Genre: Fantasy, Monster, Sandbox, Humour Tone: Moustache-twirling B Movie Villainy, dark with a touch of humour. Mature themes may be mentioned but only in passing. Tech Level: Definitely-A-Bad-Idea Steampunk meets medieval wizardry. Scale: 2 - 4 Players, one boss character each. (players will have minions down the line) Mechanics: Dungeon Building, Raiding, Objective Based, Aspects of Communal Planning. System: Wicked Ones, a D6 system. No previous experience required.
P R E M I S E
Be a Monster, build a Dungeon, kill Adventurers, grow your Hoard.
You are a Monster who survived a calamity brought by the Light. You have banded together with the last dredges of your previous home and traipsed across this weary landscape to a faraway land, burrowing deep into the earth there and biding your time in the dark. A Dungeon sprouts around you, but it is new and vulnerable and easy pickings. You will provide it's nutrition. You will mould and tend it's growth. You are a ~ DUNGEON LORD ~
It sounds great in your head. In reality, however, you are mostly-incompetent beast driven by a dark impulse. It compels you, compels you away from your goals and towards satiating your monstrous urges like finding something really shiny. You are prone to flights of fancy and throwing caution to the wind. Together with your peers and minions, you might just manage to throw together a ramshackled dungeon of mad design, and possibly die not-so-gloriously in it's defence. Failing that, you could always just take over the world I guess.
N O T E S
This is an RPG where instead of being an adventurer killing monsters in a dungeon and looting them, you are the monster building a dungeon killing adventurers and looting them. It is possible your character will die, but your dungeon will live on, ready to spawn more creatures. Unless you do a very bad job of protecting it.
During the course of the game characters have access to things like potion making, trapbuilding, magical item crafting, faustian pactmaking, minionry and dungeon building. This roleplay is an opportunity to have characters that make terrible decisions, throw themselves into terrific circumstance, and develop a world-devouring cozy home.
If you're interested, please state your initial concept for monster race and what kind of class you're leaning to. There's also some info on Dungeon Types and Dark Impulses if you're so inclined to get an idea of what that's about.
Class aka Callings are briefly outlined below, and monster race you have alot of freedom with.
Choice of race has little mechanical effect. You can play a hench kobold or a teeny tiny orc. You can play a giant magically awakened evil squirrel or a sentient ooze or shy mushroom weeaboo man. I have a list that comes by default of race examples, but if you're hankering to play something a little more unusual, we can balance it in OOC or over PM.
The following are banned as they drastically alter or dominate the style of play. These are the following: Braineater - Think Mindflayers Doomseekers - Think Beholders Facestealers - Think Changelings or Shapeshifters Goldmonger - Think Dragons
Brute: Powerful and intimidating fighters. Gain Rage, which grants them incredible feats of strength. Their progression involves options like fury, living weapon and menace.
Conniver: Manipulating and controlling masterminds. Gain Strings, which causes allys to reroll failures. Gain bonuses from this. Their progression involves options like weaving the web, wordplay and masterful liar.
Crafter: Clever and curious tinkerers. Gain Ingenuity, which allows them feats of creation e.g. powerful concoctions, temporary contraptions, ignore volatility in monster science attempts. Their progression involves options like brewmaster, creative frenzy and signature elixer.
Hunter: Ruthless and tenacious trackers. Gain Thrill of the Hunt, allowing them to exploit a weakness in your prey. Gain bonuses from this. Their progression involves options like scavenger, scout and hunting pet.
Marauder: Cunning and honed warriors. Gain Battlemaster, which grants them incredible feats of athletics. Their progression involves options like tactician, commander and joy of battle.
Shadow: Sneaky and elusive rogues. Gain Prowler, which grants them incredible feats of agility. Their progression involves options like poisoner, stalker and unseen hand.
Shaman: Terrifying and vengeful witches. Gain access to the Witchcraft school of magic. Witchcraft breaks down into the following trees: Bloodreading - the pulse of life, soothsaying - the timeless eye, stormstrike - the storm's fury, spiritcalling - the world beyond and wildheart - the brutality of nature. Their progression involves options like beastform, terror and spirit whispers.
