Thoughts?
The Sorrow of the Elves
When your elf blood enters an area that has felt great elven sorrow, roll+wis. On a 10+ you feel the weight of your years and the elven memories that surround you, but are able to fight against the pull of ennui. On a 7-9 Your fortitude is great and you succeed at not breaking elven composure. But there is a cost. Choose 1.
>Take -1 forward on your next Last Breath roll as you feel the pull to join the fallen. You grab a memory from the chaos. Take +1 forward on Discern Realities regarding the area. The memory is forever yours.
>The voices overwhelm you, Age 100 years and ennui drags you down. Immediately Make Camp. Gain no healing or XP. Tale +1 forward on Spout Lore regarding the area. The voices speak to you.
On a miss:
If you die in the area, no Last Breath, you will become a Wraith. Never to be joined with the spirit of the fey, unless some great sacrifice by others is made. GM call.
I’m guessing this is a move tied to a location rather than a character.
Mechanically it works, but personally I feel that it is very busy. Also, the option to age 100 years and be forced to Make Camp but not gain healing or XP seems very harsh. I would always chose the other option. -1 to Last Breath but +1 to Spout Lore about the area seems like the much better choice.
It’s a bit fiddly for my tastes, and the 6- result (auto-fail Last Breath and become a Wraith) doesn’t sit right with me. Nor does the “age 100 years…” what does that mean in a fiction-first game where apparently elves watch the ages turn?
I’d try to make less of a “saving throw” and more of a prompt for player emo. Like, on a 10+ give the player some useful info but ask them a moody question. On a 7-9, just ask the moody question. On a 6-, give them an ongoing penalty to Last Breath… but maybe a bonus to resisting emotions?
Also… I’d use CHA instead of WIS. CHA seems more in line with keeping one’s sense of self and identity under the mournful weight of ages.
Perhaps like this…
When you first enter an area that has felt great elven sorrow_, if you are an elf, roll+CHA:
10+: Tell us about something of haunting beauty that is long gone from this world and answer the GMs questions about it; they will then give you an insight into your current situation gleaned from your ancient memories.
7-9: Tell us about the person you miss the most from ages past, and what made them special, and why you could not save them.
6-: Tell us what it is about this current age that fills your mouth with the taste of ash and makes you wonder why you bother at all. Then, add 1 to your Ennui.
When you roll your Last Breath, subtract your Ennui from the roll.
When you Defy Danger against powerful emotions or effects that cause them, add your Ennui to the roll.
When you find something new and wonderful in this drab world, something worth living for, erase your Ennui.
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Thanks for the comments. Working up a new version.
Quick notes. This is for a campaign about to start with characters that are already built.
Yes for fallen elven locations.
Didn’t want to add a new “stat”. Though, I was compelled also at first to make an Ennui bank, but decided against it as the players already have characters and didn’t want them feeling pressured to add – or vote down if I went that route.
Players wanted Tolkienesque elves. The move attempted to model some of the “longevity” lore of Tolkien elves with some mechanical backing. Players decided that full elves weren’t as long-lived as Tolkien ones though.
First thought was to use cha. Think I’ll go back to that. Thx!
Tossed in a little “duneisms” with the memories. Thinking they could literally feel/hear memories of the dead elves.
Thanks for the comments though, made me realize I might need to work on the flavor/story more than the mechanics. New at this so it’s great to get input.