Crime + Cor ruption

in the New South

a Southern Crime roleplaying game
by Jason Eley

Early Access PDF v10 PREVIEW EDITION

“Buy My Book"
Guitar September 23, 2020
town This is a free preview edition of Copperhead County, which has had a lot
of content removed. There are references to sections and pages which are
not in this document. Blades in the Dark™ is a trademark of One
Buy the game to get the full thing! Seven Design. The Forged in the Dark Logo is
© One Seven Design, and is used with
https://guitartown.itch.io/copperhead
permission.
 credits
Jason Eley
Game Design, Writing, Layout,
Cartography, Graphic Design, Art Direction
Michael Crowley
Additional Writing & Insights
Adam schwaninger
Interior Art & Additional Cartography
Calum Grace
Additional Playbook Layout & Graphic Design
Dylan Choonhachat
Cover & Iconic Character Art

The Original Hellraisers

Bob Coleman, Grayson Davis,
Stefan Flickinger, Bethany Gladson,
Adam Maunz

The Hunnicutts
Tyler Ellis, Adam Maunz, Adam Schwaninger

Slayton Hospitality
Michael Crowley, Mitchell Crowley,
Calum Grace, Aaron Nussdorf

Platinum Ventures
Nathaniel bayer, Michael Crowley,
Adam Schwaninger, charles simon

This PDF was made using Affinity Publisher.

Typefaces: Nexa Rust Sans, Open Sans, Rustico.
Progress clock font created by Justin Alexander.
 Photo credits
Photography used and modified under CC BY 2.0:
"Watts Bar-3" by Tennessee Valley Authority
“Kayford Mountaintop Removal Site” by Kate Wellington
"Chattanooga" by Jeff Gunn
“coaster track”, “_arber shop”, and "jesse harris building"
by Joel Kramer
"Front Porch -- Belle Meade Plantation" by Ron Cogswell
"shangri-la" by Lindsey Turner
"Untitled" by Emily Kneeter
All other photography is from the public domain.
Copperhead County is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
organizations, places, events and incidents are either the products
of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
This work is based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://
www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven Design,
developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior express permission of the publisher.
You have express permission to copy game material in order to play
the game.
Copperhead county
Green, green grass under my feet, but all I can think about's the dirt underneath. As Copperhead County slouches into the 21st century, a new generation of
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS criminals is rising to seize control, and your crew is chief among them. If
they’re good, they might infiltrate the halls of power, or bust them open and
The game loot their treasures. If they’re not, they might end up yet more bodies
ground into the red clay soil as the Old South wins again.
Copperhead County is a roleplaying game about organized crime, political
corruption, and capitalist decay in the 21st century American South. Players Touchstones
portray a crew of outlaws working together to build a criminal empire by
pulling dangerous jobs and navigating local power structures, clawing their TV & Film: Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Wire, Fargo, Justified, Ozark, The
way up from rock bottom to the top of the heap. Righteous Gemstones, Baby Driver, Logan Lucky.
Your characters start the game broke and hopeless in America, launching a Music: Copperhead County is named in reference to Steve Earle, and its
new startup to achieve the American dream of wealth and independence. favorite band is the Drive-By Truckers. Listen to the official Copperhead
Can you build your own business, be your own bosses, and live the good County playlist on Spotify, or the super expanded playlist for more.
life? Will you infiltrate and perpetuate the corrupt establishment, or blow it Games: Mafia III, the Grand Theft Auto series, Fiasco, Gangsters: Organized Crime.
up and change how things are run? What kind of lives will your characters Comics & Books: Stray Bullets, Southern Bastards, Criminal. The Bayou Trilogy,
live during their pursuit, and what sort of triumphs, hurts, and heartbreaks Give Us a Kiss, and others by Daniel Woodrell. Black Water Rising and others
will they experience? That's what you'll play to find out. by Attica Locke. Fire in the Hole, Swag, and others by Elmore Leonard.
The setting Theme Song
It’s the year 2017 in Copperhead County, Tennessee, population approx. “Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle.
200,000. The county is a large chunk of land along the rugged North
Carolina border of southeastern Tennessee, nestled within the perpetually Left to Right:
fog-shrouded Great Smoky Mountains. The mighty Copperhead River cuts Reuben the Stringer, Quan the Brick, Rochelle the Hazard, Troy the Mover,
a wide valley through the center of the county, allowing a highway, urban Eli the Cleaner, Olivia the Wheeler.
county seat, and a couple of towns to spring up alongside of it. Rural routes
spindle through the mountains beyond, connecting smaller villages and
private domiciles. Between it all are primeval wilds, deep forests and tall
mountains, high and lonesome.
Lording over it all is a corrupt political machine, working hand in glove with
powerful local criminals and their out-of-town connections to make money,
grease wheels, and gloat over their successes. The county, secluded from its
neighbors by mountains and general disinterest, has long operated as a
self-contained enclave, a place whose chief business is illegal business,
where petty kings and picayune warlords battle over land, routes, and
partnerships with the outside world. Meanwhile, generous cuts of the
proceeds flow back to the bosses, hacks, judges, and police, forming a great
circle of graft and sin.
Today, Copperhead County is changing. The county government, ambitious
to recover from decades of recession and grasping towards ever-elusive
respectability, has pumped millions in dirty cash towards new construction
and tax incentives to attract businesses, investment, and jobs. National and
global corporations are setting up shop and buying up local assets, pleased
by the county's low-tax, low-regulation environment.

