Dark Lords of Echo Deep
Creating the Dark Lords
Each player creates their Lord (a gender-neutral term here, a Lord can be a Lady if they wish).
Tests
D6, 4+ succeeds. On a contest, High wins it all, tie goes to defender.
Monstrous Type: Something akin to Class
- Warriors (Dragons, Minotaurs, Death Knights): Attacking deals 2 wounds on success, one on failure.
- Mages (Liches, Beholders, Priests): Test to perform magic without consequence, or with consequence on failure.
- Other: Name some weird ideas.
Burning Desire: What does your Lord desire more than anything. What holds them back?
Fear: What do you fear to lose? What secret weakness could be your undoing?
Domain: Describe the area you dwell in. How is it defended? Name a place within this domain that is important to you: a shrine, a library, a forge, a tower, etc. Why is it important?
Servants: Name a type of being that serves you. Why do they serve you? What do they eat? (Servants are organized into units, with each Lord commanding four units to start. Sacrifice 1 unit at start to gain an additional Lieutenant.)
Lieutenants: Name two lieutenants of yours. Why do they serve you? Describe them as you please, but give each lieutenant a "Title," which could be a character class and gives them +1 on rolls related to that title.
Relic: Name a relic you hold control over. What does it do? What is its limitation?
The Echo Deep
This is a nasty, dirty, wet hole in the ground with the ends of worms sticking out. It is also immense.
After each player has made their Lord and submitted them to the Referee, they should spend a moment describing 3 additional zones (not including their domain).
Each zone needs a resource (something that can be harnessed by a Lord, such as good metal, laborers, a ley line, etc) and a hazard.
E.G. Silverweb Mines: pure silver can be mined here, if you don't mind the threat of the horrible spiders.
The Referee then compiles the zones and domains into a secret map, and play begins. Make sure that each Lord's desire is present somewhere on the map, even within another Lord's lair.
Play
This is a Play-by-post game. Turns happen twice per week.
On a Lord's turn, they issue any commands to present units they wish, and take a pursuit. In-world, each turn is about a day. (Zones are large. A unit moving at full speed may usually cross two zones per day, but is obvious to other threats in those zones. Sneaking moves at 1/2 speed, but has a chance to go unnoticed.)
Pursuits: These can be anything within reason: studying a spell, training a promising lieutenant, building a new trap, investigating something personally, enchanting an object, etc. Some pursuits require Progress, gaining 2 progress per day with a successful test, or 1 on a failure. Simple pursuits can gain progress from units once you begin them. This requires a test from the unit unless they are particularly skilled in a relevant field.
Battle:
If a fight breaks out, each unit may roll a test to wound another unit. If a wounded unit takes a wound, they are slain. Actions occur simultaneously.
Units may instead choose to flee on a turn. They roll a test. On success, they escape before any attacks are made, on failure, they are attacked first.
If a Lord fights in a battle, they act as a unit, but can take an extra action related to their Monstrous Ability each turn.
Regaining Units
A wounded unit takes 2 days of rest to heal and regroup.
A slain unit is lost, and there's no guaranteed way to gain more. The best bet is finding ways to control the other denizens of the Echo Deep.
- On Undeath - Necromancy is often used to raise defeated enemies. Note that undead must be overseen by a lieutenant or Lord, cannot heal, and that dead bodies must be carried to a proper ritual site by a unit of equal size before being raised. The necromancer must perform the spells personally, and if the spell roll fails, the undead unit begins with a wound.
World Events
The Referee rolls for a few events each turn related to specific zones.
This can mean adventurers entering the dungeon, hazards activating, etc.
Play it by Ear
We're winging this and seeing how it goes. If we need fresh rules, we'll make them up and record them here.