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Embers of the Forgotten Kingdom, or “Embers” for short, is our tabletop homage to the Dark Souls franchise. It consists of an interconnected web of characters set in a fictional region designed to be used in tabletop fantasy roleplaying games.
The video game Dark Souls, produced by FromSoftware and first released in 2011, is a pivotal inspiration to this book. In fact, the series has helped inspire a new genre of game, the “Soulsian,” or more commonly known as the “Souls-like.
If you are new to Dark Souls, it is a near apocalyptic western fantasy roleplaying game. You are a nameless undead with a forgotten past, marked by a mysterious curse. Upon being released from your prison, you set forth on a great adventure to fulfil a prophecy, and supposedly, rid yourself and the land of an undying curse. What makes the game unique is its “tough but fair” combat and its method of revealing lore to the player.
Embers is sandbox setting, meaning that there is no specific way to run this book. Rather, the GM can start the players at any location or by introducing any character.
When we first set off on this project, the book of bosses was our first approach. We decided to expand the narrative and lore in order to create more interconnectedness and depth to better match the Soulsian style we were aiming to achieve.
The Realm of Ember is meant to act like a place in stasis, in which the player characters enter and change things in some fashion, for better or worse, or even take advantage of this stagnant realm, depending on their outlook.
To this effect, a lot of important NPCs and even background characters are in some sort of prolonged or stasis existence, be that summer cursed (being physically reborn after death, but coming back more corrupted each time), fae (long-lived beings), or undead (either as a physical undead or as a spirit). Some of these important NPCs are also in a place where their memory of events or their purpose is forgotten in some way, giving the possibility of the player characters interacting with those characters and enabling them to find what has been forgotten. In this way, it’s the actions of the PCs that restores these NPCs, and this would give the PCs an ally or a source of information in Ember.
Shall we meet some of them?
Enraged by the thought, Brennin commanded for a phylactery to be built that could contain his wife Brigid’s soul, and planned to protect his queen within, so that that they could remain by each other’s side forever.
Upon learning of his plan, his daughter, Ceidwen, killed the queen in an attempt to free her soul before it became imprisoned. In his rage and despair at the thought of having to live without his beloved wife, Brennin thrust his own soul into the phylactery instead. If he was forced to live a cursed life, so would the Realm of Ember.
At the end of it all, this is a man who just wanted to live out a life with his family and do what he loved most, giving himself over to architecture and providing for the realm. But fate works in twisted ways to make sure that couldn't happen. A fascinating character right? You'll need to grab the book to find out even more about his lore and backstory.
For Brennin, and all of the major characters outlined in the book, there is information on how to roleplay this character, how you might introduce him into a story and his relationships with other key players.
As has befallen so many of Ember’s most notable personalities, Rhonwen has become a shadow of her former self, in part to the madness that has swept through Ember, and due to the guilt over her own actions in the Endless Summer.
Her mind has broken from the enormity of the fate that awaits Ember, as she has not been able to foresee any future but complete cataclysm. Rhonwen truly wants to restore Ember to its former place, but she is utterly at a loss as to how to bring this about. Some part of her mind clings to hope.
She wanders through the marshes, peering into the ghostly futures she sees there, looking into all the myriad and changing possibilities, for just one stray thread she can use to help Ember.
In his younger years, Brennin was encouraged by Rhonwen to explore his skills in design that led to him becoming an architect. And as those years went on, they have always had a great mutual respect.
Rhonwen pleaded with Brennin not to request she use soul-magic, but the Summer King was blinded by his love for his wife.
This book is packed full of incredible lore, gritty opportunities for players and a huge wealth of options for the game masters amongst you who want to dive into a Soulslike world of despair, but most importantly, exploration!
We think it captures the essence of what makes these types of games we love so much, and allows you to bring it your tables.
It's available in physical and digital copy on our site, so why not grab yourself a copy today and convince your gaming group to try something a little bit different.
