Tales of the Demon Lord (Shadow of the Demon Lord system)

[wander]

I decided I'd give a go running the campaign 'Tales of the Demon Lord' for the system game, Shadows of the Demon Lord, if anyone was interested.

Tales of the Demon Lord is a pregen campaign for the system and takes starting characters at Level 0 through 11 linking adventures until they reach Level 10 at the finale, taking them from no-name villagers to badass heroes of legend out the stop the world of Urth from ending!

This game has a similar system to DnD 5e (see below), though it's feel is much more in line with that Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, in it's tech level (more clockpunk renaissance ala late 1400s than DnD middle ages) and also in that your characters are likely going to come to bad ends...
Character deaths are inevitable and will happen (there is no DnD HP bloat here...), so do not get attached to your character or spend ages doing a bio on them!

However do not stress out if the worst happens either!
When your character dies, you can make a new one at the same Level as the rest of the party who can join back in at an appropriate time. Wanted to try a different Ancestry or Path for your character? You can get the chance to do so if a death occurs. Death does not mean the end of the game for you if you want to keep playing.
Even though you start with a rando rolled meat-sack with few HPs, I feel like over the course of the campaign each character will develop under your direction, this is a roleplaying game, so have fun with the role you're given! As you Level Up how your character went through and reacted in adventures makes a narrative for you to choose their Paths (classes) around, giving more meaning to the story of the party as it moves along.

How does the campaign start and where is my character from?

The campaign is set in SotDL's default setting from the core rules; the continent of Rul on the planet Urth. Whilst your characters can hail from truly anywhere on Rul's map, the opening adventure for the Level 0 characters will start at Crossing, in the Northern Reaches.

Crossing is the largest and most important city of the region and home to approx 19,000 people. Around half the population are Human, though all ancestries from all over Rul come to and have already settled in the large city.

A true champion of the downtrodden, Father Gregory works in Crossings’ poorest district, Grievings, where he maintains a small shrine connected to the larger Temple of the New God in Redemption.
Redemption is a district confined to a narrow sliver of territory carved out from the edge of Grievings, where the people of Crossings come to worship. Temples of every major religion and denomination in all lands can be found here, with the Cathedral of the Ascended next to the Shrine of Astrid, and both across the street from the Palace of Revel and the Mausoleum of Father Death, two of the Old Gods. Countless other places of worship offer meaning and purpose for those seeking supernatural answers.

When locals started disappearing a week ago, the Brown Cloaks’ (the law enforcers of Crossing) halfhearted investigation turned up nothing. Unwilling to let the disappearances continue, Gregory set out to find the person responsible. No one has seen the priest since.

The characters have been tasked with (or have taken it upon themselves) to investigate the disappearance of Father Gregory. From here, a wider conspiracy shall unfold...

What character should I make?

Players should create characters using the normal rules of the game.

All Ancestries are allowed, the characters will be starting characters at Level 0 and will have two Professions as normal (these can be ideally random-rolled, though I'll allow you to pick if you have a concept you're strongly tied to).

The following are just some of the ways you can connect the characters to the city of Crossings;

• Academic Profession: This character could know Caribdus, the wizard of Wizard’s Peak, or have a contact on the city council.
• Common Profession: Characters might have city residences in districts appropriate to their starting wealth. Poor characters should live in Grievings. Wealthier characters might live in Coins or Purse (ask for more info on these, though the start is centred more on Grievings).
• Criminal Profession: Consider granting the character membership in the Guild—the organization that controls criminal activity in Crossings.
• Martial Profession: This character might be a member of the Brown Cloaks or the militia.
• Religious Profession: The Cult of the New God has a great deal of influence in the city, and characters of that faith might know Father Paulus as a Patron who tasks them to find out what happened to Father Gregory.
• Wilderness Profession: Consider having the character come from one of the settlements outside Crossings that are featured in later adventures; Hamlet, Carbuncle, or Verge.

