Darker Dungeons and Sanity and Taint - Advice on implementation

[Paleomancer]

Greetings, Comrades! Not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes.

I'm trying to assemble a campaign featuring a mix of Gothic/Cosmic horror, for which I'd like to use forms of both taint/corruption and sanity/stress as a mechanical way to reinforce the environment and even, perhaps tie to specific gameplay. However, I've heard mixed things about such systems, so I was hoping to brainstorm with you gentlepeople on what might be a good system that is simple enough to not be distracting and a way to simulate terror that real players are unlikely to feel.

I'm not sure if the story goals necessarily matter, but I was hoping to use sanity as the willpower needed to face both horrible situations and terrible opponents, as well as potentially tie it to magic use in some fashion (possibly even replacing spell slots altogether). Taint would specifically represent the influence of some dread entity (The Red Death, Great Cthulhu, Dracula...) or connection to a nightmare realm (ethereal plane, the dreamlands) on a character, which would replace standard alignments and possibly carry both benefits or penalties mechanically. Regardless, I'm not sure where to start. Thank you in advance :smallsmile:!

[noob]

How stress works in darkest dungeons: it raise then you die and get disadvantages halfway through the path to death.
Do you want that in dnd 3.5 which is heroic high magic fantasy with superheroes?
there is multiple versions of sanity as optional rules in the varied first party dnd manuals but they all suffer from the stack of arm problem.(basically exposure to very minor stuff in very high number makes you insane instantly even more than seeing chtulu in its final shape cast the ultimate nihilistic insanity spell)

[aimlessPolymath]

In terms of taint, you could look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?436313-System-Complete-Taint)for one person's implementation. It's the only one I've found that doesn't suffer from the issue noob described.

However, I agree that D&D is not typically well suited for horror games at high levels (I do have one DM who runs every game like Call of Cthulhu).

[noob]

In terms of taint, you could look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?436313-System-Complete-Taint)for one person's implementation. It's the only one I've found that doesn't suffer from the issue noob described.

However, I agree that D&D is not typically well suited for horror games at high levels (I do have one DM who runs every game like Call of Cthulhu).

Taint is significantly different from sanity.
Taint involve some sort of thing that is not just in the mind.
Taint systems while being useful for representing people getting corrupt by energies are not supposed to represent the fall in insanity of someone.
I like complete taint and I approve adding it for making a setting darker.(and I did read it when it was published)

I think there should be a way to make sanity that does not just involve "here is a stressful thing make a save or lose san"
Maybe the creator of complete taint might create a sanity system if asked to?

[Paleomancer]

How stress works in darkest dungeons: it raise then you die and get disadvantages halfway through the path to death.
Do you want that in dnd 3.5 which is heroic high magic fantasy with superheroes?
there is multiple versions of sanity as optional rules in the varied first party dnd manuals but they all suffer from the stack of arm problem.(basically exposure to very minor stuff in very high number makes you insane instantly even more than seeing chtulu in its final shape cast the ultimate nihilistic insanity spell)

It is kinda what I was hoping to do... I’m only familiar with D&D and similar settings, like GURPS, overwhelm me with their relative complexity, plus D&D is the one setting I know I can find people with whom to play, hence why I wanted to identify possible solutions. But yes, rapid insanity is not really for what I was looking. Unless you fight Cthulhu. Then yes, your brain should explode :smallwink::smallbiggrin:


In terms of taint, you could look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?436313-System-Complete-Taint)for one person's implementation. It's the only one I've found that doesn't suffer from the issue noob described.

However, I agree that D&D is not typically well suited for horror games at high levels (I do have one DM who runs every game like Call of Cthulhu).

True enough. I was thinking about limiting to lower levels (1-6/1-8), in the vein of Epic 6 or similar, but I’m beginning to realize that while the 3.5e framework is usable, the actual D&D ruleset would require a bit more work to adapt, and I might need entirely new classes...

That is a good link though. I might see about adapting it. I had visualized Sanity/Stress as a kind of mental/morale resilience, in the way that hit points represent physical resilience and energy. My thought would be certain creatures can target that directly, and magic (or at least more powerful forms) would potentially test one’s willpower.

Taint would instead represent a kind of “presence” or corruption within that was not exactly analogous to pure evil, but rather the hold certain gothic or cosmic-type horrors might hold over a person, more in the vein of the Red Death, Lovecraftian Cultists, or Ravenloft Darklords.

But this is becoming more of an independent ruleset... Hmm.