The Fates of Men

What path has been set for your souls? Roll below:

1. Destined to die. Roll on the deaths table
2. Destined to do. Roll on the quest table
3. Undestined. Fateless. Any high, any low, anything may befall you. Tread carefully.

Death shall come for you:

1. By the Sword
2. From the Sky
3. In the Cold
4. On the Water
5. By your Child
6. On a Flame

Disadvantage on death saving throws made when under the rolled circumstances. Cannot die otherwise. The disadvantage only counts if you are actively avoiding your rolled circumstances. A pirate with a waterborne death won't incur any disadvantage. If you have done something drastic to avoid this death (e.g. tried kill your kid), when the circumstances arrive, it's instant death.

Let it be known that this child shall:

1. build a great kingdom/marry a beautiful prince(ss)/gain fame and glory in the land of ____
2. find secrets lost to time/learn an undeniable truth/have great wisdom and understanding
3. wage war and win/fight the enemy of his time/bring honor to his family 
4. bring peace that shall last until the end of time
5. achieve greatness if they sacrifice/honor/do ____. roll a d4 on this table to see what greatness they will achieve.
6. Fail when most needed. Roll a d4 on this table to see what they shall fail to do.

This character cannot die before their fate is completed. They automatically succeed at rolls that advance their fate, though this is at the DM's discretion. If their fate is ignored for a year, a great personal tragedy befalls them. If no tragedy can befall them, they take disadvantage on all rolls that clearly don't advance their fate, And they die as soon as possible after their fate is completed. Also, if 6 is rolled, treat it as if they had rolled 1-4 except at the end they fail. This means you have to Try to fulfill a destiny you know you will fail on. Sucks for you, but if you do well you might live.

Application

Players get to choose if they have a destiny, or it can be rolled randomly with a d4 (treat results of 4 as a 3). Beyond the choice of if they have a destiny, they have no control over what their destiny is. Think of it as a choice of going to the oracle or not. The DM may roll for their destiny, or may choose it at their discretion. Also, the DM may make it as specific or vague as they want. 

I would recommend 0-2 fated characters if you have 3 or more people in you party. At three people, 1-2. At 2 people, both of them probably should be fated. A 1 person party should definitely be fated. The reason for this is that beyond three fates, it gets hard to juggle all the quests, and with a smaller number of people, fates keep those people important and makes for a better story (can I say that and still be OSR? Am I a Heretic? Yes). If you play with one or two people, and one of them gets killed, then you basically/literally have a whole new party. Fating those characters keeps the story moving and gives more reason that they keep adventuring if one of the two of them dies.  Though, in those cases, you should probably allow the players to roll or decide their fates.

Also, if you want to use this with that death fight system I made a while back (which, fyi, I just read for the first time in a year and it's actually really good? Like, the writing sounds like English is my second language, but over all it might be one of my best works. I don't know, analyzing yourself is a bit hard), Death is aware of the fates of the characters and will react accordingly (e.g. he won't actually attack if the fate has yet to be accomplished, he reminds the characters to get on with their quests, etc.). Death is twice as strong when the death fate is upon you (with the exception stated above). If you trigger an insta-kill, death is twice as strong, uses can rend body and soul as a multi-attack, and probably has a sick fucking sword.

Also, if you use something that changes the soul (besides replacing a soul lost to death), truename, or use some fate destruction thing like fate-fire (have I written about this yet? it's in my drafts), your fate is changed or destroyed accordingly.

Note

Somehow I have different rule systems for Fates, Horoscopes, and Prophecies? Ask me about those if you want. I'm super open to requests.

What did I promise a dark god for unlimited power?

When simple exchanges of wealth, blood, or favors are not enough for the power you seek, and a higher cost is required, roll here.

What does the dark god want? (2d6)

2.Your Eyes. Perhaps the god thought they were beautiful, or perhaps he could not himself see. Now, you cannot see, whether in light or through deception.

3.Your Memory. Information is always important to a god. Now, you cannot remember the past, even events that just happened. In addition, no one remembers you.

