I'm finally putting pen to paper and making my longest project a reality in TTRPG form. Its a city of both undead and living, with a strict cast system. I have outlined the features that make an undead; how they die, how they resurrect, what drives them, their supernatural abilities.
My issue is, theres 101+ ways to die, and equally as many magical or scientific justifactions to ressurect a body. You could be sinful, stubborn, a necromancy tool, pumped with electricity, or a virus like vampires etc.
I want the system to encourage creativity, and mixed parties of undead and living to explore classism and what it means to be alive.
How do I make the system open ended enough for 1000 possible types of undead, including low class zombies and skeletons, and high power vampires and revenants. All while making humans a viable way to play the game, and not feeling like theyre just weak compared to the undead (while they are in lore, it sucks to feel weaker to other party members as a player). I dont want to make 50 pages of every type of undead, i want players to make their own kinds of undeath as personal as their characters professions, wants and traumas. Death is universal but also very personal.
does anyone have experience making a system with no strictly defined species? or having party members of wildly different physical strengths? Obviously undead have innate weaknesses, like vampires to sunlight, but an undead society would cater to that so it dosent feel like enough of a drawback.