Embedded Files
You and your party find what appears to be an ancient, underground foyer of an ancient, elven ziggurat. A massive, glowing, red dome rests in the center, emitting an eerie glow in the room. The mural above you depicts elves of eld, hunting humans and...eating them. This was done in the past-your historian notes-but it doesn't make it any less unnerving.
As you're observing, a flicker of light catches your eye, though it's not coming from a flitting fairy that's been fluttering about. Turning towards the gemstone, you spy a beautiful elven maiden smiling at you. She then casually tears up her flesh before pulling her eyes out of her sockets. She then offers them to you and yours with a low wail.
Make a will challenge roll, or gain one insanity.
This is an excerpt from the campaign that I'm currently playing in for a game called Shadow of the Demon Lord. That moment happened back in April, and a LOT of stuff has happened. But what exactly is this game? What exactly is to be expected from a game like this? Let's take a few quick bites out of this horrific buffet that is this game.
For starters, this is a dark-fantasy horror game (can be merely high fantasy, or mixed in with a bit of industry-style tech, as is our game) set at the brink of the apocalypse, set in motion by the eponymous Demon Lord. No one knows exactly what will come of it, but it will come, and the world had best be prepared for it. Good and evil are somewhat...obscured. Not one character is completely good, nor completely evil. There's a bit of wiggle room within each type of character, which makes role-playing them very interesting. That said, corruption is a thing that can be accumulated in game, and while one may want to avoid it...others may absolutely welcome it.
Because the game is rife with horrific terror, one's mind is also at risk. Mutilated bodies, eldritch terrors, and, of course, ghosts all take a hit on your sanity, and thus one character can inevitably slip into madness. If one is not careful, their insanity can be the death of them. The way how your game master sets the tone can also add to this as well, whether they are talking to you as an aside, or if they're describing the scene to the table. If they do so in such a way that your mind paints a very vivid picture of what's happening, it'll wind up being horrific even to you. That's when you know you're in for a ride! XD
You can be many different characters that would fit both a standard and a horror RPG. You of course can be a human, dwarf or elf, but you can also be a goblin, a creepy clockwork, an orc and a changeling. All of these can be played very differently, but specific characters you play as can have some...horrific features in and of themselves. One such race-hobgoblin, if I recall correctly-can literally suck their face in when they rage, and it's such a horrifying sight that everyone near them has to make will challenge rolls or be frightened. It may or may not be detrimental to your team…but it's damn fun XD! The game is a d20, d6 game, which deals with boons, banes, and an actual in game mechanic for luck: Fortune. Boons illustrate positive circumstances which can make dice rolls easier to make. Banes illustrate negative circumstances that can make dice rolls harder to make. An example of a bane is fighting a monster that is so grotesque you can't even bear looking at it, so attacking it is going to be a challenge. An example of a boon could range from either because you're just that good at what you do, or because of good role-playing and background choices. Fortune, however, is something awarded by the GM, and this is based off of how well you role-play. Of course this depends on the GM, but once you get that fortune, you can change up your die rolls in very specific ways. One example of this is making a roll that you failed on into a success; something that can be crucial, especially if its a roll that can be life or death. And death is very...very...common.
There's far too much for me to be able to cover everything in this article, but I will say if your curious about this game, DEFINITELY give it a shot. Just make sure you bring your role-players cap with you, because you will be doing a lot of it in this game.
Have fun...and don't die ;).
--Choco (10/29/17)
Image sources: www.fantasygrounds.com, geekandsundry.com, http://schwalbentertainment.com/
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse