Yep my mc is the sus imposter.
The monster under the bed is real and got me.
Is the Mc gonna be permanent dead now and just observe
Blur spoilers
Is it just me or the only available option for clubs is polo?
99 save slots?! My individual of unknown gender, you rock. People never add enough save slots so this is wonderful! Also the story is great. Feel like that should have been first but I was excited
This was a very interesting WIP! I’m excited to see more. I didn’t know you could escape the monster under the bed without Adrian’s help! How in the world people do that? Also, do you have a tumblr where we can follow you?
Yes that’s the only one available for now. The others haven’t been written yet. The author said this earlier
Thanks to everyone posting stats! Due to that I discovered a serious bug where Merlin was starting off with +40 in flirting (which means the game is assuming that the MC has literally flirted with Merlin 40x). I know that Merlin is supposed to be an incubus taking on the viewer’s most desired form, but still, that’s a bit… much. (Sorry, all the other ROs, Merlin has a +40 headstart on you!)
*coughs* I won’t be able to update until after IF Comp is over, so please ignore the game auto-assuming that everyone is flirting madly with Merlin at the moment.
And I’ll slowly be making my way through the rest of the replies.
I’m a bit surprised that Serial Killer ended up popular enough that it’s currently tied for second place.
Yeah, the interludes exist to make all the ROs seem maximum sketchy without revealing their true game. A potential interlude focused on the MC would probably be pretty alarming to the ROs as well.
There’s no ‘get out of jail free’ cards, but if you die it’ll be due to a choice you made (and hopefully one that was properly telegraphed) and not because you failed a stat check. As long as you didn’t make it impossible for someone to save you from the Monster Under the Bed, then you’re covered there and someone will come.
Also @Robyn_Tact
Right now there are 16 chances to flirt “subtly” with Adrian and 8 to flirt “boldly” (since Merlin only shows up at the end, they’ve only got 2-3 flirting possibilities per style). There are going to be plenty of flirting opportunities and ways to let a RO know that you’re interested, so don’t feel like you need to go charging out of the gate like a dog in heat. (Although, you can totally act that way too since there’s a horny stat in play as well.)
That’s pretty much going to be the intended flirting ratio going forwards, twice as many opportunities to flirt subtly versus boldly since the subtle flirts have a higher threshold (they’re subtle enough that it can be taken as platonically friendly at times).
Whether the opportunities showed up would also depend upon exactly what you were doing during Chapter 1 (also you might’ve been too busy freaking out over demons trying to eat your face for that at the moment too).
I’ll make certain to include some flirting (both bold & subtle) in the more chill Free Time events and in the ‘Main Routes’ that everyone should see. Also, I’ll make a note to include some very shy type ones as well.
If you have high enough affinity, some ROs will also approach you on their own if you aren’t already in a relationship (just tell them you’re not interested in that case).
Thanks for the compliment and letting me know which parts you liked in particular.
The Mute stat is turned on by default and turned off the first time that the MC bursts into song or chooses a “Dialogue option”. Note that general stuff such as ‘Ask Adrian about the Foo in the Whatsit’ does not turn off the stat, since the choice never said that you asked that out loud.
So, it’s totally possible to make it through Chapter 1 without saying anything. If you reach the part where you’re officially introducing yourselves to Merlin with the mute flag still active, Adrian will say that he’s never actually heard the MC speak out loud. At that point, you’ll get a stronger reaction from the other harbingers the first time that you speak (just so long as I remember to call that particular gosub).
Towards the end of the chapter, if Mute is still active you’ll start getting flavor text like this…
*if (mute)
[i]What more can you want?[/i][n/]
[i]What more can I say? Nay![/i][n/]
[i]A bit of laughter is needed[/i][n/]
[i]in these trying times[/i][n/]
[i]Full of crimes.[/i]
You pass the message, hastily scrawled but intently meant, over to your two companions. They both glance at it, back at you, and then down at the message once more.
