Crypticus x2

Crypticus started as a short story titled The Possession of the Hexham Heads that was published by Burning Willow Press in an urban legends anthology. It was a historical fiction piece based on actual events I penned a few years ago. I found the stories surrounding these stone heads, The Hexham Heads, so compelling, I began writing more stories like the first, researching the historical accounts in the region of Northumberland they occurred in; each time, each tale gained more frightening details. By the time I was done, I had the skeletons and partial flesh of three inter-connected tales running backward through time and I decided to compile them as a creative novella titled Crypticus.

It was not much later, while still in school, that I attended a class; Interactive Narratives. The class not only gave emerging writers more options for creative writing, it also uncovered opportunities writing for interactive games, and it allowed us to create a game of our own. That's when I decided to build a game board module to accompany the novella I was working on which would utilize all of the characters, monsters, and magical elements the stories employ. The idea being to offer it as a componant to the novella. The promotion is that because the game is mutable, meaning it changes form while playing (kind of like the monsters inside) and interactive (the players must create their own spells and stories), it allows you (the player) to become part of the continuing tale of Crypticus!

While it is still in the prototype phase, it is looking pretty good, and I am excited to wrap the production soon so I can share the package with everyone. Hopefully, a video sneek peek will be available soon and not far behind, a solid release date for both the Novella and the game. Right now they are slotted for release in Fall 2021.