I'm currently building a campaign arc and could use your help nailing down a mechanic that ties into a big narrative twist.
The Setup:
The players are a band of sellswords hired by a noble and virtuous king to rid his land of dark curses plaguing the realm—curses allegedly cast by an evil sorceress. They’ll spend the campaign removing these blights, which seem to be her doing.
The twist? The king is actually the true villain—an ancient abomination whose mother (the "evil" sorceress) once split all his evil into seven entities (his “children”), each embodying one of the seven deadly sins. She cursed the land to keep him weak and scattered his sins to prevent his full rebirth.
When the players succeed in their quest, all his “children” return to him, restoring his true form. Surprise: they’ve been helping the big bad ascend the whole time.
The Mechanic I Need Help With:
Here’s where I’m stuck: I want to track each player’s engagement in the seven deadly sins throughout the campaign (e.g., unnecessary violence = wrath, looting innocents = greed, etc.), and during the final boss fight, those sins come back to haunt them—literally or mechanically.
Think of it like a "belated punishment" system. Actions they thought were minor or justified now empower the BBEG or debuff them in meaningful, personalized ways.
What I'm Looking For:
Mechanics or ideas for how to track the sins over time without being too intrusive.
Suggestions for how the sins could manifest in the final encounter (e.g., shadows of their past actions, sin-aspected lair effects, personal debuffs, etc.).
Has anyone run a “you’ve been judged” or karma-based boss mechanic like this? What worked, what didn’t?
Ideas for how to hint at this system throughout the campaign without tipping my hand too early.
I want this to feel earned, not like a gotcha moment. Ideally, the players have a slow, growing dread that their choices may have consequences—but don't realize just how deep it runs until the final confrontation.
Would love your thoughts or any resources you’ve seen that lean into this kind of delayed consequence storytelling. Thanks in advance!
Actually I would be very overt and transparent on the collection. Just not on why you are doing this. (unless you state (and give) it is for rewards)
Before every session, during a recap phase, just blatantly state for every character the transgressions. e.g. Player A you did "X" and "Y". Get an affirmative or a correction. Player B, you did ....
If you start immediately, any suspicion will soon be forgotten, particularly if there is no consequence. Heck, see if you can even give them some sort of a reward. I assume after a few sessions, let them spout their deeds with out you starting to recite it. If you can get them to recite it to you, there is no gotcha moment, as they are showing that they are willing participants. If they are reluctant, it follows that they are getting a feeling of dread. If they are feeling guilty, then they will probably stop the transgressions. But again, this is no gotcha and the PCs are willing participants.
You might check out the piety mechanic in Theros. Basically if you do something that either follows a god’s tenets, or goes against them, you gain or lose piety points. Then certain levels (3 points, 10, 25 and 50) you get certain benefits. That might help as a general framework. Probably, I’d just end up tracking it in an excel sheet, seems like a pretty straightforward chart.
But I don’t know if I’d keep it as a surprise or even hint. I’d be explicit. As a player, being blindsided isn’t very fun. Maybe do something like it manifests during the fight with the first “sin.” Letting players understand their actions have consequences means they get to make choices, which keeps things more interesting. Dumping it all on them at once at the end as a surprise feels crappy. What happens if a character dies, say, 3 sessions from the final fight? Someone rolls up a new character, and now that one comes in with a clean slate and has basically an advantage for not having been in the campaign as long. Or do you start saying, what kinds of awful things do you think this new character has done? And I’d also try and include some kind of mechanic where they can atone.
Definitely going to check out the piety system, thx!!
Don't think i was explicit enough in my post about the hints. I'm planning that every time they commit a sin they see a shimmer that is associated with the object/sin the committed (red flash from sword when stricken in wrath). This shimmer becomes stronger based on their perception stats and how many times they have committed that sin. Love the idea of atonement, that could weaken the shimmer or shimmer golden or something.
But i guess what it comes down to is that they will have definitely realized that there is something bad going on with it, they just don't know the consequence yet.
I'm not planning on fudging but the world will allow for resurrections, this could actually be a good opportunity to highlight the need for atonement.
