Introduction
Pitchfork is a game designed for low fantasy and historical settings (Medieval Europe,
Warhammer’s Old World, Hârn, etc) and focuses on villagers trying to get out of bad situ-
ations alive. This isn’t easy when the world is determined to keep you mired in the mud.
Your Player Characters (PCs) are villagers in a unique village which you will create to-
gether. You will be confronted with problems that cannot be ignored and will not be solved
by your “betters”: a family member is wrongfully accused of a heinous crime; an influen-
tial noble is performing human sacrifice in the nearby woods; a creature of nightmares
Author’s Note
lurks in the shadows, picking off the sick and elderly.
Pitchfork started off as a WFRP hack using the Year Zero Engine back in 2017 and has
gone through many iterations since then. It is entirely focused on portraying common folk
as the protagonists, rather than having them serve only as a backdrop once the adventures
start. That is why you won’t find careers for nobles, knights, or wizards. I believe this focus
leads to games which are more relatable, tense, and rewarding.
As for the future of Pitchfork, the plan is to create three additional games, each focused on
What Do You Need to Play
a different element of common medieval life: specifically urban, criminal, and martial.
To play Pitchfork, you will need about a dozen standard six-sided dice (D6), ideally with
each player having their own set (though they can share if needed). They can be of any size
or colour, and can be mixed as desired in any single roll.
In addition, you will need a number of sheets of paper: a blank sheet for the village map, a
Inspirations
Community sheet, one Character Sheet for each player, and a Gamemaster Sheet.
Pitchfork is inspired by many games, but is particularly influenced by:
• Mutant Year Zero, Coriolis, and Vaesen ~ Free League Publishing
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay ~ Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.
• Aquellare ~ Nocturnal Media
• HârnMaster ~ Columbia Games Inc.
• The King of Dungeons ~ Grand Scheme Publishing
Rules Overview
Pitchfork uses the Year Zero Engine by Free League Publishing at its core, though
many changes have been made to accommodate the goals of the game. Here is a
summary of the rules (and some of the changes) you will find here:
• Collaborative Village Creation: Central to every game of Pitchfork is
the village the PCs call home. This is created together as a group, and includes
drawing a crude map of the village and surrounding area and coming up with
key NPCs in the community.
• Pools of Dice: Any time you wish to make a “skill test”, roll a number of D6
equal to your Skill rank (there are no Attributes or Talents in Pitchfork), plus
extra dice from any relevant modifiers such as gear, help, or advantage.
• 6 Means Success: Most tests require a single 6 to be rolled, but more difficult
tests might require two or three successes.
• Rerolling: You can reroll any skill test, but doing so will give the GM 1 point
of Doom, which can be used to complicate your lives later in the story.
• Career-Focused: PCs have at least one Career, which are ranked 1-3. These
ranks indicate specialist skill and can be used to add pips to dice in the pool.
• Trauma: PCs have Vitality and Stability which are traits to measure physical
and mental trauma. These act as Skills which can also be rolled.
• Critical Injuries: If you take damage or stress greater than or equal to half
of either your Vitality or Stability, a Critical Injury is inflicted. These are mod-
elled on the Vaesen criticals.
• Corruption: Whenever you are directly exposed to the corrupting forces of
Chaos, you gain one or more points of Corruption. This is handled similarly to
radiation in Coriolis.
• Simple Conflict Resolution: Most simple conflict scenes should be dealt
with narratively or with a small number of rolls.
• Climactic Action: More complex rules will be given for climactic scenes of
action, such as combat or chases, which are both designed to flow from one to
the other.
• Initiative: Rolled at the start of every round - if you pass the initiative test,
you go before your enemies. If you fail, you go after them.
• Witchcraft: Hedge magic requires fuelling words of power with your own
Vitality and is free-form, wild, and forbidden. Use with extreme caution!