by Alex Helm, Rich Wood

It’s known only as ‘The City’. When it is the only bastion of safety and civilisation in the heart of an infinite dark forest, what other name does it need?

Despite being a haven for the living, the city is shrouded in death. Great mausoleums line every street and alley, packed full with the bones of endless generations of ancestors. Death here comes fast and swift – when a life ends, a terrible fog rolls in to strips the corpse clean, leaving nothing but whitened bones ready for interment.

Nobody knows who rules the city – only that somebody must be doing so, for the place functions as a bastion of stability, patrolled by a martial guard force. Yet what exists as peace and safety for the city’s living residents is under threat. People have been just disappearing, never to be seen again, and fingers have been pointed at a mysterious evil that stalks the forest beyond the walls. Nobody knows how the monster is making it past the guards to come into the city, but somehow it is doing so and every single person is frightened that they might be next.

Now the monstrous incursions and subsequent disappearances have been increasing in frequency, and the level of sheer terror amongst the populace is palpable. Is it simply a matter of time before nothing remains of the city other than the piles of bones?

The people come together, determined to change their fate in any way possible. Meanwhile, out in the forest the beast howls, hungry for more souls to devour…

Game Aesthetic

Necropolis is a game of ‘dark fantasy gothic horror’, and is designed to have an atmosphere of death, mystery and fear. The setting is a city of the dead, shrouded in mist and darkness, where the living are vastly outnumbered by the bones of their countless ancestors, and where everybody exists in a state of constant terror.

Although it is an original dark fantasy setting, it draws inspiration from numerous 19th century gothic and horror stories. For costuming, think very classic Victorian/fantasy-style Gothic. This isn’t the Victoriana of bustles and petticoats or top hats and tails. It's a place where the living resemble the dead, where white funereal gowns and shrouds, long swoopy coats and capes, high collars, pale skin and sunken eyes are commonplace. It’s a world devoid of colour, where blacks, greys and whites are by far the norm.

Visual inspiration source: basically any Tim Burton movie ever. :)