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We’re proud to announce that An Imp and an Impostor, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 40% off until December 3rd!

You’ve spent years undercover, disguised as a human, infiltrating the city’s magical law-enforcement organization. They stole your magic from you. Can you steal it back?

An Imp and an Impostor is an interactive historical urban fantasy novel by Athar Fikry, author of The Dragon and the Djinn, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 600,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

You’re an imp, a creature from another plane of existence. As punishment for your past misdeeds, a powerful magical being known as “the Mercy” has ripped away your magic, forcing you to live as a human in the city of Raqout. Raqout is a “port” city between our world and other dimensions, a city where everyone has their secrets.

It’s taken years, but you’ve managed to weasel your way into Arkan, Raqout’s magical law-enforcement organization. As an Arkan agent, you spend your days busting unlicensed necromancers and negotiating with afareet and djinn. Your by-the-book partner doesn’t know who you really are—or that your nose for crime is actually a nose for magic.

Your magic was confiscated when you were arrested, but you’ve regained enough to put you above most humans. And of course, you’ve got talsama, the magic that all humans can use; not to mention your wits, gadgets, and all of the inside knowledge about Arkan that you’ve learned.

Now, after years of preparation, you can finally steal back your magic from Arkan’s vault. But, wait—the vault only contains part of your magic. You need to find the rest—and more importantly, find the person who took it. Because, as it turns out, you aren’t the only one whose magic has been stolen—and people are going missing, too.

Unravel a tangled web of plots, betrayals, and hidden motives while you track down smugglers and kidnappers. Go on daring heists, cracking open vaults using magic or gadgets; and chase down your enemies in Raqout’s newfangled automobiles. Talk your way past bureaucrats, professors, necromancers, mobsters, afareet, and djinn; and poke into all of the magical and mundane corners of the city, finding things that most people would like to keep hidden—all while evading the Mercy’s vigilance.

And watch your back! You might not be the only impostor in Raqout…

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi; aromantic, asexual, or both, with many shadings of asexuality.
• Find love or friendship with an idealistic necromancer, a stern but soft Arkan agent, or a charming gang leader.
• Trust your allies with your past and your true impish self, or keep everything close to your chest.
• Pet the world’s most adorable undead dog.
• Reunite others with their stolen magic—or keep it for yourself and grow stronger than ever.
• Maintain your identity as an agent of Arkan, or blow your cover sky high and throw your lot in with a gang of thieves.
• Reclaim your magic and resume your impish form.

Oh, it’ll feel so good to stretch all four arms again!

We hope you enjoy playing An Imp and an Impostor. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

Can you and your magic sword save the kingdom from death herself? Infiltrate a tower full of skeletons, decipher its secrets, and escape with your team!

Undying Fortress is an interactive dark epic fantasy novel by Yeonsoo Julian Kim, author of The Fog Knows Your Name, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 500,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. I sat down with the author to talk about their latest game and how their writing has shifted between their first and second Choice of Games titles.

Undying Fortress releases December 19th; you can wishlist the game on Steam today!

You’re one of the most prolific game designers/writers we’ve ever worked with at Choice of Games. You’ve written for TTRPGs and LARPs and more besides. What else have you been up to since The Fog Knows Your Name came out?

I think the two projects to come out since Fog that are closest to my heart are Women Are Werewolves, a card-driven storytelling game I co-designed with C.A.S. Taylor, and Home which is a map-drawing horror game I co-designed with Doug Levandowski. Clearly my love for all things supernatural is still going strong! I also wrote for the Avatar Legends RPG and was a designer for the Chucky boardgame which were both fun projects to work on.

On a less fun note, I’ve actually spent a big chunk of the last few years trying to recover from long COVID which slowed me down a ton, to say the least. I’m especially thrilled to see Undying Fortress sent out into the world because for a long while there I wasn’t sure if I’d ever bounce back enough to make it happen. It’s been quite the journey! I owe a big thank you to my long covid support group and my friends and family who helped to get me to this point—and, of course, my editor Rebecca.

Undying Fortress is a serious departure from the supernatural kind of YA feel of The Fog Knows Your Name, which I also think is one of our best all-time game titles. Tell me about this pivot in ChoiceScript storytelling.

It means a lot to me that you like it! I have so much fondness for Fog and my experience writing it. I sometimes listen to the music I would have on repeat back while writing it so I can sit in that atmosphere again.

I think the pivot mainly came from a desire to explore different genres as a writer. I read very widely across genres so I often think about what stories I’d want to tell in those different spheres. Of course, the horror element is a strong presence in both The Fog Knows Your Name and Undying Fortress, and I think horror is probably my home, so to speak.

This is a real epic fantasy of a game. Where did you draw inspiration for Undying Fortress and the kingdom of Serendal?

I remember when I was putting the pitch together for Undying Fortress and then the outline, I kept thinking about how it felt so different from most of my writing as an adult but so inspired by the stories I would write growing up. I consumed so much fantasy media as a child and teenager and I think I pulled a lot of inspiration from what I loved back then – books like The Lord of the Rings, anime like Slayers, games like Fire Emblem and Neverwinter Nights.

I’ve also always been drawn to stories involving the undead and necromancy. The Korean series Kingdom was a huge influence on Undying Fortress. When it came to creating Serendal and the people and cultural influences within it, I started by taking inspiration from my own ancestry. Serendal is, in many ways, a fantasy version of Joseon era Korea if there had been a huge influx of Welsh citizens several eras prior (players who are interested in learning more about this might have fun favoring History and Theory as a stat during their playthroughs). I also envisioned Serendal as a kingdom with very robust trade routes that connect it to different empires and territories throughout the equivalent of the Middle East, so there’s a long history of cultural exchange and migration tied to those routes.

What will our readers find most surprising about this game?

There are a lot of twists and turns regarding the primary antagonist of the game, an entity known as the Carrion Mother, and her history in Serendal. My hope is that readers will feel like adventuring scholars, uncovering secrets about the world and its past as well as the history and nature of mortuary magic. I kind of like to think of the game as an academic dungeon crawl, because while some characters are there purely to contain any potential threats inside the fortress, others are there to study every secret it has to offer.

