Modern Witches: Coven [ WIP : minor update 23-09-18 ]

Okay so I’ve been lurking on this forum for a month or so now and I finally came to the idea that I should also come up with something too. I went on an AHS S3 binge the other day and became totally immersed in it. I also recently started watching Salem and as a result, this plan formed in my head.

PLOT

You - the MC - are a witch experienced in grey magic (you’ll be able to dabble into white/dark magic later), haunted by demons, ghosts and visions of your life before this one. You get accepted into a prestigious yet seemingly ordinary college in order to uncover the truth about your childhood best friend/sweetheart’s mysterious disappearance and meanwhile juggle the responsibilities tied with keeping up the public front of being an “ordinary” young adult and a witch seeking for a place to belong.

ROs (brief descriptions, with as little spoilers as possible)

Peter Augustin : A typical ‘boy next door’ kind of smile brings out the healthy tanned skin and light scattering of freckles across his nose. Butterscotch hair dances in the wind–dirty blonde, the longer you stare at it. Blue eyes that twinkle under the light stare at you, a salty mixture of where the sky meets the sea. Athletic; his hands may be slightly callous, but his touch is soft whenever you’re in contact.

Emil Santiago : Olive skin glows beneath a dark mess of tight curls, sitting on his head untamed and very much like him. His eyes are of the same colour, a gold backdrop shimmers beneath brown. No matter how much the smirk on his face tries to conceal it, you can’t disguise tired eyes.

Jackson Carter : caramel skin burns beneath your fingertips, rough around some edges and worn down by little scars of ambiguous origin. Piercing green eyes, a stark contrast to the caramel brown coils that frame his face. A tooth gap barely winks at you from beneath the natural pout of his lips.

Clyde Choi : Black on black is what you see when you think of Clyde. Black hair, black clothes and a black soul to match. His eyes are just as dark behind the thin frame of his rounded glasses, and his hair is styled into a loosely parted perm. It’s short enough that you can see the mismatched earrings in each lobe glint in the light, bouncing off his pale skin.

Jade Cooper : Her lashes flutter every time she smiles, lips shaped like a heart as wide as her own. There’s a dark ocean in her hair that falls in endless waves past her shoulders. A dewy, honey-like glow emanates from her face, and faint freackles dance across the bridge of her nose. you don’t doubt that her lip gloss would leave a stain on your skin for days.

Angela Zhu : A vision in pink. A pale complexion on a lithe body that clashes with pin straight pink locks. Her fringe is neatly trimmed, despite the various hairstyles she’s accustomed to wearing, and her dark gaze pierces deep. Despite the firmness of her resting expression, a wide grin can never seem to stop itself from spreading across her face when her eyes meet yours.

Noor Batra : Her thick waves of dark hair give way to her Indian roots. It falls over her forehead in a messy fringe and frames a long nose and full lips that capture the attention of many with an airless grace. Mouth slightly crooked into a perpetual knowing look, her thick eyebrows betray nothing but a neutral expression. It’s only when you peer closely into the browns of her eyes can you see the amusement, joy, anger and sadness resonating within.

Carlos : You wonder if demons consider ethnicity as much as a characteristic as human do. Sun kissed brown skin and tousled brown curls give way to what appears to be a six foot tall demon of spanish origin. He’s an adonis sculpted by the careful hands of michelangelo. Refined muscles give way to ink black veins along his forearms, hands and wrists dipped into charcoal fire – burnt to black. Fingernails sharpened to claws complement the horns that curl forth like a ram’s. An unnerving shade of red lines the snake like pupils of his eyes. A black sclera pools around each iris, eager to engulf the blood coloured glow.

G. Fisher : hey this is spoiler territory but I’ll indulge y’all anyways. You can recognise those green eyes from anywhere. they’re a haunted tattoo in your memory, a stark contrast to the pale peach of their skin. Brown hair, short and windswept, falls into their eyes with every movement. Blue and purple veins peek at you from the delicate skin on the wrists of their lean body. Their eyes droop into a quiet look of sombre nostalgia when they think you’re not looking.

TUMBLR

https://modernwitchcoven.tumblr.com/

CHANGELOG
UPDATE 160518

what’s new?

