So, to provide the TL;DR summary prior to the info dump that I have below, I’ve started replaying The Darkest Dungeon again after a hiatus from the game and have found myself thinking a RP in its style could be rather interesting indeed. So, a small group of heroes, no more than four not including the character I personally use to help guide things along as needed, descending into another tale of the sins of the past haunting the present Steam Revolution. Players will be expected to realize that the stresses of the dungeon will not always turn out well for their characters, and indeed, death is a very real possibility. However, nothing says that another hero fresh to the Halls won’t fare better, right?

In short, think a Steampunk-esq restyling of the Darkest Dungeon in RP form.

[hider=An Explanation of Darkest Dungeon]
Now, for those of you not familiar with Darkest Dungeon, the idea is that the descendent of an Ancestor is stuck cleaning up after the mistakes and horrors unleashed by their Ancestor. Now, said descendent is no fighter, indeed, it would be a incredibly short story if the man were to directly engage the horrors that his ancestor unleashed. Rather, he hires groups of heroes and fortune seekers to do the work for him. What is unique about the matter is that, well, fighting abominations and horrors that should not be is a fairly stressful matter, and that no one is flawless or without their quirks.

These manifest into either positive traits, such as more resilience to certain kinds of enemies or more potent performance when near death’s door, or negative traits, such as a nasty habit of pocketing resources that should have been looted fairly or being more easily put into the grave when near death already. Beyond that, during forays into the dungeons, stress builds up, some attacks designed to cause stress vice straight damage, upon reaching a threshold, a party member’s willpower being tested. Often, negative, antagonistic personality traits set in during such episodes (Such as abusive dialogue and acts towards allies or pitiful cowardice), however, moments of heroism do occur as well (rallying in a certainty in their own power, or a steadfast resistance to further terrors) though pushed too far, stress will indeed slay the poor soul afflicted so, with a sudden heart attack putting them on death’s door.

Such experiences permanently haunt the poor souls brave or foolish enough to descend into the dungeons, down time spent relieving stress, whether by time spent in an Abbey praying, meditating, or scourging themselves by flagellation.  Those of a less religious inclining find relief within the Tavern, indulging in pleasures of the flesh, the thrill of the gamble or drowning the memories of the horrors they stumbled upon. During such forays, the small band of heroes must be supplied adequately before descent lest they be found unprepared. As common sense as foodstuff or shovels for clearing debris, to less obvious like medicinal herbs or holy waters, anything might prove useful, should the opportunity arise. One can never know what to expect within the dungeons and it never hurts to be prepared, barring that too many supplies means too little room for the loot to be carried out. 

Of course, the most obvious factor is the Heroes that come. From noble Crusaders and Vestals, to roguish Highwaymen and Grave Robbers, the small band of four have to support each other as well as strike against any sort of abomination that they might stumble across. Death lurks in the shadows, whether by the madness that grips them to the end or the vicious strikes of daemons and unmentionable abominations. Indeed, how the survivors cope and grow from the outcomes of forays into the dungeon, both successful and failed, defines them and makes them into the force that can finally bring the dungeon to light and peace. Or, fail at the last hurdle and force the descendent to start fresh with his next heroes.
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[hider=The Harrowing of the Halls]

The legends of the Darkest Dungeon continues to ring clear throughout the lands, the names of the countless heroes that fell stopping the abomination that caused the ruination of the man that is now merely known as the Descendent lost to time. However, clearly mankind has not learned from its mistakes as technology and science progressed forward hand in hand with faith and magic. Indeed, the Steam Revolution was in full swing and mankind felt themselves above the consequences of their actions. The Baron, as his subjects and peers knew him as, dabbled in both the most experimental of steam tech as well as the most heretical and forbidden of occult arts, making deals with things best left unspoken to grow his influence and his power. The Halls of the Barony, once merely a simple manor, grew into a city in and of itself, the massive building defying physics and the laws of reality, spanning even larger within than it appeared without whilst extending towards the heavens like an ill fated recreation of the Tower of Babel.

