Powerful monster hunt and plague the humans.
Normal people are too weak to fight against them.
Some people get through a pact with strange beings the power to fight the monsters.
These people become mad with time and mutate themselves to monsters.
Would that be too dark for an RPG setting?
>>43857936
There's darker.
I mean it's dark as fuck, but it still works. Sometimes a good dark setting is what you want.
What kind of monsters are you thinking? Monster Hunter, Vamps&Weres, Monster Manual?
Sounds like Claymore to me. I'd play it
>>43857936
Judging by pic, I'm guessing this is intended to be Lovecraftian with powerful characters? Sounds cool. How would you implement this without players realizing the endgame too early?
>>43858038
As you fight monsters you gradually get crazier and realize even worse monsters are constantly around hiding in plain sight.
If it's handled right, that sounds like just the right amount of dark.
>>43858038
Why hide it from them?
Make it known by everyone. It's something you just have to deal with.
Start them as base humans. Start off light.
Keep ramping up the difficulty until they HAVE to enter a pact or perish. Let them think for a time that they can cheat with fire and traps against the dark beasts. But then they meet those they can't trick with pitfalls. Ones who wait for fires to die before striking. Those who pretend to be people, lost and frightened. Ones with strange and terrible abilities.
Eventually they have to have those very same abilities just to survive. And if you want more, you have to give up more.
>>43858077
But how is the descent into madness going to be implemented? It a question of integrating game mechanics into the setting and feel of the game. That's the hard part of game design.
>>43857936
having the PC turn into beasts is something thats missing from Bloodborne.
When part of the fun of Call of Cthulhu is seeing how your character turns insase and dies, it could very well be turned into a system for a Bloodborne rpg.
Player's just need to be aware that they shouldnt get too attached to their characters and might even have to hunt them down with the new ones.
> "Why'd you have to buy that weapon upgrade JUST before you turned insane?! How are we supposed to put your guy down now, jesus."
> "Don't look at me like that, it was a good deal at that time."
>>43858122
As you see particularly powerful monsters your sanity takes a hit. Also using certain items will increase your insanity.
>>43858170
I assume the dice roll or whatever you use to determine it will accumulate in difficulty over time, in the same way that your risk of a cell turning into a cancer cell increases as you age? I mean, I suppose having to murder your buddy in the very first session could be amusing, but I got a feeling that's not your goal here?
>>43858122
You'd have to look at the NPC's for that matter.
What made Gascoigne turn insane, what turned the others? Blood. So it's not so much seeing dark shit, but getting in contact with it.
Looking at the regain system...maybe have very slow regular heath regen, like one HP per day or so and as an alternative let the players choose to drink the beast's blood to regain more health more quickly, but increase the chance to turn insane.
Basically roll a die whenever they drink and with everytime you roll the chance to turn into a bloodlusting beast gets higher and higher.
>>43858121
Oh, and just imagine meeting the pact-makers. Pursading them for a fraction of their power. Or begging them for ONLY a fraction.
Catacombs that at the home of the Mother of Spiders. The Palace of Thorns, where the Bloodied Rose lies still. The Sloth King in the space between shadows.
Better still if they're clearly the leaders or the dire versions of the monsters you've fought so far. Reminds you that your character's fate is to become last session's combat encounter.
>>43857936
I'd say include a route to maintain contro mentally(the physical corruption is still inevitable though)l, and make it quite doable(if pretty hard from a fluff standpoint, not from a rules standpoint though cause that just punishes players and that's not fun), otherwise it just becomes pointless grimderp
>>43858215
No it just goes up when you see them. As it goes up things change subtly and certain enemies might look a bit different compared to the last time you saw them until suddenly you see the giant monster hanging off the side of the church.
>>43857936
You have basically just described radical Inquisitors.
>>43857936
I this k it could work rather well. Somethjng key would be to make some weak monsters beatable by well organized normal humans, and to start the players at that level. Then, when stronger stuff starts showing up, lay out very clearly what the baseline benefits are, and make them very strong.
You'll also want to make sure that the abilities of the monsters mirror or resemble things the players can get. If the benefit of the pacts are magical weapons of certain elements, have each monster have a weapon and element implemented into its form in some way, like a fire-breathing dog with a sword on the end of its tail. You want to remind the players just what's at the end of the path.
>>43858292It IS the church.You go weekly.
>>43858302
>power finglonger.
>>43858317I just wanted to see if he ever realizes I am just describing bloodborne
>>43858308
>>43858121
I'm guessing humans are capped worryingly early?
You can spend time to get a couple more points here or there at the XP cap, but after a while you need... monster XP? Pact Devotion? Something other.
>>43858362
Forgot to mention, allows for some people to get an early boost with pacts, but might be outclassed by XP humans. They'll quickly overtake with both sources of character progression available of Pact and XP, but at the same time they'll be the first to turn. They're cursed far earlier.
>>43857936
Seen it before. It was pretty cool.
