A SHRIEK OF ASH AND FIRE 1(WIP) [approx 160K UPDATE, 2.37 Million TOTAL-25th June 2026] (2.52 Million on Patreon)

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Hail the Supreme Protector! You are, perhaps, the very first one who has played from end to end, other than me, skimming through things while testing… So, yes, you are probably the first to actually play from end to end!

A new forum member, with a lovely first comment – surely you have received a handy bribe of goblin gold! Haha.

Welcome here, mate. Thanks for playing. It’s made my day to read your comment – and I know everything is subjective. But yes, I think, for those who didn’t like Green, Shriek is worth a go. It is a very different style of story. For those who like Green: Shriek is in the same world. You will get more references, appreciate some of the numerous Easter eggs, and have a grounding in the lore. But playing Green first is not required at all.

These stories are separated by 1,000 years. Green is a broader, more free-roam sandbox thing; Shriek is still broad, with lots of choices, but it’s a deeper ‘heroic origins’ thing.

When it comes to writing the blurb, I’ll have to be snappier.

Much appreciation @Gladiator49 - great to have you along for the drive through the ashes!

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Regarding the blurb and how you describe the game I would really recommend considering dropping the “heroic origins simulator”. To me it feels like you are really underselling what this game is. When I read the whole “origins simulator” and your emphasis around different paths it paints the picture (to me) that this is a shorter style game like Green Journey.

Instead what I got was a really compelling well written 10 hour character driven story that in itself is very enjoyable. 10 hours is an extremely good length for a choice game (longer than the majority of titles) and despite knowing this is only book 1 of 2 I was very satisfied at the end. I still have the cold pact and road fleet paths to play which I expect will give me another 6-7 hours each.

I can tell you put a massive amount of effort into the different paths and variations but a lot of people only play one path in these games. I would be very very satisfied having only read one path in this whereas in Green Journey one path could lead to people feeling a bit like (that is it?). My point being you have hit top marks on both re-playabilty and single path satisfaction here which is the very first time I’ve felt this way after playing the vast majority of HG and CoG titles.

Apologies for all the fan boying but I am really passionate about this title and highly look forward to the second entry. Regarding feedback from my ash marine / supreme protector path the only thing that springs to mind is how we spend time on the Ash Crawler. When given the choice between completing my duties or interacting with factions I don’t feel like I the game gave me feedback on how this affected things. For example I’m not sure how or what supporting or undermining the nobles/royalty in these interactions changed in the game.

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Useful. I’ll check this out when I do the final read-through to make it clearer, since the influence stats are hidden. There is a good reason for hiding these stats: in a certain part of the game, the influence stats are fiddled with to confirm a dominant path, which would look bad if I exposed it to the player. This is more of a narrative tool than a stat for the players to follow, which may have led me to assume players understood something that I did without prompting them properly.

You hit the nail on the head. The reason I started thinking about labelling it as a hero origin simulator was because of the single playthrough length. I have seen some people say they thought Green was ‘short’ despite its total length. I have heard this criticism levelled at other larger games, too.

I have tried to make all paths ‘equal but different’. Of course, some people will prefer one path over another, and I can’t say all paths are the same length, but they should be close to the same length. All share similar final scenes, with smaller differences compared to the middle of the game.

If a single path feels legitimately single-playthrough worthy on its own merit, this does free me from worrying about the blurb as much. I can probably make a stronger blurb without having to fit ‘heroic origins’ in.

Thanks, @Gladiator49 , this is very valuable insight.

It would be interesting to see what others think, too. I would place a poll, but this might have to wait for next month when the Sinsitratum build is fully public.

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Re: the length. I would Never call this IF a short game. Even just a single playthrough took me upwards of 10 hours, and there are multiple pathways. In my opinion (which you should take with a hefty helping of salt) this story is a Fantasy Epic with arcs of resource management and character evolution.

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I know you have read some routes in depth, so I appreciate the feedback.

My concern with length is certainly born from some of the comments regarding Green and the nature of testing my own game when I skim through scenes and click through quickly. I guess it is like flicking through the pages of a 100 K-word novel and thinking, ‘Hmm, it must be too short because I went from page 1 to 400 in minutes.’ I can never test these things as well as a reader/player.

YEP – I will be removing the ‘heroic origin simulator’ thing. It is a relief that a single playthrough can stand on its own merit, even though I have made something that appeals to replayability. I hope this bodes well.

‘Fantasy Epic’ will certainly appear in the blurb, with a mention of industrial and political revolution, so folks don’t expect the mediaeval-esque fantasy world of Green. I’ll need to find a good balance of self-promotion, whetting appetites and ensuring a potential buyer knows what to expect.

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Yet one more story that disappoints me with its advertising! I’m still waiting for the fantasy epic that is actually an epic. :laughing: Guess I’ll need to write it myself if I want one, urgh.

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Well, it’s not an epic poem, but it has been an epic endeavour, in my defence. And, indeed, it should be epic enough in heroic proportions when the entire story is complete.

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Focusing on 3 stats is recommended when creating a character, isn’t it?

I know it sounds counterproductive, but it’s possible to create a character skilled in ‘Intuition and Ether Sensitivity’ and ‘Ingenuity and Mental Acuity’, I’ve always loved the idea of creating an MC that uses both technology and magic, hehe

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@Paulo Thanks for playing!

EDIT: To be clear, when I say ‘stats’, I mean the % bars. Skills will be listed and counted, usually, like a 100% stat bar in the equivalent field – though not always.

