Cary and the Art of Oblivion
5 months ago
– Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 06:18:09 PM
Hey guys! As promised, here is the long-awaited update for Wave Two! This update will focus on Cary James and his game, Of Art and Oblivion. Next month, we’ll dive into Edward’s game.
The Overall Picture
Let’s start with this, though, as I know many people have been wondering about it. We plan to finish the English version of Wave Two by late Q1 or early Q2 of 2025. Also, we have already begun the translation work, so the translated versions shouldn’t be too far behind.
Two other writers are working with me on the Wave Two stuff. (Shout out to Curtis and Wendy!) I have read their work and can confidently say we will not have another issue where I will have to rewrite what they did, like what happened with Wave One.
We also have some other surprises coming in future updates that the team isn’t ready to unveil fully yet. But stay tuned for the end of this update to catch a glimpse.
One other thing, because I’ve had several people ask: if you remember, last summer, we said that we wouldn’t launch our next game, Celestial, until after Wave One had fully delivered. However, we have decided not to launch it until after we’ve fulfilled Wave Two. We didn’t feel good about launching it until you received everything you pledged for. I know this will disappoint some folks (I’m really sorry, King of Average), but I’m sure you can see the logic behind it. We will have something else coming for Dawn, which we’ll tell you more about as we draw closer to its proper reveal. (It’s still a ways off.)
Of Art and Oblivion
Without further ado, let’s dive into Cary James and his game. First, here's a look at his current progress:
As you can see, Cary is essentially done, apart from a few minor playtesting tweaks the team’s working on. As I mentioned, the translation work for his storybooks has already begun. (No, that one wasn’t a typo.)
Now, let’s learn some more about him.
Three-Act Structure
Cary James’s story consists of three Acts, each played over a separate game session. In other words, the wanderers need to play three progressive, connected games to finish Cary’s story. The first two games only include a wanderer stage, while the third game features a wanderer stage and a finale stage. You will save specific components between games, and your previous choices will impact the subsequent games you play. You fail the whole story if you fail any of the wanderer stages.
Here’s a look at his storybooks:
World Shards and Encounters
Every world shard shows an encounter for Cary and another for other wanderers in each Act. Cary will place a completed token on a world shard when he finishes an encounter, while other wanderers will place an exhausted token on it. (You’ll remove these between games.)
If Cary has already placed a completed token on a world shard, then other wanderers will spend less mental capacity to resolve their encounter - and vice versa.
In Cary’s story, you won’t win the wanderer stages by accumulating ending points, as in other wanderers’ stories. Instead, you must complete every world shard encounter to win. (You will also need to kill the abomination in each Act.)
There are still spawned encounters on encounter cards, but you don’t have to complete them to win the game. However, they help you dig deeper into the story and reward you with more valuable resources, like existence tokens, domains, coda cards, etc.
There are still plenty of coda cards with stunning art for you to pick up as you progress. We’ll also include these pieces in the matching storybook entries for this game to build the immersive feeling you experience while reading these encounters. (We can’t guarantee this in the other wanderers, but we’ll see. It depends on how much space we have in those books.)
Another thing to note: The encounter and coda cards show both the Act they belong to and a number at the bottom labeling where they belong in the deck, making them easier to find during the game. (These numbers will also show up in the storybooks.)
Mask Cards
Cary’s story includes a new type of card called mask cards. You may purchase them during the game by spending existence tokens. Each card relates to one of The Play’s performers, offering you new skills and contributing to different ending scores. (Each character directs you toward a different ending according to their preferences.)
These cards are divided into four levels. Wanderers must purchase them according to their levels and cannot have more than one card for each level.
Cary James
Cary is a prideful, often volatile man open to the strange and otherworldly. He only has enough empathy to channel his given character and doesn’t spend much time thinking analytically or being observational. Because of this, he begins the game with four red and four purple sentience, only one yellow, and zero blue and green. These values make him incredibly strong in certain areas and abysmally weak in others. However, because he’s an actor, he can alter and control his sentience colors through his existence cards.
He begins the game with his default skill, “Inhabiting the Role,” which can change and rebalance his colors.
Then, he can purchase the skills that will benefit him most when he meets their specific color requirements. Of course, these still come at a price. (He’s not a successful actor - yet.)
Cary can truly become the master of sentience after unlocking these powerful skills. However, that’s not where his path ends: You will unlock an existence card for Cary each time the wanderers find a Golden Mask marker in the story.
Cary begins the game with his Pallid Mask domain card.
You will have a chance to unlock one of his unique domain cards every time the wanderers collect a Yellow Sign token.
Cary’s Monsters
Here is a look at the backs of Cary’s monster cards. We’ll keep their front sides (and their abilities) a secret for now.
Plunging Into Cary’s Story
For the final piece of this deep dive into Cary, here is a look at a few snippets from his story. (While there may be mild spoilers here, I doubt it’s anything you need to be concerned about. They’re completely out of context, and I’ve removed all their surrounding game effects.)
The King of Lies
Without hesitation, you place the mask on your face and rise from the couch, your golden robes flowing behind you. Thunder rumbles, shaking the theater as if in response.
My time has come.
As you leave the green room, you see that the theater has returned to its former glory: a palace fit for a king. Whatever darkness clouded your vision is gone, and any doubt you felt has dissolved. Tonight, the world will bow at your feet.
You’re a star, Cary James.
You walk onto the stage and discover Camilla, Cassilda, and the stranger standing in a circle with a small gap just large enough for you. They’ve been waiting for you.
“What do you say, Cary?” Camilla asks.
“One last time?” Cassilda continues.
“Join us,” the stranger offers.
