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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 07:10:21 AM

Title: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 07:10:21 AM
How would you fit something like the Berserk Eclipse in your current campaign? A quick explanation of what the Eclipse is:

The Eclipse is an event that happens every 216 years. During that time, evil spirits swell en masse. What kicks it off is the activation of a crimson Behelit- which turns a human into one of the Godhand, 4 extremely powerful demons. The Godhand tries to sway the human to the side of the Godhand using their powers. If the human accepts, they must mark a sacrifice- people dear to them. The sacrifice(s) will be hunted down by an infinite swarm of demons until they die.

The crimson behelit activates when the human is in an utter state of despair. Say, all of your friends are dead, your limbs gone, and you are starving. That would be a good cause to make the Behelit activate.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: SHARK on July 12, 2022, 09:12:43 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...

Greetings!

Yeah, Chris, I agree.

This concept seems very specific and hardwired to a campaign. Lots of campaign assumptions and dynamics required. It wouldn't fit into my campaign at all.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: I HATE THE DEMIURGE I HATE THE DEMIURGE on July 12, 2022, 09:18:15 AM
Anime is gay, so I wouldn't include it. Besides, it sounds like a rip off of the Wild Hunt with extra steps.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 09:58:29 AM
Quote from: SHARK on July 12, 2022, 09:12:43 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like s
some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...

Greetings!

Yeah, Chris, I agree.

This concept seems very specific and hardwired to a campaign. Lots of campaign assumptions and dynamics required. It wouldn't fit into my campaign at all.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

That's fine.

Quote from: drayakir on July 12, 2022, 09:18:15 AM
Anime is gay, so I wouldn't include it. Besides, it sounds like a rip off of the Wild Hunt with extra steps.

YOUR FACE IS GAY
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:03:27 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...

(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7d/32/75/7d32753f2a1b31377c6a736c23d47a76.jpg)

Also this is a Behelit
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 10:18:42 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:03:27 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...

(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7d/32/75/7d32753f2a1b31377c6a736c23d47a76.jpg)

Also this is a Behelit
Okay, so it's made up shit from the Berserk manga which is pretending to tell a story supposedly set in Medieval Europe, but comes off like a twisted funhouse mirror because it's been filtered through late 80's Japanese cultural lens and then translated (badly) back to English. You can feel the fatalism dripping off the concept.

Hard pass.

If I want dark Medieval plot hooks I can just go to the actual myths and legends of Europe, not culturally distorted manga.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:39:47 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 10:18:42 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:03:27 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...

(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7d/32/75/7d32753f2a1b31377c6a736c23d47a76.jpg)

Also this is a Behelit
Okay, so it's made up shit from the Berserk manga which is pretending to tell a story supposedly set in Medieval Europe, but comes off like a twisted funhouse mirror because it's been filtered through late 80's Japanese cultural lens and then translated (badly) back to English. You can feel the fatalism dripping off the concept.

Hard pass.

If I want dark Medieval plot hooks I can just go to the actual myths and legends of Europe, not culturally distorted manga.

I think the Japanese perspective gives an interesting twist on Medieval European culture. But if you don't like it, it's fine, I cannot change your tastes.

The concept of behelits does work in a campaign about slaying evil monsters combined with horror. Imagine if one of your friends gives in to one of these things and becomes a demon? Or what if you give in to one of these things? The storytelling potential is outstanding.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 11:41:08 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:39:47 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 10:18:42 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:03:27 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...

(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7d/32/75/7d32753f2a1b31377c6a736c23d47a76.jpg)

Also this is a Behelit
Okay, so it's made up shit from the Berserk manga which is pretending to tell a story supposedly set in Medieval Europe, but comes off like a twisted funhouse mirror because it's been filtered through late 80's Japanese cultural lens and then translated (badly) back to English. You can feel the fatalism dripping off the concept.

Hard pass.

If I want dark Medieval plot hooks I can just go to the actual myths and legends of Europe, not culturally distorted manga.

I think the Japanese perspective gives an interesting twist on Medieval European culture. But if you don't like it, it's fine, I cannot change your tastes.