Did you have a favorite NPC in the writing this time?

It’s probably got to be Hani. I apparently love writing characters who are very tormented by their own emotions. I don’t want to spoil too much about Hani’s backstory, but they have some very intense and unpleasant emotions that developed due to some highly unusual circumstances. I’m sure some players will really feel for Hani while others will want to chuck them off the top of the fortress.

Eredith was also really fun to write because she’s so powerful and competent and just filled with knowledge. Yet she still has made decisions that haunt her throughout the course of the story.

What will you be doing next?

I’m currently working on a botany-themed tabletop roleplaying game called Bloomfall. Sharang Biswas and I are working with the National Academy of Sciences’ LabX to create the game. I’m also in the beginning stages of putting together my Substack where I’ll largely be writing about game design, narrative, and my creative process. I have a dungeon synth tabletop roleplaying game I’ve been very slowly working on over the past couple of years and I’m hoping to have that ready for playtesting in 2026!

Be! Heroic! B-E heroic! When villainy rules the streets of New York, it’s up to you to grab your pompoms, lead the cheer squad, and climb to the top of the pyramid to save the city!

Cheerleader’s Choice: New York Spirit is an interactive novel by former cheerleader Charli Battersby. Your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 280,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, fueled by the vast unstoppable power of your imagination. You’ll cheer and you’ll lead, in a game that you read! I sat down with Charli to talk about choices and cheers.

Cheerleader’s Choice: New York Spirit releases Thursday, December 11th! You can wishlist the game on Steam today.

This is is your return to COG and this time: it’s personal. Tell our readers about your life as a cheerleader.

I became a cheerleader as an adult, just like the playable character in the game. I was a nerd in high school, and didn’t even dream that I could ever be a cheerleader. When I tried out for the team, I was riddled with self-doubt. And, even after making it onto the team, I still had impostor syndrome. This is a core theme in Cheerleader’s Choice, which, I assure you IS a comedy. All of this is played for laughs, with a lot of satire and slapstick as your make your way in the bizarre world of adult cheerleading.

And yes, there really are adult cheer teams, similar to the fictional “New York Spirit” in my game. These are mostly non-profit organizations that raise money for charities, and are primarily made up of ex-cheerleaders in their 30’s. In the game, your character can be a total newbie, or an experienced former cheerleader. And you can be young or old. I was no sorority girl when I stared cheering, so the middle-aged, clueless newbie, options in the game are very close to my own path.

In Cheerleader’s Choice I depict cheerleading as realistically as I can, based on my experiences doing stunts, marching in parades, doing charity work and, of course cheering!

I try to show the behind the scenes training that goes into those amazing performances. You don’t start the game as a naturally gifted cheerleader who effortlessly becomes the world’s greatest cheerleader. There’s lot of work just to make it onto the squad. And it only gets harder from there.

The game also depicts what it feels like when a stunt goes wrong, and how dangerous cheerleading is. I know what it’s like to walk around with a black eye because a double down dismount went wrong and I got a flyer’s elbow in my face. And I had to explain people that a little blond girl gave me a black eye at cheer practice…

For most of the game your character has some sort of injury healing up. Which is played for laughs as you accumulate a series of increasingly embarrassing bruises over the course of the story. I think cheerleaders will sympathize.

The fictional cheer team in Cheerleader’s Choice is a lot like the real adult teams. Real cheer teams don’t fight crime or solve mysteries, but they do have just as much drama, scandal, and lunacy as New York Spirit. I’m writing a memoir about all of the real stuff that didn’t make it into the game. Yes, there really are women and men in their 30’s who act exactly like cliques of junior-high girls.

Despite the team drama, I got to participate in a lot of amazing experiences during my time as a cheerleader; I marched in the Thanksgiving parade with 400 other cheerleaders, which was one of those things that I could never, ever, even dream about doing when I was a kid.

And I gotta admit, there is a certain status that comes with the uniform and pompoms. I really started to feel that haughty sense of mean girl superiority while walking around with my girl squad after a cheer performance.

There couldn’t be a better time to publish a game about New York City politics. I love the overlap with this game.

Overlap? Nay! This is pure PROPHESY! A flash of insight straight from the primeval forces of the universe!

It might seem like my game was “ripped from the headlines” but the earliest outline I sent Choice of Games was back in 2020. All of the madness, chaos, and terror in New York politics for the last five years was predicted in my outline!

I foresaw how Governor Cuomo would resign! Curtis Sliwa would run for Mayor! The Adams’ indictment! Bill de Blasio murdering Staten Island Chuck on Groundhog’s Day, and the cover-up that followed!

Future Me is beaming thoughts back in time to 2020 me. That’s the only way to explain it. And don’t blame me if a grizzly bear escapes the Central Park Zoo the day after Mamdani is inaugurated! Or if Governor Kathy Hochul is proven to be a serial killer. I tried to warn you!

I wanted to avoid making either political party the default punching bag of the game’s satire, so your teammates on New York Spirit have a variety of political views. Instead of saying Republican/Democrat, I use a stat called Liberty VS Justice. The New York State flag has icons of Liberty and Justice, so this fits with the “newyorkiness” of the game.

People who talk about “liberty” often mean that they don’t want to be inconvenienced by excessive laws, but they are “tough on crime” when it comes to other people breaking the law. Meanwhile, a lot of people who talk about “justice” only mean justice for criminals, but never getting justice for the victims.

Near the end of the game, my characters discus real political scandals, some of which are more absurd than anything I could make up. When conservatives say that New York is run by America-hating drag queens, remember that NY Governor William Tryon really tried to assassinate George Washington during the Revolutionary War. And before that, Governor Lord Cornbury, allegedly, posed for a portrait while dressed like Queen Anne. And we all remember the time Rudy Giuliani dressed up like Marilyn Monroe back in 2000 (Yes, really).

