This is based on a game I literally just played, and the idea is to add an element of choice and intellect rather than gambler's luck.

The background is that you decide to go on an adventure of exploration, to find some islands and discover plant life, cultures, treasure and anything else that takes your fancy!

You are trying to survive a pandemic of rabies, with key 'zombie' themes but with considerations of realism. A serious game with dark elements to it.
The game does NOT feature mutants, aliens, "bosses" or any other foreign incarnations, the zombies are all ex-humans each with their own stories behind them.

The character in-game is entirely fictional but there is intentional crossover between stories in this series, including the one about myself.

A game of wits and survival, risk taking and tactical challenges. Take on the role of the author himself and try to survive.

Features/Background:
- The storygame is set in England, so guns are a luxury.
- The main course of the story is set in a village, with the player affecting its fate.
- Key choices can change the entire story and the world around you.
- Health system will allow certain dangerous choices to pan out, but you will die if you push too hard.

Game is unfinished so normally unseen variables will be made visible for the purposes of clarity about the story and its design. Saves will be allowed at any point rather than just after key decisions, but the allocated save points will be implemented to show their mechanics and locations.

Aha! My conspiracy theory is not longer just a theory. It is conspiracy fact. Score one for Pc Genie.

Here's a wild theory, since we're on a topic about fetishes and stuff, maybe this is all pretend and the NOT kid is actually into that act like a kid stuff called age play! It's a CONSPIRACY, I tell you.

It's funny how I realise in hindsight how I learnt so much about these things from watching CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. More like CSI: Sex Education, am I right?

*sigh* Look kid, just seek your parents/guardians and ask them to give you a special thing called The Talk.

You will learn about how babies are made, why mummy and daddy like to wrestle late in the night and other such stuff.

Well, there is 'sex' as in gender, but the reason there are Male and Female people specifically (or boys and girls, or men and women) is because a Male and a Female perform an action known as 'sex' privately in order to produce babies and squeeze out more little wriggling little pieces of flesh to become your brothers and sisters.

A fetish is when people become sexually attracted and aroused by unusual and often illogical things, such as a person's feet.

If you haven't learnt what sex is, oh dear, your parents/guardians will have a fun time explaining when a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, love each other very much, or love each other a bit, or actually have barely met... AGH, it's too difficult to elaborate on!

I'm going to admit I'm a crazy madman into Omorashi, essentially having standard and garden variety heterosexuality but with added elements of... Urination. Why? No flipping clue.

The most peculiar and illogical I've ever heard of is stuff like infatuation with inanimate objects like toasters etc. Imagine how awkward it would be if someone because aroused and started flirting with a bread box you purchased or your washing machine delivery got delayed by a... Stalker. WHAT? I saw a program about weird fetishes out or morbid interest and there was a woman claiming to be 'married' to statues. I bet they're not much for riveting conversation!

The absolute craziest and most disturbing I've heard of would be stuff like 'vore' as in wanting be be eaten alive etc. People who know me know that in a situation where a dragon or ogre or some horrid creature wanted to eat me, I'd slay the bugger, not bloody well fetishise the idea! What poor survival instincts!

[Copied from PM for an update to the watchers]

A few name ideas:

Perhaps
- Cursed Memories
- A King's Regrets
- The Sovereign Curse

OOH! I have one. I recently played a game called Reigns, it's simple enough, but the story is a potentially compelling one with alteration and expansion. Here's my version (with intro):

One upon a time, a mighty king boasted a grand fortune of such gold, jewels and silks to make any rival jealous enough to kill him, were they not so afraid of his imposing and loyal army consisting of the finest men anybody could muster. However, even these treasures and achievements did not satisfy him, as material wealth and other human notions of accomplishment faded...

One day, a tempting demon approached him and offered something worth all the wealth and beyond, the immortality of the king's memories. Every new king would inherit his memories, the demon advised, preserved for eternity as if they were lived just yesterday. More so, he said, the memories of admiration and aspiration from each new king also remembered so the next may envy him all the more. The rich king gladly accepted, as no scroll or engraved stone could ever preserve his legacy better than the passing on of his very consciousness! The king died happily of old age a few years later, and a successor was crowned. That is when the curse began...

