“The Psychopomp” is a compendium class for the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeon World, written by me for the first issue of the zine Grim Portents. It empowers characters who reject the possibility of resurrection in a fantasy world, and instead dedicate themselves to ushering others into their final rest. Originally released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, it is released here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
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Inspirations
It is inspired heavily by Garth Nix’s The Old Kingdom series, especially Sabriel. “The End is Important in All Things”, used as the name of a move, came to me from the Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo by way of the film Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai.
Dungeon World
Dungeon World is a tabletop roleplaying game based on the Apocalypse World system. Its first edition, for which “The Psychopomp” was created, was developed by Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel. It provides a “traditional” fantasy roleplaying setting and game-feel with rules that reflect the indie roleplaying game movements of the early aughts and twenty-teens.
Compendium class
A compendium class is an additional set of character abilities that is unlocked by fulfilling certain conditions within the story of the game. In the case of the Psychopomp, the character must accept the death of a loved on as final. By doing so, they forgo the possibility of resurrection (commonplace in many fantasy settings) and gain access to a new set of powers.
Grim Portents
Grim Portents is a zine of fan content for Dungeon World. Two issues were compiled, edited, and published by Chris Sakkas. “The Psychopomp” was published in Issue 1: “The Dead of Winter”. The zine is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. Portions of it may be available under less restrictive licenses. Links to both issues can be found on Sakkas’s GitHub page.