The concept of behelits does work in a campaign about slaying evil monsters combined with horror. Imagine if one of your friends gives in to one of these things and becomes a demon? Or what if you give in to one of these things? The storytelling potential is outstanding.
Then you die horribly to the infinite demon swarm that nothing can prevent because it's a fatalistic bullshit setting (coming from the same existential angst that led Japanese filmmakers to create stories of unstoppable radioactive monsters rising from the sea to obliterate them).

There's nothing interesting there unless you're a nihilistic navel gazer trying to imagine all the horrible ways the cosmos could unfairly screw you over (for some reason teen girls seem to love that crap).

Similarly, for me to give into one of those things would require me to abandon my faith in the Christian God and buy into the bullshit lies of some demon. Not going to happen so there's no story there.

Based on your past posts you seem like someone who's entire grasp of storytelling and culture is filtered through recent pop culture/Manga (whose popularity has increased with the degeneration of traditional American comics) and as such have a rather superficial read on what compromises interesting and dramatic conflicts. I suggest reading some or all of the following; Beowulf, Le Morte de Arthur, Song of Roland, the Poetic and Prose Eddas, tales of Robin Hood, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Narnia, etc. if you wish to get a real sense of the foundations of European fantasy and why using Berserk just feels like a shallow nothing in comparison.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: BoxCrayonTales on July 12, 2022, 11:46:45 AM
It's called a beherit. With an R. That's the Syriac word for "devil."
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Mishihari on July 12, 2022, 02:10:18 PM
I don't think this can be "fit in."  If you want it in your setting you need to build the world with the berzerk eclipse as a fundamental starting point.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 02:28:24 PM
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 12, 2022, 11:46:45 AM
It's called a beherit. With an R. That's the Syriac word for "devil."
As I said... badly translated manga/anime (in every sense of the term).

This is what happens when you get someone who hasn't really taken the time to understand a foreign culture decides to write a story set in that foreign culture by basically doing a surface-level read/stereotypes filtered through their own culture's belief systems and bad transliterations... that then gets translated just as sloppily into yet another language using bad transliterations and at best perfunctory attempts at translating concepts from the intermediate culture into something that might make some sort of sense to the third culture (which is mostly the original culture in this case).

If I were to do ANYTHING with Berserk it would be to try and go back and try to reverse engineer whatever the heck the Japanese writers THOUGHT they were borrowing from Medieval European myths/legends/folklore in order to see if some sort of coherent story could be built out of that.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: BoxCrayonTales on July 12, 2022, 03:20:23 PM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 02:28:24 PM
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 12, 2022, 11:46:45 AM
It's called a beherit. With an R. That's the Syriac word for "devil."
As I said... badly translated manga/anime (in every sense of the term).

This is what happens when you get someone who hasn't really taken the time to understand a foreign culture decides to write a story set in that foreign culture by basically doing a surface-level read/stereotypes filtered through their own culture's belief systems and bad transliterations... that then gets translated just as sloppily into yet another language using bad transliterations and at best perfunctory attempts at translating concepts from the intermediate culture into something that might make some sort of sense to the third culture (which is mostly the original culture in this case).

If I were to do ANYTHING with Berserk it would be to try and go back and try to reverse engineer whatever the heck the Japanese writers THOUGHT they were borrowing from Medieval European myths/legends/folklore in order to see if some sort of coherent story could be built out of that.
Have you read/watched Berserk? The demonic invasion only happens well into the story, as a twist. Before that it's a pretty standard military fantasy political thriller story.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on July 12, 2022, 03:34:03 PM
While I wouldn't berate people for liking it, Berserk is pretty fatalistic.
Some things are more interesting to read in writing then play it.

Fatalism in fiction can be interesting. Playing pre-ordained things is infuriating.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: BoxCrayonTales on July 12, 2022, 04:04:25 PM
Quote from: Shrieking Banshee on July 12, 2022, 03:34:03 PM
Some things are more interesting to read in writing then play it.
This should be an actual proverb in rpg design. Too many rpgs fall into this trap.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Omega on July 12, 2022, 07:49:08 PM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 07:10:21 AM
How would you fit something like the Berserk Eclipse in your current campaign? A quick explanation of what the Eclipse is:

The Eclipse is an event that happens every 216 years. During that time, evil spirits swell en masse. What kicks it off is the activation of a crimson Behelit- which turns a human into one of the Godhand, 4 extremely powerful demons. The Godhand tries to sway the human to the side of the Godhand using their powers. If the human accepts, they must mark a sacrifice- people dear to them. The sacrifice(s) will be hunted down by an infinite swarm of demons until they die.

