Yesss…Asher has many hats. Big hats. Small hats. Hats with feathers. I will make sure his tricorn has a cameo 
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I’m so glad someone’s interested in Asher!
It’s not a spoiler but I’ll blur it just in case someone doesn’t want to know. Asher’s very set in his ways and goals but the MC can make an impression on him on a personal level (for better or worse) with their own opinions. He’s not really an extreme of ‘you’re with me or against me’ but he’s also not going to alter his goals for the MC if they happen to be a traditionalist.
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Hello everyone! Let’s talk about the STATS PAGE…
Thanks again for all the feedback I’ve been receiving. Now that the stats and relationships are (roughly) enabled, I wanted to ask if, as readers, you feel the stats included are reflective enough to engage your individual play style? The values/changes are probably going to be adjusted as the story’s length increases so that it’s not completely unbalanced. Please feel free to let me know if you think the changes that are taking place seem too much or too little. For now, the values I’ve used are mostly there to make certain the coding is correct.
What I DON’T want is to have a massive list of irrelevant/fluff stats. This is not, nor will it become, a stats based CYOA. However, it is character based, and I want you to feel that your character’s personality is properly reflected. This may not involve adding MORE stats, but I can always rename/adjust them.
As it stands, personality stats are there to create a more tailored character experience. For example, you will not encounter something that equates to a Charisma check, or an Intimidation check. Rather, your Loyalties, Skills, and Relationships are responsible for the availability of certain options and paths. The intent is to provide multiple ways of achieving something or, conversely, creating conflict.
Hypothetically:
Perhaps in one scenario, your relationship with X character is too low for them to agree to divulge information or help you or maybe they’re questioning your intentions, in that case, if your Investigation skill (for instance) is high enough, you find a different route. If neither of those ‘checks’ pass, you will be rerouted accordingly. Not recieving the information isn’t game-breaking, you simply progress with a different set of information than you would have otherwise had. I feel that this also promotes multiple playthroughs and discovery.
I would be misleading you if I pretended that any of these stats could or should make up for a lack of character investment. This will never be a game for people whose interests lie in strategy heavy or stat check CYOAs (for the record, I love those, but that’s not what I’m writing here). But I would like to keep the element as relevant to the reader as possible. So, please, as you play and you find something lacking, let me know your thoughts. Or just tell me elements that you’ve found enjoyable in the past that you might like to see here.
Thanks and best to you all!
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I think you might want to adjust the value changes up a bit – I (think that I?) played a consistent character, but I ended up with all stats still very close to the starting point (+/- 7pp at most), which feels odd four chapters in.
I’m also wondering a bit at the gentle/abrasive and warmth/aloof stats. Theoretically, I understand the difference, but in practice, it seems like they’re largely overlapping? Maybe that’s just because of how I was playing, though. (More specifically, I understand gentle-aloof vs abrasive-aloof, but I don’t have a sense of what abrasive-warmth would look like.)
Stats screen at end of demo, for reference.
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I agree with Gabs; I think you can remove one of them and instead adding sarcastic/genuine? Some of the response options are quite sarcastic (and I enjoy using those).
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Abrasive warmth is affectionately calling your friend a bitch. 
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Hello, everyone!
Chapter Five of the Demo is up and running! 
I hope that you will all be horrified to learn that this chapter alone clocks in at 56,000 words. It was such a party. Loads of fun. Definitely didn’t lead to a drinking habit. I’m fine. The chapter is fine.
I tried to make some of the requested adjustments from previous replies. Hopefully things are a little more reflective of choices and character development. Also, I made some changes to the core stats.
So…I’m not 100% sure if I’ll post a sixth demo chapter.
HOWEVER, I want everyone to stay as excited for this as I am. So what I’m thinking I’ll do is post a weekly poll. These polls will involve one-shots with the selected characters (be they ROs or side characters) and situations. I will most likely be posting those one-shots here:
https://respite-and-nepenthe.tumblr.com/
(That’s the development blog for this game)
I want to maintain the level of interaction I have with all of you, so please don’t be shy if you have any ideas for the characters or situations you would like to see in these one-shots. I may even include some of them in the finished product, but mostly I want to provide all of you with extra content and a few sneak peaks.
I love following some of the development blogs of other authors and their games. It helps soothe the ache of waiting! So, don’t be shy about anything you might like to see. Hop over to the above link and ask any questions or post them here and I will continue to try and answer them as often as I can.
Thank you everyone!
Enjoy Chapter Five! As always, if there are any hiccups, holler at me.
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there is seem to be an issue with Chapter 2 . I tried both from starting from chapter 1 , then refreshing and clicking chapter 2 . Both time , the game keep on loading and the page freeze . I didnt even get any error…or anything .
Update: Then clicked on chapter 3…and chapter 4 is doing the same…as chapter 2.
Hmm…okay. Give it a try now. I re-uploaded everything.
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work like a charm! 
Great update! Your WIP is one of my favs; I love MC’s character and their interaction with Aunt Eleanor is wonderful. The world building and the writing are awesome; I tend to skim when I read nuance but I don’t do that with your story. It keeps me wanting to know more about everything.
I wish we get to interact (or get to know more) about Asher though. That would be the part that I’m curious the most.