Skills are better. If we have the ‘tinkerer’ skill, we can pass most mechanical checks, regardless of ingenuity; however, a high ingenuity stat will work too. Sometimes we can pick up new skills.

Intuition is very rarely tested if we lack a magical ‘skill’. It will be tricky to be both magical and mechanical – BUT if you start magical and join the Road Fleet (escape the train and head south), you’ll be able to train your ingenuity and earn the tinkerer skill.

Note that magic is mostly underpowered unless you become the Abhidhar or a necromancer type (who might become a lich) on specific routes. Otherwise, our MC mage is a floundering neophyte who will come into more power in book 2.

BUT! If it interests you, I am going to add a limited cheat mode (lore-friendly and optional) on the train, where we will be able to bolster stats, though not learn skills.

AND… you can become a sort of ‘techno-mage’, though with no magic, just ‘fantasy-tech’, if you join the Basilisk faction on the Despair’s Demise.

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Thank you for replying and explaining further. I’m still at the beginning of the game, so it’s quite easy for me to change any plan, luckily for me. Maybe in the end I’ll make a magic thief in this first playthrough and in the next ones I’ll risk it. Anyway:

If I understand correctly, Skills give a huge bonus (or advantage) to the stats related to that skill, right? Does this mean that, with a Skill that helps intuition stats for example, I should still focus on intuition stats? Or is the skill already sufficient for basically all tests?

To use magic (and take advantage of the ‘Intuition’ stat), do I need to acquire a Magic Skill at the start of the game?

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Skills are just a binary – you have them, and if checked, you pass them. Stats mean you need to be equal to or higher than a specific percentage.

For example, if you want to try and fix an engine, the code might check *if (ingenuity >50) or (tinkerer)*. You need more than 50 points of ingenuity to do it, but if you have the tinkerer skill, you’ll fix it regardless.

Yes, not every starting heritage lets us perform magic. I’m not with the code right now, so forgive me if I misremember, but I’m sure dwarves cannot use magic (someone may correct me). Apart from this, when you begin, you should see your first few options hint at using magic to call upon luck, boggarts or a ‘shimmer’. If you pick one of these choices, you’ll acquire a magic skill at the start (Ether Sense, I think) – we don’t have to worry much about intuition after this. (If in doubt, pick an elf for magic.) It’s been a while since I checked. I’ll start; I’ll have another gander tomorrow to make sure.

Intuition is mostly used to allow us to become magical early on – once we get that magic skill, we won’t need to worry about it being too low. However, intuition will be used more in book 2 as a ‘sense’ for things, like impending danger, after our MC has fully embraced their destiny.

Our MC is untrained, so unless we take a path to develop our magic, they will not use it much, beyond a vague awareness. Get Ether Sense, and then you can stay on the train and become an etherneer on the Despair’s Demise or escape and go south and become a ‘snake mage’.

EDIT: If, nearer the end of the prologue, Father Rooach calls you a Chancermancer or lets you become one if you ask for it, you’ll know you have magic.

It’s strange now to remember the mechanics of those early scenes; I’ll be having a final big read-through to refresh everything once I put the open beta up at the end of this month.

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I understand, I understand, thank you very much for your help, I think I know what I’m going to do now :3

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Thanks, too, for having a look at Shriek. I added an edit to my last post – it’s hard for me to remember the early mechanics, as things change so much as the story progresses. It has been difficult keeping it all in my head. :persevering_face:

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That’s pretty understandable, bro, that IF is huge, 2 million words is a lot

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So, got the initial 2 checkpoint systems in place for the next Krog Tier build, which will be out on Patreon at the end of the month. One of these systems will go, and one will remain, once testing is finished.

Working on putting in achievements now, folks!

My first pass will be to add the general achievements for reaching certain parts of the game and the ‘climax’ scene for various ROs.

My second pass will try to find a few more unique ones.

I am limited to 100.

If you have ideas for weird and slightly off-kilter achievements, let me know. Some have messaged me a few things already. Please message me again to remind me! I will also check through old messages.

If you have an idea for an achievement, it would be helpful to note the scene or describe the part of the game where it is appropriate – it saves me time. However, any suggestions will be helpful. I can’t promise putting any in, but everything helps.

It would be quite a thing if I could reach 100 achievements!!!

It’s best to DM me if you have any ideas.

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hi author, how are you doing ? I wanted to ask some questions if possible… How do i romance pickles, the ghost, and the other ones like Tinafri, Ironwill, Frans or Scram ? And how can i turn into a saint or into a firebrand ?

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Hi @Augusto_Sampaio , welcome back!

As long as you see through the Cold Pact path on the Grey Torment, you will eventually meet a ghost called Pickles, who will be given a body of your choosing, male or female.

Frans is available to Yonder Cultists on the Cold Pact route. Scram is available for slaves. I think everyone, except slaves and reaper liches, can get close to Ironwill (I might be mistaken; perhaps it is just those on the dwarven legionary path) – but first, on the Cold Pact route, you must try and help her when she is wounded, either by giving her blood or intimidating another legionary to do so.

To RO Tinnafri, escape the train near the beginning and go south to New Yeirhsee. Do not romance Zuan. At every opportunity, get close to Tinnafri, and this will lead up to your final big scene with her near the end. Better to not get too close to anyone else while you are at it, or she might choose Small Paul instead of waiting for you.

If you do not become undead and do not slaughter the slaves during the strike on the Grey Torment, you will either become a saint or a firebrand. Those who protested peacefully will become saints (although, eventually, the peace option fails, it is the intention which counts) – those who agitated for the slaves to violently resist will become firebrands.

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thanks my friend

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