The crimson behelit activates when the human is in an utter state of despair. Say, all of your friends are dead, your limbs gone, and you are starving. That would be a good cause to make the Behelit activate.

Fitting all that into a setting depends alot on the setting and mechanics of the game.

For example this is actually a minor problem in say Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk for example where these sorts of things tend to happen about every other week.

Otherwoldly being granting tempting powers to mortals and throwing open the gates for hell on earth happens again and again. Hate to say it but these guys would be mostly annoyances in FR when you've got literal gods and demon lords being let loose left and right.

The Godhand and the behlits are simplistic to drop into a campaign as a threat major or minor as you see fit.

You just need to lay down the rules of how everything works. You dont even need mechanics for it past the baser requirements and just stating X does Y when Z happens. Ravenlofts demiplane of dread setting fits perfectly. 
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:28:40 PM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 11:41:08 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:39:47 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 10:18:42 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:03:27 AM
Quote from: Chris24601 on July 12, 2022, 09:01:36 AM
I'd ignore it entirely as;

A) I've never heard of it before and it sounds like some new age anime* BS.
B) it's entirely incompatible with the setting I'm running. ENTIRELY.

* ETA: specifically badly translated anime that uses literal translations that fail to account for cultural differences... ex. the Godhand are demons, whatever the heck a Behelit is...

(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7d/32/75/7d32753f2a1b31377c6a736c23d47a76.jpg)

Also this is a Behelit
Okay, so it's made up shit from the Berserk manga which is pretending to tell a story supposedly set in Medieval Europe, but comes off like a twisted funhouse mirror because it's been filtered through late 80's Japanese cultural lens and then translated (badly) back to English. You can feel the fatalism dripping off the concept.

Hard pass.

If I want dark Medieval plot hooks I can just go to the actual myths and legends of Europe, not culturally distorted manga.

I think the Japanese perspective gives an interesting twist on Medieval European culture. But if you don't like it, it's fine, I cannot change your tastes.

The concept of behelits does work in a campaign about slaying evil monsters combined with horror. Imagine if one of your friends gives in to one of these things and becomes a demon? Or what if you give in to one of these things? The storytelling potential is outstanding.
Then you die horribly to the infinite demon swarm that nothing can prevent because it's a fatalistic bullshit setting (coming from the same existential angst that led Japanese filmmakers to create stories of unstoppable radioactive monsters rising from the sea to obliterate them).

There's nothing interesting there unless you're a nihilistic navel gazer trying to imagine all the horrible ways the cosmos could unfairly screw you over (for some reason teen girls seem to love that crap).

Similarly, for me to give into one of those things would require me to abandon my faith in the Christian God and buy into the bullshit lies of some demon. Not going to happen so there's no story there.

Based on your past posts you seem like someone who's entire grasp of storytelling and culture is filtered through recent pop culture/Manga (whose popularity has increased with the degeneration of traditional American comics) and as such have a rather superficial read on what compromises interesting and dramatic conflicts. I suggest reading some or all of the following; Beowulf, Le Morte de Arthur, Song of Roland, the Poetic and Prose Eddas, tales of Robin Hood, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Narnia, etc. if you wish to get a real sense of the foundations of European fantasy and why using Berserk just feels like a shallow nothing in comparison.

You insulted what I like. Your opinion is invalid.

Also you seem like you hate Japanese media. How about I keep reading it to piss you off? I will KEEP using Berserk for my settings because I can do whatever the fuck I want with them.

Berserk isn't even shallow, it's one of the best character-driven stories in a while. So you are doubly wrong and should go buy a gun to blow your own brains out
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 10:30:46 PM
Quote from: Omega on July 12, 2022, 07:49:08 PM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 12, 2022, 07:10:21 AM
How would you fit something like the Berserk Eclipse in your current campaign? A quick explanation of what the Eclipse is:

The Eclipse is an event that happens every 216 years. During that time, evil spirits swell en masse. What kicks it off is the activation of a crimson Behelit- which turns a human into one of the Godhand, 4 extremely powerful demons. The Godhand tries to sway the human to the side of the Godhand using their powers. If the human accepts, they must mark a sacrifice- people dear to them. The sacrifice(s) will be hunted down by an infinite swarm of demons until they die.