So!
This game is mainly just for funsies to pass the time due to current world events; I'm hoping you all have some fun rolling up a rando schlub and enjoy the game to see how far they get and what horrific thing may finally take them out!
It is also totally possible you'll have the same character all the way from Level 0 to the final Level 10 encounter, so see how far you make it with them! You get my props if we make that far!

For those who have not played and I've somehow managed to make you somewhat interested, you have four main attributes that are similar to DnD's, you roll a d20 for actions and you get modifiers from your attributes like DnD which are easy to figure out as it's your attribute -10 for all of them, so a 10 gives +0, 8 gives a -2, 11 gives +1, 12 gives +2 etc.
The target number to beat is always 10.

There is no XP, instead your characters Level Up automatically after each adventure. This makes Pbp easy as pie, we'll run the first adventure with you all at Level 0 and when it's done, we'll jump the next with everyone at Level 1 and so on.
There's some other aspects, though that's the main system, easy enough you could play or run this thing drunk.

If you've never played SotDL before, you will need the core rule book, I can help players that need help, though this isn't your zoomer's DnD here.
I own pretty much all the stuff for this game, so for those who otherwise have supplements coming out their ears like me, I am more than open to hearing out whatever anyone wants to do with their starting character, just remember that you will all be Level 0 starting characters going in.

Okey dokey!
If you made this far and want in, I'm glad and would love to see you post your interest.

[Tydorei]

I'm interested. When you say no named villager, should I make a ... villager? Or can I make someone who is an investigator/adventurer already? A little more info on the start of the game would be helpful. I have the core book.

[wander]

Okay, cool thank you for the interest! ^^

In the core book you'll see there are Professions to roll on (and every PC can have two), really I have a preference to players rolling for them to see what they get, though if you have a strong concept you want to lean towards, there's nothing wrong with picking whichever two you'd like.

Professions are on p.23 to p.25 and to clarify.

The characters will be Level 0 starting characters, so they'll start as normal folks and the inciting event pulling them to become adventurers proper will be the first adventure.

Once the first adventure is complete, the PCs will become Level 1 and able to choose if they want to be a Warrior, Rogue, Priest or Magician (or the Adept from Forbidden Rules if a player wishes), whatever the player feels makes most narrative sense given how their surviving character dealt with the adventure.

I'll add more on character generation and the opening adventure in the OP above, hopefully that'll give you more information, though please do feel free to ask for information, I'm more than happy to give answers. 

[wander]

Edited the opening post to explain more on the campaign, if there's any questions I am open to answer them!

[ererruz]

Are the different priests from Uncertain Faith also an option for our 1st level-up? :)  What about supplement books adding new ancestries?

[wander]

Yes to both questions! 

You'll of course have to reach Level 1 before getting your first Path, though all of them a player has access to are fine to dip into, though any Ancestry from the supplements is available. 

I will for balancing show preference to the 8 main Ancestries (the 4 from the core and 4 from Demon Lord's Companion), though I actually love the different races and I'm partial to playing Darklings, so sure!

[ererruz]

Good to know! Darkling is actually one of the two I'm thinking of. The other (and the one I'm more leaning to) is an Elf if that's OK.

As for the path, I'm thinking about a would-be priest of Revel if we make it to 1st level

[wander]

Heh. Sure.

Well Revel is one of the Great Fae, so it makes more sense for your character to be an Elf, as Darklings are Diabolus' servants and the Great Fae think less than favourably about him, though in narrative a Darkling could seek redemption and give worship to Revel.

I'll say I kinda prefer you see how your character gets on in the Level 0 opener, it may make more narrative sense to go with another Path given how they may react to things. If you still feel like going that route though when you reach Level 1, that's fine with me. It gives you a chance to find your character's voice and change your mind if you feel the need.

As one thing though, Crossing whilst being the biggest city in the North and full of all kinds of folk... Mortals are naturally wary of fae, distrustful and a fae character can expect to be tolerated at best. Open-minded individuals do exist in the city of course who treat people on individual basis, though superstitious crowds are what they are.

