Gildedgrimoires - Under Construction

god gives his best IFs to his busiest, most unreliable soldiers

Mixing my love of fae shit n vampires together in a crock pot this fine morning

You shouldn't exist.

You know that, you can feel it deep within your bones, in your mind. You're something that should have never been. No one thought it possible, that a half-werewolf and a half-vampire could conceive.

Yet here you are, a Pricolici.

Pricolici: a werewolf/vampire fusion in the Romanian folklore.

You're the first and only of your kind. Lucky you. Your very existence has been kept secret from majority of the clans. Be that vampire, werewolf, or hunter.

You used to believe the secrecy of your existence was due to the laws that forbid werewolf and vampire unions. Now something tells you that your existence isn't just happenstance.

Normally this would be a positive, easy way for you to be able to keep your head on in this corrupt city you call home.

That's until a blood moon graces the sky, and for the first time in your life; your body decides it's time to finally change. Into what you don't know, and neither does it.

You can't "shift".

That itself is killing you, muddying your mind and your body, your very existence trying to erase itself. Your only choice is to find a way to finally change. Into what that's for you to decide.

Shift or die.

Customize your character, personality, and appearance.

Uncover the secrets of your very existence.

Keep warring clans from killing one another, hopefully.

Player choices will dictate whether your Pricolici will be more like a vampire, werewolf, or somewhere in between.

Romance three separate characters who will help shape your story.

Shift or die.

Carver [M|NB] - One of the few vampires who actually knows of your existence. Though how that came to be is still something you would like to forget. Carver is a wanna-be bigshot, who happened to rope you into being their "partner", as you two try to keep the city streets somewhat livable. They're aloof, lazy, and a pain in your ass.

Keegan [M] - The local alpha. Keegan runs the black market of the city with the help of some of his rambunctious crew. He's protective of his pack, and always looking out for them. He's kind and charismatic unless you have ill will toward his family. Then you better watch out for his bite.

Harmony [F] - She is the younger sister of your former (deceased) lover. The only human you can really stand. She has somehow become your best friend, with a gentle touch and kind words. You never knew why you were tasked with protecting her, but you may soon find out.

????

Shift is 18+ for violence, adult themes, explicit language, sexual situations, etc.

Reblogs are appreciated.

I am a weak man, what of it

Bronze age vampire adventure...

Your eyes fly open, and your other senses slowly awaken. You’re lying on the floor in some unknown place. Rain’s sound is muffled, with a thunderstorm raging just outside. Your sight falls on the silhouette sitting by the fireplace, murmuring their prayer to the gods. You have no recollection of how you got there.

Furthermore, your brain can’t remember your name. But, it seems that that’s not your only trouble - the door creaks and someone hooded enters the room.

FEATURES

Play as a man, woman, or non-binary.

Travel the world and rule the fates of its many residents.

Decide what are you living for, whether it’s helping other people, upholding the law, or satisfying your own needs (even wicked ones).

Influence other characters’ development, guiding them toward what you desire.

Define your fighting style: be an agile, precise trickster or strong, durable heavy-hitter - or combine it however you want.

Find love, befriend, or antagonize four gender-selectable ROs.

Rise to the highest positions in your kingdom, thus being able to impact its regime.

Spare your enemies ØⱤ ₴Ⱡ₳Ʉ₲Ⱨ₮ɆⱤ ₮ⱧɆ₥ Ⱡł₭Ɇ ₵₳₮₮ⱠɆ

The game's events are set in a dark, low, medieval fantasy world, where each step you take needs to be tread lightly. Your journey starts with you awakening in an unfamiliar hut that’s located hell knows where. Try to find out what happened to you, carving out your own story in the process.

LINKS

[DEMO (SFW version - outdated)] [FORUM (SFW thread)]

[DEMO (NSFW version)] [FORUM (NSFW thread)]

[RO's List] Note: I may not answer in-depth RO questions. I consider these characters an integral part of the story, and revealing information about them before the intended point might impact certain aspects of the plot and ruin the atmosphere of the unknown. I hope you can understand me.

FLESH OF THE LAMB.

DEMO - TBA

you don't really remember anything at all, but this much you know: you are a fallen guardian angel, and you need to find who you were meant to protect.

a few problems: you can't recall who you were protecting, and how you failed them. and, of course, you're trapped in a strange isolated town that worships a goddess you don't recognize.

don't fret now, you'll be fine. may you recover your memory, guardian, and untangle the web of secrets you find yourself in.

trigger warnings in detail below the cut.

full character customization: build your appearance, your personality, your divine powers, and choose whether to subscribe to human concepts of gender and sexuality or not.

befriend, antagonize, or romance four main characters: the sacrificial lamb, the weak dog, the bloody devotee, or the fool.

investigate the town you can't seem to leave, and the goddess that hangs over it.

try to recover your memories and make sense of them after that.

take care of some cute sheep.

the sacrificial lamb - the eldest daughter of the town's ruling family. always calm and calculated, upholding order at all costs.

the weak dog - the youngest son of the town's ruling family, not that he would ever associate himself with them. full of charm and wit, he follows his heart and does what he thinks is right.

the bloody devotee - the high priestess to the goddess. confident, cold, and powerful. she doesn't hesitate to go for what she wants, even if she has to step on backs to get there.

the fool - the spoiled heir to most of the farms in town. he's childish and carefree, spending most of his days in the town square singing.

!! trigger warnings !!

prominent themes of violence, animal death, substance use, abuse, manipulation, and suicide.

a character struggles with self-harm and disordered eating.

mild suggestive content.

non-graphic depiction of sexual assault.

this is overall a dark game, and I would not recommend it to those who are easily disturbed.

