Hi guys, are there tips, add-ons, or hacks for modifying Duskvol into a “traditional” fantasy city, that is, a medieval or renaissance city with some magic (but no ghosts, no electricity)? Think Duskvol before 551 IE. The BitD book has a chapter on modifying the core game’s mechanics, but it doesn’t address modifying the base setting and its mechanics… Hope you have some ideas. Thank you!
Hi guys, are there tips, add-ons, or hacks for modifying Duskvol into a “traditional” fantasy city, that is, a…
Hi guys, are there tips, add-ons, or hacks for modifying Duskvol into a “traditional” fantasy city, that is, a…
I don’t think you’d need to do much – change a pistol & a second pistol to a two-load longbow, give the hound a fine crossbow and fine hand crossbow… Maybe find-and-replace “ghost” with “arcane” – so the cutter’s Ghost FIghter becomes Arcane Fighter (but otherwise works the same – potency against the supernatural).
Some of the details of the economy and society would have to change but I don’t think anything would fundamentally break. Instead of electroplasmic barriers you have ancient magic wards, that kind of thing.
Tim Denee Thank you Tim, that’s very useful advise!
It might depend a little bit of the expectations of your group: Are they willing to find out as we play? Or do they expect a somewhat settled setting?
Like Stefan said- what are the players expecting? Do they want typical fantasy tropes (elves, dwarves, dungeons, etc).
Thank you for your replies. I think they expect a somewhat settled setting. Which, I think, could be provided by Dusvol+modifications. The specifics are pretty much up to me. I’m not interested in having typical races (elves, etc.) nor classes. I’m happy to play with humans and the default playbooks. My major concern is what to do with (1) guns, (2) ghosts, (3) electricity, (4) attune action, and (5) the whisper playbook. Tim had good ideas concerning 1 & 2.
I don’t think electroplasm/electricity is fundamental to the mechanics, and can be thrown out pretty easily. Read the essay in the book, though, about how electroplasm is a central representation of the gothic themes of science vs. superstition. Given you’re going for a more medieval setting, you’ll probably lean away from gothic themes anyway. But you might like to think about what kind of themes you want instead – dare I say, TV tropes might not be a terrible place to start (e.g. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SwordAndSorcery).
If in doubt for an electricity replacement – it’s magic. Electroplasmic barriers? Magic wards. Electroplasmic ammunition? Enchanted/blessed ammunition.
Regarding attune and whispers, I think the easiest swap would be to replace ghosts with fey, personally. Whispers can summon and command fey creatures (at their peril), and attune lets you tap into the fey realm. It’ll fit the same niche but feel more medieval fantasy than industrial-gothic fantasy.
Tim Denee Thank you, I find this very useful, great advice.