Dark Souls OSR Tabletop rpg (3) – Combat Mechanics: Defense rolls

Dark Souls OSR project: Part 0, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Today we talk about one of the most important aspects of Dark Souls – Combat. Maybe the hardest aspect to translate from the electronic game to a tabletop rpg, the combat in Dark souls is skill based. The better the player, the better the chances of the character surviving. So much in fact that there are players able to finish Dark Souls almost without leveling up their characters stats or equipment. But an rpg is made – normally – with random numbers and, if your character stats are bad, no matter how 'good' you understand one system, you will probably still die.

Although it is possible to try emulating skill through a game (for example, Chess is a game based entirely on a person's skill), the main objective here will be trying to translate the 'feel' of Dark Souls. In Dark Souls, you always feel like your way of playing and reacting affect the game – how could we do something similar in a tabletop rpg?

Thus I introduce the 'Defense Rolls'. There are 6 types of defense rolls, one for each main attribute:

. Strength defense: Pushing, Trampling, Smashing.

. Dexterity defense: Dodging, rolling, evading.

. Constitution defense: Resisting, interposing, absorbing attacks.

. Inteligence defense: Foretelling, Feinting, fe

. Wisdom defense: Perceiving, acting on instincts.

. Charisma defense: Intimidating, Luck.

Besides the Saving Throws values, a character would have also Defense values. If you are playing with a classic OSR class, every one of their defense rolls will start at 15 at first level and receive +1 after each even level (so, +1 at level 2, +2 at level 4 etc), and will also receive +1 if the attribute is 13-15, +2 if it is 16 or 17, and +3 if 18. If you are playing with the 'Chosen Undead' special class, then your Defense starts at 20+ and depends entirely on your improved attribute modifiers.

In a manner similar to Saving Throws, defense rolls are defensive maneuvers a character may use wherever it seems plausible for him do to so. Wherever a player receives damage, he may narrate how he would defend from it and roll against the appropriate defense value. If successful, the damage is halved and; if it is a failure, the damage received is doubled. If the damage source already needed a saving throw, then either it is not possible to make a defense roll, or the damage will be nullified if both actions are successful – the GM must decide.

For example, let's suppose your 2 nd level fighter is attacked by a giant rat that hits for 20 damage – enough to kill him at that moment. You then say that the fighter will push the rat back using strength in order to defend from it, but the GM that is not possible – the rat is too big for that. So, instead, the player says that he will try absorbing the attack and Defense roll with constitution. He has Con 14, which gives him a Constitution Defense of 13 (+1 being level 2, +1 constitution modifier). He rolls a 11 – a failure – so the damage is doubled and the character dies, reviving later in the bonfire.

In another time, the same fighter is attacked by a pyromancer's fireball, receiving 30 damage. The attack naturally allows for a saving throw, which the character succeeds, halving the damage to 15. However, he wants to negate the damage – so, he tries rolling. Sadly, the fighter fails and the damage goes back to 30 – killing him again.

And that is the idea with Defense Rolls: the characters are able to narrate how they would defend against an attack and may have some control over what happen to their character. And many different monsters will have different modifiers for each kind of defense, which will give some tactical density for the players to know what kind of monsters they are attacking. But I will explain that in future parts.

Until then,

Valete!

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Dark Souls rpg OSR (2) – Classes and 'The Chosen Undead' class

In my last post, I discussed the basics of what makes Dark Souls: Souls, Humanity and Death. Now, I'll talk about another fundamental aspect necessary for the game - the classes. I will also talk about a new class for OSR: 'The Chosen undead.

Considering all the basic and specialized classes of OSR (Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Thief, Paladin, Druid, Ranger etc), I believe all of them can be used without much changing. However, the GM must adapt them to the Dark Souls lore, although much of Dark Souls is still a mistery. Most of the game passes only in a small area of the world, and that leaves a lot of space for the GM to create new things - so, adapting the classes lore should not be a problem and the GM should not be afraid of inventing.

