In the 2004 Bard’s Tale game you keep running across kids who die thinking they are they chosen one.
And then trows (basically goblins) come out and sing an oompa loompa style song mocking the kids.
“Oh it’s baaaaaaad luck to be you…”
This sounds a lot like Star Lord’s situation with Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
Literally the plot of Dark Souls
Oh dang, changeling the lost character plot hook.
Oh, this is true old school, “people from under the hill” fairies.
The sidhe.
Essentially how Konosuba start out.
And now i have a new idea for a rogue lite
Catacomb Kids kinda has this vibe
Oh my God yes
The success of Recettear and Moonlighter show there’s a market for subversions of the genre and I’m here for it.
Just spitballing but what if the faeries’ actions wear down the boss’s defenses over time. Also they can loot the chosen kid’s body for stuff to pass on to the next one.
The kids have psychological profiles. Most of them are dicks who have done something to deserve their fate but you can get a random roll of a kid who is a shining moral beacon, and that run gets to take advantage of his +25 Power of Friendship or whatever. (He probably still dies, but you can make a lot of progress that way.)
Oh! And what if the faeries can affect the quality of kids they’re getting? Something like a PR campaign they can run in “our world” where, if their quest is whispered into the right circles, they can get a kid who’s more studious or works out more, or something. They get better at this over time, which is important because towards the endgame you actually need a pure Chosen One to achieve the win state, and the only way to pull that off is good marketing.
EDIT: to add that after the first run, the game over screen lingers on a shot of the kid’s corpse on the ground. After the second run, the new kid’s corpse is added on top of the first kid. This continues throughout the entire save file until you win; by the end it should be a sizeable pyramid of dead chosen ones.
Add in a few more amoral mythical creatures and you’ve got It’s Always Sunny in Faerie. I’d give that a watch.
It’s Always Sunny in
FaerieFaeladelphiaFTFY
Just to give credit where credit is due, I’m actually running this as a Changling campaign, using the old WoD rules from the 90s. The players are a Motely who work at an Irish Pub owned by their Sidhe patron, who dies unexpectedly and leaves them the pub, which is also a Freehold. It turns out it’s in massive debt in the mortal world and faces various supernatural challenges as well.
I’m encouraging my players to make argumentative and annoying characters and to try to resolve problems with sitcom solutions, rather than combat or conflict.
I wanted to come back and tell you, because I never would have thought of it without you.
