Here's an idea for a DnD game since BG3 is on everyone's minds. Let me know if this would be something you’d be interested in. Villain/Moral Gray only horror jamjar that will change horror types and location from time to time. Some constant body horror, some memloss.
Ravenloft refers to a countless number of pocket planes that are scattered through the realm of darkness known as the Shadowfell. Though the Shadowfell is ruled by the goddess Shar, Ravenloft is controlled by ancient gods known as the Dark Powers. Each of these pocket planes are called a Domain of Dread and are little isolated prisons created to punish a Dark Lord that resides in them. (Think like a repeating Silent Hill, tailored to the sins of the Dark Lord’s past) On the edges of these planes are killing mists, cutting them off from other planes. One of the most well known Domain of Dread would be Barovia, ruled by the vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich in the Curse of Strahd DnD campaign.
Ravenloft was designed for DMs to be able to create their own little horror-based lands and there are a number of premade ones in the campaign sourcebook “Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.” The game would be pulling from this for settings and development, as well as taking a few ideas from Baldur’s Gate 3.
The Premise: A Dark Lord that I am still developing has done the impossible: She has claimed some of the Dark Powers’ power for her own. She now controls some of the mists that divide Ravenloft and can call from the infinite planes of existence in the universe. Her first goal is to claim rule over all of Ravenloft. She plans to bring the nightmares of these lands into one and slowly dispel the mists and usurp the Dark Powers that had locked her and so many other Dark Lords in their prison planes. In order to do that, she will need an army. That’s where you come in. You will be called the Enlisted.
It will be up to you to follow her orders, go into these other domains, and cause as much havoc as you can. Those who do their worst will be rewarded. They may gain new forms, new weapons, new powers depending on their evil deeds that they do in Her name.
Network: When your character is enlisted and brought to Her domain, one of their eyes will be replaced with a tainted sending stone that can be connected to by others with the same stone. (Not how actual sending stones are, but we are taking some liberties here) She will be able to know where each of her soldiers are at all times, and it gives Her direct access into their minds. They will not be able to escape Her voice and are a constant reminder that you are Hers as long as you are here.
Characters can set boundaries with how far others can probe when in range of other enlisted characters. You could choose to let them experience any of your senses in any combination, or share memories.
There is a ‘channel’ that characters can tune into by focusing their thoughts, containing the thoughts of other enlisted as long as they are in the same domain. These would be voice only posts, or you could do POV only ‘video’ posts. There would be no text-only posts through this means of communication.
Plot: After there are enough enlisted, She will open the mists and connect her domain to the first neighboring domain and everyone will be sent to go and raze the land and create havoc. This feeds Her powers. Once enough damage is done, the enlisted will face the Dark Lord of that land and She will give them a choice: join Her cause and rise against the Dark Powers, or die one last final time. Since each domain is a different flavor of horror, it would give a lot of variety to the game.
The enlisted can choose to just revel in her charge to destroy and pillage, they can seek to rise in Her ranks, try to rebel against Her rule, or try to go home. There are a few ways to cross the mists, though there’s no guarantee you’ll end up back where you came from.
She will give targets and missions for characters to do that will gain rewards. If it’s a hit, multiple characters can kill the same hit, handwaving any need to coordinate weekly plots with other players or call dibs. It’s a nightmare plane of violence, so there’s flexibility.
There will be horror events as well. Nightmares, hallucinations, other body horror, like other classic torture horror games in DWRP. There will also be opportunities to find havens of light to engage in some lighter rp.
Memloss: She feeds on chaos and violence, so those who do not comply will be met with the loss of something precious. The first of those things will be a precious memory. It starts with a name, then a moment, then a year. After the fourth time, the character will not remember anything other than Her and Her domain. She will bestow this same punishment for those who die a shameful death. An example would be dying while protecting another, retreating, hiding, or doing something that isn’t an act of violence or chaos, such as falling down a chasm.
These memories aren’t lost forever, they are turned into gems that they can earn back by doing their duty well and completing other horrible acts. Enlisted are fully aware that the memories have been taken from them. The process is painful.
Rewards: She will reward those who do her work by giving them better weapons, powers, or new monstrous forms. She might even gift the memory gems of others to worthy enlisted for them to do with it as they please. (with player consent of course)
Other thoughts: That’s the bare bones of it for right now. I don’t plan on incorporating dice in any way. I think trying to translate characters from other IPs into DnD stats would be too difficult. I would still like to develop some sort of stat system to at least give people a DnD flavored idea of a character’s power. I’d like to make some sort of template ‘character sheet’ to also outline memories lost, rewards gained, items held, so on so on.
The game would focus on bringing in villains and morally gray characters and see how far they’d be willing to sink if there were no consequences to their actions. OCs would be welcomed as well as canon evil versions of good people.
I think after a few rounds, maybe before their first siege, She might bring in a new category of characters called Fodder, who are unpowered good characters for Her enlisted to harm since Her domain is likely low on survivors and She still needs to eat from the violence and chaos. They might get just two revives before they are gone for good since She wouldn’t want to spend too much energy on them. The only way they could get more than that would be for them to begin to commit horrible acts as well.
I’m still fleshing Her and Her domain out, but I will update as I work it out. Let me know your thoughts and questions!
