What are things you can do to steer your Dungeon World campaign into the realms of (really) Dark Fantasy. Things like Dark Souls, Kingdom Death, and the great inspiration; Berserk.
What are the themes you look for, how do you make the world feel more hopeless and frightening, how do you establish the tone?
Are there things you’d change move wise? Other mechanics?
One of my players just came at me with a suggestion so cool, I felt the need to share it with you all!
One of my players just came at me with a suggestion so cool, I felt the need to share it with you all!
Last session, I described the present situation (read: fronts) in character to the players via their patron. The players elected to travel far south to investigate why the vital trade caravans were not arriving, and chose to leave the disappearances at a Lumber Camp for now.
One of the players won’t be able to make it this week, and we really didn’t want to play without him in the main story.
So, a player suggested this:
“Can we not play the normal troops the patron will dispatch to investigate the other Front instead?”
It. is. perfect.
So next week, the players will be playing a squad of regular soldiers (who are not NEARLY as potent as Heroes) using a custom playbook for said generic soldiers.
They can pick the skills each soldier has (they will likely play 2 each) and Play to Find Out what happens when people who are NOT demi-god-like larger-than-life soldiers confront unspeakable evil.
So, instead of advancing the front, revealing the portents etc. They get to watch up close, from the eyes of people who are definitely not Heroes, what happens.
Also, likely half the soldiers will get maimed, exsanguinated, or otherwise released from their moral coil.
We will keep the survivors (if any), replenish the fallen, and have the newly named “Doom Patrol” on hand for future absences.
So, I’m still working on my Horror/Sanity/Eldritch Abomination goodness ruleset.
So, I’m still working on my Horror/Sanity/Eldritch Abomination goodness ruleset.
Right now I’m strongly considering supplying two frameworks for dealing with insanity, mutation, other Bad Things.
The first is entirely in-fiction, supplying extensive descriptions of what the effects of certain things might be on a character (for example, describing in detail what kleptomania actually does to a real person). This can be used straight up with any system really, but relies on the players being willing to actually roleplay their mental damage.
The second is a more mechanical approach, for those who enjoy a bit of “roll sanity” and madness points (and, optionally, Random Tables).
For the mechanical solution I think I’ll build an “appendix” sheet for use with any regular playbooks, where players can track all the bad things happening to them and their ever dwindling grasp on reality.
Corruption/Madness will work like a kind of “inverted” experience track.
You start out at full sanity, but if you accrue sanity level + X (to be playtested) corruption points, your sanity level will go down
Yes, that means that as your sanity erodes you will sink into madness faster and faster.
Once you pass the halfway point (sanity level 5) you will start drifting further and further from normal reality, allowing the DM many opportunities to Reveal an unwelcome truth or Show signs of an approaching threat. Also tentacles.
The core idea I’m going for here is that the more you are exposed to madness and corruption, your sanity erodes and your character becomes closer and closer to the eldritch horrors he is trying to combat.
Sorry to ramble on, I just wanted to idea-dump and see if people have input 🙂
“They say Sir Gunnarsson was the greatest knight who ever lived; He slew enemies beyond count for king and country.
But no grave or monument stands in his memory; ere his end came, he became so enamoured with war and Death that some say Death himself denied the blood-mad knight his rest, and that to this day he rides he rides the hinterlands at dusk, searching for fools to slay.”
