It's been a while since the last update on our game, Eight Bells Bluff: A Writing Game, so we thought it would be a good time to reintroduce the game and our mission!
Eight Bells Bluff is a writing game aimed at both new writers and seasoned wordsmiths. It aims to teach, challenge, break writer's block, and encourage those who've always wanted to try their hand at writing. The gamebook not only contains the rules but serves as a primer for story writing!
The game guides the writer through the traditional story structure with phases like Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, and Ending. Each phase includes prompts for the Time of Day, Objects, Weather, and Inciting Incidents. Random elements are selected using both dice and any set of 52 playing cards! The player is free to choose which tables to use for their story. For example, a player may forgo rolling the Weather and Time of Day table if they want their story to occur on a dark and stormy night!
You might ask: why is the game called Eight Bells Bluff? Well, what's a story without a setting? Eight Bells Bluff is the name of a haunted seaside town that writers can use to set their stories within. The gamebook contains an extensive town history, its locations, and local legends. Like any good story, you are free to bend the story in any way you see fit. You can write within the bounds of the town's dark history or make up your own—it's all up to you!
We've designed Eight Bells Bluff for solo, group, cooperative and competitive play. Our goal is to make Eight Bells Bluff affordable to anyone who wishes to put pen to paper! We plan to sell different versions of the game, from a PDF that will cost less than two Starbucks coffees to deluxe hardback editions with loads of feelies!
Eight Bells Bluff is currently in the design phase with plans to go to Kickstarter at the end of 2021. If you are interested in following our progress, you can subscribe to our email list at www.loudocoffeepress.com or follow us on IG at: