Bonfire lit

>>>/v/

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>>54164087
You're a guy who tells anime posters talking about fantasy to go to /a/, huh?

>>54164045
And across from the bonfire you find a Ring of Regal Bones, disguising you as a skeleton as log as you wear it, but heavy attacks will cause knockdown. Friendly NPCs might try to attack you, but nonboss skeletons will not.

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>>54164045
[]Not lit
[]Lit
[]LIT
[X]ABSOLUTELY SICK

What is the point of this struggle? We continue on and on only to be harried by our hollowed forefathers. Would it not be best to continue our unlife without care? To leave our state of false hope? Truly our hollowed breathren are the most blessed among us.

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Good, you're gonna need it.

>>54167168
remove londor REMOVE LONDOR

DARKFAGS GET OUT

>>54167318
Gwyn did nothing wrong.

>>54167422
He did literally everything wrong. There was never supposed to be light, man was supposed to be one with the dark.

>>54167422
The Gods are pieces of shit

But the Dark is even worse. And Man is just trash.

Age of Fire is the least worst option. And that's depressing.

>>54167422
Gwyn is a piece of shit, the age of humanity is now old man

>>54167502
The problem wasn't the dark itself, it's that Gwyn fucked up so bad with his shitty paranoia and essentially domesticating humans with his backhanded bullshit, humans could no longer control the darkness within them. He basically broke the universe with his dumb faggotry and the beginning of the age of dark will be complete shit until either things settle and people relearn to be one with their dark soul or humans never relearn their own ancient arts and the dark age is complete shit from almost start to finish until something else comes to end the dark age.

>>54167557
Right. Which is why Pontiff Sulyvahn tried to use the Age of Deep stuff to lull man back to the dark.

>>54167503
I've seen your kind. Time and time again. Every fleeing man must be caught. Every secret must be unearthed. Such is the conceit of the self-proclaimed seeker of truth.

But in the end, you lack the stomach, for the agony that you'll bring upon yourself.

>>54167662
And you died alone in the snow. So take that and shove it.

>>54167662
Meh, doesn't make me any less right. Gwyn IS a piece of shit and humanity WAS supposed to take over. And judging by the ringed city dlc, the dark age wouldn't have been bad at all if not for Gwyn. He messed it up and made the universe goes all phyco

>>54167422
No matter how tender, how exquisite, a lie will remain a lie.

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>>54167557
Well it's too late now, let's keep the Fire burning.

If the Dark must go out of control, let's fucking make it GO THE FUCK OUT OF CONTROL

>>54167191
Is that Gantz or is that from somewhere else?

>>54167633
The bosses and stuff are OK, but the real shit you would want in a DS game isn't in there, like mechanics for the undead/bonfires.

>>54167191
>having trouble with Mildred

>There are undead out there who want to rekindle the flame
>There are undead out there who want the world to fall into darkness
>There are undead out there who DON'T want to become the next gods and usurp the fire
It gives my conniptions.

>>54167191

This is hentai isn't it

>>54167633

Delete this

>>54167921
Not the guy who posted it, but why? It's cool and this is still a /tg board. We should have some conversation about table top games.

>>54167900
yep

ShindoL, same guy who did that really depressing doujin about the tomoko-like girl who started slutting herself up for popularity and ends up whoring herself out, raped by her dad, addicted to drugs, pregnant and miscarries before dying out in the street

>>54167947
It's a meme. One from twitter

>>54167864
I'm pretty sure that at least the Ashen One is autistic.

>Fire is fading, oh shit, Ashen One wake the fuck up
>Every tells the Ashen One that he has to link the fire to stop the world from going to shit
>Ashen One stomps across half a godforsaken continent
>Kills all the greatest heroes of known history
>'Okay now light the flame'
>Proceeds to do absolutely nothing, sits in the Kiln with his waifu for an indeterminate amount of time as the flame goes out

Why even bother with all that other stuff?

>>54167485
>man was supposed to be one with the dark.

Dude, I've been to Ooacile so I know just how much the DARK SUCKS.

>>54167987
Abyss is to the dark as chaos is to the flame

>>54167975
Because you're basically becoming the Dark Lord of sorts when you just let the fire fade, like you do in Dark Souls 1. I.E, you still gotta be a tough motherfucker to ensure someone doesn't try to stomp your shit in and get those sparks cooking again.

>>54167975
To become strong enough to stop anyone else from lighting the flame, I guess? That or maybe the ashen one went from "buying into the whole thing" to "calling bullshit near the end" and just kind of giving up last minute. That or they just really wanted to fight strong shit, or they're just a massive troll and they're dead anyway so fuck it. Could be a number of reasons.

>>54167971
>memes aren't allowed on 4chan
>RPG supplements aren't allowed on /tg/

>>54168016
this, how do so many people not get this?

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>>54167987
Oolacile wasn't even before Gwyn did his fire extension trick I don't think. The fire was dying, sure and he was scrambling for a fix but he hadn't set himself on fire yet.
That's the Dark being normal. And likely so was New Londo.

