Revival - Mature Lovecraftian horror MMO - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The MMO HMO > Revival - Mature Lovecraftian horror MMO

Decrepus: May 21, 2008; In the end, his dominion did not touch a single poster.

Angela Christine posted:

Weekly Blog Update #46: In The Shadows

I wonder if all that is going to be server or client based? Client based is prone to abuse, but server based seems like it would be a lot of load to be checking what every single character (PC and NPC) is seeing every second.

I am going to be a master assassin because I am very dull.

# ? Sep 26, 2015 19:28

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 4, 2024 00:18

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

YOTC posted:

I have a feeling they've done NOTHING but build the sims for the last few months and have not even poked core gameplay. But hey, houses and buttsex.

You would be correct. Like Star Citizen they are building this game 'backwards'.

https://www.revivalgame.com/?navbar=2#panel_5

quote:

STAGE 1: HOUSING
MAKE THELESTON YOUR HOME

We open the doors for the first brave settlers of Revival�s world, Theleston. With this release comes the ability to purchase houses on one of the world�s islands!

Where we are now. Focus on building the website store, building the interiors, the $5 wall/floor update kit, the $10 furniture kits, the offline client so 'players' can look at their houses, and the auto-updater launcher thing so you won't have to torrent the client.

quote:

STAGE 2: THE CITY
TOUR THE NEIGHBORHOOD

In our second release, citizens of Theleston will be able to leave their houses for the first time, exploring their hometown in offline mode. This is the first chance to truly see the grand scale and insane detail we�re putting into Revival!

Still offline, here you'll be able to see what the outside of your house looks like. :neckbeard:

Also in this phase they will introduce banking, inventory, and resource gathering. Resource gathering involves mini-games, so that will be something to actually do, I guess.

quote:

STAGE 3: ONLINE
BETTER TOGETHER

The world goes online in our third release, and players can experience it together for the first time! Walk city streets, show off your home to neighbors and see the hustle and bustle of a real world!

This is where the game goes online and starts to become an MMO rather than a lovely version of the Sims. Character creator. Some crafting skills come in here so you can start building furniture, clothing, alchemy, and other urban skills.

quote:

STAGE 4: CHOICES WITH CONSEQUENCES
A TOUCH OF EVIL...

More of the world of Theleston is now available to players and many new game mechanics are available to play with, including fully realized crafting!

More game mechanics. Factions. Karma system. Storytellers.

quote:

STAGE 5: NEW LANDS
SOMEWHERE, ACROSS THE SEA...

It�s time for adventure! With our fifth release, the combat and adventuring systems, as well as our live storytelling system come online and players will be able to see a glimpse of the full splendor of a living Theleston.

Combat and death. Yes, until now it was impossible to fight or die. When you die you go to the Plane of Death and have to find your way to a mortality gate to get back to the land of the living. Another island is added. Guild system.

quote:

STAGE 6: THE FULL GAME EXPERIENCE
OUT IN THE LARGER WORLD

In our last major development release, the game really comes alive. The greater World of Theleston is now open for players to explore and discover. Dark powers move across the land and the planes of reality shift and warp in their presence! This is the game as it is meant to be!

More islands, more real estate for sale. :woop:

More combat styles. Magic spells. Commodity markets and intercity caravans.

After stage 6 the game is officially a game, and will open to the general public. You'll be able to play without needing to buy a house first. Even if the game sounds like all your hopes and dreams rolled up, there isn't much reason to buy in to the beta before stage 4 which is at least a year away.

# ? Sep 26, 2015 19:40

Orv: May 4, 2011

I am incensed on behalf of Bobby Darin.

# ? Sep 29, 2015 00:27

CountingWizard: Jul 6, 2004

Angela Christine posted:

After stage 6 the game is officially a game, and will open to the general public. You'll be able to play without needing to buy a house first. Even if the game sounds like all your hopes and dreams rolled up, there isn't much reason to buy in to the ~~beta~~ scam before stage 4 which is at least ~~a year~~ four years and a Duke-Nukem-development-cycle away.

# ? Sep 29, 2015 16:56

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Angela Christine posted:

Weekly Blog Update #46: In The Shadows

I wonder if all that is going to be server or client based? Client based is prone to abuse, but server based seems like it would be a lot of load to be checking what every single character (PC and NPC) is seeing every second.