1
Playing Copperhead county
What's different
While the full version of Copperhead County will be standalone, this Early
Access PDF is not. To play, you should have some familiarity with Blades/
Forged in the Dark games, be willing to check the Blades SRD, and be willing
to roll with it and be cool. If you're an experienced Blades player you won't
need to refer to much, as the core action mechanics of the game are the
same. The rest of this section outlines major mechanical differences
between the SRD and Copperhead County.
Playing online
You can find Google Sheets versions of the playbooks here. Save a copy of
them to your Google Drive and then type on them!
Real world roleplaying
Copperhead County doesn't take place in a fantasy realm or out among the
stars. It happens in the real world (or a fictional, dramatized simulacrum of
it, as seen on TV) and you might want to think about how that affects your
game.
The World You Live In: You might live near or far away from the hills of
Tennessee, but Copperhead County takes place in the same world you spend
all day in. What's going on in your life that you can bring to the game? What
can you rip from the headlines and play around with? Likewise, the
characters in your game are people, just like you. They're human beings, in
a bigger sense than just not being elves. Imagine that they have real lives,
relationships, desires, and reactions to the events of your game. They don't
live in a realm of dragons and fireballs where the unusual is commonplace.
Real Issues: Copperhead County is, by design, a political game: both in being
concerned with electoral politics and institutions, but in trying to engage
with issues like the history of the South, class, race, the environment,
business, and other facets of contemporary American life. This can seem
heavy, but my experience and hope with the game is that you'll find
engaging with real-life stuff a fun, unique, and rewarding experience.
Violence: Copperhead County is, in part, an action game that expects you to
get into tense hijinx and dangerous conflicts. Violence by and against your
characters is part of that, but you don't have to be flip about it. Take
violence and its consequences seriously: you might get seriously injured or
killed in a fight, and if your crew goes around creating death and chaos,
they'll quickly catch Heat from their enemies and the authorities. The game
is designed to scale to your interest in high-octane action: if you want to
invest in guns and explosions, you can, but you can also stay low-key and
quiet.
2
Criminal Activity: Likewise, although your characters are criminals, the
game is designed to scale around what kind of crimes you want to commit.
Most crews will probably end up stealing, fighting, and dealing drugs and
vice, but it's up to you to decide who to target, what to sell, and how to live
your fictional lives.
Storytelling modes
Copperhead County is inspired by a wide range of crime fiction in a variety of
sub-genres, which, although they have a lot in common, have some key
differences as well. As you play, you might gravitate to one of these modes,
or, most likely, you'll find yourself playing in a mix of them.
Naturalist: This mode is kinda like The Wire. The world is played straight,
actions have serious consequences, and verisimilitude is all-important. This
mode can be very thoughtful and dramatic, but you don't want to get too
dry or didactic.
Heightened: This mode is kinda like Breaking Bad or Fargo. For the most
part, the world is realistic, but sometimes cosmic, spiritual, or comedic
elements come into play. This mode can be very mythic and engaging, but
you don't want to get too cute or detached from reality.
Pulp: This mode is kinda like Grand Theft Auto or other action-heavy media.
The world is often heightened, but the emphasis is on conflict and thrills.
There are a lot of booms and not a lot of consequences. This mode can be
very fun and exciting, but you don't want to get too dumb or glib.
Campaign structure
You can play Copperhead County as a one-shot or a short arc, but a lot of
meat lies in long-term campaign play as you watch your characters' rise to
power. At the start of the game, you're broke and hopeless. As you pull jobs,
you'll get enough Rep to grow and enough Cash to enjoy yourselves.
Eventually, as you reach the first Tier and need to acquire Turf, you should
have a developing business, key NPCs employees and associates, and
growing relationships with other factions.
As you become established, you need to think about your long-term
survival. By then, you might have a Raid level, and have seen some effects
of police interest in your operation.
As you enter the endgame, the Outside Factions come into play: Outside
authorities like state or federal police might bust you, while Outside
criminals might deal with you, creating an interstate (or international) crime
network for the ages. These factions are dangerous at a level beyond
anything that happens in your little county, and only the strongest can
survive among them.
Playing Copperhead county
Actions & attributes
Copperhead County has twelve actions, sorted under three attributes.
Actions
Connect to reach someone with honesty, emotion, or reason.
Creep to move silently, act subtly, and evade notice.
Direct to call the shots and manage people, projects, and timing.
Fight to engage an opponent in combat.
Fix to use tools and techniques to build, hack, or break.
Handle to control tools, vehicles, machinery, or do hard work.
Hustle to fool someone with fast, smooth, or sweet talk.
Growl to project menace or presence to scare or awe others.
Hunt to track a target or snipe from a distance.
Reckon to use your brain to study and solve problems.
Survey to observe a situation and anticipate outcomes.
Tread to use your feet and limbs to traverse terrain and obstacles.
Attributes
Grit resists with stamina, tenacity, or physical power.
Gumption resists with perception, foresight, or willpower.
Grace resists with finesse, carefulness, or quickness.
Armor
Armor and Special Armor from Blades in the Dark aren't in this game. Armor
works like other items to influence a PC's fictional positioning and
resistance rolls. For example, a PC who resists an Injury while wearing
armor may be able to reduce the Injury more than a PC without armor,
depending on the armor, the attack, and your own judgment. Of course,
armor worn by NPCs influences PC effect too.
Armor doesn't have a set number of uses. Judge the fate of armor as part
of the resistance roll. If it makes sense for the armor to still function, then
it does. Otherwise, the GM might scrap the armor as part of the PC's
resistance (you avoid getting stabbed, but your vest is slashed open and
useless).
3
bank, lifestyle, & retirement
Your character's lifestyle is measured by their Bank quality. Bank works
similarly to Stash (you put Cash in it, and it goes up when you fill a line) but
is used for more rolls. There's one extra wrinkle: when you increase your
Bank, Tax Evasion comes into play: the crew takes Heat equal to your new
Bank level. If you don't like it, get a real job, or get a Front Company.
Most importantly, rolls for R&R are made using your Bank. So are rolls
made to Recover from Injury. Welcome to America.
the top 1% of the top 1%
Sure, being rich is nice. But what if you want to be really, really rich? Here's
a hack that allows you to raise your Bank level even higher than 4. When
you fill your 4th Bank row, erase that row and add a star or other marker
next to it. When you fill the row again, your Bank quality is now 5 (you still
have to deal with Tax Evasion at the new level). Fill it again? Erase the row
and add another star. Your Bank quality is now 6, etc. Do this as much as
you want to keep hoarding more and more money. This is America: nobody
will stop you.
retirement
Your Bank still comes into play if you retire. Your Bank determines the
quality of life your PC enjoys post-retirement (see next page).
When you retire, choose one of these options, depending on your situation:
GO STRAIGHT: You leave the outlaw life behind and settle into civilian
obscurity. You can't do this if you're out on Bail or in some other legal
jeopardy (including if your crew are Informants, unless the cops allow you
go straight), or have some other pressing fear for your life or liberty (like