[Thufir Hawat]

The whole thing about 0-level characters reminds me of a DCC's funnel. Well, except for the part where you need multiple characters.

[wander]

Yeah, it for sure feels like that in set-up, though instead of controlling multiple characters, you do play one and on the table usually players may have a few extra sheets incase their character dies.

Character generation is super quick in SotDL, so it's easy to make a few and not get too invested in one. This is why I'd rather players not write a fuck-hueg bio and get invested in a Mary Sue of their own design who is munchkinned to hell and back, which the system doesn't really allow you to do anyway.

Anyway, to demonstrate, I'll quickly note how you make a character in SotDL;

> Pick an Ancestry. This is your character's species/race. There you'll find starting attributes already listed. Humans have 10 in all stats and can add an extra 1 in one to make it 11.
You are also allowed to reduce on attribute by 1 to raise another by 1.

There are four stats;
> Strength (decides Health, melee attacks)
> Dexterity (decides Defence, ranged attacks)
> Intellect (decides Perception, casting)
> Will (for casting and insanity rolls)

So, you may wish to have a human good at archery, you'd give them Str 10 (+0), Dex 11 (+1), Int 10 (+0), Will 10 (+0). The brackets being the modifiers to the d20 roll for actions. This is always attribute -10 in total.
You may want to make the archer really good and lean more into dex, figuring you don't need so much health or melee fighting skill, so you go Str 9 (-1), Dex 12 (+2), Int 10 (+0), Will 10 (+0).

Then you get a few tables to random roll on after you total secondary attributes for that Ancestry that will give bio details for your character.

As above you get Health equalling Strength, your Defence (the target number an attack needs to hit you) is equal to Dexterity and Perception is equal to Intellect (meaning you add your Intellect modifier to rolls for perception).

Finish up rolling two Professions and rolling for Wealth which decides your starting gear and you're off to the races!

[lux89]

Osgroki Warmaxe the Dwarf

Strength 10 (0), Agility 9 (-1),  Intellect 10 (0), Will 10 (0), Perception 11 (+1),    Defense 9+1, Health 14,    Heal Rate 3, Size 1/2, Speed 8, Power 0,  Damage 0, Insanity 0, Corruption 0 Professions 1. Common | Gravedigger 2. Wilderness | Refugee First Prof Roll Result: 2 Common Prof Roll Result: 13 Second Prof Roll Result: 6 Wilderness Prof Roll Result: 16 Wealth | Getting By You have a staff, basic clothing, a backpack, a week of rations, a waterskin, a tinderbox, 2 torches, and a pouch containing nothing. Bought a Small Shield. Roll Result: 13 Cp Roll Result: 5

Languages | Speak the Common Tongue, and speak, read, and write Dwarfish. Darksight | You can see in areas obscured by shadows or darkness within medium range as if those areas were lit. Beyond this distance, you treat darkness as shadows and shadows as lit. Hated Creature | Choose a creature from the Hatred table. Your hatred grants 1 boon on attack rolls made against creatures you hate. (Chosen: Ogres) Robust Constitution | You take half damage from poison. You make challenge rolls with 1 boon to avoid or remove the poisoned affliction. Age | 31. Roll Result: 11,  31 to 50 years old. Build | A magnificent belly. Roll Result: 15 Appearance | You have a monstrous appearance, likely due to hard living and several near misses. Your face is a mass of scar tissue, probably missing an ear, an eye, or your nose. You display some unusual habit, such as pounding nails into your skull or greasing your body with troll fat. Roll Result: 4 Hatred | Ogres. Roll Result: 2 Background | You survived a cave-in and get a bit nervous when underground. Roll Result: 9 Personality | Your honor is your life. You would never do anything to bring shame to your people. Roll Result: 10

