[PbtA] A Twisted Curse

[Red Leper]

Game Name A Twisted Curse

Game System PbtA

Theme Disaster Lesbians lost in a dark world, seeking love and compassion in a world nearly devoid of such things.

Flavour Fantasy, Dark, Horror-ish, Love conquers all!

Plot Summary Duchess Morwen Of Daggerford is having guests for dinner – and you are invited. No strangers to Daggerford, you have come to the town’s defense on more than one occasion and you count Lady Morwen as a friend and a benefactor. A cool autumn breeze blows through the streets as you make your way to the keep. As you dine on hot, spicy soup and tenderly cooked pheasant, you can tell that the duchess seems more out of sorts than usual. Then a pall comes over the occasion as she voices her concern about a band of wayward travelers camped outside the town’s walls. They seemed harmless at first, but Morwen has received reports that they have begun harassing townsfolk and other visitors as they come and go, demanding money and wine, and threatening to put hexes on anyone who doesn’t pay up. Yesterday, the duchess ordered several guards to scare away the mysterious visitors, but they couldn’t get the job done. When the guards returned, they spoke sympathetically about the visitors. It seemed as if the guards had been magically charmed. Morwen doesn’t want an armed conflict, but she aims to send a stern message to the visitors and asks you to deliver it on her behalf. ”If they don’t leave before dawn,” She says, ”I’ll burn their wagons to the ground.” Word from the GM: If you are familiar with this little excerpt then you know what this campaign is about. If not, then I’ll say it plainly; I am going to attempt to run a Curse of Strahd campaign. The twist though, I wish to use it as a setting and series of events with the Thirsty Sword Lesbians system instead of DnD 5e. Pretty crazy, I’m sure but what better story is there? Other Details: -System: Thirsty Sword Lesbians -Players: 4-5 or more if I'm coerced by good applications -Post rate: I can post at least once daily, weekends included, player-posts permitting. -Ask questions. Alternate Hooks:   1.Creeping Fog: The woods are quiet this night, and the air grows chill. Your fire sputters as a low mist gathers around the edges of your camp, growing closer as the night wears on. By morning, the fog hangs thick in the air, turning the trees around you into gray ghosts. Then you notice these aren’t the same trees that surrounded you the night before. 2.Werewolves in the Mist: ”Werewolves in the mist!” You’ve heard these dreaded words spoken again and again by farmers, merchants and adventurers alike. The hamlets east of Daggerford have fallen prey to a pack of werewolves that spills out of the Misty Forest on nights of the full moon, cloaked in crawling mist that seems to follow them wherever they go. The beasts spread death and mayhem, slaughtering adults and stealing children before retreating back into the woods. Others have tried to combat the werewolf menace with little success. Applications: Name: Gender/Pronouns/Orientation: Age: Somewhere between eighteen to twenty-ish is most appropriate, I think. Playbook: I only know of the main playbook choices but if you want something outside of those, please give me a link to explain it a bit more. Archetype/Concept: The book makes some suggestions but if you can elaborate, I would appreciate it, include a little about what motivates your character. Aesthetics: At least the descriptors from the playbook but I would prefer more, Picture required. Fears: Two minor and one major fear. Backstory: A couple paragraphs at least, what your character has been doing up until now. Hook: If your character is from another world aside from a Forgotten Realms-esque one or you don’t think your character would have started alongside the rest of the party, you might need one of the other hooks to get you to Ravenloft. Posting capabilities: What days and how often do you post, realistically. Applicants: Player Character Playbook Archetype Application status Vespers Iohanna Scardottir Devoted Paladin of Loviatar Complete Nostradomus Cask Sharplance Scoundrel Jack of Trades Complete Llamacorns Sundari Legion Reincarnated Chosen One Complete Kanly Fay and Rii Ensemble Rivals trapped in a Fey bargain Complete Rhaiber Princess Luminara “Lulu” Starshimmer Chosen Magical Girl Complete

[asura8]

Curse of Strahd run with Thirsty Sword Lesbians? I'm not going to lie, I'm compelled. Thirsty Sword Lesbians is probably one of my favorite PbtA systems.

[Hotshot lasgun]

good morning! i yam to be red lepers co-dm. i do so love pbta, and i love creating custom moves for bad people

that is all. toodles!

