Help with a Grim Survival DF Setting - Page 2

DAT · 03-05-2014, 06:54 PM

My group decided they would like our next game to be in a bit darker setting. So I started thinking and looking around for a grim survival setting.

Gus over at Dungeons of Signs blog came up with an interesting take on the old “Underdark” setting (http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/s...abel/Underdark). The tone for this setting is dark (really dark) and grim, with no misunderstood emo drow elf rangers etc. I did some editing on his intro piece, ran it past my players as an idea for a future campaign, and got some positive feedback that they were interested in playing. Below is the short introduction synopsis I sent and for those who are interested, I’ll include the full intro piece in later posts.

So now I’m trying to fill out the details of the setting, and ready it to run some players through. I could use some help working out some of the details, and bounce some ideas off folks.
1) Equipment and Armor
Per the story, the players start with old cast off equipment.
- My initial thought was to develop random tables of the armor, weapons, and gear they are given. If it doesn’t fit, too bad; maybe they can trade it after they get to the underdark. I’d weight things with a 3d6, so that lower rolls give better stuff. The alternative is to give them basic armor (Leather Tunic and Skirt) and poor quality weapons of the type they are familiar with. Thoughts – random versus simple poor? Random is probably more representative of the setup, simple poor makes it easier for the PCs. For a grim setting I lean towards random. Am I being too harsh?
- If you didn’t read the Intro piece, as soon as they arrive at the bottom, they have one really ugly fight with a horde of tiger sized screw creatures (called White Tigers in the Intro piece; more on this below). Should I armor and arm them before they descend or after they arrive (try to grap weapons and armor as Tiger sized creatures drag your companions off into the dark)? Armor them above but arm them below? Reverse? Grim says neither. A small chance of survival say give them something: Having a high probability of dying in the first battle and having to do a new character, although fitting with grim, is very harsh. But is it too harsh? Thought?
2) The Descent
- Playing it harsh, I should give them a chance of falling to their death during the initial descent. ST/DX/Dodge rolls for hanging on, getting out of the way as others fall. But is that too harsh? I could only make them roll on an auto failure (17) or critical failure (18)? Thoughts?
- I started thinking that just have a chance to injure themselves and drop equipment, although harsh, is less brutal. Better?
3) The First Fight
When they arrive, the ill prepared company has a fight for their lives. I was initially targeting 40-80% casualties for the Redeemers (did I mention I was going for dark, grim, and brutal/harsh). But, I’d like to have the PC’s performance impact the causality rate. PC’s do good, casualty rate is lower; PCs do not so good, casualty rate is higher.
- Does GURPS Mass Combat seem like something to use here, or is that overkill?
- Should I just develop my own method, or do folks know of something already out there that would work for this?
- Other ideas?
4) Stacking the Deck/Adding Decks
One idea is to give the PCs some protection getting down and through the first fight, before letting the cards fall where they may. The NPCs around them will just get butchered to make the point of how dark grim and brutal/harsh the setting is. An alternative idea is to have the players make 3 or 4 characters, to ensure one of them survives.
- Thoughts?

Title: Exiles to the Underdark – Redeemers of The Light
Genre/Setting: A Dungeon Fantasy/Horror in a mythical underdark relm.
Introduction Synopsis:
You start as prisoners of war to a victorious army of fanatical fundamentalist theologians, the Faith of The Light (in D&D terms “LAWFUL Good”), who believe your only way to salvation is to die in service to their cause. Given three bad choices (death, slavery doing hard labor till you die, or become a janissary), you choose to become a “Redeemer of The Faith of The Light”, a janissary (slave soldier). Your company of Redeemers (~120 souls) is being sent into the Underdark to fight against the enemies of The Light. The enemies of The Light are pretty much everyone else left in the world (i.e., anyone who doesn’t believe exactly like the Brother Lords of The Light do). The Underdark is a vast underground wilderness filled with monsters and dangers, but also fabulous treasures. They expect you to die, so the arms, armor, and supplies they will send with you are old cast offs and junk. If you survive and send back treasure and or proof of killing enemies of The Light, they say they will send down better gear and food.

You are members of Redeemers Company number 42, about to be sent down into the Underdark. While waiting for the guards to get the supplies attached to the chain and loaded, you have gotten access to a piece of a journal with information of what you can expect (see the intro piece).

This starts as a grim survival setting. Where it goes from there, depends on the players choices.

Player Characters:
GURPS 4e 150 points plus up to 55 points from disadvantages and quirks.
Allowed Races –
- Human [0 pts]
- Dwarf [20 pts]
- Elf (Half, High, or Wood) [20pts]
- Gnome [20 pts]
- Halfling [0 pts]
- Half-Orcs [20 pts]
- Half-Ogres[20 pts]
Other races may be possible, but there are issues (The forces of the Faith of The Light will slay anything that looks like a monster, considering it an enemy of The Light, and not worthy of redemption).