However, there is a very important and specific Dark Souls 'class': The Chosen Undead, the character that the players of the electronic game plays. Although it is possible to choose amongst many different 'jobs' at the start of character creation, those are, in the end, not very much different from one another - all depends on how you are going to level up your character and what equipment you will use. So, basically, there is only one 'class' in Dark Souls, and I would like to propose an adaptation of it to tabletop rpg:

First things to say is that class would be very special and with particular rules, escaping from the OSR normal pattern. All its characteristics would come from attributes improvements and from its level system. Different from other classes, the Chosen Undead would follow the Dark Souls table of progression, which you can see in this link. Every time the Chosen Undead collects enough souls to level up, it may go to the nearest sacred bonfire and spend the necessary souls. With each level, The Chosen Undead gains +1 improvement to add to an attribute (it is interesting that the player notes the main basic value of an attribute and the improved one in sepparate). Different from all other player characters, The Chosen Undead receives a +1 modifier for every 2 points of improvement beyond 10 - similar to d20 system. So, Strength 23 would give +6 modiffier, for example. The maximum you may have at one improved attribute is 50 (a +20 modiffier).

It is important to note, however, that the Improved attributes are not 'absolutes' in the fictional world. What I mean is that, if you have a giant with Strength 19 agains a Chosen Undead with 38 Improved Strength, but only 14 natural strength, the Giant will be stronger. The Chosen Undead is only able to compare against creatures of relative size - so, a warrior with 17 Stength against a Chosen Undead with 19 improved strength, the Chosen Undead would be stronger. 

Besides the different level progression and attributes, the Chosen Undead does not have Hit Dice. Instead, they have HP equal to their improved Constitution value, and receive +1 hp every 10 levels. So, a Chosen Undead level 94 and with 38 Con would have 47 hit points. If it is needed to know how many HD would the Chosen Undead have, divide its level by 20 (divide by 10, then divide by 2). So, a level 380 Chosen Undead would be equivalent to a 16 HD creature.

In resume:

Chosen Undead

HD: None.  Hps = Constitution +1 / 10 levels; equivalent HD equal to level/ 20.

Attack bonus: None, although with Strength improvement it can go as high as +20 in melee attacks and with Dexterity improvement it can go as +20 in ranged attacks.
Weapons and Armor: Any.

Saving Throws: Começam em 20+, e usam os modificadores dos atributos. They start at a 20+ saving throws, but all its saving throws are modified by attributes. I will talk more of that in the next post.

XP progression: Equal to Dark Souls I, being able to reach very high levels (500, 600th etc).

I hope you folks liked it. Next post will be about Mechanics: Saving Throws and Combat Maneuvres, where I will try explainning how to emulate Dark Souls mechanically in a tabletop rpg.

Until then,
Valete!

Image: I did not make it; I only added a little bit of text.

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Dark Souls rpg OSR (1) – The Basics: Souls, Humanity and Death

Last time, I discussed what makes Dark Souls simliar to Old School rpg, and presente my idea of a Dark souls rpg project. So now, let's get started with it.

Adapting Dark Souls to a tabletop rpg is no easy endeavour, 'cause most of the game's experience comes from personal discovery and experimentation of each player, be it understanding the complex game mechanics, interpreting the game's story or dealing with bosses adn whatnots. Such individual experiences are not possible to be reproduced fully within a tabletop rpg, which is by design a social game. However, by the same token, there are experiences that the electronic game cannot simulate either, right?

With that said, I'd like to point first and foremost that the objective here is translating the 'feel' of Dark Souls to the tabletop, together with the idea of its mechanics, like the engaging combat and mistifying story. So, with that out of the way, let's dive into the very basics of Dark Souls -> Souls, Humanity and Death.

Em Dark Souls, as criaturas têm almas – que, no jogo, é uma substância concreta e coletável a qual seria realmente o 'âmago' de um ser. Existem muitos tipos de almas no jogo, e parece que elas se arrumam em grandes grupos (almas de gigantes, almas de heróis renomados, almas de heróis desconhecidos etc.). No jogo, as almas são, ao mesmo tempo, tanto o 'gold' quanto o 'xp' do jogador – você as usa para aumentar de nível (melhorar seus atributos) e para comprar e aprimorar itens.

