Leinco
5342
This isn’t really an intrest check per say, but I didn’t want to start a new thread about this and this seemed like the best place for it.
I find it helps to have 2 different projects to bounce between when writing. I have posted one of my WIPs on this forum, but now I’m wondering if it’s acceptable to post my other one aswell. I don’t want people to think I have abandoned my main WIP for the new one since many people seem to like it.
Sorry if this is a common question 
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Many If author’s post both of their works on here. Maybe because their experiencing writers block on their story and writing for their second idea could help or the idea just popped up and they want to explore that. I don’t think anyone gonna say you abandoned your first idea just because you started another one unless your clearly state that it’s cancelled / discontinued that’s just my opinion though .
4 Likes
Hi there all, and Happy holidays! Long-time CoG player and lurker, I had this idea for a different form of narrative but the desire to possibly write and publish my own choice game is strong so here I am! It’s a possibly over done subject but I can’t exactly remember if I’ve read anything recently that is exactly like this. I have many references for inspiration and here is my simple little blurb.
The Old Boys Club
Your mother’s just dropped a bombshell on you! After three years of debauchery, sleepless nights, pretending to study in the twenty-four hour university library; your mother has demanded you mature and work with her to take over her chain of luxury hotels.
Will you be able to prove yourself to her and your family, finish your dissertation and keep up with your friends. And most importantly will you be able to make into the coveted Old Boys Gentleman’s Club that operates off of your father’s golf club, where you’ve been dying to party with your best friends.
Pick how you want to spend your last year in university with your friends, or alone, study or drop out. Navigate the politics of friendships and make your mark on the exclusive Old Boy’s Gentleman’s Club. You’re rich - do whatever you want! But beware all your choices have consequences.
Play as as man, woman, or non-binary. Make your mark on the business world. Continue a romance or stay single. Write up your dissertation or don’t. Hangout with your friends, or don’t. Join the Old Boys Club and make your mark on it or be a wallflower.
I’ve written only a bit, but I want to write up something that allows you to be able to customise your MC and your choices should have an impact on the story beyond altering stats.
The sorts of books that I read that have certainly inspired this sort of narrative are perhaps obvious once the game is read and I don’t mind since they’re some of my favourite books of all time.
Does it sound like a good idea?
11 Likes
It is totally acceptable, I for example am working on two. And if you want to make it clear, just tell those who like the story of the other wip that you intend to work on both and that you have not abandoned your first wip, this is something I have done recently by the way.
1 Like
Have an idea that I’ve had for awhile and finally wanted to write it down on paper (well not on “paper” but you get me!). Here’s a very vague, bad and quick summary:
A story about a human who investigates scams, only to come across a “company that performs professional scares” but the workers are actual supernatural creatures.
Right now I only have the outline of the storyline planned and the characters. I was thinking that the main character wouldn’t have a LOT of customisation but would be very important for the story. Obviously, gender, sexuality, name, etc, will be customised as well. I have planned 5 ROs and 1 Poly route, as well as at least 3-4 different endings.
I know this sort of low fantasy idea is usually overplayed, but I still wanted to do it. It’s going to be 18+ and comedy/thriller. Is it interesting?
15 Likes
That depends on what’s actually going to happen in the story (and how good the prose is. I can forgive an uninteresting story if the prose is just so good).
(I’m always down for thriller though, so points for that already.)
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Was thinking of something like: A wealthy family is using this company’s services to harvest fear from humans. Unbeknownst to the company. The main character, who is an investigator of sorts, will join the company for whatever reason the player chooses, and find this out. Ultimately, this family are the real villains, especially when humans with no fear start to cause chaos around the [insert city here] (World-building is not my strong suit )
Regarding prose… Meh. I am not an amazing writer. I try to make my ideas come across clear on text, and I tend to avoid flowery language and too many details. However, I do think my strongest skill in writing is characters and dialogue. Hopefully that will come across well in the end result (English is not my first language but a language I love!).
I do love a good thriller 
First interest check for 2023 
My primary concerns are that this could be too intense for the Hosted Games label and whether my writing will entertain.
Trigger warning: horror
Hunt For The Dread Messiah
You’re a criminal psychology expert, but the FBI declined to hire you. Instead, fellow experts on the interview panel discerned the truth: you’re obsessed, sometimes even unstable – not a good fit despite decades of study and success as a homicide detective. You insisted they didn’t understand: it’s more appropriate to say you’re inspired and driven. Who wouldn’t be after surviving an encounter with a child killer before reaching the age of ten?
You moved on with your life, returning to your desk at NYPD and the Ph.D. program at NYU that you joined out of pure interest. There wasn’t a single detective in New York City who could match your efficiency when solving murders.
