Welcome to Good Society: An Expanded Acquaintance, four expansions to our Jane Austen RPG to introduce new ways to play!
Expanded Acquaintance
Expanded Acquaintance
Expanded Acquaintance
Expanded Acquaintance
Bring spellcasting and enchantments into the game, along with magical factions and otherworldly relationships.
Play servants with stories to tell of their own, and add a new phase to your game where upstairs and downstairs collide.
Add masked identities to Austen’s world, as well as a new rooftop phase and mechanics for carrying out daring deeds.
Expand your tale to span decades, with mechanics that plot you career, fortunes and station, as well as relationships that change over time.
Good Society (the original game) was successfully funded and published in 2018, and raised over $150,000 on Kickstarter. As part of that Kickstarter, we created two PDF expansions for Good Society, Pride, Prejudice and Practical Magics, and Sense, Sensibility and Swordsmanship.
Now, we want to bring these two expansions to print in one beautiful book, along with two new expansions for Good Society – Downstairs at the Abbey, which explores the hidden life of servants and the trials and tribulations they face, and Emma, Forget Me Not, which turns Good Society into a sprawling story about the rise and fall of fortunes and careers.
These expansions are fully compatible, and can be used in any combination. Explore the sprawling story of Fae who linger in the mortal realm for generations, or discover the lives of servants by day, who become vigilantes under the cover of darkness.
The air is laden with spells and incantations, fragrant with the thick scent of lavender. The Fae have arrived here tonight, their purpose unknowable. The College of Wizardry have charged me with a dark task I cannot share. And all this on the eve I had planned to propose… what dreadful timing.
Inspired by works such as Sorcery and Cecelia, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and Shades of Milk and Honey, this addition to Good Society adds a magical backdrop to regency society, and provides characters with both the power and the burden of arcane arts and otherworldly politics.
In this expansion, magic is as common as gossip, and almost as powerful. Social faux pas can have supernatural implications, and spellcasting is an essential mark of genteel refinement. Expect to be caught up in prophecies, charms, and the equal pursuit of magical power and advantageous marriages.
Well they can’t expect us to run ourselves in circles about how some scandal got out, even when it’s a matter of linage or what not. His Lordship must see you cannot keep secrets from us, we aren’t deaf and blind you know. Heavens, I even held the boy in my arms before they took him out the back way. I remember it was dark and stormy and I couldn’t fathom why they’d send such a little thing out in that weather.
Did I know, of course I knew! But I never said a word and no one else did neither – gossip you see just oozes out of a place all naturally, like when you drain the whey from the curds.
While those upstairs concern themselves with displays of wealth and the pursuit of marriage, what is happening downstairs? Inspired by Downton Abbey, Longbourn, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, this addition to Good Society explores the lives of servants as they deal with drama of their own. Tell stories of heartbreak and ambition in a world far harsher than genteel society can understand.
In this expansion you will tell two parallel stories of upstairs and downstairs, which cross and entangle in unexpected ways. Do you make compromises to move up the household ranks? Can you stand steadfast when your family depends on your wages?
Dear William,
I must express my regrets, as I am unable to attend the ball tonight. Alas, a terrible flu has overcome me. Yet, we must still make time for that private matter you wished to discuss. Call upon me tomorrow, I could surely use some company in sickness.
Yours, etc. Charlotte
Dear S.B.
Everything is in place for tonight. Be waiting with the horse in the usual place. Once you have the jewels in your possession head south immediately—you will be met by one of my men at the rendezvous point.
Inspired by works such as The Mask of Zorro, Sovay, and the Scarlet Pimpernel, this expansion to Good Society gives each major character the option to acquire a masked identity; from a Vigilante standing up for justice, to an Outlaw after the greatest prizes the town has to offer.
Expect to be caught up in plots, schemes, machinations, and outrageous action sequences—while still maintaining a respectable civilian identity, and trying to secure an advantageous marriage. Oh, the things this world expects of us!
Is it still there, Emma? The rose bush by the corner where I first took your hand? Tell me winter has not crippled it, nor age withered its will to bloom. At port, I buy a single rose, when home feels far beyond my reach.
We are headed now to the Indian Ocean. I am told if my performance is commended I may finally have a ship of my own. Letters are more difficult there, so instead – look upon the moon fondly, and picture me as I do the same.
Our duty and business call us away from the ones we love. To trade, to war, to pursue promotions or opportunities. And yet we never forget those we parted from.
Emma, Forget Me Not, is an expansion created to tell sprawling stories about the rise and fall of fortunes and careers, and the bittersweet taste of longing. Pursue a naval career, start a merchant empire, or represent the crown abroad. As you track your fortunes and failures, you will also explore changing relationships, from lost loves, to broken friendships and lasting feuds. When it’s time to return home, will those you loved still be who you remember?
Raven is an illustrator working in Baltimore. She started roleplaying for much the same reasons she started drawing: a love of imagining spaces, exploring characters, and creating stories with friends. Find more of her work at ravenwarner.com
Aviv Or is a UK-based freelance comic artist and illustrator with a passion for character art. She works (and plays) mainly in the tabletop games industry, and co-creates the webcomic Up to Four Players about roleplaying adventures. She doesn’tlike tea, but makes up for it by drinking coffee very daintily.
avivor.com
Lauren developed a taste for creative writing at the age of 10, which blossomed into a secret engagement to Austen around the age of 14. She’s since honed her love for storytelling and gaming, and is devoted to character drama, romance, and the Oxford comma. @thestraykiwi
Vee Hendro is one half of Storybrewers. As well as making games, she is a freelance RPG graphic designer based in Sydney, Australia. Catch her on a bouldering wall, bushwalk or drooling over mechanical keyboards.
Hayley is the other half of Storybrewers and is the decidedly more silly half. She makes games and also a damn good Kentucky tea. She likes writing most things, but not her own bio.
