fledgling manor
It is my birthday today so I am issuing a blog challenge. That is something you are allowed to do on your birthday. My challenge is to write a blog post about an obscure game, whether it’s a video game, board game, tabletop rpg, LARP, whatever, that you just do not see folks talking about online or easily findable documentation. -- my good buddy michael klamerus
my bsky and formerly cohost (rip) mutual michael issued a Blog Challenge that i am taking up! the challenge is as listed above, and the relatively obscure game i've chosen to write about is In Secret Places' Fledgling Manor!
released in late 2024, Fledgling Manor is about a vampire reality show (which is imho an insanely good concept in and of itself), starring... well, fledglings! the titular fledgling manor is the hottest vampire reality tv show in america! each week, someone is voted off! and by 'voted off' i mean 'executed live on television for the pleasure of vampires at home watching'!
the game takes place from the pov of rocky alvarez, a freshly (and i mean FRESHLY, as of the beginning of the game; most of the other contestants have been turned for longer) turned fledgling vampire, who doesn't even know who his sire is! he's thrust onto this game show, thrust into vampire society and culture itself, and forced to participate to fight for his life!
he is, of course, not the only fledgling there. counting rocky, there are 8 total contestants, the rest being:
- aanya, who hunted on the streets of atlanta, ga before being caught and dropped onto the show
- stephan, a vicious fledgling who does not understand tv and wants no part of the show he's on
- eight, masked and mysterious, but VERY friendly
- tay, a christian influencer
- grace, "a corporate girlboss"
- jason, "a grindset hunk"
- lila, "a sad canadian"
the first 3 i listed (aanya, stephan, eight) are the love interests in the game! that's right, it's also a ROMANCE game!
something i really love about this game is that, no spoilers, that each of the 3 routes show off vastly different aspects of the vampire culture/society in the canon of the game. aanya plays social games, eight is a bit of a rebel, and stephan just wants to grill hunt for god's sake.
something else that was very standout to me is the writing. written by lb hunktears and merritt k (who also has a different book about vampires you may want to check out), the writing is extremely well done, funny and witty and poignant and evocative. loveddddd it.
the art direction was also REAL good in my opinion. the black/white with hints of red is suuuuch a good combo, it always hits! and it's done with aplomb here. artist/chara designer shaydh knocks it out of the park!
i really adored this game and i feel it could have been a lot more popular (though i do recognize with popularity comes Fandom Garbage lmao). definitely one of my fave pieces of vampire media FOR SURE.
play it. for your silas :)