Hi, everyone! I’ve been writing interactive fiction since 1979, but this is my first ChoiceScript game. I currently have the prologue done, but I plan to update as I finish each chapter.
Here’s the introductory text:
Welcome to The Rise of Cthulhu, a work of interactive fiction inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. This tale of investigative cosmic horror will take you from the town of Arkham, Massachusetts in 1925, to nearby locations, and ultimately to the ends of the Earth. You place at risk not only life and limb, but your very sanity. For once you understand the truth, how will your mind be able to cope? Choose from ten professions with a wide range of skills, collect various objects and clues, and try to unravel the mystery—if you dare!
This Demo Seems Okay To Me so Far Not Much To Say Considering It’s only the prologue, Did You Get Some Inspiration From The TTRPG Call of Cthulhu For The Stats? I never Have seen Some of them Before, BTW Are We Going to Play Solo The Entire Game Or Are We going To Be able to have Relationships With Other Characters? Cause I didn’t see Any Relationship screen so far, Can’t Wait To Know Were This Will Go It’s Good To Have Another Cthulhu Mythos Wip In the Forum After having Played 1966.
Yes, the Call of Cthulhu RPG was definitely an inspiration, though I changed the skill list and shortened it drastically. I also left out basic stats such as Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, etc. Twenty skills is plenty as it is. Ten of those skills are “unique,” with each profession having one at a very high level (though a few professions have one of the others at a moderate level). The other ten are common, with multiple professions having them at various levels. I’m a long-time CoC player/Keeper (and have published two scenarios), so this is designed to appeal to those from a similar background, and the percentile stats are very intuitive.
So far I’m not planning to have companions or other characters that are around long-term, though that may change as the story develops. This is a solitary investigation, as in many of Lovecraft’s stories, though there are other stories of Lovecraft’s where there is a party of investigators (The Dunwich Horror and At the Mountains of Madness, for example).
I’ve heard of 1966, and I’d like to give that one a try. I noticed there was a lack of Cthulhu Mythos games here, and I figured it was a niche that I could fill.
H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937, and all his works entered the public domain in (I believe) 2012, 75 years after the author’s death, with the exception of his collaborations with other authors. I’m careful only to use elements of his stories and those of my own imagination, and not things that are purely products of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, to avoid copyright issues.
I’m really enjoying this IF so far! I like your writing style a lot – it snared me from the beginning. Thank you for sharing, I look forward to reading more!
You’re welcome, and thank you! It may be a little while before I get Chapter 1 done, but I plan to update the WIP once I do. Your own IF, The Brightest Stars, looks intriguing too, and I’d like to check it out when I have time.
It won’t affect your game, but I have long been fascinated by the modern desire to merge the Lovecraft mythos into (of all things) children’s literature (!). Some examples I’ve seen or heard of:
Cthulhu 4 Kids
Littlest Lovecraft
Along Came Cthulhu
Wee Weird
Mr. Elder Thing’s Big Adventure
Lovecraft For Kids
Young Cthulhu
The Adventures Of Chibi Cthulhu
C Is For Cthulhu
Cthulhu Comes: For Children
The Outsider (Cthulhu Young Readers Level 2)
Tales From Lovecraft Middle School
The Children Of Eldrich Lane
A Picnic At The Mountains Of Madness
Necronomicon For Children
…etc. etc. etc. I would LOVE to see a ChoiceScript game where a kid goes up against those nasty guys…
For inspiration, here’s a pic that ChatGPT made for me…
I’ve heard of C is For Cthulhu and a few others. There are Call of Cthulhu RPG scenarios where the investigators are children, such as the excellent The Dare (which I’ve played). There’s even a new Choose Your Own Adventure book based on At the Mountains of Madness where you play a child. In my game, you play an adult investigator, but I’d be very interested in seeing one where you play a child.
I’ve started working on Chapter 1. I haven’t gotten that far yet, as I’ve been busy the last few days, but I’m getting some stuff done. Chapter 1 will be a lot more open-ended and branchier than the prologue. I have a time system that keeps track of how much time you spend. There are a lot of things you can do, and not enough time to do everything, so you have to prioritize.
I’ve added Chapter 1, plus made some minor changes to the prologue. I’m not sure how COGDemos handles save files, so if you have a saved game from before, you may need to start over. Feel free to try it out if you like, and please provide feedback.
I changed the variable from psychotherapy to psychoanalysis since the last update. I tried it myself at COGDemos, and everything is working for me. It looks like you were still given the old version of the prologue somehow. I noticed because I also added Richard as a male name, and that’s not showing on the screenshot as a choice. I’m not sure if you’re using an old save, or if the old version is cached somehow, but that might be causing problems. I’m certain the prologue and stats screen were updated on COGDemos.
I wasn’t using a save at all (it wouldn’t have worked anyway, COGDemos enforces that), and I had just cleared my cache earlier today, but it’s possible I had visited the demo page after that and it got cached… I looked at the code and it’s working now. Sorry about that!