being at war with a faction out for your blood, or so on).
OUTLAW EMERITUS: You step back from the crew, but don't leave them
entirely. Your character becomes a Captain (the crew doesn't have to pay
upgrades for it; the loss of your character is enough). The crew creates the
new Captain as normal, except you can convert your PC’s action ratings to
the new NPC’s action ratings (using four actions of your choice). You don’t
retain your special abilities, but if you had any abilities that gave a benefit
to the crew (like Blue Sky, The Empire Business, Warlord, etc), the crew can
retain that benefit. You can also still keep track of your character’s Bank,
and potentially retire a different way in the future. In the Profit phase of
downtime, you add 1 Cash to your Captain’s Bank. If you get any Cash
some other way, you can Bank that normally, too.
FLEE THE COUNTRY: Fleeing is like going straight, but you can do it if you're
in legal or mortal peril. There's a rub: treat your quality of life as one level
lower than it would be otherwise. It costs money to buy a new life.
Playing Copperhead county
Quality of Life
As you accumulate wealth, what kind of lifestyle can you afford? Use these
guidelines to make sense of your Bank quality both during play and after
retirement.
0 BANK: Broke. You're no better off than you were when you started out,
and are probably doing worse. Everything you did in this game was for
nothing. You fucked up.
1 BANK: Decent. You have a very small nest egg. You can afford to live off of
it for a little while, if you're very frugal. You can afford a new car or a college
education.
2 BANK: All Right. You can support yourself at a middle-class level for some
time. You can buy a low-key business or an okay house, and live like any
other anonymous American.
3 BANK: Affluent. You can support yourself at a middle-class level for a
while, with some nice creature comforts and without many worries. You can
afford a nice home, a nice car, and a nice business. Sometimes, you wonder
whether if you had just hung in there, if you could have really been set...
4 BANK: Rich. Now this is living. You’re taken care of for life, enjoying
whatever leisure and luxuries you want (as long as you don’t blow it all). You
can have the big house, the big car, the retirement on the beach. Enjoy it for
now: you won Copperhead County.
5+ BANK: Elite. You're really fucking wealthy. Buy a yacht or a private island.
Run for President. Etc.
Burnout
Trauma is now called Burnout, and works similarly to Blades with some
changes. PCs take a Burnout condition when they fill every Stress slot on
their playbook. When a PC takes a new condition, they aren't forced out of
the action; instead, they enter a breakdown. While you’re experiencing a
breakdown, your Stress stays full, and you can’t do anything that would
incur Stress (like pushing yourself or resisting a consequence). You can still
act normally, but while the breakdown persists, your character is in the full
throes of their new burnout, and should be roleplayed accordingly, for that
sweet burnout xp.
A breakdown lasts until you enter downtime, or until your character snaps
out of it somehow (someone could calm you down, or you might take a big,
dramatic action and then snap out of it). When your breakdown ends, you
get to clear your Stress track and resume normal Stress usage.
When a PC fills all of their Burnout slots, they're no longer able to handle
active outlaw life and have to retire.
4
Burnout conditions
COLD: You've lost touch with empathy and humanity. It's hard for you to
care about more than your immediate self-interest.
ERRATIC: Your behavior is unpredictable to others, and even yourself. Your
reactions to situations might vary widely from moment to moment.
GUILTY: You're consumed with regret for your actions. You might try to avoid
committing crimes when you can, or try to atone what you’ve done.
MOROSE: Life has lost its luster. You sometimes fall into a depression you
can’t shake, and have trouble imagining a brighter future.
PARANOID: You see danger around every corner and find it hard to trust. You
never sleep soundly as long as any threat worries your mind.
RECKLESS: You act out in dangerous, death-defying ways. If a threat is
nearby, you don’t think twice about confronting it.
SOFT: You can't stomach violence and strife. You try to avoid causing pain,
and especially causing anyone's death.
VICIOUS: You're often combative and spiteful. You might start a fight over a
minor slight, or go too hard in a conflict.
Claims & Schemes
In Copperhead County, crews don’t have a unique map of conquerable
Claims. Instead, you have a blank map of spaces which you fill in during the
campaign. This system is called Schemes.
Schemes come in three flavors: Businesses that provide your crew with
regular Income (whether Legal or Illegal) and Deals that give you various
other benefits but may increase your Expenses; and Turf, which allows
your operation to expand. See the Schemes section of this document for
more detail on scheming and building your criminal empire.
collateral damage
Devil's Bargains are called Collateral Damage but work the same way.
Gangs, experts, & captains
Gangs and Experts work entirely differently than Blades in the Dark.
Experts are replaced by Captains. Captains are special members of your
crew, entrusted with great authority and responsibility, just one step under
player characters.
Each Captain gets one free activity during downtime. However, as
important members of your crew, they don’t work for free. Each Captain
increases your crew’s Expenses by 1.
Playing Copperhead county
Like PCs, Captains have action ratings, but they only have four, and their
ratings are always capped at three dots.
When you create a Captain, they start with four action dots. You can assign
them to four actions and determine them all now, or assign them to two or
three actions and determine the others later.
Next, decide whether the Captain is an Expert or a Leader. Experts have an
occupation defined by the crew. They might be a Private Investigator, a
Lawyer, or whatever. When they act within this expertise, they get +1d.
Leaders lead groups of soldiers which make up your Gang. Each Leader is
responsible for one squad of your Gang. See more about your Gang below.
You can improve Captains, increasing their action ratings or giving them an
additional type, with crew upgrades when your crew advances.
The lowest level of your crew is your Gang. Unlike Blades, where you might
have a bunch of different gangs, in Copperhead County you only have one
which includes the various grunts in your employ. A member of your Gang
is called a soldier. Soldiers are organized into squads of five. Each squad
reports to a Leader, who is responsible for their day-to-day management.
Units don’t normally affect your Expenses, because their individual pay is
usually not enough to make a difference to the crew’s bottom line.
Like Captains, your Gang has four action ratings, which are used by all
members. However, your Gang’s action ratings are capped at two dots
each. Like Captains, Gangs can be improved by spending crew upgrades.
Injury & recovery
Injury is more freeform than Harm. When a PC is threatened with Injury as
a consequence, the GM determines the level of Injury based on the PC's
position, opposition, and action roll result:
Minor Injury. A small wound that will inconvenience you for now, but will
not hang around. When you take a Minor Injury, write it down and mark the
box next to it with a dot. Minor Injuries clear during downtime.
Major Injury. A serious wound that will hang around for a while, and will
require medical attention to heal. When you take a Major Injury, write it
down and mark the box next to it with a slash. You need to Recover during
downtime to heal Major Injuries.
Critical Injury. An emergency wound that threatens life and/or limb. When
you take a Critical Injury, write it down and mark the box next to it with an
X. Critical Injuries also have a Countdown clock on your playbook. The GM
advances the Countdown clock when appropriate due to the passage of
time or other consequences (you can resist this). If the countdown clock
fills, the Critical Injury worsens and becomes either Fatal (you die) or
Permanent (fill in the box and rename the Injury; congrats, it lasts forever).
5
If you receive immediate treatment, you can mark the Stable box to stop