Interesting Item | A thin shirt of mail that counts as light armor and can be 17 worn under
normal clothing (functions as mail and is not cumulative with other armor).
At 2020-05-18 11:27:38, Dwarf (uid: 63747) rolls: 1d6 Result: 6
At 2020-05-18 11:28:27, Dwarf (uid: 63747) rolls: 1d20 Result: 17

Second String

Bane the Orc

Strength 11, Agility 10,  Intellect 9, Will 9, Perception 10,    Defense 10, Health 15,    Heal Rate 3, Size 1, Speed 12, Power 0,  Damage 0, Insanity 0, Corruption 1 Professions 1. Academic - Science 2. Religious - Temple Ward You were raised in a temple. You were likely an orphan and brought up by the clergy. First Prof Roll Result: 1 Academic Prof Roll Result: 19 Second Prof Roll Result: 5 Religion Prof Roll Result: 20 Wealth | Getting By You have a dagger, a staff or club or sling with 20 stones, basic clothing, a backpack, a week of rations, a waterskin, a tinderbox, 2 torches, and a pouch containing (1d6) 5 cp. Roll Result: 9 Cp Roll Result: 5

Languages | Speak, read, and write the Common Tongue and speak Dark Speech. Shadowsight | See in areas obscured by shadows as if those areas were lit. Age | 25. Roll Result: 15,  19 to 26 years old. Build | You are thin. Roll Result: 7 Appearance | You are ugly. You have thick tusks jutting from your broad jaw, a sloping forehead, and tiny eyes set deep in your skull. Roll Result: 10 Background | You took a sword from the corpse of a warrior you killed. Roll Result: 18 Personality | Kill!! Roll Result: 9 Interesting Item | A small keg of beer. At 2020-05-18 11:28:11, Orc (uid: 63747) rolls: 1d6 Result: 3 At 2020-05-18 11:28:34, Orc (uid: 63747) rolls: 1d20 Result: 4

Third String

Sebastian Graves the Human

Strength 10, Agility 10,  Intellect 11, Will 10, Perception 12, Defense 10, Health 14, Heal Rate 3, Size 1/2, Speed 10, Power 0,  Damage 0, Insanity 0, Corruption 0 Professions 1. Martial - Militia member 2. Criminal - Murderer 3. Criminal - Saboteur First Prof Roll Result: 4 Martial Prof Roll Result: 10 Second Prof Roll Result: 3 Criminal Prof Roll Result: 12 Third Prof Roll Result: 3 Criminal Prof Roll Result: 17 Wealth | Poor You have a staff or club or sling with 20 stones, patched basic clothing, a sack, bread, a waterskin, a tinderbox, a candle, and a pouch containing (2d6) 7 bits. Roll Result: 8 Bit Roll Result: 7

Languages | Speak the Common Tongue and get one extra Profession. Age | 28. Roll Result: 11,  18 to 35 years old. Build | You are short. Roll Result: 6 Appearance | You are plain and uninteresting to look upon. People notice you, but your appearance fails to make an impression. Roll Result: 7 Background | The faerie held you prisoner for 1d20 years: 13 years. Roll Result: 7 Roll Result: 13 Personality | You put your interests and those of your friends above all else. Roll Result: 9 Religion | You follow the tenets of the Old Faith. Roll Result: 8 Interesting Item | A pouch that holds 1d6(5)+1= 6 pinches of dust that, when sprinkled over stone, causes up to a 1-yard cube of material to become soft clay. At 2020-05-18 11:28:18, Human (uid: 63747) rolls: 1d6 Result: 5 At 2020-05-18 11:28:42, Human (uid: 63747) rolls: 1d20 Result: 11 At 2020-05-18 11:35:55, Human (uid: 63747) rolls: 1d6 Result: 5

Edit:: Hello, forgot to say hello.   Pumped to play! Hope one of these makes it to Lv 10!
Edit 2:: Selected the staff and spent the 5 cp on a Small Shield (+1 Defensive)

[wander]

Nice!