Server doing per-pixel lighting calculations using the actual world models of characters for every player and NPC? loving :lol:

In your dreams

# ? Sep 29, 2015 17:18

hakimashou: Jul 15, 2002; Upset Trowel

Zaphod42 posted:

Server doing per-pixel lighting calculations using the actual world models of characters for every player and NPC? loving

In your dreams

Every Dream Will Come True

-Chris Roberts, mentor of this game's developers.

# ? Sep 29, 2015 20:31

Neltharak: Jun 7, 2013

hakimashou posted:

Every Dream Will Come True

-Chris Roberts, mentor of this game's developers.

We will realize all our dreams with your money, so start piling it up !

Neltharak fucked around with this message at 10:22 on Oct 1, 2015

# ? Oct 1, 2015 10:02

Putty: Mar 21, 2013; HOOKED ON THE BROTHERS

Can I buy a house in the shape of the blueberry man

# ? Oct 1, 2015 15:35

Rexicon1: Oct 9, 2007; A Shameful Path Led You Here

Lol if you spend even a penny on this game.

# ? Oct 2, 2015 02:56

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

This weeks devblog is out and includes flowcharts! You like flowcharts, don't you? https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/48-weekly-blog-update-47-tag-and-release

Look at those fuggen flowcharts. Of course some 'players' are concerned that 100 tags are not nearly enough. What if I learn 101 very important things?

# ? Oct 5, 2015 07:49

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Angela Christine posted:

This weeks devblog is out and includes flowcharts! You like flowcharts, don't you? https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/48-weekly-blog-update-47-tag-and-release

Look at those fuggen flowcharts. Of course some 'players' are concerned that 100 tags are not nearly enough. What if I learn 101 very important things?

quote:

Interestingly enough, the tagging system is also one of the most simple systems in the game. It�s a �moment of beauty� for a designer when a elegant solution to a problem is found and tags was one of those moments for us. You see, at their heart a tag really isn�t much more than a word, with a macro attached to it, but that simple thing makes possible elements of role playing that many still believe are impossible in an MMO - things like having a legitimately personal story, or making it possible for everyone to experience content others won�t ever experience or see in the same way. Tags really are the source of Revival�s magic.

I just don't even know where to begin with this :psyduck:

First of all, this is really really really really really basic poo poo, that like everybody implements and its so boring and low-level that nobody talks about it. Like duh. And these guys think its novel and original and its going to make their game possible and incredible? Something no other MMO has ever done before!?

There are loving choose-your-own-adventure BOOKS, not even videogames, books, that have had this idea before. Much less computer videogames.

This is literally RPG design 101, and these guys think they're making something state-of-the-art.

# ? Oct 5, 2015 16:36

Putty: Mar 21, 2013; HOOKED ON THE BROTHERS

they should show us the game's design document next

# ? Oct 6, 2015 22:25

Lastgirl: Sep 7, 1997; Good Morning!
Sunday Morning!

Angela Christine posted:

This weeks devblog is out and includes flowcharts! You like flowcharts, don't you? https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/48-weekly-blog-update-47-tag-and-release

Look at those fuggen flowcharts. Of course some 'players' are concerned that 100 tags are not nearly enough. What if I learn 101 very important things?

this is not for real is this?

aahahahaha

uhhh, we dont have much to show for you so heres a bunch of ms paint flowchart

lmbo

# ? Oct 6, 2015 23:01

Sekenr: Dec 12, 2013

What does any of this have to do with Lovecraft?

# ? Oct 7, 2015 15:09

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Sekenr posted:

What does any of this have to do with Lovecraft?

Somebody suggested they make a game based on "Lovecraft" and everybody interpreted it as "love-craft" :cheeky:

# ? Oct 7, 2015 15:42

Sekenr: Dec 12, 2013

Zaphod42 posted:

Somebody suggested they make a game based on "Lovecraft" and everybody interpreted it as "love-craft"

And than they interpreted love-craft as "medieval scat loving simulator", ok makes sense.

