Rate my world! (Rate not Hate!)

[Darthor]

Hello guys, i'm new here, this is my first thread.

I am building a world for my players in D&D 3.5 based on Dark Souls and some Zombie Apocalypse stuff. I really like the game, and lets not forget, its only BASED on the game.

The basics:

Undead: The real deal: zombies, skeletons, wraiths and the like. When you destroy one, he's done.

Hollow: Something between Live Humanoid and Necropolitan. You have the worse of both worlds, you don't get any undead immunities, you can be harmed by both positive or negative energy (the caster makes a CL check CD 10 to choose the effect, failure by 4 or less the spell doesn't work, failure by 5+ or nat 1, the opposite effect happens). Only positive energy can heal you still, the only benefit is: you don't have to drink or eat anymore. The longer you stay in hollow, more undead you become, you have to cling to things that make you human. Any Hollow can be reverted by any Ress spell. (more info about hollows directly on the entries in "What happens when X dies?")

Everything that dies, comes back as undead or hollow. (It can take as much as 1 round, or up till the night in that day for this to happen)

What happens when X dies?

Animals: Become undead after coming back.

Non-vital NPCs: Come back as Hollow, drop 1 level on the Good/Neutral/Evil axis. If he dies again, or remain as much as 1 week/HD as hollow, he becames an undead.

Vital NPCs and PCs: Come back as Hollow, Will save or drop 1 level in Morality axis like above. Each week as a hollow you make another will save, if you succed: keep your morality, sanity and "soul", if you fail: drop your morality in 1 level, count as another week of hollow, and start "losing your soul". After a character reach Weeks=HD in hollow form, he becames undead.

During your hollow time, if you roleplay, try to eat, and remain human, you get a bonus on your will save (probably +2). If you go all i don't care, hobo killing machine, you get penalties.

But why is all of this happening?

There is a huge bonfire my players already found hidden in a mountain, there is one hollow that "guards" the bonfire and give them some info (he is getting kinda nuts for being dead for so long, but the bonfire prevents him from becoming undead), and there was Gwyn, a old god, so weak by fueling the natural course of life, that when my players found and attacked him(he looked like an undead, and couldn't speak) the bonfire almost went cold. Now they must find something else to burn so the dead stay dead. The hollow mentioned that Gods burn well(Big Nope) and people with a lot of followers, like Kings/High Priests and the like may burn well too(Yeah let's go with that), now they are talking with the king to see how they are going to proceed.

Will the bold King sacrifice himself? How long can he burn for the world?

Will he start a war to get another king? A tyrant maybe? What about all the undead that will raise in a war?

And etc.

(There are some surprises coming...the king is a decoy, the true king was Gwyn for example)

Shennanigans i gave my players:

Estus flask: Potion o cure light wounds with 5 charges, can be restocked at the bonfire, if a player dies, they can light a bonfire using the energy of 1 full estus flask (they all have 1, 4 players, the carges can be divided) to ress someone as Hollow without having to wait up till night for the person to ress(and get a bonus on the character will save). (This potion will "level up" after some events, as they level up, so it keep being useful)

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions be welcome, that's what i need the most!


Sorry for any grammar mistakes, english is not my native language.

[Stux]

Well... I love the world of Dark Souls, so I definitely give that a good rating. Not sure I'd call this your world as such haha :smallwink:

I'm sure you've put a lot of work in to adapting it though, hope you have fun with it!

[evisiron]

I haven't heard much about Dark Souls, but this sounds like it could be pretty fun. :smallsmile:

It might be worth establishing how long this has been going on for and what people's attitudes are towards it. "Yay, loved ones are not dying" vs "they are coming back different..."

[The Kind Knido]

More Dark Souls...more zombies. :smallsigh:

Still, I like the idea of some pretty hectic scenarios being presented to the players. Not only are they going to have to kill a guy, they're going to have to kill a guy again in a different way. Definitely interesting.

Wish I had the patience or the original mind to write a world but the first and last time I tried (for D&D at least) was a major flop riddled with bland locations and unoriginal themes.

Any statted enemies yet? Those tall black armour dudes better have infinite hit points since you can bash them in the face with a planet and still end up being the one to die.

[Darthor]

I'm not yet into making other kind of Dark Souls enemies for them, i just wanted a Zombie World (my players really love zombie themes) with something more. I may put some big freakin Hollows with tons of HP. This Hollow thing is pretty recent in the world, some people on cemeteries were coming back like zombies with no particular reason (recent deaths, about "3 days ago"), but now that they killed the god, everything comes back, i planned if they would let the bonfire go cold, even undead would come back after being "destroyed", and no living being can be born, something like that, still thinking about the consequences.

[Zero grim]

I like what I've read so far, a quick question for my curiosity?

How is resurrection dealt with, since everyone comes back a hollow it would seem that the way you revive someone is simply by finding their hollow self and purging them before their lost to the madness of undeath forever.

If resurrection is the same as standard then the hollow state is just a free life for everyone, not something id want to get rid of just so there was slightly less zombies around, and lets be truthful, army's of zombies make very good labours when put to use.

[Darthor]

I like what I've read so far, a quick question for my curiosity?

