Line #22 TabletopGame/KingdomDeath


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingdom_death.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:And that's just the base game]]
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4	-> "Somewhere in the place of stone faces, nameless men stand together. They have nothing but a need to survive and a lantern to light their struggle."
5	-> -- '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNLc8dHv0Ac kingdomdeathgame]]'''
6
7	A horror universe created by Adam Poots found [[http://kingdomdeath.com/ here]]. It is a hellish universe cloaked in utter darkness, where humans find themselves at the bottom of a vast, monstrous food chain. There's a very good chance that most humans will find themselves brutally murdered, [[SwallowedWhole devoured whole]], or just plain dead for other reasons. Originally set to be released as a tabletop game of notable heroes fighting for the survival of the human race, it has since expanded into a line of miniatures, [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/poots/kingdom-death-monster?ref=live a boss rush]] TabletopGame featuring normal humans, and a potential hero style RPG. Known particularly for a set of monsters that could be called nightmare fuel, found [[http://i.imgur.com/bHclUZF.jpg here]], [[http://i.imgur.com/2SHiZAi.png here]], and [[http://i.imgur.com/6ctHowz.png here]].
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9	Originally a series of boutique collectors' miniatures, ''Kingdom Death: Monster'' launched its Kickstarter campaign on November 2012 with a goal of $35,000 and a release date targeted at November 2013. It was funded on January 2013 after having raised over $2 million which, at the time of its funding, made it the most funded tabletop game on the site. The game vastly increased in size and scope after having reached all its stretch goals, leading to a delay in the project. The new release date was in Q3 2014 where it was again delayed. Poots has provided steady updates on the project's progress. The base game was finally released to Kickstarter backers at the end of Q3 2015. The expansions started shipping out in Q1 2016.
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11	In November 2016, a second Kickstarter for the 1.5 version of the game was launched. It smashed the funding level of the first campaign within hours, and at the end of its first day had amassed more than double that amount, over $4 million. It ended in early January 2017 and was the most funded game Kickstarter of all time until it was overtaken by ''[[TabletopGame/{{Gloomhaven}} Frosthaven]]'' in May 2020, and at the time the fourth overall with over $12 million. The major expansion, called "The Gambler's Chest", was eventually shipped out to backers in Q4 2023.
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13	The game itself has been described to be a boss game where players kill bosses for resources to make weapons and gear to fight bigger monsters. This mechanic makes it similar to ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' or ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter''.
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15	----
16	!!Kingdom Death: Monster contains examples of:
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18	* AbortedArc: The Lantern Festival expansion, as the original idea behind it would have taken the scope and power level of the game too far for Poots' taste, turning settlements into towns and pitting survivors against two PhysicalGod {{Humanoid Abomination}}s ([[MonsterLord the King]] and its master, [[RealityWarper the]] [[RewritingReality Scribe]]). WordOfGod is that the miniatures intended for it will be reused in one or more unspecified future projects. The King has since been confirmed to be part of the Gambler's Chest expansion.
19	** Both the King and the Lantern Festival itself have become integrated parts of the People of the Dream Keeper campaign introduced in the Gambler's Chest Expansion. The Lantern Festival has received a change into being a story event instead of a full expansion of its own, and the King has been changed from an endboss monster to a powerful quarry.
20	* ActionSurvivor: The survivors if they last until the endgame. Which most [[AnyoneCanDie do not]].
21	* AmazonBrigade: The order of White Speakers is exclusively composed of badass [[MagicKnight spellcasting warriors]] who happen to be women. There used to be male White Speakers but... it ended badly.
22	* AmbiguouslyHuman:
23	** The Man Hunter seems like he could be somewhat human, although his power, size and toughness call this into question. Subverted by most other questionably human characters, usually being revealed as monstrous (for example, the {{Satan}} twins' [[OneWingedAngel true form]], the Ivory Dragon, which is clearly an {{homage}} to the works of Creator/DanteAlighieri, Creator/HieronymusBosch and Creator/FranciscoDeGoya), or more rarely all too human (the Saviors' eldritch powers are too much for a mere mortal's frame, and as such are consumed by them, prematurely aging them and ultimately destroying them long before their time, even by Kingdom Death standards).
24	** Even the regular human characters can be seen as this as you start campaigns already as a fully developed adult. There is a lot of stone imagery to imply that humans are artifically created.
