Progress News and Glimpses of Stories
about 5 years ago – Thu, Apr 01, 2021 at 03:42:29 AM

Hey guys! I hope you've had a great few weeks. I have a few things to talk with you about today. First, we have some factory pictures, then a game progress update, and then a few snippets from stories to show you. Let's get going.  

Pictures!

Cherry was at the factory this week and was able to get some pictures of the continued miniature refinement process. As of right now, all of the wave-one steel molds are done. However, the factory is still testing the minis, so what you'll see below are all just works-in-progress. For starters, they are all the wrong color. (LOL!) Next, most of these tests are in a very soft material and not at all the hard plastic that the final minis are. So, while these are far from the final quality, we thought it would still be fun to show you some of the current behind-the-scenes photos. Without further ado, let's start with some steel molds!

Okay, that's enough of the steel molds. (There were actually twice that many pictures, but I figured you might get sick of metal if we showed them all. LOL!)

Now, let's move onto a few test samples fresh from the molds (after a bit of assembly work.) As I mentioned above, these are just samples and should not be seen as reflecting the final quality of the miniatures. These are just WIPs for fun. First up, we have Eminent Glory!

I hope you enjoyed that look at miniatures in the making! 

Game Progress

Now, I wanted to bring up something a little more frustrating. As some of you have suspected, it looks like we will have a delay in getting Dawn of Madness out to you. I'm really sorry about this. After our meeting last night, though, we realized it was unavoidable at this point. We don't know for how long yet, but we wanted to make sure we were completely up-front with you and let you know as soon as we did. 

There are three big reasons for this delay (which, once again, I think many of you could guess): First, the game redesign/overhaul. We knew we had a ton of work ahead of us when we set our initial estimate, but we weren't planning for nearly as much as we ended up doing. Second, COVID. Surprise, surprise.  And, third, me. LOL. Probably a lot of you have noticed I've been quieter in the comments and on social media than I like to be. (And I apologize again for those of you who haven't heard back via email yet, too.) That's because I've been trying to slam through the DoM stories, but they still haven't gone as quickly as I wanted. Combine that with my Deep Madness novel Shattered Seas taking longer to finish last year than we were expecting, and you have me pretty squarely running behind. 

We are really sorry about this delay. We really hate running behind. Honestly, it chafes us something fierce. But it is what it is. And, as we talked last night, I was reminded again of why we started working on this game. (WARNING: Byron's personal thoughts incoming!)

I realize I am much too close to this project to surmise its quality accurately, but it feels like we're making something really special here. I know DoM has been compared a lot to Etherfields in the past (and don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed Etherfields), but this feels like something unique. Of course, this is just my opinion, and I am fully aware that this game will only ever be for a very select group of gamers who really love horror. But there's a depth to the story's layers and how you dive into it here that I can't think of any other board game attempting. Does that mean it's any good? You'll have to tell me when you get to play it. But I think I can safely say it's certainly unusual and ambitious. I think there are moments of this experience that will burn themselves indelibly into players' minds (especially if you dig deep into the game), and I can't wait to show you more so that you can experience it for yourselves.

Anyway, that's enough of me pontificating. I do want to say once again, though, that we are so grateful to you for joining us on this ride through all of its ups, downs, and bumps. We wouldn't be able to make this game without you, and we are not taking that lightly. This game exists thanks to you, and we're working to make sure we can all be proud of this horrid, monstrous baby we've all helped create.

Some Stories

Some of you might wonder what makes these stories so different from other games' narratives, so Roger thought we'd share some segments from a couple of Emily's encounters. These are all texts from Emily's storybook, so be warned: THIS IS FULL-ON SPOILER COUNTRY! Having said that, we tried to select segments that didn't give very much away. They aren't structured like they are in the game, either (some are several segments combined with all of the gameplay elements and choices removed, some are cut, some are just completely out of context.) Plus, some of these options you might not even come across if you don't unearth them. So, even if you start to get an idea of what you think is going on, that might be only one variant of the story or something that will change with further information.

These segments aren't the scariest or weirdest parts in the game. Far from it, in most cases. But they do hopefully offer a glimpse into how the story could possibly take shape as you're playing. Furthermore, they also give a peek into some of the varying emotions you'll see (and hopefully feel) when playing the game. That's because Dawn of Madness isn't just about the scares: it's also about diving deep into the fractured psyches of the wanderers. There are moments of tenderness, loss, regret, and even bittersweetness scattered in-between the violence and blood and horror. These are very bruised, broken people, which often gives them greater opportunity to become (or act like) monsters. (This goes for many of the actual monsters, too.) While you'll find many moments when playing that remind you of fun popcorn horror, there are also many moments that will bring to mind movies (or shows) more along the lines of Hereditary, The Babadook, Midsommar, or The Haunting of Hill House series. (And, of course, comparisons to Silent Hill are undoubtedly inescapable.)