  • rough prologue
  • Clyde’s profile rewrite
  • Natalia removed and replaced by G.
  • page of ch. 1
UPDATE 230718

what’s new?

  • prologue tweaking
  • code and typo fixes
  • 1/3 of ch. 1 written up - unrefined
  • rough Wren dialogue

what’s next?

  • refined dialogue
  • setting exploration
  • course choice - which will influence certain skills
  • first witch RO
  • smoother writing flow
UPDATE 120918

what’s new?

  • revamped prologue and ch. 1
  • three past lives to choose from
  • one in depth RO interaction
  • brief interaction with three other ROs
  • choice of study implemented
  • minor setting exploration

what’s next?

  • settling to class
  • more RO interaction
  • fixes
  • author tearing her hair out bc she doesn’t plan consistently
UPDATE 230918

what’s new?

  • code corrections
  • new variables
  • changed choicescript_stats.txt

what’s next?

  • continuing chapter two

Note : stats is stuck on an infinite loading error due to some issues. Please try not to touch it unless you want to break the game, thanks.

DEMO AS OF 23/09 : https://dashingdon.com/play/pachinko/modern-witches-coven/mygame/index.php?cb=94327

Questions, comments, advice and critique are always welcome!!!

224 Likes

This looks interesting! Can’t wait to see it
Couple of question, is the magic ritualistic or is it “say the words and it happens” style of magic?
Is it genderlocked or do you use witch for both sexes?

6 Likes

Sounds like A Witch’s Path

2 Likes

Yeah, but maybe for this one we will get a demo. (And in contrast to Witch’s Path this one seems to allow nb MCs, if we can believe the tags…what makes it already superior, because it makes unlikely that it will grapple with some of the problems in Witch’s Path I had considering the MC and costumization…)

20 Likes

Hopefully I can actually play a witch mc. Been waiting forever for a wip :sweat_smile:

2 Likes

Oh and after reading the description of the ROs:

Having seen med students do: burst into tears in front of a prof (and on toilettes and at the library), get drunk like shit the moment an exam was over, laugh about “funny” sounding words of medical terminology, cursing over the audacity of tomato sauce (which they brought themself) to taint white coats in the middle of a shift (seriously, why would you do that? everytime some “genius” brings anything with tomato sauce you can basically hear everybody in the break room waiting for a disaster to happen) and basically falling asleep on their coffee (yes, on their coffee, the cup crushed), I would disagree strongly to that… med students are sad messes. (like basically all college students as far as I can tell)

Yeahhh see my MC loose their ability to speak around her and become a flustered mess. :wink:

(Not sure if the actual game will be as purple prose-y but may be a bit careful to not go overboard with it.)

But hey sounds promising!

11 Likes

O.o so we’ll be able to go to Hogwarts and loiter around London after school?

4 Likes

Like the sounds of this!

2 Likes

Thank you!! I really hope it turns out satisfactory!!

The magic varies based on the users power and some magic is more complicated than others. It all depends on the witch, which is an umbrella term for all genders that practice spellcasting and the like.

For example, let’s take charming spells. Some witches are able to charm others with a flick of the wrist or the bat of an eye whilst other witches prefer to dabble in alchemy and make charm potions etc. One witch can be proficient in both methods and can prefer one to the other, or alternate between both. Another witch may not be as strong as the aforementioned, and may refer to ritual magic, to strengthen their spell or to keep the charm going for a longer time than they are usually able to hold it.

I hope this clarifies things a little. I’ll more than likely post an in-depth explanation of the magical background on my blog as soon as the prologue is up!

9 Likes

Coven is my favorite season of AHS (mainly because of Emma Roberts), so this concept really intrigues me!

I feel the choice of making the MC college aged is another point in favor of this particular witch themed game. Aside from relating to it more personally, I think it’s a good age for the potential responsibilities/action that will unfold.

The possible past life angst/drama sounds cool too.