How is resurrection dealt with, since everyone comes back a hollow it would seem that the way you revive someone is simply by finding their hollow self and purging them before their lost to the madness of undeath forever.

If resurrection is the same as standard then the hollow state is just a free life for everyone, not something id want to get rid of just so there was slightly less zombies around, and lets be truthful, army's of zombies make very good labours when put to use.

So, good questions! What i am planning to do: Undead that where once Hollow (Aka: Not Animate Dead) cannot be controled, they will indeed be controled, by the power that get stronger when the bonfire is cold (something like the Lich King.....yes...that one...). So eventually they have to solve the problem or there will be war...Maybe they can try to burn the Lich King on the bonfire xD (If the campaign lasts this much that would be the Grand Almost-Epic-Finale).

What i tought about Resurrection: will work as usual, except you don't need material components anymore, so probably some Good clerics will Res for free/almost free. Don't forget when they come back as hollows (especially non vital NPCs) they do drop automatically 1 level on the Morality Axis, so the peasant who come back as Hollow will be either Neutral or Evil, wich may become a problem, as in 1 week they become undead too.

[Aasimar]

My problem is that it's doomed to failure.

The world will be overrun with undead in short order unless VERY strict rules are enforced on cremation and/or control of the resulting undead.

The fact that hollow must save each week or become evil means that the average person WILL become evil eventually, then undead (and even more evil)

My concern is that it's all too inevitable.

[Darthor]

My problem is that it's doomed to failure.

The world will be overrun with undead in short order unless VERY strict rules are enforced on cremation and/or control of the resulting undead.

The fact that hollow must save each week or become evil means that the average person WILL become evil eventually, then undead (and even more evil)

My concern is that it's all too inevitable.


Hummm, i understand your concerns, what i believe i can do about them:

Yes, there will be very strict rules for cremation in some places, as even a hollow being a "new chance" is too a abomination in the "natural way"

The non vital npcs will indeed become evil and undead, but, they can "march" without organization to the land of the soon-to-be Lich King, this can give time to people organize some defenses, before everything is destroyed.

I am a bit concerned about a war, war create hollows, maybe your fellow soldier don't want to burn you or watch the enemy burn you.... But eventually you will become an undead and attack everyone. (Even with no costs it's not possible to res everyone in a war...)

My players can try to unite the kingdons versus the new threat, try tyranny and to banish the hollow from the land(more hate Yaaay) or they can start sacrificing lots of lesser people on the bonfire to stop the Hollow thing for a time.

I must create tables, for how long someone would Fuel the bonfire, so they can "buy time" with living, conscious sacrifices. Would that be plausible?

[Zero grim]

Over run with undead? I don't see it, not when Turning exists, all you need is a local cleric or two and they can basically deal with any 1HD undead no problem.

Undead are really really bad at fighting army's, if they cant be controlled that's even worse, an army of soldiers that use formation and tactics against a random rabble of zombies? the zombies may be tougher, but it just takes one fight for people to realise "cut them up"

Id rather leave the flame unlit, you get a second chance at life whenever you die and even the weakest of willed people will be around for a week.

as for fuelling the fire, as a rule of thumb id use a form of leadership score since you said the fire burns longer if used by a king or something, id use something close to:

Cha+Wis+HD=
1-5 1 hour
6-10 1 day
11-15 1 week
16-20 1 month
21-25 1 year

Perhaps give bonuses to the check if you are a noble or a leader or something, just make sure the minimum time is pretty short otherwise the solution might just be burn farmers forever.

[flubbercwb]

I believe that the point most people are trying to make here is about the motivation... "What is the adventure?" If the objective is to keep the big bonfire lit, then the next most obvious question is "Why the hell would I do that?"

Some kind of lich king is only going to motivate the hunting if he causes trouble to the party directly (or if the party is good, of course). Maybe it would be nice to make it clear that "There is someone pulling strings here, and he will get stronger as long as the problem is not solved". And maybe, just maybe, it is a good idea to make it clear that he doesn't want to be friends with the party (that comes from experience with players with evil tendencies).

Maybe some kind of disciple of the lich king might march over a town where the party is hosted with a whole bunch of controled undead. That would mean "Hey... those things can be organized... something MUST be done!".

That's just an idea... sorry about my english as well.

[JusticeZero]

...stoke the fire with Justin Bieber? :smallbiggrin: Seriously, it isn't that hard to get people to idolize a person who is actually publically doing stuff. Any adventurer worth their salt can become legendary if they want to.

[pilvento]

I like the idea a lot, good work man. i never played dark souls so i dont know how much you adapted and how much is your own, but still. good job.

When you build a world and give a major event like the eventual evil at the end of the campaing is make the consequences of the signs that warn the PCs and makes them react.

You can solve 2 problems doing something like this:
after a hollow fails its Willsave they not only become evil or undead but give them only 1 objective, march to the domains of your lich king. this way not only you will "solve" the infestation consequences since undeads leave the land on their own but it will give the kingdoms and the PCs a reason to follow and investigate this, giving you the cance to make a full undead and terrifying enviroment for the PCs to explore until they reach the evil fortress and realice the Lichs plan, return, warn the kingdoms and get prepared.