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Lately been running several games and with another one currently started with one players view point on fleshing out his Dark campaign (now making it six campaigns).
Players can play only as good or Neutral no evil alignments.
Me and another GM as switching back and forth on this one, now I went with the first world view adventure, where he did the whole getting the world adventure.
We have an experienced player playing their very first Paladin, she's very excited to add this to her list of characters played.
and a new player (6 months in) who is playing a Sanctified Rogue, and me and the other GM who have major NPC's and our own PC's( at the same level as the others for when our
turn at play comes in).
So I didn't want to go full tilt dark on them at the start mostly because I wanted give them a feel for the world. They've gone into debt which means they got sold into servitude until
they pay off the debt. With a High Ranking Merchant Noble Tiefling with several business holdings with a 300% interest rate each week without payment or work.
1st encounter was the the cities witching hour of cleaning, Advanced Slithering Pit Oozes, just one. Which they learned is used to clean the streets of waste & Vagrants.
2nd Encounter was a roadside tavern/Inn that seemed to have little to no traffic in or out, at the end the rogue finds out all the wonderful food was made from dead humans
(and bought legally since some people can't afford to cremate or bury the dead in this land) [encounter to show not every place can afford good supplies to make food or
make enough to not cut even more corners]
3rd Encounter, highway bandits. CR 1, and after killing them off, found out they where desperate to earn coin to stave off the tax collections and being sold with there own families
into servitude or as slaves of the state to work mines according to their rits. [to show how some people even less lucky turn to banditry to save there families & Friends]
4th Encounter- Hill Giant of an opposing guild than their 'master' whom burned down the Inn they where going to stay at during the night.
[Guilds run the world, with different branchs of nobility in control of them. Best way to earn coin and survive is to work for one, shame most that work of them are
generally go into debt with the guild and have to work their lives away, but they do survive]
5th Encounter- Rival Guild Inn, here is where I go actually dark. The showing of a villain, I decided to go with a figure of history for this one. Creating an H.H. Holmes
A halfling Sorcerer (undead Bloodline) that was using his tavern as a front to collect souls to create soul bound doll gems for his guild to create constructs with and
sell them, as the group found out, he would also work a strange ritual to create what I called "living zombies" they could be healed with positive energy, any harm he sustained
would be moved to them, but worst of all, they where fully aware of their actions but could only react to the world around them as the Halfling wanted them too.
At one point the group found several of them in the kitchen carving themselves up for Orcs to eat while singing cheerful elven tunes.
Both the Paladin and rogue decided right there to burn the building to the ground and kill the halfling, I did add as the building was burning down they could still hear the
cheerful singing even as the Orcs ran off with the building burning down around there ears, unable to do anything but still follow the halflings commands to make lunch,
and when they did see the halfling they attacked immediately and where angered that the revenge for the people he's done such evil too went unpunished when they learned it
was an illusion he used to guide them away from where he was so he could make his escape.
The group loved the game and the continuation where they brought the halfling to justice (and still angry they couldn't kill him when the group Cleric stopped them)
and one crooked trial later, the halfling was on the streets again an hour later.
sadly while I might have done good in the first part here. Dark games are not really my specialty. But I kinda picture this world a warped version of the lands of Geb/Cheliax/Ustalav
all rolled into one, With Undead being the highest nobility, and spiralling down with other monsters of undead, Demon, and devil kind.
So I was wondering if I could get a bit of advice or help creating some standard universal laws for this place
So far we know that Hell Knights of this place seek to destroy chaos, but also look for and try and elimate those that channel Positive energy.
The selling of Cure Wound Potions for harming undead is illegal
Debts are paid with slave labor or indentured servitude if there is no coin
Only thing saving the Paladin right now is that she is currently an Indentured Servent and not currently a threat enough for someone to pay the Tiefling for the right to
kill her. The cleric has hidden his ability to channel positive energy with a high bluff and the Channel Smite ability.
So any takers on helping me flesh this out a bit more?
For the laws, remember that all rulers, regardless of their own alignment, strive to maintain law in their land. It's the only way to rule. Good rulers seek to contain (jail) and redeem (parole) criminals while evil rulers probably just kill them or enslave them and forget about redemption.
So the laws of your dark world might just be exactly like the laws of the real world where you live (it's illegal to steal, kill, rape, etc.). Whatever is illegal in your real life home town is probably illegal in your world.
But the punishments are probably very different. In most modern countries, punishment means incarceration, counseling, education, and eventually releasing back into society, except for the worst criminal offenders who are executed or serve life sentences. In your world, the rulers are probably not at all interested in counseling or education. Incarceration serves nobody unless that incarceration comes with hard labor (building things or providing resources that profit the leader or the country). That leaves death, or immediate profit by selling the criminals into slavery (sold to private owners for profit or kept by the state for slave labor). Somewhere in between for minor offenses would be indentured servitude (short-term slavery) and fines (probably accompanied by flogging or other public humiliation like pillories, etc.).
You seem to be more or less on this track already, so just take modern laws of your home town and replace jail/prison with slavery and impose steep fines and maybe humiliation (flogging etc.) and you're set.
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For the laws, remember that all rulers, regardless of their own alignment, strive to maintain law in their land. It's the only way to rule. Good rulers seek to contain (jail) and redeem (parole) criminals while evil rulers probably just kill them or enslave them and forget about redemption.
So the laws of your dark world might just be exactly like the laws of the real world where you live (it's illegal to steal, kill, rape, etc.). Whatever is illegal in your real life home town is probably illegal in your world.
But the punishments are probably very different. In most modern countries, punishment means incarceration, counseling, education, and eventually releasing back into society, except for the worst criminal offenders who are executed or serve life sentences. In your world, the rulers are probably not at all interested in counseling or education. Incarceration serves nobody unless that incarceration comes with hard labor (building things or providing resources that profit the leader or the country). That leaves death, or immediate profit by selling the criminals into slavery (sold to private owners for profit or kept by the state for slave labor). Somewhere in between for minor offenses would be indentured servitude (short-term slavery) and fines (probably accompanied by flogging or other public humiliation like pillories, etc.).
You seem to be more or less on this track already, so just take modern laws of your home town and replace jail/prison with slavery and impose steep fines and maybe humiliation (flogging etc.) and you're set.
Alright, other than Ravenloft, is there any material that might help flesh this campaign out a bit more? Also found a copy of Heroes of Horror