DRYH: The Raven King

The Raven King is an alternative pre-industrial imagining of the Mad City for the Don't Rest Your Head RPG (Fred Hicks/Evil Hat). This is the Mad City that was before the Mad City that is. Or one of them, anyway. For those familiar with the Mad City that is, some of the Nightmares and Quarters of the city will be recognizable for what they will one day become, but younger, less refined versions of themselves. Some will feel utterly alien, Nightmares at the height of their power, Quarters as solid as bulwarks in the Mad City that was - but no longer known powers or places in the Mad City that is.

HOUSE RULES

Below are some supplemental rules that I use when running DRYH games in the Raven King setting. Otherwise refer to the rules as written in the DRYH core book.

Beacon [pp 2]

When a sleeper Awakens his presence is felt and known by the major Nightmares of the Mad city. They become aware of the Awake. This is somewhat more specifically defined in the Raven King setting. Boss Nightmares can sense an Awake from anywhere within the Mad City (even if the Awake is in the City Slumbering). Lieutenants can typically sense the Awake within their own Quarter of the Mad City, and Minions can sense them only when actually confronting the Awake.

The Call - Some minions in the Raven King setting can be briefly manipulated as outlined in their description and the Awake are able to call local minions to them by 'flashing' their beacon within the Mad City. This will summon the nearest minion type to the Awake's location. If multiple minions are clustered together, they all come calling. The Awakened must defeat the Minion(s) to make use of them (as per their description). Pain is low for minions as a general rule, but should Pain dominate the Awake's Beacon flares to the heavens, alerting every Nightmare in that Quarter to their exact location.

Helping [pp 24-25]

Discipline Cap - The rules-as-written allow any character to lend their 3 discipline dice to the main protagonist's roll, affecting the total number of successes but not the strength of the roll. In the Raven King setting, the total number of donated discipline dice cannot exceed the the combined number of Exhaustion and Madness dice in the main protagonist's pool for that roll (the main protagonist's discipline dice are not counted against this comparison, only donated dice). So if the main protagonist has two exhaustion dice in his pool and three madness the most dice e is able to make use of from other players would be 5. Individual characters are still limited by their total number of discipline dice as to what they can individually contribute.

As per the rules-as-written, anyone who helps is subject to the consequences if Pain, Madness, or Discipline dominate.

Coins of Despair - When Pain dominates, the GM gains a Coin of Despair for each protagonist participating in the action. [Note: This hack is primarily in place to escalate the coin currency and ensure the players end up with enough Coins of Hope to keep their characters from prematurely teetering over the edge].

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NIGHTMARES BY QUARTER

In the time of the Raven King, the Mad City is divided into Quarters, and each Quarter is Ruled by a major Nightmare and its various lieutenants and minions. The following section describes each region and details those who might be encountered there, their Pain ratings, and any special talents they might have.

The Raven King [Pain 12]

The Raven King confines himself to no Quarter. The whole of the Mad City is his domain, and he rules it with a ruthless passivity that is unfathomable. At a distance, the Raven King is seen as the silhouette of a tall, gaunt man swathed in robes of blackness and starlight, and from the vast cowl of his vestiments the silhouette of a great black beak can be seen jutting forth. Until he approaches or allows himself to be approached, at which point the great black beak will pull away, revealing itself to be the dripping blade of a great scythe in scarred bone hands, his revealed face a bare human skull, bleached white within the black robes, with venomous green flames flickering in the empty eye sockets.

The Raven King only rarely approaches or allows the approach of the Awakened, and he never speaks with them directly. It is said his very voice is death to mortal ears [Pain 15]. Instead he watches from afar, interacting only through his lieutenants and minions. If pressed, the Raven King can open portals anywhere within the Mad City that open at any other location(s) he chooses within the Mad City [Pain 15 to force a creature into the portal unwilling].

The Timeless Cathedral

The Cathedral and the 13th hour

The Spires

The Nightling Gale

Brutal Black Wind

The Hammerwall

The Captain of the Knightwatch

Minotaur

The Catacombs

Blood of the Saints

===The Mists of Time