Indeed, one could not be faulted in expecting the inevitable fall of the Baron. Messengers began arriving less and less, appearing more haggard and desperate, speaking of strange things from the innermost sanctums of the Halls, creatures that defied explanation, the undead rising and the Baron himself ascending into something that transcended human, sending out his minions to bring in those that resisted to be added to his experiments. Only one of his relatives survived, a young man studying abroad, the rest of his kin absorbed into the Baron’s experiments. Pressed by numerous neighbors of the kingdoms neighboring the Halls of the Barony to take ownership of his father’s sins, the young man found himself train bound for the last free portion of the Halls, the Gatehouse, a small village by any other definition, that used to serve as the only entryway into the Halls and now served as the last line to prevent whatever lurked within from escaping.

All the young man had to go off was the memoirs of his father, the Baron, that were retrieved by those fleeing the madness that laid within the Halls. Rumors of portions that were exposed to alien skies, areas that might as well have been the halls of the deepest Hells itself, and worse floated out of the refugees that refused to stay within the Gatehouse, making the prospect of stopping the man more and more bleak. Yet, the Baron had to be laid low, to redeem the name of his lineage, so the young man put out the call. Heroes, men and women of talent and of any walk of life, those willing to risk life and limb for the treasures and glories hidden within the Halls, come by foot, by train, by any means to the Gatehouse. From there, they would be dispatched, in small enough groups to not attract the attention of the Baron, allowing them to map out the Halls and cull the masses of monsters and madmen, in theory. In practice, the Baron’s Son had seen more than a few expeditions already enter the Halls, never to return and their remains be found by scouts, or by the traumatized words of a lone survivor, on the brink of death. 

Yet, the trains and carriages continue to deliver those who think themselves able to survive long enough to profit and indeed, perhaps, end this madness once and for all. After all, all it would take is a few blessed or lucky to put an end to it all. It would be inevitable, therefore, that such individuals would eventually show up and, by virtue of survival, find themselves together to descend deeply enough, armed with supplies and knowledge, to stop the Baron once and for all. Or, perhaps they merely delay the inevitable, stalling the Baron’s unknowable plans, delaying the horrors of the Halls attempts to escape and spread unchecked. Only time will tell how these latest heroes, mere humans in the face of the things that should not be, fare in the Harrowing Halls.

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[hider= Notable Information]

The Halls of the Barony - What was once a manor that was built, knowingly by only the Baron, on top of the grounds that once housed the Darkest Dungeon, has now grown into an impossibility. A massive structure, larger than most cities, yet towering high enough to scrape at the gates of the heavens, its design gothic but plain, belying its maddening interior. Once one sets foot down any one of the paths leading away from Gatehouse, they find themselves in twisted landscapes and ruins, names only recently attached to the realms within. Only the Baron’s Son, sequestered within his study, knows anything beyond the fragments floating around Gatehouse, and he only shares this with the heroes that are next to enter the Halls proper. One thing is for certain, what lies past Gatehouse, is no longer of this world, not truly.

Gatehouse - Before the Harrowing began, Gatehouse was the entry point for all of those coming into the Halls of the Barony, providing a resting point for those who had travelled far, and as such had the faculties of a small town instead of just being a security point. Being the only entryway was supposed to be a strong point in favor of the Baron, turned against him by the bold actions of the Baron’s Son and his two retainers, the first two Heroes that now help guard Gatehouse and instruct newcomers when the Son is too busy or otherwise indisposed to provide guidance. Fortified and still damaged from its initial capture, alongside the regular assaults by the Baron’s forces and other creatures, its faculties are basic yet, with time, could be restored to their former glory. Besides the tavern, where heroes rest and find respite from the horrors, a small chapel provides spiritual alms while a Workshop provides blacksmithing and technological services to any within Gatehouse. Other ruins could be restored, in time, expanding the abilities of Gatehouse to better serve in the desperate struggle against the Baron.