I’ve worked hard to see to it that people can enjoy the game from different political perspectives (A lot of PR teams say stuff like that, but I hope it’s true with this game). If you think New York is a degenerate cesspool populated entirely with Communist drug addicts, then you’ll probably enjoy the grim satire about politics.

And people who’ve always wanted to live here can live vicariously through the game, I try to capture the little things that make New York seem like a magical wonderland. And I hope that people who do live here will enjoy my depiction of the hidden treasures around the city. (You can visit the Astor Place 6 train station and poke the terracotta beavers to see if I made up that part about the secret subway station).

The humor in this game is sometimes unexpected and seriously black comedy for our readership. Tell me a little bit about the vibes here.

Yeah, this isn’t the kind of cheerleader game where your squad is preparing for the big cheer competition, or you’re trying to become prom queen. Most cheerleading video games are light-hearted and patronizing, or they’re exploitative dating sims. There’s none of that here.

It’s a dark, satire about the struggle to maintain positivity and hope in a crumbling world. It’s about being the only sane person in the room (…and sometimes you’re not even sure about that). It’s about achieving your dreams, then discovering what happens after you achieve them. And, again, I remind you, it IS a comedy.

It’s heavily inspired by dystopian New York stories like “The Warriors,” “Escape From New York,” and “Watchmen.”

But mostly it’s taken from my own experiences living here. Pretty much everything in Cheerleader’s Choice is based on something I’ve done. The parades, the beauty pageant, the cheer events, the nightclubs and bars, the caper at City Hall.

I’m especially proud of the depiction of NY City Hall. I’m a journalist, and I spend a lot of time there. I knew I just had to write a scene where some mischievous cheerleaders engage in political espionage. The government will take away my press card if they see my highly-detailed descriptions of how to break into City Hall. (Check your local laws before overthrowing the government, kids. Choice of Games does not endorse any form of illegal activity).

One of the reasons this game was so long in development is that I had trouble writing satire that was more bizarre than the real New York. I thought it would be funny to have a scene where the new mayor brags about how the number of dismembered bodies found around the city was down when compared to the previous year. Then Mayor Adams began his tenure with a press conference about all the dismembered body parts found around the city. And a year later, there was another dismembering incident…

I’m glad it took this long to finish the game, because I feel like I have free reign to poke fun at the government. If this had come out in 2019, people would have seen it as far too cynical. But in 2025, no one is going to claim that the fictional government conspiracy in my game is impossible. No one is going to say, “But the real government would never do something like THAT!”

Cheerleader’s Choice also deals with bullying. Again, this is part of the dark humor. I have a skill in the game for bullying, BUT players will be penalized for using it in most situations. The bully dialog is often funny, but it makes the world a worse place when you’re mean. There is also a Spirit! stat that helps you win tough challenges if you’ve been nice to people earlier in the game. Game Designers say that it’s bad for a game to have a dominant strategy but I want my cheerleading game to reward players for being cheerful and inspiring.

Why so many Brittanies?

I tried to avoid cheerleader stereotypes. But….

The cheer team I was on really did have three Briannas, two Britanies, and two Bryans, all with different spellings. When the gods of comedy offer me a gift like that, how can I spurn such a boon? I just HAD to have a clique of cheerleaders named Bryttanny, Britnee, Britneigh, and Bryan.

What is the dumb luck stat about?

When I was cheerleading I learned that people assume you’re an idiot if you’re wearing a cheer uniform. This is especially true for women; the more glamorous you look, the dumber people think you are.

Dumb Luck and “Blonde Momentum” are your ability to “Play dumb” as well as your option to just blunder your way through difficult situations and hope for the best.

A recurring gag is that, if you build up your Dumb Luck stat there will be lots of missplelings in the text as the game proceeds, and sometime people will speak to you in a patronizing way.

In my own life, if you look at my social media on the day I tried out for the team, then look at me two years later, there’s a definite transformation. Even I have to admit I don’t look like a rocket scientist in my uniform.

Also, it really is hard to spell while you’re trying to do dance choreography!

What’s your favorite part of actual real-life cheerleading?

Definitely cheering for people at events like marathons and walk-a-thons. The moments when I’m cheering for just one person who is at the limits of their endurance. Those are the times when you can see how saying “You can do it!” will make a difference to that one person.

The first chapter of Cheerleader’s Choice is based on moments like these.

And I also like the way that I’ve become a more outgoing, positive person (dystopian satire aside). I was very shy and cynical before becoming a cheer leader, and the experience changed me for the better.

Explain the hierarchy of a squad in 150 words or fewer.

In the real world, teams aren’t run by an autocratic cheer captain like in a teen drama. Or by a strict Texan dominatrix like on reality TV. It’s a team effort.

Most teams are non-profit organizations with Boards of Directors, and designated athletic coaches, choreographers, marketing, membership, and PR teams.

New York Spirit in my game, is a highly simplified version of a real cheerocracy.

What’s next for you, creatively? What else have you been working on?

My cheer team certainly has another adventure left in them! If players enjoy it and want more, then I’m happy to grab my pompoms, tighten my ponytail, and do more.

And a lot of people know me from my work writing Fallout fan projects at Shoddycast. I have always wanted to do my own darkly-comedic post-apocalyptic adventure game. And there are lots of stories that I wanted to write “In the Back When Times” but never got the chance to do. I have an outline for a Choice of Games style post-apocalyptic comedy that I’ve been working on…

We’re excited to announce that An Imp and an Impostor is releasing this Wednesday, November 26th!

You can play the first three chapters for free today, and check out the author interview as well!

And don’t forget to wishlist it on Steam! The more wishlists we get, the better the game will do on Steam on release day. Additionally, we’re happy to share that Athar Fikry’s other game The Dragon and the Djinn will also be on sale on all platforms during An Imp and an Impostor‘s release week.

You’ve spent years undercover, disguised as a human, infiltrating the city’s magical law-enforcement organization. They stole your magic from you. Can you steal it back?

