Werewolf: The Cursed

Are you selling your soul to become a werewolf? Or to become stronger, faster, immortal, or something, and the devil tricks you? I think interactive fiction is an excellent tool for doing that sort of personal exploration.

Heh! Doggone Days is an excellent name for a game about a werewolf, where you only have 30 days left until your DOOM!

can’t wait

Selling your soul to become a werewolf, yes. I was on the fence for a bit on whether or not having the devil trick you, but decided the character development from knowing what you were doing was too good to pass up. Instead of looking for a cure, you could look for ways to become more in tune with the budding beast as the 30 days draw to a close. And then deal with any consequences that that entails.

Damn, that IS an excellent name. The first part of the game is the 30 days, but it works for the rest of the game as well. Mind if I use it? Seriously can’t let that sit idle It rolls off the tongue so nicely. Of course I’d give you credit for the title, that is just to awesome not to.

Were you watching too much Teen-wolf and reading too much Twilight before you decided that being a werewolf would be awesome?

Feel free to use the name if you want, I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise. And if you decide to change the name tomorrow to something different that’s cool too.

Ah, good point. I don’t watch/read either of those, by the way, neither of them are influences in my writing. However, I can see how that can be read. Perhaps it is too much to assume that the mc would think that being a werewolf was awesome in a sort of naive way, when mythology does not point to that. I see where you’re coming from. I’ll change that, now that I think about it, it is a little ridiculous.

Great, thanks! I truly appreciate it.

It’s always great to see someone enthusiastic about their project! And your openness to other people’s opinions is already a plus. Can’t wait!

I haven’t read them either.

It’s just Why would someone call on the devil and ask to be a werewolf?

Is it someone who is weak, who is constantly getting beat up and wants power in order to scare/stop their bullies? They’re angry, they want revenge. Or they just want to stop being weak.

Or maybe they’re strong and want to be stronger. They’ve just been beaten by this rival at this sport they both play, and they know they need an edge to win. Steroids are out, but they stumble upon a book that speaks of a spell that will grant them all these amazing things. It just involves gathering some ingredients, summoning this demon and forcing it to do their bidding.

Now, I think that calling on the devil is a stupid thing to do. Anyone who has any degree of genre savviness knows it’s stupid. Unless they think that they’re able to get the upper hand. If they’re convinced they can trick the devil or get the most out of it. Or if they don’t care. Or if they’re offering up something particularly bad. Or maybe the devil just claims to have bad press and actually likes helping people. Sure I can grant your wish. Do they need to know it’s the devil that they’re striking the deal with?

I was just thinking that if someone had watched teen-wolf, if they’d seen Twilight (or your universe’s equivalent) why wouldn’t they want to be a werewolf? It’s just a great degree of naiveness/ignorance on the subject of werewolves and so all the drawbacks may come as a surprise. If they’d bought into this whole werewolves as awesome superheroic entities, wouldn’t it be great?

I think generally werewolves are known to have problems though. But I suppose anyone else confident enough to summon the devil, to ask to become a werewolf would also be confident enough to think they could control it. The trouble is, why a werewolf? Why not something else? Why not ask for godlike powers? Unless they’re summoning a wolf-demon I suppose.

I’m just rambling though. I’m sure that you can find a legitimate reason to make it work, even if that reason’s the main character’s an evil idiot.

@kakistocracy I wouldn’t be posting a thread here if I didn’t want other people’s opinions, good and bad. I can take it. :slight_smile:

@FairyGodfeather All good points. And I do agree that it is a very stupid thing to do, but I’m giving the option of being able to do a very stupid thing and deal with the real grave consequences. Ideally, the devil tricking them would be a better bet, and as the player you do get to choose your reasons or opt out entirely if it’s not the path you want to go down. You’ll simply just trigger one of the other origins for the curse.

As far as implausibility goes, btw, you can always leave a lampshade hanging. Even Marlowe did that, and Faust is the coolest cat to work the good ol’ make-an-absurdly-and-obviously-bad-pact-with-the-devil trick - with the audience’s sympathies, no less.

Ah yes, Faust. It was my intention to lampshade it. The whole deal with the devil has its roots in werewolf mythology. I also have seventh son(child, in this case since you can play male, female or a non-binary person) of a seventh son playing in one of the origins. I take great interest in stories that have flawed characters, and I plan on giving players a chance to play one, which is what I would like to write as well. :slight_smile:

I’ve never read a myth where lycanthropy came from a deal with the devil, or even a demon.

Richard Verstegan writes about it in Restitution of Decayed Intelligence(1628), it’s fairly obscure. Primarily, it’s used as an act of desperation on the person’s part. It’s not a widely popular myth, but it is there.

You can’t create myths, so his story wouldn’t count, unless you mean he’s preserving some earlier myth. What’s the justification for the deal, though? You could use that as a basis and then rework it for something unique to your character’s background.

There’s also the story(historical reference) of Michel Verdun, werewolf of Poligny who supposedly made a pact with the devil for lycanthropy. Though it is a pretty dark story that is more on the lines of the man-eating werewolf myths.

There will be a number of justifications for the deal, and some that FairyGodfeather has mentioned. Timid person wanting power, a person overcome by greed(Ala Faust), and a more sympathetic story of wishing for immortality because the mc is dying, and simply does not want to. Which is more of an act of pure desperation.

Why lycanthrophy? Why not just immortality?

Simply, because in stories the devil doesn’t cut straight. Tricks are a very common theme, and I’ve discussed it before that I’m going along those lines. That the mc chewed off more than they bargained for.

It can get even worse, sometimes Christians didn’t credit the devil with the power to actually turn someone into a wolf, so what he gave werewolves was the trick of casting an illusion to make people see them as wolves.

@stsword Also that!

Here’s a bit of an update, concept art of Sam! You can choose their gender as either female or male, as illustrated in the art.

looks very promising, but you better not Abandon it like other werewolve games on here or else…

just kidding :3

@Looshi

that’s a really good drawing!