[Red Leper]

I changed the appropriate age to Eighteen - twenty-ish since some reconsideration that fifteen might be a bit young to toss someone into Ravenloft. That and I wouldn't want anyone to think, from the system choice, that I was going to be forcing fifteen-year-olds into sexual situations.
I got caught up watching the new She-Ra while I was putting on the finishing touches.

[Vespers]

I'm intrigued, but I'm not familiar with any of the restrictions of CoS, and I'm also unfamiliar with the powered by the apocalypse system. I do have a long-standing concept of a paladin of Loviatar that I think might fit in quite well here. Thoughts?

[NostraDomus]

Very interested. I’ll start getting my app going.

[Hotshot lasgun]

Originally Posted by Vespers

I'm intrigued, but I'm not familiar with any of the restrictions of CoS, and I'm also unfamiliar with the powered by the apocalypse system. I do have a long-standing concept of a paladin of Loviatar that I think might fit in quite well here. Thoughts?

its curse of strahd run with thirsty sword lesbians. not 5e

[Red Leper]

@Vespers: You don't have to worry about CoS restrictions. Suffice to say, you're going to be lost/trapped in a dark world. I think a paladin would translate into Thirsty Sword Lesbians well as the Devotion playbook. If you search Thirsty Sword Lesbians on Google, you can find freely distributed docs that explain everything about the game system, as far as I know.

[separateunion]

I'm interested just because it's PbtA, but don't know this specific game at all.

[Vespers]

Name: Iohanna Scardottir

Gender/Pronouns/Orientation: fem/she/asexual

Age: 21

Playbook: Devoted

Archetype/Concept: Paladin of Loviatar

Aesthetics: Red Sonja in plate armor, with a two-handed sword.
Also:https://youtu.be/jAhKlSNL-3A?si=Dynu81EmYknakyDS

Appearance: Iohanna is a pale, beautiful, dark-red haired woman. She usually dresses in light-colored clothes, long sleeves and trousers, with fine leather gloves and heeled riding boots, when she’s not wearing her copper-chased plate armor. The only skin that she routinely shows to anyone at all is her face. Her eyes are a startling sapphire blue and there is something wrong with them, as if they do not always see what everyone else sees.


Fears: minor: confined spaces, being rejected. Major: No one, no one gets to see her bare skin.

Backstory:
Once upon a time there was a girl child born to a farmer's wife. The farmer had been taken off to war by his Lord, and never came back. The child had a shock of red hair, and was strange in another way as well. She never cried. Even when it was obvious that she should be in pain, she never cried. As time went on the farmer's wife noticed other things, such as when the child accidentally burned herself on a hot pan. She didn't cry then. She just held up her hand and showed her mother. She never shivered, she never sweated, and never once did she show the slightest acknowledgement of being injured. This went on until the local priest of the Crying God made his rounds, and upon attempting to bless the child with Ilmater’s favor, found that the Crying God would not acknowledge this child, for she could feel no pain. (Meta: the current medical terminology for this condition is CIPA, congenital insensitivity to pain and anhydrosis. Her body simply never developed the wiring in her brain to feel pain.) The rest of her backstory can be had as a private message.

Hook: The usual fog is fine.

Posting capabilities: I honestly have several hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that I am bored out of my mind due to medical issues.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

[Hotshot lasgun]

also, books are free and clear on itch.io. mods, dont get your panties in a twist

239 copies remaining
TSL Core

860 copies remaining
https://evilhat.itch.io/advanced-lovers-and-lesbians

google sheet here

TSL sheets

[Raylorne]

Maybe don’t worry about the state of my undergarments. If it’s free we’ll know. If it’s not we’ll let you know. There’s no need to rudely advertise you’re not breaking site rules.

Thanks,

Raylorne

[Red Leper]

Hello fellow players:
Thank you for your time and consideration in my game but due to this game getting the wrong kind of attention more than the right kind of attention, I will be setting a deadline for shutdown.
I have already talked to an admin and I will be closing this thread if I haven't obtained at least 4 pending character applications by this coming Sunday, the 30th.

Sorry again.

[kanly]

Sorry for the troubles you've been having with this game. I think I can get you an application within that deadline.
Name(s): Fay and Rii combine to make Refay the Fairy Dragon.

