Duskwood Bay (Concept/Interest Check)

Yes. Just “yes” to all of it. I can feel the atmosphere already. I’m in. I even actually saw “Skeleton Key.” I’ll second what someone else said the belief/skepticism focus sounds really interesting. (It was definitely the best part of that movie.)

I will be (im)patiently waiting for more of this game.

Oooo, this seems great! I’m a big fan of the horror/supernatural genre. I also LOVE the skeleton key and I’m excited to see where belief/skepticism can take our MC.

I haven’t seen many horror genres(other than Monsters), and from what you’re describing, this sounds pretty badass.

Could you explain a little about the MC’s eventual supernatural powers?

Sounds interesting can’t wait for Demo mate

When I read the title “Duskwood Bay” I instantly thought, “Edgy horror survival with a Twin Peaks sort of flair? That would be so freaking awesome. …Nah, wishful thinking.”

But you really are making it. :scream:

Do not change a thing. Seconding @Camille622, every little detail you came up with is magic.

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An interesting concept. Although I’ve annoyed myself I read your post and had a few questions regarding the curse and it weakening then I realised I’d misread the post completely so my question was pointless to ask lol.

So I thought of a new question. If by not believing in him the supernatural can’t harm you does this mean the shadow can’t attack non believers directly so has to get humans to do it for it?

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This seems like it has the potential to become an amazing game:grinning:
Well, i’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the story!

Woops, sorry guys, I conked out last night hardcore. /groans/ Finals…

Oh, it’ll take your MC to places both good and bad. As it stands, the “True Skeptic” route is, by far, the most difficult one to maintain/achieve.

No problem! Assuming the MC has maintained a high enough percentage of belief > skepticism, two means of magic may become available to them. Respectively, these two means of magic would be runic/sigil magic powered by blood or the more traditional incantation/spellcasting magic. As of now, I’ve got no plans for mixing and matching magic types. Time is short in the game - your MC doesn’t have the time or liberty to try that. A third option that I’m considering, particularly for MCs who choose to focus on discovering the truth behind the curse, is the original magic of your ancestors.

In order to successfully harness their magical potential, your MC must remain Willful. Without a strong sense of will, your MC’s magic would just flounder and cause more harm than good, honestly. Considering the origin(s) of the MC, the Willful stat will start off at 100%. Certain choices will start to lower the stat and after dropping past a certain point, your MC will be recognized as being Meek.

Ahh, I’m glad the name is actually managing to convey some of the intent! :sweat_smile: Not gonna lie, I was originally considering “Rosewood Bay” but that just gives off a completely different vibe. Duskwood is meant to be this… eerie, end-of-the-line town surrounded by pine trees and occasionally plagued with some pretty heavy fog. It’s the perfect setting for a beast that can meld with the shadows. There’s more than one occasion where the MC can choose to acknowledge or ignore certain… movements from the shadows.

Exactly. It’s got no power over those who don’t believe in it. Let’s say, for example, that The Shadow finds a civilian who believes in the supernatural and can actually see it. If it wanted to (or perhaps if it was desperate enough), it could possess that individual and wreak havoc from its mortal shell. The thing is, it wouldn’t be able to do much with a… mundane individual. The body they hijacked would likely start developing a dangerous fever that would bring on organ failure and eventual death within a short amount of time. Only a magic-wielder could potentially survive being possessed by it.

Alternatively, even though it wouldn’t be able to touch the MC directly, it could still affect the area around the MC. All it has to is manage to make the MC question the possibility of the supernatural enough for the MC to be able to see it for things to go from bad to worse.

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Not sure what to think of that… Sounds like my last name got stuck in your subconsciousness or something.

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Dude, I hadn’t even noticed that. :joy: I just remember thinking about different kinds of trees and asking myself “Wait, isn’t rosewood a kind of tree/wood? That sounds nifty.”

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Well, it’s not the wood from one specific tree, more a collective term for several types of wood with various similar characteristics.

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Very interesting, I enjoy a good story involving the occult/supernatural. Looking forward to what comes of this!

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/dusts off topic/ I was going to start a new topic to ask a question, but considering it’s relevant to this idea of mine, I figured I’d just ask here. :yum:

Do we have any folks here that grew up in a relatively rural town? Duskwood Bay is meant to be one of those end-of-the-line towns that formed around a train station. I ask because I need some ideas as to what kind of riffraff teenagers and young adults could get into when they’re bored in a little town. I grew up in a city, so a lot of my time was spent sneaking into bars and casinos. :sweat_smile:

I need mostly rural party ideas. I need a scene that I can use to both allow the players to interact with the ROs (though obviously not all of them are the biggest partygoers) and hijack with some paranormal phenomena to not let the player get too cozy. :wink: I’ve currently got drafted the idea for an old abandoned warehouse where the real parties happen but I’m still taking ideas.