Warlock: Daring and amibitious mages. Gets access to the Sorcery school of magic. Sorcery breaks down into the following trees: enchantment, evocation, force master, illusion, necromancy and pyromancy. Their progression involves options like reaper, overload and artificer.
Zealot: Gets access to Channeling Magic. Devote yourself to a Dark God or fiend, channeling your worship to gain a slice of it's power. Their progression involves options like inquisitor, unholy rituals and rebuke.
Each character has one dark impulse. You can follow your dark impulse into trouble to gain extra dice called a Dark Heart, so it's not all bad - just an oppurtunity to roleplay something monster appropriate. If your character ever breaks from too much stress, they go feral, immediately doing something that satisfies their Dark Impulse.
Big Mouth: You can't hold your tongue, whether that means being obnoxiously rude, a horrendous braggart, a compulsive liar, or can't help letting slip the truth. You delight in people hearing you speak, whether it hurts you, them, or allies. You brag you can jump the chasm, blurt out where you're hiding the noble's daughter or tell the dragon it better watch how it speaks to you.
Cruel: You enjoy the pain and misery of others, killing is just not quite good enough. You might let the eyeless prince live knowing he will never be king, or twist the knife a little more to hear your victim scream.
Deranged: You find joy in the most bizarre, disturbing things. You're completely unpredictable, with as tendency to try unusual things just to see what happens. You might drink a label-less potion or kick a minion down a hole just to see what happens.
Fickle: You're easily distracted and can't stay on task. Once something grabs your attention, you HAVE to check it out. You might change your mind halfway through a plan before even taking the first step. Bored of listening, you might let your pet wolf devour the prisoner, or you decide not to bother paying the goblins you hired.
Obsessed: You're prone to fixation. Once something is on your mind, you can't let go. You might have an overwhelming desire to procure shiny things, or you're determined to feast with Lavisha in the afterlife. You will do anything to make the valley elves suffer.
Paranoid: You always feel like yourself, your belongings, your goals are under threat. You never feel safe and find the slightest reason to fear for the worst, knowing something terrible will happen. You might have an irrational fear of something mundane or an incredibly averse fear of something somewhat dangerous. You might refuse to cross the river, terrified of hidden knife-wielding crabs. You might always think your minions are holding back some loot, or that your close ally is backstabbing you.
Reckless: The last thing you think about is consequences. You're impatient, rash and short-sighted. You take the quickest route to your goals, no matter what's in the way. You care little for your own safety, or those around you. You might grow tired of listening to the witch and snatch the idol from her gnarled fingers, or never miss an opportunity to test out your questionable inventions.
Vengeful: You never forget when someone has crossed you, and let no small slight go unpunished. Whether the injury was real or perceived matters not - you know they are responsible and they will pay for what they've done. You may send the orcs who badmouthed you right into a trap even though you needed them, or you run off into the forest, giving chase to kill the horse that kicked you.
Each of these Dungeon Types has it's own set of rooms assosciated with it. If we get enough people to play we'll put it to the vote which dungeon we run. Feel free to state your preference now if you already have a hankering for one of these.
Enclave: An Enclave is infused with magic. Arcane energy lingers in the air, and the surrounding land around the Dungeon is warped because of it.
Forge: A Forge is a place of ingenuity and blatant disregard for safety. Factories, steamworks, alchemical crucibles and mad inventions are all halmarks of a forge. A source of power fuels your dungeon, such as a volcano, steamworks or great dam.
Hideout: A place to lay low and escape detection, yet your influence stretches far. You live under the radar, but as agents of chaos, you meddle in the affairs with others and deflect the blame at the same time.
Stronghold: A seat of power for a great warband. Your physical force is unmatched.
Temple: An unholy monument to a dark god, venerating their domains and pushing their dark schemes. You may beseech them for access to great divine power.
