Mythos Rising: The Broken Circle
- Stephen, Chief Wordsmith
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
About eighteen months ago I took a chance and crafted a game that I wanted to play. Mythos Rising was a Lovecraftian-inspired battle between investigators working for the Midsummer Institute and cultists looking to bring an entity into our reality from BEYOND! I say it was a risk, because no one had asked for such a game, and I designed it because I wanted to play something like that. Something that combined magic and bullets! It was, quite selfishly, for me.
What was delightful was that it was popular and I've had some lovely messages from folks who found The Grinning Frog through Mythos Rising. This time, I'm much more confident about the second Mythos Rising game. For one thing, I know the mechanics quite well, and coming back to it after producing several other games I feel in a good place to expand the game.
This is a game, like Call of Cthulhu from Chaosium, where the items are historically accurate, even if the magic isn't! I will confess, I thoroughly enjoy the research and making sure that the weapons and items are correct.
The first Mythos Rising was a tightly focused game where all the action took place in a single location, this time, you have the plains of west Texas to explore, plus a run-down town. It features some new parts, such as a choice right at the beginning whether you will stay in the last hotel that is open, or save a few dimes and stop at the more down-to-earth motel. Your choice here will have consequences throughout your game. You also have three bosses to track down and eliminate, along with cursed locations that need to be ritually cleansed. And, following on from the ground-breaking design that Ben (Junior Frog Executive) came up with for Star Marshal, Mythos Rising will come with a Chronicle book. This additional book contains longer, more complex encounters with prose introductions and extensive descriptions.
It means we can expand beyond the limitations of a poker card, whilst still being driven by the card deck.
Here's an extra of the extra content:
As you can see, we can get descriptive because there is more space. The mechanics in that section are fairly straightforward but in other chronicle entries, there are multiple choices, linking mechanics and extended options that link back to the cards you have drawn.
Also, those readers who have read my branching narrative book Rage at the Moon will know that scarecrows are dangerous... a point that might come up again in Mythos Rising: The Broken Circle! It has been fabulous returning to the world of Mythos Rising and I won't be leaving it quite so long before the next one. Thanks to a bout of the flu, I’m a little late to the party with this update! There is only one week left in the campaign. If the idea of facing down the Nagual-khan with a .38 Police Special and a handful of ancient lore sounds like your kind of evening, please come and join us: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegrinningfrog/mythos-rising-the-broken-circle/ Until next time, keep gaming.
Stephen