Splatbook*

Get ready

Make sure that everyone is on board with the concept of Stonetop: that they'll play the heroes of a small, isolated village. If someone wants to play a rootless, treasurehunting mercenary, they're unlikely to enjoy themselves, and that will drag down the game for everyone.

Prior to the first session, ask your players to read the Setting Overview handout, at least the first page. Encourage them to think about any content that they want to exclude, veil, or handle in a particular way (see Discuss tone). Consider posting a shared document online where you and your players can record these things anonymously.

Set the expectation that the first session will mostly involve creating characters and the village itself. It's still play, and quite fun, but it's not the immersive, portraying-your-character type of play that they might expect. (This is different if you choose to use an Adventure starters.

It's fine if players want to look over the character playbooks beforehand, but discourage anyone from making decisions just yet. Character creation should be done together, as a group.

As the GM, familiarize yourself with the Setting Overview, the Stonetop steading playbook, and the Moves & Gear handout. You should have a sense of what each character playbook is about, but you don't need to understand them in depth. Look at a few of the arcana handouts (minor and major) to get a sense for what they are and what they're like, but there's no need to study them in detail. If you have time, read through the rest of this book and Book II: The Wider World and Other Wonders.

As far as physical preparation goes, beyond this book you'll need hard copies of the following:

  • 1 copy of each character playbook
  • 1 copy of the steading playbook
  • 1-4 copies of the Setting Overview
  • 1-3 copies of the Moves & Gear handout (on colored paper if you can)
  • 1 copy of the arcana cards
  • 1 copy of the GM playbook

Print the PDFs for these documents double-sided (flipped on the short edge).

After you've printed everything:

  • 1) Staple the Stonetop steading playbook, the Moves & Gear handout, and the Setting Overview, each at the top left.
  • 2) Fold the character playbooks into individual booklets.
  • 3) Cut out the "inserts" and slip the playbook-specific inserts into their appropriate playbooks.
  • 4) Keep the Inventory inserts stacked and handy. Set aside the Revenant, Ghost, and Thrall inserts.
  • 5) Assemble the GM playbook. Stack the sheets so that "Nearby Threats" is face up. Fold all the pages over to make a booklet. Staple it along the spine.
  • 6) If you have time, cut out all the arcana cards, major and minor.

There's nothing secret in any of these documents, so if any of your players are around ask them to help with the folding, cutting, and stapling!

If you're playing electronically, you'll need to configure and distribute materials in whatever way works best for you, your players, and the platform that you're using to play. Make sure that everyone has access to electronic copies of:

  • The Stonetop steading playbook
  • The Setting Overview
  • The Moves & Gear handout
  • The character playbooks and inserts

Make the arcana handouts available individually, as needed.