Hey folks!
I hope you've had a great week! I really loved hearing from all of you when I announced the release, so I'm coming to you with another well-loved and classic Alrisen: The Keeper of the Depths!
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where the Keeper came from initially. I've taken some liberties aligning it to Lovecraft's classic Cthulhu and Shadow over Innsmouth, but I think it's gone farther than that. There's something primal and terrifying about the ocean, to me. Humans aren't really meant to live out there, especially beneath the waves. We've made use of our incredible brilliance and technology to create ways to survive and thrive on the sea, but if all of that is taken away, we're as good as dead. It's a bit of a nightmare, if you will, to imagine being lost at sea and knowing that time is slipping away. The thought of some indescribable creature constantly invading the minds of others and greedily devouring their knowledge before replacing it with something requested and unwanted is unpleasant enough, but adding the horrifying emptiness that one can feel when standing over the abyss of the ocean depths combines to an entirely new experience. That's what I'm hoping to convey with the Keeper of the Depths: the dread of sleep, the dread of falling, and the whispers in the mind that can come from this horror.
Dreamscape Cartography was something that went through several iterations, first associated with the Fallen Exile and then shifted to the Keeper. I'm trying to convey the alien sort of magic that one would obtain from interacting with the dreamscape, but also tie it to something mechanically compelling. I'm happy with how it's come out, especially the capstone.
So, without further ado: The Keeper of the Depths Preveiw!
Thank you for reading! I really appreciate your support and feedback! Be sure to follow me on Twitter and on Reddit if you have questions, comments, or stories of your adventures to share.
Seriously, there's nothing better than hearing how others have enjoyed playing using this content, so if you've had fun with it, let me know! It's one of the main reasons I've gone forward with this project: I want you to be inspired to have fun with your friends!
Thank you!