In Dark Souls, every creature (and even some unliving things too) have souls - which in the game is not only the 'heart' of a beings existance, but also a collectable, something that can be contained and used. In fact, souls are the main source of power - used to level up the stats of a character - but also the main currency there! We could believe that people use other kinds of trading resources in the world of Dark Souls but, in the game, we may only use souls.

The curious with that mechanic of 'Gold as Xp' is very similar to the old D&D editions, where characters would gain 1xp for each gold piece they would hoard. Thus, that is completely appliable to the Dark Souls OSR I'm proposing - each XP a character gain may be used to level up or to 'buy' stuff. The character can store the souls inside him and just subtract them when needing to lvl up or buy an item. The thing is that the player will have to note on his sheet the 'XP total spent' in his character and the 'XP not used yet'. Also, the GM may accept other kinds of currencies in the game besides Souls - since the tabletop rpg may have some liberties beyond the electronic game.

Now, talking about Humanity, in Dark Souls there are a group of special souls: The Lord Souls, the souls which were taken by the Lords (or gods) to defeat the Ancient Dragons and create the Age of Fire. One of those Lords was, supposedly, the Pigmy - an ancestral of mankind - who would have shared his soul with all humanity. Therefore, the 'dark soul' would be the fragment the Pigmy gave to each human, and that is the Humanity score we see in Dark Souls.

In the tabletop rpg, Humanity would be a 7th atribute that the players would have to roll during character creation which would control a character's sanity and also the be amount of dark soul he has gathered. A Humanity score of 13-15 would give +5% XP by the end of the gaming session, 16-17 would give 10 and 18+ would give 15%. However, having high humanity is a risk, for many creatures lust to devour those souls. Therefore, the same bonus should be applied to the random encounter chance of the adventurer party, making it easir for monsters to attack them (e that percentage is cummulative with each and every member! The Dark Souls world is indeed a dangerous one!).

Humanity is crucial because of its connection with Death. In Dark Souls, all characters are Undead, people cursed with never dieing. When an Undead is killed, his body disintegrates, together with his items, and he will be reborn in 1d4 hours at the last bonfire that he've been. In the game it is said that, with each passing hour and with each extra death, an Undead has its humanity lost and, together with it, also its memmories, reason and emotions. Thus, every time a character is killed, he loses 1d6 Humanity. The lower his humanity goes, the more zombified and irrational he becomes. With 8 Humanity, his senses are blurring and he oft loses his train of though. With Humanity 3, he is ravening maniac, but still has a grasp with reality. If a character goes to Humanity 0, or dies without his soul ever being connected to any bonfire, he becomes a Hollow. He is reborn at the same place he died as a complete ferocious and animalike zombie. If he is killed at this state, his equipment may be stolen before disintegrated and will not go back to him.

In order for a character to gain Humanity, he may find it in soul fragments found in monsters, which is a very rare occurrence. With every encounter with monsters, the Gm may roll a 1d100. If it is 100, there was 1 humanity and the GM may roll again, and, for every 100 rolled, there was another 1 humanity. The best way to gain humanity is killing humans with high Humanity. Someone with 13 to 15 humanity gives 1 humanity, 16-17 gives 2 and 18+ gives 3 to their killer.

And thus we end the first part of this fan project for Dark Souls old school tabletop rpg. Next time I will talk about the character classes that can be used and I will introduce a new one with very special mechanics - The Chosen Undead class.

Until then,
Valete!

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OSR extras (1) - Pentakill's Lightbringer, an artifact for tabletop rpg

Pentakill, a band inspired by League of Legends
- Seriously, you folks need to hear them; they are awesome -

So, I was hearing an amazing music, The Lighbringer, by Pentakill, and inspired by it I decided to write something Old School out of those lyrics. Thus, t'is a special post for League of legends players, music lovers and old schoolers. I bring thee 'The Lightbringer', an artifact for old school tabletop rpg.

