Hill Marks
A downloadable game
Hill Marks is an oracle-making game in the guise of an informational pamphlet.
cw: cult activity, implied violence
Detailing the origins and meaning of mysterious land markings, this game guides you through making your own divinatory oracle (which you can use for general solo TTRPG play). But, a secret lies at the heart of the thing which will lead the most intrepid solo players on a dark trip through a deceptive and cruel landscape.
On a hiking trip in the Schmidtland hills in the 1960s [John] Grey extensively mapped the area and stumbled upon an exciting discovery that would be the key to unlocking the mystery of the marks.
Use Hill Marks as a simple procedure for making your own solo oracle or go beyond and follow the mysterious trail — the choice is yours.
This game is designed as a 6 page trifold pamphlet. It was part of the 2023 Wondercabinet Invitational — a collection of unique games made by a curated group of designers inspired by randomised collections of oddities and ephemera. Find out more at wondercabi.net.
As part of the Disc 2 jam I've uploaded a PDF of designer notes that details the process of putting this game together and what inspiration I drew from the ephemera I was given.
Physical edition
Physical copies are available on my store.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Design notes now availableJun 26, 2024
Comments
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Hill Marks is a deceptively simple game that presents a hidden mystery among the pages. Make 10 symbols and their meaning then decide if you wish to pursue the mystery.
The game is presented as though it were a pamphlet informing you of the local geographic landmarks and instructs you on how to go about making your own symbols. You roll d66 and decide upon which to symbols you will combine, then create two meanings for the symbol.
After making 10 symbols you now have the ability to use them to create an oracle chart, which you can consult using the 1d10. Ask your question, roll for symbol.
However, the game also presents a mystery within the pages. Words are underlined, extra messages are abound, and a few extra tidbits clue you into a larger story. This is, however, completely optional, and players don't need to engage with it in order to play the game, though I would recommend using your oracle to explore it!
Here are my 10 symbols,
You can find my playthrough which has the meaning, questions and the answers HERE
Really wonderful! A secret hidden in the hills for sure. It is a creative procedure with an intriguing little narrative. Is there a common name for games designed within/as real-world artifacts? In other words, does the tabletop hobby have a subgenre for this exploration of physical works?
I’d love to know the answer to this too! Thanks for checking out the game.
hey, I don't know if maybe its me needing a different way to open the pdf but for some reason the text on it appears invisible. It seems to be there since I can highlight and copy/paste onto a text document but just the text.
Wow, that's bizarre. Thank you for pointing it out. From doing a bit of reading it seems that Chrome (which I think you're using) is "not compliant with the PDF standards for displaying PDFs". I'm able to replicate the same problem when I try to view it using Chrome and so far I haven't been able to export the PDF in a way to get it to work as expected.
For the time being do you have a different application you can use to view the PDF?
I dont have another PDF reader rn but I can probably find one in due time and yea I use a browser based in chrome. It's extra weird since I have not seen this with any other PDF I've opened. Even did a quick test of my other files and they read fine. I only know so much myself but I guess somewhere along the pipeline it causes this. Tech is fun like that lol.
Yep great fun, ha! Send me a message via https://www.hausofvalley.com/contact and I can help you out.
this is genius in terms of design in general
Thank you!
This reminds me of the "owl cave" symbol in Twin Peaks, which I was just reading about last week... I was curious about what other films/shows/books incorporate line symbols like it. So this came along at the perfect time to further spark my curiosity.
As a Twin Peaks fan, I love this comparison!
Is it possible to use the rules for group play?
There are a few different ways to answer this!
As an oracle-making procedure: you could collaboratively work through the process of building the oracle
Using the oracle you’ve made: you could incorporate this into a group game as something that inspires the GM, or as an in-universe thing.
As a lightweight folk-horror game: I don’t see why an experienced GM couldn’t take the details along with an oracle they’ve prepared and run players through an adventure. There are simple mechanics for resolving action but they could also choose to use the mechanics from another game and treat this text as an adventure module.
I’d be interested to hear about experiences of any of the above!
That doesn't sound bad. I like the aesthetics of what I can see. I'll at least take a look at the game. If I use it in any way, I'll let you know.
Everything Alfred makes is worth owning, this included. It’s both extremely useful and delightfully creepy in a folk-horror-sort of way.