# ? Oct 7, 2015 21:13

rockopete: Jan 19, 2005

Angela Christine posted:

This weeks devblog is out and includes flowcharts! You like flowcharts, don't you? https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/48-weekly-blog-update-47-tag-and-release

Look at those fuggen flowcharts. Of course some 'players' are concerned that 100 tags are not nearly enough. What if I learn 101 very important things?

How do these people stay solvent? No one seems to like their FPS remake, I can't believe it's all via Revival 'donations', and this is the most transparent reinvent-the-wheel-to-look-smart BS. Is there some idiot investor living in some cave somewhere who has never seen a video game before?

# ? Oct 8, 2015 03:07

DancingShade: Jul 26, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

rockopete posted:

How do these people stay solvent? No one seems to like their FPS remake, I can't believe it's all via Revival 'donations', and this is the most transparent reinvent-the-wheel-to-look-smart BS. Is there some idiot investor living in some cave somewhere who has never seen a video game before?

I'm going to assume it's nothing more than a hobby project that they aren't really working on except the bare, bare minimum while they work as subcontractors for other companies.

Maybe there will be an Oblivion mod quality mmo with animated sex at the end of it all? :shrug:

# ? Oct 8, 2015 08:03

Rough Lobster: May 27, 2009; Don't be such a squid, bro

Zaphod42 posted:

Somebody suggested they make a game based on "Lovecraft" and everybody interpreted it as "love-craft"

It's horrifying

well horrifyingly boring

# ? Oct 8, 2015 08:31

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Woo friday devblog!!!!1one https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/49-weekly-blog-update-48-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-caravaneer

quote:

Weekly Blog Update #48: A Day In The Life of a Caravaneer

Ombwah: about 19 hours ago

Weekly Update

Hello again ye faithful, welcome to this week�s Words From On High, Revival�s weekly blog. This week has been one of those frustrating weeks where the finish line seems so close, but is yet out of reach. The next iteration of the client is soon to be on the way, but those last mile fixes and tweaks need to come in before we can make that happen. In the meantime, we�re making strides towards population of the Renovation Kits, the artists are doing great work on hero assets for these rooms and some other places in the houses and estates, design is, as usual, cranking out systems and content, and code is all about making sure the UI is working for house decoration and item placement.

A common ritual room

Great Minds of Theleston

This week in A Day in the Life, we focus on an occupation that has the potential to be very powerful, even while maintaining a low profile: The Caravaneer. Players who choose this profession must invest large amounts of wealth in starting up their endeavors, but stand to reap great rewards, as well as wield a subtle, but pervasive sort of power with their influence over local and regional markets. Let�s take a more personal look at how that is done, then, shall we?

Our subject is Paro, a reasonably wealthy citizen of Valir. His business is run out of the Caravan House, but he lives in Valir�s interpretation of a style 4 home, a manse in the parlance of the land agents. It is here that he begins his day, in his courtyard of red brick, under the bright Valiri sun. He is concerned with the fate of his last shipment, as he has not yet received a notification that it has arrived. He scans the sky nervously, but no messenger-bird is in sight.

The caravan left far too long ago, and now Paro is cursing his decision not to go himself, but the road to Falcreek is long and the ride a tedious one. Still, perhaps he could have better navigated the perils of the trip, had it been him at the helm and not a hireling. Paro curses, scanning the sky again, nothing. There goes a cartload of fine melomel from his own meadery, easily a few hundred coins in product alone, let alone two dray animals and a cart.

This is the third time in as many months, and the losses are starting to mount. Paro�s Valir manse isn�t cheap to maintain, and if he loses any more shipments, he won�t be able to make his taxes, and will be forced to sell off significant parts of his business. That will not do. Besides that, Paro has lost four dray horses and two carts on top of these in that time. He sighs heavily.

Paro decides that, for the foreseeable future, he�ll stick to sea-freight and selling via his agent in Tide�s End. Better yet, he�ll go himself to Crowns Rock and sell his wares there himself, as he used to in the old days. The Crowns rock mead market is always strong, and he has always had good luck selling his mead there. This was true of Falcreek for a time, and the profits there were even richer, but the road between Valir and Falcreek is a long and tedious trip, hence Paro�s eventual hire of an agent there, and use of hired caravan drivers. Still, despite the convenience of an agent to handle buy or sell orders remotely, and his not having to spend personal travel time to sell in Falcreek, Paro�s business is suffering from mounting losses at the hands of bandits.

