Noodling with ideas for a dark fantasy Freebooters game. I want to get rid of demihuman races and alignment, and am planning to replace them with heritages. A heritage grants a choice of bonus stat and a selection of virtues and vices from which you pick one of each.
I haven’t decided what to do about the special moves that demihuman races get in FotF. Tempted to skip them, but maybe I should invent some new moves for each heritage.
Aulderly: A mizzly land of shepherds, rhymers, and wizards. There are no roads in Aulderly; its inhabitants navigate by standing stones, jutting lonely on the heaths. Do not read what is engraved on them; the Devil adds to them in idle moments.
– +2 CHA or +2 LUC
– Virtues: Generous, Courteous, Dependable.
– Vices: Boastful, Liar, Doubtful.
Tantea: The plague-raddled, festival-addicted City of Steeples. Listen! Plainsong from the churches. Debauches in the golden palaces. Doctors droning to draughty lecture halls. Anguished curses from the Yellow Quarter.
– +2 INT or +2 CON
– Virtues: Tactful, Pious, Patient.
– Vices: Ruthless, Vain, Zealous.
Dolor: a brooding land of forested mountains, where the Beliphasean knights war upon the old clans of pass and peak and their grey, wicked gods. Silvered helm against mouthless war-mask. Hammer against spear.
– +2 STR or +2 WIS
– Virtues: Loyal, Defiant, Disciplined.
– Vices: Inflexible, Moody, Merciless.
The Cairnwoods: A pale forest, populated by scowling trappers, silent hunters and cats. Tread softly: when the moon is narrow, ragged necromancers pick over the ancient, stony graves.
– +2 DEX or CON
– Virtues: Humble, Focused, Resourceful.
– Vices: Obsessive, Disloyal, Irritable.
The Riverlands: A wolf-land; a honey-land. Where creaking lords cradle grievances in their oaken halls, hounds curled at their feet. Crow-flocked trees. Blood in the snow. Swords of blue steel.
– +2 STR or WIS
– Virtues: Just, Cautious, Generous.
– Vices: Reckless, Vengeful, Envious.
Scathe: The white wasteland. Birthplace of the counter-Church. Graveyard of saints. Its people are travellers, riders, falconers. Their old dynasty has fled, their crowns stolen by the Thief-Kings who reign in the black-towered cities.
– +2 INT or DEX
– Virtues: Forgiving, Frugal, Ambitious.
– Vices: Cruel, Greedy, Hasty.
After choosing a heritage, you answer the following question:
Are you:
– kind of an asshole? Choose an extra vice from the general list.
– striving to be better? Choose an extra virtue from the general list.