Hazelwood Abbey

Downton Abbey meets Hillfolk. Players play an aristocratic family in a player-led dramatic game of emotional needs and wants for 4-5 players.

Hazelwood Abbey uses Pelgrane Press' DramaSystem rules engine to create a story of high-stakes interpersonal conflict. During the session, we will create family members with conflicting needs and goals. And then we will find out what happens.

Hazelwood Abbey consists of two sets of playbooks - one for upstairs (the family) and one for downstairs (the servants).

The upstairs playbook consists of:

• The Earl
• The Countess
• The Heir
• The Spare
• The Eldest  Daughter
• The Youngest Daughter
• The Suitor
• The Cousin

The downstairs playbooks consist of:

• The Butler
• The Housekeeper
• The Valet
• The Lady's Maid
• The Footman
• The Housemaid
• The Cook
• The Scullery Maid

Overview of play

Hazelwood Abbey starts with generating  characters and links before moving onto play.  The process is as follows:

1. Give a brief overview of DramaSystem and Hazelwood Abbey.
2. Let the players choose a playbook each.
3. Answer the opening questions (see below).
4. Ask the players to pick names, choose desires, dramatic poles and answer playbook-specific questions.
5.  Ask everyone to describe their character to everyone.
6. Ask each player to describe their character’s relationship with another character – and what they want from that relationship. The receiving player then declares why their character can’t meet that emotional need. (Each character should be  petitioned only once at this stage.)
7.  Repeat step 6 in random order. Again, ensure nobody is petitioned more than twice in total.
8.  Start play with a conference scene at breakfast.