Preface - Disclaimer

I do not own anything regarding Dark Souls or OD&D. All rights belong to their respective creators (From Software, Namco, etc.). Nothing here needs to be sold or use for money, only personal use.





Finally, I stole a lot of content and table from various bloggers over the years and I can’t say I remember always where, therefore I cannot credit them. I hope they will not be angry with me because of that.

Introduction - What is this book and how to use it

This experiment started off as a port of Dark Souls 1 into TTRPG using an OSR framework. Rapidly it became quite clear that it couldn’t be OSR as per my personal definition of OSR, that is, a game that retains both the principles and the compatibility of old school RPGs as defined by old school TSR (OD&D, AD&D, Basic D&D and all retroclones of those).

This games keep the principles as much as it can, but does not follow the compatibility. I did try to keep it as much as I could and offer paths to re-compatibilized at the cost of de-Dark-Soulifying the game. Referee’s using this toolbox can go in whatever direction they want. Since my personal goal was to put Dark Souls into TTRPG, the basic proposition will be to have more Dark Souls principles and mechanics and less compatible D&D.

The basic frame that was used to create this Dark Souls RPG is OD&D with Chainmail(ish) combat resolution. It was only a natural choice since it gives more freedom to the Referee to use the three combat system (I scrapped one) to create a tension that’s relevant to the moment while style having a good amount of “crunch” for those that wants to delve into it in a Man-to-Man context. For this reason, I tried to put everything down to d6 to accomodate for easier play and odds. To create again a sense of squishiness in the face of adversity, I came back to a system without HP. You have HD and you go down fast. Nonetheless, having armor, magical items, dodge-rolling about, etc. can give you a good edge to survive.

Instead of a class system, if you want to have a more Dark Souls feeling, there is optional rules at the end for a classless system. The reason I still went with class is threefold:

Compatibility

In the Dark Souls game, you are effectively a one-man party because it’s a single player game. Here, you have a party. You don’t need to be able to do everything.

And even if you can do everything in Dark Souls, there is still “style” of playing through builds, and people generally fall into “classes”:

Sorcerer/pyromancy full caster with light armor to roll and move around, i.e. Magic-User



Full (or almost) melee, whether is high dodge, high poise, or generalist, i.e. Fighting-Man



A mix of Faith and (generally through Dex) melee, or sometimes a pyromancer/sorcerer with some melee, i.e. a Cleric

If you still want to provide a better variety for your players, you can elect to give them “boons” outside their class if they consume a great Soul. For example, if you consume the Soul of a Black Knight instead of using it as XP, you could learn to carry bigger armor or weapons, and so on.

I will now provide some tips on how to keep a better compatibility with OSR/TSR below. If you have not read this whole document, I advise you do so before to understand the changes:

Instead of using the (modified) Chainmail combat system, use the alternative combat system. Using the Chainmail system has the disadvantage of rendering a lot of equipment, spells and monsters incompatible unless the Referee knows what he is doing and is competent in mental gymnastics. If you want to keep the Classless but not the combat, just have your character pick either a progression of Cleric, Fighting-Man or Magic-User every level, and adjust HD and Saving Throws accordingly. If you want to keep the combo thing, I’d suggest making it that every 4HD and plus PCs of any class, when they roll a 6 on damage, can roll an additional one (ad vitam aeternam) to simulate the fact that they perceive a weakness and go again. It would be more logical to put it on the attack roll, but IMO multiple attack roll, especially if they are done one after the other, only makes the game take more time.

Modify all death rules to suit your needs (that is, character death is permanent death as per normal D&D instead of coming back at Bonfire).

Return to the Charisma attribute and have Humanity (if you need it) as a 7th attribute or something else entirely.

Instead of the modified Chainmail monsters, adopt a more OD&D/AD&D list of monsters.

With those last four main changes in mind, you could probably use the present books in conjunction with any compatible OSR/TSR material without any major problem, since the rest is mostly kept as-is from OD&D or with minor cosmetic changes/changes brought about by my own experience at running OD&D and AD&D.

Final and important point: this book was created with a West Marches style campaign in mind, heavily focused on pointcrawl (one area being one point) and megadungeons (areas as dungeons) to give a more Dark Souls feeling. Therefore, if you plan to use the alternate rules I presented above to go more towards OD&D and not run either a West Marches or pointcrawl campaign, I fear this book will be 90% useless to you.

Take note that all Dark Souls specific rules are untested for now.

To anyone that wants to read more on the subject and a potential thought process, read/visit those:

Core Experience

The Core experience of D&D and TTRPG should be, for this type of game, centered around three concepts: Exploration, Social Interaction, Combat.

Exploration: This is one of the main and chief concern of this TTRPG. It might be light on some of the details, but it’s because it bears heavily on the Referee to create intricate dungeons, using the three clue rule ( https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule ), etc. This Dark Soul OSR will provide basic rules and will try to maximize it by having XP found during exploration, lore have an impact on finding new places or determining a boss weakness, and having a system of revival that will give players new avenues but also more opportunity to delve deeper.

Social Interaction: This is the one that will most suffer from a Dark Souls campaign. Most Social Interaction will be between players, some phantoms and some NPCs scattered here and there.

Combat: Combat has been made less critical than in the video game (where its mandatory) but more than in OD&D, which is why there is more rules for (Chainmail redux).

Common Terminology and Abbreviations

This section will give definition for common terms and their abbreviations. This is useful to people who are new to either OSR or Dark Souls. Some terms have been changed for the sake of lore/fluff, but as a Referee you could decide to keep terms and abbreviations from OD&D without any problem.

Attributes :

More to follow.

PLAYER’S SECTION

Character Creation

Summary of Character Creation

Roll 3d6 for the first five Attributes (Str, Int, Fth, Dex, Con) and write 10 for Humanity (Hum) Choose your class (Warrior, Pyromancer, Cleric) Choose or roll a background Write down your class features, starting equipment and other characteristics: Saving Throw, Armor type/Armor Class, Hit Dice, Encumbrance, Weapon Slot, Attunement Slot

Attributes

There is six attributes: Strength (Str), Intelligence (Int), Faith (Fth), Dexterity (Dex), Constitution (Con) and Humanity (Hum). The first six are randomly generated by rolling 3d6. Humanity starts at 10. Attributes cannot go past 18 at character creation and cannot go past 17 afterwards.

Those attributes serves multiple functions:

They represent vaguely the capacity of the character compared to other heroes, not to normal humans. Therefore a 3 in Strength doesn’t mean a total weakling, but rather the weakest that a hero can be and still be successful on an adventure.

Some weapons, armors and objects will require requirement of attributes to use.

Sometimes, when the Referee will need to decide randomly if an action by a character is a success or not, he will use those attributes as it is fitting for the situation: the player will roll 3d6 and must have a result under his score to have a success.

They will determine specific modificators to other characteristics by dividing it in three tier: 3 to 8, 9 to 12 and 13 to 18.

STR



-1/0/+1 -> Bonus to attack roll in melee



DEX



-1/0/+1 -> Bonus to attack roll in range



CON



-1/0/+1 -> Bonus to encumbrance



INT



-1/0/+1 -> Arcane Attunement Slot



FTH



-1/0/+1 -> Miracle Attunement Slot



HUM



-1/0/+1 -> NPCs reaction towards the character

Saving Throws

Saving Throws are “last resorts” for the character to show his heromanship compared to a normal human or normal monster. If he suffers a dire attack or effect, the Referee might call for a Saving Throw of a specific sort to diminish or dodge the effect. Saving Throws are rolled on 2d6 roll over. Saving Throws are determined by the classes.

Death Ray or Poison: Everything that can kill instantly or rapidly a creature through Death or Poison.

Wands: Every artifact, traps or wands that has a physical effect in space and time that can affect characters magically.

Petrification: Any stone or curse effect that can slow or change flesh into something else.

Breath: Every zone or area effect that resembles (or is) a dragon breath.

Staves and Spells: Any other magical effect that doesn’t fall into one of those category from a magical source.

Classes

Choice of Class

There is three classes that represents the archetype of your character: Warrior (Fighting-Man), Arcane (Magic-User) or Cleric (Cleric).

Warrior

Starting at level one, can wear any armor, shield or weapon, including magical one. Can carry up to three set of weapons and shield instead of the normal two.

