Hello! Welcome to my shiny new development thread for Magic at the Masthead, an LGBTQ+ inclusive tall ships game of adventure, magic, and romance.
Demo
The full demo is ~70K words. A playthrough is ~25K words, so a fair amount of replayability already! You can play the first two chapters on COG demos or on Itch, and I plan to add at least the next two chapters when I’ve written them.
This Thread
I will post updates on the game here, probably something every couple of weeks. Sometimes that will be pictures or diagrams, sometimes it will be worldbuilding, sometimes it will be updates.
Please give me feedback!
I love feedback! I am deliberately starting this thread very early in the process so the game can benefit from your insights as much as possible.
Please tell me:
- What you loved (this really is very useful to know)
- What didn’t work for you
- Suggestions for changes
- Hopes for what will happen later in the story
- General comments
- Sailing/ships/historical inaccuracies or inconsistencies (it is set in a fantasy world, but the ships are the same)
- Anything about gender and sexuality that isn’t sitting right with you (especially if are LGBTQ+ - I am queer myself but obviously we are a diverse bunch!)
- Requests for things you would like to see
- Thoughts on game balance. Are the stats overpowered? Underpowered?
- Any times you didn’t see a choice that matched what you wanted to say or do.
- Bug fixes
- Points where you were confused
- Naval terms you couldn’t understand. I am going to try to make sure they are parseable from context, but also add a glossary, so I need to know what to include!
- Spelling mistakes/Britishisms/weird grammar etc.
- Genre cliches/suggestions. CYOA is a new passion for me, so please tell me if I am missing cool tricks, or putting in things that are old hat
- Literally anything else you can think of. I have been writing for a long time, and I’m used to having maybe a handful of readers pre-release. The idea of an audience that can just literally tell you what they want before you actually finish something is VERY EXCITING!
Links you might enjoy
My Bluesky, if you want to make friends.
If you like worldbuilding and/or history, you might enjoy my new newsletter. It’s called Wheat Googling: speeding up your research one fanatical deep dive at a time. Right now, it’s all background detail for this game, so expect lots of chat about ships and how to blend history with magical worldbuilding.
My website, if you’d like to see what else I get up to.
The Magic at the Masthead tumblr, which is basically a combination of the updates I include here, the newsletters I write that are about this project, and the drawings I do. I’ve also started adding musings about the ROs over there, because that seems more like a tumblr thing than a devlog thing.
Magic at the Masthead
You are the new first lieutenant on the MNS Meredith, a neat, fast little frigate in the Measarrean Navy. Officially, your orders are to get out there and harass the enemy. In fact, Measarrean naval intelligence has tasked you with finding out if there is any truth to the rumours that your enemies, the Oriolenn, have developed a weapon powerful enough to manipulate the fundamental laws of nature. It’s a mission that will take you into the heart of enemy territory, and challenge your crew to the utmost. And if you can find, or even claim, this weapon, what then? Will you allow it to transform the world forever? Claim it for yourself? Or attempt to destroy it?
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Play as cis or trans; male (he/him), female (she/her), nonbinary (they/them), agender (e/em), or set your own pronouns; gay, straight, bisexual, asexual and/or aromantic with alternative ‘particular friend’ paths available for platonic intimacy.
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Focus on naval prowess and hone your crew into a fighting force that can win any battle - with your tactical genius, of course.
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Focus on naval intelligence and gain as much information as possible on the enemy’s plans - while using your skill and guile to sew sedition in their ranks.
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Focus on natural philosophy, and become a world expert on magic and all the ways it can - or can’t - be harnessed.
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Survive attacks from magical creatures and miasmic magical storms. Build diplomatic relationships with mer people. Build a happy and efficient ship - or let it become lubberly and mutinous.
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Use your influence over your fellow officers to shape them into very different possible versions of themselves.
MNS Meredith leaves Aberporth for a cruise in the Molach Sea, thaumic forecourse, main topsail and spanker rigged.
You
You are a newly qualified lieutenant in the Measarrean navy. You first went to sea at 14, so this has been your life for a long time. You’re now in your mid twenties, and your new captain has promoted you over the heads of your more senior new colleagues into the role of first lieutenant - second in command of the ship. You’re adept at the major skills needed for a sailor. But in the Measarrean navy, all command officers also have a second specialism, and you chose to be either a ship’s navigator, surgeon, or bard (something between a ship’s counsellor, a master of revels, and a cultural consultant). You also have some unique abilities that got you recruited for this secret mission in the first place.
Main NPCs
The following characters are available for romance, or to become particular friends (depending on how things play out - they might hate you!)
You will also have a high level of influence over the kinds of people they become by the end of the game, and what happens to them. They are all pansexual.
NOTE: I have used they/them/theirs throughout, but all genders are variable as detailed above.
Second Lieutenant (and navigator) Ferhan Ahmet [25, Measarrean Kuz-Kusi]. Dashing, intelligent, ruthless. Beloved by the crew for their daring and tactical innovation, they are also deeply ambitious, far more interested in their own professional progress than the good of the service. They are bold and forthright, and give short shrift to those they consider intellectually beneath them, but they take their responsibility to the people under their command very seriously, sacrificing their safety for their crew’s without a thought, and are passionately loyal to the small group of people they consider friends.
Third Lieutenant (and bard) Celyn Davies [24, White Maesarrean]. Celyn is very observant about things that interest them. Those things are magic, and people. They are a capable officer when they remember to be, but they come alive when engaging with their passions. They’ll spend hours on deck, wrapped in a cloak, studying the patterns of magical light on the surface of the water, or making extensive notes on the magical creatures that sometimes break from its depths. They get completely wrapped up in their intellectual passions, potentially to the extent of neglecting their duties. But they notice people, and are well loved among the crew for their quiet compassion.
Fourth Lieutenant (and Surgeon) Ellis Evans [27, Measarrean Malimbean]. Sweet, earnest, honorable. Tender hearted Ellis never wanted to go to sea, but it was the wish of their two very forceful diplomat parents, and they had no choice. Their true calling is as a doctor, and they are very good at it. They are trusting, tender hearted, and have an unfortunate hatred of violence. They think war is fundamentally A Bad Thing.
noted them down.