Clearly some spot along the route to Falcreek has become the favorite of a bandit crew, and rather than go back to driving the long road himself, or hiring more guards per shipment, Paro decides to take his business elsewhere. He didn�t build his business from a mule and a pack to this manse and vineyard just to ship free mead to bandits, and the cost of proper guardsmen would undercut his mead profits a bit too much for Paro�s liking. His whole business is a balancing act of costs, time, and risk, and the caravan route to Falcreek from Valir is too slow, and too risky, for Paro�s taste.

Still, it could have been worse. Paro has been saving his last four kegs of Spiced Reserve for an opportune time to send a caravan to Skypass. the four kegs alone are worth quite a bit, but a full caravan would have brought a small fortune upon sale. Instead, Paro has a plan to sell them in Crowns Rock, to try to make up the loss of the lesser wine. With luck he will be able to recoup the cost of the horses and the cart, if not much more. Thus resolved, Paro heads out from his villa, and through his gate into the open avenue. He will need to fetch his last cart and horses from the city stables next-door to the Caravan House, as he has no stable of his own. Oh, to be so wealthy as to have his own stables! Then Paro could load a cart directly from his home, and ride out from there. Sure, he�d still need to go to the Caravan house to hire an NPC driver or guard, but if his friends were online, they could simply meet up at his manse. As he is not that well-heeled, Paro has to store his gear at the Caravan House, and he�ll have to go there to retrieve it.

Following the tiled street to the nearby canal, Paro looks along the stone-paved walk for a valet-boat. Finding one empty, Paro hires a ride to the larger market plaza dominated by Valir�s Caravan House. The boat slides away from the stone walk, and along the narrow waterway to the quay at the plaza�s edge.

After arriving at the stables, retrieving his cart, and hitching the horses, Paro takes a moment to consider how much space will be left in his cart after loading the four kegs. This, a medium cart, has room for six kegs fully loaded, so Paro looks over the market for something he might take to Crowns Rock with the other stuff. Had he an agent in Crowns Rock, he would have a report once per real-time week that would give him some idea of what was worth buying or not, but alas, his only agent was in Falcreek, too far from Crowns rock to be of any use. Which reminds him, that agent needs to be let go if Paro isn�t going to be shipping wine to Falcreek anymore.

Paro decides to take a chance on two remarkably cheap skeins of linen cloth, and after he makes his purchase and puts them on his cart, Paro visits the Caravan Master to sever his ties with the agent in Falcreek. The Caravan House will send a letter, they assure him.

This done, Paro navigates the surface streets to his manse in the driver's seat, and once home, loads each keg of precious reserve, one at a time, into his cart. Sparing not a moment, he then drives the cart to the sea-docks, and seeks passage on a cargo ship to Crowns Rock, westward, in the depths of Blackwell Sound. Today this proves difficult, as only a few ships large enough for his medium cart and horses are present in the slips. After a rude refusal from one player captain, and a full ship at the next, some haggling buys Paro passage, and his horses and cart are whisked into the berth of the ship. Paro boards just before the scheduled embark time, and away into the sea they go.

Thankfully, this trip is short, and uneventful, and soon the ship is easing into a berth at the Crowns Rock docks. Paro meets his cart and horses, now unloaded, at the edge of the docks, and rides past the empty customs post to the open southern gate of Crowns Rock. The Caravan House is just inside the gate on the left, and Paro stables his horses, pays to have his cart put away, and stores his linen and kegs in the Caravan Warehouse. Tomorrow he will go to the businesses of a few acquainted with and offer them first bids on his kegged reserve, but if that fails then he will personally spend the day in the market, angling for the best price. For now, though, a room at the Hoengate will suffice, and a few hours in the common room might even earn him a few tips about what people around here need these days, and who better than he to supply it?

A small market plaza

Very disappointed in the lack of a cart loading minigame.

# ? Oct 10, 2015 21:06

SelenicMartian: Sep 14, 2013; Sometimes it's not the bomb that's retarded.

Will this game have its own pre-release con? Where would you hold it?

# ? Oct 11, 2015 14:04

Decrepus: May 21, 2008; In the end, his dominion did not touch a single poster.