At level three, once per adventure, he can put his Strength at 20 for one minute (affect his skills and combat).

At level eight, once per adventure, the Fighting-Man can choose to automatically pass a failed saving throw.

Lvl Title XP needed HD/FC vs Death vs Wands vs Stone vs Breath vs Spells 1 Soldier 0 1 9 11 10 10 11 2 Veteran 2000 2 9 11 10 10 11 3 Swordsman 4000 3 9 11 10 10 11 4 Hero 8000 4 8 9 8 8 9 5 Brave Hero 16000 5 8 9 8 8 9 6 Champion 32000 6 5 6 5 5 6 7 Slayer 64000 7 5 6 5 5 6 8 Conqueror 120000 8 4 5 4 4 5 9 Lord 240000 9 4 5 4 4 5

Pyromancer

Starting at level one, can wear any light armor, small shield, one handed ranged weapons and one handed weapons up until weapon class 6, but only light swords such as scimitar or rapier.

Lvl Title XP needed HD/FC vs Death vs Wands vs Stone vs Breath vs Spells 1 Arcanist 0 1 10 10 10 11 9 2 Seer 2500 1 10 10 10 11 9 3 Theurgist 5000 2 10 10 10 11 9 4 Thaumaturgist 10000 2 10 10 10 11 9 5 Magician 20000 3 10 10 10 11 9 6 Enchanter 35000 3 5 5 5 6 4 7 Warlock 70000 4 5 5 5 6 4 8 Wizard 140000 4 5 5 5 6 4 9 Pyromancer/ Sorcerer 280000 5 5 5 5 6 4

He can use magic according to the following matrix. The number for each level means the number of spells he can attune at any given time of that level until he rest his souls (i.e. long rest/between adventures).

To cast a spell, he needs to have a Flame, a magical piece of equipment, as his weapon.

Lvl Title Spell level 1 Spell level 2 Spell level 3 Spell level 4 Spell level 5 1 Arcanist 1







2 Seer 2







3 Theurgist 3 1





4 Thaumaturgist 4 2





5 Magician 4 2 1



6 Enchanter 4 2 2



7 Warlock 4 3 2 1

8 Wizard 4 3 3 2

9 Pyromancer/ Sorcerer 4 3 3 2 1

Cleric

Starting at level one, can wear any light or medium armor, small shield or medium shield, ranged weapon and all one handed weapon. The Cleric can see more clearly Guidestone and Bloodstain and can interpret them.

A Cleric can chose from the start one of the different Covenant of the Gods:

The Way of White, centered on all the Anor Londo Gods and their faithful.

The Maiden’s Way, centered on the Goddesses Caitha, Velka and Fina. Those of this way will dedicate their life to one of the Maiden.

The Darkmoon Blades, centered on the purity of the Moon and Moonlight.

There is many more hidden Covenant within the game. Each Covenant will affect higher level spells and powers, but also reaction from other NPCs. For more information on the Gods: https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Gods

Lvl Title XP needed HD/FC vs Death vs Wands vs Stone vs Breath vs Spells 1 Cleric 0 1 9 9 10 12 11 2 Servant 2500 2 9 9 10 12 11 3 Acolyte 5000 2 9 9 10 12 11 4 Adept 10000 3 8 7 8 10 9 5 Justicar 20000 4 8 7 8 10 9 6 Paladin 35000 4 7 5 5 9 6 7 Protector of the Flame 70000 5 7 5 5 9 6 8 Pilgrim of the Flame 140000 6 6 4 4 7 5 9 Apostle of the Gods 280000 6 6 4 4 7 5

He can use miracles according to the following matrix. The number for each level means the number of spells he can attune at any given time of that level until he rest his souls (i.e. long rest/between adventures).

Lvl Title Spell level 1 Spell level 2 Spell level 3 Spell level 4 1 Cleric







2 Servant 1





3 Acolyte 2





4 Adept 2 1



5 Justicar 2 2



6 Paladin 2 2 1

7 Protector of the Flame 2 2 2 1 8 Pilgrim of the Flame 3 2 2 1 9 Apostle of the Gods 3 3 3 2

Class Backgrounds

Every character must choose a background that determines what he was before being branded with the Dark Sign, the Curse of the Undead. Each of the background gives: a bonus to one Saving Throw, a set of starting items, a special feature of some kind.

Either choose or roll at random a background (suggested for new players).

Warrior (1d4):

Knight:



Saving Throw: Breath





Starts with Sword, Medium Shield, Heavy Armor and a holy water.





Feature: Can use his own Humanity 2 for 1 to give to someone else.



Wanderer:



Req Str 10, Fth 10, Con 11.





Saving Throw: All.





Starts with Falchion (sword), Small Shield, Light Armor and a small mirror.





Feature: Has better Saving Throw.



Thief:



Saving Throw: Wands.





Starts with a Rapier (sword), a parrying Dagger, a Light Armor and a rope.





Feature: Starts the game with a special “master key” that can open most simple locked doors.



Bandit:



Saving Throw: Poison/Death.





Starts with a Scimitar (sword), a throwing knife, a Small Shield, a Light Armor and a oil (flask).





Feature: Always receives +5% Souls from killed monsters.

Pyromancer (1d3) (all three starts with a Flame equipment)

Deprived:



Saving Throw: Nil.





Start with a club and a plank shield (count as medium shield but breaks easily).





Feature: +2 Humanity, +1 to one Attributes of choice



Sorcerer:



Saving Throw: Magic.





Starts with a Quarterstaff and a Light Armor.





Feature: Starts with an additional spell: Detect and Read magic spell



Arcanist:



Saving Throw: Magic.





Starts with a Scimitar, a Small shield and no armor.





Feature: Starts with an additional spell: Cast Light.

Cleric (1d3)

Temple Acolyte:



Saving Throw: Death/Poison.





Starts with a Mace, a Medium Shield, a Light Armor. Starts with a Talisman.





Feature: Can use a Humanity to cast a Heal spell.



Knight:



Saving Throw: Breath





Starts with Sword, Medium Shield, Heavy Armor and a holy water.





Feature: Can use his own Humanity 2 for 1 to give to someone else.



Hunter:



Saving Throw: Stone.





Starts with a Dagger, a Longbow and arrows, a Light Armor and a Lloyd Talisman.





Feature: Knows weakness of 1d6 monsters. Referee will decide at random which as they are encountered (1 on a d6).

The Dark Sign

Every PC also has a common background: the Dark Sign, the Curse of the Undead. This is why they are on pilgrimage, or exile, far from their original home. This Curse hollows them and marks them as they constantly die and are reborn, slowly reverting to being a Hollow, a empty husk without a Soul. The Dark Sign also gives them the ability to do limited psychometry (i.e. learn stuff about objects they find).

In this land, Fates are intertwined: the flow of time itself is convoluted; with heroes centuries old phasing in and out. The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure. The Dark Sign makes them both the target of this, but also the witness of it.

All this is linked with three main concepts for each PCs: Bonfires, Death and Humanity, Revival.

Bonfire

Bonfires represents hope of the Primordial Flame, but also physically a mystical link to it: they were created to extend the life of the fading Primordial Flame. Beings in charge of them are called Fire Keepers. Monsters are bound to the land and players are bound to the Primordial Flame. Every time PCs use a Bonfire, monsters and phantoms are attracted.

A Player can use the Bonfire to perform a Revival (see below).

For Bonfires to be alive, they need to be tended by a Fire Keeper. Some will sacrifice themselves to tend to bonfires beyond their death and so without a Fire Keeper, the flame will carry on, although diminished. Sometimes, the death of strong Souls will kindle bonfire (boss souls). But alas, some bonfire are just there and not kindled and never to be kindled again until a Fire Keeper settles in.

Death and Humanity

When a character reach 0 HD, his body dissolve into the Primal Flame by transforming into Ashes. His Soul is borne into the Flame and, because of the curse, regurgitated at the last Bonfire the player was through a Revival (see below). If he didn’t, he will restart at the starting Shrine, outside of the adventuring world.

Everytime he dissolves into the Primal Flame, the character loses a bit of himself: he loses one Humanity and “hollows” a bit, transforming into a soulless husk of mania and chaos completely overwhelmed by his curse of undeath. When a character reaches 0 Humanity, he becomes a hollow NPC that cannot be played anymore: he dies as a character.