I put images with each segment that can augment the various stories. Some you've seen before, some you haven't, but hopefully, they'll help to set the atmosphere. Now I'll stop talking, and you can read the stories. (Or just skip the rest of the update if you don't want any potential spoilers.)

SEGMENT 1

This place shouldn’t exist. You know that to the very core of your being. And yet, here it is.

The air crackles with a strange static energy, shimmering like broken glass. You stare down the spiral staircase into that dizzying abyssal midnight, wondering if it will devour you whole if you venture too deep. Perhaps, in the end, it doesn’t matter. Either way, you know you must descend.

You step methodically down the stairway, trying not to look at the giant faces of broken dolls observing you from the walls, their glass eyes swiveling unsettlingly to follow you. Old TVs crackling with electric snow and tall full-length mirrors are interspersed between the heads, the televisions filling the space with a droning hiss. You realize the only light in this stairwell comes from these screens.

“They don’t love you as they love her,” the giant baby doll heads whisper. “They never did. They never will.”

“That’s not true,” you murmur. “That’s not true! They loved me! They just… had a hard time showing it.”

“Then why did they make you her slave?” the faces ask. “Why did they dote on her and cast you aside?”

The television screens flicker beside you, then solidify into an image. You see a bedraggled girl with stringy hair crawling up a spiral staircase. It looks like the same one you’re walking down. The girl looks up. She has your face. It seems that she’s staring right into your soul.

“I’m coming for you, sister,” the girl croaks. “Don’t you fear. I’m coming.” She smiles. The gesture looks warm. Caring. It soaks your soul in dread.

Gathering every strand of your courage, you take another step down the staircase. Then another. And one more. She is growing closer. You watch her ascend on the television screens, crawling like an insect up the stairs.

“There’s something wrong with you, Emily,” the girl on the TV says. “It’s rippling through your veins and wriggling beneath your skin. But don’t worry. I’m coming.”

“I don’t want your help,” you reply. “You hurt me more than any other person. Even more than they did. They only harmed me because of you. I’ve been there for you for as long as I can remember. How much more must I give?”

“They hated you,” the baby doll heads whisper, giggling like children. “Your life had less value than hers. If they could have made you trade places, they would have.”

The stairs shift and shudder. Peering over the edge, you see black bile bubbling deep down the staircase’s spiral. It’s rising, consuming stair after stair as it expands.

The air squeals, and then it shatters along with all of the mirrors. Shards of glass erupt around you, puncturing you, cutting you. You yelp and scream, trying to cover your face as you crouch down.

“It’s okay, Emily,” a dark, rumbling voice says. “I’m here now.”

Looking up, you see a woman towering over you. Matted hair stained black by ichor hangs over a face that is terrifyingly like looking in a mirror. She is growing taller and taller as something bulges and writhes under her skin. It is transforming her, struggling to escape. One long insectoid leg pierces through her side.

“We’re together now,” the woman rumbles. “Just you, me, and Mr. Tumblethorn. You’re safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

The woman leans down toward you, and you see something trying to push its way out of her mouth. You shriek as she wraps her arms around you and howl as you feel the two of you begin to merge. Looking down, you watch in horror as you see your arm sliding into her stomach.

 SEGMENT 2

“She’s trying to steal you from me,” Laura says, tears staining her cheeks. “I won’t let it happen, Emily. You’re my twin, not hers. We are whole when we’re together.”

“Laura?” you whisper. “But how… How did I get here?”

Laura is moving through the shadows, coming closer to you every moment. She looks so small. So fragile. She steps into the light and embraces you. You wrap your arms around her in return.

“It’s okay, Emily,” Laura says. “I won’t let her hurt you anymore.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on, Laura,” you say, tears streaming down your cheeks. “Everything has grown so dark. So twisted. I can’t keep my thoughts together or separate what’s true from what’s false.”

“I know,” Laura murmurs. “I understand. But it’ll be okay, you’ll see. Soon the symphony will echo through us both.” She squeezes you tighter. “You feel this? This is love. This is what it feels to be complete. Right here and now. With just the two of us.”

Something is off. Something is wrong. But, frankly, you don’t care right now. You’re tired of feeling scared, of being chased. You just want to be here with your twin.

Closing your eyes, you rest your head on Laura’s shoulder and take a deep breath. This feels nice. Perhaps this is indeed how a family is supposed to be.

Your hand brushes something thin and coarse jutting out of Laura’s waist. Raising your hand back up, you ignore it. For just this once, you don’t need to know.

 SEGMENT 3

Trepidatiously, you enter the attic, a tray of food clutched in your hands. Once inside the room, though, you pause, momentarily startled. Your sister is nowhere to be seen. Where could she have gone?

“Sis?” you call, setting down the tray on a nearby box. “Are you in here?”