You take your place among them, completing the circle. Thunder roars again, and the theater goes black. A blinding flash of yellow light explodes in the middle of your circle, and you close your eyes to shield them.
When you open your eyes again, you see your cast mates for who they truly are. Dozens of arms flail wildly underneath Camilla’s robes. Countless tentacles snake up Cassilda’s torso, slithering around her beating heart. The stranger stands tall above you all. Demonic, bony horns sprout from his skull, encased by a perverse halo. His tattered robes flail behind him like withered wings.
“All hail the King in Yellow!” you shout in unison.
The Sealed Mouth
“You can’t leave me,” the woman says, her speech muffled and slurred. “I won’t let you abandon me, too. Not after what he did to me.”
You duck back inside the bedroom. The woman still fixates on her actions in the mirror. Reluctantly, you move closer to get a better look.
“Am I still beautiful?” the woman asks, finally spinning around on her stool to face you.
You cover your mouth, stifling a gasp as you step back. Blood drips down her face from open wounds winding from the corners of her lips to each ear. She has sewn closed half of her face, including most of her mouth, and is currently working on the remainder.
“Cary always told me I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen,” the woman cackles wildly. “Don’t you agree?”
You fight the urge to scream at the woman’s ghastly appearance as she swivels on her stool. Blood creeps between the stitches sewn through her face’s jagged flesh, her lips straining against the thread punching through them. Her other cheek still gapes raggedly, showing her teeth and tongue through the cut.
“What’s going on?” you manage to ask, keeping the contents of your stomach down. “What happened to you? What’s going on in this place?”
“My lips are sealed,” the woman responds, and you watch in disgust as she continues pushing the needle through her skin, inch by inch and thread by thread, sewing her mouth and accompanying gash completely shut.
“Please,” you implore. “You’ve got to help me get out of here. There must be a way to stop this madness. You’re trapped here, the same as me!”
The woman brings a finger to her lips in the hush gesture.
SLAM!
The bedroom door shudders as something heavy crashes into it, startling you.
SLAM! SLAM!
The door frame splinters as the hinges rattle loose. Something enormous is on the other side of that door, and it’s coming through. Fast.
You frantically look from the door to the woman. She continues calmly sitting, smiling that horrific carved smile as if expecting her friendly neighbor rather than some horrid nightmare.
“There must be a way out of here!” you cry.
CRASH!
It’s too late. The hulking abomination smashes through the door.
The King’s Descent
It’s him. He’s here.
For a moment, you only see the golden robes billowing out between the cathedral doors. Then, you notice the tentacles. There are so many writhing tentacles snaking out from underneath those impossible robes, carrying their charge with such fluidity it seems he’s floating.
Similarly robed priests flank the regal figure as he descends the steps. They’ve bowed their heads as they hoist banners of the Yellow Sign. There’s another symbol, too – one you could swear you recognize.
The Golden Dawn?
Your entire body trembles with fear, your eyes watering from the overwhelming emotions hitting you in tidal waves. With no other thought, you drop to your knees, bowing to your master – your king.
“All hail the King in Yellow,” you cry out.
“All hail the King in Yellow,” the priests respond in unison.
You now understand why you were chosen and what you were chosen for.
“Use me as you see fit,” you sob. “For I am your vessel.”
The King in Yellow stops, towering above you. You dare not look at him. To do so would be to know madness, and there would be no coming back from that.
Something drops by your head with a loud clang, causing your ears to ring. You fumble for it, still keeping your face planted to the ground. Your fingers touch something cold and metallic – something familiar. You slowly grip it and sit up, examining what your god has given you.
It’s a mask – a Golden Mask fit for a king.
A smile creeps across your face as you slip on your savior’s mask.
Salvation is at hand.
Acting Class
“It’s your turn,” the woman says, snapping you from your thoughts.
You find yourself sitting on a stool in a classroom, surrounded by faces you don’t recognize. The more you struggle to place them, the more you realize you can’t. After all, they don’t have faces. They’re just formless blurs of flesh with the darkest black holes you’ve ever seen for eyes.
You leap to your feet, knocking the stool to the ground as you do so. The entire classroom erupts into laughter as they point and mock you.
“Now, class, be nice to our guest,” the woman scolds.
You search the room for the source of the voice and see the teacher standing at the chalkboard. You let out a gasp at her appearance. Where her face should be is nothing but a caved-in bloody mess of shattered bone and sunken, torn flesh. Dark ichor spews from where her mouth should be with every word.
“Are you here to perform with our star?” she asks and laughs. The sound causes you to shiver involuntarily.
The door to the classroom slowly opens. You hear the rattle of chains and the soft thud of feet as something moves closer to the door. You tense up in anticipation. First, you see a pair of dirty bare feet crossing the threshold, followed by a familiar set of yellow robes. Finally, you behold the brilliant golden mask. Even now, it gleams.
Cary James.
Wrists and ankles shackled, shoulders slumped, he slowly walks toward the classroom’s center while the ghastly, faceless students mock his every step.
“There he is!” the teacher cries. “Our star! Our lord and savior! Cary James!”
Gen Con 2024
It was a different year for us at Gen Con, but we were still there! We ended up sharing our booth with our miniatures manufacturer, Top Games. (They make some incredible minis, by the way.) I really missed my regular team (here’s looking at you, Jim, Bill, Craig, Ken, Robert, and Marissa), but it was great to see so many of you again (or meet you for the first time!)
For those who couldn’t make it, here are a few pictures I took at the convention. All but one of them have to do with Dawn of Madness.
Okay, that’s it for this update! I hope you enjoyed this look into Cary James and a glimpse at the future. Have a great day, and we’ll talk with you again soon!
