Where Fields Go Fallow RPG

The 36 Page Zine Version - Released Soon!

A game about kinship, ruin, and standing when no one else will.

Where Fields Go Fallow is a tabletop storygame about ordinary people who face the remnants of war. You play as villagers – farmers, herders, blacksmiths – whose home is discovered by a creature born of sorcery and ruin. A chimera. A war-beast. A thing made of nightmares, in darkness, now walking without master or leash.

You do not have swords. You do not have training. But you have your home. You have each other. And sometimes that is enough.

---

What is this? 

This is the full zine edition of Where Fields Go Fallow – expanded and rewritten from the original free one-pager that first appeared during the One-Page RPG Jam 2024. That small game found unexpected traction and was later successfully funded as a 36-page, fully illustrated A5 zine through a Kickstarter campaign. The core idea remains: survive together, face the monster, protect what little still matters.

The game runs on the OGREISH framework, a lightweight, fiction-first ruleset designed for grounded stories and fast resolution. It is free to use for your own games.

---

What's included in the full game?

Where Fields Go Fallow (Core Game PDF) includes:

• A setting introduction to the Lower Princedoms, set
• The player-facing core rules, including play structure, challenge resolution, harm, recovery, and projects
• GM guidance for tone, pacing, and stakes, with procedures to build unique monsters using war-formed traits and forgotten origins
• Tools to create your own village, your home rooted in folklore, beliefs, and grief
• Three original playbooks: Farmer, Blacksmith, and the Herder
• A village sheet and monster sheet – ready for printing or digital play

Note: This edition does not include the Shadow of Salt playset, which was included in the Kickstarter version.

---

What kind of game is this?

Where Fields Go Fallow is designed to be short, emotionally resonant, and communal. It plays well as a 2–3 session arc, or as a one-shot with setup and payoff, or for more extended play centered on life in your village. It emphasizes:

• Conversation-friendly resolution using Facets as aspects of the narration, that players and the GM take into account when the characters face a challenge
• Five outcome tiers that shape the story: Triumph, Success, Compromise, Failure, and Catastrophe
• Scale comparison to quickly judge odds between villagers and overwhelming threats
• Low prep – includes tools to quickly build a village, a monster, and see where it leads
• Natural flow – no turns, no combat phases – just a conversation, decisions, and shared narration

Where Fields Go Fallow and OGREISH is written and designed by Christian Svalander, illustrated by Steven De Waele, and edited by Monte Lin.

First edition, June 2025

---

About Empath Chamber

Empath Chamber is the game design leg of Empath Design AB, a product design company run by Christian Svalander, based in Kungsbacka, Sweden.

---

Questions? Feedback? Want more?

If you play it, we’d love to hear how it went. Let us know at @empathchamber or follow future projects at empathchamber.co (soon to be launched). For daily chat – join our Discord community.

There will soon be more.