Icon of the item
in LoL

It is one of the most powerful relics from the distant plane of the 'Legends of Leagues'. Any person can feel its magical aura, be that person trainned in the arcane arts or not. As a weapon, the Lightbringer works as a short bow +3 of returning - its arrow always coming back after you fire it. In fact, even if the arrow has not yet struck the opponent, the user may continue attacking - if he has more than one attack per turn - and new replicates will magically appear, allowing him do to so. The bow also does a critical hit (doubling the damage) on a 16+ natural on the d20, and the hurt creature will bleed for three turns, losing extra 1d6 hp per turn. At last, those who have the bow in their posession (either at hands or just carrying it on their back) are capable of perceiving ambushes (they cannot be surprised) and sense invisible creatures as if they had True Sight.

With this set of skills, the Lightbringer is already a powerful magical item. However, there is more. If the user is of lawful alignment and has come into contact with the legendary and lost song of the bardic band Pentakill, he may rise the weapon to the sky and scream 'I am the Lightbringer'. If he does so while wishing to give up his soul to fighting the darkness of the world, he will then become the Champion of Light - his souls forever bounded into combating the shadows, evil and chaos. With that, when using the Lightbringer, the relic shows its true power.

Now, besides all those other powers, it is a +3 bow that becomes +6 against chatoic or evil creatures. Everytime it gets a critical hit against such creatures, they must succeed in a saving throw against magic or be desintegrated. Besides that, the Lightbringer may change to fit its user will, with its part componentes becoming any suitable weapon - for example, it could become a whip because of the bow's string; the arrow's head may get thinner and become a sword; the shaft may be used as a club etc. No matter the form, it will maintain the 'returning' enchantment - so, even if you throw it as a hammer or sword, it will go back to the user's hand. If surrounded by enemies, the user may scream 'Bring Down the Reckoning' to explode in light, causing his melee damage to all creatures in a 30 feet (50 meters) radius around him. The creatures can make a saving throw to take half damage. This attack is hurtful even for the user and his allies, which receive the damage too. At last but not least, the user presence becomes inspiring, giving +1 Moral to troops and allies e, as long as his soul belongs to the Lightbringer, he will not get old.

Never surrender, never retreat, until the Light embraces all
- or until the Light of your eyes is lost -

But such power comes with a bitter price. The user is transformed, becoming a vengeful person, obsessed with 'bringing back' the 'golden age', saving the 'kingdom', 'bring down the dark regime' and other criptic sayings that not even he knows what they mean. He will fight every day, never truly resting, always in a state of complete dedication and abandoned recklesness. He must fulfill his destiny and fight the shadows off this world and lead everyone to victory. Such a powerful blessing and curse are impossible to be dispelled even by the gods - only the Wish spell may have any chance of freeing the user from the Lightbringer and, even after that, the user will forever feel 'empty', as part of the light that illuminated him was lost.

If the user dies while embodying The Lightbringer, the relic will find someone else to wield it. It is said that no shadow can hold it for long and, in one way or another, the weapon will always end up in the hand of a good warrior. And if that warrior happens to discover the legendary song of the Pentakill, then he may also become, again, The Lightbringer embodied.

So, what do you guys thing of my adaptation? I centered it around the epicness of the Pentakill's song, and I hope you liked it.

Until next time,
Valete

Ps: Yeah, the Lightbringer is a League of Legends item from Dominion map. Didn't you also think just like myself that it was a reference to Lux, eh?

Images 1 , 2, 3


- Extra: The Lyrics of the music -

Fellow armsmen, I ask you,
Will you follow me tonight to break their spine,
And reclaim what once was mine?
Those cravens.

Backstabbed me, deceived me,

Never shall I tolerate their crimes again,
Now let the hunt begin.

7000 souls, scared and daunted, such tale of woe,
Not too long ago, this village was a golden 
scene of hope.

Call down the reckoning,
To bring back hope and peace,
Restore our gloria,
To live forever.

Bring down the dark regime,

I know how to unleash eternal power,
Lead us to order,
I am the Lightbringer!

Fellow warriors, I ask you,
Should my campaign come to an end?
There's way more to avenge.

15 million souls,

Living in this realm without much hope,
Not too long ago, this kingdom was a golden 
state of hope.