25	* AncientOrderOfProtectors: The order of the Twilight Knights guard what precious little history humanity has managed to gather. White Speakers may also qualify. The Black Knights tried to become this but ultimately failed.
26	* AnimalisticAbomination: Most non-humanoid monsters have the superficial look of one or more real-life beasts, going from "mostly the same, but with a few disturbing traits" (the White Lion's humanlike front paws and sharklike teeth, the Screaming Antelope's human-toothed maw running down its torso) to "even Creator/HieronymusBosch would wonder what the hell's wrong with whoever thought this up" (the Gorm's and Frogdog's... everything). Of course, they tend to have true natures and abilities that are far removed from any Earth equivalents...
27	* AntifrustrationFeatures: One of the few generous aspect of the game is that equipment and items are not lost unless they have the 'Irreplaceable' keyword or it is broken in some way. No matter how gruesomely your survivors were killed, whatever they took with them is returned to the settlement.
28	* AnyoneCanDie: The survivors usually do not survive for very long.
29	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: There are a lot of monsters that are barely larger than the survivors. Then there are monsters that absolutely dwarf them.
30	* BadassAbnormal: The Saviours. They are born with magical powers that prevent them from [[BlessedWithSuck leading normal lives]]. Almost all [[CastFromLifespan die young]]. But they're also supernaturally equipped to deal with all the monsters in the setting.
31	* BadassNormal: The survivors. It's kind of a requirement if one's reaction to a gigantic Lion with a human face and a huge tentacle for a chin is to hunt it down and kill it. Twilight Knights also qualify; humans with little else than a magic sword and cape out to save humanity.
32	* BeastWithAHumanFace: The Gorm, Lion God, and Spidicules. The Phoenix has one ''inside its bird-like mouth'', while the Dragon King has one inside its chest. The upcoming expansions Frogdog, Nightmare Ram and Screaming God also have human(ish) faces on animalistic bodies. In all cases this makes the monsters more creepy/horrifying.
33	** The Smog Singers introduced in the Gambler's Chest Expansion look like giant bloated shrimp with human arms and faces.
34	* BigCreepyCrawlies: The monster Spidicules is a cross between a spider, a human, and an anglerfish. The Dung Beetle Knight evolved a humanoid form as camouflage of sorts, but is still an insect-like monster (its "armor" is actually its chitinous carapace) that stands taller than a human adult. And then there's the upcoming [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Oblivion]] [[PuppeteerParasite Mos]][[ParasiteZombie qui]][[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong to]]...
35	* TheBlacksmith: The creature known as the Forge God, and likely its Forge Priest servant(s).
36	** The recently introduced Cyclops Knight is one as well; if the vast queue of prospective clients stretching to the horizon outside his workshop is any indication, he may even be an UltimateBlacksmith.[[spoiler:A few hunt events allow the survivors to meet him, and each time they have a chance to sacrifice something in exchange for powerful steel weapons or the devastating Thunder Maul.]]
37	* BlessedWithSuck / CursedWithAwesome: The Saviors are gifted with incredible powers, but those same powers come at the cost of a drastically reduced lifespan as they prematurely age decades at a time, until they simply cease to be.
38	** Whoever is stuck with the Kingsmen's DyingCurse is condemned to slowly and horrifically transform into one, body part by body part... But until the process is complete, the survivor gets a boost to his defenses on more and more of their body.
39	** Some mental disorders (or the right combination of disorders) can give advantages that balance or surpass their drawbacks.
40	* BodyHorror: The monsters have all sorts of ''human'' appendages sticking out of them at arbitrary angles. Several horrific effects can also be inflicted on survivors, like the Spidicules turning them into its new lure, or being afflicted by [[KillerRabbit Cancer Pigeons]].
41	* BossGame: The goal is to kill monsters to make armor and weapons to secure humanity's survival. The problem is that the monsters aren't exactly tiny or easy. Even the easiest one, the White Lion, can very quickly turn a survivor into a bag of bones.
42	* BreastPlate: Almost every single one of the female armors. Averted by the Green Knight Armor.
43	* TheButcher: A [[RecurringBoss nemesis enemy]] who WasOnceAMan, but is now driven to slaughter anyone it comes across.