An Imp and an Impostor is an interactive historical urban fantasy novel by Athar Fikry, author of The Dragon and the Djinn, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 600,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

You’re an imp, a creature from another plane of existence. As punishment for your past misdeeds, a powerful magical being known as “the Mercy” has ripped away your magic, forcing you to live as a human in the city of Raqout. Raqout is a “port” city between our world and other dimensions, a city where everyone has their secrets.

It’s taken years, but you’ve managed to weasel your way into Arkan, Raqout’s magical law-enforcement organization. As an Arkan agent, you spend your days busting unlicensed necromancers and negotiating with afareet and djinn. Your by-the-book partner doesn’t know who you really are—or that your nose for crime is actually a nose for magic.

Your magic was confiscated when you were arrested, but you’ve regained enough to put you above most humans. And of course, you’ve got talsama, the magic that all humans can use; not to mention your wits, gadgets, and all of the inside knowledge about Arkan that you’ve learned.

Now, after years of preparation, you can finally steal back your magic from Arkan’s vault. But, wait—the vault only contains part of your magic. You need to find the rest—and more importantly, find the person who took it. Because, as it turns out, you aren’t the only one whose magic has been stolen—and people are going missing, too.

Unravel a tangled web of plots, betrayals, and hidden motives while you track down smugglers and kidnappers. Go on daring heists, cracking open vaults using magic or gadgets; and chase down your enemies in Raqout’s newfangled automobiles. Talk your way past bureaucrats, professors, necromancers, mobsters, afareet, and djinn; and poke into all of the magical and mundane corners of the city, finding things that most people would like to keep hidden—all while evading the Mercy’s vigilance.

And watch your back! You might not be the only impostor in Raqout…

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi; aromantic, asexual, or both, with many shadings of asexuality.
• Find love or friendship with an idealistic necromancer, a stern but soft Arkan agent, or a charming gang leader.
• Trust your allies with your past and your true impish self, or keep everything close to your chest.
• Pet the world’s most adorable undead dog.
• Reunite others with their stolen magic—or keep it for yourself and grow stronger than ever.
• Maintain your identity as an agent of Arkan, or blow your cover sky high and throw your lot in with a gang of thieves.
• Reclaim your magic and resume your impish form.

Oh, it’ll feel so good to stretch all four arms again!

Awaken your magic and break an ancient curse at this secret school of sorcery! What mysteries will you uncover at the crossroads between realms? House of the Golden Mask is an interactive fantasy novel by Miranda Eastwood, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 300,000 words long. The House of the Golden Mask is a school where worlds collide, and where sorcerers from all of those worlds must remain while they learn to control their magic enough to be able to use it safely. You are its newest and most gifted student, learning alchemy, linguistics, the occult, and more. I sat down with Miranda to talk about her upcoming game and work in the interactive fiction field. House of the Golden Mask releases on Thursday, Dec 4th. You can wishlist it on Steam today—even if you don’t plan to purchase on Steam, it really helps!

This is your first time with Choice of Games, but I think not your first foray into game-writing and interactive fiction. Tell me a little about your background and other works.

I’ve been working as a AAA writer and narrative designer for the past three years. Before that, during my graduate degree in English, I made a few interactive “experiences” for post-secondary education. These were all made in Twine, and I wouldn’t go so far as to call them games, but they were the springboard that launched me into making my own interactive fiction.

What made you interested to try ChoiceScript?

I was hitting personal limits with Twine (and the engines I work with professionally). ChoiceScript was a change in pace; even after writing a whole game, there are still new things I’d like to try. ChoiceScript’s got some really sophisticated systems disguised by its accessibility. I’m looking forward to seeing how far I can push those systems in future games!

Tell our readers about House of the Golden Mask—what kind of story are we getting into here?

The way I’ve been describing it is a mystery-adventure disguised as a school of magic game.

You’re coming into a House that just barely keeps up an academic appearance while magicians on every side try to push their own agenda—while recruiting you for their cause. Infighting, rebellion, straight-up betrayal… All of this happening on top of lectures, labs, and research projects. A lot of the story revolves around untangling secrets; every character—including the PC—has their own complicated history.

But the heart of the story is the PC coming into their own as a magician, chasing after their future while being pulled left and right by other characters and their own ambitions.

Did you have a particular character you found yourself drawn to writing most?

The instructors posed a challenge to write because of the uncertain power dynamics between them and the magicians brought to the House. Nakara is at the heart of this conflict; they believe in what they do, and they have the competency to do it, but emotionally, they’re still trying to figure things out. I loved writing them because what pushes them over the edge isn’t an abstract ambition or personal goal, but unrelenting kindness.

Kindness is messy, difficult, and complicated to enact, particularly in a professional/institutional setting. Where do you draw the line between empathy and professionalism? It’s a question I struggle with in real life, and I found it rewarding to explore it in writing.

What did you find most surprising about the writing process?

I was stunned by how fast that word count racked up, particularly in the last few chapters. Writing in ChoiceScript is addictive! I used to see works with a million or more words and think, “That’s impossible. How could anyone do that?”

I get it now.

What are you working on next?

For the short term, I’m currently working on a short essay for an anthology focused on game writing. Otherwise, I’ve been working on a webcomic for 6+ years now (Brain in a Jar, on Webtoon) that I’ve had to put on hold for the past few months, and I’m eager to make some more progress on it over the break!

And, of course, I always have another game in the works. Still early for any details on that, though.

In partnership with World of Darkness and Paradox Interactive, Choice of Games is proud to announce the release of Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters by Paul C. Wang, now available on Steam, iOS, and Android.

It’s 20% off until November 20th!

Paul’s earlier games Mecha Ace, The Hero of Kendrickstone, The Cryptkeepers of Hallowford, and Choice of Broadsides: HMS Foraker are on sale as well!

Topple the vampires from the streets below! Will you unite the homeless, the gangs, and the secret hunter societies to defy vampiric rule?

Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters is an interactive novel by Paul Wang, set in the World of Darkness, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 1 million words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Welcome to the Downtown Eastside, a place Vancouver has tried its best to forget. Sandwiched between the steel and glass towers of the financial district and the gentrified tourist playground of the new harbor, the human detritus of the city keeps getting squeezed into a smaller and smaller box. Dispossessed, trampled, ignored…It will only take the right spark to set the fury ablaze.

