The Chamberlain's Chessboard

Once, this place hosted royalty, dignitaries and other people of influence... 

But the time when the Lord Chamberlain's Estate was used for diplomatic endeavours is long past. Today there is only an overgrown forest with the remnants of the palace and gardens scattered within it. The villagers of Charstead, where the once glorious Imperial Highway meets the Selwich Lake, forage amongst the trees. They are more concerned with the bandits that have taken over the bridge upstream, and pay little attention to the old ruins.

But perhaps they should.

The Chamberlain was particularly fond of games and other distractions, most especially chess. 

And where there is chess, there is a chessboard, but even the board itself has changed over the years. Not every piece on it is human, and they all have their own reasons to be there. 

When there are more than two sides, and things are no longer black and white - what game are you really playing?

A 32 page forest hexcrawl (featuring a town and a dungeon) for the game Cairn (https://cairnrpg.com/) made for the A Forest, A Town, A Dungeon jam (https://itch.io/jam/a-town-a-forest-a-dungeon). 

Explore twelve hexes around Charstead village, loot a ruined palace and discover what happens when you don't put the pieces back in the box.