From the Introduction Welcome to Tales from the Floodplain. This game was written during Game Chef 2011, for which the theme was William Shakespeare. I chose not to be inspired by any of his plots, but rather by the journey of self-discovery that his characters make in almost all his plays. The first part of these rules therefore sets out the Rude Mechanicals, a game system wherein each player discovers the inner nature of their character as the story plays out. The second section sets out a story of exiles seeking refuge in a society that has forsworn much of what we take for granted today, where a gypsy's daughter may be the spark that sets the community aflame.