Gothic Earth ano 1890<br/>As this is a horror game some things will be exagurated. Discrimination due to skin colour, social class and gender will be running rampant for example. Another significant thing is that not all of the world is yet mapped out, expeditions have a high failure rate due to the things that go bump in the night and human corruption. The easiest way to explain this world is to say that it has been slowly corrupted and is now struggling to emerge above that, with this the last decade of a dark millenia the last chance to save the world from a horrifying future. And that is up to the player characters.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Masque of the Red Death functions in many ways like regular D&D but has it's own rules for some things and incorporates Ravenloft rules such as Power Checks and three new saves. As a player it can be good to know how certain things work.<br/><br/>Powers Check<br/>The heroes of Gothic Earth is balancing dangerously close on the edge of doom and even the slightest of misstep can spiral them down on the path of corruption.  Every action has a consequence and the fact that your very soul depends on it makes it all the more important to consider one's actions.<br/><br/>Every time you commit an evil act, even for the greater good, I will roll a Powers Check to see if you fall to corruption or not. Even lying is hazardous in this world and breaking an oath can turn you evil. Failure on a Powers Check corruption grants you a certain degree of power, tempting you to increase that power by commiting more acts that demand for a check. Do note however that this is not a road to strive for and while not easy, it is not completely impossible to redeem yourself.<br/><br/>Innocence<br/>The definition of Innocence in a Masque of the Red Death campaign is a person of good alignment who has never commited an act worthy of a Powers Check. It is lost as soon as such an act is done and can never be regained.<br/><br/>Fear, Madness and Horror<br/>These are saves created to help the players portray their characters feelings when confronted with realisations, situations and actions that are out of the ordinary. They are essentially Will saves and affected just like Will saves from feats and items, Fear saves are also affected by anything that grants you bonus or penalty on saves against fear effects. Luck and resistance bonuses do not count however.<br/><br/>The mechanics are rather simple, sucess grants you a 24 hour immunity to checks from that specific source, if you see a murder being commited and suceeds on your Horror check, you wont need to roll again for witnessing another murder for 24 hours. Failure means that you are affected in some way by the scene, you might be frightened, you might go insane, or you might faint from the shock.<br/><br/>Fear is rolled for dangerous situations like being outnumbered in battle.<br/><br/>Madness are the least common of these saves but can be severly crippling. Being locked up at a sanitarium of this age might actually provoke several Madness checks.<br/><br/>Horror is rolled when the character is confronted with acts of evil and cruelty like seeing your friend subject to torture or to make the realization that the horrifying serial killer is in fact your sweetheart.<br/><br/><br/>Magic<br/><br/>I'm sure it comes as no shock that magic on Earth functions very differently than magic in the Forgotten Realms for example.<br/><br/>For reasons that I will not yet reveal, magic is both dangerous and highly unreliable on Gothic Earth. To cast a spell you must (I will) make a Knowledge Forbidden Lore [arcane or mystic] check to see if you suceed in casting the spell, if you do you must (I will) make a Powers Check to see if your spell goes unnoticed. If it doesn't... well then you are on the path of corruption.<br/><br/>If your skill check fails, there are a few ways for the desperate to still fire the spell. You might choose to take physical damage for it or sell your soul for example. While not recommended, it can make for intresting storylines.