Contrary to popular belief, one can never start the year with too many challenges on the go. So whilst I watch City 26 gathering momentum with almost manic glee, I'm equally excited to pick up the gauntlet cast by N. Bateman in his Campaign ‘26 post.
I intend to run a Pariah Campaign (sort of) set in the world of A Thousand Thousand Islands every Thursday night for at least the rest of the year. Occasionally I’ll be writing about it here.
Background
A Thousand Thousand Islands (ATTI) was a series of system agnostic fantasy RPG zines by Zedeck Siew and Munkao inspired by Southeast Asia, culminating in the adventure/sandbox Reach of the Roach God (RotRG). I use the past tense as the partnership ended acrimoniously in 2023: the zines are no longer available. This is touched on briefly in the Between Two Cairns review of RotG.
Why combine the two?
The short answer is that these are the two games I want to run most of all – but I only have time for one game... and since ATTI is system agnostic, why not combine them?
The longer answer is that this was first suggested to me Kelo not long after Pariah Volume 1 came out. Though the parallels are not immediately obvious, they share some common ground: principally the conflict between nature and culture. Though never explicit, each of the ATTI zines presents a world to which the PCs are outsiders. The Pariahs, likewise, are exiles from their homeland. Strangers in a strange land is a trope common to nearly all adventure games but the specific scenario of hunter-gatherers (the pariahs) coming into contact with the unfamiliar practices of sedentary agricultural society (the Neolithic) could be replayed in Kraching or Mrr-Krr-Grr (for example).
However, it wasn't until I read Anthony Alipio's Pariah Adventure in the compendium Unbreakable Pathways that I felt this might actually be a good fit after all. Anthony "enjoyed imagining the PARIAH setting as a sort of pre-colonial Philippines" and this formed the foundation of his adventure Tastes Like Heaven, Smells Like Hell – an adventure which explored a clash of cultures, a wedding, and some super-charged entheogenic durian. I was proud to run the adventure (or part of it) at Dragonmeet last year.
Buoyed by the success of that, I felt confident about setting up a sandbox for the pariahs to explore based upon the ATTI zines.
Premise
The pariahs are exiles from one of the many hunter-gatherer bands inhabiting the interiors of any one of the 1000 1000 islands. These tribes are experts at wood, leather, bone and stonework but any metal is obtained through trade (most of the PCs will not begin with metal tools or weapons).
The ATTI setting has a greater degree of technological sophistication than the implied PARIAH setting, having the following post-Neolithic innovations:
- Metallurgy
- Wheels
- Rideable horses
- Written language
…though these are associated with lowland (and coastal) farmers and settlers.
This is not a historic simulation. The world is a fantasy take on pre-colonial Southeast Asia. Additionally, I have borrowed the game-map from real world Indonesia (specifically Lombok, Sumbawa and Komodo). This was to save time creating a navigable map of a scale appropriate for the campaign rather than a direct cultural touchstone, though there may be references within ATTI particular of which I’m not aware.
The game is a sandbox: players work to their own goals as they emerge through play. However, the sandbox is scattered with material from A Thousand Thousand Islands and Reach of the Roach God. Additionally I've "seeded" a few other surprise modules and (naturally) plenty of home-brewed content, so there will be plenty of things to engage the players.
To begin , each player is responsible for one elder and one youth. NPC pariahs encountered in the wilderness that go on to join the band become available as PCs: players can choose characters to send on expeditions. This will be important as the game develops as neither elders nor youths are physically robust.
Games take place every Thursday over Discord voice chat, with maps and images in a text channel. I'd rather not mess around with a VTT.
~
We played our first session on 8th January (session report incoming) and our second session is tonight. looking forward to sharing more with you as the opportunity arises!
Links
Campaign 26https://pressthebeast.bearblog.dev/campaign-2026/
Between 2 Cairns: RotRG
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reach-of-the-roach-god/id1645352624?i=1000637048308
Unbreakable Pathways (affiliate link)
Pariah Sandbox
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/complete-pariah-zini
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/complete-pariah-zini
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