Then the dead began to rise. They began to feast. The infection spread, and society fell. Thankfully, the dead do not remain animate for long. Cells within an organism do not have infinite energy. Adenosine triphosphate within mitochondria must be replenished, or the organism can’t go. Clearly, ingestion is no longer sufficient.
You were scavenging, barely a week into the apocalypse, when you stumbled upon the most horrific crime scene you’ve ever seen. Three corpses featuring pre-mortem mutilation were arranged and posed as a work of art. The killer also scrawled patterns and messages upon the walls in blood: “judgment has come,” “art is transcendence,” and “I am the Dread Messiah.”
In that moment, you regained your will to live. You will stop the killer or die trying. This is your story. This is the hunt for the Dread Messiah.
Are you interested in playing this IF?
- Yes
- No (as a horror fan)
- No (not a horror fan)
10 Likes
Anna_B
5350
You really had me with the detective/serial killer angle, but then it got into the horror/apocalypse stuff, and now I’m not sure. I think it depends on how much you lean into the murder investigation and how much you lean into the horror stuff. If you make a demo, I’ll check it out to see. I love mysteries and crime dramas, it’s just the supernatural horror stuff I’m weary of
I think you should be ok. It’ll be unique, but that’s not a problem for hosted
4 Likes
Phenrex
5351
I think that it feels a bit strange to me, the mixing of these two genres. Detective stories are really interesting, I’d love to see where this goes, but I’m also unsure how I feel about post-apocalyptic horror detective as a genre combo myself. I would still definitely check it out though!
2 Likes
@Anna_B @Phenrex thank you both for the thoughtful replies! I’ll be sure to add “A Post-Apocalyptic Serial Murder Investigation” or something close as a subtitle so that the cross-genre positioning is clear from the very beginning. I aim to increase verisimilitude by throwing society out the window. Current investigative techniques rely on society, so with that out of the picture, more knowledgeable readers won’t find themselves saying “this isn’t how criminal investigation works!”
2 Likes
That idea remind that I’d kill for a Lucius-like CoG game. Not enough games where you’re part of an antichrists battle royal.
Sounds like the most interesting option to me.
Phenrex
5354
I am planning to develop the Shen (God) background further, I am hoping to release the WIP so far with the prologue and chapter 1 within the next two weeks! (It is currently sitting at about 27k words and counting 
). I’d love to see what someone who actually plays the background thinks, most of the people I allowed to test a private version seem to prefer the human turned mortal angle.
I think though that the discovery of identity and focus on the question of immortality, whether you want it or not, might end up taking the background until the more immediate issue is addressed. I won’t say what, but you’ll know when the demo launches 
I will say this, it is definitely not slice of life anymore. I can’t help myself, writing light and fluffy is against my nature, it seems.
@Dragomer Can I DM you? I’m always open for discussing with new people.
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I can understand why, after all a human isn’t supposed to be immortal and thus would feel the weight of age a lot more, alongside losing other humans who couldn’t escape, than something like a deity who’s immortality is just part of their nature. That’s sure to be what most people gravitate toward by default when they start a ‘Immortal adopt a mortal’ story.
But I personally just see so much potential for the deity, just the question of what it mean to be a deity, of what you even are now that you’re forgotten and how to connect with a human as a parent and child instead of deity and believer. It’s just mind-blowing the amount of themes you could explore with that background.
1 Like
JOE1
5356
I say go for it, make a demo and the community will guide you on how to fine-tune the story.
2 Likes
lilqtea
5357
Taking in what others have said, I can get it, but my reaction was totally different. I think adding the apocalypse/horror genre adds a twist to the iconic “obsessed detective” vibe, and that’s both unique and hella interesting. Ill be waiting for that demo tho 
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I have to agree, being some weirdo who focus on Crime Solving in an apocalypse where it’s the last of everyone’s worry sound great. Sound like a Fallout quest.
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Sequela
5359
I’m quite new here and to this whole cog games thing, but i really wanted to try it out.
So here’s a few ideas that i can think of;
1- Yoysafril roots: MC gets back to their childhood city and it will be kinda a horror/suspense, the plot here is… well, you’ll need to play it first, right? Don’t think it will be a romance thing since i want to focus on the horror thing, but i guess i can come up with a RO or two.
2- Untitled: You’re an eldritch horror from a magical age or way before that, a bringer of death, a monster who only purpouse is to bring chaos and destruiction, well, that’s what you once were, now you’re fully lost in a modern world… How did you even get there?
3- Untitled: Kinda similar to the first one, but it’s not horror/suspense, it’s more of an adventure thing, this one is guaranteed to have RO’s. Some crazy thing happens and you’ll be fixing the past, LITERALLY.
That’s it guys, which did you like?
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Out of the three of them I like the second idea the best .
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I really like the 2nd idea!
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