It won’t happen every time there’s a conversation (that would drag the narrative out too much), but it’ll pop up periodically if the mute flag is still set.
ooh, that’s very good to hear! I’m glad there’ll be a lot of variety in flirting :3 I adore playing characters who joke around and act very bold, then just
Keel over the moment romance enters the scene. Also nice to see that ROs approaching is planned, it’s wonderful when characters are also potentially active in relationships and actively desire your character.
Also Serial Killer appeals to me at least a great deal because I love families in CYOA games and having a background that was fundamentally broken by the loss of theirs and hence swore horrific vengeance is just such a vibe I adore that stuff wonderful motivation in Arcadie wonderful here and seeing your companions react to the KNIVES was great
Also a big fan of the approach to death, one of the biggest things that takes me out of a narrative is making a choice and abruptly keeling over, then having to restart. It’s not really an issue as long as the game is on dashingdon, with its magnificent save and load feature, but it gets painful when it moves to a release format.
I also love mute options, as someone who is extremely bad at social it’s great to occasionally just be able to go thumbs up
Yeah, since Percy is an RO, I realized I really needed to let the MC have cloudcuckoolander options as well.
Nothing Left (to Burn)? I’ve never played it, but I’ve heard about it. Seems particularly relevant if you don’t have the “Accident” background for your childhood.
Thanks for the compliments! And yeah, when it comes to dealing with strangers, the Intimidation stat is based almost purely on superficial things (height, body build, visible tats/scars/piercings etc).
I put the confirmation choice in for all the important decision points that have a major impact on the storyline so people could gather as much info there as they like, so it’s cool to know it’s appreciated.
Yep, only polo is available for the IF Comp version. The subject line of this post will change when I update to include the fencing & book club routes. (I’m probably going to do the update that includes the first Camelot flashback first though)
Thanks! Yeah, I wish people would add more Save Slots to their WIPs too. (Not to mention them existing in the published games)
The One Knight Stand tumblr is over here.
As to escaping from the monster under the bed, there’s only one option that’ll give you the opportunity to escape. (Just think of how to deal with a threat that’s on floor level.) What happens with the options at the very beginning of the game regarding the creaking under the bed also foreshadow what will happen later.
The stat check itself is pretty intricate.The first stat check is…
*if ((((((health >= 50) and not(mindcontrol)) and (not(mc_hurt_leg) and not(mc_hurt_ankle))) and ((body >= 30) or ((body >= 20) and (talent = “agility”)))) and (((fear_level < 13) and (fear != “fear”)) and ((fear != “dark”) and (fear != “death”)))) and (boozecount < 2)) and not(clothing_long)
If you fail that, then the second chance stat check is…
*elseif (((((health >= 45) and (will > 13))) and ((body >= 15) or (talent = “agility”))) and (((boozecount < 2) and not(clothing_long)) and not(mindcontrol)))
If you fail the first two checks, then the third and final fallback stat check is…
*elseif (((talent = “luck”) and ((health >= 40) and not(mindcontrol))) and ((not(mc_hurt_leg) and not(mc_hurt_ankle)) and ((body > 10) and (boozecount < 2))))
[and then you win the luck roll]
After that point, the monster just gets you so I hope Adrian is with you. That said, the fail rate is a bit higher than expected according to the polls. I suspect it’s due to most people going whole hog on the attempt to rescue Pippa and thus ended up with the bad shoulder injury, so I might be slightly tweaking that in the future.
Is it possible to know more about the incest tag? As in does it include MC or it’s another character?
The further I read into the summary, the more hyped I got about this. Amazing start, one of the best games I’ve read in a while and I can’t wait to see more!
Sticking my final stats under a cut (these forums won’t let me post images for some mysterious reason). I did feel like some of them didn’t quite match my character’s personality though, since I didn’t think I was behaving quite so sweetly as the numbers suggest, or so seriously? I noted the opportunity to rebalance those stats at the end of the chapter, but that felt a bit like cheating and might not have been as useful for you to see.
