Lost Songs of the Nibelungs - OSR Role Playing Game of Germanic-Noir Tentacle Horror (another exorcism of ideas)

Let's start the new year with a crazy idea: throughout the year 2015 I - the Disoriented Ranger - will gather enough focus to conceptualize and write a role playing game [dramatic music ensues]. This is not a random idea, but haunting me for a month now and if I can't get it out of my system, I'll grow more beard and start pillaging along a coast or two ...

[Edit: Just decided that Lost Songs of the Nibelungs is a better title, so I'll go with that ...]

Origins and Concept

1. Charisma/Wyrd as foundation of a game

It all started with me reading an introduction to The Song of the Nibelungs and writing a post about it back in December (here). Other than changing Charisma to Wyrd (to better reflect a certain period, in this case mimicking etymological realities of the Dark Ages or ca. 500 a. D.) I did propose a house rule to reflect the Nibelungs dark fate in a D&D game:

A player may take any amount from his Wyrd score as a bonus to saves or to reduce damage he received. The only ways to regain those points are (1) plus 1d6 whenever a character gains a new level (up to the original maximum), (2) a wish and (3) a difficult quest for a divine entity. In all other regards it's treated as an ability score, so it might be subject to attacks that reduce it as a form of damage. If for some reason a character's Wyrd drops to zero, it can't be regenerated by any means from there on and the character will meet a tragic doom as soon as it's convenient for the DM (but within the same session).

Wyrd becomes a character's fate and works in all other aspects as Charisma would. It got me a bit excited to read that the mechanism described above manages to capture exactly how recorded history describes the motivations of the tribes that brought down the Roman Empire in the middle of the 5th century (quotable reference here).

In short (and to follow my winded logic how this connects): (A) to get followers a king-to-be not only needed treasure, he also needed to be a hero. Being a hero was defined by being lucky (fated, one might say) in the challenges he chose. A successful hero will attract followers and, ultimately, seen fit to be king (if he's generous with his treasure, too). (B) the brutal fate of the Burgunds described in the Song of the Nibelungs adds a dark twist to this idea in that being victorious comes with the ultimate price, discipleship leads to envy leads to betrayal ...

A Dark fate awaits them all [Public Domain and Art]

... which pretty much describes how Wyrd works (and incidentally what it means, too). A hero will sacrifice Wyrd to survive his challenges and gets followers (high ability score) or envy (low ability score) for it, with the danger of loosing it all big time (but go out in style).

2. Themes of the game (introducing tentacle horror and folk noir)

So far this is only a twist to what D&D can be like: Adventurer seeks fame and treasure to become hero, get a following and land to be finally a king among his people. Using the Dark Ages as a background, though, has some serious implications that are best formulated further to get a direction how to change D&D in order to reflect the atmosphere the game wants to evoke in the system first (terminology and mechanics).

The fall of the Roman Empire was a consequence of several barbaric tribes migrating further south, taking the Roman border by force and settling mostly where Romans already had established some infrastructure to form many small kingdom at war with each other.

They had their reasons to try and get what
the Romans had ... [picture is Public Domain and art]

Let's begin with how the Romans saw those barbarians. Caesar rather had built walls than dealing with those wild barbarians populating dark forests with, according to Caesar no less, had "unicorns and elks without joints"*. An elk without joints is now either something very stiff or (and this I prefer far more) a horror that resembles an elk in that it has fur and antlers, but has tentacles instead of bones.

Imagine such a creature roaring in a dark ur-forest. This is what I'd want in my game. Not only fierce nature, but nature transformed by dark magic. Well, that and everything else mythology might throw my way (Siegfried slayed a dragon, the Nibelungs may be considered some sort of dwarfen race, etc.). Add to this the decadent remnants of a now extinct Roman Empire, still clinging to old frivolities in shadows thick enough to hide them, often bound to sinister occult forces. The characters facing such evil would be hardboiled strangers in a dark and hostile country, surrounded by enemies but also the hope to make it and the legends of gold and fame to feed this hope.

