Devlog: Book 2 - Expanding the Underbelly (The Lore & The Flaws)

Hey Shadows,

We've been deep in the trenches, polishing the foundation for Book 2: Expanding the Underbelly. This book is all about giving the Host massive new tools and fully defining the corrupt, rain-slicked hellscape that is Chicago.

Here’s a quick look at the major content we’ve locked in for the first two chapters and the changes coming to Lead Character creation.

🎬 Chapter 1: The Host’s Chair - Cinematic Control

Chapter 1 is dedicated to making the Host feel like a genuine film director. It codifies the methods for maintaining that intense, relentless noir atmosphere:

• Pacing with Hard Cuts: We've formalized the use of Hard Cuts and Long Transitions. Hard Cuts allow the Host to skip over boring downtime (like travel or preparation) and jump straight to the moment of conflict or revelation. Long Transitions, conversely, are used to deliberately slow the pace, focusing entirely on a Lead Character's internal dread and the oppressive sensory details of the city.
• The Philosophy of Loss: We've expanded on the core idea that Success Always Has a Cost. Your Lead Characters will achieve their goals, but they will always lose something important in the process—be it a valuable resource, an ally, or a piece of their remaining morality. This is fundamental to the noir feel.

🏙️ Chapter 2: The City's Scars - History and Power

This is the big lore drop, establishing the source of all systemic corruption in Chicago. Everything bad in the city traces back to these facts:

• The Shadow of The Great Closure: Ten years ago, a pivotal, tragic disaster crippled the city's infrastructure and public trust. This event wasn't solved; it was buried. Everything in Chicago—the rationing, the suspicion, the compromised institutions—is a direct result of the cover-up, giving every case a deep, traumatic historical root.
• The Corrupt Triumvirate: We've introduced the three interconnected power structures that secretly run the city, creating a systemic web of villainy for the LCs to fight:
  1. The Coil: The Political/Financial elite. They run the city's legitimate infrastructure.
  2. The Iron Faction: The Organized Crime and Vice syndicate. They run the city's shadow economy.
  3. The Silent Authority: The compromised law enforcement and intelligence. They enforce the Triumvirate's rules.
• Wards of Power: The city is divided into three thematic districts (Midtown, The Docks, The Heights), each tied to one of the three primary Attributes (WIT, REFLEX, GRIT) and controlled by one of the Factions.

🎲 The Player's Guide: Embrace Your Flaw

We’ve also been refining the character creation process to make it even more narrative-focused. The new Lead Character Creation Guide is nearly finalized and includes a major change to starting resources:

• The Single Defining Flaw: Instead of choosing multiple Flaws, players now start with one central, defining trauma. This single choice determines their starting Build Points (BP).
  • Choosing a Minor Flaw (a small burden, like Chronic Smoker) starts you with 2 BP.
  • Choosing a Major Flaw (a potentially fatal burden, like Gambling Debt to the Iron Faction) starts you with 4 BP.

This change forces players to focus on the single, most important reason their character is doomed, tying their personal failure directly to the city’s corruption right from the start.

What's Next?

Our next big step is drafting Chapter 3, which will introduce several new Archetypes (Roles) and a host of new Maneuvers and Flaws to expand player choice in this broken world.

As always, everything you've read here is actively in development and subject to change based on playtesting feedback, but we wanted to give you a taste of the shadows we're forging.

Stay cynical, and keep your lamps low.

— Vyktor Rykov, Lead Mad Scientist