The crimson behelit activates when the human is in an utter state of despair. Say, all of your friends are dead, your limbs gone, and you are starving. That would be a good cause to make the Behelit activate.

Fitting all that into a setting depends alot on the setting and mechanics of the game.

For example this is actually a minor problem in say Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk for example where these sorts of things tend to happen about every other week.

Otherwoldly being granting tempting powers to mortals and throwing open the gates for hell on earth happens again and again. Hate to say it but these guys would be mostly annoyances in FR when you've got literal gods and demon lords being let loose left and right.

The Godhand and the behlits are simplistic to drop into a campaign as a threat major or minor as you see fit.

You just need to lay down the rules of how everything works. You dont even need mechanics for it past the baser requirements and just stating X does Y when Z happens. Ravenlofts demiplane of dread setting fits perfectly.

I see.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Headless on July 13, 2022, 12:59:31 AM
I think you can't do that in a role play game.

Or you can only do it 1 on one.

There isn't any room for other characters  It's a story about 1 edgelord being tormented by a demon.  Edge lords are tedious to play with even when the dm isn't making them the centre of attention.  But worse than being just the centre, the edge lord is swallowing up the whole story (note this is always what edge lords are trying to do that's why they are tedious to play with). 

The only thing the other players get to do in this story is die, but even their own death isn't about them, it's still about the edge lord.

So you can't turn that story into a game for a party.

It also sounds like a terrible 1 on 1. 



But if you want to run it.  The edge lord is has just died.  The demons are loose.  It's up to your PCs to stop the deamons.  If you want to add a part about giving into despair (don't) offer any Player about to die a deal.  Give up, and next game you can come back as a super awesome demon and hunt down the players.  If they defect they get to be super awesome demons too.  Game's over when all the players are dead or demons.  Good job demons now we can't play any more.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 13, 2022, 01:12:02 AM
Quote from: Headless on July 13, 2022, 12:59:31 AM
I think you can't do that in a role play game.

Or you can only do it 1 on one.

There isn't any room for other characters  It's a story about 1 edgelord being tormented by a demon.  Edge lords are tedious to play with even when the dm isn't making them the centre of attention.  But worse than being just the centre, the edge lord is swallowing up the whole story (note this is always what edge lords are trying to do that's why they are tedious to play with). 

The only thing the other players get to do in this story is die, but even their own death isn't about them, it's still about the edge lord.

So you can't turn that story into a game for a party.

It also sounds like a terrible 1 on 1. 



But if you want to run it.  The edge lord is has just died.  The demons are loose.  It's up to your PCs to stop the deamons.  If you want to add a part about giving into despair (don't) offer any Player about to die a deal.  Give up, and next game you can come back as a super awesome demon and hunt down the players.  If they defect they get to be super awesome demons too.  Game's over when all the players are dead or demons.  Good job demons now we can't play any more.

I see. It'll need some modification, then.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Omega on July 15, 2022, 02:40:40 PM
Quote from: Headless on July 13, 2022, 12:59:31 AM
I think you can't do that in a role play game.

Or you can only do it 1 on one.

There isn't any room for other characters  It's a story about 1 edgelord being tormented by a demon.  Edge lords are tedious to play with even when the dm isn't making them the centre of attention.  But worse than being just the centre, the edge lord is swallowing up the whole story (note this is always what edge lords are trying to do that's why they are tedious to play with). 

The only thing the other players get to do in this story is die, but even their own death isn't about them, it's still about the edge lord.

So you can't turn that story into a game for a party.

It also sounds like a terrible 1 on 1. 



But if you want to run it.  The edge lord is has just died.  The demons are loose.  It's up to your PCs to stop the deamons.  If you want to add a part about giving into despair (don't) offer any Player about to die a deal.  Give up, and next game you can come back as a super awesome demon and hunt down the players.  If they defect they get to be super awesome demons too.  Game's over when all the players are dead or demons.  Good job demons now we can't play any more.

Then you havent read the story at all. Bravo on that abject failure.

There is usually more than just the main protagonist wandering around in the series. They tend to die alot. But hows that any different from your average session of older D&D?