44	* CastFromHitPoints: One of the unique game mechanics for Monster. The monster's attack deck is also its hp deck and player attacks remove its cards from the game (monster attacks just put cards in a discard pile that is shuffled when the deck is empty). Once it runs out of cards, the monster is dead. Careful manipulation by the players can make sure the most dangerous attacks are taken out first.
45	* CallASmeerpARabbit: The Screaming Antelope kind of looks like an antelope, if one disregards the gigantic maw on its belly and the numerous human hands protruding from its flesh.
46	** The Frog-Dog is very obviously neither.
47	* CatsAreMean: The White Lion and the Lion God.
48	* CherryTapping: There are rules for unarmed combat, with fists and teeth being an always available weapon that any living survivor can use. Definitely a case of MagikarpPower, as unarmed mastery gives everyone in the settlement nigh-immunity to knockdown, its luck bonus makes it invaluable to certain crit builds and many fighting arts and at least one armor set provide bonuses to it.
49	* TheChosenOne: Saviours are born with all sorts of powers that one wouldn't find in a normal human. [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne They tend to live short violent lives, age quicker, and burn out.]]
50	* CoOpMultiplayer: A game for 1-6 players. Most videos released show 4 survivors in a hunting party.
51	* CommonPlaceRare: Founding Stones are mediocre melee weapons that possess an exceptional ability of being a one-off throwing weapon with an automatic hit and critical damage with unlimited range. This makes them invaluable for being able to reliably trigger critical effects, remove powerful AI cards, or even instantly kill a target under the right circumstances. Each of the starting survivors comes equipped with one, and you will be hard pressed to find more. And yes, what we're talking about are ''random stones that splintered from the ground.''
52	* TheCorruption: [[spoiler:Killing a Kingsman turns one of the survivors' body into the armor of a Kingsman, complete with [[{{Squick}} graphic description]]]] [[https://i.yuki.la/tg/1463585384051.jpg and picture]].
53	* CosmicHorrorStory: On top of the {{Crapsack\|World}} DeathWorld filled with monstrous, madness-inducing horrors where humans are literally at the bottom of the food chain, the fluff hints at one or several unknowable, unkillable entities who created the world and everything in it for completely unknown reasons. Even managing to defeat the endgame FinalBoss of a given campaign is likely to be a PyrrhicVictory at best. In fact, even the monsters themselves, despite usually being some shade of EldritchAbomination, aren't immune to being hit by this, the intelligent ones especially - the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragon King]], for example, is the LastOfItsKind, and explicitely angsts over this and the fear of ultimately being forgotten, showing it to be as insignificant as the human chattel it lords over.
54	* CrapsackWorld: The setting is bleak. Humans are born into a world of darkness with no history, culture, or in some cases freedom. They're regularly used as food and chattel slaves to a number of monstrous creatures. Even if they do survive the monsters, there's usually only insanity waiting. On top of all of this, there's a mechanic that can make the settlement starve. Even the monsters aren't immune to the bleakness, as described in CosmicHorrorStory above.
55	* CreatorCameo: Series creators Adam and Anna Poots have created optional miniatures in their image.
56	* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted. Survivors and monsters have unique hit locations that can cause any number of different effects on gameplay if damaged.
57	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: EatenAlive, cooked alive, butchered by armored men, SwallowedWhole, burnt alive and then driven into exile. There's probably a smaller list of mundane ways to die.
58	* DeathWorld: The "world" is a seemingly endless plane of stone faces, shrouded in darkness that is only pierced by the light of the lanterns. Within the darkness, creatures lurk that consider humans the lowest part of the food chain - and which are in turn the main source of crafting materials, so the humans actually need to go out and ''hunt'' them.
59	* DeathByChildBirth: Can happen if the female player who rolled 2-3 on intimacy roll with no new population (baby died too) and side effect of [[DespairEventHorizon a point in insanity]] for the male partner.
60	* {{Determinator}}: The survivors. In a world where it's much much easier to die they've chosen to try and eke out an existence.
61	* DiabolusExMachina: At the end of the first expansion, [[spoiler:the Gold Smoke Knight explodes and suffocates everyone in your settlement to death.]] Many of the other {{Downer Ending}}s have clever foreshadowing, but this one not so much.
