In the beginning, there was Day, and there was Night. The ancient men prospered under the light of the sun, and cowered beneath the pale moon. They dared not venture into the Night, for the darkness was fear and fear brought death. The creatures of the night hated the day, and mankind. They sought the blood of humans for their feasts, and dark rituals, and all manner of vile purposes. Under the pale moon they were stronger, faster, and more impervious. With their nightcraft they weaved terrible curses and alluring enchantments to ensnare their prey. Men could do naught but shudder in fear...
Until, during the Day, men found fire. Fire was light, and light was life, and hope, and courage. With fire men faced the Night, and drove it back. With fire men forged steel to do battle. And with steel men chopped wood and chiseled stone, to build great walls and keep the Night at bay.
Yet the pale moon rises, and the Night draws closer once more. They seek out their victims and place upon them a brand, a disgusting stigma upon the flesh. The Marked fear even their own shadows; for the dark forces flock to them no matter where they run.
But hope is not lost. If the Marked slays that which branded him, he will be free. Until the sun sets once more, and the Day begins to fade...
Name: X Age, Gender: X, X
Appearance: Either image or description is equally fine.
Personality: I'd like some flaws as well as strengths, and not just things like "average looking" or "not very social." Give your character a positive quality strong enough to carry them through tough times, but an equally negative quality that impacts their life or decisions.
Backstory: In addition to the important details of your characters' life, include What Marked Them, and Why. If there are details you'd prefer to keep secret, PM me.
Equipment: In addition to swords, shields, and so on, you may include other important items your character might make use of, such as ropes or hunting traps. These tools should be focused around whatever method you'll use to survive the Night, whether that be through battle or wits. Just don't go too crazy with it; no one can carry an entire armory.
Theme: Music that you feel fits the character. Not necessary, but I feel it enhances the experience.
Other: Anything you feel doesn't fit the above sections.
The Shadowed Vale is a northwestern province of a vast human kingdom, called such for the deep darkness cast over it by mountains, thick forests, and the rolling fog that rises from the lakes and rivers. During the day, and by the light of the flames, those who live on this frontier edge of the kingdom must work themselves to the bone to eke out their living. Yet despite this, the walls of Valeton have stood strong through many a terrible Night, and have weathered under the years only to be rebuilt time and time again. It is considered by some to be a stalwart bastion, and many a knight has gone forth from its walls to face the terrors that lie beyond.
Few of them ever return.
A cramped city surrounding the Valefort Castle, it is a somewhat crude and wary place. The people here are slow to trust, knowing creatures of the Night may wear the guise of a man. They are hardy and stubborn, but life weighs heavy upon them. It is simply accepted here that many children may not live past their second year, or may be snatched up and replaced with a foul Changeling. There are few who could be called nobility, many of them second sons come from other parts of the kingdom. The town guard watches with a diligent eye, their swords and spears always close by. Even during the day, bonfires burn and candles light the window sills.
Count Alistair von Valens has ruled from his ancestral castle for thirty years now. He is a cold, unapproachable man, but he is ever vigilant against the Night.
Cold mists always surround this lake, no matter what time of year or day. The rivers, full of snowmelt from the tops of the mountains, are cold enough to steal a man's breath away at a touch. Only the brave or reckless dare to take a boat into its waters, and only the stupid to swim beneath them. They say many an unfortunate has been dragged beneath, to the dark, seemingly endless depths below...
Yet there are others who speak of a Pale White Lady, who sings with a beautiful voice and walks atop the water...
This dark forest stretches for miles, and even in brightest noon its gnarled trees block the sun, their thorned branches outstretched like waiting claws. There are many a village of goblins and fey here who seek to entice and enchant an unwary traveler, and trolls and other unpleasant beasts make their homes beneath the roots and the hills. Every so often, on a pale moon's night, they become braver and wilder and leave the forest in host to assault the walls of Valeton, and any poor homestead or farmhouse in between. Supposedly, an Elven King holds court at the forests' center, but rarely does anyone return if they are still within the thicket after dark.