You hear the titter of laughter above your head and look up into the rafters. You gasp. Your sister dangles above you, her teeth bared. Her pupils are dilated, making her eyes look almost black. You notice she has fashioned a noose and tied it to a rafter.

“Hello, Emily,” she says, her voice too low. Too dark. “I’ve missed you.”

Your sister drops from the ceiling, landing on top of you. You cry out as the air is knocked from your lungs. She has you pinned down. You can’t move.

“The static burns inside my head,” your sister says. Her voice is a deep bass now, but there’s also a tinge of something else. It’s almost like a radio tuned between stations. “Within my throat. I feel it moving in there, scratching up toward my mouth. Do you see it, Emily? Is it on my tongue?”

Your sister opens her mouth, and you see something like snow on a television buzzing near her larynx. Whatever it is, it makes you squirm and writhe and look away. Gritting your teeth, you squeeze your eyes shut and say, “What’s the noose for, sis? Why did you make that? Are you… feeling like you’re going to use it?”

Your sister grabs the sides of her skull and scurries off you with a long, low moan. “It’s all coming down, Emily. Something’s about to snap. I don’t know if it will be you or me, but we can’t keep going like this. I see what our parents are doing to you. You know what they’ve done to me. Is the noose for you? Or maybe for me? Is it for them? I can’t remember. I don’t understand. Maybe it doesn’t matter.”

You can’t take it any longer. You start backing slowly away, toward the door.

“They won’t let us leave, Emily,” your sister growls. “Not until one of us is dead. I feel the blood pulsing below my skin. It is singing to me. Will you be the one to let it out?”

“Why are you doing this to me?” you murmur, tears streaming down your face. “I’ve only ever tried to help!”

“Do you hate me, Emily?” your sister asks, scuttling toward you again. “Do you resent me? Do you fear me?”

“Yes,” you say. “Yes, I resent you! Is that what you want to hear? I don’t exist anymore because of you! They’ve made me nothing but a nameless slave for you!”

Your sister’s lip curls upward into a snarl. Her face is inches from yours. “Then we’re one step closer to the end, aren’t we? How do you think it’s going to turn out?”

SEGMENT 4

Drawing your attention away from the pharmacy’s oddities, you turn to the clipboard hanging from a nail hammered into the side of a case. It’s thick with old, yellowed paper, and you quickly realize it’s a medication list with patient’s names scrawled below each medicine. You flip through the pages, searching for anything useful, and land at last on a listing described as a powerful anti-psychotic drug. The description declares that it is meant to “suppress foreign voices in the patient’s mind, as well as lessen the severity and frequency of hallucinations, visions, and night terrors. Can be used in combination with other substances to make the patient more docile and less prone to problematic delusions or destructive tendencies.”

There’s something simultaneously interesting and repulsive about this medication’s description, though you’re not entirely sure what. Your eyes scroll down the patient list, and you land on three names interspersed throughout them: Laura Bingham, Elizabeth Hawkins, and Emily Hawkins.

SEGMENT 5

You feel out of sorts as you step into this place, as if something is amiss. It must be time for your medication. Reaching into your pocket, you pull out the bottle of pills and take one.

The world peels back, and you step into a scene of utter bedlam. You notice to your left a doctor injecting a patient with something. Then, as the patient collapses to the ground in convulsions, the doctor sits on his chest and begins making slow, methodical cuts on the patient’s skin with a scalpel. Behind and around you, you see that patients are literally climbing the walls, yipping and squealing as they claw at the wallpaper. One swings down above your head, a stick with metal shards jutting from it clutched in his hand.

Gritting your teeth, you rush into the pharmacy, slamming the door behind you. Inside, you see a young woman talking with the pharmacist, who has just shut up the window through which he would typically speak to patients. He turns back to the woman as she begins sobbing.

“Doctor, please,” she murmurs. “I’m so afraid.”

“These are… trying times, to be sure, my girl,” the pharmacist replies, placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I wish I knew what caused these terrors. I wish I could discern the source of the mania. But it seems we’ve all gone rather mad now, haven’t we? Part of me wonders if Hass or the junk he put in the basement has anything to do with this. But I suppose that’s just as crazy as anything else, isn’t it? How ironic that the wardens are now as insane as the inmates!”

“I need the medication,” the girl says. “Please, I can feel the darkness rising inside me. I don’t know how much longer I can fight it.”

The pharmacist begins tittering. He tries to stop it by covering his mouth, but that doesn’t help. Tears well in his eyes. “It’s all gone,” he says. “I’ve used every ounce of it, either on myself or others. We’re all alone.”

“Then… Then I’ll just make it myself!” the woman cries.

Now the pharmacist begins guffawing. “You can’t! I’m out of the ingredients! It made me destroy everything. We’re truly on our own, Emily.”

