Under the Autumn Strangely
A downloadable pastoral horror game
"Under the Autumn Strangely" is a storytelling game of pastoral horror priming with anachronistic Americana set in a land that Never Was.
Inspired by "Over the Garden Wall" created by Patrick McHale, players collaboratively create a world uncanny and old. Codify and encourage tonal clash as the Three Roles meld whimsy, autumnal melancholy, and dread.
Take a wrong turn on a dusty road. Follow the sign past the red barn with peeling paint. Doubt your senses.
Get a little lost.
Welcome to the Never Was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The years have passed
and vanished in the mud,
we shall find you still.
And all that was-- is lost
by the yellowed noon,
to Once Was and Never Will.
You, ours, and we can be
a dream to bring us
Under the autumn strangely
Purchase
In order to download this pastoral horror game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
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Community Copy
Thanks to the generosity of backers, the third round of community copies have been made available. Please pass on the love!
Community Copy
Thanks to the generosity of backers, a new round of community copies have been made available. Please pass on the love!
Community Copy
Thanks to the generosity of backers, community copies have been made available. Please pass on the love!
Community Copy
Thanks to the generosity of backers, the fourth round of community copies have been made available. Please pass on the love!
Development log
- For Release: Round 4 Community Copies!60 days ago
- For Release: Round 3 Community Copies!Dec 06, 2023
- The next round of community copies have been released!Nov 16, 2023
Comments
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I just picked up and read through this game. It looks great! I do have one question though: Do you have any more guidance on how the players can construct each Chapter's opening question?
You bet!
I’d say, in general, the Arcadian’s Questions expand the world, the Traveler’s Questions focus it, and the Terror’s Questions tighten it.
Leading questions are always best. The players can cleverly imbed information: Ex, "Who died in the corn field?"; "What lives in the attic?"; "What is the weakness of the Bone Screamer?"
In Example 1, maybe we established a corn field, maybe we didn't. If we didn't, it exists for everyone now. And players are forewarned about a death, and are then prepared to comtribute narrative detail and/or imagry. In Example 2, something lives in the attic. It's a stronger choice than "Does anything live in the attic?" And most importantly, the ultimate payoff will be more exciting. In Example 3, I'm assuming we have established the Bone Screamer (but maybe not!), though no one said it had a weakness. Now it has to have one.
Sometimes the simple "Yes-or-No" question can do the trick, and similarly be foreboding. “Do we ever get out of here?” is not necessarily the most compelling question to drive a Chapter. The results are too binary. But what if the answer does end up being “No”? How did the players come to that consensus? What does that look like in the fiction?
When you’re the Arcadian, you give the environment and their intelligences life. You’re not exactly neutral, but as a player, you have decisions to make and discover about the surreal dream logic of the goings-on.
The Traveler is intended to be a point-of-view character, so your Narrations and Questions are fixed into the first person. How do you react to this world in front of you? How does it make you think about the world you left behind?
The Terror broods and builds. Once you’re, at last, in the driver’s seat, your Opening Question can be brutal. Look to leverage it. It can be a threat or an implication or an inevitability. Try to think of the worst possible thing that could happen. Or the best possible thing for you. Then imbed it into your Question.
I hope this helps!