Gender/Pronouns/Orientation: Neutral/They, Them/Order of attractiveness Dragons, Scalies, Birds, MamalsPansexual

Age: Adult

Playbook: The Ensemble

Archetype/Concept: Rivals forced togeather by a Fey bargin.

Aesthetics: Vigilant demeanor, Mismatched clothes, Swords drawn from the other's heart

Fears: Being alone - Minor, Loosing control - Minor, Archfey - Major

Backstory: It was a nice little section of forest, everyone could agree on that. The problem was that both the Rustscale Tribe and the Bluemaw Clan felt that it was their nice little section of forest, and were willing to fight each other for it. Which was exactly what they did, much to the detriment of the forest around them. However, it turned out that the two packs of Kobolds were not the only ones interested in the area.
An Archfey known as Linnalkian the Sage of Mists had a minor holding in the forest and was in residence during the pack conflict. Normally, that sort of thing would have been beneath their notice, but the packs made the inexcusable fauxpass of conducting one of their battles in the Sage os Mists third favorate clearing, which left it strewn with iron shrapnel from various kobold traps. Miffed to say the least, Linnalkian devised an entertaining diversion to appropriately punish the offenders.
The next day each of the packs were approached by a powerful mystic who offered to transform their greatest warrior into a dragon who would destroy their kobold rivals. And so it was that the next day Rii of the Bluemaw and Fay of the Rustscale each found themselves at Linnalkian's gate. Battle ensued, but was cut short when a drowsy mist rose up from the ground and quickly rendered each of the champions unconscious. Linnalkian gathered up the Kobolds and using a ritual of their own invention combined the essense of the two into a powerful dragon who, over the remainder of the season, proceeded to hunt down and slaughter all members of both groups. Once the season was over, Linnalkian departed for one of their other holdings which released Fay and Rii but did nothing for their memories of what they had done as the dragon.
With no one left and nothing to do, the two decided to put aside their rivalry and form a small pack of their own. They have become mercenaries, hunting down mystical threats in a feable attempt to make peace with what they once did to their own families. In times of need, they can still join their essenses into a draconic form but try to avoid doing so since the power can be somewhat addictive.

Hook: A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go, high-ho the dairy-o, a hunting we will go.

Posting capabilities: 2-3x per week

 

Player's Agenda
Bring the Action: Follow your heart, dive headlong into danger, and be larger than life.

Feel Deeply and Powerfully and Often: Feel the deep emotional conflict of your PC and their bonds. Sharing your character’s inner feelings so that the other players can play into them.

Be Excited about the Other PCs and Shared Stories: Make room and set up opportunities for the other PCs to shine as well. Think about how to create interesting and dramatic dynamics between the PCs.

Stand for Justice and Liberation: The PCs aren’t perfect paragons of virtue—they can be gay disasters, they can be flawed people—but they should at least grow to stand for admirable principles.

Stats
Skill at arms, forcefulnessDaring: -1

Elegance and agilityGrace: +2

Emotional awareness and persuasivenessHeart: +0

Cleverness and knowledgeWit: +0

Integrity and metaphysical prowessSpirit: +2

Conditions	Methods of relief
Angry	Lash out and hurt a bystander. Break something that makes the battlefield all the more dangerous, like a structural support, a dam, a magic circle, or a power core.
Frightened	Deploy a new defense or tactic, such as triggering a trap or taking a hostage. Force the PCs to choose between letting them flee versus some other disaster occurring.
Guilty	Call out the PCs’ misdeeds. Target bystanders to eliminate any witnesses.
Hopeless	Offer a deal. Call in reinforcements.
Insecure	Escalate the violence to a new level: from words to weapons, or weapons to lethal intent, or lethal intent to a disregard for their own well-being or collateral damage. Call out the PCs’ own insecurities.

Experience
Gain XP - whenever you roll a down beat (6-) or when a move tells you to.

Gain an Advance - from your playbook by spending 5 XP (3 XP in a one-shot).
Consider a dramatic costume change when you Advance!

String Advance
Gain a fourth String on someone - You have a profound insight and learn something about them that even they don’t know; the player tells you what you learn, possibly asking the GM for ideas. It’s up to you whether you share that insight with the character or not. In addition, clear all but one of your Strings on them and gain 2 XP.