advancing the Countdown clock. You need to Recover during downtime to
heal Critical Injuries.
The level of an Injury consequence may also be affected by armor the PC is
wearing, or other fictional circumstances, per your group's judgment.
Once you know the level of the Injury, a PC can resist it to reduce the level
or avoid taking it entirely, per the judgment of the group and GM.
When an Injured PC takes action, the GM treats their Injury like any other
relevant element in the game fiction for determining position and effect.
Injuries might cause some actions to be riskier or more desperate, or to
have reduced or even zero effect (for example, you try to Tread over a brick
wall, but you have a Broken Arm that prevents you from climbing). You can
resist an Injury to suppress its influence for one action roll (you tough out
the Broken Arm and throw your ass over the wall anyway).
recovery
When you enter downtime, you clear all Minor Injuries and any marks on
the Critical Countdown clock. If you have any Injuries left, you must
Recover. You can’t just let your Injuries fester while you run around.
When you Recover, first decide whether you seek medical treatment from a
qualified friend or crew associate (for your good health, all crews start with
a medical associate). If something happened to your medical buddy, you
can use the Buy Stuff activity to hire help. When you seek treatment, you
roll Bank to Recover (you can still receive +1d from your friend or associate).
Seeking treatment costs a downtime activity.
Otherwise, you can suffer through it and choose to roll 0d to Recover. This
is unwise, but doesn’t take up your time. Rolling 0d does not cost a
downtime activity. You can still receive +1d for help if you can somehow
convince the GM that your help is actually helpful, but remember that if you
were receiving actual treatment, you wouldn’t be rolling 0d. You can also
still spend Cash to increase the result.
Either way, roll your dice and check the result (over on the Rules Reference
sheet). You can choose which Injury is affected by a roll result, but each
Injury can only improve once per downtime. When an Injury gets better, a
Major Injury becomes a Minor Injury (and clears next downtime phase), and
a Critical Injury becomes a Major Injury. If you’re unlucky and an Injury gets
worse, a Major Injury becomes Critical, and a Critical Injury becomes
Permanent (or Fatal, if that’s how you want to go out).
Playing Copperhead county
Planning & approaches
Starting a job is streamlined from the Blades core of choosing a plan, detail,
and load. When you start a job, the first thing you do is name your target.
Who or what are you acting against? Next, determine your goal. What are
you trying to achieve against the target? This might be, Rob the Heathens'
garage, or Negotiate a distribution deal with Baron Carter. Naming your target
and goal helps focus what you actually want to achieve on the job.
Next, you'll choose an approach. Your approach says how you set out to
accomplish your goal. Your approach can either be Hot, which means
you're acting in the open, making a show of force, carrying a lot of
equipment; or Cold, which means you're acting carefully, using stealth,
carrying only what you need. Your approach determines the maximum
number of items you can use during a job: a max of 6 items with a Hot
approach, or a max of 3 items with a Cold approach.
Raid & arrests
Copperhead County calls your Wanted level your Raid level. This is because
the most concrete result of your Raid level is that, when you max it out, your
crew gets Raided. Being Raided is the fail state of Copperhead County. You
should work hard to ensure that it doesn't happen.
When you finish a job, after dealing with Cash, Rep, and Heat, if you're at
Raid level 4, the game pauses. Don't proceed with Trouble or the rest of
downtime. The authorities raid your HQ and attempt to arrest everyone.
Can you escape them, or do you submit? You can try to fight them, but that
will probably be a blaze-of-glory situation, or at least lead to an all-points-
bulletin manhunt. The whole crew doesn't have to have the same response
to being Raided. If some PCs want to submit, and others want to run, let
them try.
There might be cases during the game when a character gets arrested
outside of being Raided. Maybe you have bad luck on a job and get cuffed.
In any case, when characters get arrested, we don't want to bog the game
down with a simulation of the American justice system, but follow these
guidelines.
An arrested person will need to be charged with a relevant crime within a
few days, or let go. The authorities might well let a crew member skate if
they're picked up on minor charges—remember, the cops want to either a)
contain the situation b) take down an organized crime ring, not a solitary
crew member (Although picking someone up, and trying to get them to flip
on the crew, is a tried-and-true approach. Refer to the County Tension level
for guidance on the cops’ strategic thinking). Now, if the cops catch a crew
member red-handed on a felony, that will probably stick. That character will
then be imprisoned pending a trial.
6
An imprisoned character is out of normal play for good. Trials take a long
time to resolve, longer than we want to deal with in the game, and the
authorities are still more interested in taking down the crew. Essentially, an
imprisoned character's fate is uncertain until the crew is Raided, or the
game ends some other way. A character can avoid imprisonment by paying
Bail. This requires paying Cash at least equal to the crew's Tier + Raid
(although a judge may set it even higher if a character is particularly odious,
or if they feel particularly punitive). A bailed character returns to play, but
you might give them Personal Troubles related to their ongoing court
problems. If they retire, they won't be able to go straight until resolving
their legal situation.
An arrested character has two other options. One is betraying the crew.
The betrayer gets to go scot-free with their Bank intact (if you're dealing
with the feds, maybe they'll even get relocated). The rest of the crew gets
Raided immediately. This is a mean thing to do, but it might be an
entertaining way to end your campaign if everyone is cool with it.
An arrested character can also take the fall. A character who takes the fall
pleads guilty and goes to prison. This reduces the crew's Raid level, buying
them time to regroup. A PC who takes the fall reduces the crew's Raid by 2,
while an NPC (Captain or important Associate only; Gang members, minor
Associates, and others don't matter) reduces it by 1.
If the crew gets Raided, the situation is different than if individual characters
get arrested. Individual characters can still betray the crew or take the fall.
If anyone betrays the crew after being Raided, everyone else is fucked.
There's no getting out of it. After being Raided, only PCs can take the fall,
and each PC taking the fall only reduces the Raid level by 1. It's harder for
you to make a deal with the cops when they have what they need to put you
away. However, lowering the Raid level ends the crew's Raided state (for
now) and resumes downtime.
However, a Raided crew has one special option, if nobody betrays them or
takes the fall: they can cut a deal to continue their lives of crime in exchange
for becoming rats and cooperating with the authorities against other
criminal factions.
If you agree, the crew gains a special Scheme called Informants (see next
page) and your Raid resets to 1. This Scheme takes up space on your crew
map; if you don’t have room for it, you’ll have to drop something else.
After the Raid, if the crew is mostly or entirely in prison, well, the game
might be over. A surviving crew member might start over with new recruits
and continue the campaign, keeping in mind that the crew probably lost
Captains, Schemes, and even Turf and Tier from the ordeal. If the group
wants to start a new crew and see what else happens, maybe the new crew
can start play with a few freebies salvaged from the fallen outlaws.
Playing Copperhead county
Informants. You no longer suffer Police Trouble results as normal.
Instead, when you would face Police Trouble, your police masters make a
demand of your time, information, or resources. The authorities can revoke
