Advancement as Currency

One of the defining features of Bloodborne (and all of the games by FromSoftware) is the idea that all character growth in the form of personal statistic increases and equipment upgrades come from the same source of currency. In this game they are called "blood echoes" and the tension created when deciding whether to buy extra survival items or to invest in a small increase in player growth makes the game incredibly exciting.

I think this tension is easily mimicked in a tabletop game like Dungeons and Dragons by replacing experience points with a cash transaction. Now the price of increasing a D&D's character level would have to stay low in order to be in line with the price of material goods. Otherwise the price of material goods would have to increase exponentially to be contend with the incredibly high XP-to-level numbers, but that's just insane and far too much math.

Charts on this to come soon. Preferably when I have time to create an Adobe Illustrator file.

Returning to Yharnam

Recently I began playing the Bloodborne again. Returning to the cursed city of Yharnam in search of a cure to the mysterious plague that has gripped its citizens has made me realize how much I love this game. Traversing the dangerous and monster-infested streets to slowly unravel how a city can become so wretched through the layered story-telling is just so rewarding and immersive I always want to come back. And I did. This might be a series about how Bloodborne sticks in my cranium and how to game-ify those concepts I can identify into something useable at my D&D table. Here's to hoping I can keep a schedule!