Seriously how do we know the folks who tell us that the Dark is nice aren't just you know... Lying?
I look at Age of Fire peeps and they send, well.. human. They have their failings, they have their good points, and they don't want to die. I can respect that.

And then I look at the Dark and HOLY FUCK YOUR FACE!

>>54167975
There's a difference between putting the Flame out and letting it Fade.

Flame going out = Age of Dark, the Darksign dissolves because it's power source is gone, nobody hollows anymore, humanity is immortal and at home in the Dark because of their Dark Soul

Flame being lit = Continuation of Age of Fire (But diminishing returns are a bitch and the Age of Fire is mostly fucked by this point), Darksign continues to hollow people as it struggles to suppress the natural immortality of the Dark Soul

Flame Fading = Age of Ash, all creatures who possess the Dark Soul turn into Archtrees, life fades, death fades, light fades, dark fades, disparity fades, and the Age of Ash transitions into the Age of Ancients

Alternatively, the Flame Fades, but Slave Knight Gael kills literally fucking everyone and collects the Dark Soul into the most complete form it has been in since the Furtive Pygmy, then gets killed by a chucklefuck unkindled, who gives the Dark Soul to the Painter Loli.

Using the Dark Soul, and with the Fire faded, she creates a cold, dark and gentle Painted World which won't ever rot, arguably the only point of the series in which entropy does not inevitably conquer everything, an actual, completely permanent, haven.

Except the only way to get there is to have already lost everything.

>>54167987
The theory goes, the original dark soul, though small, could divide itself without losing power, as opposed to lord souls or twisted souls. The humanity item from the first game are dark soul copies. The Ringed City DLC introduces the idea adapting to the dark like Nashandra did in 2 was not only survivable, but enviable. Humans just somehow got weaker since their origin, a phenomenon some blame on reliance on fire.

>>54168070
shut up cuck

Did we ever find out why Gwyn looked around in the Age of Ancients and went "fuck dragons"?

>>54168122
Wouldn't EVERYBODY go hollow in the age of dark? I thought the point of linking the flame was to temporarily remove the undead curse.

>>54168179
Him and his friends had just gotten super powers and they decided that they didn't much like big lizards being in charge.

>>54168203
>>54168122
Nah nah nah, in the age of dark everyone turns into beef jerky, but that's the true natural state of humanity. Whether someone will go crazy or not still depends on how well they'll take the whole "the sun is gone and I'm a zombie" thing. You also might have to deal with shadow monsters and the Abyss but the implication is that humanity could deal with it.

>>54168222
So, they were the first murderhobos?

>>54168179
Because the HE could rule anon. I feel like whether you're for the age of fire or the age of dark (or the age of ancients, whatever), it's pretty much established the Gwyn is a huge piece of shit.

>>54168276
Yes, absolutely.

>>54168203
Being hollow is only a thing because Gwyn linked humanity to the age of fire. So when it wanes, we wane. Kind of a last ditch effort to keep the age of fire going, plus a bit of a fuck you to humanity in general.

>>54168203
No, because the undead curse isn't a curse. Humans are naturally immortal. They exist in an undead state because the Darksign is fueled by the Fire, and as the fire goes out the Darksign struggles more and more to burn away the Dark Soul of humanity. They regain their immortality but in a much lessened form, that of the Hollow. You need to actually die for the Darksign to activate, though. This is also why gaining humanity (Fragments of the Dark Soul) reverses the hollowing process.

If the Fire goes out completely, the Darksign dies with it, and humans gain their zero downside immortality.

Humans only die during the Age of Fire because the Darksign is operating at full power and burning the Dark Soul away without any issues as soon as a human dies. Without the Dark Soul, they can't come back, and are down for good.

>>54168276
yes, like 100% yes

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>muh Age of Dark
You fedora-tipping faggots would be the first to fucking die in the Darwinist shitopia Kaathe wanted to create.

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>>54168179
Ain't much of a fire that's content with just sitting there in the corner, never bothering anyone.

>>54167947

It's not good. I've wanted to like it and overlook it's inconsistencies but really comes off as a bad fan attempt to recreate a video game into tabletop. A lot of the math and wording just aren't clear and a lot of the bosses have absolute dick for saving throws. It really comes off as a single person attempt with no outside editing and you can see it suffers from that.

>>54168179
Because the world was fucking shit, there was nothing to do and nowhere to go because distance and time literally didn't exist.

>>54168348
says the faggot so afraid of a little dark age that he needs to hide behind his expired age of flame and cuck himself to a bunch of false gods that basically treat you like cattle.

As difficult as it may be to pull off a Dark Souls table top game that brings the mechanics of the games into proper form, I could totally see running a prequel Souls game just using 5e or any other general system.

In all the Souls games, we only see how things are after the world is fucked up and everyone is going hollow, but there are plenty of time periods in which humanity and society is on the rise because the fire is burning bright. Throw in the fact that there are a bunch of different rising and falling nations in Souls, and you could have a really nice prequel story going on where you and your players explore what one of these societies is like, and how they handled the fact that even though society might be strong, eventually, one day, everything's gonna go to shit.