The mood of  Lost Songs of the Nibelungs.

It's very much inspired by noir fiction. Here is a moody piece of music to illustrate the idea further (Era Escura by Faun):

Expect nature to be one of the biggest enemies in the game. Any creature that might have a chance to eat you, will most likely be at least twice as strong as it's D&D equivalent.

3. How it's D&D and how it's not

The system I have in mind owes a lot to the D&D I know (which amounts to HackMaster/AD&D 2E and the D&D Rules Cyclopedia). It will have 6 attributes that are based on the classic 3d6 in a row schtick and it will have saves (if somewhat altered). HD/Levels and armor class will have a home here, too. Basically I'll try and come up with something that's not too hard to convert to older editions of D&D. At least I'll keep lots of the DNA ...

... and change the rest (because it ain't no D&D no more). The first thing I'll do is change the terminology, somewhat like I did here and will end up (so far) with the following alterations:

Strength = Muscle

Dexterity = Finesse

Constitution = Grit

Intelligence = Spirit (?)

Wisdom = Nerve

Charisma = Wyrd 

Bonus = Edge

This way the game will sound very different and thus evoke a different feel than D&D (I'll go for a mix between hard-boiled vocabulary and Indo-Germanic roots, if that makes any sense at all).

Then I'll change that whole business with the classes and build a level-based point-buy system where an ability score is the main focus. Basically I'll invert the idea that certain classes focus on certain ability scores to if your main focus is on a certain ability score, you are good at certain things and with every new level you get points to buy traits associated with your main focus. 

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An example:

Everybody is equal at level 0 (like they do it in DCC, I guess). Same HP (1d8, rolled), same damage (1d6 plus Edge), etc.. When reaching level 1 the characters decide what their main ability score will be and get 1 point

(the level you reach is the points you get)

to buy a trait associated with that

(Muscle as the main focus would allow to buy a base damage of 1d8, Grit would allow to buy an 1d8 as HD per level, etc.)

and add their Grit to their initial HP (more hit points mean more hacking, so this will be gory).

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So the focus allows to buy several features that where associated with the class-system before, changing that focus between levels will basically allow customizing an individual hybrid-class that is the character (it's like multi-classing, but with the ability scores as the main source).

As in the examples above already illustrated, this game will be heavy on altering ability scores: you can use Wyrd to avoid death (with a twist) and you add Grit to your HP (Grit will function as a buffer: if you fall under zero HP, Grit will be reduced and the character is severely injured (this is where you get scars, etc.) and if Grit is reduced to zero, the character is dead). Same will be true for all the other ability scores. Nerve will reflect Sanity, Spirit will have to do with the occult (Mana?), stuff like that.

Ten will be the highest level. After that the adventurers are considered heroes and the game changes to domain-play (maybe a supplement? ... But I digress). Some of the house rules I wrote up on this blog will be part of Lost Songs of the Nibelungs (echoing dice, called shots, etc.).

There will be no Vancian Magic. But this couldn't be a surprise, either.

Additional Sources of Inspiration

Valhalla Rising

Die Nibelungen (movie by Fritz Lang, 5 hour epic and in the public domain, here is a link)

So this will be 2015 at The Disoriented Ranger

You can see, I already got the basic outlines of the game and (I guess) around 60 % of the rules. Combat will be a bit tricky, as will be initiative and magic (well, magic maybe not so much), but that's sort of the point. I want to see if I'm able to create a customized set of rules for a specific setting.

Layout, art, etc. are things I will find out in the next months.

The rest are ideas I'm chewing on since I started the blog. The Goblintribe-Simulator will get some love again, Settlements and regions will be built, cultures will rise and fall and I'll aim to get at least 120 posts out there this year. Also: the usual nonsense.

I wish all of you a successful year 2015. May the dice be on your side and the great DM in the sky full of bright ideas of what life will offer you :)

Also: Please draw some Petty Gods!

*I'm quoting here Herwig Wolfram's Das Reich und die Germanen (transl.: The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples), p. 69 of the German version.