4.Your Dreams. They have always amazed the gods, or perhaps disgusted them. The night is a black void, the day is empty and purposeless.

5.Your Freedom. You have been deemed to useful to let roam unbound. Your actions are only those sanctioned by them, and you must follow their commands.

6.Your Sanity. You weren't worth the effort, or perhaps you were, and they allowed you to view them in their glory. Now you serve them freely.

7.Your Soul. Nothing has happened. Yet.

8.Your Life. A gift for another, or for themselves. You are doomed to die early, and so is everything you touch

9.Your Love. Fascinating, disgusting love. Perhaps they even wanted it. They left none for any others.

10.Your Hopes. They revealed something all to real. Your future is empty, and you are far too afraid to change that.

11.Your Voice. Soothing and silver-tongued, or knowing of an ancient secret that must not be spoken. Now, no one listens, and your words are empty noise when they come out at all.

12.Your Face. They envied your identity and influence, and gave it to another. You are blank and featureless, completely anonymous, while another acts as though they were you.

Not all gods can provide what they promise, and especially kind gods won't accept so high a cost.

What the fuck is the Sun?

THE SUN

Officially, there are no sun cults on the great sea. The sun is not a god, certainly. It must be something, though.

Roll until sufficiently weird (d10)

1. It is the Spouse of one of the three goddesses, or maybe all of them.
2. It is the last Couatl Egg, and when it hatches it will bring peace to the world (or destroy it).
3. It's the Fifth Tower.
4. It's the invention of a wizard (whether invention means lie or creation is up for interpretation).
5. It travels deep into the earth every day.
6. It is the eternal battle of two archons of the earth.
7. It is the embodiment of the concept of truth.
8. It's what happens if you break one hundred oaths at once.
9. It's a ball of fusing hydrogen. What's hydrogen? Nobody knows, but it's in the Sun.
10. It's a god.

Excerpts from The Five Towers Codex*, as compiled by Sophos the Stylite

One of my players, I think. He probably read this book.

1. "Between the three souls of body and the four souls of spirit lies a sinew of considerable strength. This being the appendage which death, with sickle or sword, cuts. By gode or evil, this sinew may be made strong to refuse release even as the body decayes. As the bodey, the sinew must be fattened to keep strength, but the gall of bodey cannot flow. Thys being the reason few of gode faith live in rot, while many of evil eat men and souls."
2. A Symbol of Rite is known, which may lock the towers to the spirit. On [missing]... living man, this may lock the fifth tower. It is said that it is made out of herbs and gild when paint'd on the man or corpse.
3. Men claime two of towers are truly oubillets, but men have not seen the [missing]... truly towers which reach to helle. Of the fifth some say it spans sidelong, while others say it goes heartwise.
4. On the fourth floor of the fourth tower [missing]... great trysure and witchery.
5. Of gostly and bone frights, little thought is to be given. Many weak souls can not bring forth a bodey. They are of nature as shep or rams, much the same as the least being of elyments. They remain as souls who are weak to climb.

*It should be understood that The Five Towers Codex is not the Gaian holy text The Five Towers, but rather a commentary on it studied mostly by wizards, poets, and weird priests. The Five Towers simply details burial rites and prayers, and surprisingly says little of it's titular towers. The most it says goes along the lines of Take five keys and enter five towers, or lay here longer as long as the sun shines (When a copy of the text is found, I shall add this line in the original high gaian). It is generally accepted that two towers go to heaven, and two go to hell. Great theological debate surrounds the fifth tower, along with its destination.