These mountains were given their name for the echoing groans and the gnashing, grinding noise of stone against stone that rolls down the valley. Some say it is the voices of giants, or the thrashing of a dragon. Others say that the mountains are beginning to fall apart, great cliffs of stone giving way and sliding this way and that. The landscape is rumored to change even between a traveler's footsteps, that he may lose his way and become a helpless meal for the monsters waiting in the caves...
Once, long ago, the ancestor of Count Valens erected this tower. Its purpose and the methods of its construction are lost to time. Foolhardy adventurers seek treasure within it, and some have indeed returned bearing gold, or bright armor, or gleaming swords. Yet many go mad or give in to temptations of the Night, and thus the place is cursed by madness...
Magic in this setting is not possessed by normal Humans, but is present. Only the creatures of the Night, and those who have sold themselves to them, have access to supernatural power. Most of the time this will take the form of the Nightkin's natural abilities: Vampires can hypnotize a victim through eye contact, a fairy can prick a human with a special arrow that causes them to fall asleep, a succubus can enter a man's dreams. Creatures who are closer to the nature of magic, or simply more powerful, may have other abilities. True Witches (as opposed to misunderstood herbalists), demons, and other such things may be able to cast stronger spells or curses. Other sources of magic, such as items and weapons, often carry a heavy price to their usage and are just as dangerous and corrupting as any other influence of the Night. In order to survive, players will have to use their natural abilities, their cunning, and the strength of character.
The Mark of the Night takes the form of a runic symbol branded upon an individual's flesh. It may be a burn, like a literal brand, or it may be a deep scar as if carved with a knife, or a tumorous growth, or any number of forms. The shape is always the same, though the placement may differ. A creature of the Night that has Marked someone is able to find them at any time, no matter how far they run or where they hide. In addition, other Nightkin will be able to sense the Mark if it is nearby, and its presence attracts them. Those who have been Marked also seem to attract each other, their paths crossing by fate.
A Nightkin can only Mark one person at a time, and the Mark cannot be removed until the creature that bestowed it has been slain. However, if the person who was Marked is killed or the task of the Nightkin otherwise accomplished, the Mark will fade and the monster can then Mark another victim.
The Nightkin are the monsters from every dark tale, the devils of the underworld, and those who have fallen from the path of righteousness and traded their souls for power, fortune, or desire. The setting is largely Western Medieval themed, so creatures like the Fey Folk, Vampires, Werewolves, and other such things are preferred to any other kinds of demons (I know Japanese Youkai are often popular choices, but they wouldn't really work here). Other creatures that are twisted monstrosities of animal and man, or more vaguely defined demons, will also probably work. If you have any questions about whether or not your creature would be suitable, just let me know and we'll discuss it further.
This RP is a Dark Low-Fantasy inspired by Berserk, the Souls franchise, and dark fairy tales. There are two principal ideas. First, how will players overcome supernatural odds without magic or other superhuman abilities? Secondly, what can players create when the story is up to them, rather than the GM? Every player in this RP will be Marked by the creatures of the Night. The players choose what marked them and why. Then it's up to the characters to deal with these monstrosities when they come to make good on their marks. I control the random creatures--those not involved with player backstories--attracted by the Mark, and work with players on the storylines to run things smoothly. As long as it's reasonable, fair, and most of all interesting, anyone can introduce plot threads.
Please post your Character Sheet Submission in this section. When it's approved you can move it to the Character tab. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! If you would like to add locations to the map, lore, or other things, just let me know and we can discuss it.
Out of curiosity, what is the reward for defeating our monsters? Do we gain a power of what which we have overcome?
I honestly hadn't considered it. Given that one of the original concepts was seeing how players would overcome supernatural forces without any special powers of their own, and that players will probably either work together or at least cross paths with each other, I don't really think granting power-ups would work out--whoever defeated their enemy first would have an advantage that would make overcoming their next party member's obstacle easier, and in the end it would also undermine that concept.