>>54168377
then change it to better fit your needs. In my opinion, it does well for a fanwork, but if you don't like the crunch or the fluff to it then just change it up a bit. We all have our opinions though, so use what you want.

>>54168179
>>54168222
>>54168283
>dragons dindu nuffin
Civilization didn't arise until the dragons were slain. You meet two dragons in the entire series who aren't immediately hostile and one of then is a fake. This alternative character interpretation bullshit is so fucking stupid and willfully ignorant it's painful.

>>54164087
He's clearly talking about the boardgame.

>>54168400
From what I understand it, there's a dark souls board game that does extremely well, especially with it's boss fight system.

>>54168391
>basically treat you like cattle
You are asked to make the same sacrifice Gwyn did.

>>54168400
Right? One of the hallmarks of DS is the feeling of profound loss...yet, that feeling can be magnified if the player could actually experience living in the civilizations of the game at their peak. What wonders the player will feel, studying at the Vinheim Dragon School as they grasp the strands of arcana, of sharing drink and bread in the festhalls of Catarina with your comrades, of serving gloriously in battle with the Iron King's friend from the East... And then, to have everything fade away.

>>54168473
Yes, but that's more of a straight board game than it is a roleplaying game.

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>>54168455

>>54168455
Hey, I'm not saying the dragons were perfect, the world was literally stale with the dragons in charge. But that doesn't change the fact that Gwyn and his buddies just wanted to be calling the shots.

>>54168455
I'm not saying dragons are perfect and do nothing wrong, but come on man. You can't honestly tell me that Gwyn and the lords slew the dragons out of the goodness of their heart. And frankly, it's pretty understandable with the dragons being hostile to the mini men that look just like the fuckers that slaughtered them, especially when the ring city dlc confirmed that the humans did join in the war on the lords' side against the dragon.

>>54168519
what the fuck is that anatomy

>>54168455
Gwyn only started being a dickbag after that, yeah.

>>54168509
True but I'd like to see if I can translate the boss system into D&D or gurps, would be interesting to see.

>>54168507
It has a ton of potential. Hell, the players might die of old age before the Curse starts up again, but them going on these adventures and slowly realizing how all the amazing things they witness and experience will be reduced to ash one day, that'll hurt 'em.

>>54168295
>>54168341
>party in weird and interesting setting
>skeleton necromancer
>fire witch
>crystal dragon
>some kind of fire paladin thing
>party hears about everlasting dragons and instantly decides to kill them instead of fighting them
>DM has to bullshit some combat for them
>dragon knows their weakness "because I'm a dragon too!"
>lightning "well too bad the party doesn't have lightni-"
>"what do you mean you picked only lightning magic, you're a Lord of Fire!"
>"...Fucking fine, sure you kill the dragons, now what?"
>...
>"Okay there's a kingdom with blacksmiths and ordinary tolkeinesque stuff, sure"
>"Fuck it, you all get your own kingdoms, why not?!"
>"Let me just throw this Age of Ancients setting in the trash then, you shits"

>>54168497
They manipulate you into thinking your saving the world when in reality your being used like fuel for the flame to keep their rule going for a bit longer. Most of the gods didn't even have the balls to save their own age, they pushed it on the humans, the same race they screwed over multiple times and trick into worshiping them like gods.

>>54168587
Age of Ancients was garbage, the DM was a hack

>>54168568
Oh, totally. If you or someone else can take what works in the Dark Souls board game and transition it to a more roleplaying focused system, that would be fantastic.

>>54168587
Topkek

>>54167191
Only a half chub. Only a half chub. Also hallows don't have to eat so get that shit out of my face. Not canon.

>>54168625
I'm pretty shit at that kind of stuff, but I do want to try. If anyone else wants to do it too that would be great. It would have a lot of potential to be a really fun game.

>>54168614
No effort put in at all, fucker just made everything the same and put a shit ton of dragons and zombies everywhere.

>>54168625
>If you ... can take what works in the Dark Souls board game
That pretty much sums to "nothing".

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>>54168431
best girl (male)

This is more a complaint on the /v/ side of things than the /tg/ side of things, but I want to get /tg/'s views on this.

>Dark Souls 1
>Three main magic systems, normal magic, miracles, and pyromancy
>Magic is studying how souls work, so it is fueled by intelligence
>Miracles work on how strongly one believes in the power of the gods, so it is fueled by faith
>Pyromancy is an early form of magic used by swamp folk, so it grows strongly only based on how many souls are invested into it.

>Dark Souls 2 and 3
>Pyromancy, the old caveman magic, is fueled by both intelligence and faith

Dark magic fueled by intelligence and faith? Sure, I get that, you need to be both smart and crazy. But pyromancy? I can't dig it. Muh stats aren't fitting with muh lore.

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>>54168720
Agreed.

>>54168785
I think they did it for balance reasons, so that Strong melee characters couldn't ALSO have really good magic for pretty much no cost
Then again, It's not like they couldn't have tied it to some other stat, instead of just both

>>54168785
How much stronger did pyromancy actually get by increasing faith/intel in 2 and 3? Was it even a noticeable buff? I only used it in 1.

