Monday, July 14, 2025

victorian romance slush pile 2

For a victorian-adjacent gothic romance. This one's more game-y, but still very slushy


Courtship

Courtship is highly systematized and divided into stages (levels, even) with specific rituals for moving between them. Here's a simple map:

You take strings on other characters when they break a promise, reveal a secret, or break etiquette.

This may be too much system for the thing I want: basically, players should pay attention to each others' etiquette, and choose when and where to break the rules in service of romance. (this isn't historically accurate or genre convention- i just read a lot of romcom manga)


Gender + Etiquette

A respectable man is...

  • Traditional, yet fashionable
  • Secretive
  • Violent; duels on his and others' behalf
  • Pious

A respectable woman is...

  • Traditional, yet fashionable
  • Candid; never whispers, never gives the impression of keeping secrets
  • Nonviolent
  • A little mad; which is why they aren't allowed to duel or drive or go to church

Those who do not fit the binary are forced to pretend. Nonconformity is not welcome here. (Other forbidden things: premarital sex, queerness in all its forms, divorce, secret relationships, visible piercings, bigamy, talking about death, speaking french)

Your House further modifies your etiquette:

  • House Devinsen must wear black and never laugh in public: they are all collectively in mourning over the death of their ancestor-patriarch. They're also comfortable talking about death in polite conversation.
  • House Norbury have a vendetta going with House Larsene. They cannot cut their hair and must be visibly tattooed. (Visible tattoos are not forbidden for other houses, but they are considered non-traditional. House Norbury considers them extremely traditional, but only these specific designs in these specific locations. God forbid you use them to express yourself.)
  • House John cannot marry members of their own House. (The major houses are groups of multiple families, united by geopolitics and a shared ancestor. It's much more common to marry within one's house, frequently between first- and second-cousins. House John considers this yucky, but they're the weird ones here.)
  • House Sardon is ruled by matriarchal harems. Men wear veils, and never speak unless spoken to. Women chosen by the heads of house must marry at least twice and have as many children as years of marriage. Other women are not allowed to marry or have children.
  • House Oleone are socially acceptable to make fun of to their faces. They may present as either gender (i.e. men may be candid, women may be violent) and change social gender as often as six times a day. To compensate, gender performance is particularly extreme- big beards, big dresses, and so on.
  • House Larsene have a vendetta going with House Norbury. Both men and women must duel often and aggressively to remain in good standing; the heads of house keep score.
  • House Rhayadder are socially acceptable to insult, albeit not to their faces. Women must go to church. (Their churches are still segregated by men and women.) Men are not allowed to openly duel; all violence must be implicit or covert. (Poisonings are standard.)
  • In House Mything, men are allowed to be a little mad. Fashions and etiquette change four times a year. It is good manners to play along; they are taste-makers as much as any other House.


Social Combat

Spend two(?) strings on someone to coerce them with lies, threats, or charms. Choose an approach and roll 2d6. If you beat their defense (1 = gullible/craven/lustful; 12 = telepathic/fearless/vampiric), you change their mind permanently. If you fail, they change yours instead.

trying to add some kind of social combat option, so you can do battle with romantic rivals. Each dinner party should feel like a battlefield, but with your character's ego at stake instead of their health. I like when characters get their limbs lopped off, and this is somewhat equivalent: pick a bad fight, and suddenly you're a snake-worshipping libertarian

Strongly held beliefs are challenged, not broken: a follower's faith shaken, a spouse's loyalty tested. Put a crack in that belief, like an injury; if its cracked again, it breaks. You can repair cracks in downtime on a 2-in-6, or with the help of a trained professional.

You can't make someone fall in or out of love this way.


The Most Beautiful Woman You've Ever Seen ← nothing to add, i'm just linking this here because I like it a lot

by suzushiro
this image is irrelevant to the rest of the post

Thursday, July 10, 2025

The Monster Inside Me Has Grown This Large (GLOG Class: Wandering Monster)

A werewolf, or perhaps a slasher.


MONSTER
Start with: mask, weapon, trustworthy voice, victimology
A - Victims, Monster
B - Pawns, +1 Inhuman Physiology
C - Hunters, +1 Inhuman Physiology
D - Sacrifices, +1 Inhuman Physiology


Once upon a time, there lived a nameless monster.
The monster was dying to have a name.
So it set out on a journey to find its name.


