Nature of Corruption

A Corrupted Rat

Corruption as a Concept

Corruption in Of Hearth & the Harrowing is a magical force that mutates that which it infects. It is very real, not just a moral stance on the morality of a being, but a physical and magical manifestation of a malevolent force.

I've always been fascinated with idea of malevolence turned to reality, that the corruption in one's self could manifest in a world that contains magic, into a blight that could spread if unchecked.

Media Similarities

Examples of unchecked corruption as a force can be seen in all sorts of media. The most popular example is the zombie media. Its always been a stand in for the evils of consumerism, the degeneration of society, and other so forth.

In the same way that a zombie that bites someone gives them a zombie disease, I love having a malevolent force that is in and of itself dangerous, thus the idea that Corruptors and the Corrupted spread corruption through the realm in the game, much like zombies or vampires can spread their disease.

Corruption Gives Power

The idea that power corrupts is as old as time, and no matter the side of the political spectrum you sit on, you can easily point to examples on the side of the spectrum and talk about how the power those politicians got corrupted them, if they were not already corrupt.

But what too if the inverse were true? What if corruption gave power. Thus it is in Of Hearth & the Harrowing, corruption as a force gives powers to those it infects. We have had games that explored these thoughts in the past, such as Ravenloft or Vampire the Masquerade (a pair of games that were always very close to my own rotten heart). And it was using those ideas as inspiration that drove me to wrote the system of power and corruption that drives the central conflict in the game.

I've always loved flawed heroes. The redemption arc of a flawed or fallen hero is my favorite story. If I ever do end up writing an Of Hearth & the Harrowing fiction, you can bet it will feature a fallen hero going through a redemption arc, even if they don't really want to.

Mechanics Follow Fiction

It is super important for mechanics to follow fiction, so making a system where players can utilize the corruption to use powers but doing so is a choice that consequences is super important to how I perceive the game.

To do this, the game uses 3 pools: Health, Hope, and Ruin, and adds an additional characteristic to the standard BRP ones of STR, DEX, CON, POW, INT, and CHA, that of Corruption (COR). You gain Ruin for interacting with corrupted things, doing corrupted acts, spending time in corrupted places, or being hit by corrupted creatures. If your Ruin gets too high then you risk your COR going up!

If your COR ever gets higher than your POW or your CON, you become a corrupted and lose control of your character as they turn fully to the dark side. Luckily COR rising is not irreversible, you can lower it again by doing powerful acts of atonement, powerful blessings, or even by having it cut out.

But Ruin can be useful. Like Hope and Health it can be used as a resource, but that way is dangerous, become to reliant on it and you can see your COR go up.

Conclusion

By having a mechanic that is integral both to the game and the setting it allows for interesting roleplay, a horrific enemy to face, and interesting mechanics to interact with the evil that surrounds you and the corruption that tempts your character. That is when you know a mechanic works, when its story and its gameplay work so well together.