A PC can find Humanity on a physical/mystical form within dungeons, generally when killing bosses or exploring unexpected area where a Hero died. Those can be consumed and will restore a set number of Humanity.

Revival

Anytime a PC uses a Bonfire to Rests, regaining all HD and Spells and removing all conditions, he triggers a Revival. When he dies, he comes back to a Bonfire and triggers a Revival.

Revivals are both for the PCs (they take back their form and rests accordingly) and for the Land itself. That is because using a Bonfire will twist the passage of time: a PC may think that he’s resting for some hours, whereas in reality, he rested for centuries, or seconds. In this same way, he might be dragged to another Time and Space.

In other words, encounters that were “cleared” in an area are refurbished partially or totally. There are ways of altering the land to remove some of the re-vival of creatures. Also, NPCs and (mini-)Bosses, having a Soul, will not return and are bound by Fate to the PCs. But killing important Soul will attract new powerful Souls that will want to take new territory or be attracted to artifacts or a specific zone. For Referees, this mean that every time a PC dies and returns to a Bonfire, or that PCs decide to rest at a Bonfire, you will reset all random encounter and can decide to reset all fixed encounters that were dealt with. It is highly advised to use new encounters to differentiate time and space for players and create interesting changes. NPCs, Bosses, Mini-Bosses and major environmental change (such as the opening of a door) are not affected.

Because Revival brings back Heroes from the Flame, it also open up channels for Phantoms, both White (helpful) and Black (antagonistic), to come and invade the world where the PCs are. This means that there is a higher chance of getting invaded every time Players uses a Revival (through resting or through death). For Referees, this means that NPCs will start integrating the world when PCs starts dying. Since this is random, it could either mean a spiral of death (more and more Black Phantom) or a balancing act (more White Phantom). Those can all be played by dead PCs that are awaiting their Revival at the Bonfire (which should be next game), so that those players can actually continue playing even if they died within 5 minutes. This is because there is no Hirelings or Followers as per normal D&D.

Defining and Completing Character

It is also suggested that the Referee gives a special, unique and secret mission to all players regarding the motivation of the characters to come to this land. It can be generally generated with the action (destroy/kill, find, bury, open, etc.), a place (custom or canon) and a reason (for his country, for himself, because of a prophecy, etc.). If he shares or fail this quest, he could lose humanity. If he finishes it, he could gain some.

Character Advancement

Souls, Soul Level and Infusion

Souls Fragment, which are 1 for 1 XP for the sake of leveling up, are only found on “strong” souls, such as ancient heroes corpses, bosses, other PCs that finally died, etc. You don’t get Souls Fragment from normal creature. This is to maximize the core of OSR experience as being not combat per se, but mostly problem solving, exploration, etc. Combat is just a means to obtain new loot or new paths.

Souls Fragments are used for two things: Infuse yourself or Infuse a weapon.

Infusing Oneself - Soul Level

Infusing oneself gives you XP. Every Soul level, you gain new class abilities and powers as per your class.

Infusing a Weapon - Weapon Infusion Level

To Infuse a weapon, you need:

A powerful Soul (and not fragments): The power of the Soul and the number of already infused souls will define powers and abilities of the weapon. Any weapon will need at the very least a Mini-boss or Boss Soul to power-up a weapon. The type of Soul and creature will influence the kind of powers.

A magical ember to select a path: Ember are used every time you want to infuse, and it needs to be of the same essence or a complementary essence. Here are the ember types:

Fire: light, fire, old, pyromancy, dark



Complementary: you can upgrade a Fire Weapon to a Chaos Flame Weapon. More volatile, but inflict damage/have property based on the Soul level and Humanity of the bearer.



Lightning: speed, wind, lightning, detection effect, etc.



Enchanted: linked with magic and sorcery



Divine: strong against creatures without souls



Complementary: you can upgrade a Divine Weapon to an Occult Weapon. Those are strong against creatures with a Soul.

A proper weapon (broken weapon or weapon of subpar quality cannot be infused)

A blacksmith: He will do the crafting for a Soul fee. Generally 500 Souls per Infusion Level of the weapon.

You cannot wield a weapon of Infusion Level higher or equal to your own Soul Level.

Attunement and Magic

Here is a list of spells and their description by type and level of magic, including miracles of the Cleric.

Pyromancy and Sorcery

Pyromancy is frown upon by most humans and is considered dangerous, linked with the Primordial Flame. Some Sorcerers will not use Pyromancy.

Spell Level Name Effect 1 Magic Missile Throw magical darts at the opponents. 1 Cold Snap (Pyromancy) The pyromancer’s touch becomes completely devoid of any heat and can snap freeze a target. 1 Cast Light (Pyromancy) Creates a floating light atop the head of the caster for an hour or so. 1 Fall Control Can be casted instantly. The target slowly falls for some seconds (therefore an impossible drop will still kill). 1 Sleep Mist The pyromancer breathes strange fumes that covers an area and put creatures to sleep of 2 HD or less. 1 Poison Mist The pyromancer breathes strange fumes that covers an area and put creatures poisoned of 4 HD or less. Also inflict 1d6 damage right away. 1 Read and Detect Magic Can detect magical items or things and their source. Can also read and decipher magical readings, such as Guidestones. 2 Fire Surge (Pyromancy) A line of fire appears from the hand of the pyromancer in a direction, burning everything in its path. 2 Flash Sweat (Pyromancy) A target is watered and soaked magically, giving protection against fire. 2 Hush Cancel noises around caster for some minutes. 2 Chameleon Transforms multiples targets into inanimate object as an illusion. 2 Fireball (Pyromancy) Throws a fireball at a target that explodes on impact, inflicting massive fire damage. 3 Darkness (Pyromancy) A room becomes completely devoid of light for a minute or so. 3 Fire Weapon Pyromancy) Imbue a weapon on touch with fire for some minutes. 3 Iron Flesh The target becomes as resistant (but slow) as metal. Grants heavy armor. 3 Combustion (Pyromancy) The hand of the pyromancer becomes imbued with fire that stays stable only for a couple of seconds. It can either be dissipated afterwards or unleashed and explodes on impact as a melee attack. 4 Hidden Body The target becomes invisible to others. 4 Magical Ward Ward a door, passage, path, bridge or object to prevent all creatures of a type to move through/use. 4 Dispel Magic The target loses all non-permanent magical effects. 5 Firestorm (Pyromancy) Creates a huge firestorm around the caster that inflict massive damage.

Miracles

Miracles are powers that were created by the Gods, especially Lord Gwyn and his famed Knights. The knowledge was passed down to other races, including humans.

Spell Level Name Effect 1 Heal Heal X, where X is equal to the HD of the Cleric. 1 Open/Close Portal Can close or open gates, chests, etc. from afar if it’s not magically protected. 1 Rebuke Hollows Hollows must roll 2d6 under 5 + the HD of the Cleric or be rebuke and run away. 1 Protection From Chaos Grants protection from chaotic effect and demons for one hour to the target. In combat, it subtract 1 to the demon rolls. 2 Magic Barrier Creates a mystical barrier that prevents any passing through a pathway, a tunnel, a door, etc. 2 Remedy Cure most ailment, illness and conditions (except Curse). 2 Force Creates a powerful effect around the caster that project anything to the ground. Also shatter fragile objects. 2 Bless Grant a small shining light on the target. It becomes more efficient at almost everything and gains 1 HD for one hour (including benefits in combat). 3 Homeward The Cleric relinks with the Bonfire and return to the original one of the Adventure (thereby ending the adventure). 3 Lightning Spear Creates a powerful lightning spear that targets everyone in a line (as per Lightning Bolt of OD&D). 3 Hold Person 1d6 creatures of humanoid forms, including Phantoms and Hollows, must make a save against magic or be paralyzed. 3 Remove Curse Remove the Curse condition, or automatically rebuke Ghosts. 4 Sun Spear Creates a powerful beam of light that targets one creatures inflicting massive damage. 4 Vow of Silence Creates a zone of silence where no casting can take place. 4 Sacred Weapon Enchant weapons with Faith, giving them a Divine Blessing and making them stronger for one hour.