Danger Moves
Fight - When you seek to incapacitate someone with violence, roll +Daring or +Grace:
10+: Choose 3 and your opponent chooses 1 to apply to you in response
7–9: Choose 2 and your opponent chooses 1

• Flirt with or provoke your opponent and gain a String on them
• Through violence or cutting words, inflict a Condition
• Create an opportunity for an ally through prowess or distraction
• Take an object from your opponent or seize a superior position.

You may not pick the same option more than once for a single Fight move. For instance, you can’t take three Strings on a roll of 10+.

Defy Disaster - When you push your limits to achieve something extraordinary that’s not covered by another move, or to avert an imminent danger to yourself or someone else, say what you’re willing to sacrifice and pick your approach:

Might, endurance, or courage.	+Daring
Swiftness or elegance.	+Grace
Charm or social insight.	+Heart
Cleverness or knowledge.	+Wit
Willpower or metaphysical skill.	+Spirit

10+: Do it with style. At the GM’s discretion, you may also learn new information, discover a new opportunity, or gain a String on someone.
7–9: The GM will offer you a hard choice or success with a sacrifice.

Stagger (Reactive Move) - When you suffer a staggering physical or emotional blow, choose an option from the following based on the number of Conditions you have marked.
4–5 Conditions:

• You’re rendered helpless for the scene
• You’re utterly humiliated and news will spread; this could be a consequence of a setback in the confrontation, or might be caused by something you confess in the heat of the moment
• Choose 2 from the “0–3 Conditions” options

0–3 Conditions:

• You lash out at someone whose regard matters to you: provoke them to do something foolish or harmful and take advantage of a String on them if you have one
• You hesitate or stumble and the opposition gains an opportunity
• You grin and bear the blow; mark two Conditions

Heartstring Moves
Entice - When you appeal to someone’s physical or emotional sensibilities, roll +Heart:
10+: Gain a String on them and they choose 1
7–9: Gain a String on them, unless they decide instead to choose 1

• Get flustered and awkward
• Promise something they think you want
• Give in to desire

Figure Out a Person - When you try to understand a person, roll +Wit (+3 more if you spend a String on them):
10+: You may ask 2 questions, now or later in the scene
7–9: You may ask 2 questions, but they may ask 1 of you

• What are your feelings towards _____?
• What do you hope to get from _____?
• How could I get you to _____?
• What do you love most?
• How would you feel if I _____?

Influence With a String - At any time, spend a String on someone to do one of the following:

• Offer them an XP to do something (don’t spend the String if they refuse the temptation)
• Find out what it will take to get them to do what you want (for an NPC, spending the String means they may simply agree)
• Add 1 to your roll against them (after rolling)
• Add or subtract 1 from any roll they make (after rolling)

Each character may only spend one String to add or subtract from a given roll.

Smitten - When you become Smitten with someone (always your choice), say why, give them a String on you, and answer the question in the Truths of Heart and Blade section of your playbook.

Finally Kiss, in a Dangerous Situation - When people finally kiss after a period of tension, each takes +1 ongoing to get to safety and protect the other for the rest of the scene.
If more than two people finally kiss in these circumstances, they all get the bonus. Each participant must be enthusiastic about kissing to trigger this move.

Recovery Moves
Emotional Support - When you offer someone support in a way that could be meaningful to them, roll +Heart or +Spirit (+3 more if you spend a String on them):
10+: If they open up to you, they choose 1 and you either choose 1 or take a String on them
7–9: If they open up to you, they choose 1

• Clear a Condition
• Mark XP
• +1 forward
• Gain insight from the GM about an obstacle facing one of you

If they’re Smitten with you, they may choose an additional option.
If you’re Smitten with them and they refuse to open up to you, it stings. You mark a Condition.

Special Moves
Call on a Toxic Power - When you parley with a Toxic Power, ask it your question and roll +Spirit:
10+: It answers the question and grants you +1 forward to act on the information
7–9: It answers the question and the GM chooses 1

• It takes something from you, either knowledge, reputation, or something physical
• You mark a Condition
• It gains a String on you

End of Session - Each player marks XP if, during the session:

• Any PC confessed their love
• Any PC struck a blow against oppression or de-escalated a violent situation
• Any PC leapt into danger with daring and panache
• Any player used a safety tool such as the palette or Check-In Card

Playbook Moves
Harmony - You have a Harmony track, which starts at 1. If it drops to 0 or less, you can no longer activate powers that require you to spend Harmony. At 3 Harmony, you are so in sync that you begin to lose your individual selves.

