You Might Like Creatures in the Dark If...
Creatures of the Dark is inspired by a lifetime of dark fantasy stories that mix magic and adventure with horror and moral ambiguity. Creatures of the Dark also heavily indulges in a Gothic aesthetic, where themes of death and romance, dread and exhilaration, darkness and beauty become so irrevocably mixed that where one stops and the other begins becomes impossible to discern. The totality and finality of death is found in the passionate embrace of a romantic lover. The thought-extinguishing grip of dread is paralleled with the adrenaline rush of action and exhilaration. Beauty is found in the darkened eye of a wounded beholder and in twisted and grotesque forms that might otherwise be overlooked.
Creatures of the Dark more directly owes its inception to three converging lines of thought.
1. An anti-murder hobo fantasy
A "murder hobo simulator" is a label used to critique many fantasy role-playing games where the player characters are vagrant adventurers and mercenaries, travelling from place to place, fighting monsters and other assorted bad guys and looting them for all their worth. Rarely is a permanent sense of place ever achieved or designed for, and rarely are exciting mechanics provided for anything other than heroic combat. One of the fundamental questions underlying the design of Creatures of the Dark is this: What would be the polar opposite of a murder hobo simulator? One rather literal answer might be: A "caretaker landowner simulator." That is, a game where one of the player characters' highest responsibilities is providing for, protecting, and healing the hearts, minds, and bodies of others. And a game where this responsibility is fulfilled within the context of a permanent place where all of these characters reside together, and where the player characters contribute to the place's growth and management. Creatures of the Dark has robust relationship mechanics, where the player characters form lasting bonds with the oppressed and traumatized mortals of the world. Interacting with these characters, aiding them, and being emotionally fulfilled by them are key aspects of the game, as is avoiding the monstrous temptation to give in and consume the mortal in an ultimate betrayal of trust and hospitality.
2. Castlevania
In terms of structure and feel, Creatures of the Dark owes much to Castlevania. The player characters in Creatures of the Dark are monstrous lords of an ever-shifting castle in the sky, purpose built to house a horde of deadly adversaries and to fuel the magic powers of its rulers. The haunted castle also provides the landowner portion of the "caretaker landowner simulator" aimed at above. Instead of infiltrating the castle and fighting its many monster inhabitants, as is the case in many of the Castlevania games, the player characters in Creatures of the Dark defend their castle from angelic invaders while fighting alongside their monster (and mortal) inhabitants. The castle itself is an important character and a marker for the player characters' progression. As the player characters' castle is expanded in size by scavenging and cannibalizing mortal cities below, the player characters' themselves become increasingly powerful. The larger the castle gets, the more threats it is positioned to overcome as well as the more threats it is positioned to invite. The player's choose which rooms of the castle to build next and each room provides its own powers and benefits. There is a fair amount of strategizing involved in which rooms are chosen and where in the growing castle they are placed.
3. Blades in the Dark
The largest mechanical inspiration for Creatures of the Dark comes from Blades in the Dark, and it would be fair to say that the former began as a hack of the latter. The core dice mechanic is the same. Classes are akin to playbooks, bonds are skin to vices, feats are akin to actions, and plots are akin to progress clocks. Creatures of the Dark simplifies action resolution by removing the sliding scale of outcomes implied by fictional position in exchange for a simple addition or subtraction of dice. Creatures of the Dark also increases the complexity of conflicts to make their more tactical and brutal, increases the complexity magic to provide a host of thematically appropriate spells and relics to wield, and increases the complexity and nature of consequences of indulging and overindulging in bonds.
You might like Creatures of the Dark if you like...
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6.
Creatures of the Dark more directly owes its inception to three converging lines of thought.
1. An anti-murder hobo fantasy
A "murder hobo simulator" is a label used to critique many fantasy role-playing games where the player characters are vagrant adventurers and mercenaries, travelling from place to place, fighting monsters and other assorted bad guys and looting them for all their worth. Rarely is a permanent sense of place ever achieved or designed for, and rarely are exciting mechanics provided for anything other than heroic combat. One of the fundamental questions underlying the design of Creatures of the Dark is this: What would be the polar opposite of a murder hobo simulator? One rather literal answer might be: A "caretaker landowner simulator." That is, a game where one of the player characters' highest responsibilities is providing for, protecting, and healing the hearts, minds, and bodies of others. And a game where this responsibility is fulfilled within the context of a permanent place where all of these characters reside together, and where the player characters contribute to the place's growth and management. Creatures of the Dark has robust relationship mechanics, where the player characters form lasting bonds with the oppressed and traumatized mortals of the world. Interacting with these characters, aiding them, and being emotionally fulfilled by them are key aspects of the game, as is avoiding the monstrous temptation to give in and consume the mortal in an ultimate betrayal of trust and hospitality.
2. Castlevania
In terms of structure and feel, Creatures of the Dark owes much to Castlevania. The player characters in Creatures of the Dark are monstrous lords of an ever-shifting castle in the sky, purpose built to house a horde of deadly adversaries and to fuel the magic powers of its rulers. The haunted castle also provides the landowner portion of the "caretaker landowner simulator" aimed at above. Instead of infiltrating the castle and fighting its many monster inhabitants, as is the case in many of the Castlevania games, the player characters in Creatures of the Dark defend their castle from angelic invaders while fighting alongside their monster (and mortal) inhabitants. The castle itself is an important character and a marker for the player characters' progression. As the player characters' castle is expanded in size by scavenging and cannibalizing mortal cities below, the player characters' themselves become increasingly powerful. The larger the castle gets, the more threats it is positioned to overcome as well as the more threats it is positioned to invite. The player's choose which rooms of the castle to build next and each room provides its own powers and benefits. There is a fair amount of strategizing involved in which rooms are chosen and where in the growing castle they are placed.
3. Blades in the Dark
The largest mechanical inspiration for Creatures of the Dark comes from Blades in the Dark, and it would be fair to say that the former began as a hack of the latter. The core dice mechanic is the same. Classes are akin to playbooks, bonds are skin to vices, feats are akin to actions, and plots are akin to progress clocks. Creatures of the Dark simplifies action resolution by removing the sliding scale of outcomes implied by fictional position in exchange for a simple addition or subtraction of dice. Creatures of the Dark also increases the complexity of conflicts to make their more tactical and brutal, increases the complexity magic to provide a host of thematically appropriate spells and relics to wield, and increases the complexity and nature of consequences of indulging and overindulging in bonds.
You might like Creatures of the Dark if you like...
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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