If you have other ideas I'm certainly willing to hear them out, though, because I agree that having a reward of some sort might be worthwhile.
Awesome. Also as for getting any prizes for defeating whoever marked you, I think the best prize would simply not being marked by a different nightkin (I'd assume that nightkins can't brand someone whose already marked). Very rare, but it can also serve as a status symbol here. Sort of like a sure sign of a real badass that he or she was able to survive and ultimately overcome whoever marked them. Of course that's assuming that Nightkin can't simply just mark more than one person, or would bother going after other, unmarked individuals for reasons likely only known to them.
But then again perhaps it's our lack of knowledge on these shadow creatures is what makes us so fearful of them. What we do "know" doesn't guarantee what would really happen. A succubus may very well prey on Malkai's friends instead of himself in order to make him forcefully confront the demon, or even distance himself and chose isolation. A vampire may be nothing more than a classy cannibal; sucking blood, weak to silver, none of that is real and it's just a romantic view of an otherwise brutal and cruel death. Perhaps the nightkin don't even truly exist, and it's all just a delusion built by our fear and paranoia in order to justify things beyond our understanding. A sort of spiritual satisfaction to the cruelties in our life.
At least that's how Malkai might justify it. In truth he's just too scared and uncertain to know if everything that's happening to him is something magical beyond his grasp, or perhaps it's actually just a warped reality justifying his incompetence. I'm sure everyone here is crazy enough to come to their own conclusions.
Name: Seth of Valeria. (Technically the Duke of Valeria) Age: 21. Gender: Male.
Personality: The most apparent feature of Seth’s personality is his charisma. He is a true nobleman, able to charm people left and right. He has a way with worlds and a sort of natural authority that makes people pay attention to him. On top of this, he also has IT. No one can specify or explain what IT is, yet everyone know. Something about him makes women weak, and men jealous of his very being. IT does not work on everyone, but a surprising amount of people will either like or dislike Seth on a first glance because of it. Coupled with his own natural charm and charisma, Seth can often choose whether he will spend the night alone or with someone.
Born a nobleman, Seth was handed the world on a silver platter. He is used to getting what he wants and can sometimes act very childishly. while he is an educated and intelligent man, he is emotionally immature and sometimes very naive.
Backstory: The house of Valeria was once strong and influential. We were noblemen, rich, beautiful, powerful. Then the Nightkin came. First they laid siege to the estate of Valeria, cutting off all communications with the outside world. We endured their fear. They climbed the walls and attacked our soldiers. We battled their onslaught. They ran through the estate, slaying our servants with their claws and fangs and horns. We defended the weak. They killed my beloved. I fell into despair.
Seth of Valeria was born as the third son of Duke Thors III of Valeria. As the third son, Seth was never destined to take over the title, estate or fortune of his father. All that was meant for his oldest brother, Ian. The second son was to be educated, he would become a priest and a spiritual leader for every man and woman in Valeria. The third son would get nothing. In order for him to live a life of dignity and relative comfort he was promised a position as officer in the army, it came with a price, but it was nothing for a Duke. While his brothers learned how to become gentlemen, quote poems and dance, Seth was taught how to fight with a longsword, ride a warhorse and plan strategies to win battles. He lived well, got along with his brothers and sisters and his parents. The siblings would often keep each other company on their spare time and pass along any insight or lesson they had been taught. They could talk about poetry for hours, even Seth who only learned through his siblings. They could spar, ride, talk politics and gossip. Over all, it was a very good life, and Seth never realised just how sheltered they were until it was too late.