I'm definitely throwing my lot into this. I got ideas already. I'm thinking a sort of slime monster which may seem innocent enough, until it manages to eat enough creatures/people and start incorporating their flesh into his being. Goes from an ooze creature to a fleshy abomination. As for class, I think Brute fits his style the most, though he does have a dash of hunter as well. The type of creature who lies in wait, stalks his enemy, but once he shows up he just goes nutso.
Some other ideas I have is a skeleton marauder of a sorts. Specifically, he used to be a holy warrior but has lost pretty much all of his magical powers, but also gained a new purpose to fight, so in between killing adventurers he preaches about his deity and tries to convert people. So kinda like a Zealot but with less emphasis about magic and more about bashing skulls.
@POOHEAD189@Lucius Cypher@Dark Cloud@Kenshi@VeyrinDay looks like we have our players! I'll have some more information up later today regarding calling ability options and stats (called actions in this rpg) so you can start thinking about how you want to build your monster.
@POOHEAD189 let me know what concepts you're thinking of for your character :D
@Lucius Cypher so if you want, we could replace your calling's core ability with a Primal Ability, which would basically be a slime racial trait. For a Slime that might be something like can absorb and carry it's minions around inside it, or stick to walls and floors, or a mix of things. Let me know if you want to do this instead of your Calling's core ability and what you'd like your racial traits to be, and we can balance it. Then when you max out your XP a couple times you can switch to fleshy-abomination style monster.
Theres also some cool options for your Skeleton that involves taking a skeleton racial and zealot calling OR going full brute and using a flexibility slot to add some zealot flavour but that stuff will be discussed more in depth during character creation. TL:DR there are different ways you can take it when we get into the mechanics stuff so let me know what you decide.
@Dark Cloud@Kenshi@VeyrinDay That goes for everyone actually, when the OOC is up you'll have the information you need to choose whether you want to take your flat core class ability or change it up to a racial. I imagine Succubus might be one you want to customise more.
In the meantime, we currently have 1 vote for a Stronghold and 2 votes for a Hideout. Hideout will lead to a more political game and Stronghold is more full-out war style.
More Overview Info for Dungeon Types, there are rooms all dungeons have access to but these are just the unique ones for each dungeon.
Fighting Pit - bet on a fighter, if they win you gain a reroll.
Funeral Pyre - Minions are honored when they die. Any minion who sees a comrade dies gains morale and does not need to be paid next downtime.
Smithy - Provides a steady supply of weaponry. Your minions have greater success when crafting items or adding bonuses to them.
War Drums - The steady sound of wardrums keeps everyone focused in the dungeon. Projects essentially take less time to complete as characters are more efficient.
War Room - A place to plan strategies for warfare. Your have greater success during ambush, assaults and strike raids. When these succeed, gain a reroll
Barracks - you can recruit better minions that deal more damage and have the loyal upgrade. This room will defend you during invasions as well.
Bestiary - You have mounts and a secure area to keep them in. These can have two of the following affixes: aquatic - armored - fast - flying - magical - terrifying. This room will defend you during invasions as well.
Dojo - The dojo master trains you relentlessly. You are more likely to roll critical successes and find difficult battles less stressful. This room will defend you during invasions as well.
Gambling Den - Monsters come from outside your dungeon to use this facility. You can recruit monsters from this room. They can trick people and start with the strapped upgrade by default. This room will defend you during invasions as well.
Gear Locker - You always get geared up before you leave the dungeon. You gain extra supplies and a steady access to climbing gear - glowsticks - smoke bombs - tar bombs - throwing weapons - thunderstones - traps
Obstacle Course - Minions hone their skills here, gaining more effectiveness. The can become better at Finesse, Scan or Skulking. This room deceives invaders during an invasion.
Planning Room - you plot your raids here in greater detail. Gain bonuses for negotiation, stealth and trickery based planes. When you succeed on these raids gain a reroll.
Roost - you have bats, ravens or other small winged beasts at your service. You can use these to scout and establish a fact about those you are about to raid.