62	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: In the Dung Beetle Knight expansion, there is a possible story event that an aging Dung Beetle Knight befriended a young survivor and will gift him extra strength and [[TheLastDance ask the survivor]] to [[SuicideByCop kill him if they ever meet again]].
63	* [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Did You Just Make Clothes Out Of Cthulhu]]: Really any of the monsters, but especially the Watcher who is the final boss of the core game. You get his armor in the Lantern Festival, which then allows you to punch out the King and the Scribe.
64	** While the above mentioned Lantern Festival no longer exists, The King has become a powerful quarry monster who can be repeatedly killed and farmed for parts to make armor and weapons of his own.
65	* DungeonBasedEconomy: The main resources in the game are the hides, bones, organs and treasure of the monsters. To get those, hunting parties need to be sent out into the darkness.
66	* EldritchAbomination: All of the monsters have various hands, faces, and other appendages strewn about almost haphazardly. It gives the monsters a very unique feel. To say nothing of the weird powers and behavior of most of them.
67	* EldritchLocation: The Lonely Tree has some strange interactions with the White Lion and the Phoenix. The setting as a whole may also count, due to its generalized creepy weirdness.
68	* EnfantTerrible: The Sunstalker baby which has a cadre of human handlers that it may eat.
69	* EquipmentBasedProgression: The point of the game is to kill monsters, take their parts for equipment, then kill bigger monsters.
70	* EverythingIsTryingToKillYou: Both straight and inverted. Nearly everything is trying to kill the survivors. But the survivors can turn the tables by hunting them down and killing them first (if they don't get killed by a random hunt event first, like getting EatenAlive by mouths opening from the ground).
71	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Most survivors meet horrible early deaths. With a lot of work, planning, and experience, it's possible to get your settlement to defeat the FinalBoss. [[spoiler: In most campaigns, this results in an even ''worse'' fate.]]
72	* {{Fanservice}}: Pinup miniatures are offered as separate sets for the fun of it and not usually for gameplay purposes.
73	* FinalBoss: The Watcher in the core game. The Dragon King and Sunstalker in their eponymous expansions, The King and Scribe in the Lantern Festival expansion had it not been canceled. The 1.5 version brings a new one to the core box, the Gold Smoke Knight, while upcoming expansions will have the Gryphon (in its eponymous expansion), the Mountain Man (Inverted Mountain campaign/expansion), the [[HarderThanHard Legendary]] version of the Lion God (The Silver City expansion), and the Ivory Dragon - AKA True Form {{Satan}} (also in its eponymous expansion).
74	** As of the Gambler's Chest Expansion, two new final boss monsters have been added: The Gambler and The Godhand. The previously mentioned King is no longer a final boss, but has instead been changed to being a (very powerful) quarry monster.
75	* FluffyTheTerrible: Not cute names, but at the very least mundane. The White Lion, the (Screaming) Antelope, The Dung Beetle Knight, The Flower Knight, The King, The Scribe, the Mountain Man.
76	* FreudWasRight: There's an awful lot of sexual/reproductive/suggestive imagery, including (or perhaps especially) on the monsters; on the male side the most blatant is the Sunstalker, on the female side it's the Wet Nurse.
77	* GameBreakingInjury: Some wounds (or the accumulation of wounds) can maul a survivor so badly that they can't take part in the hunt or the defense of the settlement; some mental disorders can also permanently incapacitate them.
78	* GodEmperor: The King has the makings of one but we know nothing of him. The Scribe might be an actual one with an emphasis on the ''[[RealityWarper god]]'' portion.
79	* GreaterScopeVillain: The Greater Entities ruling the setting; this was one of the reasons why the Lantern Festival expansion was cancelled, as it would have pitted the survivors against one of them, [[RealityWarper the]] [[RewritingReality Scribe]], and [[WordOfGod Poots specifically mentionned]] that this would take the scope of Kingdom Death: Monster too far from his original intent. That said, there are plans to eventually release a deck-building game at the level (and perspective) of the Greater Entities, Kingdom Death: Titan.
80	* GroinAttack: Genitals are a potential attack target on survivors and certain monsters. There's also a basic hunt event involving a Man-Stealer, a small insect which attempts to silently castrate a male survivor.