>>54168785
balance reasons, pyromancy in 1 was super powerful and you could make a build and be an excellent fighter as well as just as good a caster as the other two, plus max flame low level invades were incredibly brutal

>>54168785
It was a response to DaS1's issue of every single build having a pyromancy flame with black flame equipped.

Kinda screwed the pooch on the thematic side of things.

>>54168849
Pyro in 3 is great. Chaos Bed Vestiges trivialises everything by basically being a handheld nuclear missile.

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>Discussion of Dark Souls the video game is not off topic because a traditional game adaptation exists somewhere!
>YOU HATE FUUUUUUUUUUN!
By that logic, all of these IPs are also /tg/ related.

>>54168906
It is in the context of Monopoly. And if people discussed how to properly adapt those franchises into other forms of table top, then yes, discussion would be fine.

>>54168906
Star wars and Cthulhu are by virtue of having their own RPGs, although I don't think CoC sees much play anymore
I'm unsure about the one in the top row second from the right though

>>54168432


The problem is I can identify mechanically and thematically what looks good and what doesn't and therefore make whatever changes I need to as the DM. I don't believe in other people's ability to do the same and they'll take this at face value without realizing that the Berenike Knight has less AC then listed or that Ornstein is missing 40 hp or for some reason why the Bell Gargoyle does poison damage with its tail.

>>54168906
You roleplay as a wealthy developer buying property, building houses and hotels, while trying to economically crush your enemies in monopoly

>>54168881
Fluff wise, tying pyromancy to int and faith sucks, but crunch wise it definitely balances things out a bit without turning pyromancy into the complete shit sorcery was for most of the game.

>>54167965
didnt it have a happy ending though?

>>54168939
>It is in the context of Monopoly.
I see, at most, three replies discussing Dark Souls in the context of a tabletop game. The rest are discussing the video game.

>>54168906
Yes that would be true, I don't understand the issue here

>>54169028
When I post a thread on /tg/ about a video game, I am banned for "off topic" so that cannot be true.

>>54169096
Well, that's because you're being a cunt about it.

>>54169096
Well that sucks, but even if it isn't exactly table top game discussions, at least it's an actual discussion. /v/ can't have actual discussions for crap and when you bring up dark souls it always ends up turning into an autistic screeching match about which game is better than the other in the series. I feel like /tg/ can have one conversation where the table top games aren't completely the main focus and still talk about the fluff and lore and videogame mechanics without being penalized for it.

So /tg/, how would you make the respawning system of Dark Souls work in table top without it coming off as getting rid of all tension in game?

>>54169182
Force rolls on the madness table at certain hollowing levels.

One thing im curious about, is ds1 levelling.

As I understand it, humanity in the Age of Fire has a sort of doubled soul. We have the Dark Soul, our humanity. But we also have Fire Soul, the actual souls we use as currency. Possibly given by the Lords as a sort of leash, who can say.

But that thing is, we use our Fire souls for levelling. Not our Dark souls. We need the Dark to stay sane, sure. But you don't get significantly more powerful because of it, instead Fire grants us our strength.

>>54169182
Maybe a sanity meter, and/or penalizations on your character like reduced ?d? health and stat reductions. Die too many times within a certain period and it's a full hollow/game over, or you could make it so difficult that the name of the game is if the player can both complete the trial/dungeon and deal with all the dying and bullshittery. If he quits he hollows and the game ends. Make the death system work so if he dies he's sent back in time a bit in game so that he haves all his memories of the dungeon and item locations, so progress, but is still forced to redo certain areas.

>>54169182
Hit the players where it hurts. Their stats. Semi permanent stat damage strikes far more fear in the hearts of players then reduced HP or encounter failure brought on by death.

So every time the die, one of their stats takes a hit. Maybe its' random. Maybe it's the same stat. Maybe it's their highest stat.

The downside to this though is that you have to be careful to not induce a downwards feedback loop. In Darksouls even if you were as hallowed as you could get and only had a fraction of your max HP, gitting gud was always an answer to the problem. In some game systems it becomes more and more mathematically infeasible to defeat certain challenges with gimped stats.

>>54169271
rage quitting is instant hollow after next death, he can't make up for it because he lost the will to live and can't be allowed to regret and change it.

>>54169256
We don't have two separate souls. It's one soul with a mixture of both. The Dark Soul is what humanity truly is, while the Light Soul is what makes us normie humans. But when you're leveling up and sucking in that soul energy, it's just going to a single soul.

>>54167191
>Having problems with Mildred
Should have just backstabbed her.

>>54169287
Does that mean bailing on a session gets you a hit to your humanity, as you temporarily slipped and became more hollow?

>>54169304
I didn't mean two souls, sorry if I wasn't clear. But it has two clear parts.
Like a brain with two hemispheres.

>>54169325
You get penalized for it and take a hit to your humanity/sanity meter, but out of game it would be pretty shitty of you to penalize your friend if they actually had a good reason for it. So you can reduce the penalty depending on the situation, how much of a hit they take depends on the DM. Rage quitting isn't a valid excuse and you will hollow for it.

