[Wade_Gustafson]

Maiden Desmodus is a role-playing game. We expect our players to remain in character, and the game is designed from the ground up to make it easy to become immersed and remain IC.

We do have a NEWBIE channel for new players to discuss how-to and mechanics with seasoned players and staff, and an OOC command out-of-character communications. Both of these can be toggled off/on via preferences.


The fiction and backstory of Maiden Desmodus is not based on any “real world” model. As we say, “Imagine a more interesting world to inhabit…”

The history of the game, in how it relates to players “in the now”, is summed up in a few paragraphs during character creation. Beyond this we have assorted help files that relay various highlights of history.

The true story and history of Maiden Desmodus is expressed in-character, through the points of view of various NPCs. From a building point of view, when we began working on Maiden Desmodus every NPC that went into the game came with their own history and backstory, views and opinions. By speaking to these NPCs and following suggestive keywords to lead conversations, or by bringing up totally off the wall subjects, you can gain insight into their take on world history. While many larger events are likely to be viewed the same way by the NPCs of a given area, there are those who are misinformed, uneducated, and those from other cultures who see things in a totally different way.

We find that this approach to the “history of the game” is much more immersive and subjective. It lets you learn about history as you go, based on your exposure, and form your own opinions.

Perhaps a bit of both. We began with an image of what we wanted our world to be like and a broad list of key events that led it to be that way. From that, we began building the game and with every new NPC born into our world more and more of the details got fleshed out as we created the history and backstory of that NPC. As time progressed, more and more holes got filled in until we were left with a “working” world based on entirely original fiction.

Everything about Maiden Desmodus was designed “for” Maiden Desmodus. We new what we wanted, and we worked to bring it all together. I believe that “focus” is a key element to successful world building.

Maiden Desmodus does this to the extreme. It is part of what makes the game world so enthralling and richly detailed. We go far beyond a generic “this culture thinks this way” and “that culture thinks that way”. Sure, there are general cultural views, but within that every NPC bases their views on their own experiences, much the way our players do.