or modify this deal at any time and in any manner which pleases them.
resistance
Copperhead County uses the Hardcore Resistance variant from Blades in
the Dark. When you make a resistance roll, you take Stress equal to your
lowest die result. This requires less math and creates a steadier Stress burn.
Tier, rep, & advancement
Increasing your crew's Tier requires Turf (see Schemes). To advance your
Tier, the crew must have a full Rep track, and Cash equal to your new Tier
x3. During downtime, you can pay the Cash and increase your Tier.
If you fill your Rep track and don't have the Turf to advance, or just don't
want to, you can instead Cash Out. When you Cash Out, the crew gains
Cash equal to your Tier +4.
A crew or faction who loses Turf necessary to support their current Tier
drops Tier, and loses any Schemes supported by that Tier.
Trouble, plots, & tension
Trouble is an expanded version of Entanglements. It comes in three types:
Crew Trouble (problems facing your business and relationships), Police
Trouble (problems from the cops), and Personal Trouble (problems in the
PCs' personal lives). The GM has clocks for Crew and Police Trouble on the
campaign tracker sheet, while each PC's Personal Trouble clock is on their
playbook. During downtime, the GM or PC will roll to tick these clocks, and
when one completes, the GM will introduce a relevant plot development.
Trouble results are freeform and up to the GM to personalize. The
campaign tracker sheet has a few examples for each category, but the GM
should tailor the specific event to the game's ongoing narrative. The GM
might decide to incur costs or consequences as part of a Trouble, or let the
crew resist them or figure out a way out of the situation. The GM might
decide to introduce a Trouble result immediately, or save it until a
dramatically satisfying moment. The GM can also determine how much
insight the crew has into the development; they might hear a vague rumor
of something going on, or have more concrete information, depending on
their relationships and other factors.
The campaign tracker sheet also holds clocks to keep track of the
campaign's ongoing plots. When a Trouble clock completes, the GM might
start a new clock to represent a new plot, or advance a current clock to
speed things along. When the crew is deciding what to do during the game,
7
you can refer to these ongoing plots to focus your energies. For example,
the crew might have a plot clock called We run out of methylamine. If that
clock is almost full, the crew knows they need to act fast to solve the
problem on their next job.
Finally, the campaign tracker sheet has a section for County Tension. The
County Tension level is like a Raid level for the entire county: it reflects how
much attention is paid to the county by state and federal police, and rises
and lowers based on game events. Use the County Tension level to inform
Police Trouble, opposition on jobs, other factions' activities, etc.
Vice & drive
Vice has been renamed Drive. Drive works basically like Vice, but is more
active—think of your Drive as the thing that motivates you to enter a life of
crime, not just the thing that helps you deal with it.
Like Vice, your Drive helps you clear Stress when you Enjoy R&R during
downtime.
war
Being at war with another faction has a few differences:
� PCs don't lose free downtime activities.
� Factions at war with the crew get +1d to plot clock rolls.
downtime & free play
Downtime and free play are organized a differently in Copperhead County.
Rather than being separate phases of the game, downtime is an expanded
phase which contains free play along with other between-job steps.
Downtime begins when the crew has safely ended a job, and ends when the
PCs have completed their activities and free play actions and decided to
start the next job. See the Downtime Rules Reference sheet for a
walkthrough.
Game setup
1. Choose a crew playbook
Since the crew is the shared main character of your Copperhead County
game, the first thing you’ll do is choose what type of crew you want to play.
� The fiery Hellraisers, excited for confrontation and ruckus.
� A quiet Outfit, content to count their money in the shadows.
� The kinship-bound Blood, a family of criminals.
Of course, all crews can overlap to an extent, and can pick up special
abilities from each other. The exception to this is that non-Blood crews can’t
take Blood abilities (unless you can persuade the GM that it somehow
makes sense). You’re either a family or you’re not!
2. Choose your playbook
Now you’ll choose playbooks for your individual characters.
� The heavy Brick, an enforcer and war leader.
� The competent Cleaner, an investigator and problem-solver.
� The brilliant Hazard, a technician and creator.
� The dynamic Mover, a daredevil and athlete.
� The enterprising Stringer, a schemer and business leader.
� The amiable Wheeler, a politician and public face.
� The mysterious Outlaw, a blank custom playbook.
The crew you chose should influence the character playbooks you choose
and the PCs you create. Obviously, if you’re a Blood crew, you’ll need to
make all of your characters members of the same family (although family
members can, of course, differ in origin, name, outlook, and so on).
If you’re a Hellraisers crew, you might want a good combatant like the Brick,
or a good explosion-maker like the Hazard. If you’re an Outfit, you might
want someone sneaky like a Cleaner or Mover, or someone charismatic
like a Wheeler. Or you might play against type and do the total opposite!
If two people want to be the same playbook, or you have some wacky idea,
you should pick the Outlaw and work with the GM to fill it in like the others.
3. Choose your origin
Your Origin says where your character grew up and that was like. Pick and
detail one of the options.
� Local means you’re from Copperhead County.
� Southern means you’re from somewhere like Nashville or Alabama or
Florida, but not from Copperhead County.
8
� Western means you’re from out west, like Oregon or California.
� Northern means you’re from some Yankee place like New York, Boston,
Chicago, or whatever the fuck is up there.
� Immigrant means you’ve come to America from another country, like
Mexico, Bulgaria, France, or so on. Welcome to Copperhead County!
Then increase an action rating relevant to your Origin (to a maximum of 2).
4. Choose your history
Your History says what you did before you joined the crew to pursue a life
of crime. Each playbook has its own options you can detail.
� Academic (Hazard, Stringer): You lived the life of the mind as a student
or teacher. What made you drop the books and take up this path?
� Athlete (Brick, Mover): You were a titan of the sports field. What ended
your career or put you on this path?
� Criminal (All): You’re a career criminal. Have you been in a crew like this
before, or were you a cool lone wolf?
� Labor (Brick): You did hard blue-collar work with your hands and body.
What made you set down your tools or put you on this path?
� Military (Brick, Cleaner): You served in the armed forces, learning to
take orders and take lives. Why did you discharge and take up this life?
� Misfit (Hazard, Mover, Stringer): You’ve never been good at so-called
normal life. What drove you to go completely rogue?
� Police (Cleaner): You were a cop, detective, or even a federal agent. Why
did you cross the thin blue line?
� Politics (Wheeler): You worked on the campaign trail and in the halls of
government. Why were you exiled to this life?
� Professional (Cleaner, Hazard, Stringer, Wheeler): You held down a
white-collar career. What made you quit or take up this path?
� Youth (Mover, Wheeler): You’re just a kid, old enough to drive, but
maybe not to drink. What are you doing here?
� Other (All): You have your own idea. What is it?
Then increase an action rating relevant to your History (to a maximum of 2).
5. Increase two more actions
Increase two more action ratings however you like, up to a maximum of 3.
Maybe you have a hobby you want to reflect, a weakness you want to shore
up, or just something you want to be good at. It’s up to you.
Game setup
6. Choose a special ability
Look at your playbook’s list of special abilities and choose one. If you can’t
decide which one to pick, go with the first one on the list or whatever
sounds most relevant to your character concept.
7. Friends & rivals
