sooo, the option after your kill “good luck with whatever’s next, I guess” and now hearing from the Entity “through even in death, a glorious fate awaits them” curious and curiouser
I’m especially looking forward to finally learning magic. The first introduction lesson was just right. I find in a lot of magical school IFs, classroom scenes painfully boring because they drag on for too long - this one was boring for the characters but not the reader.
What Mastery is everyone picking? Right now I’m thinking Matter is the most useful, but Spirit sounds like the most fun. I can’t wait to see everyones reaction when the Transplant turns out to be the most skilled student (assuming that the Entity keeps their word).
When Alice gets accused of being a murderer and MC can be like “we should probably know if we’re sharing a room with a murderer” that absolutely sent me. More of that hypocrisy please.
Also, the mannequin scene was creepy. You mentioned wanting to include slight horror elements and I think that was perfectly executed there!
Now to more important matters:
How did everyone manage to dance with Julian? I always get approached by somebody else.
He is still my favourite, poor baby having to deal with everybody’s problems.
I know you can’t make everybody happy, but I’d be grateful for any form of romance with him. Marcus is too grumpy for my liking and Finlay too awkward. I know what you said about only classmates being ROs for structure reasons, and obviously you can’t just make everyone a RO, but I think it’s worth reconsidering the options. Silas would make a great RO as well, I mean our dedicated rival? hello?
I fear you may have written the characters too well and now everybody is obsessed.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! I loved reading them.
Really glad to hear this. As always, pacing is a big deal for me, especially since this is set to be a decently long book, and like you I’m mindful that long classroom sessions run the risk of being a drag on the story’s flow. Chapter 3 is going to be an interesting challenge, since it will have to be the most class-heavy chapter in the game (four different Mastery classes, before we get to Logic and Rhetoric!) That said, I suspect / hope the excitement to finally learn magic will propel readers through a lot of that (and was part of why I’ve been trying to build up the anticipation accordingly).
I’m also really interested to find out what people are planning re: their initial / ‘public’ Mastery. It will probably be my next poll topic once romances close, in fact.
I’m also impressed so many people seem to have managed it! The way to do it is to avoid flirting with Marcus or Layla, ensure Eleanor doesn’t have a crush on you, and have Finlay relationship under 58. None of the collegemates will be brave enough to approach you in that case.
This is how I’m choosing to take it - it’s a flattering compliment that people are so interested in so many of the cast, ultimately. I much, much prefer people messaging me about their interest in my characters to silent indifference! I have my reasons for why I picked the five I did which I’ll get into eventually, but I’m curious to see how people’s views on the cast evolve with time.
Thanks for catching that - you’re completely right, the second clause was bugged (it should have just been Charisma > 14, not murderer = true + Charisma > 14, and the suspicion ticker should have been on the last state)
You can definitively mark me down as interested! I think I’m going to go for Marcus anyways but a little side fling sounds like just the perfect thing for an extra little treat.
Thanks for the feedback! My plan is to continue to mull it over for now. I think I like the idea in theory, my only worry now is working out whether I think it’s possible to implement it in a way that isn’t misleading or confusing to first-time players in a hypothetical world where Pactbinder is published; I think it would really suck if somebody tried to flirt with Julian (or hypothetically Silas if I decided this fit him better) and thought it would lead to a full-featured romance, then ended up feeling disappointed by the relative lack of depth.
what about…both! insert elmo raising hell gif
in all seriousness, however, you could always warn the reader. and you’ve made it clear why it can’t be a full featured romance, so anyone who has a problem with it still can catch these hands
Haha, thanks both. I’m definitely keeping track of everyone’s interest in the various non-RO chars, though overall I think I’m going to stick to my guns on this point and maintain the current set up I already have, at least until the story is more progressed and people have a chance to see where things are headed.
I’m planning to keep an open mind going forwards on this point though, especially re: Julian because I do think I could make it work, I just can’t get past the lack of content worry for now…
Definitely, and thanks so much for sharing your interest in her as a character - I envision her as a supporting character, but she’s an important recurring one - she has an optional solo scene in Chapter 2 already and it won’t be the last.
She’s also on the shortlist of characters who I’d at least consider as a RO option (along with Silas, amusingly) in a hypothetical Pactbinder 2, I just don’t want to start promising stuff to people about speculative future books that may never exist, plus the idea of juggling 7-8 ROs, even in a sequel, utterly terrifies me!
I’m sooo excited for where this game is going!! I’ve read quite a few magical school stories, but this one feels really fresh and unique- especially with the dark vibe always simmering under the surface due to having to keep such a big secret while making a bunch of connections in a new world.
I was immediately drawn to Silas (I think it’s the enemies to lovers feel and the way he keeps staring asdjk plus I love softening grumpy cat-like characters,) but Marcus and Julian are also very appealing as romance options. The dance with Marcus was romantic
Hey! Thanks so much for the comment and the lovely words.