Professions –
Choose a 125 pt Professional Temple from:
Agent (Bard or Thief (con-man) in training)
Apprentice (Demonologist, Elementalist, Necromancer, or Wizard in training)
Archer (Knight or Scout in training)
Brute (Assassin, Barbarian, Knight, or Unholy Warrior in training)
Cutpurse (Assassin or Thief in training)
Initiate (Cleric, Druid, or Shaman in training)
Killer (Assassin, Ninja, or Unholy Warrior in training)
Sage (Artificer or Scholar in training)
Skirmisher (Martial Artist, Ninja, or Swashbuckler in training)
Squire (Holy Warrior, Knight, or Unholy Warrior in training)

03-05-2014, 06:54 PM	#1
DAT Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho	Help with a Grim Survival DF Setting My group decided they would like our next game to be in a bit darker setting. So I started thinking and looking around for a grim survival setting. Gus over at Dungeons of Signs blog came up with an interesting take on the old “Underdark” setting (http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/s...abel/Underdark). The tone for this setting is dark (really dark) and grim, with no misunderstood emo drow elf rangers etc. I did some editing on his intro piece, ran it past my players as an idea for a future campaign, and got some positive feedback that they were interested in playing. Below is the short introduction synopsis I sent and for those who are interested, I’ll include the full intro piece in later posts. So now I’m trying to fill out the details of the setting, and ready it to run some players through. I could use some help working out some of the details, and bounce some ideas off folks. 1) Equipment and Armor Per the story, the players start with old cast off equipment. - My initial thought was to develop random tables of the armor, weapons, and gear they are given. If it doesn’t fit, too bad; maybe they can trade it after they get to the underdark. I’d weight things with a 3d6, so that lower rolls give better stuff. The alternative is to give them basic armor (Leather Tunic and Skirt) and poor quality weapons of the type they are familiar with. Thoughts – random versus simple poor? Random is probably more representative of the setup, simple poor makes it easier for the PCs. For a grim setting I lean towards random. Am I being too harsh? - If you didn’t read the Intro piece, as soon as they arrive at the bottom, they have one really ugly fight with a horde of tiger sized screw creatures (called White Tigers in the Intro piece; more on this below). Should I armor and arm them before they descend or after they arrive (try to grap weapons and armor as Tiger sized creatures drag your companions off into the dark)? Armor them above but arm them below? Reverse? Grim says neither. A small chance of survival say give them something: Having a high probability of dying in the first battle and having to do a new character, although fitting with grim, is very harsh. But is it too harsh? Thought? 2) The Descent - Playing it harsh, I should give them a chance of falling to their death during the initial descent. ST/DX/Dodge rolls for hanging on, getting out of the way as others fall. But is that too harsh? I could only make them roll on an auto failure (17) or critical failure (18)? Thoughts? - I started thinking that just have a chance to injure themselves and drop equipment, although harsh, is less brutal. Better? 3) The First Fight When they arrive, the ill prepared company has a fight for their lives. I was initially targeting 40-80% casualties for the Redeemers (did I mention I was going for dark, grim, and brutal/harsh). But, I’d like to have the PC’s performance impact the causality rate. PC’s do good, casualty rate is lower; PCs do not so good, casualty rate is higher. - Does GURPS Mass Combat seem like something to use here, or is that overkill? - Should I just develop my own method, or do folks know of something already out there that would work for this? - Other ideas? 4) Stacking the Deck/Adding Decks One idea is to give the PCs some protection getting down and through the first fight, before letting the cards fall where they may. The NPCs around them will just get butchered to make the point of how dark grim and brutal/harsh the setting is. An alternative idea is to have the players make 3 or 4 characters, to ensure one of them survives. - Thoughts? Title: Exiles to the Underdark – Redeemers of The Light Genre/Setting: A Dungeon Fantasy/Horror in a mythical underdark relm. Introduction Synopsis: You start as prisoners of war to a victorious army of fanatical fundamentalist theologians, the Faith of The Light (in D&D terms “LAWFUL Good”), who believe your only way to salvation is to die in service to their cause. Given three bad choices (death, slavery doing hard labor till you die, or become a janissary), you choose to become a “Redeemer of The Faith of The Light”, a janissary (slave soldier). Your company of Redeemers (~120 souls) is being sent into the Underdark to fight against the enemies of The Light. The enemies of The Light are pretty much everyone else left in the world (i.e., anyone who doesn’t believe exactly like the Brother Lords of The Light do). The Underdark is a vast underground wilderness filled with monsters and dangers, but also fabulous treasures. They expect you to die, so the arms, armor, and supplies they will send with you are old cast offs and junk. If you survive and send back treasure and or proof of killing enemies of The Light, they say they will send down better gear and food. You are members of Redeemers Company number 42, about to be sent down into the Underdark. While waiting for the guards to get the supplies attached to the chain and loaded, you have gotten access to a piece of a journal with information of what you can expect (see the intro piece). This starts as a grim survival setting. Where it goes from there, depends on the players choices. Player Characters: GURPS 4e 150 points plus up to 55 points from disadvantages and quirks. Allowed Races – - Human [0 pts] - Dwarf [20 pts] - Elf (Half, High, or Wood) [20pts] - Gnome [20 pts] - Halfling [0 pts] - Half-Orcs [20 pts] - Half-Ogres[20 pts] Other races may be possible, but there are issues (The forces of the Faith of The Light will slay anything that looks like a monster, considering it an enemy of The Light, and not worthy of redemption). Professions – Choose a 125 pt Professional Temple from: Agent (Bard or Thief (con-man) in training) Apprentice (Demonologist, Elementalist, Necromancer, or Wizard in training) Archer (Knight or Scout in training) Brute (Assassin, Barbarian, Knight, or Unholy Warrior in training) Cutpurse (Assassin or Thief in training) Initiate (Cleric, Druid, or Shaman in training) Killer (Assassin, Ninja, or Unholy Warrior in training) Sage (Artificer or Scholar in training) Skirmisher (Martial Artist, Ninja, or Swashbuckler in training) Squire (Holy Warrior, Knight, or Unholy Warrior in training)