#fantasy games

WIP - Monstrous (Interactive Fiction) So I did a poll back before Christmas about whether to share my ongoing projects regardless of how far they are from completion. Thank you to all three people who voted, cause it was a unanimous Yes and that means I can now yap at everyone about my ideas. Some time last year I was thinking about fantasy RPGs and adventure gamebooks, notably D&D and Fighting Fantasy, both of which I’ve been into since my teens. What I’ve never liked, however, is the actual central premise of how these are supposed to be played - you, the Hero, barge into the Dungeon and kill the Monsters, and claim the Treasure as your reward for wholesale slaughter. It’s unappealing as a fantasy on a variety of levels - it relies on a whole load of highly dodgy assumptions about there being a category of people who are just Evil, and who it’s fun and cool to kill for their stuff. Plus, it’s simply boring. What do you mean there’s a whole community full of fascinating people and creatures and you don’t want me to get to know any of them? Tired of mentally rewriting the plots of Fighting Fantasy books so we can all be friends, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Wouldn’t it be cool, I thought, if I made a game where you could live in the Dungeon with the Monsters instead? (Yes, it would be cool.) So that’s the premise of my Work In Progress, currently titled Monstrous. The plot is thin on the ground as yet, but essentially: You, the protagonist, stumble upon some mysterious ruins, which do indeed house a variety of monsters You wind up living there with said monsters You must deal with conflicts between your monster community and the human world The Player Character will almost certainly also be some kind of monster, but I’m not sure exactly what that will be yet. I’ve been considering some kind of Fiona-from-Shrek deal where you turn into something come nightfall. The companions are also not all determined yet, but I currently have plans for: A living grotesque (anyone else would say a gargoyle, but I’m a pedant who cares far too much about whether a waterspout is involved) An undead human (probably more like a lich than anything, but possibly more physically intact and with way less “powers”) A troll A demon A dragon (current plan is for a venomous lindworm type rather than the winged fire-breathing variety) There will be (optional) romance and/or sex, because of course there will, I’m the one writing it. I’m determined to make polyamory possible, but it may not be possible to romance everyone at once, more like a certain number of potential combinations. I refuse to give an estimate as to when this game would be finished, because I’ve barely started. I’m largely in the planning stages. I would LOVE to hear people’s thoughts on this! Any questions, any things you’d like to see. I can’t 100% guarantee that I’ll be able to include any given thing in the game, but it would be great to know what people would be excited for in a game like this. Plus I’d welcome the chance to chat more about it!