You’ve heard of Cyberpunk, Steampunk, and maybe Dieselpunk but in this dev diary, I’m going to explain my approach to what I’m calling “Mythic-Punck”
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You Know You Spelled Punk Wrong, Right?
I’m going to address the elephant in the room first. Yes, I’m well aware that one does not spell punk with a C, however this is an offhand easter egg to my streaming alias "PunckRockTurtle".
Design Ethos
Traditional Culture/Myths
During the inital phase of design I was indulging my intrigue of ancient Japanese mythology and watching Star Wars Visions. The juxtaposition of science fiction and traditional culture struck a major chord. In terms of Star Wars Visions, we get to see feudal Japan imbued with the force. With Foxes, I wanted to create an atmosphere where advanced technology and old superstitions intertwine. A kuda-gitsune is as comfortable slicing into a corporate mainframe as they are harnessing the Kitsunebi.
Now, obviously this is not some sort of breakthrough in genre. As I have already mentioned, especially in anime, this genre mashup is something quite common, but is not something I’m aware of in the TTRPG space (although, I am 100% positive there will be something out there).
Corpocracy
There’s something so bleak, yet relatable in a future whereupon capitalism has overtaken the cultural and social liberties of democracy. It’s what makes retrofuturism such as Alien even more terrifying. Instead of pitting characters into a black-and-white, good vs. evil scenario, I wanted to approach morality in a slightly more shades of grey style. Similar to the living, breathing city of Duskvol from Blades in the Dark. In the world of Foxes in the Night, the game-world is ruled by several large coporations, which break down into sub-corps and so on.