Equipment

Introduction - Acquisition and Inventory

Since there is no “GP for XP”, there is no need for a GP weight system. Since there is no need to carry loot back to a safe place, there is no need for weight system in general. Therefore, everyone can carry:

One set of armor

Any kind of jewelry and such

Two weapon/shield, +1 if a Warrior

Five general item (tools and/or consumables), +1 with Constitution bonus

Items are either acquired during exploration, or by finding rare blacksmith and merchants in the land that will trade Souls for goods.

Referees needs to determine at random what type of items the merchant will have in predominance, if he has any sort of special or unique items to sell, and then the prices. Prices should vary according to the merchant altruism and where he is situated in the world. In general, most simple items should cost between 500 and 2000. Extra rare items or overpriced items could go up to 10 000. There is no need to balance this as merchants are just an added bonus for PCs to go back to and buy exactly what they want. Real acquisition should come through exploration.

Weapon

There is a number of fixed weapon categories which have effect as per the combat matrix of the different style of combat. In specific cases, you could give temporary bonus for particular action: a character using a two-handed greatsword that’s cleaving through hollows wide and large could have an additional dice just by the fact that he’s covering a lot of ground.

Even of the categories are fixed, it’s suggested that every weapon the character finds is of a subtype and carries a personal or universal history. That history has to be linked with the world and the setting (more below in that section). Here is a list of suggestion for the category:

Dagger: Knife, Parrying Dagger, etc.

Club/Quarterstaff: Club, Great Club, Quarterstaff, Pole, etc.

Hand Axe: Throwing Axe, Hand Axe, etc.

Morning Star: Mace, Hammer, Warpick, etc.

Two-Handed Battleaxe: Battle Axe, Great Axe, Butcher Knife, etc.

Sword: Straight sword, Bastard sword, Short sword, Rapier, Falchion, Scimitar, Broadsword, etc.

Spear: Winger Spear, Partizan, Pike, Trident, etc.

Halberd: Scythe, Lucerne, Catch Pole, Halberd, Falx, etc.

Two-Handed Sword: Zweinhander, Greatswords, Claymore, Flamberge, etc.

Weapons determine the number needed to hit particular targets in Man-to-Man Combat.

There exist magical weapons divided in two types:

Legendary Weapons: Old weapons and artefact that are their own story and composition. They cannot be infused or upgraded in any way.

Infused Weapons: Infused with a soul through an ember.

Armor

Just as weapon, there is a need for a subtype and an history for each armor. Here is a list of suggestion:

Light Armor: Gambeson, Leather armor, Hide armor, Heavy cloth armor, etc.

Medium Armor: Chainmail armor, Banded armor, Scale armor, etc.

Heavy Armor: Any kind of plate armor or heavy chainmail set

Armors determine the difficulty of each weapon to hit and damage the wearer in Mass Combat and Man-to-Man Combat. They “can” have a small impact in Fantasy Combat depending on the type of attack and foe.

Here is the matrix used to calculate hit chance in Man-to-Man Combat:

Weapon Class Melee Weapon vs Unarmored vs Light Armor* vs Medium Armor** vs Heavy Armor*** 1 Dagger 6 7 9 12 2 Club/Quarterstaff 8 8 9 12 3 Hand Axe 7 7 10 11 4 Morning Star 7 7 7 8 5 Two-Handed Battleaxe 6 7 8 9 6 Sword 7 8 8 10 7 Spear 8 8 10 11 8 Halberd 8 8 6 7 9 Two-Handed Sword 7 7 5 8











Weapon Class **** Ranged Weapon vs Unarmored vs Light Armor vs Medium Armor vs Heavy Armor 1 Sling/Throwing Knife 8 8 9 12 2 Short Bow 6/8 6/8 8/10 11/12 2 Crossbow 5/7 5/7 8/9 8/10 2 Longbow 5/7 5/7 6/7 9/11 8 Javelin 6 6 8 10

Tools

Tools are general object that can be reused or are always active. Here is a non-exhaustive list, starting with new items from Dark Souls:

Orange Guidance Soapstone: Can write magical message that transcends time and space which can be seen and/or read by others marked with the Dark Sign.

Skull Lantern: Act as a torch, but is difficult to find and will gives more chance of being a target (compared to normal torches that can light but will end up burning).

Silver Pendant: Can create a protection against Dark Magic (roll an extra dice against that type of magic).

Torches

Lantern

Rope

Spikes and mallet

Small mirror

10’ pole

Consumables

Consumables are one use only, or limited use only. Here is a non-exhaustive list, starting with new items from Dark Souls:

Lloyd Talisman: Stops some creatures from connecting with this reality, i.e. confuse them (Mimic notably). Can potentially stop undead from using Estus Flasks and summoning.

Firebombs: Explode on contact.

Divine Blessing: Act as Holy Water and heal all conditions when drank. Extremely rare.

Prism Stone: Create a small light where it falls. Useful to check height, mark already used path or find hidden pathways.

Transient Curse: Give a temporary curse that affects player negatively but gives them the opportunity to affect cursed beings such as ghosts.

Purple Moss Clump: Stops poison

Purging Stone: Stops curse

Embers: Use in conjunction with Souls to create powerful weapons

Gold Pine Resin: Can imbue a weapon with temporary lightning

Charcoal Resin: Can imbue a weapon with temporary fire

Wolvesbane: Can make wolf and wolf-like creature flee

Oil (flask)

Holy Water

REFEREE’S SECTION

Environment as Adversary

Environment, Area, Traps and Hazard

Falling

For every 10’ the character fall, roll 1d6. On a 4+, it suffers a HD of wound. For every subsequent 10’ after the first, add +1 to the dice (so that after 40’, each dice should be a HD lost).

Suffocating

A character without heavy armor cannot swim and will drown in one minute. A character with medium or light armor will need to do a Strength check to see if he drowns.

After one minute underwater, a character will drown and lose 1 HD per turn (5-6 seconds).

Vision and Light

Different source of light have different impact and time.

Type of Light Effect Time Candle (Divine Weapon emit a light with the same effect) Light some feet around the character. Affect only the character. Lasts for 3 exploration turns (30 minutes). Torch (a Bonfire lit will have a Torch effect on the room) Light the room, up to 40’ Lasts for 6 exploration turns (60 minutes). Lantern (magical light from spells is considered a Lantern) Light the room and adjacent corridor, up to 80’ Lasts for 24 exploration turns (4 hours).

Characters without light are considered Blinded as per the condition.

Some areas, such as the Tomb of the Giant, have a magical darkness. Such magical darkness will diminish every type of light by one level (lantern would light as torches, torches as candle, and candle as nothing).

Traps and Hazard

Traps in dungeon are important. They come up in rooms 5% of the time with a treasure, and can also come up as a trapped door or an ambush. It is important to telegraph them, so that players can learn to understand their environment. it is advised to say something regarding the environment and ask for a one word reaction from each player. For example: “You hear a faint click coming from the roof. What do you do ?” From there, you can already rule if someone is out of range of the falling rocks or something like that. If players take a bad decision, then they can make a Saving Throw. Generally, I rule Wands as the Saving Throw of choice for traps: my reasoning is that wands are a (magical) device that has a physical effect that can alter or kill a PCs. That’s pretty much also what a trap will do.

In most cases, because of the nature of the game, traps should be lethal (1d6HD) or create a setback (fall into another portion of the dungeon).

The reason for this is not to make it easy on the players, but to tell them "there might be a danger here". They don't know if it's a trap, a monster, or a trick, but they know there is danger. They still have to find the trap intelligently and disarm it, sometimes getting killed in the process, but that's up to them. I prefer this than having anything that either slow down the game (having someone poke non-stop everything with 10' pole), or force my players to inaction (in most cases, having suspected traps everywhere without a guess on where it can be will diminish player's interaction with the dungeon). To do this, it is suggested to have both traps and elements that will help to reveal it if the players are picking them up, such as trigger, danger zone, corpse, detritus, active warning and other signs of the same type.

