SOMETHING BITTER OR MELANCHOLIC

Finally, all tense situations and conflict scenes in a natural fantasy campaign should have a bitter or melancholic aftertaste. This undertone highlights the torment of the antagonists, strengthens the bonds between the heroes and those who are in danger, or reiterates how the PCs are facing the consequences and paying the price of errors that were committed by the people of the past.

Examples

Here are some examples of scenarios implementing this theme:

• To defeat the wrathful ice spirits, the Alderman’s daughter decided to wield an ancient relic with the power to destroy souls. She too is going to forfeit her own, but the clan will survive.
• The majestic Jade-Horned Lion nourishes the region by cyclically dying and being reborn; but his current incarnation became attached to a human orphan and rejected death, ultimately turning into a monster.
• A terrible disease strikes down settlements that surpass a certain technological level, or that dig up and activate the Progenitors’ machines.
• Cornered by new fishing regulations, the people of a Player Character’s native village accepted the thane’s money and allowed his men-at-arms to scour the forbidden ruins under the village.
• The heroes battle a beautiful and titanic plant monstrosity, contaminated by the experiments of a careless apprentice witch. The seed was planted by a young hunter to commemorate the death of his partner.
• Crossing the Bone Steppe at night is very dangerous – following the steps of the Warthog Goddess, whose wounds bleed continuously, restless spirits of animals killed by a now-forgotten Empire possess their own bones and assault the living.
• Born from an egg that hatched centuries after the extinction of her species and overwhelmed by desperation, the Magmamoth Queen devoured the ancient magic of the forest, until she became a veritable living hive.

“I have no doubt that it is necessary.
I just wish I wasn’t the one to carry this burden.”