The Tome of the Erased – Hardcore, Permadeath, and Emergent Storytelling in Grim Dawn
Greetings, Seekers of Cairn,
I’ve recently launched a new stream series called The Tome of the Erased—a hardcore permadeath campaign where every character is treated as a unique entry in a living world. Some survive long enough to retire in glory. Most don’t. But every single one matters.
Here’s the idea:
- Every new character starts as a mystery. No backstory, no grand purpose—just survival. They awaken at the prison with amnesia.
- at level 1, they begin to unlock their first memories, awakening to their reality before the Grim Dawn
- as they level up, more of their backstory begins to unfold (get created, in real-time)
- Once they reach level 10, they earn their second mastery choice and their story “unlocks”—we discover who they are, what they want, and why they fight.
- Death means deletion. No rerolls, no do-overs. They’re gone, recorded only in the Tome.
- If a character retires (reaches the endgame without dying), they’re immortalized in the Hall of Champions.
- No respecs, no cheesing. Decisions are final. The story emerges from the gameplay.
This has quickly evolved into a sort of live Grim Dawn cinematic universe. I am going to lean hard into voice acting, RP, and emergent decision-making, maybe even some cosplay down the line?. Some characters are lore seekers. Some are violent zealots. Some fall to madness. The more I learn about Grim Dawn’s world, the more each new character is created with purpose—to explore aspects of the game I’ve missed, mechanics I haven’t tried, or choices I regret not making.
We will have shared inventory rules where only legacy gear from past heroes that got “retired” will be available to new heroes, and community-influenced favorites who gain Legacy names, screenshots, and tributes, all recorded in the Hall of Champions. There’s a ton of world-building layered into the experience, all driven by what happens in-game.
If this sounds like your kind of thing, I’d love for you to stop by, share your thoughts, or just follow along.
This starts this Monday, then will be every Monday through Thursday at 10pm Eastern: Twitch
and after we start, you can find replays of major characters and highlights from their lives on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@complexpoints
and sometime soon, I will find a place to publicly share the Tome of the Erased and the content in there, as well as the Hall of Champions, so at any time, anybody can go and remember their favorite Heroes!
Thanks for reading, and for keeping this game’s world alive all these years. This community is part of what inspired me to dive in and make something special with it.
Sorry if we’re not allowed to self-promote here, or, if I did so in the wrong area.