Also, I’m totally not writing this from my phone at a work event. Totally. I’m also running on three hours of sleep, so please don’t mind my grammar.

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My best friend in high school grew up in such a place in the mountains of the Sierra Nevadas … I’ll try to give you an idea of what he said it was like there.

It really depends on what is in town and what bigger cities are close- when he was there, they’d drive to the nearest “city” to party as far as clubbing and such goes.

Drinking and such for smaller get togethers would be hunting parties (they went duck hunting a lot there) where sometimes drinking was more important than dunk hunting and visa-versa… football games was a town caravan event where the entire town would caravan to wherever they were playing.

During summer most of the high school kids or above were volunteer fire fighters, so naturally the fire station was a gathering spot for most every activity you can think of… and the fire towers and roads were used during the summer .

I mean there was a motel/inn in town but like most small towns what went on in town was known by everyone right away.

I hope this helps - the boringness of it all is one reason he ended up moving to his Dad’s place in the city.

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raises hand

A lot of the birthday parties I went to as a kid were at farms. In general the more bales of hay were stacked up in a shed, the more fun we had. Those places are awesome for playing hide-and-seek in and building fortresses. It sounds like your characters are a bit older than that, but if I’d ever find myself and a group of friends in a shed with bales of hay I’d probably do exactly the same. Those things are awesome.

Other mischief involved breaking into my aunt and uncle’s farm (Probably a few centuries old. Wasn’t exactly built with burglars in mind.) through the attic (also mainly used as storage for things like bales of hay and farm equipment.), catching chickens, goats, calves, donkeys and other livestock, running away from geese (very territorial), climbing trees, getting stuck in trees, building rafts, going out camping and joyriding with various types of farming equipment and/or horse drawn carts.

… My childhood suddenly sounds kinda awesome now.

For the teenagers and young adults… Well, some’ve got a shack on their property where they drink until they fall over and then die because trees don’t really care when you run your car into them. Good thing I skipped that phase altogether.

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How’d you get your hands on a military vehicle like that?

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I don’t know if this is what you want but I grew up in the country and if there’s anything you need to learn how to do it’s either drive a four wheeler or drive a dirt bike o.o The country is not without it’s trails <3 Also sand dunes; those were epic to drive through even in a jeep :smiley: Even when I moved up north to a small town dirt bike racing was big part of the life style :slight_smile: I actually kind if miss seeing the seat belt belts around, and no that’s not a typo. You know how seat belts have that fastening? Imagine that as a belt buckle ^.^ I actually had a friend who had an uncle who owned the track and she and my brother (who were dating at the time) worked at it. It was really fun hanging out in the stands or the pits whenever we were able.

Coincidently the town also had a train track and the trains were stopped near my other friend’s house (the road came to a deadend a fence and all you had to do was hop it to get to the trains; she lived two houses down from it). For those of feeling especially daring, we’d climb to the top level (they were double deckard) and hop the gap from one car to another, making a race out of it x) I don’t know if it was because it was a small town or what, but I never seen someone patrolling the trains or anything so we never had trouble with whoever was in charge of them not even in broad daylight (they were definitely in use though; we’d hear them come straight through town at 3/4 am).

EDIT: As for partying, we usually had house parties o.o Not those big fancy ones you see on T.V. but a small get together with friends (we even had my friend’s parent’s permission). Her older sister bought the liquor from the local liquor store and we’d just chill and hang out playing games in their basement or play some basketball when there wasn’t any room (the house was elevated so the basement actually had a door that lead to the driveway where we kept the hoop). Some teen off the streets wandered in and despite no one knowing him started mingling with us. I bet him five dollars I could make a shot from the porch. Easy money :wink: Funny enough, that was the night me, my friend, and her cousin fell asleep on the porch swing.

Go to the lake with friends for a day. Do some swimming, listen to music, have a good time. Then when evening comes around you build a bonfire and have some drinks :slight_smile:

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THIS. I nearly forgotten about them :o When I was kid there wasn’t any laws in place against then yet so we’d have then in the backyard of our apartment building. Though, seeing as I was kid I don’t remember drinking, just getting away with s’mores. Lots and lots of s’mores ^.^

Yeah, smores for kids, but drinks for the more rebellious young adults :wink:

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