Tavern - You have a raucous tavern with all the trimmings. Minions gain morale here during recovery and gain bonuses when fighting off invaders. Wandering monsters sometimes stop by the tavern and become available for recruitment.
Academy - Monsters study the esoteric arts here. You can recruit minions from this room. They have the adept upgrade for me and gain invoke (spellcasting) as their primary action. This room will defend you against invaders during invasions.
Crucible - The mystical power of this room enchants item. Every downtime it can produce a tier 1 magic item or push a higher tier project forward, so long as the reagents have been provided.
Greenery - These carnivorous plants can be fed to harvest: a plant based supply - special ingrediants for potions - a few doses of a concoction this room also counts as a trap.
Library - Once per cycle, the dungeon can establish a fact about the history, cultures or arcana of the world.
Potion Lab - Your imps have learned to make potions. The dungeon chooses a single magic path to focus on - you have a steady supply of all tier 1 potions from this school and a single tier 2 potion.
Scrying Pool - The pool reveals far away scenes. Once per cycle, the Dungeon can establish a fact about an NPCs recent activity.
Spawning Chamber - Minions are grown or summoner here, easily replacing your losses. Once per dungeon defense, a copy of a slain minion pack can burst forth from the spawning chamber. You can choose to add the expendable upgrade to minions for free.
Alchemist Lab - Your imps are always harb at work mixing reagents. You have a steady supply to all tier 1 concoctions.
Guild Hall - You let your minions organise to better their working and living conditions. In truth you ignore their demands, but the illusion of having some control reduces grumbling. The dungeon weathers calamities better.
Factory - Your imps toil away relentlessly in the factory. Each downtime, they can either produce a single tier 1 contraption or make progress towards a higher tier contraption.
Mineshaft - You dig out a mine, gaining a steady supply of a single non-precious metal. You make an immediate discovery in the mine, and gain higher rolls on all future discovery rolls (e.g. breaking into a new cave ect.)
Testing Chamber - You can empower your monster science, for a price. You can pay cost related to your testing to: remove an item's volatility - increase a concotion in size, scope or duration, - gain higher chance on a next use with a specific item
Vehicle Bay - The dungeon has an incredible vehicle, such as a submarine, dirigible, steamcar, or other type of transport. Detail the vehicle and give it two edges aka upgrades armored - camoflauged - dependable - fast - nimble. Give it a flaw clumsty - distinct - noisy - rickety - slow. The vehicle is fully repaired (or rebuilt) by imps during each recovery.
Workshop - You have a well furnished workshop where you imps and minions can toil away. They gain better chance of success on building or crafting projects.
Altar - You can make a sacrifice at the alter, paying cost to gain a dark blessing: higher success roll with an item this cycle - increase your success on your next resistant roll - your next failure instead becomes a mixed success. The sacrifice must be unique each time you ask for a blessing.
Antechamber - Between the staircase and your sanctum on the final level is an impressive room glorifying your dark deeds in the name of your god. Adventurers get unsettled by this when they stop to take note, gaining you a reroll and greater chance of success during a boss battle / sanctum fight.
Augury Circle - You can read portents of future events here. You can establish a fact in the present about an NPCs next likely move.
Dormitory - Fresh cultists flock to serve your dark god. You can recruit minions here. They always have your gods favoured action, choose when this room is built which you prefer. They start with the Zealous upgrade for free. This room defends you against invaders during invasions as well.
Reliquary - this room corrupts and amplifies magic of up to three items of unholy impact placed wihin it. When an item is placed, immediately incant a tier 2 ritual causing a persistant effect within your dungeon related to the specific item.
Penance Chamber - Your minions fear punishment more then death and will never betray you. When they fight to the death, ignore the dice penalty from being bloodied.
Scriptorium - Your deeds are recovered in unholy scripture, immediately giving you wicked XP equal to your dungeon tier. You also gain a new XP trigger - Were your actions worthy of your god's notice? Each PC must prove their worth to gain this xp.