You could make him an NPC or have him elsewhere. The idea that there can be no other heroes in the setting is about as ass backwards as it gets. Its like Gronan declaring that no one no where could ever be heroes in a Star Wars RPG because... stupid.

No... really. So no one can ever play in a Hyborian Age setting because... Conan? uh huh. suuuure.

Stop listening to small minded village idiots. You are better than that.

With Berserk you have effectively super versions of various D&D type monsters. An arch lich, a minotaur, a dragon, a deva, naga, and so on. Several with some manner of transformation from a more humanoid form to their monster form. And lots of often themed minions to throw at problems.
Effectively a bunch of demon/devil lords. Nothing complex here kids. Easy to reskin existing D&D demons as needed.

Same for the minions.

Gatz's upgraded sword is effectively your bog standard +x sword vs Demons of I recall right. While his prior sword was just a normal, if very large, sword. The Berserk armour is a bit trickier. Seems to be boosting the users abilities across the board and healing them. But at a massive cost when the battle is over. Theres a few abilities in 5e D&D for example that do similar things. Other RPGs have as well over the years to one degree or another.

If you want an RPG to match the feel of the setting then consider the original Hogshead version of the Warhammer Fantasy RPG.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Headless on July 15, 2022, 03:43:20 PM
No.  I haven't read the story at all.  But I did read what the OP wrote.  And that was a story about 1 guy getting tormented.  He explicitly said the dudes friends get killed to make him feel bad. That's the story you can't play with d&d.  It's no fun for the supporting cast.

But the rest of it sure go to town.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 15, 2022, 11:04:37 PM
Quote from: Headless on July 15, 2022, 03:43:20 PM
No.  I haven't read the story at all.  But I did read what the OP wrote.  And that was a story about 1 guy getting tormented.  He explicitly said the dudes friends get killed to make him feel bad. That's the story you can't play with d&d.  It's no fun for the supporting cast.

But the rest of it sure go to town.

You should read Berserk. Also I'm pretty sure I implied that the guy sacrifices his friends
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Omega on July 16, 2022, 02:25:00 PM
I would not say Berserk is a great story. But it does cover a broad range of subjects and the main character is alot more than the usual brooding loner. That is in part the guys problem. He very much does not want to be. Problem is he is quite literally a disaster magnet.

The series also goes through several phases. It delves into courtly intrigue, war, demonic temptation, betrayal, recovery and more. And the supernatural elements gradually increase. Then the fey realm gets involved, and this is more like the classical sort of alien fey rather than the charming kids tales fey, and things get worse in an already very bad situation.

In many a way it is effectively WHFRP: the anime once things escalate. Then pretty much overtakes it in a worse case scenario if chaos ever got a major foothold.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Omega on July 16, 2022, 08:55:05 PM
Quote from: Headless on July 15, 2022, 03:43:20 PM
No.  I haven't read the story at all.  But I did read what the OP wrote.  And that was a story about 1 guy getting tormented.  He explicitly said the dudes friends get killed to make him feel bad. That's the story you can't play with d&d.  It's no fun for the supporting cast.

But the rest of it sure go to town.

Fair enough.

Quick brutal rundown then.
Starts off as a medieval setting with no magic. I do not recall a single spellcaster. War torn europe setting and at first it could be mistaken for a period piece. The main character Gatz. Rises up the ranks as a fighter and eventually fights and gets bested by Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band and joins them. Griffith has ambitions and the tone shifts to a bit of courtly intrigue. The feel is more of an adventuring group than a lone hero. Here is about where the supernatural starts to creep in and once things go to heck they start to go to literal heck.

Griffith is tempted with vast power by a curt of demons called the Godhand via the necklace, refered to as the behlit. But has to sacrifice his friends to get that power. It is just short of a TPK and here is also where the fey make their first presence known. Gatz gets away maimed, with the behlit, and with his girlfriend and fellow mercenary Caska who is left a complete mental wreck. From there it becomes more the, almost, lone hero - with girlfriend - adventure as he tried to keep her safe and thwart the Godhand whenever they show up. Which is pretty much wherever he shows up.

Then things actually get worse when the fey realm gets overlaid on the physical realm. Magic returns and here Gatz picks up a bunch of companions along the way. At some point his sword gets upgraded to be more effective against the monsters and he acquires the Berserk armour which grants the user tremendous strength and agility, as well as healing wounds. But at a price as the armour has a mind of its own and when the battle is over seems he pays the price as all the healing seems to catch up to him.