They say that small towns hide the darkest secrets. At least that’s what your mother always said about this one. You thought she meant how Father Simmons has a well-known drinking problem, how Mrs. Gladstone’s son looks more like his uncle than his father or that the mayor has been in power for 15 years because of voting fraud. Things everyone knows. Human Things.

But now as partially eaten bodies have been left in alarmingly rates all over this small town the world has no record of, you now know she meant something else.

Play as peculiar and disturbed individual surnamed Crown after the very town your ancestor founded, returning after a traumatic event two years prior that landed you in a psychiatric hospital. As your comeback coincides with a rapid increase of disappearances you find yourself in-broiled in a town conspiracy, a past that’s more alive than ever and the ever shifting self interested motives of those who claim to be your allies.

Who can you trust? What’s the truth behind your family? What are things that you see in the dark? 

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what shapes monsters come in.

Customize your MC from looks to gender

Reveal your sister’s disappearance

Rely on a group of complimentary polar opposites to find out the mystery and save your life

Befriend or romance a choice of three from enemies to lovers, childhood friends or an eternal admirer

Rating: 18+

Imre Duran

Quintessential good-boy-next-door. The most most-liked teenager in town. As son of the mayor and pageant queen, Imre has an image cultivated by him and maintained through his status which is why his back door activities are his cherished secrets. He is rather eager to help you… isn’t he?

Nia Mir

In the very real and present high school hierarchy Nia would be one of the nobles. As a wannabe doctor with a loathed father and an absent mother her dream is to leave behind this backwater town and all it’s weird phenomena that she doesn’t care to know more of. She liked you, once.

Lorcan Stark

Every town needs its bad boy and so Lorcan has aimed to be as every bit worthy of that title. The shunned son of a murderer and his victim, he is not really thought of as having a future beyond prison and petty crime especially in a town like this. You don’t remember a time when he didn’t hate you.

Salvatore Crown

Your brother. The heir to whatever fortune your family has left and the only one of the family who seems to like you.

Orla Crown

Your sister. No one ever knew what she thinking, a closed box full of unknowns. You knew she kept things, especially from you.

Mayor Duran

Seems like every other politician. Oddly enough no one ever really sees him, an entity watching over the town.

Mother

She never acted like one to any of her children. She’s never sober anymore.

Mrs. Mir

Disappeared years ago without a trance. No one remembers her first name. Was thought to have been clinically insane.

Demo (TBA) | Spotify (TBA)

Norman Lindsay (1879-1969) - Other Lovers, 1924

Winter wolf howls by Wolf Conservation Center

Seven Hard-Won Tips Specifically for Writing Interactive Fiction

This is pretty fun, putting together these lists of writing tips. Today's list is explicitly about interactive fiction.

The trick to writing great interactive fiction that anticipates, foreshadows, introduces themes early, and has interesting choices that set up later events is to *go back and rewrite the earlier chapters* after you’ve written later chapters.  That way you look like a genius who can plot things out way in advance, but in fact, you just went back and made it seem that way.  Good writing is recursive, and that’s just how it is.

I start with an outline, then I write a code skeleton, leaving blanks for the prose, and then go in and fill in the prose.  This way I’m either in code-brain or prose-writing-brain.  I don’t like switching between the two.  Then, after than phase, I go back one more time and I do the callbacks—you know.  Might the main character be wearing a feathered boa in this scene?  Here’s some custom text.  Might the main character be limping?  Here’s some more custom text.  If you do that after you write the prose, you’ll have the leisure to think of anything fun and specific you can use. 

Callbacks tell players that their choices are unique, important, memorable, and valued by the writer.  It tell them that their choices have led them down their own particular path that the writer is rewarding with unique prose.  It doesn’t have to have a stat effect or create a new fork in the narrative.  Great prose is the reward.

Find an group of alpha readers to read your work early and often and then shut up while they read it and just listen to what they say and comment.  You must resist the urge to explain because you won’t be there at everyone’s house when they are playing your game or reading your narrative.

Make rules for yourself about how you are going to name your variables.  Don’t do what I did, with a horrible blend of sometimes calling a chracter “gil” in the variables and sometimes “gilberto”; sometimes “fitz” and sometimes “fitzie”; sometimes “metvyv” and sometimes “met_tabby”—ugh!  This is self-torture.  Don’t do what I did.

Keep your initial creation of variables super organized.  Write comments in there explaining what these variables are and when you might need them.  I comment most when I am creating variables.  You might create a variable in chapter one called “mustardallergy” that you don’t need until chapter eight, so write a comment that says “variables for chapter eight” and stick that “mustardallergy” variable under it.  I didn’t do this for my first games, and I regretted it. 

Use generic variables and make your life easy.  If you are writing a scene at the racetrack, just make a “xrace” modifier and add and subtract to it willy-nilly to represent just general ups and downs of fortune.  Stub your toe?  -5 xrace.  Wear a fine hat?  +8 xrace.  Throw around some money at the bar?  +12 xrace!  Eat some bad shellfish?  -15 xrace! Then add xrace to every test.  It’s a way of tracking just the ups and downs of fortune.  You can omit it when it doesn’t make sense, but it’s just a great way to make tests and rewards and penalties cumulatively meaningful without having to have a billion variables tracking every last *reason* for the rewards and penalties.

Discover more mini-essays about writing interactive fiction, writing in general, and the process of writing the forthcoming Jolly Good series below.

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