Solitaire: Bloody and Alone in Appalachia

Maybe it went wrong when you drove off the highway and into that small town? Needed some gas or a place to stay for the night or simply a rest room. Took a wrong turn on the trail and found yourself outside a house in the woods? For whatever reason, you have found yourself in the small town of Bludworth Hollow in the Appalachian Hills of Eastern Kentucky. And them Appalachians take against strangers and to them there is no one stranger than city folk. And you are definitely city folk. The store owner took one look at you and with a curl of his lip, he knew you were not from around here. And then that was when everything went black… When you woke up, there was a bruise on the back of your head, you were in a barn, your wallet gone, and you had no idea where you were. There was a radio nearby that you might be able to call for help and if all else fails, you have been left with a video recorder on which you might have time to record what happens to you. Or maybe that is what they want, to record your last hours. To record your terror as the situation closes around you. As you scramble to switch the recorder on and point at it your face, your hands trembling, you think you hear movement. Is someone coming? Are they coming to help? Are they coming to hound you…?

This is the set-up for Bloody and Alone in Appalachia, published by Beyond Cataclysm Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign and based on SURVIVE THIS!! Bloody Appalachia, the Old School Renaissance roleplaying game published by Bloat Games. Where SURVIVE THIS!! Bloody Appalachia is a typical roleplaying game, Bloody and Alone in Appalachia is a solo journalling game, and is thus best played when all but the last Player Character has been hunted down and butchered! Further, instead of using rules derived from Dungeons & Dragons, for its mechanics Bloody and Alone in Appalachia uses the rules and format of The Wretched, the Science Fiction journalling game published by Loot the Room. Thus, the game requires two ordinary decks of playing cards without the Jokers, a six-sided die, a Jenga or similar tower block game, and a set of tokens. In addition, the player will require a means of recording the results of the game. It is suggested that audio or video logs work best, but a traditional journal will also work too. The roleplaying game is inspired by films such as The Blair Witch Project, Cabin in the Woods, Deliverance, and just about any backwoods horror film you care to name. Lastly, one major difference between Bloody and Alone in Appalachia and The Wretched is the number of antagonists that it offers. Typically, a solo journalling game like The Wretched presents a difficult situation and one threat. In Bloody and Alone in Appalachia there are not one threat, but thirteen! The Butcher. Bigfoot. Children of the Corn. Dirty Hoof. Fairies. Iris Lynch. Jack the Scarecrow. Piggy Lee. Reggie ‘The Mad Miner’. The Sheriff. Las Bandisas. The Ruby Mind Cooperative. The Wild Wrestler. The player will only face one of these at a time, and what that means is the player can return to play Bloody and Alone in Appalachia over and over in an attempt to escape and defeat a different foe each time. This gives it a replayability factor that is rare amongst solo journalling games.

Set-up is simple. The Jenga tower is set up with a random number of blocks pulled to represent the battering the player has already suffered and the stress he is currently suffering. Every time the player is instructed to pull a block, it represents another wound suffered, and if the Jenga tower collapses, it means that the player has died, whether from this one last wound or stress as his heart gives out. Each deck of playing cards is shuffled. One becomes the Event deck, the other the wound deck. Each day of the player’s travails is divided into two phases. Phase One is ‘The Tasks’, whilst Phase Two is ‘The Log’. There are four steps in Phase One and two in Phase Two. In ‘The Tasks’, the player draws a random number of cards from the Event Deck and works through them one by one, consulting ‘The Tourist Guide’ for each one. ‘The Tourist Guide’ is broken into four card types corresponding to the four suits in an ordinary deck of playing cards.

Hearts represents an encounter of a ‘Personal’ nature. For example, the nine of hearts entry reads, “A rusty hook bounces off the chain-link fence as someone—or something—tries to entangle you. You vault the fence in a single burst of adrenaline, but the razor blades at the top cause you to stumble. Pull from the tower.” Diamonds are the ‘Physical’ world about the player, representing places in and around Bludworth Hollow. For example, the seven of Diamonds entry reads, “The Bokenheel Bridge tricked you—it’s desperately dangerous and can’t leave the town here. How did you learn that miserable lesson? Pull from the tower.” The clubs are ‘People’, individuals that the player can meet in and about Bludworth Hollow.  For example, the eight of club reads, “When Mayor Hooper asked you to follow him, you hoped it would be the first favour in a chain that would lead you to freedom. What you saw at the Town Hall instead taught you that hope comes to Bludworth Hollow to die. What did you see?” Lastly, spades represent the monster stalking the player in and around Bludworth Hollow. Each one of the thirteen monsters has its own set of entries. This enhances the replay value of Bloody and Alone in Appalachia simply in terms of variety, but with thirteen entries per monster, the player could actually replay Bloody and Alone in Appalachia with the same monster and it still be different. Further, each monster not only has thirteen entries, it also has some background, but also two locations which can visited if the right diamonds card are drawn.

In Phase Two, or ‘The Log’, the player takes the time to consider what has happened to him that day. What he learned about the town and its inhabitants? Did he encounter the monster? How is he feeling? He then records his diary for the day.

The Wound deck simply gives fifty-two options for injuries the player might suffer. They are simply described, leaving it up to the player describe them as graphically as wants. The player is further supported with advice and a decent example of play—a nice addition for a solo journalling game—plus tables for NPC motivations and things to be found in and about the town. There is also a map of Bludworth Hollow which the player can use or create his own during play.

Like all of journalling games based on The Wretched, the subject matters of Bloody and Alone in Appalachia are dark and distressing. The player is going to be chased and cut, stalked and stabbed, pursued and punched, and more. In other words, the horror is not going to let up. However, it does lean into the clichés of rural, back woods, redneck horror, but ultimately, it is up to the player to decide how he handles these elements of his playthrough.

Physically, Bloody and Alone in Appalachia is cleanly and tidily presented. There is no art bar that on the front and back cover. There is more artwork than is typical for a solo journalling game based on The Wretched, primarily illustrating the thirteen monsters in Bloody and Alone in Appalachia.

Bloody and Alone in Appalachia is easy to play, but challenging to win. And win not once, but thirteen times! It all depends upon the draw of the cards, but every card is potentially interesting prompting the player to be creative in telling his own story. This is in line with The Wretched format, but Bloody and Alone in Appalachia goes bigger and bloodier than most solo journalling games. With thirteen monsters, Bloody and Alone in Appalachia dishes up more hillbilly horror than you ever imagine you wanted and will bring the player back to the back woods again and again to see if he can survive another monster.