Your playbook has a bunch of names under your Friends list. You know all
of these people. Choose one who you’re particularly close to, like your best
friend or your romantic interest or so on.
But along with love comes hate. Next, choose one person who’s actually
your rival: someone who’s sick of your shit or with whom you, for whatever
reason, share bad blood.
If you have the Local Origin, your roots give you deeper relationships. Pick
one more close friend and one more rival, so that you have two of each.
8. Choose your drive
What propelled you forward into a life of crime? What keeps you going
when the Stress of outlaw life brings you down? That’s your Drive.
� Family: The classic justification: you have to provide for your family.
� Justice: You care about something bigger than crime. It might be mere
revenge, or it might be a struggle for a righteous cause.
� Oblivion: The darkness beckons you. You might have a death wish, or
maybe you just want to disassociate from this hell world when you can.
� Thrills: You’re in it for the sheer fucking fun of breaking the law. Chases,
fights, explosions... you don’t get this kind of shit at an office.
� Wealth: You just want to make money and live the high life of luxury.
� Status: You’re after more than money: you want power, influence, and
accolades, and might just see crime as your shortcut to the big time.
Now go back to your crew sheet for a while.
9. Choose a crew special ability
Just like your characters, your crew has special abilities, but they affect all of
you. Again, if you find yourself torn between abilities, it’s best to just pick
the top ones, which are intended to make your early game a little easier.
10. Choose your crew HQ
Your crew has an HQ where they hang out, keep their stuff, and manage
their affairs. Look at the county map and decide which area its in, then
where exactly it is and what it’s like.
9
Example: Our HQ is in Slayton, in an abandoned Zip Burger restaurant.
Example: Our HQ is in Glad Ave in Patterson, in an office above a brewpub.
The GM will tell you which criminal faction controls that area. How did you
deal with them? How do they feel about a new crew emerging on their turf?
� Tribute: Give them 2 Cash in exchange for +1 status.
� Respect: Give them 1 Cash in exchange for breathing room.
� Blow Off: Keep your money and take −1 status with them.
11. Assign crew upgrades
Upgrades give your crew a variety of benefits through new or improved
equipment, helpful NPCs, or other bonuses. Some upgrades are unique to
certain crew types, and some are shared across all crews.
Your crew starts with two free upgrades. If you aren’t sure what you want
first, a Garage is always useful.
12. Choose a Scheme focus
The reason you’re in a crew is not to merely commit crimes, but to engage
in organized crime. You do this by growing your Schemes: your collection of
territory and enterprises which provide ongoing benefits throughout the
campaign.
At the start of the game, you have no Schemes, but you can select an area
of Focus to help you direct your efforts. Choose one:
� Drugs: Producing, distributing, and selling illegal substances.
� Front: Bribes, running legal businesses, laundering money.
� Power: Seizing territory, destroying “legitimate” authority.
� Theft: Stealing valuables, fencing stolen goods, moving contraband.
� Vice: Selling sinful services like gambling, liquor, and sex.
Your Focus both gives you direction during play (“Our Focus is Drugs, so I
guess we ought to deal some drugs”) and provides two important benefits.
When you start a job involving your Scheme Focus, you get +1d to the
engagement roll. During downtime, when you work a project related to
your Scheme Focus, you get +1 tick to your result.
Next, the GM will tell you about two interested factions:
� One faction competes in this market. You get −1 status with them.
� One faction isn't involved in this market and is open to working with
your crew. You get +1 status with them.
If you ever want to change your Focus, you can do so with a downtime
project. It takes effort to reorient your entire business plan!
Game setup
13. Choose a favored associate Local names
Choose an Associate from the list on your crew playbook. Associates are Male Names: Aaron, Austin, Blake, Caleb, Carlos, Cedric, Chase, Colby,
like friends for your crew: local criminals, or semi-criminal professionals, Colton, Dale, Darryl, Dennis, Duc, Dustin, Dwayne, Ernest, Ethan, Gavin,
who are willing to help you out and, possibly, work for you. Glenn, Harrison, Hoang, Hunter, Ian, Isaac, Jermaine, Joel, Jordan, Jose, Kyle,
Your favored Associate already works exclusively for you, is relatively loyal Landon, Logan, Lucas, Micah, Mitchell, Nathan, Noah, Parker, Peyton,
to you, and might be helpful in pursuing your Scheme Focus. Your crew still Randy, Roy, Seth, Shane, Tanner, Taylor, Travis, Tristan, Tuan, Van, Wayne,
knows the others, and they’ll be happy to work with you, but they probably Wesley, Xavier, Zachary.
work with other crews, too. Let’s hope they don’t develop any conflicting Female Names: Abigail, Anh, Annette, April, Autumn, Bailey, Brooke, Casey,
loyalties. Charlotte, Chloe, Darlene, Denise, Emma, Faith, Gina, Grace, Gwendolyn,
If none of the Associate choices suit you, write a new one on a blank line. Haley, Hannah, Heather, Holly, Jenna, Joy, Katrina, Kelsey, Kendra, Leah,
Linh, Logan, Loretta, Madison, Mallory, Maya, Misty, Nicole, Paige, Paula,
14. Choose your reputation Phuong, Robin, Rose, Ruth, Savannah, Sydney, Tamara, Tanya, Tara, Trang,
Trinity, Vanessa, Vicky, Virginia, Zoe.
Given your crew's composition and decisions, what have people heard
about you already? Your Reputation can be any adjective you think is cool. Last Names: Abernathy, Alvarez, Ballard, Banks, Bell, Blackwell, Bledsoe,
Byrd, Calloway, Cao, Carmichael, Clark, Cross, Cruz, Dillard, Dixon, Dyer,
15. Starting plots Eaton, Ezell, Fletcher, Flores, Fowler, Gamble, Garcia, Gentry, Gibbs,
Grayson, Harden, Harper, Hill, Hoang, Hood, Howard, Jolly, Kidd, Lamar,
The GM should fill out the campaign tracker sheet with plot clocks for each Lopez, Lowry, Mathis, McLemore, Meek, Miller, Morales, Morris, Mosier,
faction with whom the crew has a positive or negative relationship. These Newcomb, Nguyen, Owens, Pike, Price, Puckett, Ramos, Reyes, Rose,
factions will be up in your business before too long. Rowan, Sadler, Satterwhite, Saunders, Scruggs, Silva, Shaw, Soto, Summitt,
Tate, Teague, Todd, Tran, Trotter, Underwood, Walker, Webb, Whitehead,
16. Review & Name the Crew Wiggins, Witt, Wyatt, Vu, Yarbrough, Yearwood, Young.
Look over the choices you’ve made for the crew. Is everyone happy? Do you
want to change something? Make sure you’re all on the same page. clothing
Then, if you want, you can name your crew. This can be pretty hard, and it’s Dress, fancy Hat, flat cap Pants, shorts Shoes, dress
okay if you don’t have a name yet. You can wait and let one emerge in play. Dress, jersey Hat, trucker Pants, slacks Shoes, heels
17. Review your characters Dress, party Jacket, blazer Pants, work Shoes, sandals
Now look over the choices you made on your own playbook. Are you Dress, sun Jacket, bomber Shirt, dress Shoes, sneakers
satisfied, or do you want to change something now that you’ve seen the Glasses, cool Jacket, denim Shirt, flannel Suit, business
crew and the other characters? You should also fill out any details you still
Glasses, old Jacket, fleece Shirt, halter Suit, jumpsuit
need, like a name or your character's appearance, style, and pronouns.
Glasses, nerd Jacket, hoodie Shirt, plaid Suit, tracksuit
18. Bonus option: veteran outlaws Glasses, sun Jacket, leather Shirt, polo T-Shirt, plain
Here’s a bonus option if anyone wants to start the game as an experienced Hat, sports cap Jacket, military Shirt, tank top T-Shirt, band
character (call it the Ehrmantraut Option). You can start with more power in
Hat, beanie Jacket, puffy Skirt, long T-Shirt, “funny”
exchange for Burnout. This effectively reduces your character’s lifespan,
but makes them stronger at the beginning of the campaign. Hat, cowboy Jeans, blue Skirt, short T-Shirt, sports
Make sure everyone else is cool with this before you do it. Hat, do-rag Pants, cargo Shoes, boots T-shirt, tourist
For each level of Burnout you start with, you can increase one action rating
(up to 3) and choose one special ability.

