Old Gods of Appalachia RPG from Monte Cook Games : Review

Fast Facts

Type: Tabletop Roleplaying Game (Horror and Alternative History Theme)
Players/Party Size: 2-6 players with 1 Game Master (I played with 4 other players and a GM, and this was a nice setup)
Playtime/Session Length: Depends on setup but 2-4 hours depending on episodic or campaign style setup.
Complexity/Crunch: Light to Medium (rules-light and narrative-focused. Even easier for people already familiar with the Cypher System)
Cost: $70 Hardcover Standard Rulebook / $23 in PDF Form

The Hook & Premise

Old Gods of Appalachia is based on the hit podcast of the same name. Set in an alternate and darker fantasy version of the Appalachian Mountains, the player finds themselves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with railways being the livelihood of a community. Dark entities and slumbering eldritch horrors lurk beneath the coal mines and logging communities. Players take on the role of ordinary people from towns around Appalachia. Some may have secret gifts or some may be moonshiners. Regardless of their characters, the players step forward to protect their family, home, and the hollows from the horrors that hide around every corner.

Presentation & Production

The core rulebook from Monte Cook Games is absolutely gorgeous and high quality. The artwork is dark and foreboding. One of the real highlights for me is how well Monte Cook Games topographically fleshed out the setting for Old Gods. The game feels both evocative and dark in a way that mirrors the narrative tone of the podcast while simultaneously being well written enough to draw you in even if you’re not familiar with the podcast. Through maps, rich historical text, and thematic formatting for the players and the game master, Monte Cook Games has created a TTRPG that will make fans of the podcast feel right at home while making players with no familiarity ready to dive right in. I had no previous experience with the podcast, but the writing of the game left me excited to check it out on the ride home from GameHoleCon.

How It Plays

The core engine of Old Gods is built on Monte Cook’s Cypher System. Not only does it make for a rules-light game, but it also helps with understanding your character. The Cypher system is now well known for its iconic single-sentence character structure:”[Name] is a [Descriptor] who [Focus]”, which adapts well to the horror setting of Old Gods. One thing I really loved about this game that makes it even easier is that the GM never has to roll dice. Players handle all rolls. Old Gods uses the Cypher System roll mechanic where a GM sets a task difficulty from 1 to 7. The player then calculates the target number they need to hit on a d20 die by multiplying the difficulty by 3. In this setup, a task that is a 7 means you are going to need help, encouraging players to use their skills, connections, or XP points to reduce the difficulty. Attacks, defense, skill checks, and even saving throws come from the player. Players have three main pools (Might, Speed, and Intellect) that simultaneously act as resource pools and health. Players can spend points from these pools to apply “Effort” and lower the task or trigger some of their special abilities. Players have “Cyphers” that are essentially single use narrative boons, charms, relics, or even strange tokens. This can help both move the story and add dramatic affect. The GM intrudes into the game through adding sudden twists or complications into the story which in turn rewards a player with Experience Points in the form of XP cards which the player can keep or share with a teammate. The XP cards can help lower task difficulty or can even be exchanged in an attempt to help prevent a complication from happpening.

What Works & What Doesn’t

What Works:

The setting of Old Gods of Appalachia is beautiful. Now that I’ve listened to the podcast, Monte Cook Games really captured the atmosphere. Additionally, the dual resource/health pools really feel like they empower the player to engage in meaningful resource management, partnership, and tactical decision-making. The Cypher System allows for a low entry burden for both GMs and players making it one of the easiest to pickup RPGs that I’ve ever played. The lack of real dice rolling from the GM allows them to function more as a narrator, focusing on pacing, storytelling, and ambiance rather than tracking stats or hiding behind a screen. Where Old Gods really succeeds is by being a game that is easy for newcomers to learn while being flexible enough to interest seasoned RPG veterans.

What Doesn’t:

Old Gods of Appalachia, like many other Cypher System games, lives and dies by who you play with. I guess, in part, that’s true for any TTRPG, but it’s especially true for Old Gods. With the GM focusing more on narration, pacing becomes key. While I loved my experience playing at GameHoleCon, the pacing felt very off. It started with slow-burn horror, which feels like how the game is supposed to play, then rapidly escalated to wrap up the story. This means that both the GM and be players must be bought into the game, setting, and narrative focus. Part of the delay in our game was simply waiting on players to figure out what to do that weren’t as engaged with the narrative. Another potential area that works but is in this section because it can become troublesome is over-exuberant players may burn through their resource pool quickly. That is both a blessing and a curse. The resource pool prevents one player from having Main Character Syndrome, but if someone does take that approach they can not only hit resource fatigue quickly but become a liability for other players at the table to have to keep alive.

Special Considerations

GM Prep & Support

Thanks to the simple stat block structure from Monte Cook Games’ Cypher System, GM prep time is significantly lower than in traditional d20 games. While the core rulebook includes ready to run adventures and adventure seeds, there are also books of adventures, a GM guide, and other options like physical XP cards that can make the game fun to run.

Character Customization & Agency

Character customization is easy using the aforementioned “I am a _____ who _____” style storytelling from the Cypher System. The Cypher System really lets players have control over how they approach problems, leverage their abilities and descriptors, and even use Cyphers to shape the story and its outcome in a way I had not experienced before in a TTRPG.

Worldbuilding & Setting Integration

While set in an alternative dark fantasy version of Appalachia, there are still dyed-in-the-wool true Appalachia archetypes in the story. Despite its fantasy setting, Old Gods of Appalachia is historically grounded, featuring labor battles, small towns, and environmental exploitation present in real-world Appalachia’s struggles, seamlessly blending them with cosmic and folk horror. The world setting integrates perfectly for fans of the podcast while also remaining accessible to players who haven’t listened to an episode.

Safety & Session Zero Tools

Old Gods of Appalachia integrates Monte Cook Games’ robust content management and consent guidelines, the Consent in Gaming framework. This allows the GM and players to be clear from the opening about what everyone is and is not comfortable with. Given the heavy thematic elements that may be present in a game including historical oppression, body horror, trauma, and overall dread, this makes it much easier to ensure everyone steps into Appalachia with equal expectations, understanding, and respect.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed my experience with Old Gods of Appalachia at GameHoleCon. The system is amazingly user-friendly and easy to pick up. I’m ready to try a second game, perhaps with more experienced TTRPG players (several at my table had never played a TTRPG before), and see if as I suspect that would alleviate some pacing issues. On top of being an amazing game, Old Gods of Appalachia provides a great introduction to the Monte Cook Games Cypher System making you want to try the system with some of Monte Cook’s other settings.

Looking for more from Old Gods of Appalachia? Check out the free preview links below!

1. Old Gods of Appalachia Primer
2. Old Gods of Appalachia Free Preview
3. Come Hell or High Water Adventure Preview
4. Dig Your Own Grave Adventure Preview
5. All of Your Gods Are Dead- GM Manual Preview

Have you played Old Gods of Appalachia? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.