One day when Seth was 16, he found himself engaged to the daughter of another nobleman. Her name was Elena. They had met before and was quite taken with each other. Life was good. One night shortly after the engagement Seth was wandering about the estate, as he used to do every now and then. This night he came across a strange man in one of the hallways. It was a tall, handsome man with dark hair and strangely piercing eyes. His clothes were all black and made from a strange material that made them flow and tumble around in the non-existing breeze, but without making any sound. They stood watching each other in silence for a moment. Seth too surprised to act, and the stranger watching with interest. To relieve the tension Seth did what he always did and smiled, he got a smile in return, but that smile held no friendship. Then a thought hit the young noble. They had no guests at the moment, and only a skeleton crew on hand during the night. This person was an intruder. As he called out the intruder with a loud cry, the stranger swiftly produced a rapier from his belt and advanced with almost impossible speed. Being caught without a weapon handy Seth grabbed the first thing he could think of, a chair, and hurled it with all his might at his assailant. The stranger, however, barely seemed to notice the obstacle and cleared it with a leap that had him almost touching the roof. He came down with a stab, and caught Seth just above the heart. The nobleman screamed out in pain and grabbed the blade to pull it out, but the stranger pushed much harder than him. Footsteps, rustling armor and weapons. The stranger pulled out his sword after an eternity and slapped Seth over the head with the dull side of it. He woke up in his bed, the servants had found him alone, bleeding, in the hallway. It was a small wound, and it had already stopped bleeding when the sun came up. When the sun went down, the wound had formed the mark. That following night would be forever burned into Seth’s memory as the Night of Demons.
I remember it like it happened just yesterday, even though I was only a boy. 16 years old, not yet a man. I was engaged to a beautiful woman, Elena. We were in love and was to be married later that year, when the leaves turned red. But the demons broke the walls and stormed the city. My father was among the first who fell, my brother came next. My master drew his sword and rushed head first into the advancing horde. His every strike, stab and sweep felled one of the Nightkin, to him they did not matter. His blade kept moving even if it had to cut several of the beasts in one swing. A truly magnificent sight. But there was no time to enjoy his swordsmanship this day. He had attacked so furiously for only one reason, to buy me some time to get Elena out through the secret passage. But they had found it first.
As I gently lowered my beloved down into the hidden tunnel that would take her to the edge of the city, to safety, she was pulled down into the darkness. I heard her scream echo in the darkness. With my father’s sword, the blade of Valeria, in my hand I went in after her. The tunnel was big, dark and empty, so I ran. I knew the maze by heart and ran for the exit as fast as I could. Suddenly I heard steps up ahead and the whimper of my beloved. I held my sword high and yelled “Let her go free, fiends! Face me!”
Then they came at me. I could not say how many they were, I just started to cut them down. Like my master had shown me, I kept the blade in motion, I let it cut through the enemy without hesitation and spilled the blood of many fiends that day. When the Nightkin were slain I looked around for my beloved. I found her bleeding and dying further along the tunnel. The beasts had put a blade through her chest. We were alone, I could hear the chaos above, people running, screaming, trying to get away, but we were truly alone. I tore a piece of her dress and tried to stop the bleeding. I sincerely believed that if I could just keep the blood inside her we’d find someone who knew what to do outside the tunnel. The bleeding would not stop. I tried everything, but the blood just kept coming. After a while she reached up, touched my cheek and left me behind.
I carried her lifeless body out of the dark tunnel and away from Valeria, I did not stop until we came to the closest village. They helped me bury her under a tree, She had always loved trees.
After the night of demons everything that mattered was gone. Seth went back to Valeria a few days later, but the estate was in ruins. Bodies everywhere, even the cattle and dogs had been slain. He was all alone, everything from his former life was either dead or burned. He had no skills that would earn him money to stay alive except his sword and hatred of the Nightkin. He gathered as much money as he could carry, and a few heirlooms that he couldn’t let the looters have, and left. Seth of Valeria became a mercenary, taking every mission he could to scrape together a few coins, of course favouring those that involved slaying Nightkin or aiding those in need.
He met the stranger many times between the Night of Demons and now, and found out who, or what he is. A Vampire named Talon. Talon would stay in the shadows, occasionally letting himself be seen by Seth and/or other humans. Every now and then he will watch as Seth seduces a fair maiden and brings her into his chamber for the night. Come morning, she will be gone.