I'd recommend given your Agility of 9 (-1) to go for a melee weapon of your choice (dagger / staff / club ) and feel free to spend some of those copper pieces if you'd like! ^^

This ogre hating refugee gravedigging Dwarf (along with the others if he keels over) is good to join the prospective party in Crossing!  Welkommen!

I'm hoping a few other people may join. I don't need too many for the party and I'll likely throw a GMPC in myself to fill up a gap.

You're in for sure though. ^^

[lux89]

Yays, I'm hip, I'm a cool mom!     Dank u zeer!

Selected the staff and spent the 5 cp on a Small Shield!
This dwarf is ready to hate on orcs, hells yea... >.>
If he makes it to lvl 1, he's gonna be a priest.
Fits and ties in with the gravedigger/refugee dwarf story xD

[TheHangedOne]

I'm interested, likely as a clockwork (for something different from my usual shenanigans). Reading over the core rules now~

[wander]

You are more than welcome to do so! ^^

Character generation is easy, as mentioned above and the main thing to consider is you always need to roll a 10+ on a d20 roll to succeed. Your attribute modifiers will adapt the roll of course, so if you had a 12 Agility (+2) and rolled a 9, your result is an 11 and a pass to a generic action.

You don't even roll the attributes, they're static and listed for you. You can however reduce one down by 1 to raise another by 1 to customise your chosen Ancestry to fit your playstyle more. 

So it's like DnD, though way bloody simpler to figure out if you did good or not. Don't even need me to tell you! 

The only time your target number will change is rolling against the Defence of a creature you're attacking, as this can vary. For example lux89's Dwarf has a Defence of 9, so if he gets attacked, that's the target number to hit him.

Str determines melee accuracy modifier.

Dex determines ranged projectile accuracy modifier.

Its always stat -10, so it goes like this;

8 (-2), 9 (-1), 10 (+0), 11 (+1), 12 (+2) etc.

===

On that note, lux89, the (+1) you got there should go next to Perception, not to Defence.
Defence is a flat number, it's essentially your AC in this game, higher the better.

[lux89]

Oh, I see, the +1 Defensive from the Small Shield gives +1 to Perception, not Defense?

[wander]

Oh, my apologies!!

I forgot about the Shield. Yeah, keep that as is, you get +1 Defence when you wield it.

At Perception 11, you do still get (+1) to that too though. ^^;

[lux89]

Okay fixed, cleared up the mods xD

[TheHangedOne]

Alright. So, I think I got it down right, but please let me know if I skipped something or did something wrong. I rolled my own dice for creation (but will use E dice for skill, attack, etc. checks), so I hope you don't mind.

Strength 12   | Agility 8
Intellect 8      | Will 9
Perception: 8 | Defense: 13(+1)
Health: 12     | Healing Rate: 4
Size: 1 | Speed: 8 | Power: 0
Damage 0 | Insanity 0 | Corruption 0
Languages: You speak the Common Tongue
Immune To: damage from disease and poison; asleep, diseased, fatigued, poisoned
Key: You have a key somewhere on your body that you cannot reach. When the key is cranked and turning, you count as a creature. When it stops, you become an object. Your key stops turning when you become incapacitated. It also stops turning at the end of any round in which you got a total of 0 or lower on an attack roll or challenge roll.While you are an object, you cannot use actions, move, talk, or perceive your surroundings. Any creature that can reach you can use an action to wind up your key. If you are not incapacitated, you become a creature once more. If you are incapacitated, roll a d6. On a 3 or lower, there is no effect. On a 4 or higher, you heal 1 damage and become a creature at the end of the round.Although you are an object while you are incapacitated, you are still subject to the rules for incapacitated creatures.
Mechanical Body: You do not eat, drink, or breathe. You do not age and you cannot be transformed into an undead creature. Your mechanical body makes it impossible for you to swim, so you sink to the bottom when you are submerged in liquid.
Repairing Damage: When you are a creature, you heal damage as any other creature. If you are an object, a creature can use an action to start repairing you with a tool kit. The creature must work for at least 4 hours. At the end of this time, it makes an Intellect challenge roll with 1 bane. On a success, you heal damage equal to your healing rate.
Clockwork Form: You are a humanoid clockwork. You are 6 feet tall and weigh 300 pounds.