Best wishes to you! :smile_cat: (a cat smile seems more fitting than a regular one, given the subject matter :wink:)

5 Likes

Oh gee yeah!! I don’t interact much with med students because i actually study at a science and engineering campus. I was meant to describe how doctors and surgeons are required to stay level headed when lives are on the line so med students are encouraged to train themselves to adhere into this detached and analytical mindset as a result etc. Basically, Clyde himself is already trying his best to adopt a professional attitude before graduating. I probably should change that description into something more fitting.
I wasn’t exactly thinking about the reality of med students’ lives and i apologise to any med students who’ve misunderstood or felt wronged by what i wrote! :worried:

And I’m not really the one to judge if my own writing is prose-y and stuff, but i do tend to get carried away with descriptions at times haha. :sweat_smile:
I hope the language will be satisfactory when the demo is added and thank you!!

4 Likes

Yep!! You’ll be living an average college kids life, which includes but is not limited to going to class, not going to class, crying at 2am whilst typing up a last minute assignment right before the deadline, procrastinating up until the exams, going wild at a sesh, and just trying to be young adults. This and magic on top of that, so be sure to expect many mishaps and perhaps some people questioning on whether they’re too high to be partying when you or one of your witch pals accidentally sets off fireworks from their fingertips.

9 Likes

Oh my days thank you!! I’m glad you’re interested!! I’m surprised this concept isn’t as abundant as all the wizardry and superpower works out there so i thought ‘why not create something based on witchcraft in particular?’

I’ve seen more than enough high school IFs and adult IFs where you’re around 25 and already working a professional job and whilst a lot of them are brilliant, i couldn’t immerse myself to the same depth as i could with college age works. I myself am a college student so the age group for this WIP resonates with me a lot more.
And also expect much drama/angst and conflict within this work because c’mon! They’re all youths, but with freedom and responsibilities they can either choose to follow or ignore.

Many thanks again!! :smile_cat: :smile_cat:

3 Likes

Yeah in real life they are, some fictional ones are fabulous though, just take Cyrus, Altair and Leon from Keeper of the Sun and Moon for starters. :wink:

Ah, I am a sucker for a good bit of teenage/young adult angst and drama, so this does seem promising to me, just need to wait for the demo to say more I guess.

3 Likes

Is magic kept a secret from non magic users in the story’s world?

2 Likes

You had me at being haunted by demons and ghosts from our past life. Can you explain this part just a bit more cos I’m extremely curious about how you’re going to go about doing this. As well as how the ‘life before this one’ works.

Anyway, definitely interested.

3 Likes

Is this character actually romanceable in the main game? Because if not, maybe just make them a childhood best friend (failed backstory romance is never fun… :sweat: and yes, I know I could just choose “best friend”, but it always seems a bit cruel to give us the choice and then snatch them away…)

Are they all bisexual? :thinking: Also, what are their characters like?

Anyway, it certainly seems like an interesting idea, and I hope it goes far. Good luck! :smile:

4 Likes

Not wronged XD just had to chuckle, because it’s so far away from how most med students are (most surgeons btw at least in private aren’t better and during surgery…eh some of the jokes are ¯_(ツ)_/ ¯ …regular doctors…eh anyway different story, specialized field makes much difference…fun fact: depending on where you study you can also get through whole med school without noticing that you can’t see blood… acquaintance ended up noticing during surgeon training, in the end she became an internist). The detachedness is more of a conditional trait for most, turn it on when needed but show it 24/7? Nah, not in most cases.

Honestly based on that description I would imagine Clyde being the kind of person that ends up studying with a certain view on the job and probably will end up feeling not just offended by his fellow classmates but also the people training him for not fitting that idea… XD
Those people exist, most start to chill after the fifth semester or so though, when med school completely disillusioned you considering the job.

Or he is just generally a calm and level-headed person, without any connection to his career path, such people exist after all…as far as I heard… :thinking:

2 Likes

girl you had me at “coven”

always here for a witchy style game, and reading the descriptions and further comments down the line only got me more interested, i can’t wait to see what comes of this

2 Likes

Yep! But not all non-magic user are oblivious to the existence of witchcraft. I’d explain more about this but oh gee that’s a big spoiler right there!! But anyways I think most people will figure out who these non-magic users are without me telling soon enough.

2 Likes