Explore How Myths Change Over Generations In Apotheosis 2nd Edition: On Kickstarter August 13
Our stories evolve over time, influenced by the people who tell them, record them, and adapt them into new forms. And as society changes, so do our stories. But for every story that we remember, dozens more might be forgotten. How many stories have been lost to time?
The story of Little Red Riding Hood was first told sometime in the 10th century by European peasants. It was passed down by oral tradition until the 17th century when a written version was popularized by Charles Perrault. It wasn’t until the 19th century, however, that the Brothers Grimm created their version of the story, which remains one of the best-known today. Little Red Riding Hood’s phylogeny includes hundreds of variants, with some varying greatly and some hardly at all. In another few centuries the story will likely diverge even further from its source.
Our stories evolve over time, influenced by the people who tell them, record them, and adapt them into new forms. And as society changes, so do our stories. But for every story that we remember, dozens more might be forgotten. How many stories have been lost to time?
In Apotheosis, players create a society and sketch out that society’s starting myth, then change that myth over five generations in response to historical events that they create. Players will explore how the people of their society tell their story in new ways: competing variants will emerge, new details will be added, and some will be lost from memory entirely.
The Kickstarter campaign launches on August 13th, and will bring Apotheosis to print for the first time. Apotheosis is designed by IGDN-nominated designer Gordie Murphy. The second edition of the game features a gorgeous, brand new layout by ARPIA and IGDN award-winning layout designer Julie-Anne "Jam" Muñoz, beautiful new art by Juho Choi, and featured art by momatoes and Jayson Cavender.
Apotheosis Second Edition also features:
- Updated core rules that are easy to learn, with gameplay centered on collaborative worldbuilding.
- New random roll tables to get players started on creating a society.
- Ten new pre-generated societies, complete with the bullet points for a starting myth.
- Professional editing by Tyler Crumrine of Possible Worlds Games.
Apotheosis allows players to tell stories in any genre, from creating fairy tales, to far-future legends out of deep space, to urban legends swirling around a school. The pre-generated societies feature a wide range of genre possibilities.
One of the pre-generated societies is the Undersea, a people that make their home in the caverns by the shores of an underground sea. Their myth tells the story of a light stolen from a beast living at the bottom of the undersea, and how the beast hopes to win back its light with gifts sent upon the tides.
In a game exploring the Undersea, it’s your role as players to decide what happens to that story as the generations pass. Will the next generation come to understand the gifts as threats? Will they begin to say that the light is theirs by right? Or will they forget about the beast entirely?
The campaign launches August 13th. Follow the campaign now to be notified when it goes live!