I’m really glad that the story still seems to feel fresh to folks who are as used to the genre as I am - even putting aside the big splashy stuff like the Pact, one of the big things I wanted to do was just take some of the tropes that everyone is used to in modern fantasy and just lean into them. What does it mean that you have this hidden class of usually gentry-coded people with magical powers? Why is it a secret? How has a world that has grown up with magic still resulted in an Earth so similar to the one we know? Is it really that similar? I think all that tends to take one to some dark places even whilst we keep the focus on one person’s journey as they navigate through school, connections and learning cool magic!
Really glad the characters are working for you too so far - writing the different permutations of the dance scenes and challenging myself to think about how each character would bring a different vibe to it was fun.
Finlay echoes your laugh, whilst Layla hunches her shoulders and attempts to perform a truly appalling impression of Harrow. “Students.” She intones. “You are the best and will rule the world, especially the men. Please pay your tuition fees on time, as I’ve been getting a bit tired of last year’s yacht and could use an upgrade.”
Also I loved seeing my evil MC antagonize Silas anddd I can’t wait to see how an evil MC might duel xd Probably with cruelty
Ohh and also turning the conversation and blame for the animated uniform successfully over to Hawthorne is just perfect haha
Also, a couple of polls in case anyone is interested - I asked everyone on Tumblr the first one a few days ago, though my polling technique was a bit shoddy. I’m curious to see what the answers look like here! (If anyone voted on Tumblr already, feel free to do so here again - or don’t, I’m not the boss of you!)
Both polls should be anonymous unless I’ve messed something up.
Which RO are you most interested in at current?
Alice / Adelais
Eleanor
Finlay
Layla
Marcus
Nobody in particular yet
0voters
Which Mastery are you most interested in at current?
Can’t decide between Fin and Marcus. Very slightly leaning Marcus although my mc still danced with the prince because he couldn’t leave the poor boy to suffer the idiot cornering him at that party. From the poll results though seems most of your fans are more interested in the girls and far less gay than little old me. As for the masteries though I fall squarely in the majority. I blame Julian and his cool tricks for that. Besides didn’t the entity say all masteries are equally open to the mc? Although we’d have to be more circumspect about showing that off but my mc will definitely study life second as it makes for a very unique sort of character not usually allowed in most rpg’s the battlemage who can also heal.
I’m not usually interested in high school/ university settings, but oh boy has this piqued my interested. The premise is very interesting (killing someone suspiciously similar to you in order to assume their identity, all in service to a greater entity? That’s something unique, all right.).
The mystery is so thick you can cut it with a knife. The lore is juicy but not overwhelming. The characters are all interesting. The narrative flows smoothly. All of this to say, this IF is great. I look forward to what’s coming next.
Some random thoughts
I like the faculty staff. Given the rather elitist mentality present at Hightower, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mistress Hawthorne is rather meritocratic. Your background doesn’t necessarily concern her as much as your conduct. Although it seems that she has higher standards than the usual for the Pactbinder, given their origin. Perhaps that also has to do with the previous case of a transplant (maybe she has a personal connection?)
I also like Professor Fausett, if only because I also frequented the courses of some professors that had attendance that you could count on one hand, even if what they had to say was interesting.
My amateurish knowledge of theology made me make a double take when the Entity called itself a Godhead. If it’s truly something close to that, then this is not your average eldritch entity. Also, “the form that casts the shadow”? Oh boy, just how high in the hierarchy of, uh, Creation(?) is it? Never mind the “dreams a dream of you” part.
Although, if it were as mighty as I think it to be, why would it concern itself with a Revenant, which apparently has some kind of relation to one of the Old Kings? I guess it might not threaten it as much as said Revenant can threaten the Pactbinder.
Alice/Adelais sure got some serious mystery around her. Her foster parents died, and she either got a peculiar sense of humour, for the fact that you get some bonus rel points with her by joking about her murdering them, or something is amiss. She also has a suspicion tracker, which means she might know something about the Entity or the sort of powers the Pactbinder deals with. Which, again, raises some question marks. Just more reasons to justify her being my favourite of the main cast.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts - and yep, that’s right (spoilers for C2 / already released content follow): the Patron did confirm that we’re capable of learning multiple Masteries, though we’ll be limited by the amount of time we’ll have available for self-study. Learning a second Mastery should be entirely achievable, though, and it is probably not a bad way for the Pactbinder to spend their time! Like you say, though, revealing a second Mastery so young would certainly draw a lot of attention if done in public…
Thanks so much - it’s always such a compliment to hear that somebody who’s not normally into the genre has still enjoyed Pactbinder.
Some great observations and speculation in there too. One incredibly spoilery comment on Alice / Adelais (read at your own peril): She canonically has an appalling sense of humour. See her interactions with poor Finlay during the Locksworth Tower branching!
(assuming that the Entity keeps their word).
More of that hypocrisy please.