Praise Father Steel and Mother Cordite, first among the Lingering Divine. Praise the River, which gives us succor. Praise the Coven, for the embrace of fellowship. Praise Hope and Defiance, last children of the God-War. Praise the Path of Shot and Shell, upon which we walk. But always remember: this world is a tomb, and the dead rise only as Horrors.
Elonanji is a graveyard: a tombstone in the shape of a continent blasted by a war which killed the Gods themselves. Prairies have dried up into deserts, deserts flooded into sorrow-soaked swamps; the land is pierced by blades, kissed by ash, and the cracks in reality itself bleed fragments of dead gods and creatures from the Elsewhen. Yet it is still a land trod by the living. A vast network of railways girds the world, pouring blood, food, and fuel into the heart of the continent: the last true city, Hexarail. Blessed by the living River, it is the sclerotic heart of humanity: the great and the small, the rich and the poor, all hanging onto the remmants of civilization in a feverish dance of consumption designed to stave off oblivion for one more night.
And through it all, rides the Gun-Witch. Astride their wolf, or wandering on foot, they walk the Sacred Path of the Six Chambers, the discipline of Shot and Steel, in service of... well, that's up to them. Call it a Spark: for love, for money, for glory, for revenge. Children of Father Steel and Mother Cordite, they are cultists who wield the magic of the bullet, the sacred discipline of the gun. Their Covens hail from Orders, traditional and heretical, old and new:
- The Western Order: the first rotation of the cylinder, the power and aura of flint and tradition, and the surety of a quick death.
- The Eastern Order: the grace and elegance of violence, the turning of the wheel, and the individual mastery of the Path.
- The Sacred Stitch: staple-gun and suture, making and unmaking, and the necessity of force.
- The Seven Mile Order: the azimuth of the arc, the madness of the falling shot, and spite's delirious flavor in the mouth.
- The Broken Boundary: art, written on the face of the world in fire and flash, explosion and excess, and the joy and sadism of Hope Herself.
And, of course, the Order of What You Deserve, who forsake all philosophy and philanthropy in favor of a road paved in blood and silver.
Rifle, revolver, shotgun or sword, the Gun-Witch writes the story of what's left of this world - be it tragedy or comedy, romance or revenge, or something stranger than any of these. This book will show you how to make that story - whatever it is - your own.
GUN-WITCH: LEAD, THREAD, AND THE DEAD is a role-playing game designed for two or more players, centered on making your way in a world wracked by war and decay, where even the gods are struggling to find their footing. It’s a game about building community and connection inimical to the very context, about finding common ground with people who view things in a way you never could, and about doing what you can to bear a weight that you can’t let drop, no matter how much you might want to let go. It’s also about the weight and power of violence, wielding your weapon properly, and working astonishing miracles of life and death at the end of the barrel of a gun.
