Hi I'm Dana, I mostly just tool around with friends, play RPGs, and listen to podcasts, but I've also been known to make podcasts at SuperIdols! RPG and I've written a couple of short rpgs at my itch page and on twitter.

πŸ’•@wordbending

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The most succinct way I'd describe it, I think, is "Obra Dinn by way of Monkey Island". It doesn't quite hit the highs of either of those but it's a short, clever little mystery game that drove me to beat it in a few hours because I just wanted to see what new, ridiculous thing would happen in the next scenario.

But... it's also got a touch of that Monkey Island style, "oooh ancient island native relics & magic" racism. Kind of at the center of the story (the mystery of the titular idol, as well as a side character that appears in one scenario) but not the focus of the story.

And the DLC coming next week looks like it surrounds the backstory of the idol, and might well have more of that.

I'll see how people talk about it when it comes out, maybe it will be fine or maybe I'll shrug and play it anyway. But, man, it's one of those things where I feel like there's a little problem that's I can get past in something I like, then it get bigger and bigger. If anyone else that sees this played it, I'm curious if it bothered you, or you think I'm seeing a problem that's not there or whatever.


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in reply to @authorx's post:

As someone who semi-recently finished the game and did not pick up on this at all, I think this is going to slowly eat me from the inside out until I can't not associated the game and this trope whenever its brought up.

I'm also wondering how I skipped past, but it was probably due to laser focusing on the murders.

edit: But to actually answer the question in a straight manner, no, I didn't think about it but it makes perfect sense, its a very "magical [people]'s artifact is used to teach the colonizers a lesson" (Or at least grow and then comically dismantle a cult and make them enjoy their freedom more)

Thanks, I'm glad it at least makes sense as a reading to you as well. Since finishing the game I've also been watching the recent streams on KatBamKapow's channel on twitch, and they and their partner Jack de Quidt talk about this with much more specific context than I did (like you said, the "cursed object enacts revenge on colonizers/imperial looters" genre) so definitely worth checking out that part of the VOD for a more thorough discussion of it: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1807176650?t=3h13m30s

That's very interesting, though now I have no choice but to watch the rest of the stream, especially since they start making those points before Ptoo even shows up. I wonder what's their take on that.

I've also been thinking about this for a few days, and one thing that came to me is that since they mention 'magic' exists in game, the Idol didn't even need to be discovered (at least as far as we still don't know its true origins). It could be something crafted through alchemy for example, and still unleash the same devastation but without the problematic elements.