Thats where I lost track of the series.

Hence why I say turning that into an adventure or campaign would not be all that much work. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Ages would be another good system for that as theres a horror/sanity loss factor going on. And fits the usual slow burn escalation of many a CoC adventure.

The series is just not my thing though. It is a very violent series. Roll limb loss table is the least of the injuries. But the art is good and I give them points for throwing multiple curve balls and not making the hero your generic angry brooding loner. He does alot of that anyhoo for good reason. But it is not what the core of the character is.

The original anime plays off the slow burn escalation well. And oddly tones down the gore. Saw it first at GenCon back in the late 90s. The CGI series though looks just freaking horrible. CGI by the lowest bidder.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Slambo on July 17, 2022, 02:19:14 AM
One thing, the berserker armor doesnt heal wounds, it just surpresses pain and controts to allow the wearer to use yheir limbs even if their bones break, it actually makes Gut's injuries worse.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Omega on July 17, 2022, 03:28:14 AM
Quote from: Slambo on July 17, 2022, 02:19:14 AM
One thing, the berserker armor doesnt heal wounds, it just surpresses pain and controts to allow the wearer to use yheir limbs even if their bones break, it actually makes Gut's injuries worse.

Ah, hah! Thanks. Its been many a year and just going off memory.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Headless on July 17, 2022, 05:52:41 AM
QuoteGriffith is tempted with vast power by a curt of demons called the Godhand via the necklace, refered to as the behlit. But has to sacrifice his friends to get that power 

This is the part that you can't do in D&D. No fun for the other players.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 17, 2022, 06:40:47 AM
Quote from: Headless on July 17, 2022, 05:52:41 AM
QuoteGriffith is tempted with vast power by a curt of demons called the Godhand via the necklace, refered to as the behlit. But has to sacrifice his friends to get that power 

This is the part that you can't do in D&D. No fun for the other players.


You can actually survive the Eclipse if your PCs are strong enough. You can then turn the guy who started the sacrifice into the BBEG for the other players to fight against.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Omega on July 17, 2022, 03:50:32 PM
Quote from: Headless on July 17, 2022, 05:52:41 AM
QuoteGriffith is tempted with vast power by a cult of demons called the Godhand via the necklace, refered to as the behlit. But has to sacrifice his friends to get that power 

This is the part that you can't do in D&D. No fun for the other players.

Id rank Griffith as either an NPC. Or "that easily tempted player". You know. The ones that will put on the hand of vecna and go on a killing spree just for the giggles. D&D is full of these. Hell. One of the 5e playtest modules has an instance where the PCs are put in an a situation where they must sacrifice one of the members to open a door.
Players and their characters get tempted like this sometimes so even that element is very nothing new.
Not to mention the rest of the group can try to stop the crazy characters plotting.

Which is pretty much what happens. At least 3 of the group make it out of the ritual alive. Which I believe meant that Griffith was not able to gain full power when he transformed.

Personally I wonder if he would have gone through with it had he not spent a whole year being tortured and thoroughly broken of body.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on July 17, 2022, 09:56:05 PM
Quote from: Omega on July 17, 2022, 03:50:32 PMD&D is full of these.
Asshole player sabatours? Berserk is a narrative, this sort of thing doesn't work in a cooperative style GAME.
Even if you do it, it won't have any of the shock or the suprise of a narrative, because being pre-scripted is generally a sign of shitty GM-ing.
Put down the dice and just throw some writing ideas around, or maybe watch some episodes of the anime. They will do it far better then you can.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Omega on July 18, 2022, 02:10:31 AM
Quote from: Shrieking Banshee on July 17, 2022, 09:56:05 PM
Quote from: Omega on July 17, 2022, 03:50:32 PMD&D is full of these.
Asshole player sabatours? Berserk is a narrative, this sort of thing doesn't work in a cooperative style GAME.
Even if you do it, it won't have any of the shock or the suprise of a narrative, because being pre-scripted is generally a sign of shitty GM-ing.
Put down the dice and just throw some writing ideas around, or maybe watch some episodes of the anime. They will do it far better then you can.

NPCs pulling betrayals? Players pulling betrayals? These were old when D&D was new.

