Before you ask, I do always write it all in uppercase.
The thing that sets CHARNEL aside from any other game, at least to me, is the horrible nature of it. It's not just a bit grim, it's really awful.
As an example is one of the gods of the world.
The Burned God.
A figure splayed out against the sun, burned black. His flesh is cracked and weeping. His head is thrown back but you can't quite tell whether it's in unimaginable agony or rapturous pleasure. From his face, his charred hideous face, comes the white gleam of perfect teeth revealed in a grin or a grimace or perhaps the lips were simply burnt away.
And this is one of the gods that people call upon for protection. Well, protection when they really need it and they sacrifice to him the rest of the time to keep him away and hope in their secret hearts that it works.
The world is a horrible place in CHARNEL. I know this is probably a tired comparison but imagine the world of The Road. Now imagine it has been this way for generations. Now imagine the dead are also rising and there are cannibals coming to take away everything and everyone you love.
Sometimes I'm not sure why I even like this as a setting idea when it's so bleak and nasty.
And then I imagine the one man with a sword, going out to hopefully make the world a better place. Striking down the cannibals and striking down the necromancers and putting his blade to the throat of the world and demanding a new one.
It's a story about survival, about heroism and it's a story about doing what needs to be done to make the world a better place no matter what the cost.
Does that sound interesting?
24 January 2012
11 January 2012
Introducing me, David Pidgeon
Hello, my name is David Pidgeon and I never finish games. It's true, I have a long list of games that I'm 'currently working on' and always seem to be coming up with more ideas.
Let me introduce you to some of my 'games in progress', some of which have been in progress for... well, years.
Dirty Princesses:
This is the big one. I've been working on Dirty Princesses for about four years now and it's still struggling to really show on paper. Dirty Princesses is the game of Princesses going on perilous quests to prove that they have what it takes to eventually be Queen. It's a game about adventure, growing up, expectations and kick-ass Princesses, all set in a fantasy world. The eventual published plan for it involves custom playing cards and beautiful illustrations, but I should probably finish designing the rules first.
The Life of a Falling Star:
A rather elusive game, existing more as concept than as actual game. This is about, in the far flung future, humanoid bio-weapons who only live for one year going on insane and 'impossible' missions while being awesome and shooting lasers from their eyes and starting to have feelings.
G:
G is a solitaire game designed originally for a contest that I actually finished in time. If you want to, you can read it here. It's about a solitary and lonely astronaut living in space, dealing with isolation and sudden intense danger. It's still up for playtesting and definitely needs some improvements.
CHARNEL:
This is only new, but it's a dark fantasy game about surviving in a horrible world when the gods don't care about you, the air is full of ash, the dead rise from the earth and the raiders are coming over the hill. It's like apocalyptic fantasy and the apocalypse is only just starting.
Those are the games that I'm most excited about right now. I'll be posting about them all in more detail further down the track.
I have decided that this year is the year to work on games. Not just come up with ideas, not just toy around with them, but to do the work required to make them playable and then find ways to test them and then improve them and then play them some more. I want to finish at least one of the games on this list and make it publically available for consumption.
I know I can do it.
Let me introduce you to some of my 'games in progress', some of which have been in progress for... well, years.
Dirty Princesses:
This is the big one. I've been working on Dirty Princesses for about four years now and it's still struggling to really show on paper. Dirty Princesses is the game of Princesses going on perilous quests to prove that they have what it takes to eventually be Queen. It's a game about adventure, growing up, expectations and kick-ass Princesses, all set in a fantasy world. The eventual published plan for it involves custom playing cards and beautiful illustrations, but I should probably finish designing the rules first.
The Life of a Falling Star:
A rather elusive game, existing more as concept than as actual game. This is about, in the far flung future, humanoid bio-weapons who only live for one year going on insane and 'impossible' missions while being awesome and shooting lasers from their eyes and starting to have feelings.
G:
G is a solitaire game designed originally for a contest that I actually finished in time. If you want to, you can read it here. It's about a solitary and lonely astronaut living in space, dealing with isolation and sudden intense danger. It's still up for playtesting and definitely needs some improvements.
CHARNEL:
This is only new, but it's a dark fantasy game about surviving in a horrible world when the gods don't care about you, the air is full of ash, the dead rise from the earth and the raiders are coming over the hill. It's like apocalyptic fantasy and the apocalypse is only just starting.
Those are the games that I'm most excited about right now. I'll be posting about them all in more detail further down the track.
I have decided that this year is the year to work on games. Not just come up with ideas, not just toy around with them, but to do the work required to make them playable and then find ways to test them and then improve them and then play them some more. I want to finish at least one of the games on this list and make it publically available for consumption.
I know I can do it.
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