Equipment: Seth does not carry much equipment. While he is a reasonably intelligent man, he doesn’t trust that voodoo-stuff with his life. He carries: The Blade of Valeria - A twohanded sword passed down the Valeria family for generations. A dagger - For close combat stabbing. Chainmail - Great for making it through the night. Heavy gauntlets - These gauntlets can easily stop a blade or similar attacks. Valerian locket - A gold locket with the picture of his sister in it. A small pack with necessities such as food, some money, tools for maintaining his weapons and his clothes.
Other: Though quite unusual, Seth has a kind of relationship with “his” Nightkin. They meet every now and then, talk, fight, stare, make faces… Seth is aware what kind of a monster he has been marked by. Despite the fact that Seth regularly picks out Talon’s next victim, he cannot stop seeking attention and comfort from the breasts of women.
Being a nobleman and relatively well brought up, Seth minds his speech. He will never use contracted words (such as can’t) and will always pronounce the whole thing (cannot).
Name: Decimus, Last Scholar of Praetan Age, Gender: 30, Male
Appearance:
Personality: Decimus is a scholar, he studies and researches incessantly primarily about the creatures of the night. however he is somewhat of a coward, he would much rather avoid combat if possible. in his day to day life Decimus is quiet and reserved, but friendly. his desire to accumulate knowledge about the creatures of night will often have him talking about them, which has earned his share of scorn when most would rather not discuss such a subject.
Backstory: Decimus hails from the country of Pretan, at one time it was a very mighty nation. Decimus lived a fairly uneventful life in the capital city until he was 16 and began to pursue acedemia. he did well, but his family could not pay for the costs of prolonged schooling. to pay for his education he joined the city guard and learned very valuable martial skills. he could fight as well as any other recruit, but his superiours understood that he was a coward and only had him do basic duties such as breaking up bar fights and patrolling the city interior. those patrolling the city walls where the ones that encountered the odd vampire or zombie mob.
over the years, Decimus' education and position in the town watch began to pay off. he began to rise in the ranks becoming a lieutenant of the watch, responsible for the organizing a unit of the watch. this position and several skirmishes against the undead gave Decimus an insatiable desire to understand this enemy. he began to devour literature about the monsters of the night, luckily Praetan had accumulated a great deal of knowledge about such monsters. Decimus perffered studying the undead such as skeletons, vampires or zombies. one night he found an anichient tome about the dreaded lords of the undead, the Lich, and it explained how to kill them. every other tome he read had said they where immortal, however this tome mentioned that every Lich has a Phylactery. A vessel where it keeps its life force and the destruction of the vessel would destroy the lich.
the night after finding this tome, he was called to the wall. the town watch had seen something strange out in the wilds surrounding the city. trails of lights where stretching deep into the forest, nobody was sure what was happening. by morning the lights had disappeared, when soldiers where dispatched to investigate they never returned. this continued for several days. every night there were a few more skirmishes with monsters but not so many as would raise alarm. the lights however began to fill the city with fear. after almost a week it finally happened, the first stones where launched at the city walls. they where under siege by a vast legion of undead. Decimus rallied his troops as best he could but he knew Praetan was lost, the city would fall. Decimus abandoned his post as soon as the legions broke through the walls. he went to the library and took several tomes, including the tome about the Phylactery. he ran from the library with the tomes under his arm. as he left he could see the full extent of the siege, vampires and skeletal knights roaming the streets putting every man, woman, and child to the sword. he began to run looking for a way out of the city, until he heard something shouting orders. Decimus looked back to find out what it was, he looked into the eyes of a Lich who shifted its gaze and shouted to the minions around it, "The book, get the book!" as the Lich shouted Decimus felt a burning sensation on his chest just below the collar bone. fortunately only zombies heard the Lich and slowly began to lumber after him. he spent an hour evading the undead, but he did manage to get to his watch barracks and collect some gear for his escape. he found that the south gate of the city was open and that citizens where trying to escape. he managed to use his rank and essentially steal a horse from a poor merchant, leaving the merchants supply cart stranded. he ran, galloping away from the city as fast as the horse could go. we watched the refugees get snatched by monsters the road becoming a feeding frenzy. when morning broke the city was only a pillar of smoke behind him. he traveled the entire night and through the rest of the day until he found a tavern. he bought a room and some supplies, once this was done he began to collect himself, beneath his armor he found the rune that marked him. he was being hunted by a lord of the undead.