Down on your luck, you’ve found yourself in a homeless encampment here. When a vampire masquerading as a cop attacks you, the misery of Downtown Eastside takes on a whole new dimension. Suddenly, you have a place to direct your rage: the world of shadow that preys upon the misery of your new neighbors.

But this first glimpse is just that: a first glimpse. A gash in the fabric of reality as you knew it. Soon, you find yourself torn between the street gangs of the Downtown Eastside, RMCP special ops, a coterie of Thin Blooded vampires, multiple secret hunter societies, and the Chinese Triads. The shadow world just goes deeper and deeper, and it seems like someone is ready and willing to betray you at every turn. Of course, each of them has something to offer you: a home, a job, a career? Money, glory, vengeance, or immortality?

Despite these temptations, you are not alone. In the short time that you’ve been here, you’ve met the fiercest defenders of humanity: your neighbors. You did not expect to find the camaraderie of the Downtown Eastside to be so strong, but now that you’re here, you can’t imagine anything else. Together, can you and your new friends stand against the darkness? When the time comes, will you sacrifice yourself for your community, or will you choose to become one more bloodsucking predator of the night?

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi
• Scrounge for food, weapons, and allies in the back alleys of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
• Defy powerful vampiric foes lurking within the heart of the city—or become their willing servant
• Help your found family to make peace with their inner demons, or manipulate them for your own ends
• Set a vampire on fire

Hunted, broke, and homeless, your nights seem numbered. They have everything. You only have your guts, your wits, and a stubborn refusal to die.

We hope you enjoy playing Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store and on Steam. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

We’re excited to announce that Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters is releasing this Thursday, November 13th!

You can play the first three chapters for free today on our site, pre-order the app on iOS, wishlist on Steam, and check out the author interview as well!

Topple the vampires from the streets below! Will you unite the homeless, the gangs, and the secret hunter societies to defy vampiric rule?

Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters is an interactive novel by Paul Wang, set in the World of Darkness. It’s entirely text-based, one million words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Welcome to the Downtown Eastside, a place Vancouver has tried its best to forget. Sandwiched between the steel and glass towers of the financial district and the gentrified tourist playground of the new harbor, the human detritus of the city keeps getting squeezed into a smaller and smaller box. Dispossessed, trampled, ignored…It will only take the right spark to set the fury ablaze.

Down on your luck, you’ve found yourself in a homeless encampment here. When a vampire masquerading as a cop attacks you, the misery of Downtown Eastside takes on a whole new dimension. Suddenly, you have a place to direct your rage: the world of shadow that preys upon the misery of your new neighbors.

But this first glimpse is just that: a first glimpse. A gash in the fabric of reality as you knew it. Soon, you find yourself torn between the street gangs of the Downtown Eastside, RMCP special ops, a coterie of Thin Blooded vampires, multiple secret hunter societies, and the Chinese Triads. The shadow world just goes deeper and deeper, and it seems like someone is ready and willing to betray you at every turn. Of course, each of them has something to offer you: a home, a job, a career? Money, glory, vengeance, or immortality?

Despite these temptations, you are not alone. In the short time that you’ve been here, you’ve met the fiercest defenders of humanity: your neighbors. You did not expect to find the camaraderie of the Downtown Eastside to be so strong, but now that you’re here, you can’t imagine anything else. Together, can you and your new friends stand against the darkness? When the time comes, will you sacrifice yourself for your community, or will you choose to become one more bloodsucking predator of the night?

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi
• Scrounge for food, weapons, and allies in the back alleys of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
• Defy powerful vampiric foes lurking within the heart of the city—or become their willing servant
• Help your found family to make peace with their inner demons, or manipulate them for your own ends
• Set a vampire on fire

Hunted, broke, and homeless, your nights seem numbered. They have everything. You only have your guts, your wits, and a stubborn refusal to die.

Topple the vampires from the streets below! Will you unite the homeless, the gangs, and the secret hunter societies to defy vampiric rule?

Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters is an interactive novel by Paul Wang, set in the World of Darkness, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, 1,000,000 words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

I sat down with Paul to talk about his upcoming game and experiences writing it. Hunter: The Reckoning — A Time of Monsters releases Thursday, November 13th. You can play the demo on Steam and wishlist the game in advance of release!

Our Choice of Games and Hosted Games fans all know you from your games with us, but our World of Darkness extended universe fans may not. Can you introduce yourself for those readers?

I’m Paul Wang, a first-generation Canadian living in Burnaby, which is one of the bigger municipalities of the Metro Vancouver area. I have an academic background in history – especially military history – but I started writing for Hosted Games and then Choice of Games when I was an undergrad, thirteen years ago. For the past decade or so, I’ve been working full time as a games writer.

I’m probably best known for my Dragoon Saga (Sabres of Infinity, Guns of Infinity, and Lords of Infinity) on the Hosted Games catalogue: a long-running blackpowder fantasy series set in my original setting of the Infinite Sea. I also write a high fantasy series (The Hero of Kendrickstone and The Cryptkeepers of Hallowford) set in another of my settings, the Fledgling Realms, for Choice of Games. A long, long time ago, I also wrote Mecha Ace – half military science fiction and half homage to ‘real robot’ anime like Mobile Suit Gundam. More recently, I worked as a writer on WW2 tactical RPG Burden of Command, which just released earlier this year.

Do you feel like A Time of Monsters represents a kind of progression in your work as an interactive storyteller?

As you can probably tell from my previous work, my writing has primarily focused on military and political fiction, with a side-helping of high adventure. This means I’m personally treading a lot of new ground by setting foot into urban fantasy and gothic punk. My first priorities have been mostly to get the tone and setting right. I’m writing a lot more conversationally and a lot more colloquially than I usually do, and that’s definitely been a change. The Dragoon Saga employs a sort of circumspect aristocratic register for its narrative voice, and even the Fledgling Realms is more rigid and formal. This time around, the narration is a lot looser – more stream of consciousness and more casual.

But at the same time, I’ve also tried to iterate on Hunter’s 5th Ed rules in a way which makes for an accessible gameplay experience in a way which I haven’t before. If there’s any consistent feedback I’ve gotten on my past games, it’s that they’re too hard and unforgiving, especially when it comes to skill checks. In a lot of cases, this isn’t so much a difficulty issue as it is an informational one: players take risks they think they can succeed at, only to get kicked in the face. This time around, I’m leaning heavily on the Storyteller System which previous Choice of Games’ World of Darkness titles have developed to give the player the tools to make decisions more effectively – should they choose to do so.

This doesn’t mean that I’m going to make things easy, of course. I interpret one of the core themes of Hunter as that of being the ultimate underdog – and you can’t sell an underdog story by making the player feel like they’re completely in control. I want the player to feel like they really are just ordinary base model H. Sap fighting an enemy which outclasses them in almost any way that matters. I want the desperation to be real, I want the fear to be real. That means I’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to put the player in the position of weakness without making them feel helpless. I want the player to understand just how powerless they are at the beginning, so that if (not when, if) they’re able to turn the tables on their supernatural foes and make it to sunrise, they feel like they’ve earned that privilege.

Tying to maintain that balance between tone and accessibility has been one of the three big challenges of working on A Time of Monsters, and it’s one I desperately hope I’ve managed to nail.

Tell me a little about your background and experience with the World of Darkness and TTRPGs and/or LARPing.

My first experience with tabletop roleplaying games was when I got the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 starter set at the age of twelve. In the twenty years since then, I’ve played 4th Ed, 5th Ed, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Dark Heresy, Shadowrun, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Lancer, and Blades in the Dark.

But here’s the thing: aside from Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines, I had never played anything – digital or tabletop – set in the World of Darkness. Not “Hunter: The Reckoning,” not “Werewolf: The Apocalypse,” not even “Vampire: The Masquerade.”

This meant that when I was approached to do “Hunter: The Reckoning,” I was starting almost completely fresh – but I was also starting fresh in a world inhabited by many, many people who care deeply about its characters, its history, and its lore.

So, like any newcomer looking not to step on anything dangerous, I looked for guides. When I began the writing process, I sought out playtesters who had the experience that I lacked. Some of them had been deeply involved in the old World of Darkness, some of them were running or playing campaigns in the current edition. One of them had been a “Vampire: The Masquerade” LARPer for almost as long as I’ve been alive. They’ve been the ones who’ve kept a close eye on my narrative as it’s progressed from plot outline to mechanical skeleton to fully-fledged game, and they’re the ones who’ve been keeping me honest through the whole process. If I’ve gotten any of it right, it’s only thanks to their efforts in educating me on a world which they know far more intimately than I do.

What will WOD fans find surprising about your approach to the world of Hunter in A Time of Monsters?

The one thing that stood out for me the most about Hunter was how it’s Gothic Punk in contrast to say, “Vampire: The Masquerade’s” Gothic Horror.

To me, “punk” is a genre which is inherently about power, specifically how those without it are caught up in the machinations of those who have it – and how those powerless, downtrodden bystanders choose to respond to being trampled on by those who may not even be willing to acknowledge their existence.

Most of the World of Darkness game line – and most of its adaptations – have, I think, focused primarily on the perspective of those with power over those who don’t. While a vampire can pretend that they’re a representative of the othered and the marginalised, that the hierarchy of their society shackles them, and the cost of their ‘curse’ robs them of their humanity, that line of argument rings rather hollow when you remember that vampires are still, for the most part, immortal nigh-indestructible superhumans with supernatural powers who inherently see normal mortal human beings as amusing pets at best and prey animals at worst. Their hierarchies constrain them, but they also empower them. Their powers come at a cost, but that hasn’t stopped them from amassing wealth, influence, and the ability to commit spontaneous violence on a scale no individual human can. They’re the equivalent of the privileged members of society who insist that they’re the real victims here, even as they stand richer and more powerful than the vast majority of their society, and even as their ‘victimhood’ consists solely of the fact that a small minority still exist ‘above’ them.

Which brings us to the Hunter.

The Hunter has no inherent supernatural abilities to fall back on. The Hunter has no hierarchy to call for help. The Hunter is a normal human with nothing but their own resources, going up against an enemy which they cannot survive a head-to-head one-on-one fight against: a normal person who’s seen just enough of this other world to know just how dangerous it is to themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.

Some Hunters have personal fortunes to rely on, training, resources, and connections – all factors that can help mitigate their relative weakness. Your Hunter will begin with none of those things. They are, in almost every sense of the word, starting with nothing, facing an enemy which not only outclasses them in every way, but which they have no chance of escaping from.

How they proceed from there is up to the player’s choices, and when inhabiting the life of someone at the bottom of any kind of society, every choice is a compromise. Do you trust those around you to help you, even if they’re barely keeping afloat themselves? Do you look further afield for more capable allies regardless of the cost they might exact? What lines do you cross to get the food and shelter you need to survive, or the weapons and equipment you need to take your fight to the enemy? What terrible people do you cozy up to for support? What awful systems do you perpetuate? Who do you risk helping? Who do you risk opening yourself up to? Who do you betray, if it means living to see another sunrise?

When someone’s back is against the wall and their stomach is empty and their entire future is an endless, hopeless war against a world which sees their existence as an inconvenience and an enemy which seems unstoppable, what kind of decisions do people make? What kind of decisions would you make? And are they ones which let you look in the mirror and say, with complete sincerity, that you are still a better person than the one your circumstances have tried to force you to be?

That, in essence, is my take on Hunter. I’m not sure if it’ll be surprising, especially given how many passionate veterans of the game line there are out there.

But that’s what I’ve got.

Was there a character you enjoyed writing most?

You know, come to think of it, I really enjoyed writing most of the major characters, but I think it was the player character I enjoyed writing the most.