81	* HeroicBuild: Given that this game was originally built about a line of very specifically crafted boutique miniatures, all of the humans portrayed in the game seem to hold the physique of olympian athletes or supermodels. [[spoiler:Seemingly ''[[JustifiedTrope justified]]'' however, in that the dried ink that cakes the eyes of all newly-awakened humans found among the Plain of Faces implies that they were literally ''written into existence'' by the powers of the [[RealityWarper Scribe]], in furtherance of that entity's continuing interest in studying human civilization cycles. The Scribe can, literally, make his creations look as beautiful or ugly as he pleases, so it seems that - in either a small act of mercy, vanity, or both - he blesses the humans he creates with hypersexualized bodies... Not that having such a physique actually ''allows'' many newly-made humans to survive the overwhelming rigors of the [[DeathWorld world of Kingdom Death...]]]]
82	* HeroicSacrifice: Morgan the Savior has an ability that can revive a character who was slain in the same showdown at the cost of her own life.
83	* HotWitch: The Flower Witch, as well as her five disciples (including [[{{Bishonen}} the two who are men]]) have [[HeroicBuild the same kind of build]] as most everyone else in the setting.
84	* ImAHumanitarian: after the first death of the settlement, the survivors may choose between building graves or "repurposing" the body of their fallen comrades.
85	* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Both male and female armor can range from plausible to completely impractical. All of them help the wearer kill bigger monsters though.
86	* ImprovisedWeapon: The starting weapon is a sharp stone pulled from a stone face in the ground.
87	* InTheHood: The Watcher wears a hood and no face.
88	* AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: Monster parts are used to make weapons, [[YourRewardIsClothes armor]], gear, and new settlement locations (found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4lZ13VqQ38 here]]).
89	* ItemCrafting: Everything apart from the starting weapons, clothes, and location are crafted in one form or fashion.
90	* KillTheGod: The Scribe is described as being able to [[RewritingReality rewrite reality]]. He's a boss in the Lantern Festival. {{Subverted\|Trope}} as the expansion was scrapped for this reason (WordOfGod was that this would be going too far beyond the intended scope) among others.
91	* KnightErrant: Of the monstrous variety. The Lion Knight wanders the wilderness visiting human settlements. He can be helpful to artistic settlements. He can be downright vicious to warlike ones. The Twilight Knights (represented by several miniatures) are a more traditional example.
92	* LampshadeHanging: In-game example. One of the hit location cards mention that the survivor manages to stab the White Lion in a human-looking hand.
93	* LuringInPrey: Gorm has a bioluminescent lure. Spidicules uses a [[{{Squick}} human torso]] (which sometimes is [[AndIMustScream still alive]]) as a lure.
94	* MadeOfPlasticine: The survivors explode in showers of gore in the concept art.
95	* MaleGaze: To some extent the female minis. To a much larger extent the pinups.
96	** Newer pinup models now include male models, to add in some FemaleGaze as well.
97	* MeaningfulName: The Easter themed character Pascha's name is literally another name for Easter.
98	* MedievalStasis: It is implied that a powerful entity is watching the survivors and making sure they do not advance past a certain level of development for reasons that are not disclosed.
99	* MixAndMatchCritters: All of the monsters are various different combinations of the creature that one expects and a mish mash of human parts.
100	* ModestyTowel: The survivors in the beginning wear clothes that cover their private areas. It also offers a point of protection to the waist.
101	* MonsterKnight: The Dung Beetle Knight, The Flower Knight, the 1st and 2nd Lion Knights, the Black Knight, the Gold Smoke Knight, the Storm Knight, the White Knights (both standard and Heavy versions), the Spiral Knight, the Cyclops Knight and likely the Lost Knight.
102	* MonsterLord: The King (to the King's Men and King's Hand), the Dragon King (although he's the LastOfHisKind) and the Lion God (to the White Lions - although this may have been {{retcon}}ned). It's unclear yet if the Screaming God is this to the Screaming Antelopes.
103	* MonsterModesty: Some combination of averted and played straight, depending on the monster. [[MultiBoobage The Wet Nurse]] is generally considered the least modest.
104	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Lion God, [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]], [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Man Hunter]], The Dragon King, The Sunstalker, The Nightmare Ram, The Oblivion Mosquito, TheButcher, {{Satan}}. Also, a random hunt event can see the survivors hounded by "[[KillerRabbit Cancer Pigeons]]", small birds with humanlike faces who [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin will afflict them with tumors]] if able.