10
factions
Copperhead County’s homegrown factions are
listed below by type. Full descriptions for each
continue in the following pages.
criminal
Mountain Mafia (IV): The old-guard, politically
connected mob with a finger in every pie.
Barnett Mob (III): A no-drama crew with deep
ties to and historic control over East Patterson.
Heathens MC (III): Hard-living bikers running
contraband and ruling the highway.
Pettimore Clan (III): A brutal crime family
dominating the rural hills for decades.
Lockeland Clan (II): A defiant mountain dynasty
seeking freedom from all interlopers.
Baron Carter (II): A charismatic warlord with
dreams of county-wide conquest.
Spearpoint League (II): A neo-Confederate
militia devoted to menace, mayhem, and hatred.
Gia Đình Núi (II): Aging gangsters and their
descendants facing a fatal generation gap.
Albright Solutions (I): A Silicon Valley
entrepreneur seeking to #disrupt the county
underworld.
Ask for Alice (I): College students and dropouts
running a campus-area drug ring.
Local 77 (I): The remnants of the miners’ union,
now turned to theft and revenge.
McMorrow Clan (I): A forgotten crime family with
new connections and new ambitions.
Rodríguez Brothers (I): Thieving siblings in
charge of an ambitious heist crew.
Public
County GOP (V): The iron fist of local
government—absolutely powerful and absolutely
corrupt.
County Sheriff (IV): The county’s most powerful,
most violent, and most crooked cops.
11
Patterson PD (III): Urban cops viciously
enforcing order upon their slice of the county.
County Democrats (II): The local opposition,
long estranged from holding any actual power.
Betsy Wood (I): A far-right-wing insurgent
storming into county government.
Commercial
Midas Health (IV): A ghoulish hospital operator
squeezing endless profit from local lives.
Jardine Media (IV): Ideologue broadcast moguls
taking over local televisions.
O&G Resources (OGRE) (IV): A mysterious
minerals firm buying up land and blowing up
mountains.
Prescott Holdings (III): Very, very old-money
landowners and hospitality magnates.
Chamber of Commerce (III): A network of
county capitalists conspiring to increase their
wealth.
Kuruma Motors (III): A third-tier Japanese firm
leading the alleged rebirth of local industry.
Zip Burger (II): A local-born fast food chain
where good food is served in a Zip™.
Outlaw Country (II): A rickety regional theme
park honoring a homegrown country queen.
Bagwell & Bagwell (II): A crusading law firm run
by an aging lion and his useless son.
Below the Line (I): Hollywood producers
scouting for pseudo-reality TV opportunities.
Swerve Records (I): An indie label putting out the
sounds of the modern county.
Copperhead Extreme Wrestling (CHEW) (I): An
indie wrestling promotion hosting throwdowns
in gyms and backyards.
society
Patterson State University (III): A third-rate
public college beset by constant budget cuts. Go
Generals!
The Gap Banner (III): The only remaining local
newspaper, stumbling around on its last legs.
Christian Action Network of TN (CANT) (II):
Fundamentalist gadflies waging ceaseless war on
modernity.
Aquarius Farm (II): An old-school hippie
commune still hanging on in a new century.
Kingdom of Providence (I): A charismatic church
selling salvation through prosperity.
Progress Patterson (I): A coalition of activists
agitating for desperately needed change.
outside
United States Department of Justice (X): The
alphabet agencies of federal law enforcement,
stationed at an outpost in nearby Knoxville.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (X): State
police with a mandate to combat major crimes
and public corruption.
Gambinetti Family (X): A real-deal Italian Mafia
family holding onto power in Philadelphia.
Hidalgo Cartel (X): A brutally efficient Mexican
cartel with hooks in Florida.
Heathens MC Texas (X): The national HQ of the
Heathens motorcycle club in San Antonio.
Southside United Partners (X): An alliance of
Atlanta outfits sharing opportunities and intel.
Delta Disciples (X): A massive, raucous street
gang in control of Memphis and Mississippi trade.
Don Bratva (X): Terrifying Russian mobsters
operating in Baltimore and across the Atlantic.
Copperhead county