Age: 33
Purpose: Built to Work: +2 strength (stat adjustment: -1 intellect, +1 strength)
Appearance: You appear well made and in good working condition.
Background: You have a sword battleaxe grafted to one of your arms.
Personality: You were made to serve. You commit your existence to aiding others.
Profession 1: Laborer. Porter.
Profession 2: Martial. Militia Member.
Wealth: Getting By
Items: Battleaxe (grafted to right arm), small shield,  basic clothing, backpack, tinderbox, 2 torches, pouch (3 copper)
Interesting Thing: A weapon of the DM's choice

Value: Talbot must preserve the life of the good. Talbot may sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Fear & Loathing: Talbot loathes bandits. Will kill innocents, will burn fields. Talbot must stop all bandits. Talbot fears winding down, helpless.
Love & Desire: Talbot loves doing a good job, being told he has done a good job. Talbot desires approval.
Achievement: Talbot has not achieved anything of note. Talbot would one day like to be known for justice.
Authority: Talbot was not programmed for independent action. Talbot prefers to follow orders.
Responsibility: Talbot is very responsible. Talbot takes his obligations very seriously.
Good & Evil: Talbot must protect all that is good from all that is evil. Must assist all who are good. Must thwart all who are evil.

Thoughts: Instead of a sword, could the weapon be whatever you, as DM, decide? It adds a bit of 'differentness' to him, I think.  I was also curious if things like the rations, maybe even a few weapons (so he's not carrying around an arsenal) could be refunded in some way?

Additionally, for story connections, I was thinking that Talbot could have been working with Father Gregory. Gregory keeps Talbot properly wound up, and in return, the clockwork keeps people safe, and helps out with as much work as he can. Father Gregory's disappearance could be alarming to Talbot, providing ample motivation for him to find the good man.

Given his simple-minded nature, and the overly weaponized theme that got rolled, he'll probably become some sort of fighter when/if he levels.

[wander]

Ideally I'd say not to screw around with what you rolled and also I'd have liked to have seen rolls on the Wealth roll at least as that does have a mechanical outcome to it, though it's done now.

You can fluff the sword as a 'battleaxe, a flail, a morningstar or a pick'. These are all weapons in the same profile, 1d6+2 damage.

For Getting By, you choose one weapon from the ones you listed in your gear, a dagger or a staff. That's important as I'm going to rule that for things that are out of odds and will never get used, you can swap the gear out for coin of the same worth to spend right away on a 1:1 basis.

Please note what you swapped out and what you may have spent this coin on so I know the books are evened.

Everything else is fine and your clockwork is welcomed into the party!



To both players;

Ideally I'm looking for at least one more player with a completed character to join in, more the merrier! If you know anyone who'd like to give the game a go, please do spread the word!

For sure on the look out for more Agile ranged folk now. 

[TheHangedOne]

Alright. I took off the staff (since I mistook how many weapons I get), and exchanged the week of rations and waterskin for 1 copper each, bringing the total up to 3 copper. Then I exchanged the dagger for a light shield (both cost 5 copper).

[wander]

Cool stuff.

Same ruling goes for any and all players in the party too, to make things fair.

[wander]

It looks like interest is kind of low, though I can still run the game if our current players are still good for it.

To keep TPK from happening, I'm ruling players will now take two characters each. I know lux already has a choice of two extras to jump into the party right away.

TheHangedMan, if you're still interested also, feel free to post up a second character. You may want to look at a character who has good Agility for a sling using ranged combatant, just to round out the party for a 2nd character.

[lux89]

Yuppers, I'm gung-ho ready!

[TheHangedOne]

Sure. Give me the day to poke around, and I'll see about whipping up a ranged character.