After a disappointing CitizenCon I have decided to get a refund and buy a house in this game and make it my real life instead.

# ? Oct 11, 2015 14:21

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

Sekenr posted:

What does any of this have to do with Lovecraft?

If there's anything scary or unknown, nerds call it lovecraft.

This is because they're used to Fireman, god of fire, worshipped by fire wizards (his favourite colour is red) being the height of creativity

# ? Oct 11, 2015 16:22

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

IMO Lovecraft is a good fit for an MMO. Have you ever tried to read that poo poo? Pages and pages of nothing much happening while the protagonist feels vaguely uncomfortable, and then BOO! a fishman! Lore dump, lore dump, lore dump, boss fight!

Here's a pretty short one you probably haven't already seen about a spooky house. Oops, it is a bit too long to quote here, go read it.
The Shunned House: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/sh.aspx

Pages and pages describing the shunned house. History of everyone who ever lived there, and their mysterious deaths and/or insanity. Investigation into what was on the land before the shunned house was built. A summary of local superstitions of the backwards hillfolk, and how that might relate to the shunned house. Three quarters of the story text is lore dump.

Finally the two men start camping out in the cellar of the house with a bunch of scientific equipment to try to figure out what is the source of the problem. (Scientific equipment is the only thing not well described, but apparently includes a flamethrower and a thing that shoots electricity.) Spooky things and violent death ensue. They guy decides to dig down and find the thing he suspects was buried under the cellar. This is a big surprise, so please don't look if you have any inclination to read the story because knowing kind of ruins it: He uncovers a giant elbow buried under the house!!! Presumably the rest of the giant body is down there too, but he only digs as far as the elbow. He comes up with a plan to vanquish the evil, does it, and saves the day. I mean, he also accidentally poisons the river a tiny bit, but that's not the important part.

Very like an MMO questline.

# ? Oct 11, 2015 22:20

Hal_2005: Feb 23, 2007

Angela Christine posted:

IMO Lovecraft is a good fit for an MMO. Have you ever tried to read that poo poo? Pages and pages of nothing much happening while the protagonist feels vaguely uncomfortable, and then BOO! a fishman! Lore dump, lore dump, lore dump, boss fight!

Here's a pretty short one you probably haven't already seen about a spooky house. Oops, it is a bit too long to quote here, go read it.
The Shunned House: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/sh.aspx

Pages and pages describing the shunned house. History of everyone who ever lived there, and their mysterious deaths and/or insanity. Investigation into what was on the land before the shunned house was built. A summary of local superstitions of the backwards hillfolk, and how that might relate to the shunned house. Three quarters of the story text is lore dump.

Finally the two men start camping out in the cellar of the house with a bunch of scientific equipment to try to figure out what is the source of the problem. (Scientific equipment is the only thing not well described, but apparently includes a flamethrower and a thing that shoots electricity.) Spooky things and violent death ensue. They guy decides to dig down and find the thing he suspects was buried under the cellar. This is a big surprise, so please don't look if you have any inclination to read the story because knowing kind of ruins it: He uncovers a giant elbow buried under the house!!! Presumably the rest of the giant body is down there too, but he only digs as far as the elbow. He comes up with a plan to vanquish the evil, does it, and saves the day. I mean, he also accidentally poisons the river a tiny bit, but that's not the important part.

Very like an MMO questline.

Would back this just to hear thousands of newbies ask in the second zone chat (a Barren chat if you will): "where's Mankirk's elbow guys? lol".

And the response would be a thousand players giving insane nonsense as feedback, which is pretty RP for Lovecraft.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 01:32

RudeCat: Aug 7, 2012; The rudest cat for the rudest jobs

Lovecraft is the new zombies.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 03:48

rockopete: Jan 19, 2005

Hal_2005 posted:

Would back this just to hear thousands of newbies ask in the second zone chat (a Barren chat if you will): "where's Mankirk's elbow guys? lol".

And the response would be a thousand players giving insane nonsense as feedback, which is pretty RP for Lovecraft.

"emergent gameplay, quick, add that to a flow chart!"

UnwiseTrout posted:

Lovecraft is the new zombies.

Ugh, I hope not.

