Ravenloft Power Checks

[tetrahedron]

In the Ravenloft world, when people do bad things, they can become cursed by the dark powers. And yet, these dark powers seem to entice the characters as they curse them, driving them further down the path of corruption.

Over on Fraternity of Shadows, there is an excellent system for revising power checks that works very nicely for GURPS. http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/f...pic.php?t=4694

However it does not address the powers and curses that a failure incurs. I am looking for help from the forum to create a systematic rule set for what happens after a power check fails. Any takers?

[Not another shrubbery]

Have you already looked at the Demonic Contracts/Black Magic and Black Critical Table insets from Magic pp156-157? Those might give you some ideas. Those rules were generalized into Spirit-Assisted Magic in Thaumotology, which has much more that might be helpful besides those specific rules.

[tetrahedron]

Thanks for the response Not another Shrubbery. I have reviewed the material for pacts in Magic, and the idea of bringing spirit-assisted magic is a wonderful idea, but I'm afraid that I've not been clear enough.

In Ravenloft, each time you fail a power check, you descend further into darkness. There are six tiers, from the caress to becoming a dark lord yourself. What I am looking for help with is establishing how many points in advantages a first tier dark power would be vs. how many points a sixth tier (darklord) would have. Also I am wondering about whether the amount of points in advantages should be balanced against an equal number of disadvantages.

One of my players has suggested that GURPS disadvantages penalize one more than the same number of points in advantages aids one.

I hope this makes my question and intent a little clearer than mud!

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by tetrahedron

In the Ravenloft world, when people do bad things, they can become cursed by the dark powers. And yet, these dark powers seem to entice the characters as they curse them, driving them further down the path of corruption.

Over on Fraternity of Shadows, there is an excellent system for revising power checks that works very nicely for GURPS. http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/f...pic.php?t=4694

However it does not address the powers and curses that a failure incurs. I am looking for help from the forum to create a systematic rule set for what happens after a power check fails. Any takers?

It shouldn't be mechanical. It should be dramatic. Suppose that some guy, has a habit of murdering his wives. Odds are the dark powers don't notice any of his individual misdeeds but if he keeps on doing it sooner or later his number will come up. At which point it is up to the GM as the "dark powers" to decide what his Cursed With Awesome will be and that depends on why he's killing wives. If he marries for money, then I'd maybe give him vampiric powers and hungers and the need to marry any woman he's going to feed on. If he's just a bad-tempered guy prone to explosive fits of violence against the vulnerable then I'd turn him into an ogre kind of thing. Let the Awesomeness fit the crime, that's what I say.

[tetrahedron]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Let the Awesomeness fit the crime, that's what I say.

I considered this, and it does fit the flavour of Ravenloft very well, but the concern here is applying Awesomeness equally to any situation. It is trying to make the awesomeness of the dark power gifts universal.

It's that great question in converting to GURPS. Do we convert the mechanic or do we convert the spirit? In this case the spirit would be very much like what David Johnston2 said, but I can't help but feel that the initial game designers of Ravenloft had some purpose in providing stages and tiers for the power checks. I believe it was added to attempt to balance characters leaning towards the dark side, so that the player could play with some dark awesomeness AND play the redemption card.