A: Victims
Between adventures, you attract up to [level]+1 hapless goons: lantern boys, village fools, plucky street urchins, people no one will miss.

  • Individually, they have 1HP and take no damage on a successful save vs aoe. Collectively, they are as helpful as a single character (if that) and take a single share of loot/xp. 
  • You get +[templates] to Hit while your goons are in formation. (This is their only contribution in combat.)
  • You may treat any hirelings you personally take on as goons.
  • You may reduce incoming damage by d12 by sacrificing one of your goons, as if you were sundering a shield. 

Whenever something scary happens, your goons scatter, split up, and get lost, such that only one remains “on-screen”. Whenever you enter a new room, you can have one stumble back on-screen from behind curtains, inside closets, etc., teeth chattering and faces pale. If there is a non-obvious trap in the room, they've already triggered it (the gm describes their fate as part of the room description). 

A: Monster
At any time, if your goons are on-screen, you can stumble off-screen and become a wandering monster on the encounter table. While the monster is out, you play as your goons.

The monster…

  • …is a [level x 2] HD NPC under the GM’s control.
  • …has your skills, class abilities, and equipment, yet is unrecognizable as you.
  • …is mute, intelligent, and single-mindedly homicidal.
  • …is drawn to loud noises (arrives in 1d3 turns).
  • …doesn't trigger traps, is invisible to the undead, and can slip past locked doors.
  • …cannot die, although it may appear to when reduced to 0 HP. Instead, it plays dead and escapes at the first opportunity. It cannot return until downtime has passed.

You can stumble back on-screen whenever the party enters a room (oh my god guys, did you know there's a monster in this dungeon, i only barely escaped and somehow ended up here!)

If the monster "dies" or you run out of goons, return on-screen or die.

If you die, the monster escapes, forever to haunt the encounter table.


The monster went to a village where nothing ever grew.
"Little girl, give me your name.
If you give me your name, I will make you strong."


Inhuman Physiology
The monster reveals inhuman physiology. Additional attacks, darkvision, acid spit- gain one every time you level up and another every time the monster "dies", negotiated with the GM (see below). Ideally, the new ability is related to how it died: gelatinous bones if it was crushed, immunity to fire if it was burned, etc.

If an NPC sees you use these abilities as a human, you lose access to Victims, forever. (Other PCs may choose to ignore your eccentricities, but everyone has their limit.)

1d10 Example Monster Traits

  1. Wolf's Head: Gain an additional bite attack (d6).
  2. Ghoul Guts: Eat a whole corpse to gain d6 HP.
  3. Spring Heel: 40' vertical leap from standing.
  4. Fireproof: You are immune to fire.
  5. Ripper: Your nails deal d6 and bypass armor.
  6. Roar: Everything in earshot saves versus fear.
  7. Mimicry: Perfectly reproduce any sound you hear. Otherwise mute.
  8. Plague: [templates]-in-6 chance to inflict fever, visions, and shakes.
  9. Iron Head: Break stone and bend metal with the top of your skull.
  10. Toymaker: Swallow a doll or marionette to create a living puppet.


"If you'll feed my village, you can have my name."
The monster became the little girl with the pretty name.
The village became wealthy. There was plenty to eat.


B: Pawns
In place of hapless goons, you may choose to attract distinguished goons. They add +[level] to checks in a single, very specific skill.

If you know two secrets belonging to an NPC, you can command them to do anything, once.

C: Hunters
In place of hapless goons, you may choose to attract daring goons. They get their own turn in combat.

With a touch, you can change someone's fear response to one of the following: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

D: Sacrifices
In place of hapless goons, you may choose to attract devoted goons. They trust you completely, and will do obviously dangerous things if you tell them to.

You can summon your choice of any wandering monster to your location by sacrificing a goon: it bursts thru a door to gore them thru the chest, or rises from a lake to drown them.


The monster liked its new name, so it stayed inside.
But one day, it was just too hungry.


Tom Cuzor

Δ: Final Girl
If you only have one goon left, she can kill the monster.