Equipment: Spear Shield short sword breast plate & chain mail several books about monsters (mostly the undead) Money (not enough to be wealthy but can afford a couple weeks at a good tavern) Bedroll and tent flint food & water for ~4 days Spyglass Map
Other: i am operating under the assumption that a Lich can raise minions to do its biding, and would be sending out groups of skeletons or zombies to hunt my character rather than doing it himself.
i am allowed to make up regions outside of the setting right? like a country my character would be from.
Yes, as long as it fits the same general theme of the world. After reading your character submission, though, has Praetan been destroyed entirely? If so, in my opinion I think it might be more fitting to shrink it down from a country to perhaps a single city or town. There's not much point to adding lore for an entire country if it's no longer around and thus doesn't have much bearing on anything, from my point of view. I'm open to discussion about it though.
As for your character, most of it looks fine, but I have a few questions about the Lich. Usually, a Lich is an undead wizard, and in most settings they're presented as very powerful creatures. But many of those settings, especially D&D and WoW and others like them, are considered to be High Fantasy or Heroic/Epic Fantasy, where Magic is much more powerful and much more present throughout the setting. While the Nightkin have magic, it's more along the lines of vague and misunderstood powers, things that people fear but often don't truly understand. It's not the same kind of in-your-face, "I cast Meteor!" kind of stuff. So would you mind terribly if I ask you to tone it down some? After all, if a Lich has an army of undead large and powerful enough to destroy an entire nation, that's not really something a band of adventurers would ever have any hope against in a gritty setting like this one (another reason I suggested to reduce Praetan from a country to a town). And if they're capable of shooting lightning from their fingertips or causing earthquakes and such with their magic, that's even more difficult to deal with in my opinion than something like a Vampire or Troll who simply has more physical strength or speed or size than most humans could match.
Just as a suggestion, maybe the Lich is less like a wizard and more like a clergyman of sorts for the dark forces? Rather than following his orders because he holds mass mind control powers over them, perhaps other monsters are led by him in a similar way that a priest is a leader figure within a village? Maybe whatever magic he does can't be used very often, because it requires large numbers of sacrifices and extended rituals?
The last thing I ask is just a simple editorial look over. Your capitalization and sentence structure needs work in several places, please review it and make adjustments where needed.
@Dynamo Frokane Sorry, I'm pretty firmly against having half-blood characters unless you can give me a really convincing explanation. If it's just for flavor text, to me that seems even less necessary, because in the end it doesn't impact the character's narrative or how others will perceive them beyond a superficial sense. I'm still willing to discuss it if you'd like, though.
@Halvtand Like we discussed in the PM, as long as IT is just a charisma thing, this looks fine to me. Go ahead and put it in the CT.
Personality:Outside of battle Jacques carries himself like a professional, very intelligent and insightful and always looking to help his fellow party members when he can. In battle Jacques becomes a fierce and cold killing machine, driven by duty and honor to complete the mission in any way possible. In his past career as a city sentry he earned the nickname 'The Iron Vanguard' as he was fierce and immovable.
History: Jacques' family heritage was all in security, his grandfather was royal knight for the Isa Lomita Kingdom, his father was a convoy guard for the trade from Port Quinlan in Kimura and both of his uncles were bodyguards for high ranking officials in Asala. But Jacques always wanted something more, as he found security work extremely boring. After a strict military style upbringing in Isa Lomita by his now retired grandfather, he started work as as a City Sentry mainly patrolling the poor parts of the class-divided nation that was most effected by bandits and robberies. Jacques found this job too easy, his imposing figure meant that most wrong doers would rather give up and turn themselves in, than fight him and any fights he did have were over very quickly because of his family training and his superior armor.