While we continue to conduct an autopsy on this project, if anyone wants to play a good Lovecraft inspired game which exists right now, check out Darkest Dungeon. Early access but lots of fun, complete with party members developing deep seated psychological trauma or simply going insane if the stress gets too high. Normally $20 but on sale for $12 for the next 12 hours, worth it.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 05:52

Sekenr: Dec 12, 2013

Angela Christine posted:

IMO Lovecraft is a good fit for an MMO. Have you ever tried to read that poo poo? Pages and pages of nothing much happening while the protagonist feels vaguely uncomfortable, and then BOO! a fishman! Lore dump, lore dump, lore dump, boss fight!

Here's a pretty short one you probably haven't already seen about a spooky house. Oops, it is a bit too long to quote here, go read it.
The Shunned House: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/sh.aspx

Pages and pages describing the shunned house. History of everyone who ever lived there, and their mysterious deaths and/or insanity. Investigation into what was on the land before the shunned house was built. A summary of local superstitions of the backwards hillfolk, and how that might relate to the shunned house. Three quarters of the story text is lore dump.

Finally the two men start camping out in the cellar of the house with a bunch of scientific equipment to try to figure out what is the source of the problem. (Scientific equipment is the only thing not well described, but apparently includes a flamethrower and a thing that shoots electricity.) Spooky things and violent death ensue. They guy decides to dig down and find the thing he suspects was buried under the cellar. This is a big surprise, so please don't look if you have any inclination to read the story because knowing kind of ruins it: He uncovers a giant elbow buried under the house!!! Presumably the rest of the giant body is down there too, but he only digs as far as the elbow. He comes up with a plan to vanquish the evil, does it, and saves the day. I mean, he also accidentally poisons the river a tiny bit, but that's not the important part.

Very like an MMO questline.

Well, the reason I asked is that there is absolutely nothing scary or unknown about this game so far. And none of the themes normally associated with Lovecraft also seem to be present, so :shrug:

Also to be fair to old Howard some of his short stories are really good, check out Nyarlathotep - short and to the point. http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/n.aspx

# ? Oct 12, 2015 07:37

Bieeanshee: Aug 21, 2000; Not keen on keening.; Grimey Drawer

I've always loved the elbow twist. The scale of the appendage is disturbing, but you'd have to reach to find a more prosaic body part.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 07:52

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Sekenr posted:

Well, the reason I asked is that there is absolutely nothing scary or unknown about this game so far. And none of the themes normally associated with Lovecraft also seem to be present, so

Also to be fair to old Howard some of his short stories are really good, check out Nyarlathotep - short and to the point. http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/n.aspx

Ah, I understand. Well, it's not set in 1920's new england, though I suppose that could be in the past. About 300 years ago a cataclysmic something or other ended. It involved The Great Old ones (Cthulhu and company, powers from beyond who currently reside under the sea), The Outer Gods (Azathoth and company who live in distant spheres and are generally unknowable) and the Elder Gods who seem like pretty traditional gods. In the current time the Elder Gods are credited with getting rid of the GOOs and OGs to settle down and leave humanity alone. Much was lost during the whatever cataclysm, and now the people are at a roughly medieval to tudor technology level (no guns or steam engines) and the recovering from an apocalypse is used to explain any anachronisms.

So you've got lost civilizations, ancient ruins, things man was not meant to know, and somewhere out there may be lost rituals that can bring the GOOs or OGs back to wreck the world. There are probably some remnants of cults that worshiped the dark powers still out there, just looking for the chance to wake up Cthulhu. Could be an innsmouth-like village somewhere. The Necronomicon is just waiting to be found.

Madness is a primary stat. Sort of like in the old Call of Cthulhu p&p rpg. If you start to dabble in magic you'll gain madness. If you see crazy poo poo man was not meant to see you'll gain madness. If you start worshiping the Outer Gods (OGs) or Great Old Ones (GOOs) you'll gain madness. All sorts of things can cause madness.

https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/5

quote:

This is because the way your character deals with the incomprehensible is a function of a system we call the madness system. Any time a character is presented with the maddening nature of reality, or really anything that violates what we intuitively know to be the way the world works, that character can and often will suffer madness damage. Madness damage heals over time, but very slowly unless the player is actively fighting against it (e..g through meditation, ritual, or some similar mechanism).

