared masks as a pool of resources which can take damage and be repaired.
• And there’s a new optional mechanic for should it happen at the table that players just cannot work out any way to use your masks or amulets to approach an obstacle.
Follow along with all the backstage, behind the scenes, making of stuff here:
Take the role of one of the Wee Folk as they strive to protect The Burn from pollution, litter and filth.
This setting for The Silver Road takes a dive into childhood memory and local folklore, and encourages you to explore the places of your own childhood through such a lens.
Featuring unique props and models-based art, The Burn is a fascinating experiment in memory and storytelling games.
Inspired by children’s literature such as the Borribles and the Borrowers, with a touch of The Machine Gunners, The Burn was devised and written by Malcolm Craig (a|state, Cold City, Hot War) and illustrated by Jon Hodgson (Dungeons & Dragons, The One Ring RPG) with layout by Paul Bourne (BEOWULF, The One Ring)
This week sees the release of The Burn setting for The Silver Road.
Take the role of the Wee Folk who live up and down the Burn – a stream in Scotland – as they battle the evil spirits of pollution and litter.
Inspired by children’s literature such as the Borribles and the Borrowers, with a touch of The Machine Gunners, The Burn was devised and written by Malcolm Craig (a|state, Cold City, Hot War), with Silver Road development and art by Jon Hodgson (The One Ring, Dungeons & Dragons).
The Burn is intended as a sister game to Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland, using some of the same themes and mechanics in an entirely different setting, with a more open structure.
The Burn was a stretch goal from the original Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland campaign, and will be initially delivered free of charge to all original Maskwitches backers. shortly afterwards it will go on general sale exclusively at DrivethruRPG.
Jon Hodgson:
“It’s taken a while to get our ambitious and unique new approach to illustration for The Silver Road just right, and I’m so excited to be able to share this one with everyone. I think it’s a really fresh take on game illustration, and for people who already know Maskwitches The Burn is an interesting twist on some of those themes and structures.
The setting is a burn (that’s the Scots word for a stream) close to where I live and Handiwork Games is based. Which, entirely coincidentally, is also where the setting’s author Malcolm Craig grew up.
It’s a unique project, looking into both ends of the telescope, with Malcolm’s childhood memories combining with exploration of the same locations decades later. The characters are all fictional (or are they?) but the places are all real.”
The Burn has seen a delay in release as we moved to an entirely hand-made method of making art for Silver Road titles.
In 2022 we’d experimented with early versions of so-called AI image generation, but at the end of that year we decided this didn’t align with our values, and so left that behind. It’s taken a while to get the wheels in line on our ambitious new methods, which produce imagery quite unlike anything else we see in tabletop games. We hope you enjoy this fresh approach to visuals.
(We will of course still be making paintings for BEOWULF and Five Evil, and making remarkable CG for a|state, Cold City and Hot War. We like to keep things fresh and varied!)
If you missed the original Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland, the all human art Redux Edition comes to Kickstarter for one week in May. Sign up to be notified of the launch here.
Hey you! We have a whole bunch of free stuff available at DrivethruRPG.com. You can get the full length adventure for BEOWULF: The Hermit’s Sanctuary (it was nominated for an ENnie Award, you know), and the evening’s play and setting intro of Nicely, Done for a|state, the various Cold City Hot War Reports (more of those coming soon!), Naming the Spirits for Maskwitches, free maps, map tiles samplers and more!
We’re putting the finishing touches to Digital Pack 16 for BEOWULF Age of Heroes. This time around we present a Followers special, with a guide to using followers, and why they work the way they do. There’s some new adversary gifts for GMs with follower-rich players and some new combat-focused Follower gifts. They’ll be maps and tokens too!
