Blood of the Hunters excerpt

Excerpt from the Bloodborne/Dishonored/Castlevania/Ravenloft PBTA game I've been working on for my Norumbega setting. 

The examples given for Corruption results are not intended to be the only possibilities. Player's are welcome to create their own. Generally, a player should have an idea of what form their character's Corruption takes after they gain their first few Marks. "What is my character becoming" is a good question to ask, and the perspective used for the sample Corruption endpoints. 

For example, a Corrupt Templar's devotion to their order might trend towards the Flagellant; a masochistic zealot, the Inquisitor; a heartless witch-hunter, or the Messiah; a self-proclaimed nascent demigod. A Corrupt Hunter's struggle to reconcile their bestial and human sides might lead to the former becoming predominant, making them a near-feral Beast. Or the human side might rule, creating an Ahab willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in their obsessive pursuit of the hunt. Or both sides might become utterly irreconcilable, making them a Jekyll, whose two halves become complete separate personas.

Marks represent a wide variety of changes, ranging from physical mutation to psychosomatic conditions to patterns of social interaction. Like Corruption, Marks do not all stem from one unified source. So one for a Ghoul might increase the amount of living flesh they must consume, while one for a Rogue might represent owing a debt to a powerful criminal boss. They are designed with "narrative weight" in mind in terms of their effects and the costs of healing them. For example, a Rogue with the Commitment Tattoos Mark could theoretically simply get a skin transplant from a Chirurgeon or having their gang tattoos covered with more neutral ones. But having this Mark removed comes at the same cost as removing any other because it possesses the same narrative weight.

A player who chooses that Mark when their character descends their Corruption meter does so to represent that their character has made a serious lifelong commitment to remain loyal to a criminal organization. Marks come in Minor and Major types. A Minor Mark might be a Ghoul growing extra eye or a Templar being unable to hear anyone contradict their faith or disparage their order without being compelled to argue with them. A Major Mark might be one arm permanently turning into a massive, scaly claw for the Ghoul, while the Templar in the aforementioned situation would have no choice but to demand that they offender recant immediately or face violent retribution.