>>43857936
Wasn't that Claymore's premise?
>>43857936
There's already a setting/RPG similar to this, called Scath.
>>43858362
Basiline humans shouldn't really progress upwards. At best, they'll be able to spend XP to broaden their array of skills. If they start with archery and stealth, they could branch into swordfighting, historical knowledge, social skills, survival skills, and other mundane abilities, but they'll never get better than someone who just trained in it from the start.
Taking a pact should be a specific choice, one that's always open and massively boosts their power. The rate of corruption could even be tied to how they got it. Did they seek out a certain patron with a contract prepares in advance, or did they grab it desperately while bleeding out?
I think that corruption should tie directly with how many monsters you kill, which in turn ties directly to power level. There should be a constant drive to become stronger, even though you'll lose yourself in the process.
I think its also important that any pact weilder should still be able to contribute against most monsters. You don't want the party to feel like they were forced to take another level, but that it was their choice in order to make the fights easier. If they want to stall their progress and struggle on being a lower effective level, let them, but make it clear things would be far easier if they didn't.
I had an idea for Reign recently where players in dire circumstances could swear fealty to a greater power in order to gain a short power boost and a permanent Duty.
For each duty, there can be situations where you have to choose between following it (+1d) and opposing it (-1d). This could be things like "show no mercy to your enemies", "always act from the shadows", "never give up anything to help others", and "follow my commands". A duty could be taken more than once, so it's not like you've become truly subjugated unless you take it a lot.
>I want bloodborne for PC.
>>43860814
>goldenface.jpg
We are never getting it mate.
>>43857936
It wasn't too dark for a vidya setting, so why would it be too dark for an RPG one.
>>43860814
I feel your pain.
>>43859032
>Your pact master is Pic Related.
>>43857936
Isn't that the basis for Dragon Ball?
I think something very fun that you can do is to give players an idea that. salvation is a possibility and they can "win" the game. Even if it's barely there and essentially unobtainable, it's still there.
There is no better torture device then hope.
>>43861172
I can't see any similarity whatsoever.
>>43857997
That was also my first thought.
>>43857936
Sounds pretty familiar.
>>43857936
Isn't that the basic premise of Cthulutech? Though by no means is that a bad thing, just have not heard good things about the system.
>>43861555
Except for the gradual part, yeah. Pretty much.
>>43861581
No, cultists are shit next to actual cthulhu monsters.
>>43857936
How about grafting monster parts, implanting monster organs, drinking monster blood, making half-breeds through rituals during pregnacy, partial possession.
And beyond that, other ways to lose your humanity such as using lots of hallucinogenic drugs that greatly increase combat efficiency, or putting on technological implants/gears that damages your body and cause immense pain but gives you specific abilities.
>>43857936
Is English your first language?
>>43861753
This is pretty much exactly what you just described, and I'm all for it.
>>43861619
It was the intent at least, right? Get in a biosuit and fight the shoggoths, don't worry about how it's corroding all you are as it's sustenance, it's supposed to do that. Thought that was how it was meant to be, and again, don't know the system from personal experience
>>43858038
The game starts out as a Gothic Horror Monster Hunter, you prowl the streets of a Not-Victorian super Necropolis and then suddenly an Alien slaps its dong across your face.
>>43857936
Cool. Not super-duper extra original (but fuck that thing anyway), but still really cool. I'd gladly play it.
It's not *too* dark, of course it depends on your players. Only thing is, this progressive transformation might be detrminental to long-term campaign, although it would offer an interesting way to turn good PC's in powerful BBEGs for future story arcs.
Perhaps you could include a system to slow down the transformation? Perhaps something related to killing the monsters (like drinking their blood)?Perhaps all the monsters have been once humans and it's all a cruel game of some deceptive deities?
>>43867527
>and then suddenly an Alien slaps its dong across your face
What.
>>43869208
Baically, it's almost like regular Lovecraft.
For a while, it's very Gothic horror. A town ravaged by monsters, people stalking the streets hunting them(and each other), while everyone slowly becomes insane. Through it all, a few hunters work their best to keep everyone else safe, hunting the werewolves and other monsters, fighting off the infection themselves.
But then it starts to get worst. The monsters get more unearthly, more deranged. And then you start finding info on what's actually going on, you begin peeling the layers away. And the more you learn, the more insane everything becomes, until you're fighting sanity shattering monsters who have incredibly alien goals and mindsets. And through your crumbling sanity(and humanity), you must attempt to put a stop to it, as best as you can.
>>43857936
Hi there Miyazaki
Dark but workable. Sounds like it could work with the standard infectious type monsters (werewolf/vampire/zombie/etc.) pretty well, with the newly using their newfound powers to strike back at those who are too far gone while slowly losing themselves to the transformation. Well-suited to a story setup where the mentor trains a bunch of new 'recruits' to fight the menace, with the underlying intent that they'll eliminate him when the time comes.
>>43868877
Which brings the question how the mess started at all.