>>54169346
Ah, then yes, in a sense it is like that. I still believe you're feeding both parts in a singular mass so it's not like one part is doing more work than the other, but you are correct in that the human soul has multiple soul parts to it. Humans are weird in Souls.

>>54168989
No, Anon. No it didn't.

>>54168720

I reactively saved this and now I feel disgust at myself

>>54169397
you know the name of it, won't lie want to read it and see how fucked up it actually is.

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Would you include a Level Up Waifu in your Souls tabletop? I wouldn't.

Level Up Waifus make me feel too special for the tone the games are trying to set. I like how in Dark Souls 1, leveling up just felt like something any undead could do. There wasn't anything special about it, and as such there's nothing special about you. But when you have a pretty lady constantly reminding you of your quest and being the only one around who can fill you up with the souls you collected, it just goes against what I think makes Souls such a compelling setting. If my players want to feel like lowly undead, they would get the Souls 1 experience. Them getting buffer on soul juice is nothing special.

>>54169612
God no. I hated being tied to the emerald waifu. I wanted to actually explore instead of returning for Bear Seek Seek Lest.
It also killed any incentive to actually talk to her.

But I will insist on a Sweet Shalquoir. I want to pet the fluffy cat as she dryly comments on the wondrous decay of the world.

>>54167764
because DSIII was such a nice place.

>>54169674
Also noe I think about it, warping. It killed a lot of the necessity to master an area and unlock shortcuts.
Having to earn it was good. For one, it forbids level up waifus, as now you can't just nip back for a quick level up and back whenever you want. And two, it organically opened up the world as now you suddenly had more freedom to just fuck off and explore without worrying too much about getting back to the vendors.

>>54169612
>Game tells you right off the bat you're the chosen undead
>Everyone refers to you as such
>Giant snakeman who won't talk to anyone else but you because you're so special

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>>54169740
News flash, friendo.
Chosen Undead is a lie made up the Gods and Kingseeker Frampt in order to make the undead feel special as they fatten themselves up for the fire to keep the Gods in power. Plus,
you're only referred to as the Chosen Undead once you've actually rang the bells, which basically means "oh boy we finally got some good looking kindling, let's butter him/her up."

>>54169612
DaS1 DID have a maiden, but she was locked up and had her tongue cut out.
All the other games have a level up maiden too, DaS1 is the only one out of 5 games not to.

>>54169813
Is hard not to imagine that Kaathe is doing something similar with his Dark Lord spiel.

>>54169827
It's also regarded as the best.

>>54169827
Fire keepers keep the fire fueled and do help travelers, but they aren't the soul reason the player can level up at any bonfire anywhere. Fire keepers are linked to a specific fire that feeds on their humanity.

And yes, you're right, every other Souls game has a maiden. But that doesn't mean I gotta like 'em.

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>>54169857
Kaathe is totally fucking with you too, him and his snake friends totally have something to gain from the Dark coming. You're being lied to by both sides.

>>54169857
He is, you're not special at all, that's the point. By ringing the bells/beating the four kings, you've proven to the serpents that you're powerful enough to help them achieve their goals. There is no good or bad ending, no white or black. They're both manipulating you because they believe that they're in the right and that their way is the best way for the world to be saved. It's on you to read through their bullshit, figure out what's actually true, and make your own decision about which path is the right path to take.

>>54169813
>we wuz darklords an shit
Kaathefags pls go

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>>54170018
FRAMPTIES GET OUT
REEEEEEEEE

So, what happens to the chaos flame in the Age of Dark? It apparently doesn't need people to keep on killing themselves, it just keeps burning?
Never played ds3, no bully

>>54169827
And she's also the only firekeeper I gave a shit about!

>>54169857
>>54169869
Regardless of your opinion on the game/maiden, the fact is having a level-up girl definitely fits the setting more than not having one.
Though honestly this also comes down to your game's mechanics as well. The maidens existed in their games because there was a central hub where important merchants and facilities were located, while in DaS1, various characters were spread all over the place and stayed put.

>>54170079
Oooohh boy, have I got some lore for you.

Okay, remember demons? Well they're still around in Dark Souls 3, but they're not doing so hot anymore. The demons are a species are dying out because their chaos flame is also fading. The souls of demons are basically represented by an internal fire, and when that fire goes out, so do they. Dark Souls 3 alone just suggests that the demons are doomed, and they'll be extinct soon because of this. But the Ringed City DLC reveals that the demons actually rekindle their own chaos flame in the same way we've been doing for the first flame. It's a really sweet reveal, and Dark Souls 3 as a whole really makes the demons feel like a legitimate race,
not just mindless monsters.

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>>54169422
I have a lot more gwyndolins if youd like anon~

>>54170295
Serious lore question here, we know Gwyndolin was raised as a girl, but I don't think we ever got any idea over whether he considered himself a woman or not. Did he just get used to the androgynous look? Does he consider himself a woman? Which team is he batting for?

>>54168178
Nice argument.

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Man so much of me wants to throw these guys as a rival party against some PCs at some point. Though I would love for a group of players to play something like them and run them as an adventuring group as well. TFW you will never act as Gwyn sending your faithful knights on quests...

