One of the reasons I decided to start blogging again is because my love for folklore has been renewed. In a time when forces are striving to tear us apart, I’m making a concentrated effort to focus on that which brings us together. I truly do believe that we all seek the same things in life: the freedom to love, to build a solid future for our families, to live in a world where serenity is more common than strife. Unfortunately, there are—and always will be—bad actors who encourage division for their own gain.

Folklore, the stories that make up our cultural identities, transcend politics. That’s not to say they can’t be used to advance agendas, but at their heart, folktales are symbols of our hopes and fears, not only a culture but as human beings. That’s what I love so dearly about folklore and why I keep coming back to it in my own work.

I’ve tapped the wellsprings of American folklore in the past, most famously in The Chained Coffin, an adventure I wrote for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG that transformed Appalachian culture and folktales into a sword & sorcery fantasy world. The success of the adventure led to the creation of the Shudder Mountains (which incidentally gives this blog half its name), further expanding on the folklore of its real world counterpart as a fantasy setting. The Chained Coffin and the Shudder Mountains as a whole were well-received, but the fact that many people who are natives to the Appalachian region loved it meant a lot to me. Not bad for a semi-citified boy from New York! I believe the major reason it was embraced by those folks was because it treated Appalachian culture, and more importantly the people of Appalachia, with respect. Amazing what a little a little common cutesy can accomplish, huh?

Back in 2016 another project of mine had me casting my folklore net far wider. That was Secret Antiquities, a ‘zine that took bits of Americana to create a backdrop in which the forces of the Anti-Sam contended against Uncle Sam for the heart and soul of America. This again was intended for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and while it was fun to write, I don’t think it worked as well for the rules system. It did give me the opportunity to turn Uncle Sam, the Old Man of the Mountain, Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow, and other American icons into magical patrons.

People kept asking if I would ever release more Secret Antiquates, but while the desire was strong, the flesh was less than willing. I spend 40+ hours every week steeped in DCC RPG and the idea of spending more time on it during my days off wasn’t appealing. Still, the idea working with folklore again was never far from my mind. Then two things happened which made me consider returning to the gamification of folklore more seriously.

The first was the 2024 election, the long consequences of which we’re just beginning to experience. During the pandemic, I found a certain comfort in folktales and folk horror, and decided to break out this mental life jacket one more time for the reason I noted above: focus on what brings us together rather than tears us apart.

The second was that my gaming group has kicked off the new year with a Vaesen campaign. For those of you unfamiliar with Vaesen, it’s a tabletop RPG set in “Mythic Scandinavia” during the 1800s. Players take on the role of occult investigators trying to solve mysteries, mysteries caused by “the Vaesen,” a collective term for all manner of monsters in Swedish folklore—trolls, giants, sea serpents, ghosts, etc. It’s fairly rules light and, with its focus on investigation and problem solving over beating your foes to death with a club or sword, a far cry from the sword & sorcery world of DCC RPG that keeps my lights on and the heat coming out the baseboard.

When the Vaesen campaign began, I started rereading some of the books on my folklore bookcase and it wasn’t long before my eye wandered across all the other books that filled those shelves. There was plenty to be mined here, a lot of it from my own backyard (in some cases, almost literally). Maybe it was time to dip my toes back into that wellspring? Not as Secret Antiquities, but something in the same vein, but different.

I hemmed and hawed some more, asking myself if it was worth the effort, but not coming to any solid conclusions. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was taking my morning walk when—and this is 100% true—a bald eagle swooped down from the sky and soared right over me.

If that was a sign that it was time to delve back into American folklore and do something with it, I don’t know what is.

So it’s back to the books to start turning Americana into game material once again. I’ll likely begin with a system neutral format, presenting bits of folklore and offering suggestions how it can be turned into something on the game table but without specific game mechanics. That may change in the future as I familiarize myself more with the Vaesen mechanics or my anxiously awaited copy of Weird Heroes of Public Access arrives, so we’ll see. I plan to post once a week on folklore, starting tomorrow and continuing regularly on Tuesdays (I did consider doing a “Folklore Friday” but Fridays are a terrible day to get eyes looking at a blog).

While this isn’t ideal news for people asking for more Secret Antiquities, it’s something. And I do try to “never say never.” All I can do is keep reading, keep writing, and most of all, keep myself in a positive state of mind, and the future will sort itself out.