105	* NestedMouths: The Phoenix has a beak that opens to reveal a human mouth (or, more accurately, ''face'') with a human tongue.
106	** The Gryphon has a second upper beak inside its outer one.
107	* NewGamePlus: There are rumors that killing the phoenix can send/reset the survivors back to year 1 of the lantern hoard with all of their armor intact. A good thing because the Watcher attacks on year 25 regardless of the survivors' gear level.
108	** People of the Dream Keeper, the campaign added in the Gambler's Chest Expansion, add two more straight forward NewGamePlus like events that can be earned by progress through the story. For one,[[spoiler: if the settlement does a good job recreating the Gambler's Chest by the deadline, the players may choose to place any gear they wish into the Chest. It then gets punted off into the distance, where the next game the player begins will start with all the equipment placed inside the Chest. In a more traditional method, successfully defeating the final boss will unlock the ability for players to use the Character system in future games, allowing future settlements access to new abilities not previously available.]]
109	* NintendoHard: The game teaches you through failure. Expect to die a LOT.
110	* NothingIsScarier: Several events invoke this, such as maddening screams emitting from beyond survivors' line of sight, getting lost in the darkness and never being seen again, finding human or monster corpses mutilated by unseen forces...
111	** Also enforced on some level by the fanbase, many of whom refuse to reveal spoilers about the setting and monsters (as many are revealed piece-by-piece during gameplay) and likewise refuse to have them revealed to them, so as to not dilute the experience.
112	* OurCentaursAreDifferent: The Nightmare Ram has many of the elements of a centaur, but still somehow looks wrong.
113	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Dragon King controls radiation from his body instead of the normal breath weapon. Although it's unknown whether or not he has a breath weapon.
114	* OurMonstersAreDifferent: '''''VERY''''' different. It's telling that of the preexisting monsters included in the game, [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]] is the one most similar in powers, appearance and behavior to its non-Kingdom Death counterpart.
115	* PantheraAwesome: The smallest cat is the White Lion. The largest is called the Lion God, though calling it a cat may be charitable.
116	* [[PapaWolf Papa]] [[MamaBear Bear]]: The gender of the Lion God is unknown. What is known is that if the survivors kill too many White Lions, they'll get a visit from the Lion God.
117	* ThePhoenix: A monstrous bird with some magical powers shares the name in the core game. That's about where the similarities end. Instead of having fire- or life- based powers, its powers revolve around [[TimeMaster temporal control]].
118	* PowerBornOfMadness: Having Insanity protects a character from mental damage like how armor protects from physical damage. The more insane a survivor is, the less likely they are to be shaken by the horrors they face.
119	* PowerFloats: The Watcher.
120	* ThePowerOfTheSun: The Sunstalker. Doubles in that a gigantic, ancient one ''is'' the sun in this world.
121	* PrimalFear: A world of shrouded in darkness with monsters that not only unafraid of humans but use them both as a food source and chattel slaves.
122	* RealityWarper: The Scribe as stated above. Saviours are born with these powers too, but the human shell holding it is too fragile and they'll often [[PowerIncontinence burn out]].
123	* RecurringBoss: The nemesis monsters. Where most of the monsters are just beasts you hunt down, TheButcher, The Man Hunter, [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]], The Lion Knight actively look for and hunt down settlements of survivors.
124	* ReinventingTheWheel: Depending on how the game goes, the survivors may invent something that already happened in a different game. ItMakesSenseInContext though. Humans are split into distinct populations that may by chance happen on the same innovation.
125	* RocksFallEveryoneDies: [[spoiler: Every "victory" ending so far. Possibly BackFromTheDead in the People of the Stars scenario, though.]]
126	** [[spoiler: Original release: Kill the Watcher. You are now completely without light, and will be shortly overrun by monsters.]]
127	** [[spoiler: People of the Lantern: The Gold Smoke Knight explodes, and the smoke inside of it suffocates your settlement.]]
128	** [[spoiler: People of the Sun: After killing the Ancient Sunstalker, your survivors are too weary to fend off it's spawn and can only await death.]]
129	** [[spoiler:People of the Stars: Your survivors kill the Dragon King and eat it's heart. Everyone dies of radiation poisoning, but possibly come back from death as new fledgling Dragon Kings.]]