Traps need to be understood as hazards as much as monsters. First time you encounter a Medusa for example, you don’t know her special power that will most likely kill you outright. But if you acquire the right item, and/or can fight blindfolded, that knowledge of combat by the players can save them and make the challenge easier. Their character level increase but also their knowledge of the world. For that reason, it is suggested to put very few types of traps and focus on copy-pasting them, based on either monsters making them or architecture (i.e. each ancient culture favored some traps). That way, players with experience can expect some kind of traps in a type of dungeon.

Traps

This is a "base list" of traps. You can have other kind of traps, and some traps are unique and doesn’t need a specific description, such as a rolling boulder that crushes people in its way.

The reason the elements of the trap are numbered is to roll a dice to generate them at random with the vertical axis 1d10. Every points needs to be observable, or at least noticeable. To generate randomly, if you don’t know what element needs to be visible to the player, you can roll 1d6 to generate the horizontal axis.



Name Trigger 1 Danger Zone 2 Corpses 3 Detritus 4 Active Warning 5 Other Warning 6 1 Slicer Pressure plate Lenght of hallway Sliced Sliced rats Niches with scythes Distant woosh noise in the room prior to this one 2 Poison spray shower Lever 10 ft square Agonisingly melted Melted helmet Acid pits on floor Bad smell in room 3 Sleeping Gas chest Switch in the chest Room Sleeping rats in the corner Dead rats that die of malnurishment Small holes in the bottom of the wall for the gas Strange smell in the room 4 Spiker roof (aka Predator trap) Tripwire 5 ft, human height Spiked skeleton on the floor Wooden chip and spikes nearby Hidden spikes on the other side of the trap on the ceiling Light coming through that can make the spikes or wire apparent 5 Snake pit Pressure plate At the bottom of a staircase Bitten/poisonned corpse Corpses of snakes outside of it Small plate on the walls, small holes in the floor "Hissing" sounds 6 Crushing hallway boulder (aka Indiana Jones) Pressure plate All corridor, up to 100' Crushed skeleton Hugeass rock at the end of it Opening at the end of the hallway on the ceiling Dark stain on the floor, rock chipping on the walls 7 Dart Trap Proximity (magical) 5' in front of the object it protects Skeleton with little darts around Darts on the ground Tons of small holes beside the objects Detect magic 8 Pit Trap 10' deep /w spikes Lid (150lbs) 10' square nil Torch lying on the ground (whoever fell last dropped it) Lines and creaks on the ground Floor will wobble at 149 lbs and less 9 Recessed Arm Scythe (protecting a door) Latch (pull in a hole to "open the door") Hand is chopped Hand corpse Instruments use to pull it chopped There is another small hole to actually put a key in it There is a hole up of the level (where the blade comes through) 10 Wall spears Tripwire Side of a wall Speared skeleton Wooden shaft on the ground Holes on the side Wind coming from the wall (holes are letting it through)

Other Traps

But there is other traps you can have:

Creature trap: trap that make creature pop up, ambush, open a gate, portal, etc. The Mimic in Dark Souls is an important one of those.

Explosion: as the name implies

Falling items: falling block of stones, etc.

Gas and potion: have your humanoid attach gas potions to ropes that the players WILL knock down without looking and be drown in acid (true story)

Fog: you can have those do plenty of stuff, like being a normal fog (will still scare player), a "random emotion fog" (can trigger them into confusion), poison gas, etc.

Illusion: illusion floor that makes you drop to your death is a classic I'd say

Light: flashbang or extinguishing of all light.

Alarm: what worse than having the whole dungeon now getting to you ?

I also like having tricks or traps that deal other effect than death, such as:

Reset other traps

Animate the weapon of the bearer to attack him

Causing a magical "cancellation" on all object of bearer for X hours

Enlarge/reduce

Teleport elsewhere in the dungeon

Become invisible, mute and paralyzed

etc.

Tricks

Tricks are stuff that look like they can be interacted with (magic item, chest, trones, etc.) but can be problematic for the player if they are too curious and not cautious enough.

You could have your tricks bound to something else interesting, such as:



TYPES Example/Description 1 Bait part of a monster, forcefield crown*, etc. 2 Boon/Bane according to the alignment and class, something positive and negative 3 Confusion/Misdirection golden platter with yellow mold, monster not what it appears, medusa as a crying women, golem covered with gold (looks like a statue), etc. 4 Defended animated furniture, fill with water, etc. 5 Puzzle stone statue missing an eye that reveals a passage (a monster stole it), etc. 6 Quest statue/book/NPC/Ghost that indicate a clue on how to vanquish a monster elsewhere in the dungeon, a door that needs a magical key elsewhere in the dungeon, etc. 7 Secret a hidden secret that could be revealed later because the mecanism will be found on another same-type secret further in the dungeon (meaning player could decide to go back to unlock it when they learn it) 8 Shiny somthing nice that does nothing (ex: a dragon skeleton within a crystal) 9 Tools does something neutral (ex: putting a rough gem transform it into a perfectly cut one, a statue that repeats what you say in another obscure language, etc.) 10 Transmutation Modified reality (water sharp like razor, false food, etc.) 11 Transport Teleport elsewhere 12 Treasures Treasures

Or you could tie them to features and effects (both column are not linked, you can roll d20 for each and apply as per).



Features Effect 1 Altar Remove humanity 2 Arch Animate itself 3 Ceiling Animate user weapon 4 Fireplace/fire Appear/Disappear 5 Fountain Antimagic (in the room) 6 Fresco/mosaic Electric Shock 7 Idol Asks password 8 Illusion Directs towards... 9 Machine Enlarges/Reduces itself 10 Pedestal Enlarges/Reduces user 11 Pillar/Column Flesh to stone 12 Pool Gaseous 13 Room Greases 14 Statue Greed-producing 15 Vegetation Release coins/gems 16 Wall Release magic item 17 Well Slide 18 Furnishing Teleports 19 Force Field Reduce stats/HD 20 Door Remove magic from item

Other Hazards

There are other hazards that the Referee can include in its dungeons:

Lava: Lava covers surface and is generally moving. Anyone stepping on lava will instantly suffers 1d6 HD of damage per turn (6 seconds). Some magical items can prevent or diminish that damage.

Swamp: Characters suffer from Difficult Terrain condition and must make a Poison Saving Throw every exploration turn (10 minutes) or suffer from the Poison condition.

Water-flood: Characters suffer from Difficult Terrain.

Fog/Mist: Characters cannot see past 30’, without or without light. Everything is more hazy and difficult to see/recognize. Lights can be glimpsed through the mist further than 30’, but not the source of the light.

Darkness: Such magical darkness will diminish every type of light by one level (lantern would light as torches, torches as candle, and candle as nothing).

Fire: Buildings or areas on fire will inflict 1 HD of damage per turn (6 seconds). Some magical items can prevent or diminish that damage. Fire can be extinguished partially or totally.

Monster Reaction

There is a table with three separate category. To roll on the table, you need a reason between those three: common language, common religion/covenant, common objective/goal. If monsters have none of those, then you don't roll and they are hostile, unless the players present something interesting.

Generally, this means that Hollows will always be hostile. That being said, you could create a different approach to that hostility from encounter to encounter, such as hollows targeting the one with the most humanity, or being afraid of someone with a specific weapon or artefacts, etc.

Of course if the monster is a slime for example, in theory it will never be able to have a particular reason to change his reaction towards the PCs, so it is suggested to use automatically the first category and roll the need to see if whatever need the monster is more important than whatever the PCs are doing can be interpreted as a threat.

The first category on the table is for when PCs are already in combat and trying to negotiate, or there is a break of fighting, or there is a morale break. Generally this is with NPCs. The second is when PCs see monsters in an hostile environment. The last is when they see them in a less hostile or non-hostile environment, again, generally NPCs.

Needs are calculated according to the type of creatures:

Ooze and plants: 1d2

Beast/animals: 1d4

Semi-bestial intelligence: 1d6

Savage humanoids: 2d10, take lowest

Civilized humanoids: 1d10

Sophisticated creatures: 2d10, take highest

And then roll on this table:

d10 Type of Needs Description 1 Safety Lost, hurt, poisoned, getting away from a predator, without food/water, without light, hollowing and in need of immediate Humanity, etc. 2 Sustenance Hunting, hungry, eating, preparing food, etc. 3 Link with own species Trying to mate, trying to bound, trying to kill a fellow, to gain power, to lead a pack, etc. 4 Comfort Warming itself, taking a nap, watching a Bonfire, watching the Sun, constructing or seraching for a shelter, etc. 5 Territory Patrolling, tracking, conquering, guarding, etc 6 Catharsis Sadism, anger, desperation, revenge, corrupting, etc. 7 Luxury Looking for Souls, looking for gold, looking for magical item, looking for slaves, etc. 8 Knowledge Directions, lore, spying neighbors, wanting to access a particular information, etc. 9 Allies or assistance Roll again 1d10 to determine the reason why they need allies 10 Actualization of the self Ideology, religion, development of the self, training, cult, etc.

