Content

In the hills and valleys of Appalachia lie many a hidden holler. These are secret spaces, liminal and oracular. You know in the mountains there is coal, those dark, black diamonds that mean riches and a life of leisure. Hidden in between the dense forests and winding creeks, the fog and spiritualists, the shale and caves, there is hope, future, a hidden and secret valley. But the mountains, southerner, are older than you. And they’re waiting. Trophy Dark is a collaborative storytelling game about a group of treasure-hunters on a doomed expedition into a forest that doesn’t want them there.

Fi, Fai, Foh, Fum. I smell the blood of a little one. Be you alive or be you dead, I’ll grind your bones to make my bread. Just inside the edge of the forest, a half day’s journey from Fort Duhrin and nestled into the banks of the Naveh River, are the ruins of a massive, old mill known as Kormoran’s Wheel. Given the strategic location of the mill ruins, a tent city has sprung up around it—an unlicensed gathering point for treasure-hunters and those seeking to profit from their journey. The Fort’s governor has sent in the kingsguard four times to toss out the squatters and tear the tents down, and four times the city has been rebuilt bigger than before. The residents of Kormoran’s Wheel have little fear of the kingsguard or any other so-called authority figure with fancy proclamations and fancier horses. What they do fear—and are