// THE PREMISE
What this world is
Cinderhollow is a soot-and-iron war-hold on the edge of the Ashen Marches, and its orc football club just got relegated, deep in debt to the Gilt-Water Syndicate. The Bloodmaw Rampagers, known to their own terrace as the Bruisers, play out of Gore Field in the muddy fourth tier of the fantasy football pyramid: the Mudbowl League, a bruising 12-club division shared by orcs, goblins, dwarves, elves, and the occasional undead side that never quite stays down. You're the new coach: an outsider the hold didn't ask for.
That's because the club is broke. Chieftain Uzgash the Coinbiter, the silver-eyed chieftain-chairman who owns the Rampagers outright, needs coin before the spring thaw or the moneylenders take the club, and he's already weighing a quiet offer from an elf-city developer who wants Gore Field for something other than football. He wants results, and he wants Gore Stonefist, the club's 19-year-old wonderkid winger, sold within 25 days whether you like it or not. Between them stand a dressing room of orcs who'd rather bleed than lose: Wart the Flattener marshalling the back line, Zogg Blackmaw and Snarl Bonecrack up front, and a bitter, muddy rivalry with the goblin side across the marsh, Muckwarren Sneaks, that the whole hold turns out for.
Bloodmaw Rampagers is a text-based football manager story wearing orc boots. Pick the team, handle difficult conversations, and decide which transfers the club can afford. Chase promotion from the Mudbowl League while trying to keep Gore Field out of the developer's hands. The rivals are goblins, dwarves, elves, and the restless dead; the tone is broad, cartoonish, and gallows-funny. However hard the tackles get, nobody dies. Careers, reputations, and Cinderhollow's pride are on the line.
// PLAY PROFILE
What this world plays like
Begin with the squad and Chieftain Uzgash's books. Choose your eleven, speak to the dressing room, and decide what to say about the demand to sell Gore Stonefist within 25 days. A point on the table will not settle the argument over the club's future.
Work through transfers, training decisions, and matchweeks as you try to earn the Bruisers' trust. Wart the Flattener can anchor your defence, while the Muckwarren Sneaks derby puts the whole hold's pride on your shoulders. Winning the next game and keeping Gore Field may ask different things of you.
You can chase promotion, rebuild a struggling squad, or resist the deal that would take the pitch from Cinderhollow. The story can stretch across seasons, but promotion, survival, and the fate of your players depend on how it unfolds. You have to answer for the club in the dressing room as well as at the boardroom table.
// FACTIONS IN MOTION
Principal factions
The dominant orc hold in the central Ashen Marches, ruled by the pragmatic Chieftain Uzgash. It controls key bog-road tolls and the local Mudbowl club, but is slowly sinking under the weight of debt and internal dissent.
A goblin syndicate controlling the black market from the polluted warrens of the Goblin Sump. They specialize in smuggling, alchemy, and unreliable contraptions, seeing the chieftains' laws as mere business obstacles.
A traditionalist movement of orc and dwarf elders dedicated to preserving ancestor veneration. They see the growing influence of coin as a spiritual plague and work to undermine chieftains who deal with outsiders.
An elven trade and finance consortium from the Giltgrass Coast, viewing the interior lands as primitive resources to be acquired. They use their vast wealth as a weapon, buying debt and land to expand their influence.
A clandestine organization of indebted laborers, peat-cutters, and pit-workers from the holds of the Ashen Marches. They organize work stoppages and sabotage to fight for better wages and freedom from the crushing debt cycle.
// KEY FIGURES
People you'll meet
// SITES OF RECORD
Places that matter
A saw-toothed range of mountains, rich in iron and coal, but battered by high winds. Dwarf holds are carved deep into the mountainsides, their gates like grim mouths in the stone. The air is thin and cold.
A narrow strip of fertile plains and golden beaches, dominated by the clean-spired, sea-walled city of Lumis. The weather is milder here, the trade is brisk, and the general attitude is one of smug superiority.
A dense, ancient forest where the fog rarely lifts. Parts of its northern edge are unnaturally cold, bleeding into a small patch of tundra. It is unsettlingly quiet, with a reputation for being haunted.
A coastal swamp thick with mangroves and the rusting hulks of failed goblin machinery. The air hums with insects and the clatter of workshops where syndicates tinker with their latest volatile inventions.
A sprawling, contested forest that serves as a buffer between several regions. Its paths are patrolled by rival logging crews and war-bands. It is a place of ambushes and disputed borders.
A vast, sodden expanse of peat bogs, stunted forests, and sluggish, iron-red rivers under a perpetually grey sky. The air smells of wet soot and decay. It is here, dug into a rare outcrop of stable rock, that the war-hold of Cinderhollow clings to existence.
// STORY PASSAGE
A passage from the published profile
Chieftain Uzgash the Coinbiter stands over you, his single silver eye glinting in the dim light. He doesn't bother with pleasantries. "The draw was... a point. Not a win. The Elves care for wins, Grogna. They care for coin. And the pitch... it hungers for both. What do you need? More players? Better boots? Tell me. But know this: every Copper Groat spent must earn a Silver Shard back. We cannot afford another season of draws. Our fate, and the fate of Cinderhollow, rests on your next move." He turns abruptly, leaving you with the heavy silence of the numbers and the implied threat of the Gilt-Water Syndicate.
Selected story passage. Your choices can lead elsewhere.
BEFORE YOU ENTER
Choose a first decision
Start with a person you want to meet, a place you want to see, or a problem you want to understand. You make choices through written actions and read the Narrator's response. The people and places above introduce this world; they do not promise a fixed sequence of scenes.
Completed turns save to your account. Review the latest scene and the relevant in-game information when returning. Check current access and Spark allowances before a longer session, and use the player guide for help with saves, artwork, possessions, and other supported features.
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