Most of what I’ve written before has been, if not entirely archaic, then a lot more formal than what my conversational style is like. Writing an aristocrat in a Regency-analogue military setting, or even an adventurer in a high fantasy one doesn’t really let me cut loose quite as much as I would if I weren’t writing a certain type of person in a certain kind of place. That applies to the responses the player has access to as well. There are certain social boundaries which can’t be crossed, certain things which the genre conventions or the basic concept of the character doesn’t let you make them say.

But I’m not writing an aristocratic cavalry officer or a high fantasy adventurer or even a WW2-era company commander. This time, I’m writing someone who grew up in and inhabits the same society I do, which means they have a chance to be as irreverent and informal as I’d like to be sometimes – especially in the face of fear and hopelessness. I’ll stress that this is still a choice. They can choose to exhibit as much deference or defiance as they want – but the players who choose to play their Hunters as the kinds of people who don’t feel like they need to restrain themselves around their friends, or show false respect to their enemies, or simply want to occasionally let the intrusive thoughts win? They’ll have some real good material to work with.

If you were the PC in A Time of Monsters, what would your character sheet/customization look like?

To be honest? I have no idea.

I’ve taken a lot of liberties with the base system of “Hunter: The Reckoning.” This wasn’t out of some desire to ‘dumb down’ the mechanics so much as it was from the fact that I’ve always held to the belief that a game with meaningful character creation should have as few stats as it can possibly get away with – so that every point allocated and every character advancement choice made has significant weight.

For A Time of Monsters, this means I stripped down the stats system to its bare essentials – only the things a Hunter would need to survive and investigate and run and fight, no more, no less. Obviously, the base system was designed much the same way, but a system intended for a party-based tabletop game isn’t one that works well for a single-player Choicescript game which follows a single character. A well-balanced Hunter cell can fill all of the roles which the base system allows for, but in A Time of Monsters, you are not playing a well-balanced Hunter cell, unless you can find the allies to make one.

So all this is to kind of say ‘I don’t know’. I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, but I don’t have to go out at night looking for vampire lairs. I might know how strong I am in the gym or how smart I am in front of a desk – but in the dead of night with nothing but a flashlight and an ancient semi-automatic up against some thing which shouldn’t exist but is somehow still bearing down on me faster than any human could possibly move? I’d have no idea.

And I hope I never have the chance to find out.

Why did you choose to set A Time of Monsters in Vancouver?

Simply put? Because I live here.

I’ve lived in probably a dozen places in three countries over the course of my life, but this is the place I’d choose over everywhere else. I genuinely love it here, and I hope that love shows in the way I’ve portrayed not just the city of Vancouver itself, but the area around it, the people who live here, its often-conflicted history, and the culture of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, as I see it.

Of course, loving a place means also acknowledging its faults, and Vancouver’s faults are ones which tend to create some rather deep hypocrisies: a global port home to multiple diasporas, yet built on land stolen from its original inhabitants; a place open to the world, but only if you can afford the sky-high cost of living; a metropolis which has the potential to be one of the greatest cities in the world but is being strangled by its refusal to grow in the ways that matter. It’s fabulous wealth next to excruciating poverty, high-tech infrastructure next to a spiralling housing shortage, world-class parks next to opioid addiction. It’s deeply complicated and deeply complex place, and part of the reason I chose to set A Time of Monsters here is that I want to show people how I see this city, about the problems it’s facing, and about why I love this place despite those problems.

The end result, I think, is a story which is unabashedly Canadian – and unabashedly Vancouverite. I don’t want my players mistaking the setting of A Time of Monsters for anywhere else in the world, and I’d like to think I’ve succeeded there. It’s almost certainly not a perfect representation, but it’s one which I feel is authentic to how I see the place where I live – and one which reflects my feelings towards it.

You’ve spent years undercover, disguised as a human, infiltrating the city’s magical law-enforcement organization. They stole your magic from you. Can you steal it back? An Imp and an Impostor is an interactive historical urban fantasy novel by Athar Fikry, author of The Dragon and the Djinn. I sat down with them to discuss their Egyptian background and how it informs their work.

An Imp and an Impostor releases Wednesday, November 26th; you can wishlist it on Steam today—it really helps, even if you don’t intend to purchase it on that platform.

We published your first game The Dragon and the Djinn in 2022 and now we are thrilled to have a second game from you coming out next month. Tell me all about the setting of An Imp and an Impostor.
Thank you so much! I’m likewise thrilled to be back. An Imp and an Impostor is set in the coastal city of Raqout – which is one of many Raqouts! Our PC is actually from an alternate dimension version of it and they aren’t the only one, as this dimension’s Raqout wound up being a nexus for all sorts of creatures and beings and was half-drowned by a big old (benevolent?) eldritch entity not too long ago as a result.

Understandably, the city’s gotten a bit magic-shy, and so ended up with a branch of magical law enforcement called Arkan, just to handle that whole mess. Arkan is, of course, very competent and not at all corrupt, which is why our titular imp PC manages to infiltrate it so easily.

Raqout is also loosely based on my hometown of Alexandria as it was in the early 1900s, and contains a lot of my strongest visual impressions of it, especially the view of the crashing Mediterranean and the busy markets and gorgeous old buildings and villas. I haven’t been there in over a decade now, and much of the PC’s yearning for a home that’s just to the left of the one they’re in is very much mine, because I know that if and when I go back, it’ll be very different than the place I grew up in. There are references aplenty for those who know it, because I couldn’t help myself, and for those who don’t, I hope you enjoy your drives across the Corniche! Alexandria in the winter is really something.

Naturally, we have an Egyptian theme from our favorite Egyptian author.
Haha, yes! I couldn’t resist. I’m pretty sure all of my pitches this time were Egypt-centric, so thank you, CoG, for letting me write one! It’s not the Egypt most readers will be expecting, I imagine, even aside from this being a fantasy analogue. There are absolutely zero pharaohs involved, for one, beyond passing mention in the backdrop. No shade on pharaohs, it’s just that (and maybe this is a function of having had to study them for so many years at school) I find that period of Egyptian history one of the least interesting to me, personally. I much prefer the time period I’ve played around with in this game, where Egypt was stuck in between overlapping occupations, in the odd limbo between modernisation and tradition in a world rapidly changing around and within it, and grappling with what modernisation would look like given it so often came with foreign influence, simultaneously the land of “exotic” legend and opulence and also just…you know, a regular place where people lived.

