HAN-SAN (한산) - A Korean Horror TRPG

• Campaign — Nine Trails, with a fixed beginning and end and a variable middle ascent
• Characters — Six Origins, nine Classes, and one party shaped by competing duties and losses
• Core play — Investigate, interpret evidence, choose a path, confront a Trail Boss, carry the result upward
• Formats — Korean and English digital editions with printable and online play resources

THE WORLD HAS LOST ITS QI(氣)

Qi(氣) once flowed throughout Joseon. Ritualists used it to repel restless spirits. Artisans bound it into sacred relics. Mountain gods watched over the fate of the land.

Then the Qi disappeared.

Rituals failed. Relics fell silent. Wells dried, famine spread, and the dead could no longer leave the living world. The people call it the curse of a sealed mountain god.

Now the royal court has sent another expedition into HAN-SAN to end the curse, recover the lost power of the old world, and discover what truly happened upon the mountain.

The court believes it knows the story. The mountain remembers a different order of events.

TRUTH CHANGES THE ENCOUNTER

A dried well, a broken ritual, a hidden entry in a government archive—details that would be background scenery in another adventure can become weapons, bargaining chips, contradictions, and reasons to stay your hand in HAN-SAN.

A Trail Boss may appear impossible to persuade when the party first arrives. If the players investigate the region, recover the right relics, and understand what the Boss believes, entirely different routes can open.

•  Present evidence and turn a battle into a negotiation.
•  Expose a contradiction and reduce the difficulty of a confrontation.
•  Discover a hidden route and evade the Boss without defeating it.
•  Learn the cost of an alliance before deciding whether to accept it.
•  Miss the truth and continue anyway—but face a harder, narrower choice.

Failed investigation never ends the campaign. It changes what the party knows, what they can prove, and which solutions remain available.

NO TWO ASCENTS ARE THE SAME

HAN-SAN is not a mountain climbed in one unchanging order.

Before a campaign begins, the GM arranges or randomizes the six middle Trails and their Bosses. The First Trail always forms the entrance to the mountain. The final two Trails always form the endgame. Between them, the order of the ascent changes from campaign to campaign and remains hidden from the players.

This is more than shuffled scenery. Each Trail carries a fragment of the truth. The Bosses know one another, remember old loyalties, and judge the party by the alliances it has already made. Who the players meet first—and whether they obey, oppose, release, or destroy that being—can rewrite later encounters.

The Mountain Remembers Your Choices.

ONE ALLY CAN CREATE ANOTHER ENEMY

The Brush-Bearing Chronicler and the Rebel Clad in a Thousand Blades

The Brush-Bearing Chronicler once recorded the reign of a royal court corrupted by borrowed divine power. He is domineering, severe, and convinced that history belongs in the hands of those disciplined enough to preserve it. Earn his favor by carrying out his commands, and he may grant access to a fragment of the court’s hidden record.

The Rebel Clad in a Thousand Blades was once an ordinary believer. Convinced that a greedy court had sealed the mountain god, he joined a rebellion, was defeated, and was exiled to the very mountain he had tried to defend. His resentment kept him from the afterlife.

Meet the Chronicler first and act as his agent, and the Rebel will later see the party only as servants of the court. Negotiation closes. The second meeting begins in hostility.

Stand with the Rebel first, listen to the civilians who were deceived into revolt, and the Chronicler will recognize the party as the Rebel’s allies. He will seal his records and meet them as enemies. To uncover what he recorded, the party must overcome him and search the archive without his guidance.

Neither route makes the truth disappear. It changes who speaks, which account the party hears first, what can still be trusted, and what price must be paid for the missing half.

Your first alliance does not merely change dialogue. It changes the next Boss.

THE ASCENT, STEP BY STEP

•  Explore a Trail built as an interconnected region rather than a single corridor.
•  Find evidence, relics, memories, and contradictions through investigation and risk.
• Decide which account to believe, which faction to trust, and what your character is willing to sacrifice.
• Confront the Trail Boss through negotiation, evasion, combat, ritual, or a mixture of methods.
• Record the result. Later Trails react to the party’s relationships and unresolved choices.

FIVE POINTS. ONE TURN. YOUR PRIORITIES.

Every combat turn begins with a five-point Action Gauge. Spend those points to move between zones, attack, defend, activate abilities, assist an ally, or respond to the battlefield. Commit everything to offense and you may leave yourself exposed. Hold points for defense and you may survive an enemy’s strongest phase—but lose the chance to finish it first.

This creates tactical pressure without requiring a long menu of separate action types. The question is not only “What can I do?” but “How much of my turn can I afford to spend on it?”

SIX ORIGINS. NINE CLASSES.

Origins describe the experience, lineage, duty, or condition that most strongly defines a character. A character may have served more than one group in their history, but one Origin determines the belief and burden they carry onto the mountain.

WHAT THIS CAMPAIGN FUNDS

The rules, character options, world, digital tools, and First Trail already exist. This Kickstarter funds the work required to turn that playable foundation into a complete, bilingual, publication-ready campaign.

• Complete the remaining Trails and their cross-Boss relationship structures.
• Playtest alternate Trail orders, alliance states, clue routes, and campaign-ending combinations.
• Complete Korean and English editing with consistent terminology across every document.
• Produce final layout, maps, handouts, reference cards, and digital-ready files.
• Improve the online character sheet and play-reference tools.
• Perform final balance, accessibility, and quality-assurance passes.

CHOOSE YOUR EDITION

Every edition includes everything you need for its intended style of play. Choose the version that fits your table or join us as a Founder.

$20 PLAYER
For players who want the complete rules, Origins, Classes, and character resources.

$30 COMPLETE — Recommended for GMs
The full HAN-SAN experience, including the Nine-Trail Campaign, maps, bosses, GM materials, and premade characters.

$50 FOUNDER
Everything in Complete, plus development materials, wallpapers, priority playtest opportunities, and permanent Founding Supporter credit.