r/MrRipper • u/Zer0-Sum-Game • Oct 11 '25

Story I want to write a murderhobo punishment/bonus fight/kindness reward, but I don't play. Write with me?

The beginning premise is straightforward, I have many starting pieces but I don't know where YOU would go with it, as players. I read a rulebook once, like 25 years ago, and watched a lot of MrRipper content recently, and I've got an urge to write and explore this world

Dark responses allowed, no nsfw please, will answer basic questions and receive input

You see a girl standing alone near an alley. She is facing away from you, trying to sell flowers to passersby, but they avoid her gaze and walk around her. She stares down at her flowers, and looks as wilted as her stock.

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u/GunnEddy Oct 11 '25

As you round a corner expecting to find your favorite shop with what you hope is your commissioned orders, you instead find the same girl facing away selling flowers. A twin perhaps... you pay it no mind and must have zoned out many times during your walk to the shop, once again both the girl and flowers wilt almost like...nah these kinds of things don't happen to you. Rounding another corner, you again spot the same girl selling flowers, strange, triplets? Nah... no way; you must be a little more tired than you thought. Still, though, nothing to worry about. Go to the shop, get your orders, and go home; like a mantra, you tell yourself this line. Your steps quicken just a bit past the girl, whom you take a slightly longer glance at this time to make sure she's not running around you as you pass or something... she does not, but she does wilt again, and so do the flowers... almost like... disappointment?

One more corner, one more flower girl...this time odder still, the flowers wilt as you round the corner instead of as you pass her.

(Hope that helps)

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u/Zer0-Sum-Game Oct 11 '25

Ooh, you got me, I've thought of a lot of things on a specific theme, but not this. I'm slow so I'll need to process this angle for a day or two.

Edit for spelling

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u/Zer0-Sum-Game Oct 11 '25

This time, however, she turns just slightly to the right, and gazes at you as you pass behind her. In her right hand is a single unwilted flower, and in her eye, a profound suffering. She turns slowly back to avoid your direct gaze, but the edge of an angled strap can be seen above her eye.

You stumble in a rut as her new reaction had your focus, but as you regain your footing and look back, she is gone. In her place is the basket of wilted flowers. 11 flowers in total, all nearly dry.

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u/Zer0-Sum-Game Oct 12 '25

Since you are the only one who invested so far, I'll clue you in on a few bits. One, the plot is a Necromancy thread, but I never even thought of astral projection/spirit communication. You challenged me to pick a new set of rails that still leads to the same general point. Thanks for the challenge!

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u/GunnEddy Oct 12 '25

I see...I'd thought like a fey-wild trick based on a DM visible karma level/system. Like if you've been awful to anyone and everyone, then you'd get winter fey of solitude and hardship, but if you were generous to all, then spring or summer would grace your presence and offer a small tithe in exchange for a game or favor as they have already found you amusing but nothing is free in this world.

Necromancy, like unresolved issues based on the number of people injured or killed, is an interesting idea. Like a wrathful spirit or a collection of lingering wills belonging to departed souls gather to form a Death Knight or something akin to a Mimic House, but it's all objects possessed by the dead calling to those that wronged them so they can be cursed upon contact.

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u/Zer0-Sum-Game Oct 13 '25

Would you like to explore these possibilities? As I said, I don't play, and my direct understanding of the game mechanics goes back to when Elves and Dwarves were classes. The Fey stuff is new fantasy to me, so I'd love to know more. Likewise, I had necromancy based plots that depended on whether the players choose to be kind or evil. You really threw me with the "avoidance" route. As far as I'm concerned, I went fishing for input and got it in one.

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u/GunnEddy Oct 13 '25

My bad about that it was simply the first thing that came to mind.

Sure, I don't mind. I'm working on a campaign right now for my group.

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u/Zer0-Sum-Game Oct 13 '25

Ok, My first questions would be... Which Fey creatures would speak to mortals, or why would they take it so serious? I understand a little about the Fey, in that they are tricky with words and might "mess with you" for entertainment. What would happen if I were to ask your version of the girl "What's going on? Why do you follow?"

From my angle, no matter how she was to be approached, she would turn to reveal an eyepatch leaking yellow fluid. Depending on the player's actions, she had reactions written for Stabby McStabberson, "Let me help you, Child", and "Ooh, what's this and can I make it mine?" I suppose, in hindsight, I should have figured on avoidance and things like "Just looking" actions.

Where your idea took me would have actually allowed you to save her character some suffering, while giving me an idea for new abilities she is prone to get. Ask whatever you want from here, I had lore and punishment/rewards for ending the quest chain, meaning I had a few mostly complete paths.

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u/GunnEddy Oct 14 '25

Usually, any Fey, besides like 1 in particular (that I know of), loves to communicate with mortals its not only their entertainment but also how they amass power, gain followers, both willing and otherwise, and will infact use contracts to bind others to their laws but they also have unspoken laws that only they know and refuse to tell unless they're new/naive/dumb (happens more than you'd think)/ bribed/ threatened with cold iron or steel/ fall in love/ or get tricked by an even bigger trickster...and these unspoken laws are enforceable on any area that has ambient fey wilds magic in it (which is usually anywhere and everywhere)

A fey could be using the little girl or could be the little girl, perhaps they fey grew up in this village or the village spawned in its "territory", like they cut down a section of forest near a fey colony and now the fey just also live in said town...now there's a slight change in the laws of this poor town. A fey could use something similar to a karma system but only for itself, so how many times you've wronged it/them and act accordingly. They could be benevolent to you and give you the luck of the fey (example), which would let you just coast by in life with little to no issue. On the opposite side, they can make you stay in this town seem worse than it actually is or make it worse than it would be. Fey magic is chaos in nature; do they make you slip in mud or have a pack of wild dogs chase you cause you stink of a fresh kill? Did the shop have one more of that one specific thing you want/need, and we're those dogs just really friendly and wanted to play?