So, yeah, no pharaohs, no ancient curses. Just a rainy seaside city with regular people (including imps and necromancers, yes, shush) suffering under corruption and forces too strong to fathom and sort of muddling through their day-to-day.

Oh, and also, SO many descriptions of food. Just so many.

What inspirations did you take from for the sort of magic in this game?
I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone who’s seen or read Fullmetal Alchemist that I count it as one of my foundational media. Fullmetal Alchemist has that effect on people. I will freely admit that the image of the talsam, the chalking of precise geometric shapes in a magic system that’s more scientific in feel, owes its origin to Fullmetal Alchemist’s transmutation circles. This combines with my absolute adoration for Arabic calligraphy and the way it can be used to create shapes and images, and how real life protective talismans here (or, well, you know, depends on how much you believe in that sort of thing, but for those who do) will often consist of specific words folded into pieces of paper and kept on one’s person, and here we are! That’s where talsama came from.

The imp’s own form of magic is inspired by weaving imagery, the idea of plucking at the threads of fate, and the fact I cannot visualise very well and so often like to reach for other senses to ground a scene—the concept of magic corresponding to taste and scent was just a very fun one, so I ran with it.

I feel like I also need to shout out Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence for its particular flavour of bureaucratic magic, as well as the show Torchwood for inspiring the organisation of Arkan and…other things, but those would be spoilers.

What was your favorite part about returning to writing ChoiceScript?
In the small sense: The fact it’s SO EASY to code in such small variations into the text and be responsive to many small decisions. I played with Twine a bit in between games and oof, I really missed that ease and simplicity.

In the larger sense: having a game get away from me (again) (can you believe this was supposed to be a short one?) and yet still have all its disparate parts come together in the end, often in ways I didn’t expect going in. It always feels a little bit like having pulled off a magic trick, although I need to be clear in that it wouldn’t at all have been possible without the guidance and hard work of my editor, Rebecca, who is herself magic, I’m pretty sure.

How has your other work been going? I know you’ve been a contributor to a TTRPG.
I have, yes! Aside from the Emerald Templars TTRPG I mentioned last time, I’ve also made my own little things over on itch.io, including a solo-journaling game called SPITE about eating your stats to, well, spite your reflection. I really enjoy making bite-sized horror things and hope to make more. Everything on my itch is free to play, so please do check it out.

I also have a TTRPG setting book that had to be put on hold while I finished Imp and an Impostor, so if anyone here has been waiting for news on Marrowbreak, know that I’ll be going back to that soon!

As for non-TTRPG work, I have a few prose projects on the backburner that I look forward to returning to. I’m also an associate editor for Baffling Magazine and although I can’t talk about it yet, there’s some exciting stuff I’ll get to do with Baffling in the coming months!

We’re proud to announce that Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes, the latest in our “Heart’s Choice” line of multiple-choice interactive romance novels, is now available for iOS and Android in the “Heart’s Choice” app. You can also download it on Steam, or enjoy it on our website.

It’s 38% off until Oct 30th!

Will you spill the tea about the secret, cozy magical cafe on the college campus? Brew potions and romance on coffee dates with your new friends!

Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes is an interactive cozy romance novel by Cay Macres. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, 426,000 words, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

After years of hiding your magical powers, you’ve been accepted into Peridot Pines University—as well as its secret society of magicians! Better still, you’ve got a sweet job as a barista at Witch’s Brew, the cafe where Hecate Society meetings take place. The catch? Witch’s Brew is struggling: even on a college campus, it’s hard to keep a coffee shop open. They need all the help they can get to keep it open—especially yours. The other catch? Magic is supposed to be secret—and the new university chancellor suspects that something is up.

Can you make the grade in both your mundane and magical classes, while still putting your best effort towards making your customers happy at the coffee shop? What will you do when specters start appearing all over campus? Or when spells go awry and the chancellor gets suspicious, how will you cover it up: with quick-talking persuasion, more magic, or with the combined effort of all of your friends?

Or, maybe you’re starting to fall for one of those friends? Pierced, punk, red-headed Rowan has hard-to-control magic that crackles with electricity—but when that same magic leaves a trail of daisies behind, it shows that Rowan has a softer side, too. Alchemist Mel’s mother runs the coffee shop, so Mel always has an energy potion on hand for those late-night study sessions, and creative ideas for how to boost the shop’s sales—not to mention, the softest brown curly hair and dreamy brown eyes. Then there’s whimsical Tomi, who has a sweet sense of humor, sparkling hazel eyes, and an endless collection of academic-looking sweatervests. Every time you run into this journalism major, it feels like something out of a romcom. But Tomi is a non-magical mundane! Can you keep your biggest secret from someone who’s becoming so important to you?

Or…maybe you don’t want to keep the secret anymore? Maybe the world—or at least Peridot Pines University—is ready to hear about magic.

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi.
• Romance a barista who spikes their coffee with potions, a hot-headed elemental magician, or a non-magical journalism student who asks a lot of questions.
• Choose a type of magic to concentrate in—alchemy, divination, transmutation, or elemental magic—and learn arcane secrets from your knowledgeable professors.
• Bond with your childhood best friend, or build new relationships with your college classmates.
• Figure out a way to keep your struggling cafe from being closed. Potions to match the customers’ moods? Gimmicky sales? Appealing to the university community? Or just excellent service?
• Explore mysterious ruins, have a relaxing day at the beach, and cheer for your favorite team in an intramural game of Divination Dodge!
• Adopt the world’s snarkiest cat as your familiar. Or maybe you’re the cat’s familiar? The cat certainly thinks so.

Order’s up! Cappuccino, with a dash of magic.

We hope you enjoy playing Witch’s Brew: Love and Lattes . We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.