edised wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2026 9:53 pm
A king and father with a brutal belief in strength, survival of the fittest, he wanted to mold the perfect ruler to replace him. He constantly pitted his children against each other in tests. Always making them strive to be the best.
It came as a shock when he found one of his younger sons, one he deemed a faller, had gained a quiet straight. He gained power by being a diplomat, a negotiator, an administrator. He supported instead of competing with his siblings.
The king was enraged, how dare his son think he can gain the crown by trickery.
The mists came as he looked at his dead son blood on his hands.
Now in a domain deep in war for the crown, his children are taring the kingdom apart to be the last one standing. Worst everyone believes he is dead not naming a successor, his children believe a sibling killed their beloved brother.
it seems very similar to Ravenloft's alreasy existing Japan's expy.
This domain idea does share a lot with Rokushima Taiyoo.
Then again, I don't think I've ever read someone saying they liked Rokushima Taiyoo in its canon form. There's plenty of room for edised or someone else to do a reworking here.
I have made three darklords for a cluster I am making. There will be more details on them later but in short:
(Notice: I fed several pages of material to ChatGPT and I give you an AI-generated synopsis. The darklords are of my creation, their history, curse and all. But the synopsis of the much larger material is not mine)
Count Severin Dravetz
Severin Dravetz was born heir to a respectable but provincial county and spent his youth despising it. Handsome, clever, and exquisitely mannered, he fled to the royal court, where he became indispensable to a weak-willed, heavy-drinking king. Severin seduced where seduction was useful, betrayed friends once they had served their purpose, ruined rivals with whispered scandals, and turned co-conspirators against one another until he alone stood poised above them. At last he murdered the king and destroyed the royal heirs, intending to take the crown for himself. The Mists intervened first. Severin awoke in Kresnovar, trapped forever as lord of the backwater he had abandoned. His curse is exquisitely cruel: beauty survives around him, but prestige does not. Every attempt at fashion, refinement, magnificence, or cultivated splendor somehow fails, leaving him eternally mistaken for the provincial he most despises.
Sir Radovan Kelemen
Radovan Kelemen was the fifth son of a noble family and as such, he received education instead of land. Brilliant in genealogy, inheritance law, forgery, necromancy, illusion, and intrigue, he became convinced that birth order had cheated him of what lesser men possessed by accident. He built a criminal empire, altered bloodlines on paper, destroyed reputations, arranged deaths, and slowly hollowed out his own family’s succession. His final crime took place in their ancestral crypt, where he raised the dead as a grotesque tribunal and forced them to proclaim him rightful heir. Even then, his father’s corpse would call him only “my fifth son.” Radovan murdered the surviving heirs and tried again. The Mists took him. In Vardosza he became wealthy, feared, influential, and respected— but he was dropped from noble to a gentry, cursed to never be landed. He can manufacture legitimacy for others, yet every path to rank collapses when he reaches for it himself.
Viktor Mrazek
Viktor Mrazek was fundamentally a bully obsessed with visible superiority. He served Radovan as a violent lieutenant: part warrior, part occult dabbler, always hungry for enchanted armor, weapons, spells, and relics that could make him stronger, harder to wound, and more terrifying to behold. During Radovan’s massacre in the ancestral crypt, Viktor discovered the perfect conditions for a forbidden rite—noble blood spilled nearby, a place steeped in death, and betrayal as its final ingredient. Supposedly guarding the entrance, he instead murdered his own men and consumed their flesh as part of the ritual. For a few glorious minutes he became nearly unstoppable and resolved to kill Radovan next. Then the Mists came. Viktor emerged as an oni (Ogre Mage) Darklord. He does not hate being a monster. What torments him is that recognition itself destroys his strength: the more civilized witnesses watch him fight, the more his power fails, until even common peasants could humiliate and kill him. He can be a terrifying monster to a handful but a mob of 30 peasants would render him practically helpless.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia My DMGuild work!
edised wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:15 pm
A fighter in pursuit of martial prowess and to exercise weaknesses (like feelings of guilt or doubt) he removes his heart to become invincible. And proceeds to kill his superiors. He is now cursed to not feel much of anything except physical pain. And he remembers what he was like before
edised wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2026 9:53 pm
A king and father with a brutal belief in strength, survival of the fittest, he wanted to mold the perfect ruler to replace him. He constantly pitted his children against each other in tests. Always making them strive to be the best.
It came as a shock when he found one of his younger sons, one he deemed a faller, had gained a quiet straight. He gained power by being a diplomat, a negotiator, an administrator. He supported instead of competing with his siblings.
The king was enraged, how dare his son think he can gain the crown by trickery.
The mists came as he looked at his dead son blood on his hands.
Now in a domain deep in war for the crown, his children are taring the kingdom apart to be the last one standing. Worst everyone believes he is dead not naming a successor, his children believe a sibling killed their beloved brother.
it seems very similar to Ravenloft's alreasy existing Japan's expy.
