New Project Preview -"SWEETWATER"

(Listen to the theme song here!) 

Hello everyone! Just wanted to give you a preview of my next big project, SWEETWATER!

Sweetwater is a murder mystery/investigation series set in the fictional town of Sweetwater, West Virginia. Sweetwater was once a little gem of a vacation town tucked away in the heart of the Appalachian mountains. Folks came from far and wide to go boating on its majestic lake and visit the hometown of the famous Cafaro Candy company! ...That is, until a gruesome string of murders killed the town's reputation back in the 80s.

The year is 2004.

The town of Sweetwater has fallen on hard times. The economy is shot. A ghost train wails in the woods at night. The mysterious twin heirs of the Cafaro company only hire strange outsiders, leaving the townspeople unemployed. The lake, the very lifeblood of the town, is drying up. And worst of all... a new string of brutal killings is striking fear into the hearts of into the citizens. It's up to a few select citizens to figure out what's going on and stop Sweetwater's new serial killer... before it's too late.

Sweetwater is a role-playing mystery game with a heavy focus on an investigation-based narrative. The game is run in Roll20, edited down, and released on YouTube.

HOW THE GAME WILL WORK:

• There are 5 players and 1 GM.
• Player characters are not in a party together. Instead, play sessions will be 1-on-1 with the GM and the story's perspective will follow one player character at a time.
• The players are not allowed to watch any session their characters are not present for, but the audience gets to see everything.
• Each player controls multiple characters throughout the town. Police officers and businessmen. High school students and crazy old coots that live in the woods. The characters will choose which mysteries they want to investigate, what they want to do, and who they want to trust.
• The goal is to tell a murder mystery through the perspective of an entire town. Each character's story will gather more puzzle pieces until the entire picture is complete and the mystery is solved. The mystery and all of its inner workings are pre-written, but the way it gets solved is up to the players.
• Every single person in town is a unique character with a name and an unique icon. There are over 100 people in the town of Sweetwater (some of which can be seen above!) Anyone can be a victim... and anyone can be a killer. Including the players!
• Episodes will be pre-recorded and released on a new side-channel on YouTube.

I've been working on this project since April (and conceptualizing it since before I even started work on Epithet), so I'm really excited to get to share it with all of you!

Unfortunately due to the open nature of this game every single location and character needs to be finished before we even start. I've been spending a ton of time putting this together! There are about 120 characters and 75 maps. We'll be wrapping the last of it up in two weeks and hopefully start filming some time in August with a release a little later on!

For those familiar with my friends' work on Stabbyness and SurpriseRoundRPG, you might recognize some of the players! The cast includes Will, Savvy, Christian, Austin, and Mo.

Sweetwater is a town filled with mysteries. Some of the things the players can investigate include:

• The core murder mystery
• Rumors of a lake monster
• The ghost train in the woods
• The lost location of a treasure lying somewhere in the woods
• The mysterious Cafaro family and their chocolate empire
• and the identity of the vigilante-like figure who lurks in Sweetwater's underworld, known only as "Shadowcrest".

...just to name a few!

I know that I have a lot of younger Patrons here from my main YouTube channel and Epithet Erased, so I should put a disclaimer here to let you know that this project is meant for 18+ AUDIENCES. Sweetwater contains adult themes including graphic depictions of violence, drug use, sexual themes, adult language, and subject matter that is absolutely not appropriate for kids. It's a far-cry from my usual work, so please don't go in expecting something like Epithet Erased! That being said, I'm still planning to work on Epithet while Sweetwater is running. Sweetwater is mostly prep work, but once it's going it can GO!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this series! I really like talking about it.

Also, 3 of the 12 preview icons up above are player characters! Can you guess which ones?