Troll Lord Games

I want to gauge interest in a true Gothic RPG.

As long-time followers of these Forums know, I have been working on Gothic-themed materials for Castles & Crusades. I use “Gothic” not just as as synonym for “Horror”, but in its earlier literary sense – equal parts romance, horror, and melodrama.

I'd like to know if there is any interest in a stand-alone game focused on Gothic stories. Not Fantasy with some Gothic elements, but true, full-blooded Gothic. I'd prefer to us the SIEGE Engine (if I can get permission from the Trolls), but could also create the game as its own system under the OGL.

My idea is to use the 1820s (the climax of the Gothic novel as a literary genre) as the baseline epoch for the game.
Think:
Ladies in Empire-waist gowns lost on the moors.
Brooding poets who may actually be vampires.
Forbidden love affairs with the threat of brutal punishments.
Ancient manor homes with closed-up rooms, ancient curses and forgotten dungeons.
Inbred noble families who imprison their most deformed members in such dungeons.
Napoleonic soldiers driven to madness by the horrors of war.
Seductive courtesans who imperil body and soul.
Mad scientists creating unnatural life.
Ruthless grave robbers who trade in human corpses.

I can think of the following possible expansions and alternate implementations:

Fiends & Fiefdoms: Medieval Gothic, focusing on superstition run amok, filth, injustice, and ceaseless violence. Examples and inspirations: “The Castle of Ontranto”

Swashbucklers & Shadows: Baroque-era witches, pirates, and religious wars. Examples and inspirations: “Witchfinder General”, “The Devils”, the Salem witch trials

Ladies & Libertines: An 18th Century-inspired genre of decadent aristocrats, dashing highwaymen, deadly duelists, and vicious social warfare, against a backdrop of moral, political, and social upheaval. Examples and inspirations: “Dangerous Liaisons”, “Justine”, “Barry Lyndon”

Bandits & Bloodsuckers: Eastern European-inspired stories, featuring wild landscapes of stark mountains and dark forests, backward societies rife with injustice, rumors of vampire nobility, and heroic bandits who protect the common people. Examples and inspirations: Balkan folktales, the back-story of “Dracula”

Gaslight & Grotesquerie: Victorian era stories of urban blight, hypocritical morality, repressed sexuality, choking pollution, creeping dehumanization, and strange science. This would be distinct from Steampunk, emphasizing the darkness of the period rather than its promise. Examples and inspirations: “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, “Dracula”, the Jack the Ripper case

Plantations & Peril: Southern Gothic stories of haunted manors, endemic racism, forbidden lust, Hoodoo curses, lost splendor, vanquished pride, and insular communities with bizarre inhabitants. Examples and inspirations: The stories of William Faulkner, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, “Deliverance”, “The Gift”

Mariners & Monsters: Stories of a fictionalized New England, with rumors of bizarre cults, the long-suffering wives of sea-captains, inbred families, suppressed histories, a legacy of witchcraft, and strange monsters from the sea and stars. Examples and inspirations: The works of H.P. Lovecraft, many Stephen King stories, “The Dark Secret of Harvest Home”

Wackos & Wastelands: A cinematic-inspired genre focused on twisted murderers that dwell in the deserts of the Southwest United States, and the arrogant city slickers who fall victim to them. Examples and inspirations: “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “The Hills Have Eyes”, “House of 1000 Corpses”

Victims & Vengeance: The victims of crime invade the twisted criminal underworld to seek revenge against the perverts and murderers who prey upon the innocent. Examples and inspirations: “Last House on the Left”, “I Spit on Your Grave”, “Death Wish”, “Ms. 45”

Angels & Abominations: Ordinary folks encounter Devil worshipers in the modern world, while the forces of Heaven and Hell prepare for all-out war. Examples and inspirations: “Rosemary's Baby”, “The Omen”, “The Devil Rides Out”

Hearts & Hauntings: Paranormal researchers investigate haunted houses and psychic phenomenon (real or faked), while dealing with their own interpersonal entanglements. Examples and inspirations: “The Haunting”, “The Legend of Hell House”, “Rose Red”, contemporary paranormal investigation shows.

Kisses & Killers: Paranormal Romance, where supernatural entities walk openly (or semi-openly) and encounter difficulties fitting into modern society. Examples and inspirations: “True Blood”, the Anita Blake stories, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”

clavis123,

I, for one, would definately be interested in a Gothic RPG!

This sounds like a great idea! I would definetly check it out!

