Characters in Champion's Road: Hell March
“Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Everyday when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, muskets, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death in a great earthquake, falling from thousand foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And everyday without fail one should consider himself as dead.” - Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, William Scott Wilson translation
Heroes in roleplaying games are rarely found among the walking dead. Given their parasitic, blood-drinking natures, protagonists in Vampire: The Masquerade can be considered anti-heroes at best and monsters at worst. Imagine a game where the player characters are dead humans, dead elves, dead orcs, dead goblins, dead lizardmen - all of them resurrected by besieged gods as the last earthly defence against an apocalyptic demonic invasion. In this post-apocalyptic fantasy setting, the undead are not monsters but the final bulwark standing between the living and a fate worse than death, though this does not make them any less terrifying or alien to the mortal world. This is Champion’s Road: Hell March.
The continent of Nazor lies far to the west of Titanis and Kenetchi (the settings for Falhorne and Stone Serpent respectively). Formerly splintered into interwarring kingdoms, it was unified under the powerful Empire of Melkior less than a century ago. Yet this continent-spanning empire with its emperor, nobility, priesthood, and professional army perished within days of the first portals grinning between dimensions. The Demon Plague consumes the land and the fate of the living now hinges on the fallen of Nazor, from beggars to princes, as they rise from their graves as mighty warrior Wights, sorcerous Liches, and ethereal Ghosts - empowered by the gods to do battle against an otherworldly invader whose mutating powers and ability to corrupt the landscape renders them unstoppable to mortals.
Each type of Champion (Wights, Liches, Ghosts) is divided into two sub-classes with their own unique abilities. Wights can choose to be either a Skinchanger or a Forlorn Hope. Liches can be either a Magus or a Hierophant. Ghosts can be either a Seeker or a Celebrant. All six classes have their own revenant powers and areas of focus - from spellcasting to melee combat to more sneaky stuff.
Character creation is a five-step process of accretion, with each stage fleshing out the new revenant a little more. Instead of beginning with attributes and statistics, we begin with a character’s 1) Essence, their core personality in death as well as in life. From Essence we proceed to 2) Ancestry, a character’s species/race. Only then do we determine 3) Attributes such as a character’s strength and charisma. From here we move to 4) Past Lives, fleshing out what the character did in life, their relationships and accomplishments. The player chooses two past careers for their character which determine the character’s skills/abilities and have a major impact on roleplaying. Finally we come to 5) Grave Goods, where we determine how the character died as well as what equipment they start out with as an undead revenant. This includes class, which is also chosen at this stage.
Take “Gob” for example: He’s a goblin who worked as a jailer before learning a (mostly honest) trade and becoming a shipwright (his two careers). He therefore gains the skills associated with each of these careers. When Gob died, he became a Ghost (specifically a Seeker) because his physical body was cremated (more on why later) and a person’s body must be (mostly) intact for them to come back as a Liche or Wight.
The manner and circumstance of a character’s death affects gameplay as well character creation. Notably a revenant, although they do not require sleep, must occasionally rest in order to regain their powers (which deplete with use). Whilst resting they revert to the “Corpse State” and can take no action for the next twelve hours. Revenants typically appear lifelike but while in the Corpse State they appear as they did at the time of their death, even if they were only a pile of ashes like Gob. This can result in some…interesting roleplaying opportunities as well as some very obvious challenges for players to navigate if they wish to return to full strength.
Champion’s Road: Hell March uses D100 tables to allow Gamemasters to quickly generate characters, campaign locations, equipment, treasures, potions etc. The goal being to make the game easier and smoother to run, recognizing all the unexpected twists and turns TTRPG sessions inevitably take.
D100 (and D10) tables play an important role in character creation. To return to the example of Gob, I rolled “Execution Ground” on the Grave Goods Table to determine his death/starting equipment. This result indicated that our goblin friend had been executed for some crime and his earthly remains burned. As such he begins with almost no personal possessions but gains a Blessing (Outlaw’s Fate).
By contrast, Eskander, a human Skinchanger Wight rolled “Mausoleum” on the Grave Goods Table, indicating a rather more privileged funeral! He retains all his personal effects, can roll once on the Treasure Table, twice on the Weapons Table, once on the Armour Table, and once on the Equipment Table. When all is said and done, he starts the game with a monster skin (treasure), throwing knife (weapon), battle-axe (weapon), full plate (armour), and a piece of chalk (equipment).
In addition to Grave Goods, another part of character creation where tables play a role is Essence. Gob, for example, rolled “Wise Wizard” on the Essence Table. This is considered a Visionary personality type and gives Gob the Second Sight skill. Essence determines how a character regains Grit, an important character trait that powers many Wight abilities. Regaining Grit depends on roleplaying. With his Wise Wizard Essence, Gob regains a Grit point whenever he creates something of lasting value that he will be remembered for. Eskander’s Essence, on the other hand, is that of a “Nosy Innkeeper”. This is a Selfish personality type for which he gains the Subterfuge skill. He regains Grit whenever he achieves unmitigated success in something he considers vitally important.
Campaign locations can also be generated in this way. Three D100 tables (location, location details, and tactical features) can be rolled together to create all manner of gameable environments. A temple (location) might contain a study used by a high priest (location detail) which in turn might have a collapsed floor (tactical feature). Some results might require interpretation (or a re-roll): a hunter’s camp (location) might not seem to work well with a bank (location detail) with broken windows (tactical feature), but this is a post-apocalyptic setting and maybe a hunter set up camp inside the ruins of a bank for protection or maybe he’s looking for something. A well (location) combined with a pantry (location detail) and a drainpipe (tactical feature) could indicate an outdoor well next to a small building housing a pantry which in turn is connected to a larger building like a ruined manor house by a drainpipe allowing for stealthy entry.
One final element of character creation has nothing to do with random tables. In keeping with the post-apocalyptic dark fantasy aura of the setting, vengeance is a major theme. The Gatherers, the angelic beings that gather souls for resurrection in the war against the demonic, are sure to properly motivate their charges before unleashing them on the enemy. Every revenant beholds a vision upon their resurrection in which they will witness the destruction of someone or something dear to them at the hands of the demonic invaders devastating Nazor. In addition, they will behold the specific demon or demons responsible. The vengeance rules, including some hefty combat bonuses, come into play when the character faces these enemies. The specific nature of this harrowing vision, what the character lost and those responsible for it, must be worked out between the player and the Gamemaster.
Lots more to come!