Monster Death and Rebirth

System for this is thus: monsters and wandering mini-bosses are cards picked in a deck of cards every time you get to “open areas”, i.e. places where some monsters can be. When you kill them, you remove them from the deck. When there is no more cards, the area is cleared. When a player is killed, a boss is killed, or between every game, add back 1d6 cards to the deck of that area at random. Resting will reset one encounter/card. The goal for this system is thus:

Randomizing encounters to provide more interesting “going back and forth”

Having set encounters so that players can learn from monsters and their weakness

Having a chance of NPC, minor monsters, etc. to diminish tension

Having a chance of mini-bosses to augment tension or force to take alternative paths

Small refurbish so that new players going to old areas can still have stuff

Possibility of clearing a portion out so that old players getting further and further in the same area will have less encounters to move further in

There is also some set encounters (such as mimics), ambush (monsters can or cannot return, as per Referee or area), and some random encounters without monsters or only NPCs. Therefore you could take one path and have nothing, and when you come back there is something: this keeps players on their toes.

Hollows are without souls and count as normal monsters, bound to the land or whatever strong force is present with a Soul (such as bosses). Generally, they die a permanent death, but others can come to replace them.

Megadungeon Exploration

The World as a Dungeon

In the Dark Souls universe, everything is interlinked. Game Design, Level Design, Story and all aspect of the game are interconnected, “associated”. In the tabletop, this means for exploration that the World needs to be thought of as a Dungeon (I suggest reading both the articles on Jacquaying and three clue rule of Alexandrian that are suggested up there, but also Philotomy’s Musings on the subject of the dungeon).

Therefore, every outside venue is a room, every pathway is a corridor, every boulder blocking the way is a door. Thinking of outside as inside will be able to provide the players with a constant state of exploration, tension and foreboding. On how Dark Souls does this, it is suggested to watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhWdBhc3Wjc

In other words, every area is a dungeon that’s linked with other dungeon through a pointcrawl approach, but that creates one huge sprawling megadungeon.

Roles in Dungeon Exploration

Players should have specific role to help the Referee and to speed up the game. Those roles can be considered in-game, but generally they are meta-game role. If you want to include them in, you could decide that the Caller is the Host of the adventure for the other Phantoms.

Caller

The caller is the one making the “calls”. That is, everytime the game needs to move forward, or that the group needs to make a decision and can’t agree on it, the Referee will ask the Caller. He will decide for the group. Caller should ideally different every game to switch it up.

Mapper

The mapper takes care of all mapping in game. He should be the only one asking question about the map to the Referee to make sure he is drawing the right map. Anybody can ask questions about the area to navigate, but the mapper will ask question about the “map” he is drawing.

Order of March

Also, when exploring, it’s important to clarify at all time what is the order of march, so that if something happens in front or in the back of the group, the Referee doesn’t have to wing it. For this, it’s suggested that the Referee write down or use small cards to put them in front of him.

Action and Exploration Turn

Every 10 minutes counts as an Exploration Turn. Most actions takes one Exploration Turn to do, such as using psychometry on an object, kindling a bonfire, devouring a Soul or Humanity, fighting a combat, etc.

Ressources

Every exploration turn, light charges are lost on items. Also, some effect takes place or are extinguished such as magical protection.

Getting Out of a Dungeon at the End of the Adventure

Because we have busy life and there is always a chance that the players will not have left a particular dungeon in time prior to the game finishing, players can either accept that they keep fighting on and die in the dungeon (-1 Humanity), or they can roll to see if their character can make it out alive.

This system only works if you:

Stress the importance of coming back

Tell players what time it is in real-life so that about 60 minutes before the end of the game they know they need to turn back soon or now (depending on the situation)

Use it with intelligence

Use this table:

d20 Effect 1 Character dies with an extra 1d6 Humanity lost. 2-3 Character stay lost/imprisoned in the dungeon. He can be retrieved by other PCs. Lose 1 Humanity. 4-7 Character is affected by a grave condition that prevents his return, such as malediction, psychic control, petrification, etc. He can be retrieved by other PCs. 8-12 Character lose 1d6 HD. If he dies because of this, he loses 1 Humanity. 13-15 Character must depart from d6 equipment piece and some Souls to get away from his assailant. 16+ Character is able to leave without a problem.

With these modificators:

In a dungeon:

The group or PC does not possess any light: -10



The group or PC does not possess any direct secure means of getting out of the dungeon: -5



The dungeon is in a state of alertness because of PCs action: -3



The dungeon has monsters with an average HD higher than the PCs (to be used intelligently): -2



The group or PC isn't sure where they are in the dungeon: -2



The group or PC have reliable and multiple source of light: +2



Dungeon is only a lair, or is of a very simple layout: +3



The group has a direct and secure mean of getting out: +5

In general:

The PC has Wisdom of 10 or more: +2



The PC has Wisdom of 15 or more: +5



The Hex/Area where they are is almost or totally explored/pacified: +3



The road from the Hex/Area to the Haven is cleared or almost clear, using a road or something along the same line: +3



The PC can become invisible using an object, can teleport, or has anything of the same vein: +10

Of course, do this roll behind closed screen and ideally tie it in to the narrative of your world, the dungeon/hex they were in, etc. The modificators are complicated and it would be hell to ask player to keep track of them.

Running Away from a Monster

To run away from a monsters, players must either have a secret or impossible path for the monster to go through. If not, they need to drop an item that they monster wants, or Fragments of Souls.

If it doesn’t work, the slowest monster (worst Dexterity in the heaviest armor) needs to do a Constitution check to see if he outrun it. If not, they (or he) has to fight in 1d6 room/path.

Random Encounters

Two rules are suggested for Random Encounters:

Wandering Monsters: At the end of every turn the referee will roll a six-sided die to see if a "wandering monster" has been encountered. A roll of 6 indicates a wandering monster has appeared.

So every exploration turn, you roll for random encounter. On a 1/6, it happens. They see the monsters (notwithstanding the surprise) as per:

Sighting Monsters: Players will see monsters at 20 - 80 feet (roll a pair of four-sided dice to determine the distance) unless they are surprised by the monster.

The other suggested is a simpler version. Every time the torch goes out, so every 6 turn, there is a wandering monster encounter. Of course this has two problem:

You need to calculate for the lantern (a simple d6 that you turn on your side of the table is quite easy)

Even if the probability of 6 turn on 1/6 is in practice almost the same, in theory it is not. You could go for 100 turn without an encounter, or 6 encounters in 6 turns when you roll a dice. Whereas with this method, you WILL get an encounter every 6 turns.

You could switch it up to create tension, such as rolling on turn 5 of the torch, and having an encounter on turn 6 if you didn't get it on turn 5.

Pointcrawl (Outside) Exploration





Combat and Adventure

Combat

Introduction

Combat has been highly influenced by TSR Chainmail’s combat, but it’s not a copy or a retroclone of it. If you want to understand the original combat of Chainmail, it is suggested that you read on it, especially ressources such as https://img.fireden.net/tg/image/1457/49/1457497202891.pdf

Rather, I took the original framework of Chainmail with its three types of combat (Mass Combat, Man-to-Man Combat and Fantasy Combat) to create something smooth that emulates properly enough Dark Souls combat.

One of the thing that I changed drastically was how Hit Dice worked and what “Men” meant. In other words, I made it more “across the board” so that combat was faster. I was not interested in having high level fighter (high HD, representing multiple men) do multiple attack in a turn. Also, since my version of both Men to Men and Fantasy Combat have multiple attack imbedded in them, I removed Mass Combat. It is added at the end of this document as an optional rule for those that still wants them. This is also to reproduce the fact that in Dark Souls, even if you are high level, you can still get killed or wounded against normal creatures if you are too reckless.

