D&D General Recommendations for a "Witcher" style campaign

[der_kluge]

I'm toying with the idea of constructing a campaign around something with the feel of the Witcher. Specifically Velen. For people who aren't familiar, Velen is basically a despicable swampy land, where the people live in constant fear of monsters, abject poverty, hunger, corruption, bandits, disease, and just plain terribleness. In other words: a perfect place to adventure in!

Of course, given that most D&D modules are kind of "heroic" (and less depraved), most don't really fit this kind of mindset. I'd like to stick with 5th edition as my ruleset, but any edition or variant of D&D could be applicable here, since this seems to be the purview of old school, OSR, or other variant systems. They would be easy enough to convert, or adapt, anyway.

I am somewhat concerned, however, that even if I found the perfect module, or set of modules, that the tone would completely change once the party gets up in levels (probably around level 5), when the feel of it might change. So, I'd be interested in ideas around how to deal with that. I know there are a lot of variant rules, or rules adaptations that might be applicable there. So, also interested in hearing thoughts on that aspect as well.

 

[GlassJaw]

I love the feel and tone of the Witcher. Honestly, I like my campaigns to trend that direction.

It's the classic "points of light" campaign. The world is scary and brutal with small "safe" zones interspersed.

You have two options for running dark & gritty setting: with "fluff" or rules. With fluff only, you don't change any rules; you instead describe and show the players how the world works: food is scarce, as are medical supplies, metal, weapons, etc. People are hesitant to trust and safety is not guaranteed. Magic is feared. Ravenloft and Thule are good examples here.

You can greatly limit the number of adventures, especially spellcasters, in the world. The PCs will be the rare excection, like The Witcher. When he walks into a town, it's an event. If the common folk learn that PCs can cast spells, they will be revered or feared, both of which will come with their complications. You can also limit certain spells that are available without changing any rules.

Using rules reinforces the grittiness of a setting: survival mechanics, tracking food, disease, light sources, fear, lifestyle, etc - but you can easily go down the rabbit hole.

Sources like AiME and Darker Dungeons are good starting points.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Here's a little trick I use in my campaign which started with a grim and gritty setting the characters are slowly making better:

For each location in my setting, I came up with six or so random encounters that focus on aesthetics, NPC's, or investigations tied to the evil happening there. For example, in one area all the peasants raise these giant pigs which they bleed out in order to appease their vampire lord, hoping he won't take one of them instead. The random encounters from that area are going to focus on NPC's who are frightened of the vampire, scenes of the pigs being raised or slaughtered, graves of those who fell to the vampire, etc.

As the characters go about making the world better, I slowly replace these negative random encounters with positive ones. Once they slay the vampire, I now have six random encounters that might be thankful NPC's, a pig farmer bringing his live pigs to market, a family finally able to grieve the vampiric death of their loved one, etc.

It reinforces that the world starts off terrible and slowly gets better through random encounters!

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

1) I would make a huge emphasis on language proficiencies and literacy. Forcing your players to hunt down someone able to translate from X language to another would enforce the themes of isolation and the ''backwater'' feel of most of the Witcher's villages. I would treat languages as skills: proficiency gives you the ability to speak a language, Expertise allows to read and write said language. PC with a number of language proficiencies equal to their INT mod. If you already have proficiency in a language, you can spend one of those bonus to gain Expertise in a language.

2) Use lots of downtime to allow carousing and preparing for upcoming fights. Try to avoid ''random encounters'' easily dispatched and use more foreseeable fights that requires preparations. Traps, potions, rituals, henchmen etc should be a must for the players before facing their foes.

3) Use more barter and less coins. Villagers arent keeping 300 gp in their pockets an even the richest merchant wont pay 250 000 gp for your magic swords.

 

[TwiceBorn2]

Might this do? Should be releasing in 2021 (hopefully)...

D&D 5E - Midnight: Legacy of Darkness announced at GenCon Online

After more than a decade out of print, the "what if Sauron won" 3E setting Midnight is coming back in 2021 for 5E as Midnight: Legacy of Darkness, Edge Entertainment announced Thursday, July 30, at GenCon Online: In its heyday, Midnight was one of the biggest RPG successes in Fantasy Flight's...

www.enworld.org

 

[Scott Christian]

The DM's Guide has some good details for gritty. You can also purchase The Witcher roleplaying game. The ruleset is clunky and almost not functional, but it will give you several ideas on character development, potions, etc. It might also give you an idea for creating classes that suit the setting. Lastly, I am not sure if there is one, but a campaign setting book would be a boon, even if it was just for NPCs.

I really like the setting; the limited creatures make them stand out, the cultures are distinct and the way magic is done is interesting. Good luck! Keep us informed how it goes.

 

[IndigoTraveler]

Let's not forget: if your gonna have Witcher type characters that hunt monsters, you have the Blood Hunter and the Ranger as part of the default class selections. Xanathars Guide even has a Monster Slayer subclass for the ranger. (I would also say allow the UA version of it, which is known as Monster Hunter, as an option too since it gains four Superiority Die as well and some options to spend them on.)

The Innistrad Planeshift article has an Inquisitor background too.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

You want Shadow of the Demon Lord.

 

[moriantumr]

Vaesen does not fit many of your criteria, but has some great ideas and mechanics based around dealing with folklore and mythical beasts. It may be worth checking out if only to give you a reference on how a system designed around dark mythic folklore approaches the subject.

 

[Scott Christian]

Yeah, you are going to be hard pressed to fit a lot of the characters into a typical D&D class. They swell up with power when the character has none (Dandelion) or are way too weak without offsetting a bunch of levels (Yennifer).

Personally, I would just try giving the TTRPG a shot. I know the OP said he didn't want to, but that is the best bet. My critic of it really means little, since another group might play it and find the ruleset to run smoothly.

One thing I would add, it I would increase the creatures being fought substantially (except for drowners and such). Increase the CRs of griffins, giants, etc. Then you can tone down the number of encounters, but make them count.