>>54170135
>the fact is having a level-up girl definitely fits the setting more than not having one.

Hardly. They bring too much focus to the hubs and they kill the atmosphere of "everybody is dead or dying and you are basically alone with few allies."

>>54170172
It makes me wonder if a an age of life/chaos is possible or possible anymore. You see new "factions", for lack of a better term, with the Profaned Flame and the Deep. If the chaos flame were to die, would that just kill off demons and the the primordial pyromancers linked to Izalith, or would pyromancy and Life/Chaos itself die? This game can really make you think man, I love it.
>>54170135
Game mechanic wise, I think making the maiden an optional add on to a table top game is a good compromise for people. You can either use the add on and have a maiden linked to you and therefor live as long as you do in terms of immortality, and either come back to her for soul leveling or have her follow you as a companion. If you don't want it, you can just take the player only maiden out and tack on leveling rules to the bonfires. In my personal opinion though, I probably wouldn't use maiden rules all that much, or possible ever. I'd want my game to have an overall depressive and draining feel. You want the players to feel like shit and somewhat lonely because that just makes their joy overall better when they take down huge bosses and beat tough areas. Having some npcs pop up every once in a while to alleviate that sense of melancholy is fine, great actually, I'd recommend having a few pop up once in a while. But you should also make it clear that they can and probably will die and make the fleeting hope all the more prevalent. With the maiden you can't get that. She'll always be that one person that's still around and a lot of players will end up holding on to that feeling and grow attached, becoming an emotional pillar of support they wouldn't normally have. That can be good when used right, but I personally wouldn't want to give them that, I want to give them an air of loneliness, not a friend that they know they'll never lose. And if I made the maiden an unlikable cunt, or the player will just feel a sense of resentment for her, which sucks

>>54170031
The right side Darkwraith really sells your post

>>54170371
>"everybody is dead or dying and you are basically alone with few allies."
How does the hub kill this at all? If anything, it reinforces that theme. The hub is the one place with your few allies, everything outside is dead and dying.

>>54170374
I know, Dark Souls lore is fantastic material to think over. I imagine that if the chaos flame does go out, and all the demons do die, we'll wind up with a problem similar to the Age of Dark, where even with the flame going completely out, someone still has the potential to relight it, or it might relight itself and start shit all over again. The Profaned Flame could very well be the sparks that start up chaos again should it ever completely go out.

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>>54170325

Wasn't there a ring in DS3, in his DS1 bossroom, that gave you the walking animations of the opposite sex? Coupled with the fact that he has breasts, we could say that he might have. Why have the ring, otherwise?

>>54170522
That's some good lore right there. I can dig it.

has anyone attempted to convert the spells/miracles/pyromancies/hexes into D&D spells at all? that's one of the huge things I'd like to do. That and the weapons/armor/shields/rings shit. I'd love to see if you could actually convert the stats from it as well into something that would work for tabletop. Everyone gets base stats and from there its all up to you to decide what you want to do sort of thing. Wish I knew of a system that could do that

>>54170325
he was sickly, but not really androgynous. He was raised as a women because of his affinity for moon magic, which is associated with women and usually used only be women. So Gwyn had him raised like a girl. He was even given a ring that makes him gender swapped, just like>>54170522 said
>>54170605
There's a couple of pdfs higher up in the thread that have a few spells converted to use.

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>>54170325
Based on Ds3 he had Yorshka call him brother which we can easily assume meant he considered himself male still but yeah he probably liked dick

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So Gwynevere and Seath.
Did they bang?

Yes Gwynevere ended up with Flame God Flann in the end, but did she ride the dragon?

>>54170629
Do you think the snakes had their own thing going on, or if they were just Gwyndolin's thick fleshy appendages?

Also do you think he talked to them while standing around in Gwyn's tomb?
>"Yes Ms Hissy, I'm sure that a suitable undead will arrive soon."
>"What's that Mr Slither? No, no I'm quite confident that our last visitor would have perished by now."
>"Sir Snek! For your loyal service, I declare a celebration in your name! Rats for everyone!"

>>54170710
how would you catch an eyeless dragon staring

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>>54170736
they're probably just his weird legs/illusions though.

>>54170710
Man, who DIDN'T ride the dragon? Such a dragon slut.

>>54170710
Honestly? probably not. The only reason people think gwynevere is the mom is because she's huge. But there isn't actually any proof or links whatsoever that actually connect seath and Gwynevere. It's more likely Pricilla was either an experiment or seath played with his captured maidens. Most likely both.

>>54170779
She could probably smell his spilling crystal spaghetti.

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I get that re-spawning at a bonfire is handy for the games but how does that work in lore? Do you just black out on death and wake up sometime later fine? What if you get dismembered or mulched by that fat bastards arse slam?

I'm fairly new with the series so I might have missed something or perhaps I'm over thinking things.

