An OSR for the heathen — who are the characters?

Game Design Log #11

Jul 03, 2024

Before I release this game to the wild (~~No peace for the heathen~~), I want to show you what kind of characters you could play in it, and what style they have in the art I'm making for the game (which I'm still deciding whether to change or keep it as is).

In the descriptions of the different types of characters (yes, you could call them “classes”), this is how I organized things:

In italic is the background of the characters.
Inside the code-boxes are the parts of the character that have direct effects on the mechanics of the game (this is an OSR game with six stats → Strong, Resilient, Agile, Sneaky, Imposing, Observant).
The last part, in normal text, is a list of initial “quests”, or the things the characters believe they have to accomplish to find Isla Chica, which is the big quest that propels characters forwards.

This is the idea of the game, just to remind you. This is from the previous post.

So without further delay, let’s see who you could be in this game…

Half-Ivunvhe

You are half human, half aberration. You were kidnapped as a newborn by the witchcraft order “La Mayoría” to be bred into an Ivunche; a legendary creature protector of the caves of witches, magically mutated, of extreme force, resistance and fury, with one of their legs bent and tied to their neck from behind.

You were rescued by a free witch and grew to become a titan between humans, taller and stronger. Because of the magic that mutated you, you lost one of your legs, which has been replaced by a beautiful wooden carved prosthetic made by the witch that rescued you.

You are unable to use magic, and you are immune to it.

Your compulsions are: Violence or Fear.

You are better at being: Strong (+3), Resilient (+3)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica:

Rescue a newborn from being an Ivunche to clear your debt with fate.
Kill the ones that kidnapped you when you were a newborn.
Find a worthy place of power to bury your adoptive mother's ashes.

What one more thing do you believe do you have to accomplish?

Orphan of the sea

You are a child of the sea, a sumpall. There was a time when you swam in her embrace, breathing from her, and feeding on her tempestuous might. You were royalty among the beings of nature. But madmen from the north hunted away the ones like you. You stayed behind, strand on the shore. You lost your scales and your tail became two long legs. You have a faint memory of happiness and power. You desire the sea, and you have tried to be embraced by her more than once. But the fear of death was more powerful, and you broke her surface to return to the island. Now everything seems like a dream from a previous life.

If you sing, your voice is like a spell. You singing makes people be in a dream like state.

Your compulsions are: Lust or Dominance.

You are better at being: Imposing (+1), Sneaky (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica:

Learn the name of the place where your people escape to.
Build a ship with the name of this place and give it to someone who has lost their home.
Burn a ship of fishermen and take pieces of their bodies to be buried beneath dry earth, so their spirits linger between land and sea, in eternal sorrow, without belonging to neither.

What one more thing do you believe do you have to accomplish?

Ash revenant

Your family was burned to dead by one of the many groups of conquistadors that have arrived from the north. You don't remember which king or which god they were serving. Every year is someone new, some new flag that had come to replace the previous one. For you, all of them are just the same. You are alive by something that some call a miracle, but you know it to be a curse. You woke up from the ashes of your town. Your body healed from the burns. The memory of the pain as a white high pitch light in your mind. Your eyes and hair are gray as ash. Your blood is pumped by a ravenous desire for vengeance.

You are immune to pain and your flesh can’t be burnt.

Your compulsions are: Cruelty or Martyrism.

You are better at being: Resilient (+1), Agile (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica:

Kill someone important to the conquistadors.
Burn to the ground one of the conquistadors towns.
Engrave the names of your family in the walls of the first conquistador fortification with the blood of one of their generals.

What one more thing do you believe do you have to accomplish?

Stranded pirate

You were a king of the seas. You sold your people for a bigger and faster ship. You made deals with conquistadors, and you were cursed by the seas for this betrayal. You can’t sleep because when you close your eyes, you see the faces of the ones you betrayed.

You are immortal, and when killed, your body evaporates, reaping naked in the last please where you pissed. But seawater burns your body and if you are killed at sea, you will be gone for good.

Your compulsions are: Greed or Pride.

You are better at being: Sneaky (+1), Observant (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica:

Trick and scam those conquistadors with whom you made deals.
Use the treasure from the conquistadors to forge enough weapons for a small rebel army.
Free from slavery the child of those you betrayed.

What one more thing do you believe do you have to accomplish?

Exiled Witch

You were a witch from “La Mayoria”. Hungry for power and knowledge, you revealed your book of flesh to an Inquisitor for the promise of an old scroll from his lands. He assured you that it concealed secrets beyond the grasp of “La Mayoria”. You sold the secrets of witchcraft for this promised power.

But he broke his promise, and he killed as many witches as he could. He hanged them in front of the cathedral of his town, using the book of flesh you gave to him as proof of their wickedness.

You know magic, and you have learned the six secrets of “La mayoria”, but you are a pariah between the witches of your land, a traitor.

Your compulsions are: Cowardice or Curiosity.

You are better at being: Imposing (+1), Observant (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica:

Recover the book of flesh you gave to the Inquisitor.
Kill the Inquisitor with whom you made the deal.
Recover the bones of the witches that were killed because of you, and return them to the Underbelly.

What one more thing do you believe do you have to accomplish?

Mutilated Artisan

You were a master artisan, an artist. Conquistador enslaved you to build a giant idol in the name of their man-king-god. You refused, and so they cut off your hands. You were thrown like a rag of death into some common pit. But you were not dead. You built two weapons to replace your hands. You became a weapon forged by their cruelty.

Your hands are weapons that do damage like short swords. They are your hands, not something you carry. You know how to forge and repair your weapons.

Your compulsions are: Vengeance or Superstition.

You are better at being: Sneaky (+3).

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica:

Burn one revered idol of the man-king-god.
Craft one last beautiful and meaningful thing.
Cut the hands of those that cut yours.

What one more thing do you believe do you have to accomplish?

These are the character of this game that supposed to be a fast short project, but well, I'm having fun while writing it, so I will enjoy myself.

I'd love to know your opinion about the game and its characters/classes, and if they make you curious enough to play as them.

Would you like to take on their roles, their pain, and explore this dark and magical world of theirs? (of their world I'll tell you a bit more in a next post).

Now, here they are, some illustrations!

Illustration sneak peek (in progress? ready?)

Knitted Bones

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