D&D 5E Existentialist Sword and Sorcery

[Steampunkette]

@Steampunkette

This forumer did some interesting things for his sword-and-sorcery setting.

D&D 5E - Free 60+ page Guide to Sword & Sorcery for 5E D&D

The Player's Guide to the World of Xoth is a free PDF with more than 60 pages of sword and sorcery material for fifth edition that allows you to play in adventures inspired by the stories of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. Venture in the footsteps of Conan the Cimmerian, Satampra Zeiros...

www.enworld.org

[Xoth.Net Publishing] The Trials of Ngura, new sword and sorcery adventure module for 5E

The king is dead. All hail the king! The nomadic cattle-herding tribes of Shoma now meet at the Horns of Ngura to sacrifice gold and choose a new tribal king based on a series of ritual ordeals. Will you sneak into the temple of the Bull-God to steal its treasures, or will you participate as a...

www.enworld.org

They just went all in on the problematic issues of the genre and other trappings. It holds little interest for me.

 

[Alzrius]

@Steampunkette

This forumer did some interesting things for his sword-and-sorcery setting.

D&D 5E - Free 60+ page Guide to Sword & Sorcery for 5E D&D

The Player's Guide to the World of Xoth is a free PDF with more than 60 pages of sword and sorcery material for fifth edition that allows you to play in adventures inspired by the stories of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. Venture in the footsteps of Conan the Cimmerian, Satampra Zeiros...

www.enworld.org

[Xoth.Net Publishing] The Trials of Ngura, new sword and sorcery adventure module for 5E

The king is dead. All hail the king! The nomadic cattle-herding tribes of Shoma now meet at the Horns of Ngura to sacrifice gold and choose a new tribal king based on a series of ritual ordeals. Will you sneak into the temple of the Bull-God to steal its treasures, or will you participate as a...

www.enworld.org

Xoth is one of the best D&D-compatible sword and sorcery settings out there. I remember looking at the 3.5E and Pathfinder releases and being very impressed.

 

[Yaarel]

They just went all in on the problematic issues of the genre and other trappings. It holds little interest for me.

Heh, well, obviously, ignore those problematic parts.

Parts that I found interesting.

• Make a monster isolated, unique and monstrous, emphasizing its grotesqueness and oddity. [Especially near corruption.]

• Make combat lethal, and healing scarce.

• It is important to find ways to spend treasure.

• Here, subrace helps define where the character fits in within the process of corruption. This probably works better to rethink as a level 1 free feat. The categories describe increasing corruption.

• Savage
• Nomad
• "Civilized"
• "Enlightened"
• Decadent
• Degenerate

Obviously, these characterizations are ethnically problematic. But the idea of increasing political power inviting increasing corruption is relevant, and can be redone without alluding to ethnic groups. Indeed, any ethnic group can undergo this process. Meanwhile, a player character mechanically expresses this process.

 

[Remathilis]

Personal Opinion: I think Primeval Thule handles S&S far better than Dark Sun. PT feels like much of the classic pulp tropes modernized (though maybe not modernized enough) whereas Dark Sun always felt very edgelordy. If I was interested in exploring existentialist tropes, I think the setting with literal Elder Gods would be my choice.

 

[Steampunkette]

Personal Opinion: I think Primeval Thule handles S&S far better than Dark Sun. PT feels like much of the classic pulp tropes modernized (though maybe not modernized enough) whereas Dark Sun always felt very edgelordy. If I was interested in exploring existentialist tropes, I think the setting with literal Elder Gods would be my choice.

I'd never played it, but looking over some of the reviews? Coooool!

 

[BookTenTiger]

I've always loved the IDEA of adding in existentialism to D&D, but I've always had trouble actually implementing it.

Because D&D characters gain new levels and abilities that continue to define, rather than redefine, who they are, change seems to be more about scaling than, well, change!

I wonder if there is something that could be added to, say, leveling up, or downtime activities that would introduce some systems to help players put their characters through existential changes?

 

[Yora]

I think it's mostly about asserting yourself both in the world that surrounds you, and towards your own preconceptions of what you should be.
An affirmation that whatever you are is valid, even when it does not live up to social expectations.

 

[Steampunkette]

I've always loved the IDEA of adding in existentialism to D&D, but I've always had trouble actually implementing it.

Because D&D characters gain new levels and abilities that continue to define, rather than redefine, who they are, change seems to be more about scaling than, well, change!

I wonder if there is something that could be added to, say, leveling up, or downtime activities that would introduce some systems to help players put their characters through existential changes?

Alignment is that. To some degree.

But you could instead give people specific identity titles. Like "The Barbarian" or "The Destroyer" as appellations given to them by the populace based on what they're like. Let the player choose one at level 1 and see if they hold onto it.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Or stick tongue firmly in cheek and embrace the camp. Scantily clad bad guys and swarthy victims can be fun!

Or embrace the camp with scantily clad good guys and swarthy heroes.

 

[Yora]

When I look at 60s and 70s fantasy art, particularly in the Sword & Sorcery style, I often think "I'm not sure what these painters are, but they certainly ain't straight!"