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>>54170710
Very much up in the air as while there is a strong chance Seath was the father to Priscilla I dont feel like there is strong enough evidence to say with certainty that Gwynevere was her mother. The basis of the argument is mostly that "Well gwynevere is big and so is priscilla so that must make her the mom" isnt very substantial
>>54170779
Now I just have the image in my head of seath sending his channelers to go discreetly look at Gwyneveres naked
>>54170736
Considering Gwyndolin had to use magic to move around and never went anywhere using the snakes I would like to think so

>>54170841
Your body basically disintegrates upon death, and your ashes reform sometime later by the bonfire. As for why enemies respawn, not counting hollows who also have a reason to come back in lore, you can chock it up to time shenanigans.

>>54170940
But then why do the special enemies not respawn? What keeps them dead?

>>54170803
>crystal spaghetti
thanks you faggot now I'm hungry for fantasy spaghetti

>>54170874
It also doesn't help that The good dragon duke was seen as a complete creep by everyone but Gwyn. Since forcing yourself on your king's daughter is probably a no go, and I don't exactly see seath being able to seduce Gwynevere when he doesn't even leave his Library, the chances of them having had a child together is slim at best.
>>54170841
pretty much what >>54170940 said about time shenanigans, they more or less straight up tell you time and relativity are weird as fuck so just chaulk it up to "time shenanigans" and move on or you just going to give yourself a headache trying to rationalize it.

>>54170874
...what's that image cropped from?

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Anyone have any headcanons that aren't super supported in the lore but you want to believe?

For me, I have a theory about the Maneaters.

>The Maneaters are a group of women who, as the name suggests, eat people.
>They live in the sewers and trap people in barrels to eat later.
>One such victim is Laurentius, whom you save before he can be eaten.
>The thing is, Laurentius is undead. Until he goes hollow and dies for good, he'd just come back if he was eaten.
>There are bonfires only a short distance away from where Laurentius was stored
>I think the Maneaters know that a great deal of the people they eat are going to be undead, and purposely built their base around bonfires so that after they eat someone, that person comes back at a bonfire, they can capture them again, and then eat them in a horrifying cannibal cycle.

>>54170975
Because you absorbed their soul and therefore their tether on to this world. Their immortality is gone and their respawing with it. With the normal enemies, you should just assume you killed the previous ones and that time shenanigins brought you back to a point to before you killed them, so they don't actually respawn, you just limitedly reset time in a certain area, but only for the creatures.

>>54170940
Whenever you sit at the bonfire you're "resting". As in you basically pass out/take a nap, and everything resurrects/more enemies appear in their places.

>>54170975
Easy answer, not counting time shenanigans is that most bosses and non-respawning enemies are not connected to the curse, and have no reason to come back if something kills them. As for hollowed characters who die and don't come back, there's a lot in the lore to suggest that there's a difference between a person with the curse who is just insane and keeps coming back, and a true hollow, who's so devoid of all hope and reason to live that they just go truly insane and die for good.

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>>54171029
>you will never be repeatedly eaten alive by Mildred
Fuck this gay ass earth...

>>54167965
She didn't die tho, go check your sources.

>>54171029
This isn't mine personally and even the creator has expressed this being his own personal head canon, But I like to think that Solaire, with you there to save him, either

a) linked the flame in his own world

or

b) linked the flame while the player chose the darklord path and worked with the serpents of Kathe to form the beginnings of a dark following that would wait and see while it develops and strike when the chances is there so that they could usurp and properly set in the Age of Dark rather than just letting the Flame fade and potentially still smoldering. The three sisters would later officially found the Sable Church. There would also be the potential chance that the original player character is the father to the girls, with Velka being the mother.

The second part is my own head canon, but there's a good chance it's probably untrue. I'll still stick to it till proven otherwise though.

>>54171123
>The Chosen Undead getting in bed with Velka and working directly with Kaathe to usurp the fire.
It sounds like cheesy fan fiction but I kinda love it.

>>54169813
I've always liked the idea of the Chosen Undead prophecy, because it's so vague that they can always cop out with

>Oh he failed after all? He wasn't the Chosen Undead after all~

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>>54171243
right?

>>54171255
Totally. Not enough fiction plays around with the chosen one trope in interesting ways, and Dark Souls really has fun messing with it.

>>54171255
>>54171294
Dark souls is the best at fucking with you and your ego, really gives me that despair that my secret inner gamer masochism thirsts for.

>>54168455
Most dragons you meet are instantly hostile because they're still angry about the full-fledged extinction war waged against them. I'd the the Everlasting Dragon was being a paragon of draconicity by not immediately pasting you when you stumbled upon its nest.

How would you feel if your DM were running you through a Dark Souls themed campaign with some buddies, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, a different group of people came in, sat down at the table, and played as invaders attacking your party, before leaving as soon as they won/were defeated?

>>54171489

Pissed off. It destroys the dm-player dynamic. I would quit the game.

>>54171489
That sounds hilarious.
>Covenant system when

>>54171489
So long as you clear it out in advance and add a mechanic that makes it possible to stop it or turn it around, I'd be all for it.

>>54171626
That sounds good. You could also add in invader npcs for the sake of the story and to keep your players on edge. But it would be a lot more fun to add in some player involvement.