Emily begins to weep. Then she pulls out a knife and stabs the pharmacist over and over in his stomach. He crumples to the ground, but Emily doesn’t stop even as he begins trying to crawl away. The pharmacist reaches for a bone saw that he has stashed on a shelf. He must have stolen it from the surgical ward. Emily slaps it from his hand, then picks it up herself. With a howl, she descends on the pharmacist’s head.

And that's it for the story segments. I hope you liked them. As I said, they aren't the perfect representations of what to expect in the game, but in the confines of what we were trying to do (give you a taste of the story without spoiling much of anything), hopefully, they at least offer an idea of what may (or may not) be going on. 

That's it for this update. Have a great week, my friend! We'll talk to you again soon!

The Sentience of Domains
about 5 years ago – Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 03:13:44 AM

Hey, guys! We're back with another deep dive into a core Dawn of Madness mechanic. This one is pretty important gameplay-wise and was a somewhat controversial subject during the campaign, so let's get into it and see what has changed and what has stayed the same! 

First, though, I know some of you are wondering about the status of production. Unfortunately, I don't have much that's substantive to report right now. I'm still furiously writing DoM stories, the team is still tweaking gameplay, and the overall look of the game is coming together little by little while the content is slowly but surely taking shape. The factory has begun performing tests to finalize the miniature tooling for the wave one stuff. We're also still playing with the gameboard to create the perfect merging of usability and creepy awesomeness. 

I know some have also wondered when we would finally hard-close the pledge manager, but we don't have a set date for that yet. So, there's still some time to finalize your order if you haven't yet or add stuff to it if you would like. (If your order has already been locked, we will have to unlock it for you or add stuff on our end if you want to add stuff. Should you want to do that, send an email to [email protected], and I'll try to help you out with that.)

Now, let's get onto domains and sentience! This will be kind of a long one (for which I apologize up-front), so strap in!

Domains and Sentience

This was an area with a great deal of discussion during the campaign. Some opted for complicated but flavorful terms for everything, and others wanted something simpler they could remember. Well, we spent a lot of time thinking about this, and we came to a decision. 

We have decided to keep these terms very simple. This might, on initial inspection, seem to indicate that they are then basic, bland, and boring. But they are not. They are actually very complex, with a wide variety of meanings. Allow me to explain.

Essentially, we didn't want to limit ourselves to only one meaning for each symbol and color. For instance, the color green can mean many things, as can an eye or a hand with tentacle fingers. So, while the names are intentionally simple, the meanings behind each item are not.

Let's start by taking a closer look at sentience, which is the basis for a great deal in DoM.

Sentience

Just for a refresher, here are the five sentience icons:

These icons (and colors) are everywhere in Dawn of Madness.  But what do they mean? Let's find out.

Sentience is synonymous with consciousness. It reflects what you perceive and feel. So, for the wanderers in DoM, sentience reflects their consciousness - and how much of it they have to use in a world that is literally a conscious nightmare made flesh. Each symbol is named for its color, and each color covers a variety of topics:

 Red sentience can mean: 

• Aggressive
• Taking action/active
• Violent
• Impactful/meaningful
• Exertion
• Passion
• Power
• Energy
• Danger
• Dominance
• Love

Red favors the hand domain because it is the domain of power and action. 

Green sentience can mean:

• Defensive
• Introspective
• Cautious
• Self-knowledge
• Tranquil
• Envious
• Awareness
• Luck
• Tuned to nature

Green favors the eye domain because the eye stands for awareness and cognition.

Yellow sentience can mean: 

• Empathetic
• Optimistic
• Kind
• Dependent on the environment
• Imagination
• Creative
• Helpful
• Hopeful
• Naive 

Yellow favors the skull domain because the skull stands for integration and collectivity.  

Blue sentience can mean: 

• Calculative
• Cold
• Broad-minded
• Sadness
• Calmness
• Aloof
• Productive
• Sincere

Blue favors the brain because the brain stands for the mind's reasoning and cognition.

Purple sentience can mean:

• Unknown
• Weird/strange/bizarre
• Mystery
• Wisdom
• Soothing
• Symbolic
• Otherworldly

Purple favors the sphere because the sphere stands for the unknown and potential.

So, as you can see, each color can have various meanings during the game, dependent largely on the situation - though each of them does lean in a certain direction. This favoritism is expressed partially in each sentience's dice. The dice have at least one of every domain on them, but two faces on each die feature the favored domain, making it more likely for you to roll the hand on red and the brain on blue. 

Each wanderer's personality is a unique mix of sentience as well, making some better at some actions and situations than others. Here's a look at Catherine's dashboard:

We can actually discern some things about Catherine's character just by looking at this dashboard. For instance, at a glance, we can see there is something very unusual and otherworldly about Catherine - much more than the other wanderers. She can get angry or passionate from time to time, but she is also extremely defensive and cautious. Meanwhile, she has very little calmness or empathy. 