Hey fellow DMs,
I'm currently building a campaign arc and could use your help nailing down a mechanic that ties into a big narrative twist.
The Setup:
The players are a band of sellswords hired by a noble and virtuous king to rid his land of dark curses plaguing the realm—curses allegedly cast by an evil sorceress. They’ll spend the campaign removing these blights, which seem to be her doing.
The twist? The king is actually the true villain—an ancient abomination whose mother (the "evil" sorceress) once split all his evil into seven entities (his “children”), each embodying one of the seven deadly sins. She cursed the land to keep him weak and scattered his sins to prevent his full rebirth.
When the players succeed in their quest, all his “children” return to him, restoring his true form. Surprise: they’ve been helping the big bad ascend the whole time.
The Mechanic I Need Help With:
Here’s where I’m stuck: I want to track each player’s engagement in the seven deadly sins throughout the campaign (e.g., unnecessary violence = wrath, looting innocents = greed, etc.), and during the final boss fight, those sins come back to haunt them—literally or mechanically.
Think of it like a "belated punishment" system. Actions they thought were minor or justified now empower the BBEG or debuff them in meaningful, personalized ways.
What I'm Looking For:
Mechanics or ideas for how to track the sins over time without being too intrusive.
Suggestions for how the sins could manifest in the final encounter (e.g., shadows of their past actions, sin-aspected lair effects, personal debuffs, etc.).
Has anyone run a “you’ve been judged” or karma-based boss mechanic like this? What worked, what didn’t?
Ideas for how to hint at this system throughout the campaign without tipping my hand too early.
I want this to feel earned, not like a gotcha moment. Ideally, the players have a slow, growing dread that their choices may have consequences—but don't realize just how deep it runs until the final confrontation.
Would love your thoughts or any resources you’ve seen that lean into this kind of delayed consequence storytelling. Thanks in advance!
Actually I would be very overt and transparent on the collection. Just not on why you are doing this. (unless you state (and give) it is for rewards)
Before every session, during a recap phase, just blatantly state for every character the transgressions. e.g. Player A you did "X" and "Y". Get an affirmative or a correction. Player B, you did ....
If you start immediately, any suspicion will soon be forgotten, particularly if there is no consequence. Heck, see if you can even give them some sort of a reward. I assume after a few sessions, let them spout their deeds with out you starting to recite it. If you can get them to recite it to you, there is no gotcha moment, as they are showing that they are willing participants. If they are reluctant, it follows that they are getting a feeling of dread. If they are feeling guilty, then they will probably stop the transgressions. But again, this is no gotcha and the PCs are willing participants.
You might check out the piety mechanic in Theros. Basically if you do something that either follows a god’s tenets, or goes against them, you gain or lose piety points. Then certain levels (3 points, 10, 25 and 50) you get certain benefits. That might help as a general framework. Probably, I’d just end up tracking it in an excel sheet, seems like a pretty straightforward chart.
But I don’t know if I’d keep it as a surprise or even hint. I’d be explicit. As a player, being blindsided isn’t very fun. Maybe do something like it manifests during the fight with the first “sin.” Letting players understand their actions have consequences means they get to make choices, which keeps things more interesting. Dumping it all on them at once at the end as a surprise feels crappy.
What happens if a character dies, say, 3 sessions from the final fight? Someone rolls up a new character, and now that one comes in with a clean slate and has basically an advantage for not having been in the campaign as long. Or do you start saying, what kinds of awful things do you think this new character has done?
And I’d also try and include some kind of mechanic where they can atone.
Definitely going to check out the piety system, thx!!
Don't think i was explicit enough in my post about the hints. I'm planning that every time they commit a sin they see a shimmer that is associated with the object/sin the committed (red flash from sword when stricken in wrath). This shimmer becomes stronger based on their perception stats and how many times they have committed that sin. Love the idea of atonement, that could weaken the shimmer or shimmer golden or something.
But i guess what it comes down to is that they will have definitely realized that there is something bad going on with it, they just don't know the consequence yet.
I'm not planning on fudging but the world will allow for resurrections, this could actually be a good opportunity to highlight the need for atonement.