I do not guarantee that these ideas are actually good. Submit your good(ish) ideas or ask for ideas, sometimes I can help I guess. Icon by @eldritchwritings(No official content for any rpg) she/any
Blood Tithe is a TTRPG where you play as a group of vampires trying to survive and thrive. They will have to defend humans from other monsters but at the same time defend themselves from humans that don’t want to have their blood sucked. Of course, they are powerful beings, and might have ambitions beyond mere survival that they’re trying to achieve. But no matter how powerful a vampire becomes, in the end they are still a slave to their thirst.
Version 0.0.3 changes a lot, but the most notable addition are Powers, a new system for gaining noncombat abilities.
Check it out if you're interested and join the playtest discord server if you want to, I'll try to actually get some playtest games going this time.
If you struggle with reading the white on black text, there is also a black on white version here
Full changelog under the read more
you no longer have to choke people to death, instead defeating them as with most abilities
changed losing controlling happening if the roll is lower than or equal to half the vampire’s current control, rather than only lower than, so you can actually hit 1 control now
you can now choose to take damager rather than suffer strain from a missed enemy attacks. This is pretty experimental and I already have a different alternative in mind if I don’t like it
added the risk to suffer strain on some maneuvers where I overlooked it previously
clarified how Undead summons can defend engagements
added group checks, a way to determine whether the entire group suffers consequences from something or not
added gm-called checks
completely reworked the Protect action
added encounter advice for including “Blood Bags”, neutral npcs that mostly exist to be bitten for healing.
biting now heals for twice as much (damage stays the same)
reworked most On Failure effects to no longer be equal to On Success with Empower 1
added damage spills to prevent damage on enemies that are at 0 HP already to be wasted as often.
added quick builds
changed base aim on all skills from 0 to AWR -2
Exception: Warning Shot uses CHR-2
added suggested rule changes for players who want to modify the game
renamed whips to reach weapons
reach weapons can now use the wide swing maneuver
renamed Marksman to Ranged Weapon Fighter
changed many On Failure effect to be more interesting instead of being “Deal 1 damage” or “Like success but with Empower of 1”
“Like success but with Empower of 1” was also too strong
changed some instances of the primary attributes being written out to using their 3 letter shortened names instead
changed the language around psychic powers to allow for the existence of non-vampire psychics
successful miracles no longer risk strain
many minor changes to wording/grammar/spelling
added critical hits
added Powers, a new system for narrative abilities
this made the “narrative spells” system obsolete
added the following Perks:
Bloodfast
Imitation Psychic
Master Healer (not really available to players yet)
I'm unsure what to do as the condition for the advancement system for Blood Tithe.
I think the most flavourful option would be that characters level up every time a certain number of years pass. Old vampires are more powerful, regardless of what they do. But unfortunately, that would suck to actually play
Maybe I'll do XP/Milestone based advancement with the additional rule that you automatically level up ever 50/100 years
What mechanical differences would you expect between the ability to imbue your attacks with elemental magic and the ability to telekinetically empower your attacks
In Blood Tithe, the RPG I'm currently designing, everyone chooses the action for their turn and then they are revealed at the same time.
In our last playtest, we noticed that this caused the players not wanting to strategize with each other because the GM would be listening in, which caused issues like debuffing an enemy on the same turn you're trying to mind control them.
I'm not really sure how to solve this. I could force the GM to lock in their turns before the players so the players get a chance to discuss things but the GM already needs the longest so it would significantly prolong the game.
I Defeated the Demon Lord, but Rather Than Vanquishing Evil Forever, I've Triggered a Period of Demonic Civil War and Instability That Will Take Generations for the World to Recover From
A short-lived species with a limited genetic memory
They only need a few years after birth to learn everything their parents know, allowing them to achieve as much, if not more than people with more than twice their lifespan
Redeemed villain who can do level drain stuff but they can't level on their own so the party has to regularly sacrifice some of their levels to them or they'll get underpowered
Forgot about NN(N)F again, been having some stressful Fridays but that means it's once again time for
Full Nuance Saturday: What is your opinion on the sometimes absurd timespans in fantasy settings, e.g. kingdoms that are thousands of years old or technology that is stagnant for millenia
this is where I have to admit that even though alternating turns is the general trend among indie stuff and pretty much all the games i prefer to play use it, I actually prefer dedicated turns because both players discussing who should go next and the GM deciding which monster should go next takes time and mental energy
Celestial warlock patron soul ransom program. The celestial makes deals with evil mortals to claim their souls after their death, and then trades those souls at a 2:1 rate with devils for all the good and neutral mortal souls *they* bought through faustian deals.
The celestial is essentially taking souls away from hell with their pacts and using them as a kind of prisoner exchange to free good and neutral people who ended up in hell. It's unorthodox, because it means giving power to evil people, but being able to legally rescue the innocent from hell is worth it in the celestial's eyes.