Dark Souls Tabletop Weekly Sunday Evenings 5:00pm Onward

ME: My name's Nate. I've been playing tabletop for maybe 15 years, give or take, and bear the curse (blessing?) of Eternal GM/DM. Dungeons and Dragons has long since stopped being amusing to me, and I've taken to playing alternative systems such as Shadowrun or GURPS, and fan adaptations of popular video games to TTRPG's, like Rust, or in this particular instance, Dark Souls. I love worldbuilding and a good story. THE GAME: I've started running this system with one player group composed of 4 personal friends on Saturday mornings. Par the course of a Souls based game, the atmosphere is generally gloomy, dark, and fantastical. Definitely a PG-13 variety, with possible incursions into the ratings of R and beyond. Lethality is everywhere. A simple lower level undead may end up skewering you with a spear, only for you to wake up one lost memory closer to your inevitable hollowing. Combat is not based on a regular grid or hex battle map system, but a series of rings that, instead of denoting where a player is in the physical world during a battle, denotes rather their general approach to combat. For the uninitiated, it will take a little learning, but I find that it's more streamlined than conventional systems. While heavily combat oriented, however, the lore of Souls games often tends to be rich, with quiet pieces of story inserted in every object and character, and offers plenty of room for good roleplay, and even offers you, dear player, a stab at including your own personal twists on the worldbuilding aspects of the setting in which we will play. The Rulebook:&nbsp; <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/141w80gmYTc0UpqU3YwXR7Ry05AOvBNGK/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow">https://drive.google.com/file/d/141w80gmYTc0UpqU3YwXR7Ry05AOvBNGK/view?usp=sharing</a> THE PLAYERS: I will be accepting a total of 4. I'd like to stay true to the Dark Souls feel. Experience with the video games is a plus. The tone is a bit more serious. This isn't an OMG I got le nat20 and my character's a walking meme sort of game. This is a curse for eternity in a dying world that will consume you along&nbsp;with itself. There are no happy endings. Would be heroes chasing goals just outside of their reach fail and instead find only madness and despair. You will die. Repeatedly. Maybe even lose your last vestiges of humanity and go Hollow. With that in mind, I'd like to vet potential joiners. If you're interested in joining on, please contact me and we can talk further. We will be running on Discord, so you can contact me there. My username is Ramtide. Looking forward to hearing from you.

THE SETTING: The Age of Fire will end, and the shadows will return. The First Flame that illuminated the world is dying, bringing with it a curse - the Darksign, a mark born upon the breast of the undead over their hearts, foretelling of madness and loss on those who bear its fiery brand. The people of the Fellbarrows, suffering this affliction, have turned their eyes now to the Holy Church of Sol, beseeching its priests for blessings in these dark times. The priesthood, however, unaware of the inevitable end that now lingers over the heads of every inhabitant of the lands, sees the Darksign as an aberration, a mark bestowed to heretics and blasphemers, and he that sits most high, the holy Pontiff himself, has locked himself away in his study, refusing the cries of the masses and the pleas of his own clergy for guidance in the midst of this blooming catastrophe. Knight King Heinrich, the lord of the realms of the Fellbarrows, however, could not turn such a blind eye to the sufferings of his people. He chose then to proceed into the Depths, far below the mighty mountains of Stahlburg, and there he took council with the Sorceress, Adelaide of the Pale, wise in all things arcane. She advised the brave Knight King, then and there, of a fate most dire - that the first flame was dying, and that as it sputtered and flickered, the curse that now befell Heinrich's hold would only worsen. Only a mighty soul could keep the flame kindled and stave off the creeping darkness that now gripped the land. Only a mighty soul like Heinrich's. They swore a pact that day - Heinrich would go and kindle the flame with his very flesh and soul, becoming the Ashen Lord of the Fellbarrows, while Adelaide would search through her mystical incantations and spells for a power that might let her conjure a champion from the First Age of Fire who could stop the encroaching shadow from consuming the world. She sought an incantation strong enough to raise Artorias, the Walker of the Abyss, himself. Some suspect her of ulterior motives, however. As Heinrich's spirit keeps the flame burning, the curse lingers, turning more and more Hollow. Adelaide's magics now bend them to her will, making them empty servants to her domain. Whispers abound now that Heinrich has been absent from his throne, consorting with wizards to ease his troubled mind, and in his absence, others see opportunity. Ekkehardt, the Iron Heir, has not failed to seize upon this apparent weakness. Spurred by vengeance, angered by being denied the throne he now wishes to take, his legions are now marching upon Fellbarrow keep, seeking to break through the fortress walls and storm into the Kiln of the First Flame to drag his brother Heinrich through the streets by a rope about his neck. And yet, despite the tales of trouble that plague the Fellbarrows, you now find yourself nestled in these ominous cliffs, sitting beside a roaring bonfire in unfamiliar company, staring out at the endless expanse of the Silent Sea. A mist begins to roll in from the ocean, thick, choking, sending a chill down your spine. Even the hot soup that the shrine keeper offered you doesn't seem to drive away the cold. You can't let it deter you forever, however... you came here with purpose, and only death or success will set you free. THE LORD SOULS - There are 4 Lord Souls, held by the following The Pontiff, Chief Priest of Sol, Themes: Knowledge and Despair Knight King Heinrich, Brother of Ekkehardt, Ashen Lord of the Fellbarrows, Themes: Duty and Failure Adelaide of the Pale, Sorceress of the Vale, Themes: Deception and Betrayal Ekkehardt the Usurper, Brother of Heinrich, Disowned Heir, Themes: Hatred and Vengeance SOME COVENANTS: Holy Church of Sol - Sol's faithful, worshippers of the First Flame and of that mighty sphere, the Sun. If only we all could be so grossly incandescent... Brotherhood of the Iron Heir - Followers of Ekkehardt, believing Knight King Heinrich's claim to the throne to be illegitimate, and that Ekkehardt is the true Lord of the Fellbarrows. The Faded Seers - An order of sorcerers that seek knowledge and power, at any cost. Wardens of the Great Tower - Knights in service to Heinrich, sworn to preserve peace and order in the Fellbarrows from threats outside or within.&nbsp;