When you get enough madness you'll start to see things, but you may not be hallucinating, because madness allows you to see into the other planes of existence. The nearest plane is the land of the dead, so the first thing you may see are ghosts, including the ghosts of PCs. As you gain more madness you'll be able to see deeper into more alien planes, and the denizens of those planes will start to be able to see you. Eventually they'll be able to interact with you, while all the non-mad characters around you see nothing but you acting weird. When you see the weird poo poo can never be sure if you're seeing real things, or if you're hallucinating, and if you try to ignore a real thing it may be able to hurt you. Become mad enough and you can lose contact with the prime material plain entirely and start uncontrolled slippage through the planes.

They don't go into tons of detail with the lore and background, but claim it is all planned out. It is supposed to be unknown to the general population and left for the players to discover.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 08:19

RudeCat: Aug 7, 2012; The rudest cat for the rudest jobs

They couldn't go into detail because they were waiting for the designer to finish Bloodborne.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 08:31

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

UnwiseTrout posted:

They couldn't go into detail because they were waiting for the designer to finish Bloodborne.

That is certainly a possibility, yes. I expect the lore exists though, at least in broad strokes, because that's exactly the sort of thing a bunch 30something nerds could riff on all night.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 08:40

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

I want to collect all the ~~design~~ official fanfiction written about this game, and then like 5 years after it gets cancelled I want to print it all out and bind it into a book of failure and then ship it to everybody associated with this project.

It never ends, either. They just keep pumping out more of this insane poo poo that'll never ever ever be a game.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 16:43

CountingWizard: Jul 6, 2004

Lovecraft is often overused and overexplained. The key attributes to a good REH/Lovecraft story is maintaining the mystery. Don't pull back the curtain on the monster. Lovecraft's method was to write more about what the narrator was experiencing and feeling rather than describing what the monsters looked like. REH was more about describing the action and sequence of events in an exciting manner. REH usually included the weird in context of a more mundane yarn; like an Atlantean mummy wizard running an opium syndicate in London, in the context of a noir detective story.

Most modern Cthulhu/Lovecraft copy-cat stories just steal his monsters and misuse them by making them really loving mundane and cliche.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 16:58

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

CountingWizard posted:

Lovecraft is often overused and overexplained. The key attributes to a good REH/Lovecraft story is maintaining the mystery. Don't pull back the curtain on the monster. Lovecraft's method was to write more about what the narrator was experiencing and feeling rather than describing what the monsters looked like. REH was more about describing the action and sequence of events in an exciting manner. REH usually included the weird in context of a more mundane yarn; like an Atlantean mummy wizard running an opium syndicate in London, in the context of a noir detective story.

Most modern Cthulhu/Lovecraft copy-cat stories just steal his monsters and misuse them by making them really loving mundane and cliche.

Yeah its the classic Alien situation. Focus on the survivors, not the monster. The less you see of the monster, the more your brain can be afraid that the monster is anything and everything at the same time. The more you show and explain about the monster, the more it turns into a guy with a rubber suit on.

# ? Oct 12, 2015 17:06

Breetai: Nov 6, 2005; 🥄Mah spoon is too big!🍌

CountingWizard posted:

Lovecraft is often overused and overexplained. The key attributes to a good REH/Lovecraft story is maintaining the mystery. Don't pull back the curtain on the monster. Lovecraft's method was to write more about what the narrator was experiencing and feeling rather than describing what the monsters looked like. REH was more about describing the action and sequence of events in an exciting manner. REH usually included the weird in context of a more mundane yarn; like an Atlantean mummy wizard running an opium syndicate in London, in the context of a noir detective story.

Most modern Cthulhu/Lovecraft copy-cat stories just steal his monsters and misuse them by making them really loving mundane and cliche.

Let's also not forget that one of Lovecraft's big 2SPOOPY reveals was that under the hooded robes of one of the antagonist cultists was...

...

...wait for it...

...

The face of a NEGRESS! :supaburn:

# ? Oct 12, 2015 22:43

Dark_Swordmaster: Oct 31, 2011

Are you insinuating they're not allowed to take part in our cult? I don't know about YOU but I refuse to be in any cult that isn't equal opportunity compliant! :colbert: