Copperhead County is a Forged in the Dark roleplaying game by Jason Eley about organized crime, political corruption, and life and times in the modern American South. Your characters start the game broke and hopeless in America. Can you be your own bosses, build your own business, and live the dream? Can your crew beat the establishment, the good ol’ boys network, the entrenched machines, and become the big fish? What kind of lives will they live during their pursuit, and what sort of triumphs, hurts, and heartbreaks will they experience? That’s what we play to find out!There aren't mines, anymore, in Copperhead County, Tennessee. Nowadays, it's easier for companies to simply blow the tops off the mountains, scoop out what's inside, and leave the locals to deal with the rubble. And in Copperhead, the biggest name in that game is O&G Resources (OGRE, for short). They have their eyes set on a coal seam beneath Grandmother Mountain, in the sleepy quarry town of Michelangelo. They're set to start blasting in a week or two, undeterred by small but fervent protests to save the beloved mountain, its history, and its hiking trails.
That's where you come in. The Local 77 (a gang of aging, former union miners turned to thievery to make ends meet), have a plan. It'll make them (and you) a bit of cash and hopefully rub some dirt in the bosses' eyes. OGRE's storing payroll in a trailer at the base of the mountain and their explosives in a tower near the dig site at the peak. Steal both, render the explosives over to the 77s, and the payroll's all yours (plus a bonus for doing the Lord's work). The protest organizers are in on it, too, willing to cause a distraction when you need it. Simple job, right?
There's a hitch, of course. (There always is.) Bill Jacobs, OGRE's manager for the Grandmother Mountain project, used to have a job with an engineering company contracted to clear coal ash spills, north a ways. He hired a bunch of folks, trained them none, and sent them out to work in chemical hellscapes without breathing masks, under threat of firing, to save on costs and maintain optics for the TVA. He's a monster.
But that's not the hitch, exactly. Rose Blackwell, the woman organizing the protests and backing the 77's gambit, was married once, back when she lived in an upmountain town aptly-named Leakesville. They stored runoff from the coal-fire power plants, there. When the hurricanes hit, containment broke, and her husband got a job cleaning up the spill. That kept the lights on for a while. Until he started having trouble breathing.
He died two years back. Cancer. Leukemia. Three guesses where he got it from. One guess who's responsible.
The moment Rose sees that manager's face, it's sure as hell not gonna be the mountain that's burning. And she's gonna ask you to light the fuse.
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3-4 players is the ideal number. Character creation will be done at the table, and should be familiar to those who've played FitD games (though that's not at all necessary!). On the subject of content: Copperhead County, in general, involves themes of economic injustice, the dynamics of power in the United States, crime, and (frequently) violence. This game, specifically, will touch on environmental degradation and injustice.
1. Jason Eley
2. Jeff Barber
3. Ezra Davis
4. Julie Southworth
Waitlist:
1. David Fooden