The following sections are not presented in their logical procession from the point of view of the PCs, but rather from the logical point of view of the Referee: Man-to-Man uses a pool of dice based on HD to create different results (i.e. pairing them up); and Fantasy Combat uses the same pool to gather a single but critical result.

In all combats, a roll of 1 or double 1 is always a failure, with or without bonuses.

Initiative and Turn Order

Initiative in general is simultaneous and variable. When everyone acted, it is a turn. Turns have different length: Fantasy Combat could take 10-30 seconds, and Man-to-Man is made very small increment, turns being a couple of seconds top. Fantasy Combat, depending on the strategy and action of both PCs and Bosses can be a couple of seconds up to a full minute.

Generally, to determine other initiative sequence, roll 1d6 for each side (Referee for monsters and PCs for their characters) and the highest starts.

For all three types of combat, it is mandatory to say what action the players want to do before any initiative is rolled or mechanics engaged. Referee will then decide what happens when. A good rule of thumb for a sequence is this:

Creatures speak or start casting

Ranged missile/combat is made or first portion of movement is made

Movement is made or finished

Magic is unleashed

Melee is made

Ranges of Battle

Since combat is abstracted (theater of the mind), there is a general “range” of combat for the three types of battle.

Melee: Creatures in melee can perform all melee function but cannot use ranged attack or spells

Midrange: Creatures in midrange can perform all melee function except that they cannot counterattack, but they can use ranged attack or spells. This is only available if an ally is within melee range.

Far range: Creatures in Far range can only perform ranged attack or spells. This is only available if an ally is within Melee or Midrange.

Man-to-Man

Man-to-Man is to be used against NPCs, Phantoms, fully attired monsters of equal stature as PCs (such as Balder, Hollow Soldier, etc.) and normal/small monsters (such as rats or dogs) whereas Fantasy Combat will deal more with the environment and the “how” of player’s action against bosses and huge creatures. Man-to-Man deals with the duel, the small exchange here and there. It can still finish quickly if both sides are reckless.

In M-t-M Combat, you roll one + your number of HD d6 in a dice pools. You pick the two best results: if they are a success, you can make a “combo” (a strings of attack) and look at the next best two. If they are again a success, you can continue on like this until you have no more pair of dice to look at. In other words, the more HD you have, the more adept you are at chaining attacks and exploiting the weakness of your opponent. For every dice, if you have a magical weapon, add +1 to the result (therefore a “4” and a “3” would be a total of “7”, but with a magical weapon, “9”).

A pair of such dice is called an attack roll . For every successful attack roll, the character inflict 1 HD of damage with a one handed weapon, 2 HD with a two-handed weapon, and +1 HD with any magical weapon (so up to 3 HD damage).

Ranged weapons cannot do more than one attack per turn. All other dice than the two best are of no impact.

The following matrix will tell you what number or more you need to have a success on an attack roll:

Weapon Class Melee Weapon vs Unarmored vs Light Armor* vs Medium Armor** vs Heavy Armor*** 1 Dagger 6 7 9 12 2 Club/Quarterstaff 8 8 9 12 3 Hand Axe 7 7 10 11 4 Morning Star 7 7 7 8 5 Two-Handed Battleaxe 6 7 8 9 6 Sword 7 8 8 10 7 Spear (throw as javelin at -1) 7 8 9 11 8 Halberd 8 8 6 7 9 Two-Handed Sword 7 7 5 8











Weapon Class **** Ranged Weapon vs Unarmored vs Light Armor vs Medium Armor vs Heavy Armor 1 Sling/Throwing Knife 8 8 9 12 2 Short Bow 6/8 6/8 8/10 11/12 2 Crossbow 5/7 5/7 8/9 8/10 2 Longbow 5/7 5/7 6/7 9/11 7 Javelin (melee as spear, but more fragile) 6 6 8 10

* Light Armor is leather or gambison (padded). Also include non-fantastical creature with hide or hide-armor.

** Medium Armor is chainmail or banded. Also include non-fantastical creature with thick skin, protective measure or slime.

*** Heavy Armor is plate armor. Also include non-fantastical creature with shells, made of solid material (such as rock) or bones.

**** For Ranged Weapon, the first number is close range (50’ or less), the second is for long range (up to the maximum range of the weapon). Sling only has one number because it can only fire at close range. Their class is based on what weapon they act upon if used in melee.

There are additional rules of M-t-M Combat. They are an important part of the Dark Souls feel but they are optional for those finding them too fiddly/detailed:

All melee action are simultaneous (a creature that can hit prior to the opponent can elect to wait for him to strike first. See the parrying rule below), unless:

Creatures that charged strike first;



Unless they were countercharged by a polearm/halberd/spear/pike type of weapon.



If not, whoever attacked from the rear;



If not, whoever is defending/attacking from above;



If not, whoever has a weapon with a highest class

A creature that is targeted by a melee attack can elect to:

Parry if he hasn’t attacked yet.



To do so, his weapon class must be equal or higher than the opponent or have a shield.





If he does so, he will subtract 2 from the opponent attack roll.





If he has a weapon with at least two class higher than his opponent, he can elect to counterattack after his opponent strike(s).





Unless the weapon is magical, if someone parries with a weapon and the attack roll is still a success, the weapon is destroyed or lost (partially or totally, depending on the Referee and the environment).



Dodge-roll if he isn’t wearing heavy armor.



If he does so, he will subtract 3 from the opponent attack roll (2 in light armor, 1 in medium armor).





Also, the creature can choose to move from one Range to another.





If the dodge-roll is a failure, the target is knocked prone on the ground and doesn’t move out of the space it occupied. In Fantasy Combat, it suffers a worse injury.

Small weapons, such as dagger, short swords and such can roll an extra dice against prone targets.

Using a bow or crossbow in melee is used as a club. If a parry is attempted, the weapon breaks automatically whether is a success or a failure.

Having a shield gives -1 to the opponent attack roll.

Unless the bearer:



Is incapacitated





Attacked from multiple sides



There is three types of shield with different bonus:



Small Shield (Buckler): If you Parry, you count your weapon as +5 for the sake of Weapon Class to determine if he can counterattack





Medium Shield (Knight Shield): “Basic” Shield. +1 Breath Saving Throws.





Large Shield (Greatshield): If you Parry, add +1 to your Parry. You cannot counterattack with a Parry using this shield. +1 Breath Saving Throws.

Non-humanoid monsters natural weapons are considered to be either:

Blunt (count as club): hand, rock, etc.



Hacking (count as handaxe): small claw, mandibule, etc.



Piercing (count as dagger for small or spear for large): spikes, pikes, etc.



Vicious (count as swords): scythes, jaw, etc.

Fantasy Combat

Fantasy Combat is akin to the Man-to-Man Combat, but with higher risks against supernatural and generally gigantic foes. Those can be both bosses and mini-bosses. The basic attack roll is the same as MtM, but every chained attack (i.e. multiple attack rolls) will add +1 to the next attack the Monster does against the PC. Monsters and bosses all have various attacks that can do between 1 HD and 6 HD of damage. Some of the bosses will have very few HD, and that is normal: they are more difficult to hit than the PCs, they have special attack which can already affect multiple targets, they have varying resistance and immunities; in other words, they won’t die so easily because of that.

The basic resolution is according to this matrix, which compares the melee/ranged PCs with the Monster. The score is what is needed for the PC to damage the monster.



Dragons Taurus Demons Capra Demons Titanite Demons Black Knights Hydra Butcher/ Ogres Fang Boar/ Giant Rats Golems/Giants Channeler 1 HD 12 12 12 12 12 12 11 12 12 11 2 HD 12 11 11 12 12 11 10 11 11 10 3 HD 12 10 10 11 11 10 8 10 11 9 4 HD 11 9 9 11 11 9 6 8 10 7 5 HD 11 8 8 10 10 8 4 7 9 5 6 HD 11 7 7 9 9 7 3 5 9 5 7 HD 10 6 6 8 8 6 3 5 8 5 8 HD 10 5 5 8 7 5 3 4 7 5 9 HD 9 4 4 7 5 5 3 4 7 5 10 HD 9 3 3 7 6 5 3 3 6 5

Again, magical weapons grant +1 to all attack roll . Furthermore, Fantasy Combat is more abstract and evocative: if the players decides to hit a weak spot, or does an attack that takes advantage of something another PCs did, than you can grant an additional dice to his roll. For example:

Playing defensively and far range when the Gaping Dragon decides to charge

Playing very aggressively when the Channeler is charging his attack

Being meticulous, defensive and attacking from multiple sides Havel the Rock (count as a Black Knight with better defense and attack)

And so on.