D&D's Red Steel setting is full of this as people, and players can get desperate for cynaberyl to have power and stave off turning into monsters from using said powers. PCs who are using the stuff may be sorely tempted to get more at any cost.

None of this needs to be scripted. You just set down the widget and play it from there.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on July 18, 2022, 06:22:29 AM
Quote from: Omega on July 18, 2022, 02:10:31 AMNPCs pulling betrayals? Players pulling betrayals? These were old when D&D was new.

Where did I saw player sabatours was a new thing? It is absolutely pre-scripted because it depends on the PCs playing along, because 'This is the Berserk Campaign and one of us has to be the Griffith I guess'. Its not a shock or a suprise. And the use of fate in a D&D campaign is much less clever then in a narrative because that happens all the time, except its called shitty fatalism or railroading.

And I know Muira did a takebacksies, but the idea of evil is a absolutely utterly dogshit villian. So shit it should have never touched paper. If Muira revealed it was a dog at the control of some advanced machine, it would have been more understandable then the absolute edglord wankatron that it was. At the very least he was somewhat ashamed at the utterly retarded idea. But as shit as it is, if you ran a Berserk campaign, then the idea of evil would be you, the GM.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 18, 2022, 07:37:42 AM
Quote from: Shrieking Banshee on July 18, 2022, 06:22:29 AM
Quote from: Omega on July 18, 2022, 02:10:31 AMNPCs pulling betrayals? Players pulling betrayals? These were old when D&D was new.

Where did I saw player sabatours was a new thing? It is absolutely pre-scripted because it depends on the PCs playing along, because 'This is the Berserk Campaign and one of us has to be the Griffith I guess'. Its not a shock or a suprise. And the use of fate in a D&D campaign is much less clever then in a narrative because that happens all the time, except its called shitty fatalism or railroading.

And I know Muira did a takebacksies, but the idea of evil is a absolutely utterly dogshit villian. So shit it should have never touched paper. If Muira revealed it was a dog at the control of some advanced machine, it would have been more understandable then the absolute edglord wankatron that it was. At the very least he was somewhat ashamed at the utterly retarded idea. But as shit as it is, if you ran a Berserk campaign, then the idea of evil would be you, the GM.

i don't see how 'the collective idea of evil itself given form' is a bad villain but go off
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on July 18, 2022, 09:44:08 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 18, 2022, 07:37:42 AMi don't see how 'the collective idea of evil itself given form' is a bad villain but go off
Because its a reality with literal thoughtcrime. Don't think certain thoughts or you will be punished with rape horses.
And its exclusively the idea of evil. Where is the idea of collective justice? Or the idea of collective reward? Or the idea of collective boredom? Or the idea of the collective love of corn?
Nowhere.
If I where to roll with it, I would just make it some demonic liar, who enthralls morons with sadistic 'holier then thou' tendencies, with the promise of inflicting awful tortures on people because 'they want it'.

Edit: Any by itself, its a boring and completly flat villian, propped up by some thimble deep philosophy. Its not really any different then just some evil demon who likes kicking puppies cause its fun.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 18, 2022, 11:24:57 AM
Quote from: Shrieking Banshee on July 18, 2022, 09:44:08 AM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 18, 2022, 07:37:42 AMi don't see how 'the collective idea of evil itself given form' is a bad villain but go off
Because its a reality with literal thoughtcrime. Don't think certain thoughts or you will be punished with rape horses.


Enormously based and redpilled, Kentaro is truly the best mangaka (rip)
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: Shrieking Banshee on July 18, 2022, 12:02:11 PM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 18, 2022, 11:24:57 AMEnormously based and redpilled, Kentaro is truly the best mangaka (rip)

...Not really gonna engage with the conversation, and just resort to wasting my time?
Well fuck you too then.
Title: Re: The Eclipse in your campaign?
Post by: MeganovaStella on July 18, 2022, 12:43:03 PM
Quote from: Shrieking Banshee on July 18, 2022, 12:02:11 PM
Quote from: MeganovaStella on July 18, 2022, 11:24:57 AMEnormously based and redpilled, Kentaro is truly the best mangaka (rip)

...Not really gonna engage with the conversation, and just resort to wasting my time?
Well fuck you too then.

I was making a joke. I suggest you lay off the salt.