The Baron - The man’s name was never known, not truly, as what was spoken of changed as often as the moon would change phase, so most merely referred to him as the Baron. A reclusive man before the Harrowing, the two most well known traits were his obsessions with steam, and with the occult, the unholy fusion of the two worrying many. Yet, the lucrative trade between the Halls of the Barony and the surroundings kingdoms was too profitable to infringe on. Now man pays for his hubris, as the Baron is no longer human. What he is, beyond the fact he has transcended humanity, is a complete unknown. No one is even sure if he is still alive, yet the Halls continue to remain alive with abominations, the maddened former Guard of the Halls, and other things better left forgotten, so it is assumed something is driving these things, and further assumed that this is the Baron’s doing.

The Baron’s Son - Refusing to give his name to anyone in Gatehouse, for his own safety, the Son is a scholar and peaceably young man caught in the crossfire created by his father. Rather eccentric by normal standards before the Harrowing began, the Son has seen countless good men and women, Heroes of anywhere else, go into the Halls only to never return or, sometimes worse, come back broken, never to recover from the experiences they suffered within the halls created by his father. Held accountable for the man’s actions, it is up to him and him alone to come up with a plan to stop him. And, drawing from the tales of the Darkest Dungeon of the past, he relies on the steady influx of heroes to grow lucky enough to find those capable of ending this once and for all. 

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[hider=Expectations, Rules, Guidelines, and other trivialities]

So, Expectations, both of what folks interested would be expected of, and what would be expected of me as a sort of guiding hand in all of this.

1. Consistent posting, both by me and by all of you fine folks. What do I consider consistent? Say that, in a given round of posts, it takes roughly a day per person to get a post up. The pacing will be set by the folks controlling their heroes during the initial posting rounds. That being said, I don’t want it taking more than a few days to see everyone having posted, unless otherwise contacted either via PM or in the OOC thread.

2. A balance of action and downtime. Taking inspiration from Darkest Dungeon, and being set in the same world, just forward in time from the events of DD, not everything is going to happen in the Halls. Gatehouse is, for lack of better terms, the Hamlet 2.0, though I do have plans for it to be an entity all of its own, given time.

3. A lot of in game mechanics will be played with and not held to a hard line. So, no there will not be dice, stress tracked to the decimal, HP to a specific value, or the like. However, I will be keeping track, roughly, of how someone’s character is doing, in regards to their physical, and mental, well being. Take too many risks, and one might find themselves teetering on the brink. Character death is very much a constant threat, though I won’t necessarily be forcing it initially. If someone grows bored of a character, or wishes to depart, the ever waiting threats within the Halls provide ample opportunity to go out in a blaze of glory, or in a ignoble means, forgotten on the spikes or blades of a trap. Depends on the player, really.

4. Obligatory “No godmodding, meta gaming, auto hitting” rule goes here.

5. Yes, you can choose to embody the archtype of one of the original Darkest Dungeon heroes. Crusaders are still around, Occultists still dabble in things that they might not want to, weary Men at Arms return to lead and guide the younger folks, and the like. I will also consider classes introduced via Mods, as well as custom made ones. Key word, consider. I retain the right to give a final “Yes or No” on any suggested, requested, or otherwise brought up class. 

6. No, the original classes are not, for the most part, gender locked. The only ones I would consider “Gender locked” would be Vestals, Crusaders, Lepers and Flagellants. I was going to put the Shieldbreaker under here as well, but I think someone could go that route if they wanted and not have it work out poorly.

7. No, I wont be asking for Skill Lists or stats of a given character. There will be a part of the CS that will address combat abilities as well as utility abilities, if any. (Not all people are nearly as useful at camp as others, after all.)

8. I will allow folks to reserve spots, for a 24 hour period. If more time is needed, I would like to see what progress has been made, and I shall make a judgement from there. Effectively, if you’ve been putting honest, reasonable amount of work into the CS and just need more time due to real life, I won’t be an ass about it.

9. Things will get rather violent, possibly disturbing, and the like. I won’t be needlessly graphic, but keep that in mind. Such things being said, however, outright NSFW activities between characters needs to be taken to PMs. People get stressed enough as it is without such things being flaunted in front of them.

10. Speaking of PMs, do not feel hesitant to PM me questions, concerns, or the like, or post them to the int check or ooc when, or if, it comes around. 

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