You can also grant additional bonuses in HD lost for special equipment used or mythological references: someone using a sling to attack a giant, a bow to shoot a dragon, etc.

In such a fight, every hit should be described: a failure could mean that the monster has taken off in the air or teleported, or that he blocked and pushed away the character (more below). A success could mean that the players have discovered a new weak spot, or that they targeted the tail of the dragon, etc.

All monsters not described here can be inferred from the list. Dragons could mean wyvern, purple worms (without flying), huge behemoth-like creature, etc. Taurus Demons means huge and powerful demons, such as the Asylum Demon. Capra Demons means smaller and fast moving and aggressive combat oriented demons. And so on. The difference will be in their HD and their special abilities.

Unique bosses, such as Quelaag, Gwyn, etc. should have their own unique stats block.

Bosses will always telegraph their special attack. For example, a powerful and lethal grab attack will have a distinctive description, so that PCs can take an informed decision.

Bosses needs to roll the HD of the PCs + 2. Different bosses will have different attacks that might change this. Shields parry and dodge-roll are still option. Normal parry is up to the Referee judgment. For example, it would be normal to allow a parry for a Black Knight. Some monsters, for example a Gaping Dragon, could altogether not be affected by a block/parry with or without a shield.

Weaker bosses (such as mini-bosses) will only have one attack, making it easy for high level parties to survive. Whereas end-game bosses will have multiple attacks, or attacks targeting all PCs.

If a player is hit, roll 1d10 + his HD and look at this table for a basic description of effect. If the player is wearing a medium or heavy armor, reduce by one effect (so a 10 - 11 would become a 11 - 12).

Then interpret according to the monster himself. A grab by the Iron Golem is literally a grab with hands, whereas against Black Dragon Kalameet, it’s Dark Magic telekinesis that grabs the PC. Or it could be the Hellkite Wyvern grabbing a player to drop him off the bridge.

1d10 + HD Effect 1 - 4 Instant Death 5 - 7 Suffers 2 HD damage and is incapacitated (either directly or indirectly) for the next turn, waiting to suffer another attack (consider the next turn an automatic attack success against this PCs) 8 - 9 Suffers 2 HD and is staggered (cannot act in melee or range this turn if he didn’t already do it) 10 - 11 Suffers 1 HD and is staggered (cannot act in melee or range this turn if he didn’t already do it) 11 - 12 Suffers 1 HD damage. If he didn’t act yet this turn, his next action will be more difficult. 13 -14 If he blocked with a shield, Change of pace: if the PC was far away, the monsters gets near (jump to him). If the PC was in melee, he gets push out very far. If he didn’t block, see previous result. 15+ Bruised if he blocked with a shield, if not, see previous result.

Spells in Combat

Spells in Combat function as magical attack. The difference is that their impact is not reduced as a ranged attack, i.e. they can make multiple blow in one turn. Each spell has different rules:

Fireball: 6d6 in a small zone

Combustion: 3d6 melee

Fire Surge: 5d6 in a line

Cold Snap: 4d6 in melee. Water creatures can become frozen

Magic Missile: Xd6 to a single target, where X is the HD of the caster.

Lightning Spear: 4d6 in a line

Sunspear: 6d6 to a single target

Damage and Death

When PCs suffer hit, they suffer 1 HD of damage or more. When they reach 0 HD, they die: they lose 1 Humanity (or more) and reappear in the next game. Meanwhile, they can play NPC Phantoms. For all of this in more details, see the rule regarding the Dark Sign.

Resting and Healing

When PCs rest, the game ends. They remove all conditions and heal them. Their spells return. For more information, see the rule regarding the Dark Sign.

Conditions

There is a list of base conditions that can affect players:

Blinded: You cannot see. Creatures can attack you more easily and you attack them with huge negative impact (-4 to all attack roll).

Poisoned: You cannot regain HD and every hour you suffer 1 HD of damage. Your character is dazed and suffers -1 to all combat roll.

Cursed: If you are cursed, you suffer an additional HD of damage every time you suffer HD damage. Also, you can only see half distance and cannot gain Humanity. If you die while being cursed, to become Petrified.

Petrified: You are made of stone and invulnerable. You are not conscious and cannot play anymore. Players need to find a Purging Stone, Divine Blessing or the spell Remove Curse.

Hollow: If you hollow, your character becomes an hostile NPC controlled by the Referee.

Optional Rule: Mass Combat

Mass Combat is to be used when PCs are at least all one HD above the monsters they are fighting, or at least, the PCs in melee are and that the monsters are 1 HD or lower. This last rule could be accommodated if very high level PCs fight against 2 HD monsters or some such. It is suggested not to use this system as it works differently than the two other one.

In the Mass Combat, everything is simultaneous.

For this type of combat, creatures and PCs alike roll one dice per HD (so a ½ HD monster will roll one dice for every two monsters with a minimum of one dice). They then determine successes. Each success is a HD removed from a target. For PCs, it generally means that they kill one low-HD creature. For creatures, it means that they inflict 1 HD of damage.

To determine success, it depends on the type of monsters and PCs. In both cases, they follow the same rationale that needs to be determined by the Referee. For monsters, it is included in its stat block. For PCs, the Referee needs to determine.

Light Type:

Small monsters and critters, unarmed hollows, etc.



PCs with a ranged weapon equipped, PCs with small arms and light armors, etc.

Medium Type:

Normally equipped monsters, monsters with natural resistance (such as skeletons), normal critters, etc.



PCs with medium armors and weapons (medium shield, swords, morning star, etc.)

Heavy Type:

Heavily armored monsters, resistant critters or large animals (such as giant spiders)



PCs with heavy armors and weapons (polearms, two-handed, greatshields, etc.)

When those type are determined, then you need to check the following matrix to determine which dice is a success:



Light Medium Heavy Light 5+ 6+ 6+ Medium 4+ 5+ 6+ Heavy 3+ 4+ 5+

Characters using a magical weapon will add +1 to all their dice results.

Optional Rule : Classless System

With this system, every level the player choose a Template. This template represents where/how you “invest” the link of your Soul with the rest of your self. Each of them grants you one unique ability upgrade, one modification to your Saving Throws and one possibility of augmenting one of your Attributes.

Every subsequent Soul Level will cost a higher number of Souls to level-up. Here is the progression:

Level Souls Required 1 0 2 2 000 3 4 000 4 8 000 5 16 000 6 32 000 7 64 000 8 120 000 9 240 000 10 360 000

Here are the templates:

Will (fighting):

+1 HD



-1 to breath and -1 to poison/death save.



You can roll to up either Str, Con or Dex by 1 if you roll 3d6 under your current stat.

Intellect (magic):

+1 attunement slot (choose between Arcane (both Sorcery and Pyromancy) or Miracle)



-1 to stone and -1 to magic save



You can roll to up either Int or Fth by 1 if you roll 3d6 under your current stat.

Body (proficiency):

+1 HP (if you use it), +1 to one Attribute of your choice



-1 to two saves of your choice and -1 to Wands.

The World of Not-Dark-Souls

Aesthetic

More to follow.

Basic Lore

The World

More to follow.

Humanity

More to follow.

Hollows and Souls

More to follow.

Referee’s Tools to Create Worlds and Areas

Creating Worlds

More to follow.

Creating Areas/Dungeons

More to follow.

Creating Rooms and Paths

More to follow.

Lists of Monsters

More to follow.

Lists of Magical Equipment and Weapons

Magical Equipments

Estus Flasks:

Magical Weapons

More to follow.

Magical Shields

More to follow.

Magical Armors

More to follow.

Magical Trinkets

More to follow.

Weapon Infusion

Material (colored titanite), embers, souls, etc.

More to follow.

More to follow. Will most likely take a lot from the version from Emanuele Galletto