Scathe RPG
Dark Souls meets Pathfinder in this new tabletop RPG system.
Why Scathe?
In 2023, Wizards of the Coast attempted to completely redact the OGL and pluck revenue from the hardworking creative community that has kept Dungeons and Dragons relevant for years. While they have since recanted this and have been scrambling to save their brand, many creators—including myself—are done with them. It isn’t worth the risk, and the brand is so tainted that working with it is likely to be more harmful than beneficial to a product.
From the years of 2021-2022, I had been working on a setting guide for the homebrewed world that my 4-5 year D&D campaign had been using. A lot of work had gone into creating this, and I was excited to put it out there. With the behavior shown by WotC and their parent company Hasbro, I made the difficult decision to create my own Tabletop Roleplaying Game system completely from scratch, which would then include my setting guide.
Enter the Scathe RPG.
So… Where Is It?
I have not yet uploaded any documents for the Scathe RPG to the public, but I will! My hope is to make a .PDF that is freely available to everyone once it is ready, and to then have a physical book you can purchase if you so desire. I am still working to finish fleshing out player options, and some of the formatting is proving challenging. I am also facing the challenge of making this available for Foundry VTT, which I know is possible, but I am not a programmer by any means, so it is going to take a great deal of time to have something like this made.
I don’t want to make promises that I cannot keep, but I am currently hoping to have v1.0 available for everyone sometime in 2025. It’s a big project, but I’m committed and I am really pushing through it.
What Sets it Apart?
Ever since I started running my first D&D campaign from 2018-2019, I have heavily homebrewed it, with more homebrew coming. I believe it is Matt Colville who has mentioned that every DM is a budding game designer. This is certainly true for me, as I kept finding aspects of the game that could be improved explicitly for my table.
These homebrew changes, as well as many things I’d always wanted to do but was unable to do as a result of D&D’s limitations, all served as the beginning stages of the Scathe RPG.
What makes Scathe different from other RPG systems is its intense focus on hyper-realism and player agency. A lot of work has gone into balancing the game in a way that allows players to freely become whatever and whoever they want to be, with few guardrails and barriers in place. Many abilities are available to anyone, you can build what you want, and you can pursue what you want to be. However powerful you become, though, there will always be someone stronger out there.
Many of my homebrewed elements also stem from my love of the Soulsborne genre (Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Sekiro, etc). So, while Scathe will allow you to do virtually anything you want, you will still be facing seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Can I Help?
Yes!
One of the best ways to help is simply going to be playtesting and providing me with feedback on the system. That won’t be possible until I publish Scathe v1.0 for everyone to use, but as soon as that’s available I am really excited to receive feedback.
If you want to help me out before it is published, one of my biggest needs right now is a programmer—ideally someone who is familiar with or who can write scripts for Foundry VTT (I believe it relies on Java and CSS). I’m open to hiring someone for the work this will entail, so if you are interested in working with me on this, feel free to contact me (tlbainter@gmail.com).
Finally, if you want to throw some money my way, that does help to justify the insane amount of time I’m spending on this project. In addition to my 50-hour/week day job, I am spending a good 6-8 hours per day pushing through the creation of this system, which I’m making entirely on my own. The best way to donate to me is through Ko-Fi, and I greatly appreciate every cent!
FAQ
Is this like D&D or Pathfinder?
“Both and neither. While my history is in D&D and Pathfinder, Scathe has evolved far beyond that and I would be hard pressed to find a comparable tabletop system at this time. While you might see some familiar elements like skills and attributes, the utilization of those elements is vastly different.”
Why AI art?
“AI Art is 100% a placeholder to help me with layouts and such. At this point, I have spent about $8k of my own money on real art for both the book and the upcoming actual play series my friends and I are making.”
How will this be licensed?
“I have yet to decide how I will license this; I am torn between the ORC License and just going straight-up CC-BY.”
What’s in store?