Wolf

At about 100 pages and 16,000 words, I think I’m at what might be described as the minimum viable product, which is to say that I believe the game is now playable. The problem is that now I need to get this all formatted using a program called Affinity, and I gots to tell ya that this sucks.

Makes me wish I had just been writing the whole thing in Affinity since the start because making a table in google docs and then putting it into Affinity is the most tedious thing in the world. You can’t just copy and paste – no no no. You need to go cell by cell, which is basically the description of my nightmare.

Anyway, I want to talk a bit more about magic.

A big part of the design process is making sure mechanics and worldbuilding and play work together. So if I want magic to feel dangerous and have serious consequences, I need that to be reflected in the mechanics and play of the game. And so I’ve been tinkering around with that a great deal.

It’s not uncommon for critical failure to lead to catastrophe for the character, at least when casting magic. But I want to do more than just make them blow up or receive damage. Since mages don’t live long, I wanted there to be the obvious, deathly consequences, sure, but I also wanted them to begin to look very different from normal people.

When you tamper with these dark, arcane powers, it not only shortens your life and drains the blood from your body, but it may also lead you to sprout horns or a tail or lose limbs or your eyes or your tongue. While you began human, you will not remain recognizably human if you dabble with magic too much.

This is doubly true when making pacts with demons. They will burn you up and transform you.

And this comes into play when your health falls down to 0.

Well, you know what, I may as well just show you. Here’s what happens when you drop to 0.

Death

When at last you find Death’s door, you find yourself staring upon Death’s face. 

Describe her.

Your doom lies with her but she gives you this final chance. She hands you two six sided dice.

Describe them. 

Roll them.

12	You return to the living surprisingly rejuvenated remembering nothing of Death. If you survive to take a Long Rest, roll on the Transformation table.
11	You return to the living exhausted but able to stand and continue the fight. Death’s face and presence is but an echo. Describe your journey. If you survive to take a Long Rest, roll on the Transformation table.
10	You return to the living but only just able to stand and wield your weapon once more. Describe your journey. You remember the face of Death and fear. If you survive to take a Long Rest, roll on the Transformation table.
9	Death speaks to you before sending you back to the living. What does she say? You lie barely breathing. Describe your journey. Roll on the Wound table.
8	Death smiles and sends you back to the living where you lie barely breathing. Describe her smile and your journey. Roll on the Wound table.
7	Death sighs and waves you back to the living where you lie barely breathing. Describe your journey. Roll on the Wound table.
6	Death waves you back to the living where you lie barely breathing. Describe your journey. Roll on the Wound table.

For all of the above roll D4. This is your recovered HP.

If you roll less than 6, your time has ended. Death will take you home to the shades beyond the light. You must choose:

• One final action in the land of the living before Death takes you.
• Refuse to go and return to the land of life as a Wraith. Roll on the Transformation, Wound, and Wraith tables.
• Call upon the old or new Gods or some other great power to save you. But beware, for you now belong to them. Roll on the Transformation, Wound, and Thrall tables.

The Thrall, Wraith, Wound, and Transformation tables might get revealed on here later. Thrall and Wraith are basically new capabilities, abilities, and changes to your character. Some of them physical and some of them are mechanical and even personality based. In essence, you transform into something new once you defy death.

This ties into how you progress and change in the game. While there are no classes or levels, you will change over the course of the game. You may change into something or someone who is no longer recognizably human, but that’s just one way to survive in this horrifying world.