Oh right, did he kill one of his children? Any ideas how to make it different?
edised wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2026 2:09 pm
Oh right, did he kill one of his children? Any ideas how to make it different?
I don't believe so, although two of his six children have died in the civil war which followed his death.
To differentiate your domain, add details which do not echo Rokushima Taiyoo. Are there any sisters, for example? If so, how do they fit in? What's the landscape of the domain like? The cultural level? I'm not suggesting that you need to write a whole gazetteer including Who's Doomed and Sites of Interest. Just develop some flavor to spice up the bare bones of your proposal.
Two more thoughts:
1. Someone is always going to say, "That's like such-and-such that came before."
2. You don't have to let that discourage you from doing something cool anyway.
IanFordam wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2026 7:48 pm
Two more thoughts:
1. Someone is always going to say, "That's like such-and-such that came before."
2. You don't have to let that discourage you from doing something cool anyway.
Almost everything has been done a minimum of twice under the son.
People who get balled up trying to come up with something "original" #sic end up doing some weird (in a bad way), unreadably written fanfic of some hyper-niche isekai (or reverse isekai) anime with offensively unimaginative titles.
What I'm trying to add is "don't focus on being original, focus on making your story/idea"
edised wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2026 2:09 pm
Oh right, did he kill one of his children? Any ideas how to make it different?
I don't believe so, although two of his six children have died in the civil war which followed his death.
To differentiate your domain, add details which do not echo Rokushima Taiyoo. Are there any sisters, for example? If so, how do they fit in? What's the landscape of the domain like? The cultural level? I'm not suggesting that you need to write a whole gazetteer including Who's Doomed and Sites of Interest. Just develop some flavor to spice up the bare bones of your proposal.
Two more thoughts:
1. Someone is always going to say, "That's like such-and-such that came before."
2. You don't have to let that discourage you from doing something cool anyway.
It was not my intention to discourage Edised and I apologized if it sounded critical. I agree that there is plenty of space to differenziate.
Mistmaster wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2026 2:55 am
It was not my intention to discourage Edised and I apologized if it sounded critical. I agree that there is plenty of space to differenziate.
I truly didn't think that was your intention. Having been the guy who's said "That's been done before," myself though, I thought it warranted explanation that we're trying to help, not hinder.
EDITED: To emphasize that *I* have been that guy before. I'm not pointing any fingers that shouldn't get pointed right back at me.
Last edited by IanFordam on Tue Sep 01, 2026 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Baron Von Stanton wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2026 8:34 pm
Almost everything has been done a minimum of twice under the son.
People who get balled up trying to come up with something "original" #sic end up doing some weird (in a bad way), unreadably written fanfic of some hyper-niche isekai (or reverse isekai) anime with offensively unimaginative titles.
What I'm trying to add is "don't focus on being original, focus on making your story/idea"
edised wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2026 2:09 pm
Oh right, did he kill one of his children? Any ideas how to make it different?
I don't believe so, although two of his six children have died in the civil war which followed his death.
To differentiate your domain, add details which do not echo Rokushima Taiyoo. Are there any sisters, for example? If so, how do they fit in? What's the landscape of the domain like? The cultural level? I'm not suggesting that you need to write a whole gazetteer including Who's Doomed and Sites of Interest. Just develop some flavor to spice up the bare bones of your proposal.
Two more thoughts:
1. Someone is always going to say, "That's like such-and-such that came before."
2. You don't have to let that discourage you from doing something cool anyway.
Thank you, thare are sisters, also the dark lords children have become inhuman, possibly cursed and the land may also have foreign invaders as well. The king had seven children, 4 sons 3 daughters. Now six
1.Brock, the most martial and strong, he is straight forward personality. Some see him as a brute. he excels at combat and training, but not the best at tactics like some siblings, he is by no means stupid. He also has a temper.
2.Iago, he thinks he is clever, and maybe he is, but he is also a sneak and liar. He excels at espionage and stealth and knows the worth of a secret. This habit has not won him any favor in his family, he is a canny deal maker.
3.Iana the tactical and strategic one, she has a logical and organized mind, and excels at war games and logistics, they have an ego that makes difficult to work with and sometimes struggle with the unexpected. Can come off as seeing all as pieces on a board.
4.Polus the engineer and inventor, gifted with wonderful mind, there and interest in architecture was not nurtured, there mind was turned to machines of progress and war, but out shined by their sibling physical abilities.Eccentric and at times erratic but brilliant, they have manic energy.
5.Andri piety and believing, good at combat and strategy, they are rather charismatic. They found a love for theology, not overly approved by their father, they pursued law as well. They won over many clerics, thare true belief. But the conflict in the family hardened them, becoming dogmatic and shelf righteous and zealous.
6.