There is an infinite load issue after the scene where the MC tells Aunt Eleanor about the man they saw.
It was this close to having an alternate scene with Asher at the end of Chapter 5 (in place of the scene at Quinn’s house). In fact, in my original outline, the Asher scene was intended to come first. Just because I feel that, by chapter 5, the MC needs to have some sort of interaction with Asher. Right now, that’s slated to come soon.
But…I’m open to tweaking the end of Chapter 5 so that both the scene where Quinn experiencing some weirdness and Asher’s meeting occur. Actually, for fun, I’ll include it for you and others interested here:
(blurred, but no spoilers outside of it being an alternate scene. Excuse the code!)
[spoiler]
Summary
Turning away to check the red door at your back, you hardly notice the retreating sound of footsteps. The Witness is locked tight. For a moment, you hesitate, your hand on the door. The day has felt…busier than it should have, and you take a few breaths for yourself. It’s only as you begin to turn away that a sudden, sharp intake of cold air into your lungs has you swaying on the spot.
You had assumed all three had left together.
Blond hair catches your eye and for an instant, you think that it’s Talbot - but the dark figure trails up as your eyes trace the too lean lines, taller than Talbot is, and with an undertaker’s sleek silhouette.
It’s oppressive in a way that steals the breath from your lungs and you can’t help but jerk back. Instinct pulls you away, until your shoulders strike the door and you wish at once that you had not locked it.
Asher Dye has the cut-faced handsomeness you expect from an aristocrat, but those sharp, pointed features narrow in a way most don’t. Too wolfish, too starved, until all that is left to notice is the shadows beneath his eyes and cheeks.
Your body tenses, as though readying itself for the malevolence you had experienced the first time you had seen the man. You wait with you hands clenched in the sleeves of your coat and your teeth creaking in your mouth.
Before that horrible feeling ever comes, he turns away, his eyes following the sidewalk toward the backs of Quinn and the others, and the angles of his face change. Sadness creases the corners of his eyes, setting his thin mouth askew. He looks suddenly younger in spite of the harshness.
*fake_choice
#Steady yourself. You won’t let him frighten you.
*set Thoughtful +3
His distraction allows you the comfort of pressing back against the door and catching your breath. The air braces you - it brushes away the shock with cold tendrils down the back of your throat. Another breath, deeper, and then another, until your pulse is calm between your ears.
#You curse. Old Porthecrawl doesn’t usually sneak up on you.
*set Action +3
His nearness strangles out a lifetime of habit and the swear that follows is quiet, whispered as though to keep him from hearing it. He doesn’t. He can’t. And as your pulse races, you remind yourself that he isn’t as near as he seems.
#Close your eyes for a few seconds. It’ll all be fine.
*set Reason +5
His distraction allows you the oppurtunity to let your eyes slip closed. The darkness calms you, distances your mind from his presence, and when you reopen them, your pulse is calm between your ears. You remind yourself that he isn’t as near as he seems.
#You can’t help it. You reach out to him.
*set Occultism +5
Your hand raises before you’ve thought about it - extending as though in the midst of an involuntary muscle spasm. He’s so close, no more than two feet away, and the desire to touch him, to feel the wool of his coat beneath your fingers, and know that he’s really there is unconquerable.
Rain droplets bead against the sodden black fabric of his coat and hat. He’s dark, shadowed obscurely despite the gas lamps overhead. His light is Old Porthecrawl’s, not yours, and you see him as he is - a man on a darker street, in a darker time, with no shelter from his night’s rain. If he turns - when he turns - he will see you warmed by the dull orange glow of the lights, dry and wide-eyed.
The trio of friends doesn’t hold his attention for much longer.
A sharp, high cheek tilts toward you, its paleness stark in his cloudy moonlight. Again, a spike in your heart rate thuds too loudly and you have to think, have to remind yourself that he isn’t there with you.
*if (Sensitivity >=14)
You draw in a breath.
The air smells rain on stone - coppery, heavy in your nose.
And the ward isn’t supposed to be this thin. Not here, not on the street. There a places, Easthallow Woods, even the Strothers’, where the odd phantom smell bleeds across time. But not here.
*goto asherspeaks
*else[/spoiler]
I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts and preferences for Chap 5’s ending.
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I vote for interaction with Asher 
That one right there sent the chill to my skin.
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Yes, just noticed that didn’t work as intended!
I’m very partial to Asher myself!
Hmm…I’m trying to find one that isn’t working. Is it the choice towards the end of Chapter One?
There’s also a variable-dependent option in Chapter 5 that may not have been tested properly. Is it that one?
Still Chapter 1. (For some reason, it doesn’t let me upload the screenshot). It’s after selecting “I saw something strange this morning…”
The next scene loads fine and when clicking Chapter Two, it’s infinite load.
Ok, I think I’ve got it fixed. I had something misspelled in the scene change that was causing problems. Let me know if it’s still not cooperating.
Will there be a save function added, because there are other options I wanna try but it’s hard when you have to go through the whole book. The chapter section defaults everyone to male and I can’t really choose how I feel about everyone.
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It’s fixed now! Thank you!
I can’t wait to see more of Asher. The part of me that got attached to Porthecrawl’s mysteries is enjoying the gang getting into trouble.
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