Demonata

In my childhood I was not always an active reader. That changed drastically around the time that I discovered the works of Darren Shan, an Irish author of horror novels. I got through each book of the Cirque du Freak series and each book of the Demonata series in a book-a-day layout, borderline devouring the pages upon finally finding something that really clicked with me. Throughout my time attempting (and failing) to write prose and as a tabletop game player, Shan's novels have definitively influenced both my creative works and me as a person.

It's therefore kind of a surprise to me that I haven't incorporated much of his worldbuilding into any games. Let's change that.

I'm going to preface this by saying that, as a primarily D&D player, I do not think this system is the best one for capturing the tone and feel of either the Demonata series or the Cirque du Freak series. D&D is a game of heroism, epic feats, and increasing in personal power. These do come into play in Shan's books as well, but rarely to the extent that D&D will give you. The characters are constantly against odds that cannot be fought head on, which eventually, inevitably, becomes the case in many D&D games.

There are ways to get around this- rule modifications, tone, level caps- but I would still recommend people consider other game systems for running games in Shan-inspired settings/tones. Perhaps I'll do a version of this post in a different game system as proof of this at a later time.

As the title of this post suggests, I'm going to focus on the Demonata series. The goal of this post is to outline some of the concepts within the series and then begin translating them mechanically into Dungeons and Dragons so players can use them for themselves. If people like where this goes, I'll add more to it, maybe do some stat blocks and stuff for it too.

Unsurprisingly, spoilers follow after the break.

Faction Prompt: The Stilyard

The Stilyard deal in luck, morality, and free will.

In return, you incur a debt to be paid. This is not a debt of coin, but a debt of choice. You owe them a moment of your free will.

You won't find them at city markets, nor do they have shops. The Stilyard keeps themselves hard to find, accessible only to those who truly have the drive to seek them out. Those that find them and those they seek out are a special clientele - individuals that live lives filled with harsh decisions, drastic action, and catastrophic failures.

Goals

The Stilyard's true objectives are hard to determine, but there are clues in their transactions. They trade free will for control, luck for finality, chaos for order. The Stilyard wants to see the world on a script, with each line pre-rehearsed and each part played correctly. Whilst it presents itself as a neutral party, it is an inherently Lawful Neutral faction, for the only payment it seeks is the ability to determine how events will play out. What exactly the final end point is is unknown, potentially even to the Stilyard themselves. But there is a degree of comfort in knowing where all the players in life's stage will fall, what their lines will be, and how things will end before the curtains fall.

Individuals that work for the Stilyard can apply to have their own choices and goals taken into consideration when payment is due - the degree of influence they have increases with the amount of dealings they make. In return, their power over decisions can only be used at the authorisation of the faction as a whole.

Cuombajj Witches by Seb McKinnon

Mechanics

Members of the Stilyard can provide two primary forms of service. Firstly, they can alter alignment (if such a mechanic exists in your game). Depending on the system, this may be a percentage/value reduction or a binary change, depending on whether the relevant mechanic is analogue or digital.

Secondly, they can sell luck. Mechanically speaking, they sell a predetermined dice roll to the player, which they can use to replace a roll of their choice, after which it is expended. For D&D 5e, this would allow them to replace an ability check, saving throw, or attack roll. Treat this as if the player is using the divination wizard's Portent ability.

In return, they seek control of a player's luck or free will in the future. For a dice roll, the Stilyard may choose the player to succeed or fail on a dice roll that would directly or indirectly benefit the Stilyard. The DM can either choose such a roll based on the action's consequences, or roll a d20 (or d100) and then determine that, in that number of rolls, the Stilyard makes its move. The roll the Stilyard chooses can either be proportional to the player's dice roll (e.g. a 1 for a 20, a 5 for a 15, a 3 for a 17 etc) or could be rolled immediately after the transaction is made.

For an alignment shift, the Stilyard requires a heavier price to be paid: 1d8 hours of a character's free will. There is no saving throw for this control.

d10	What the Stilyard does with your free will
1	You sign a devil's contract with your own blood
2	You march into a courtroom as a surprise witness
3	You set up an assassination for a passing noble
4	You tell a beloved friend the truth they needed to hear
5	You donate half your carried wealth to a noble cause
6	You deliver a package to someone in a back alley, then drink to forget
7	You allow a spirits to inhabit your body
8	You act as messenger for other Stilyard clients
9	You witness a brutal, unforgivable crime... and walk away.
10	Nothing seems to change from what you would normally do

Inspired by the Mann, Levinn, and Lewis Firm from Wildbow's Pact series.

Insight: Hard to Read

Your Wisdom (Insight) check decides whether you can determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone's next move. Doing so involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerisms.

I like the Insight skill. It's one my characters use frequently, to gain that extra edge in social encounters. It is however no surprise that, despite the fact that I envisage its use like a Sherlock-scanner of intent and micro-expression analysis, it is used about 95% of the time to tell if a NPC is lying to me.

This is not just the case with my own usage - as the PHB itself states, Insight is used to tell if a creature is lying. This turns the Insight skill from a DM perspective into a binary response roll: the player detects a lie or does not detect a lie. However, the way in which a DM conveys this information opens up space to interpretation.