Hopefully, it's clear why we've chosen to go in this direction rather than limiting the sentience to names with a much more limited scope. These things seem overly simplistic on the surface, but there is a great deal of psychology and thought that has gone into each one in practice. (And, honestly, we were all going to roll the red dice or spend the purple cubes anyway, right?)

Domains

Now onto domains. Domains are how wanderers manipulate and interact with the Otherworld and its denizens. This is expressed through the dice, the symbols on the wanderers' dashboards (which are actually like shallow cups) where usable sentience cubes/tokens are stored, and domain cards and actions.

The term "domain" is one that Roger and the team have liked for a very long time. It showed up in Deep Madness, it's integral in Dawn of Madness, and it's also making an appearance in Celestial. It is essentially the area or aspect that a conscious being (whether an investigator, a wanderer, a terror, or a unit) can control, manipulate, or dominate (at least for a moment.) Once again, we have gone as basic as we could with the titles - which allows them to have a multitude of meanings. Here are the five symbols for you to take another look at:

Looking at these symbols, I'm guessing you can figure out the names for each. But the names aren't what's important: it's what each symbol does that matters.

A sentience color can become any domain, but every color does have one domain that it favors, as mentioned above. Domains have a wide variety of applications in-game, but we'll get to those later. For now, let's focus on what each one means.

The hand domain can be used for:

• Control
• Change
• Influence
• Attacking
• Wielding
• Exertion
• Manipulation

The hand domain also has a special ability (as do all of the domains.) A player could spend a hand domain from the wanderer's dashboard to reroll (one could say manipulate) any number of dice of the same color - a convenient feature in a high-stress situation. 

The eye domain can be used for:

• Awareness
• Cognition
• Discerning
• Alertness
• Investigation
• Reflexes
   

Eye domains can keep you from taking damage.  When you perform a defense test against a specific sentience color, every eye die-roll result can prevent a point of damage. Additionally, you can spend same-colored eye domains from your dashboard to prevent even more damage.

The skull domain is a bit more specialized. It can be used for:

• Integrating with other wanderers
• Assisting those in need
• Merging your mind with others
• Connecting or breaking a connection
• Working as a collective

Skull domains help your fellow wanderers. When another wanderer performs an important test of a specific sentience color, spending a skull domain from your dashboard will temporarily boost your friend's sentience in that color by one, thus allowing an additional die to be rolled. This can be especially critical when your friend's level in a particular sentience color is really low, such as one or two.

The brain domain can be used for: 

• Intelligence
• Mental capacity
• Breadth of thought
• Depth of thought
• Problem-solving
• Comprehension
• Outsmarting
• Conscious energy

The brain domain has a very useful in-game ability. You can spend a brain domain rather than losing 1 point of mental capacity, which gives you more possible actions and activations during a game. So, if an abomination has you cornered, and you're too exhausted to do anything about it, just spend a brain domain, and you suddenly have a whole range of new options open to you.

And now we get to the weird one. The sphere can be used for:

• Increasing potential
• Channeling strange energies
• Pulling from the Otherworld
• Delving into unknown conscious depths
• Substitution
• Embracing or overcoming weirdness

The sphere domain is wild. That means that it can be spent as a different domain of the same sentience color. 

In addition to each domain having its own special power that can be used as needed by spending cubes/tokens from your dashboard, each one is also able to be spent to supplement dice roll results. 

In-Game

Sentience and domains show up all over in DoM. Consciousness is the currency in DoM, with sentience and domains forming consciousness's frontline of defense and offense both for you and your enemies. Let's look at a few places domains and sentience appear in the game.

In Encounters

Regularly in encounters (the story elements of DoM), you will be asked to test for a certain type of sentience. For instance, say a monster suddenly rises up in front of you, its multitude of arms stretching toward you. The game might then ask you to test blue for eye. To do this, you would roll all of your available blue dice (as determined by the blue icon's number on your wanderer dashboard, plus any accumulated modifiers.) If you get an eye (or use one from your dashboard), then you would pass the test - and discover that there is something about this monster that seems strangely familiar. It almost feels like... it's family. As if being with it is like coming home. If you failed the test, though, then you might have to fight the thing - a harrowing, violent battle that the monster does not survive. Each test would lead to wildly different outcomes, with variant rewards and unique consequences.

In addition, you will often receive domains as rewards for completing encounters. (Sometimes for a victory, sometimes as a consolation prize of sorts.)

On World Shards

As mentioned previously, there are three sentience icons in the upper-right corner of a World Shard. Wanderers can perform a domain action to gain more domains based on these three icons. (More on this in Domain Action below.)

Fighting Enemies

This is something we'll cover more in a future update on Terrors. For now, though, we'll just say that the Terrors absorb the conscious energy from the world around them and use it to attack and defend against you. You'll have to attack them in turn by using your domains and dice to target the conscious energy they've absorbed from the world around them.

Additionally, you also use them to fight against Malformations, Abominations, and, in some cases, Final Bosses. (For more on Malformations, go here, and for more on Abominations, go here and here. We'll have an update on Final Bosses in the future.)

