Leadbellies

Five years ago, the four empires bordering Burgania went to war. They did so over who had ownership of the sun. Although there was no rational prize to be claimed in this conflict, the fighting was bloody and prolonged. It ended when there were no soldiers left. When most fields had been chewed to mud and barbed wire. When the last reserves---down to eating bootleather---stormed the homes of their generals, ripped the well-fed relics from their armchairs, and burned them alive in the parade yard.

And then everyone went home.

They went home to empty bellies, a ruined countryside, and abandoned war machinery over every hill.

And, as people do, they adapted to this.

The past five years have been hard, but now wheat covers once bare fields and the scars of the land are beginning to recede into the skin of nature. The old war machines---called tranktors---are still everywhere, but they have been refitted with plows, threshing arms, and cargo beds. They carry goods between villages. They help with the rebuilding.

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Leadbellies is a 30 page tactical merchant mech TTRPG.

It uses d6s, a chess board, and plays like red rover.

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Leadbellies Expansions:

• Rust On The Vine adds gods and freight, lending and relationships, plus new frames and goods and foes.
• Quiet Amongst The Graves adds ghosts and the means of repelling them, plus new towns and new goods.
• Echoes In The Grotto adds dungeon exploration to an otherwise non-dungeon-exploration game.

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Update 5.24.24: Fixed an issue with quantum soldiers in the first paragraph. Fixed a goat-related spelling issue.

Update 5.30.24: Changed one instance of "squares" to tiles. Fixed an unnecessary capitalization of tranktor.