>>54171626
>add a mechanic that makes it possible to stop it or turn it around

There is no way to stop it. invasions are triggered by consciously using a humanity. Don't want invasions? Don't buff with humanity.

>>54170031
But Kirk wasn't a Darkwraith, he was a servant of Chaos.

>>54171690
It could be a give and take system. Not using humanity keeps invaders away but always takes away potential summons and allies and you stats and health are somewhat penalized, meaning you'll never be as strong as you could be fully human. It also raises your death tolerance and makes it less likely to hollow because your humanity is "refreshed".

>>54169437
Henshin or Emergence.

>>54171811
thank ye kindly

>>54171757
He was known as a Darkwraith and used their ability.

It's likely he either was a Darkwraith who turned from their order with a stockpile of cracked Eye Orbs to become a Chaos Servant or somehow managed to snag a working Red Eye Orb.

>>54171113
Think you'll find she did, m8.

>>54170975
Eventually a hollow loses it's motivation to even move. The corpses you loot for shit aren't dead, they're just so beaten down by the curse they don't move anymore.

this is kind of demonstrated in DS3 where some of the corpses scream at you when you take their shinies, but don't do anything besides that.

>>54171901
That's actually pretty horrifying, I never even thought of it this way.

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>>54171895
I mean, if she's undead then she probably got better.

>>54171837
Don't thank me, anon. I haven't done you a favor.

>>54171901
Holy shit I never thought about it like that.

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>>54171901
>those corpses are really hollows
>the Undead really can never die
>it's going to get even worse for them eventually
>this is going to happen to you
Well that just made me feel a level of dread and fear I didn't expect.

don't give up , skeleton!

>>54171924
No one ever accused Dark souls of having a cheerful setting. Most of the background stuff you passed by and never questioned almost always have some fucked up/sad back story to them.
>>54172007
Well as long as you don't give up the will to live, you're good. Not as easy to do as it is to say though...

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>>54172007
>>this is going to happen to you
You can avoid going hollow if you have particular strength of will. This is why fucking Patches is still around, because his only goal in life is to get out ahead of every other motherfucker in this fucking pit, and fuck them if they don't like that.

If you have an indefinite life goal then you can keep going for however long you want as long as you don't lose resolve, it's when you complete your quest or lose hope that it gets you.

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Can I just give a shout out to the true best girl from Dark Souls 1?

>World is going to shit, everyone is zombies, everyone is going hollow.
>Moss Merchant gives zero fucks
>She's actually happy about being undead
>She gets to sell her moss and live forever and she digs it
>One of the first people to just accept hollowing with open arms, and in turn is immune to going completely hollow.
>It takes two more games for anyone else to really wise up and form a place like Londor where undead actually enjoy the curse

Also she's a weird and funny NPC merchant. How would you have cool merchants or NPCs in your Dark Souls table top?

>>54172097
>>54172029
You can stave it off.

But it is inevitable. There's literally no other ending available for one cursed by the Darksign. Resisting Hollowing is just resisting the Age of Dark. The scale is different, that's all it is.
We can stave it off. We can burn Humanity to resist the change, remain bright and full of life. But it all comes down, slowly, slowly. Until only Dark remains, and then you are nothing. Less than nothing, for you were once so much more.

>The Darksign brands the Undead. And in this land, the Undead are corralled and led to the north, where they are locked away, to await the end of the world... This is your fate.

>>54172285
tell that to patches

besides, the only reason hollowing is a thing is because of flame linking shenanigans. There may not be a cure but you can still get rid of the entire system but usurping the flame.

>>54172317
If maintaining a sense of purpose is all that's needed to avoid Hollowing, what the hell keeps Patches kicking all these millennia?

>>54172393
The joy of fucking people over.

>>54172393
The pure rush he gets off of trolling everyone. The only way patches is gonna hollow is that after everyone else is dead and he gets off his 20 minute high from being the one fucker to survive and "get a leg up" on the rest of existence, he'll realize there's no one he can con any more and hollow from pure depression.

Unbreakable Patches indeed

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One thing I feel doesn't really get attention is the fact that cats can be immortal in Souls via a sort of reincarnation.
And they can talk. That's just a thing that happens.

>>54172611
IIRC they're based on a Japanese myth. That's kind of the thing that makes Dark Souls work, it's a legit fusion of Eastern and Western mythology.

>>54167191
>actually having trouble against Mildred
Git Gud newb

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anyone else here feel that Bloodborne would adapt easier to a tabletop RPG context than Dark Souls would?

>>54172393
What's a better goal then "Fuck you all I want to survive"

>>54172796
Well yeah becuase theres a defined setting, lore, cool ass weapons and stats. Everything a normal player needs.

>>54168178
that's a meme

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>>54172841
true in most regards Bloodborne is definitely more straightforward than Dark Souls

>>54172796
Slightly, Dark Souls lore and mechanics are very much tied into each other, while the Bloodborne lore and mechanics, while connected, are more loose.

For example, we know plenty of hunters aren't just dying and coming back over and over again. That's just for a few hunters on important missions from their spooky overlords.