You see, every time a new king was crowned, the memories of the old ones were indeed so well preserved like the demon had promised, but with every fear, vice, regret and even the moment of death vividly remembered, each new king had to bear the burdens of this knowledge while their subjects call them all mad fools for being so preposterous in such an impossible idea.

The game continues with each new king being played through and deaths such as poisoning, violent murder and so on being remembered by the next (since the player reads it), causing each successor to become madder and more melancholic as they increasingly seek to break the curse. The game can also feature kings learning from the predecessor's mistakes instead of the conventional game over (the story continuing regardless) and players are encouraged to actively choose more paranoid options such as refusing banquets and executing close friends in order to avoid regression and nasty deaths, all while furthering the story's main plot to end the curse once and for all.

...

I would be happy to provide further story development ideas and contributions. What do you think so far?

EDIT: Yes, it basically follows the same basic premise as Reign itself, but without the two-option kingdom balancing and a very dark storyline instead of the original silly tone.

Here's an idea, we will be much better equipped to help you if you answer these questions:

1. Who is Ethan (age, skills or talents, strengths or disabilities, equipment and items he owns, his relevance to the plot, etcetera)?

2. Who is Sara (see above)?

3. What is the general setting (fantasy world or real world, modern or historical setting, any plot character becoming king or prime minister recently, where do these two people live)?

4. What is our hero's quest (save the world, uncover a conspiracy, stay alive while disaster happens, make mountains of money, find a suitable mate and reproduce like a typical mammal)?

5. Anything not covered in 1-4 that we should know like some crazy stuff happening in Act Two?

A few counter points and thoughts:

1. Moving with the wind in the air seems even more awful than with sea ships, as you cannot reduce sails during unfavourable winds and thus be blown literally miles off course (actually, naval sips can anyway, so exaggerating that would be devastating). Those daft sods in the Spanish Armada learnt that the hard way!

2. Small, maximum six pounder cannon could be used to deploy long range artillery (in sequence to avoid sudden shock like you said), and half pounder swivel guns for countering other airships. It would be difficult to use downward as cannon shot needs to be a bit loose so the barrel doesn't explode, especially before rifling. That extended range would give any artillery captain a right old stiffie.

3. The paradrop idea sounds fascinating, especially to bring intimidating troops like the Old Guard or the Scots. Alternatively you could drop multitasking 'special forces' akin to Dragoons (but without horses) as raiders and snipers. Bombs would be an easy and tactically sound idea, ranging from fused shot canisters to bursting quicklime to diseased corpses.

4. Planes might always be difficult to fight In Real Life, but that's because they're faster than Alt F4 on porn sites and escape before you can pop the buggers. Lumbering balloons would be cannon fodder to mortars using airbursts and such contraptions if left around the enemy's lines (especially if they're so large like you mention).

5. Giant blades, each heavier than a rack of montantes? Sounds like the perfect way to weigh any balloon down so it never even lifts off. Give halberds and siege forks to some crew members instead perhaps.

6. Putting armour on an entire balloon is almost as bad as the blade idea for exactly the same reasons, but perhaps bulwarks and tactical shielding on the exposed areas of the underside might work, but we'd be talking about having at most a 35% coverage including the basket itself. Any armour itself would have to be light in the sense of being similar to human armour like Brigandine or perhaps be an almost tsuba-shaped disk around the basket's exterior that acts as a small and thin but effective literal shield. Weight is your #1 problem and any thick protection warrants instant dismissal.

7. Skis sound like a nice idea, but again they have to be lightweight and gain strength from structure rather than material density (like on bridges that don't collapse themselves if you so much as sneeze).

...

In summary: Airships in general sound good, but with hefty impediments and limitations because they cannot be heavily armed or armoured, plus they cannot raid in and out quickly because they're bloody balloons.