Final Stats
Magic : 14 Physical : 27 Intelligence : 21 Charisma : 35
Bold : 129 Sweet : 118 Sassy : 3 Optimist : 45
Health(at Climax) : 85 Health(Final) : 100 Wound : healed Serious Injuries : 0
Caution : 14 Will : 6 Apathy : 0 Purity : 1 Cloudcuckoolanderness : 9 Denial : 1 Coward : 0 Silent : 10 Mute : false Pottymouth : 3 Intimidation : 5
Arthurian Lore : 2 Serenades : 0 Interpretive Dances : 1 Crimes : 0 Known Crimes : 0 Reject the Call : 0 Ward Status : 6 Lore Dump : 0 Lore Dodge : 0
Tech : 10 Medical : 25 Internet : 30 Criminal : 30 Botany : 0
Club : polo Job : wildlife biologist Hobby : criminal Talent : lucid Using Pseudonym? : false Pet : cat Dibs : Morgana le Fay
Childhood : abuse Secret : inhuman Crazy Theory : None Crazy Theory Level : 0 Two-Faced : False
Vice : wrath Addiction : internet Fear : attention Fear Level (at Climax) : 15 Corruption : 0 Mindcontrol : false
Agreed, I didn’t like that either so I’m glad somebody else brought it up. Shortly after encountering Merlin, there’s an option to say something like ‘I wonder if he can teach me magic’, which leads to that. These days, Harry Potter isn’t something I’d expect to see referenced in a LGBT+ friendly place.
While some of the pop culture references/links felt unnecessary, I did enjoy the links to pieces of obscure Arthurian lore, and clicked through quite a few of those. And wow, those A-Z lists of allies/enemies/neutral harbinger candidates are so extensive, it must have taken forever to arrange all that (and I liked seeing Merlin’s personal comments on some of them, too). I’m really looking forward to seeing what the reincarnation options are, and start gathering some past life memories!
I’ll probably play through a few more times on different paths as well, because there were heaps of other options that made me curious, besides the ones I chose. Thank you for sharing this!
Loved it! This was all really fun and the variety of options for MC responses is great. I particularly love all the silly/insane choices like randomly bursting into song or the option to pack your trusty broom.
I was greatly saddened to reach the end
How do you pick the gas mask or Jason mask when leaving the apartment?
Also sorry can’t seem to add image so I’ll paste the stats here
Summary
Magic : 18 Physical : 24 Intelligence : 32 Charisma : 15
Bold : 105 Sweet : 96 Sassy : 66 Optimist : 12
Health(at Climax) : 82 Health(Final) : 100 Wound : healed Serious Injuries : 0
Caution : 21 Will : 8 Apathy : 0 Purity : 0 Cloudcuckoolanderness : 20 Denial : -3 Coward : 0 Silent : 15 Mute : false Pottymouth : 1 Intimidation : 4
Arthurian Lore : 2 Serenades : 4 Interpretive Dances : 0 Crimes : 0 Known Crimes : 0 Reject the Call : 0 Ward Status : 5 Lore Dump : 0 Lore Dodge : 0
Tech : 35 Medical : 20 Internet : 30 Criminal : 30 Botany : 0
Club : polo Job : lab technician Hobby : criminal Talent : endurance Using Pseudonym? : false Pet : None Dibs : Morgana le Fay
Childhood : amnesia Secret : inhuman Crazy Theory : None Crazy Theory Level : 0 Two-Faced : True True Sass : True
Vice : sloth Addiction : internet Fear : attention Fear Level (at Climax) : 13 Corruption : -2 Mindcontrol : false
Random Appearance: false Attractiveness Level : 2 Striking : 5 Body Type: 2 Height: tall Best Feature: hair
Tattoos : 0 Striking Tattoos : false Scars : 4 Striking Scars : true Piercings : 0 Striking Piercings : false
Striking Clothes : true Heavy Clothes : true Long Clothes : true Flashy Mask : false Haircolor Striking : true Eyecolor Striking : true
Merlin Affinity : 65 Merlin Flirt : 43 Merlin Bond : 1 Merlin Gender : female
Adrian Affinity : 92 Adrian Flirt : 0 Adrian Past Bond : 0 Adrian Current Bond : 2
Weapons : squirt gun | broom |
Inventory : wardrobe | laptop | Magic 8 Ball | pearls of protection | Arthurian Lore guide |
Achievements : Possessed | Insomnia | Nepenthes | One Small Step…
I would assume it’s because depending on the lore you’re going with there’s the obvious one where Morgan and Arthur are related and she uh does the deed to get Mordred.
