curious-puzzle
2015-02-18, 02:08 AM
*I wasn't sure if this should be in Homebrew, please move it if does need to be, thank you*
So after having rage-quit for over a year, I'm finally playing Dark Souls again and having a ton of fun. I also have an unfinished campaign setting that I tinker with on and off before deciding I don't like something about it and scrapping part of it. After fanboying over the atmosphere and setting of Dark Souls, I decided that I could incorporate some elementsbe inspired byflat out steal stuff from Dark Souls and slap it into my setting.
The story and atmosphere part I have lots of ideas for. The part I was hoping for opinions on was how to handle "Humanity" and resurrections/Bonfires:
I'm allowing other races, so I'll have to call it something else (current title is Vitae, unless someone else has a really cool idea). My current idea was that the players start with a Vitae score equal to half their CON score. Each time you die, you lose one Vitae. As your total goes down, your body starts to break down and wither away. When you reach 0, you've nearly become Hollow; you gain the Undead template (probably just the Necropolitan or Corpse template) and if you die again with your Vitae score at 0, you become fully Hollow. Your character goes murderously insane, and becomes a creature under the GM's control.
You can regain Vitae from slaying powerful creatures (boss monsters), finding rare relics (maybe), or killing other cursed individuals (which should have some moral implications even in a grimdark world).
I'm stuck between 3 options, but leaning towards one.
1: Bonfires/Sanctuaries just like the game: When you die, your are reborn at the nearest Bonfire you rested at. Pros are it being just like the game, I can have clearly defined safe zones and reset points. Downsides are it doesn't work that great if everyone's traveled a great distance from A Bonfire and one person dies. The rest of the group either waits or dies.
2: You are reborn where you were slain X amount of time later. This is the quick and dirty solution, but there's the issue that if everyone knows you'll just be back after death, why wouldn't they just wait by your corpse and maim you every time you twitched?
3: This is the idea I'm leaning towards; Still have Bonfires like Dark Souls, but you have the option for someone in the party to attune themselves to a Bonfire and become a Torchbearer, essentially becoming a mini-Bonfire for the other party member to resurrect from. If the Torchbearer dies, they return to the Bonfire. But being a Torchbearer will have consequences (first I'm thinking is it reduces your total Vitae score).
So that's the first bit so far. Any comments, opinions, pointing out of glaring errors, things you like or think are silly are all appreciated. Also, if anyone has links to examples of Dark Souls in tabletop games, that would be great too.
Thanks
So after having rage-quit for over a year, I'm finally playing Dark Souls again and having a ton of fun. I also have an unfinished campaign setting that I tinker with on and off before deciding I don't like something about it and scrapping part of it. After fanboying over the atmosphere and setting of Dark Souls, I decided that I could incorporate some elementsbe inspired byflat out steal stuff from Dark Souls and slap it into my setting.
The story and atmosphere part I have lots of ideas for. The part I was hoping for opinions on was how to handle "Humanity" and resurrections/Bonfires:
I'm allowing other races, so I'll have to call it something else (current title is Vitae, unless someone else has a really cool idea). My current idea was that the players start with a Vitae score equal to half their CON score. Each time you die, you lose one Vitae. As your total goes down, your body starts to break down and wither away. When you reach 0, you've nearly become Hollow; you gain the Undead template (probably just the Necropolitan or Corpse template) and if you die again with your Vitae score at 0, you become fully Hollow. Your character goes murderously insane, and becomes a creature under the GM's control.
You can regain Vitae from slaying powerful creatures (boss monsters), finding rare relics (maybe), or killing other cursed individuals (which should have some moral implications even in a grimdark world).
I'm stuck between 3 options, but leaning towards one.
1: Bonfires/Sanctuaries just like the game: When you die, your are reborn at the nearest Bonfire you rested at. Pros are it being just like the game, I can have clearly defined safe zones and reset points. Downsides are it doesn't work that great if everyone's traveled a great distance from A Bonfire and one person dies. The rest of the group either waits or dies.
2: You are reborn where you were slain X amount of time later. This is the quick and dirty solution, but there's the issue that if everyone knows you'll just be back after death, why wouldn't they just wait by your corpse and maim you every time you twitched?
3: This is the idea I'm leaning towards; Still have Bonfires like Dark Souls, but you have the option for someone in the party to attune themselves to a Bonfire and become a Torchbearer, essentially becoming a mini-Bonfire for the other party member to resurrect from. If the Torchbearer dies, they return to the Bonfire. But being a Torchbearer will have consequences (first I'm thinking is it reduces your total Vitae score).
So that's the first bit so far. Any comments, opinions, pointing out of glaring errors, things you like or think are silly are all appreciated. Also, if anyone has links to examples of Dark Souls in tabletop games, that would be great too.
Thanks