Harmony

0

1

2

3

4

Decrease Harmony when:

• One of you is Smitten with someone and the other isn’t
• One of you feels neglected or scorned by the other
• One of you accepts an invitation to an activity the other can’t or doesn’t wish to attend.

Increase Harmony when:

• You take comfort in each other after a difficult event
• You are both Smitten with another person
• You neglect a friend to spend time with each other

At 3 Harmony:

• If you are ever apart for even an instant, you Stagger
• Others take -2 ongoing to Emotionally Support you

Answer for each of you:
How does the other make you feel loved?
What problematic behavior of yours do they enable with their support?

Duality - Track Conditions and XP jointly; you are interdependent enough that you are both affected by Conditions.
Track Strings and Smitten separately. Whenever an effect grants you a String, assign it to whichever of your selves makes the most sense to you. At character creation, each of your selves can have 0, 1, or 2 Strings on each other PC as normal. Your selves do not take Strings on each other.

Synchronize - When you work together seamlessly, you can transform into a single being. Choose two features and one drawback of your synchronized form. You may change these choices whenever the nature of your relationship changes significantly. In addition, while synchronized, you may roll +Harmony instead of the usual stat for any roll, but afterwards you must subtract 1 from your Harmony. At Harmony 0, you must leave your synchronized state. You can choose to un-merge at any time unless you choose the Addictive drawback.

• Feature: Flying, Super senses
• Drawback: Addictive

Well, Actually - When your selves disagree, you may spend 1 Harmony to learn the answer to any question you could conceivably know or deduce the answer to and say it aloud. Your other half is skeptical. Take +1 forward to either act on the answer or to act on the skepticism or an alternate theory.

Wingmate - Whenever one of you talks up the other or otherwise makes them look good, the other takes +1 forward to Fight or Entice. On a down beat, however, the subject of the move may prove more interested in the wingmate.

Truths of Heart and Blade
Wandering eyes:When you become Smitten with someone, say why, give them a String, and answer one of the following questions:

• How would pursuing them make my partner feel unloved or unneeded?
• Why do they need you more than your partner does?

Outflanked:When you Figure Out a Person in physical conflict, you may additionally ask one of these questions, even on a 6-:

• What is your most pressing relationship need?
• What special joy or service would you offer a partner?

[NostraDomus]

Name: Cask Sharplance
Gender: Male
Age: 18

Playbook: The Scoundrel (I'm open to several: Devoted and Infamous as well)

Concept: Clark is a guy who loves to live fast and hard and enjoy himself in the process. The lows can be very low, but that makes the highs, even higher. He's willing to do what it takes to set him self up for success, and also willing to pay the price. I'm kind of imagining Conan from the books, not the movies. Except for the soldiering.

Aesthetics: Young. Dark skin, brown eyes and hair, trustworthy face. A sharp and present gleen in his eyes. Physically, fit and athletic, and wiry.

Fear: Minor- Dying alone, snakes / Major: Imprisonment without the opportunity to escape.

Backstory:
Cask was born in a major city and raised on its streets. As much as his parents loved him, it's hard to provide in the city. And even harder with a child. From an early age, he learned that a quick smile, quicker hands, and the quickest feet could help a lot. He also learned that there's always someone with a better smile, hands or feet, than you.

Bad times always come and usually stay, so when the good times do come, you should roll with them. The people of the city have long been watching Cask grow from a precocious boy to a gregarious young man, and both love and hate him in turn for the trouble he can bring. From stealing, conning and seducing to the occasional thuggery and perhaps murder for hire, Cask has seen and done it all, and everyone knows, even if they can't pin it on him.

A few years ago, both of his parents got locked up, permanently. On his own, Cask left the city, vowing to return with the money, skills or connections needed to get them out. As such, he adventures, making friends, connections and enemies wherever he goes and learning the necessary skills to survive out in the world and free his parents.

Hook: He's from the forgotten realms

Post: 2x/3x a week