Domain Cards

These are extremely useful and flavorful parts of the game. You'll learn more about them below.

Event Phase

Domain requirements or rewards will sometimes show up in the event phase, too.

In addition to these places, you can always use your domains' special abilities when needed. 

Domain Action

The last thing we'll cover in this update is the domain action.  A wanderer can spend one mental capacity to perform a domain action once per round.  When performing a domain action, you have a choice to make: you can either gain three domain tokens/cubes or gain a domain card. 

When you want to glean additional domains for your dashboard, you will choose the first option. To do this, you will look at the three sentience icons in the upper-left corner of a World Shard, then roll three dice that match the icons' colors. Those three dice results will determine your new domains, which you will then add to your dashboard. 

Doing this is like siphoning domains directly from the Otherworld, leeching power from the very nightmarish locations that would try to destroy you.  You are denizens of this place, after all, whether you like it or not. You might as well make use of it. 

If you decide to gain a domain card instead, you will draw the top card from the domain deck. You can have a maximum of four domain cards at a time (at least until you upgrade that limit.) Domain cards are like objects of power that you scrounge from the space around you - though sometimes they could be more like a feeling or premonition than a physical thing. Domain cards can be standard cards available anywhere in the Otherworld or unique to a given wanderer's world.  Here are three sample domain cards:
 

The first two are regular domain cards, while the straight jacket is unique to Emily's world (which you can tell by the syringe beneath the title.) Certain plot-specific cards can also be unlocked while playing the game. Once unlocked, they are available for wanderers to draw during the current game and any future games.

When you want to use a domain card, you have two options. First, you can follow the game effect text in the center of the card. If you need some extra domains for a test, you can instead choose to spend the domains listed on the bottom of the card. If you decide to use the card as extra domains, then you would discard the card after use. However, you will often be able to keep the card if you simply use the effect text. (An interesting factoid: the domain icons along the bottom of the cards aren't random. They show what energies are radiating off of the item and also hint at what conscious energies were used to forge it in the first place.) 

Well, I think that about covers domains and sentience. Though, there's one other thing that I think might be asked: will these descriptions be in the rulebook? And the answer is, yes. We will have descriptions for what the sentience colors and the domain symbols mean in the rules, so you'll be able to have a good idea of what you're doing when you have to "roll red for brain." 

Whew! If you read all the way to the end of this update, give yourself a pat on the back. I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that's it for this update! I hope you have a great couple of weeks, and we will talk with you again as soon as we can.  Bye for now!

The Abominations Rise - Part Two
about 5 years ago – Wed, Jan 20, 2021 at 08:25:15 PM

Hey guys! Sorry for the radio silence recently. I hope you had a great holiday season and that 2021 has offered at least some glimmers of hope ahead for you. For our part, we're plowing ahead with Dawn of Madness and looking forward to showing you more in the coming weeks and months. In our last update, we started diving into those lovable, destructive goofballs, the abominations. This update will cover the remaining information about them, specifically regarding devour tokens and cards and their legacy family effects. (If you want a refresher on the rest of how abominations work, you can read part one here.)

Legacy Effects

The legacy effects for an abomination family have changed a bit in the current game. For starters (as I believe we mentioned in the last update), you no longer have to stick to using all four of the abominations from a single family in a row. You can play with a Masquerade one game, then switch to a Rage the next one. This is a much more malleable way of playing the game, but that did leave the family progression a little bit in the lurch since you couldn't anticipate who would be the next abomination (and mixing cards together from different families would turn into a big mess.) We've been trying to avoid the need for too much bookkeeping between games (say, with a checklist or notepad,) and we saw how the abominations could quickly lead us in that direction if we weren't careful. So, we mixed things up. 

On the back of the abomination sheet, you'll find two options: a positive outcome and a negative one. (Please keep in mind that this is still in testing and could change. For instance, there could end up being more outcomes if they're needed.) Here's a look at the back of Rage Frenzy's sheet:

Which outcome you get is dependent on if you kill the abomination. (Currently, you only have to kill it once, but that may change as testing continues.) If you succeed in killing it, then each wanderer will get a reward except for the central wanderer. (The central wanderer will get a unique reward from the finale to make up for this.) In Frenzy's case, the three wanderers can choose between receiving max HP +1 (which will be kept forever), green sentience +1 (which also will be kept forever), and three existence (not kept forever, but still an invaluable resource.) However, if you fail to kill the abomination, then you will receive the negative effect listed in the red box at the bottom. 

To show that your wanderer has been upgraded from session to session, each wanderer who received a stat boost will get a token reflecting it, which will be kept with the wanderers' other components inside their dedicated storage boxes from that moment forward. If you fail, though, then you will activate a new game component: the lineage card.