Big Bushy. One of the tallest peaks in Appalachia, a green behemoth rising into the sky. Adamstown. An impoverished, outer-city neighborhood
Bushy Bottom. A quiet town in the shadow of Big Bushy and a TVA nuclear plant. where industrial zones give way to residential areas.
Copperhead River. A mighty tributary of the Tennessee River and county namesake. Coleman Park. A diverse, historic neighborhood with active
community leadership.
Cutter Station. An agricultural town becoming increasingly suburbanized.
Downtown. The revitalized city center, thanks to massive
The Hollows. Small communities and isolated homes scattered throughout the mountains.infusions of public money.
Michelangelo. A hard-working mountain town surrounded by marble quarries. Edgewood. A wide swath of suburbia, a mix of working-and-
Moon Mountain. A once-proud peak blown to hell to harvest coal, now an ugly blemish. middle-class residential neighborhoods.
Patterson. The county seat and principal city, with its own section to the right. Fort Alice. A busy neighborhood dominated by the hospital
Slayton. A bygone mining center turned devastated afterthought. and university.

US Highway 205. A thoroughfare leading north to the Tennessee interstates, and south toFox Chase. A wealthy suburb and former plantation hub. Tall
the Carolinas and Georgia. white mansions, expensive shops, the weight of history.

Wodiga. A tourist town dominated by the Wodiga Cherokee Resort. Glad Ave. A gentrifying arts neighborhood. Bars, restaurants,
music venues, specialty stores, rising rents.

12