Yeah, the knives were my favorite part. Just going around the place and pulling out ten billion knives was my favorite reaction in the IF.
Well, that was fun. I enjoyed reading this…
The next thing I saw was this. When the lamb had opened one of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And, as I watched, there was a white horse. Its rider was holding a bow. He was given a crown, and he went off winning victories, and to win more of them.
Are CoG-published games allowed to have sounds?
Okay this was awesome and now I will cry waiting for a new update lol…
Btw ho long did it take you to write 400k words? That’s a lot!
Thanks again for letting me know what’s working for you.
Yeah, I also love having those options in other games as well. I tried to play my MC from Mask of the Plague Doctor as silent as the game would allow, so I’m trying to make sure that there are silent options for every interaction. (Although the silent ones won’t be as numerous as the dialogue choices… I tried to have an equal number at one point and ended up with 13+ option abominations).
@Draconis is correct, that warning is about stuff that takes place during Camelot (no one’s biologically related to anyone else in modern times).
Although the potential regarding Mordred’s birth is following the OG lore, so it’s regarding Morgause, not Morgana. You can read more about it in the Mordred entry in Merlin’s Guide to Arthurian Lore. (Mordred is in the Major Neutral section).
Also, depending upon your actions in the Camelot flashback sections, you might never come across it at all.
That’s interesting considering I was afraid that it was the opposite sour stat that might run amok (since there are way more options to drop sweetness than to raise it… you can end between +430 and -637 on the sweetness scale, so your MC is indeed considered sweet, but nothing that a couple decisions couldn’t drop back into the middling zone (0-100).
Right now pretty much every option fiddles with your personality stats so there are a bunch of +2 this or that everywhere and I was hoping that the overall trend would even out to whatever the player is RPing. Might have to check back on that if people are getting weird results.
The reset stat at the end of the chapter is actually for people who want to have a facade hiding their inner self. So they could set their inner narrative to “sour” even as their outer actions (and the way that others regarded them) is treated as “sweet”. (Basically it triggers the true self stat but doesn’t do anything to the normal stats.
Regarding Harry Potter, I’ll have to go back and check to make sure all the references are gated behind the MC already choosing that as a dialogue option (like the Silent Hill and Dr. Who references currently are). But in that case…
(To all)
Any suggestions for a famous white-bearded mentor wizard to take the place of Dumbledore in the Dumbledore/Gandalf/Merlin trio? Or another famous school that teaches magic? (The more famous the better).
Glad to see the cloudcuckoolander options are getting picked! As it went something like this…
Me: Since Percy exists, I need to add cloudcuckoolander options for the MC.
Cloudcuckoolander MC: *poofs into existence* I’m the MC now.
Me: Yes, you’re one of the potential MC’s that–
Cloudcuckoolander MC: I’M THE MC NOW.
Edit: And then I completely forget to reply about the masks. You can’t choose the flashy masks if you have Attention as your phobia since they generate a lot of flavor text about people staring at you while you wear it.
But if you choose to work on your phobia through the game, it’ll stop blocking choices like that. (It’ll still be there for the fear-inducing moments, but will have less control over the MC’s life)
Yep, that’s what the Pestilence intro text was trying to invoke without doing a direct quote of the Bible. And this time it’s Pestilence first for… reasons.
I certainly hope so considering they went to the trouble of creating that entire *sound command to make audio possible in Choicescript.
I got terribly sick around Thanksgiving last year, so I was basically working on this while stuck in the house (aka don’t expect this rate from someone who’s actually working). I think I finished writing (except for Merlin’s Guide) around May this year? And then all the editing and polishing and bugtesting and editing and polishing and bugtesting…
Shows what I know lol. Well I’m all for it. More is better.