DIYRPG Worldbuilding

6 readers

1 users here now

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

How to evoke the feeling of harshness? (diyrpg.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Do you have some advice on how to evoke feeling of harshness in the setting without making it caricaturally grim or simply stingy with resources? Something like tolkienesque First Era Beleriand with inaccessible gods and great danger nearby but with less superpowered elves and less focus on nobility?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Try to inflict the harshness of the setting to the players or their relatives during the character's creation process.

Let's see some ideas:

Their family belongs to a lower class, despised by the rulers of their society.
The family of one of the player characters was cursed by an ancient magic-user, the effects of the curse are transmitted to all the family line.
As honorable warriors the player characters are binded to obey the orders given to them by their rulers. What will they do when ordered to commit some questionable acts?