Although one day in the city, he was attacked by a bunch of strange assailants from a nation he didnt quite recognise, this was most likely some sort of terrorist assasination attempt as his grandfather mad a lot of enemies in his career. Jacques fought these enemies hard and barely kept his life after a tough battle. Although scary, Jacques loved the challenge and was not only spurred to push himself as a warrior but also to travel and learn more about the world and where the attackers were from and what their motivation was. He wanted to join an army one that would take him around the globe and fufill his destiny.
Equipment: Family Halberd 'The Strappe Spirit' Short Sword Caltrops (20) City Brand Shield Heavy Sentinel Armour Sling
Other: Jacques is very knowledgeable on ancient structures and civilizations and ancient languages.and religious symbolism. He can recognize most foreign artifacts that most other would make no sense of.
@Zeroth Yes. Just like we talked about. I tried to define it a bit better here and even put in the bit about it not working on everyone to "ground it" a bit more. Makes it a bit more believable and realistic.
Interesting name choice aside, there are just a few issues I'd like to address:
Your personality section doesn't have any flaws or any negative aspects of his personality traits. If you could include something like that and how it plays into why certain things have happened to him or because of him, I feel that would greatly improve the character.
In your backstory, while I'm fine with the creation of lore, you've created a good chunk of it without much set-up or discussion beforehand. Could I get some more information on some of these places, maybe through PM? They don't seem very consistent, since Isa Lomita sounds like a Latin name, Port Quinlan seems...Celtic or Gaelic, maybe, Kimura sounds Japanese, and Asala could possibly be Arabic or something else eastern. Are all of these part of the same place? Different countries? There's a lot going on here, and while I don't mind possibly adding some of it, it's just a lot to take in at once and makes your backstory a bit confusing.
Finally, your character doesn't seem to have had any kind of run in with creatures of the Night, or even make any acknowledgement of them. The biggest part of this RP will be about the players--the Marked--overcoming the monsters--the Nightkin--who gave them that Mark in the first place. I highly suggest including some form of interaction with the Night, or at least discussing a plan that would allow the character to get involved even if you choose not to play as a Marked person.
Question, cuz I saw how you reacted to the half-elf question. Do we have to have a human character or are other fantasy races a thing? I have no qualm about making a human character, it doesn't change the idea I got in my head, but I would like to know what limitations I have when making a character.
Question, cuz I saw how you reacted to the half-elf question. Do we have to have a human character or are other fantasy races a thing? I have no qualm about making a human character, it doesn't change the idea I got in my head, but I would like to know what limitations I have when making a character.
Not that I know the mind of the gm or anything... I believe that the reasoning behind the half-blood thing is that it could be used to give that character a decisive edge against the Nightkin that the other characters (all human) doesn't have. The point of the RP is to see how people at the bottom fights against those above them. As such, playing a "fantasy race" would level the playing field somewhat. Please note that the gm doesn't even want us to humanise the humanoid Nightkin.
With that said, I think that a strong case for playing another race might change the gm's mind.
Question, cuz I saw how you reacted to the half-elf question. Do we have to have a human character or are other fantasy races a thing? I have no qualm about making a human character, it doesn't change the idea I got in my head, but I would like to know what limitations I have when making a character.
The thing about fantasy races in this setting is that they aren't the Tolkien-esque form of themselves, but the darker medieval forms. Elves, for instance, might be tall and beautiful, but they look upon humanity with disdain, steal children to use as slaves or entertainment or food, lure maidens into magic circles that cause them to dance until they drop dead from exhaustion, and all other manner of evil things. Dwarves aren't swarthy drunken fellows with a penchant for battleaxes, they're vicious, horrendously ugly and squat creatures whose greed for gold and gems knows no bounds. So on and so forth across the gamut of fantasy races. All creatures of the Night are, universally, tied to and corrupted by evil natures and supernatural forces. What's more, humanity in this setting is still very familiar with the ideas of witch hunts, and anyone thought to be associated with the Night in an "inappropriate" way would likely find themselves the subject of much persecution, if not execution.