Ravenloft Game
Villain/Moral Gray only horror jamjar that will change horror types and location from time to time. Some constant body horror, some memloss.
Ravenloft refers to a countless number of pocket planes that are scattered through the realm of darkness known as the Shadowfell. Though the Shadowfell is ruled by the goddess Shar, Ravenloft is controlled by ancient gods known as the Dark Powers. Each of these pocket planes are called a Domain of Dread and are little isolated prisons created to punish a Dark Lord that resides in them. (Think like a repeating Silent Hill, tailored to the sins of the Dark Lord’s past) On the edges of these planes are killing mists, cutting them off from other planes. One of the most well known Domain of Dread would be Barovia, ruled by the vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich in the Curse of Strahd DnD campaign.
Ravenloft was designed for DMs to be able to create their own little horror-based lands and there are a number of premade ones in the campaign sourcebook “Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.” The game would be pulling from this for settings and development, as well as taking a few ideas from Baldur’s Gate 3.
The Premise:
A Dark Lord that I am still developing has done the impossible: She has claimed some of the Dark Powers’ power for her own. She now controls some of the mists that divide Ravenloft and can call from the infinite planes of existence in the universe. Her first goal is to claim rule over all of Ravenloft. She plans to bring the nightmares of these lands into one and slowly dispel the mists and usurp the Dark Powers that had locked her and so many other Dark Lords in their prison planes. In order to do that, she will need an army. That’s where you come in. You will be called the Enlisted.
It will be up to you to follow her orders, go into these other domains, and cause as much havoc as you can. Those who do their worst will be rewarded. They may gain new forms, new weapons, new powers depending on their evil deeds that they do in Her name.
Network:
When your character is enlisted and brought to Her domain, one of their eyes will be replaced with a tainted sending stone that can be connected to by others with the same stone. (Not how actual sending stones are, but we are taking some liberties here) She will be able to know where each of her soldiers are at all times, and it gives Her direct access into their minds. They will not be able to escape Her voice and are a constant reminder that you are Hers as long as you are here.
Characters can set boundaries with how far others can probe when in range of other enlisted characters. You could choose to let them experience any of your senses in any combination, or share memories.
There is a ‘channel’ that characters can tune into by focusing their thoughts, containing the thoughts of other enlisted as long as they are in the same domain. These would be voice only posts, or you could do POV only ‘video’ posts. There would be no text-only posts through this means of communication.
Plot:
After there are enough enlisted, She will open the mists and connect her domain to the first neighboring domain and everyone will be sent to go and raze the land and create havoc. This feeds Her powers. Once enough damage is done, the enlisted will face the Dark Lord of that land and She will give them a choice: join Her cause and rise against the Dark Powers, or die one last final time. Since each domain is a different flavor of horror, it would give a lot of variety to the game.
The enlisted can choose to just revel in her charge to destroy and pillage, they can seek to rise in Her ranks, try to rebel against Her rule, or try to go home. There are a few ways to cross the mists, though there’s no guarantee you’ll end up back where you came from.
She will give targets and missions for characters to do that will gain rewards. If it’s a hit, multiple characters can kill the same hit, handwaving any need to coordinate weekly plots with other players or call dibs. It’s a nightmare plane of violence, so there’s flexibility.
There will be horror events as well. Nightmares, hallucinations, other body horror, like other classic torture horror games in DWRP. There will also be opportunities to find havens of light to engage in some lighter rp.
Memloss:
She feeds on chaos and violence, so those who do not comply will be met with the loss of something precious. The first of those things will be a precious memory. It starts with a name, then a moment, then a year. After the fourth time, the character will not remember anything other than Her and Her domain.
She will bestow this same punishment for those who die a shameful death. An example would be dying while protecting another, retreating, hiding, or doing something that isn’t an act of violence or chaos, such as falling down a chasm.
These memories aren’t lost forever, they are turned into gems that they can earn back by doing their duty well and completing other horrible acts. Enlisted are fully aware that the memories have been taken from them. The process is painful.
Rewards:
She will reward those who do her work by giving them better weapons, powers, or new monstrous forms. She might even gift the memory gems of others to worthy enlisted for them to do with it as they please. (with player consent of course)
Other thoughts:
That’s the bare bones of it for right now. I don’t plan on incorporating dice in any way. I think trying to translate characters from other IPs into DnD stats would be too difficult. I would still like to develop some sort of stat system to at least give people a DnD flavored idea of a character’s power. I’d like to make some sort of template ‘character sheet’ to also outline memories lost, rewards gained, items held, so on so on.
The game would focus on bringing in villains and morally gray characters and see how far they’d be willing to sink if there were no consequences to their actions. OCs would be welcomed as well as canon evil versions of good people.
I think after a few rounds, maybe before their first siege, She might bring in a new category of characters called Fodder, who are unpowered good characters for Her enlisted to harm since Her domain is likely low on survivors and She still needs to eat from the violence and chaos. They might get just two revives before they are gone for good since She wouldn’t want to spend too much energy on them. The only way they could get more than that would be for them to begin to commit horrible acts as well.
I’m still fleshing Her and Her domain out, but I will update as I work it out. Let me know your thoughts and questions!