That would be up my alley. I hate to say that money is tight right now, so I can't say I'd buy it, but if I had a little free money it would be close to the top of my list!

clavis123 wrote: I'd like to know if there is any interest in a stand-alone game focused on Gothic stories. Not Fantasy with some Gothic elements, but true, full-blooded Gothic. I'd prefer to us the SIEGE Engine (if I can get permission from the Trolls), but could also create the game as its own system under the OGL.

If it's SIEGE, I'll almost certainly try it, and you have an excellent track record with your free materials, worth real coin.

Your examples sound good. Off the bat the first things I thought were Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, and Dark Shadows. Though I have no idea how such things would play at my table.

I would be most interested if it's SIEGE based (and hopefully compatible with C&C). I might look at it and mine it for ideas otherwise, but the odds of me playing it would be remote. I just don't spend much time learning new game systems anymore....

Certainly. The more compatible to C&C the better. But, reading your work over the years, I have to say I'd probably check it out regardless of system.

~O

My preference would be for using the SIEGE Engine, and making a game fully compatible with C&C, so that creatures, items, Classes and Races from one could be used with the other. Right now I have enough materials to essentially make a Gothic supplement for C&C, but I think that the genre is different enough from fantasy that it can support (and deserves) a game unto itself. Once again, since I would want to be able to sell the game, I need to get permission from the Trolls.

If I needed to make a new system, it would be SRD-based and OGL. So, the usual six Ability scores (rolled 3d6), Classes, Levels, the same spells (although tweaked appropriately), ascending Armor Class, etc. The basic resolution mechanic of such a game would be an Ability-based, roll-under system, with the probable addition of free-form Strengths and Weaknesses. A Strength would allow a character to re-roll a failure, and a Weakness would force the character to re-roll a success. So, a character with a Strength of "Shooting" would re-roll any failed shots, while one with a Weakness of "Cats" would re-roll success when in the presence of Cats (due to allergy or fear). In any event, compatibility with existing OGL games would be an important design goal.

Other ideas that would important to the game (whether SIEGE or OGL) include:

Situation Player Characters - Since the Gothic genre demands many scenes where only one or two of the protagonists are present, the other players get to play the parts of the supporting NPCs (including the antagonists). For example, if the True Innocent character is kidnapped by a wicked Baron and locked in a castle, the other players temporarily assume the roles of the servants, guards, and even the family members of the Baron. In some situations, other players would even get to run the monsters that attack a Player Character.

Open-Ended Story System: The game would present an open-ended story system that spontaneously creates an in-genre story through the free choices of the players. Combined with the use of Situational Player Characters, the system also allows multiple story-lines to develop and be played out. So, one player could be developing a Wuthering Heights-style subplot where her character pursues romance with the emotionally crippled Lord of the Manor, while another player engages in Hammer Horror style monster slaying as he clears the ghouls from the manor's cursed crypts.

Immersive Play: A lot of attention would be payed to developing and immersive game experience. In practice, that would mean extensive advice given to the GM regarding voice, dramatic tension, the game-room environment, and knowing how to properly handle sensitive subjects. Also, the emphasis on Immersive Play would be reflected in a modular, rules-light system where actions can be easily hand-waved for the sake of pacing, without creating serious problems of inconsistency for later games.

Well it sounds pretty cool to me. Write faster.

clavis123 wrote:I want to gauge interest in a true Gothic RPG.

As long-time followers of these Forums know, I have been working on Gothic-themed materials for Castles & Crusades. I use “Gothic” not just as as synonym for “Horror”, but in its earlier literary sense – equal parts romance, horror, and melodrama.

I'd like to know if there is any interest in a stand-alone game focused on Gothic stories. Not Fantasy with some Gothic elements, but true, full-blooded Gothic. I'd prefer to us the SIEGE Engine (if I can get permission from the Trolls), but could also create the game as its own system under the OGL.

My idea is to use the 1820s (the climax of the Gothic novel as a literary genre) as the baseline epoch for the game.
Think:
Ladies in Empire-waist gowns lost on the moors.
Brooding poets who may actually be vampires.
Forbidden love affairs with the threat of brutal punishments.
Ancient manor homes with closed-up rooms, ancient curses and forgotten dungeons.
Inbred noble families who imprison their most deformed members in such dungeons.
Napoleonic soldiers driven to madness by the horrors of war.
Seductive courtesans who imperil body and soul.
Mad scientists creating unnatural life.
Ruthless grave robbers who trade in human corpses.

ME LIKE! ME WANT! ME MUST HAVE!!!!