I was told by Kriev Volttari, umm that's the Minotaur I represent. Anyways, he is a little upset, that there was no Labyrinth or Maze in any of these dungeons...
I'm going for a Kobold that employs riddles, puzzles and mind games within his dungeon. Eventually I hope to employ trap builders to fill the entire dungeon with all kind of death devices and puzzle rooms, he is either obsessed with knowledge or has an obsession for having power over others by knowing their dirty little secrets.
He wants everyone to owe him something, whenever someone seeks his help they will owe him a favor in the future. This Kobold surrounds himself with lackeys to do his grunt work but he surprisingly treats his minions well, as he knows more than anything that unhappy minions are libel to kill their boss.
Character Concept
"Nothing in life is without cost, you will always owe somebody for something."
Race: Kobold Calling: Conniver Dark Heart: Obsessed Abilities: Weaving the Web, Cunning (Racial) Dungeon Type: Hideout
I'm going for a Kobold that employs riddles, puzzles and mind games within his dungeon. Eventually I hope to employ trap builders to fill the entire dungeon with all kind of death devices and puzzle rooms, he is either obsessed with knowledge or has an obsession for having power over others by knowing their dirty little secrets.
Aren't kobolds stupid? So wouldn't he get lost in his own mind games lol 😛
No kobolds are quite cunning & excellent trapsmiths.
And if you go by the German folklore.... Although usually invisible, a kobold can materialize in the form of an animal, fire, a human being, and a candle
And if you go by the German folklore.... Although usually invisible, a kobold can materialize in the form of an animal, fire, a human being, and a candle
Ok, here's the class abiltiies y'all have access to. You can take one of your Calling's abilities at character creation, OR you can use your flexibility slot to take one ability from another class list. When you max out XP you can take another ability, but you only get one flexibility spot per game.
off the top of my head, some terminology if you're unsure what a calling ability does: +1d: you get an extra dice to roll during a test. Dark Hearts: Usually gained from following your Dark Desire. These are extra dice you can use at any time. When you take a killing blow, and you have Dark Hearts remaining, you can perform an immediate final action before you kick the bucket. You get +1d for each dark heart you have. Any ally who sees this gains a dark heart. Stress: Each character has a stress counter. When it maxes out at 6 stress, your character goes feral, immediately pursuing their dark impulse. They gain a dark heart from doing this. Clock: This is just a form of counter that keeps track of how far along a project is.
Here to offer clarification if I've missed something. Cycles we'll cover more as we play IC, but heres an overview:
L U R K I N G --> C A L A M I T Y --> R A I D I N G --> B L O W B A C K
The roleplay is broken clearly into phases, with some phases being shorter then others.
LURKING: You recover from your injuries and stress. You pile your loot from the last raid onto your hoard and revel, earning gold, dark hearts and items. You take a downtime action, such as building traps, making potions or inventions, recruiting minions, ect.
CALAMITY: GM rolls to see if something bad happens in the dungeon. Minions revolt, a tunnel collapses.
RAIDING: You leave the dungeon and plan a raid on the world above. You select a target, devise a fiendish plan, and then we delve into the action. The bulk of the game happens here.
BLOWBACK: How does the world react to your pillaging and looting? Here we find out if you get ambushed on the way home or cause some very upset adventurers to invade the dungeon.
I put my vote to a Forge tbh. Feels like it works best with my slime guy who's likely a magical experiment gain sentience. Additionally I'll probably stick with my slime guy for now since he's the one I feel most strongly for.
As for abilities, I'm thinking that I'll go for the Shadow Class instead. my dude is more of a sneaky assassin type after all, prowling the dark, dropping on his foes. Oh yeah, I'll also go for that Primal Ability over a Core class feature. I like the Sticky Body thing that'll allow me to climb on weird surfaces, maybe even make me better at grappling with my foes once I catch em.
Proto Character build is such:
Race: Slime Calling: Shadow Dark Impulse: Paranoid Abilities: Sticky Slime (Racial), Living Weapon (Long Reach, Grappling) (Flexibility) Dungeon Type: Forge
