If I haven’t had time to blog as much this month, it’s because my work as the Creative Director of Story & Setting at Asmodee has kept me busy! March saw the release of the first Legend of the Five Rings video game, the launch of a brand-new Arkham Horror website, as well as my guest appearance on a livestream of the newly released Arkham Horror Lovecraft Letter!
Shadowveil, the First L5R Video Game
Starting shortly after Gen Con 2023, I had the opportunity to work closely with Palindrome Interactive on Shadowveil: Legend of the Five Rings to help them realize the IP and develop the narrative within the game. One of the highlights for me was getting to sit in on the voiceover recording sessions, which I’d never done before, and it was a true joy to watch the voice talent in action as they brought the game to life. I think this might also be the first time my name’s appeared in the credits for a video game!
Filip Andersson, the Game Director on Shadowveil, talks a lot about the process of designing Shadowveil as well as working with me and the rest of the Franchise Development Team on the Last Province Podcast. I believe the Palindrome team’s care for the setting shines through in the final product, which manages to have several easter eggs for longtime L5R fans while also being very approachable for folks new to Rokugan.
Since the game’s launch on March 4th, the developers have been hard at work patching the game and optimizing its performance on different machines, so if you haven’t yet checked it out, now’s a great time to pick it up for PC on Steam.
A New Website for All Things Arkham
Arkham Horror Second Edition was my first introduction to hobby board games, and now, almost twenty years later, I got to have a large hand in creating a new website dedicated to the expanded franchise of games and media. Although I helped bring LegendoftheFiveRings.com to life over two years ago, ArkhamHorror.com represented a bigger lift, and I’m especially excited for people to discover the lore pages and the growing collection of Arkham Horror web fiction. The entire Franchise Development team and Aconyte studio put a tremendous amount of effort into pulling this off, and I’m hopeful that it will help people discover just how extensive of a shared gaming universe Arkham Horror has become!
Arkham Horror Lovecraft Letter Playthrough
After being out of print for many years, Z-Man Games has brought back Lovecraft Letter, this time with an Arkham Horror twist! I think it might be my favorite incarnation of the Love Letter series of games, with its blend of risk/reward mechanics (dare you use the insane card effects?) as well as deduction. I am also really pleased with how well the mechanics fit the theme, with the effects of new cards like the “Tommy Gun” and the parasitic “Stowaways” being great additions.
Just last week, I was able to join the devs and some special guests from the world of Arkham Horror for a playthrough of Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter! Check it out and see what kinds of shenanigans we get up to.
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