130	* SanityMeter: It's possible to contract all sorts of mental disorders. Interestingly enough, the Insanity stat ''protects'' a character from mental damage much like armor does with physical damage, since their insanity makes it harder to be shaken by horrific events.
131	* ScaryTeeth: All of the human teeth in the game are beautiful, pristine, and white. Too bad none of the teeth belong to humans. Extra credit to the Antelope for having a maw running down its belly full of human teeth.
132	** The White Lion doesn't have human teeth... it has those of a ''great white shark''. Conversely, the Adult Sunstalker has the head of a great white shark, once more with human teeth.
133	* ShoutOut: To Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos with the inclusion of Slender himself as a [[RecurringBoss nemesis monster]], who fits in quite well with the general theme.
134	** Two of the starting survivors and series mascots are named [[Manga/FairyTail Lucy and Erza]].
135	** The Novice takes its design cues from the same name class from '"VideoGame/RagnarokOnline''.
136	* SpidersAreScary: The Spidicules is a [[MixAndMatchCritters mish mash]] of human body parts combined with a spider's.
137	* StoryBreadcrumbs: Much of the lore, such as it is, can be described as vague and contradicting in which you learn from various sources including limited release miniatures.
138	* SupernaturalRepellant: For whatever reason, few monsters will attack the survivors' settlement, despite the fact that humans are regarded so low on the food chain that other creatures have taken their form to fool more powerful creatures that they're harmless. Justified: [[spoiler:the base of a settlement is a Lantern Hoard, which is the cocoon of the Watcher, one of the most powerful creatures in the game. Its presence keeps other monsters away.]]
139	* TheissTitillationTheory: The male miniatures start out wearing only loincloths. The female miniatures also wear tops that amount to a rag tied around the breasts, which looks like it would fall off in a light breeze. It makes the figures look far more sexualized than if they were simply topless.
140	* TheNightThatNeverEnds: The "world" is shrouded in near-constant darkness, the only source of light being lanterns that mysteriously show up in several places, or bioluminescent body parts on certain monsters (which are sometimes said lanterns, creepily enough). Any celestial body you may see somewhere up in the sky... [[ThatsNoMoon isn't]].
141	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Sylvania is implied to have been driven to insanity and believes that she is an elf. Her Fighting Arts card can be given to a survivor and is triggered by having an incredibly high Sanity loss.
142	* TimeMaster: The Phoenix can [[RapidAging age a survivor]] years into the future or to dust. It can also do [[FountainOfYouth the opposite]] and de-age a survivor back to being a baby at the settlement, or to the point where [[RetGone they were never born]].
143	* TooCoolToLive: Saviors can be born on a roll of 10 during intimacy, the resulting child can have one of three benefits that can be either auto-hits, increased attack range, or copious amounts of extra armor. They also get stat bonuses based on their choice, and they get four times as much hunt exp as a normal survivor. This also means they reach the end of their career after only four hunts, and rather than retiring, they cease to exist.
144	* TurnsRed: Hurting the monster removes attack cards from its deck and makes the remaining ones turn up more often. That's good when a few harmless cards remain. When it means the monster now uses ThatOneAttack every two turns... not so much.
145	* VaginaDentata: The screaming antelope has a giant maw that runs laterally down its belly that is very reminiscent.
146	* VaporWear: Most of the pinups wear very little clothes. The Dragon King's armor for both genders has [[NavelDeepNeckline a giant gash down the center of the chest]].
147	* WasOnceAMan: A disturbing number of monsters are this. From the base game, the Kingsmen are survivors who succumbed to the King's Curse, and TheButcher is a [[TheBerserker Forsaker]] that lost their sense of self to their endless rage.
148	-->Nothing remains of the man, just a mess of flesh clinging to the insides of the Forsaker's armor, animated by nihilistic fury to destroy on the road through oblivion.
149	* WombLevel: [[spoiler:The lantern hoard is actually the womb of a Watcher, a powerful monster who waits for the settlement to grow powerful enough before consuming it]].
150	* {{Wutai}}: Miniatures associated with the People of the Sun campaign are Japanese themed which include miko and ninja.
151	* YourRewardIsClothes: The survivors make gear out of parts they get from beating bosses.

Context TabletopGame / KingdomDeath