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Reflections - Dark Souls and the Old School tabletop rpgs

Light and Darkness, Life and Death
- Dark Souls and the Old School -

I've been pondering the idea of adapting the Dark Souls game to tabletop rpg; specifically, an old school system tabletop rpg. Why? Because I believe that both the Old School rpgs and Dark souls have a lot in common. 

Allow me to ellaborate while talking about Dark Souls. That is an electronic rpg where the player controls an Undead, a person cursed with never being able to truly die. Every time its body is destroyed, the Undead go back to life, and with each death a part of its soul and humanity are lost until eventually it becomes a Hollow - basically, a zombie. Dark Souls have been gaining a considerable amount of fame for its great and detailled setting, its complex storytelling, its amazing combat system and its obscenely high difficulty.

Talking first about the setting, I'd like to point out that the aesthetics of the game are one of a kind - not necessarily for its technological achievement, which, by itself, is indeed great, but by the design choices. Each ambiance, piece of clothing, rock, blade of grass seem to be chose deliberately - the details with the creation behind the game's design, revealed by the design team, is impressive, all focusing on a concept of 'noble decadence' headed by its director, Miyazaki.

The story in Dark Souls is told in a different way than most games. While normally the story is spoonfed to the players with blatant plot expositions, in Dark Souls it is very minimalistic, told mostly through the items descriptions the player may find during the game. Because of that, many believed, for a while, that Dark Souls had no story, because the main NPCs tell very little about it. To understand truly (or at least try to understand) what happens in Dark Souls, a player must collect many different items and cross-reference them, trying to find themes similar between them all. It's a very open endend story, where the player must build, block by block, from their own creativity.

Combat in Dark Souls is, to me, one of the greatest fighting mechanics to greet the electronic gaming market in the last years. It does not try to emulate over the top anime and superhero action. Very 'realistic', very 'down to earth', combat in Dark Souls has more plausible moves from the character. And, even if you get really strong and powerful, you still have to take care of yourself. Even the weakest enemies can kill a player that is unaware. And every single enemy has its own advantages, disadvantages and tatctics to be dealt with. If you do not know them and either overestimate your skills, or underestimate your opponent, you will die.

- Dark Souls Mimic -

Death. That is one of the main topics to experience Dark Souls. In truth, the game is made so that death may teach the players the limits of their characters. Many times it even seems that the game is being sadistic, with traps created specially to kill the characters and enfuriate the players - like the Mimic, a monster that seems just like a treasure chest and that can devour a character with one motion of its gigantic mouth. That is made with purpose. Those traps exist to make the player always prepared, knowing that the world is aware of him and ready to kill him. Death makes the world of Dark Souls real and rises the level of dedication and investment from the players.

To me, all of those aspects create a direct connection between Dark Souls and the Old School tabletop rpgs. In the Old School, settings would usually focus in various minimal details, like clothing, sizes for corridors and texture of rocks - and such details were casually applied to the old school storytelling experience too. Combat in Old School used to have the players really be at their feet, for many of the creatures would kill them easily with instant-death attacks (the infamous 'save or die' aspect of Old School), requiring that the players knew when to fight and when to run. Many modern rpgs have very pondered and balanced encounters with monsters, having no room for the unpredictability of sudden death to strike down upon a character's flesh.

 Incredible vistas and effemeral existances
- The aesthetics of 'Noble Decadence' -

But that is the great unifying point between Dark Souls and Old School - the verossimilitude that exists in the fictional world and the players attention through the death of their characters. It is the character's mortality that seems to breath life into the story. In Old School, the rules of the game were final, in the same way that, in Dark Souls, when a monster stomp you to death, you just accept it. The unbending rules of the game gave a distinct outline and breadth to the stories created by them, in the same way as the immense difficulty inside the Dark Souls game gives that strange feeling of 'reality', where the players really feel like achieving something when they finally defeat a big boss or finish the game.

And that is why I think Dark Souls and Old School tabletop rpg are similar with one another. Next time, I will start discussing how to adapt Dark Souls to a tabletop rpg format.

Until then

Valete!

Images 1 , 2, 3

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