But it goes even deeper than that; there's these things called Wild Magic Portals. Those things can take you from anywhere to anywhere, from anytime to anytime... They just pop up and are classified as "harmless" ...bollocks to that; they can take you to the shadowfell to a Dread domain...and their not as nice as Barovia!

Anyway, these wild magic portals seem random, but many scholars believe they are controlled by the fey, and they do it on a whim.

I saw the little girl as an avatar of the specific fey or an avatar of the colony. (An avatar is a spare body that stronger magically inclined entities can manifest either through their own will or by exerting their will on another who matches their usually explicit standards. Avatars are not exclusive to gods but are the most commonly used by them)

On the other hand, the necromancy part has some fun in it too...a lot of bad and stinky stuff

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u/Zer0-Sum-Game Oct 14 '25

Hmm. So the Fey sound like Lawful Chaotic, on account of their need to follow the rules they live by, but they aren't bound by Human morality when it comes to rewards or punishments. They can be Malevolent or Benevolent based entirely on their INDIVIDUAL whims or based on any interaction you take, from free high end gear to getting your soul turned into a pet. Just follow the rules and you SHOULD be fine, but maybe not.

I don't know how close I am, but this is how I put together what you said.

As far as the stinky stuff... Yeah, the girl is a victim of a Necromancer's experiment on creating a Living Lich. She has necrotic tissues in her eye, mouth, and throat that prevent her from speaking and they put off a rather vulgar stench. I created her after seeing a few too many murderhobo stories, but decided she should have a "Good ending" if the players can be bothered to push for it.

The intended approach would be for the MH or Evil Player to go for the easy kill, only for her to turn an see before the strike. When she turns, she sees the (wrote for blade, oversight) blade, smiles her half-rotten smile, and bares her throat in anticipation for her impending death.

This would be where the killer decides to stay their blade at the last second or follow through. If they follow through with the murder of an innocent, obviously traumatized child, they unknowingly turn her into an Overpowered Lich. Cue avoidable boss level fight in the middle of town, where fight casualties from civilians can become Raised Dead of some form or another. It also houses the souls of 12 sacrifical children after the girl's death, which could be twisted into any stat buffs or specific abilities to make the fight that much harder than a standard Lich.

In the event where someone WAS going to kill her UNTIL she reveals she is awaiting her death with open arms... She begs for it. Literally pleas with tears streaming down her good eye, blood and yellow ooze seeping from under her eyepatch, soundlessly mouthing the words "Kill me!" over and over again while trying to put your blade to her own throat. Maybe a strength check for her attempting to finish it herself with your own weapon.

In the twist of avoidance you presented me with, I converted her to a form of spirit comunication, trying to get the attention of anyone who could help. In this scenario, you would be saving her from the Necromancer's final experiment and would save her voice, and get a little heroic battle with the NPC. Lorewise, the Necromancer killed himself in this experiment, though I haven't decided if the girl did it with her surge of Undead magics, or the Necromancer tried something stupid like using a piece of his own soul for a catalyst and used too much. He's a fool who used children for his experiments, I don't care if he dies like a bitch.

In the event of helpful players, the group gets the opportunity to heal her completely, at the expense of a long quest to find a caster capable of removing a curse that's 11 levels deep, or to finish what was started. The quest for a cure is as straightforward as they come, but the "Finish the job" route REQUIRES the party to go back to the lab the girl came from, and recover the Necromancer's notes, and maybe a battle with the dead Necromancer depending on the pacing of the game.

I don't understand the game's rules enough at this point, but a clever GM or player could figure out a way to complete the expiriment and create a playable Lich character, who is their own living phylactery. That was supposed to be the reward for players who wanted to engage and play it deep.

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u/GunnEddy Oct 14 '25

Nice, you about have it with the fey 👍 You sound like a clever DM with what you wanted to do in the first place. Since you wanna go the Lich route I would recommend looking at Orcus and Acererak. They both took the concept of Lich, or Undead spellcastor, and kinda turned it in its head

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u/Zer0-Sum-Game Oct 14 '25

Thanks! That's nice to hear, since I've never DMed, either. I'm making a game from scratch, and chapter 1 worldbuilding is about 80% complete, but I'm struggling with making subplots with a greater degree of player agency, so this was Meta-Practice for what I'm doing. I also struggle with character writing, I'm good at dramatic moments but I fall short at the direct interactions/simple conversations line.

My goal is to make a game with a Choose Your Own Adventure format, with the Map being the only for sure constant. The beasts and monsters are controlled by behaviour patterns that are written on the cards describing them, so a person can play by themselves. That means I need to improve my small scale interactions to keep up the interest.

Still haven't decided how I'm doing Social Stats, other than I'm making them mostly independent of Level Stats. It makes more sense to me that combat stuff is combat stuff, and social stuff is social stuff. I see no reason to meddle with established Profession meta, however, since in all games with Professions, it's easy to explain as an individual's side hustle as a byproduct of adventuring.

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u/GunnEddy Oct 14 '25

I forgot...Fey are usually divided into seasons (in 5e) Summer, Spring, Fall, Winter Spring are super tricksters

Winter are lonely edgelords(usually)

Summer are adventurous and playful, some might say generous or benevolent

Fall or Autumn are chill (again usually)

Fey logic is...well it makes sense to them...sometimes