All magicians are logicians

Hyper Incomplete High Concept

All the players are wizards. The setting is modern day. Each wizard has one axiom, of the form All Subject is Predicate or No Subject is Predicate. Subject and Predicate can be anything the player wants. Players can do anything a normal human can. Players can also Conclude and Justify their axioms. Concluding an axiom allows you to enforce the consequences of that axiom. Justifying an axiom allows you to enforce the cause of that axiom. An example: John has the axiom All Cats are Hairless Felines. John, if he encounters a cat (which is, of course, hairless), can Conclude from his axiom that cats would die in the winter of a  temperate location, and thus cannot exist here, at his home on the east coast, during January (the high formal logic version is All cats are Hairless Felines. No Hairless Felines are Winter Winter Adapted Felines. Therefore,  No Cats are Winter Adapted Felines). Alternatively, by expending far more power, John can Justify his axiom, backtracking along a foreign line of logic. Perhaps Cats are Hairless because a Cat (and, by association, all felines) is a kind of octopus (formally: All Octopeople are Hairless. All Cats are Octopeople. Therefore, all Cats are Hairless). How much power is expended whenever you use either ability depends on how many formal logic steps it takes to get to the final result.

Memes? In MY blogposts? Its more likely than you think.

Variations

• Mother Necessity: Wizards only have one part of their axiom (S or P) until they decide to use their axiom, after which it becomes unchangeable. 
• Nobilis Rip-off: No limit on how much axioms can be used.
• Define Subject: Each wizard has the same subject for their axiom. No contradictions.
• Informally: Power expended depends on how long it takes to convince the DM
• Principle Explosion: Wizards can take two axioms. Contradictory axioms are encouraged.
• Modernity: Wizards can use imaginary things as part of their axiom.
• Fuck Plato: All of the above

Fairies

They say (2d6):

2. They are Cruel. Child-Thieves and men killers. There is nothing good among them.
3. They are Tricky. Life is a game, or maybe a joke. You are the punchline.
4. They are Magic. Nothing truly makes much sense when they put their minds to things.
5. They are Old. They were around before you, and they'll be around after.
6. They are Lies. They don't exist. Don't listen to everyone else.
7. They are Complicated. Roll Twice.
8. They are Real. They exist. Don't listen to everyone else.
9. They are Young. Younger than a newborn, younger than the morning.
10. They are Mad. Everything makes so much sense when they put their mind to it.
11. They are Haughty. You are beneath them. They won't even acknowledge you killing them
12. They are Kind. Friends of orphans and widows. Good things flow from them like wine.
Evidently, they say a lot of things.

A Vernal World

Unrelated?

Design Philosophy

Lot's of OSR bloggers talk about the feel of most RPGs in a certain way. They call it An Aesthetic of Ruin or something and use words like autumnal, entropic, and bygone. Everything in their worlds is winding down. The empires are destroyed, technology has been lost, something, something, ravages of time. It's where all their dungeons and treasure and monsters come from. It's all very elegant.

Unrelated??

I, however, favor a vernal world. My worlds are new, or at the start of a cycle. The world is growing, and is growing kind. Before there was dark times, but now there is a season where people are working to make the ground soft and the rain warm.

Related????

I shall stop waxing poetic and tell you now how I try to run worlds striving towards the sun.

Let the players Make Things

The seeds the players sow should grow, even when unattended. When the players help an npc, that help will help the NPC in the future as well. If the players help a town, that town grows from their assistance. If they build a stronghold, that stronghold shouldn't devolve into chaos when they leave. Things should grow, not wither. These will be the great cities of summer.

Make the World Open Up

The snow melts and reveals things from another age. The flowers open to be enjoyed. It may take time, and it may take work. A prophecy might come to light, or a lost land might be found. Maybe it is smaller than that, like on a village scale. It's a season of discovery.

It may start Dark as Autumn

The end of autumn and the start of spring have the same sunlight. Make the players work for the dawn, sometimes, or maybe wait for it. Things can start hostile. Things can start hopeless. Maybe you choose to start in the middle of spring too. That's fine if you just want to see things grow already.

Here is Found Great Struggles

What is spring if not thunderous? The mythic battles of later ages will be fought now and will nourish the heroes of summer.

Closing thoughts

I lied when I said I would stop waxing poetic. Here's this: The world can grow and that can be just as interesting as the world dying. Let your players grow empires, learn, and strive sometimes. To fight a losing battle against darkness and decay in a world of evil and greed sometimes just isn't fun. To write a bit pretentiously one more time: Things run in a cycle, and when it has been autumn and winter so long, it must run to spring.

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