This Really Is A Catch 22 Situation Isn't It.

This really is a catch 22 situation isn't it.

Explain nothing and make the place as uninteresting as possible - > people WILL go there someday, not knowing what the danger underneath is.

Use markers etc to explain what's going on - > people WILL go there because there MUST be something valuable there, there's so many markers they don't understand/keep talking about some deadly curse!

It would be funny if nuclear waste warning messages become an attraction for future historical linguists.

I mean look at this thing:

A parallel text in 7 languages, with 4 different scripts between them! And pictograms! All designed to be preserved intact!

A fascinating thing about Hades game is that dead people go through character development.

There is no end. There is no escape. But there’s no time loop here. Nobody is stagnant. Not the gods, not even the dead. Even when stuck in the same daily nightly routine forever, change is possible.

Achilles gets to mature. That’s insane. Achilles in this game is a stoic, calm, father figure. That’s mad. And from how he and others talk about his life, he’s changed a lot.

Hades changes over the course of the story. Zagreus’ relationships with the people around him change. Even when his goal turns out to be hopeless things still get better.

Orpheus and Eurydice go through change both together and separately. Night and Chaos develop a relationship. The decor changes, the underworld itself constantly changes. And you as the player change too. Through the endless loop you learn, you adapt, you get better at the game, you gain more power, you uncover more of the story.

For a game about an endless eternal loop, Hades is a surprisingly hopeful game. Are you stuck in Hell forever fruitlessly trying to escape over and over again just to die over and over again? Yes. Yes you are. And there’s so much in that endless loop that will change you and those around you over and over and over again. Nothing stays the same forever. Not even the dead.

Hm, I was pondering about the recent-ish trope of Adventuring Guilds (effectively trade unions for protagonists in fantasy rpg-inspired settings, which I’m sure I’ve seen in a bunch of things but the main example that springs to mind is Goblin Slayer to my annoyance but the Hero Association in One Punch Man has a similar albeit superhero-slanted deal), and how mechanically in the setting they exist to ensure x reward is provided for x amount of work/danger involved but in a meta sense are there so the characters don’t have to go looking for heroing gigs on ye olde Craigs Lyst or something.

It’s an interesting idea, similar in a manner to the many fantasy trope-tinged guilds in the Discworld novels of the late great Terry Pratchett, although an amusing idea occurred to me with the idea of trade unions for fantasy heroes.

Like, if there are unions to ensure employment and fair pay for folks clearing out dungeons, getting gnolls out the cabbage patch, stopping gnomes from going through your bins, and so on, then, logically, there much exist fantasy hero scab workers as well.

Folks that the local king or something brings in for lower pay on more dangerous jobs. Folks who are, say, completely new to the setting, out of their depth, and are thrust into a dangerous situation by a seemingly benevolent authority figure because said authority figure is too cheap to hire someone who understands the risks involved and asks more suitable wages for the role…

Y’know…