The lineage card will activate after every game where the wanderers failed to defeat an abomination. When this happens, you will simply take that abomination's lineage token and keep it with the card. When setting up the next game, you will place all of the tokens stored with the lineage card on their spaces. All of those effects with a token marking them are now active. (Yes, that does mean you can have multiple abomination legacy effects active in a single game.) An abomination's token will remain active until the next time you fight that particular abomination. If you can successfully defeat it then, you will remove the token and deactivate its lineage effect. If you don't, then the effect remains active until you decide to try it again.

Both the negative and positive effects are resolved immediately following the wanderer stage, right before moving into the finale. So, if you successfully killed the abomination, then three of the wanderers will go into the finale with a little extra boost. And, if you didn't kill it, then that will just be one more lingering dread hanging over your heads. 

Devour Tokens and Cards

The other thing we haven't discussed yet regarding the abominations are the devour tokens and cards. So let's do that!

Devour tokens are spawned in a variety of ways. They will most often appear on world shards during the refresh phase, but sometimes the abomination or an in-game effect will spawn them during the action phases. Those tokens will mess with wanderers in two different ways: first, by nerfing tests during the action phase, and, second, by activating nasty effects in the refresh phase. 

Here's how the devour tokens work during the action phase. First of all, devour tokens will never activate when the abomination is off the board. (When you kill the abomination, it will be temporarily removed from the game board until it has completely regenerated its health, as we mentioned in the last update. Just one more reason you'll want to kill the thing!) If it is on the board, though, when a wanderer takes an action requiring them to perform a test (such as an encounter) on any world shard featuring devour tokens, the wanderer must draw a devour card for each token on the world shard. Those cards will feature one or more sentience color symbols, and the wanderer will be forced to roll fewer dice during that test equal to the number of symbols shown on the card(s).

During the refresh phase, though, the cards work a little differently when they're triggered. In that case, if there are devour tokens on your world shard, then you will resolve only one devour card regardless of the number of tokens on the world shard. Furthermore, rather than looking at the sentience colors/symbols, you will instead follow the card's effect text. So, if you drew the card shown below, you wouldn't be able to perform move actions until you paid three brain domains to discard the card. (Yikes!)

That's a glimpse into how the devour cards and tokens work, but now I have a question for you. For those familiar with our previous game, Deep Madness, you will likely know that the devour tokens were one of the most divisive parts of that game. We wondered if they would have a similar reaction for people in this game (even though they are implemented differently.) While removing them would lower some of the abomination's power over wanderers, it would also make the game easier and remove a couple of components for players to think about. In the end, we decided they added too much to take them out altogether, but we also thought we'd ask you, would you like them to be optional? Let us know down in the comments if you would (or if you definitely wouldn't.) 

In the spirit of shorter updates, that's where we'll end it for today. We'll try to be back soon with another one for you, though. We failed pretty badly in delivering faster updates the past month or so, but we'll work to pick that back up now. Should we stumble again, though, take heart: it's likely because I'm off writing DoM stories so we can show you more (and ultimately get you your games) as soon as possible. 

Have a great day, and we'll talk with you again soon!

Join Me For a Live Stream!
over 5 years ago – Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 12:03:27 PM

Hey guys! I'm going to be live streaming starting at 2 pm PST today (just under one hour from now,) so come hang out!

There will be a couple of firsts in this live stream: first, I'll be doing it with my friend Jeff from Soundbooth Theater as we discuss the Shattered Seas audiobooks, and it should also be the very first stream where I successfully stream to both Facebook and YouTube at the same time! Woohoo! (It only took me something like two years to figure it out... LOL!)

So, this stream will mainly be focused on the new novel Deep Madness: Shattered Seas which just released (you can check it out here), but I'd love for you to stop by with your Dawn of Madness questions and comments anyway. 

Below are the two links. I hope you can come hang out for a little bit today!

Have a great day, Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas!

The Abominations Rise - Part One
over 5 years ago – Thu, Nov 26, 2020 at 02:43:56 AM

Hey, guys! We slipped a little in our faster update tempo, but we'll try to have the next one out sooner. Today, though, we thought it would be appropriate to talk to you about the big bad mini-bosses of Dawn of Madness: the horrific, writhing, mind-shattering monstrosities, the abominations. This is going to be the first of two updates about these things because there's a lot to cover and we don't want to go into UPDATE OVERLOAD MODE as we are prone to do. =) So, let's get into the abominations!

What They Were

What the abominations were isn't too far off from what they are now, actually. But, just as a refresher, the abominations are the mini-bosses for Dawn of Madness. They show up mainly in the wanderer/exploration part of a game (before the finale.) Previously, you had to kill the abomination in order to beat the game, but that is no longer the case - for reasons that will become obvious very soon.

The abomination has its own deck of confrontation cards, which determine how it will act and how you can attack it. In addition, they also have a deck of devour cards, some of which are unique to the particular abomination you're facing and some of which that are common to all abominations. Each abomination belongs to a "family" of four abominations, but each one is different in its own way.

Who They Are

There are two main ways the abominations have changed: how you attack them, and how they die. (Not to mention what happens after they die.) Before we get into those things, though, let's take a look at how the abominations work, and what they can do.

Just like with DoM's other monsters, each abomination has its own personality. These horrific creatures used to be wanderers in the Otherworld, after all, and, as such, they still manifest some of the characteristics of the person (or people) they used to be.

Let's take a look at two of the most important components for abominations: their sheet and confrontation cards. Below you'll see a breakdown of what each section on the sheet and card does, and then I'll explain a bit more.

Plainly, the abomination sheet is similar in many ways to the terror and malformation sheets, but there are a few key differences. Along the left-hand side, you'll find two boxes. The top one discusses how to get rid of devour tokens while this abomination is in play, and the lower one outlines some specific things that happen when a wanderer dies. Then, along the bottom, is the abomination's passive ability. (This can be positive or negative for wanderers.) Finally, to the right is its action sequence. This sequence is similar to DoM's other monsters, with one key difference: there is always one space that refers to the confrontation cards rather than showing a fixed ability.

The confrontation cards are what take the abominations' AI to another level. They are multi-function cards, and there is a wide variety of them. The top section of the card tells you what you have to roll when confronting the abomination, as well as the existence reward you will get for killing the abomination and any other effects that come into play. The lower section, meanwhile, shows this card's particular ability, as well as the mental capacity cost for that effect. But that's not all that this card does. In the lower right corner is a health icon with a number on it. This shows how much health an abomination may regenerate when this card is triggered after the abomination dies. And in the left-hand corner is how many devour tokens it can spawn on the board during the refresh phase. (We'll go over all of this in more detail below.)

While the abominations do still come in families of four, it's no longer required to play all of one family in a row. You can play a Rage in one game, then a Masquerade in the next. You still can play them all in a row, of course. It's just not a requirement. (Having said that, they do still have legacy effects, which we will cover in the next update.)

Each family has certain traits in common: for instance, every Rage uses venom - they just use it in very different ways. Frenzy likes to get up-close and personal, while Fury often works from a distance. Aggression, meanwhile, makes sure you keep your envenomed cards with aggressive vindictiveness. Each may have different ways to hurt you with envenomed cards, too. 

On the other hand, the Masquerades revel in manipulating wanderers and corrupting their domain resources. Masquerade Bliss, for instance, has a real penchant for faces. In fact, she will regularly work to convert all of a wanderer's domains into skull domains, then seize control of those domains in unique and nasty ways. (We'll have more about domains in a future update, too.) Masquerade Bliss does this by birthing an army of Bliss Babies that will scuttle across the board toward the nearest wanderers then burrow into their bodies and minds. They will next transmute into skull domains - before converting all of the wanderers' other domains into the same thing. 

Bliss has some very inventive ways to spread her brood, too, as seen in the confrontation cards below.

Now, I gave some of this away up above, but one thing that has changed is how wanderers attack abominations. Previously, the wanderers would gather existence tokens (or memory shards in their former life) to help the Central Wanderer use a resistance card - either hers or one of her malformations'. We changed this at the end of the campaign, though, when we announced that everyone would be able to gain and use resistance cards. Now, there is a resistance card on the back of every coda card - the little cards you get for completing encounters. Anyone can use them and you no longer have to pay existence to do so, but there's a catch: if you do, you can never again use the coda card effect on its opposite side. The card won't be discarded because you may need it when determining the finale, but it will then be otherwise useless. 

So, now any Wanderer can activate a resistance card to square up against the Abomination and the top card of its confrontation deck. Looking at the active confrontation card, you would roll your sentience dice according to the colors listed on the resistance card you used, tweaking the roll using the domain abilities available to you on your wanderer board. If your final results matched the icons shown on the confrontation card, then you would damage the abomination according to the confrontation card's instructions. Either way, though, you would flip over a new confrontation card.

But maybe you didn't just hurt the abomination - maybe you actually managed to kill it! Congratulations! You would then follow any effects mentioned that take place when you kill the abomination and remove it from the board. The thing is... it won't stay dead. (Nothing stays dead in the Otherworld for very long.) At the start of the next round, its mental capacity tracker goes right back up to its mental capacity limit. Then, when it is supposed to activate, it will spend 1 mental capacity to restore a bit of its health, as determined by the little heart icon in the bottom right of its confrontation cards. Once it has regenerated enough health, it will respawn on the board and continue its rampage afresh. The abomination's terror is never far away. The best you can manage is a short respite, so make that time count!

That's it for this update! We have more to tell you about abominations, though, so there will be a second update about this coming before long. In the meantime, though, to all of our friends in the US, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, and to our friends in the rest of the world, have a great week and a wonderful start to the holiday season! Talk to you again soon!