Hi everyone! I’m JJ Laurier, but most people around here call me Jess, so feel free to do the same. I usually use they/them pronouns, but she/her is also fine.
I’m an interactive fiction writer/indie game developer, and thus far I’ve published one game, Fields of Asphodel, which might be what brought you here. At the moment, I’m working on its sequel, Blood of the Living, and may or may not be sneakily developing another project in my spare time.
This blog is mostly a place for the occasional update, asks, some art or reblogs, and all of that. I happily take questions, but please read the FAQ and Ask Policies linked above before sending anything in.
I’m also on Patreon, if you’re interested in more frequent updates, bonus goodies, and various levels of early access to my projects.
I track the tags ‘asphodelgame,’ and 'chrysanthemumgames' but if you want me to see something it’s probably safer just to @ me.
Welcome to the blog; stay as long as you like!
Project descriptions under the cut.
Steam || Play Store || App Store
Forced into an arranged marriage with the God of the Dead, only you can decide what to make of your new life. Befriend misfit deities, repel giant attacks, find the culprit behind the river goddess’s mysterious illness, and use your powers to nudge Fate in your favor! Decide what kind of deity you want to be—whether you’ll answer prayers, how you’ll develop your powers, and what role you’ll take in governance.
Fields of Asphodel is a ‘cozy’ game—not an action-packed adventure or dramatic soap opera, it focuses on daily life and developing relationships. In fact, FoA lacks mechanical stats at all, relying instead on a system of traits and roleplaying. The romances are very light and slow burn, particularly in this first installment, and there’s a heavy emphasis on consent and self-determination, as well as platonic relationships.
Demo || Forum Thread
Blood of the Living continues the story of Fields of Asphodel, consisting of six distinct routes, one for each possible RO/PO, as well as subplots focused on the Player Character and their family. As the PC grows closer to their friends and potential romantic interests in the Underworld, they will quickly find themselves tangled in those characters' stories, even as they shape their own development as a deity, and how their relationship with their blood family moves into the future.
As a completionist who loves angst, can you pls share how to get the domains of madness, corruption, nightmares and chaos 🥹
Hey anon,
Most of these don't actually have any angst attached! Spoilers below the cut.
'Madness' (I don't love this as a name for the concept, but what happens doesn't really fit 'revelry' and it is a myth-accurate domain of Dionysus) is the explicitly Dionysian option, for everyone who's been asking for that over the life of the games (the wine part is already implied if you chose to help Ikarios grow wine grapes in the first place). It becomes an option if you've taken at least two of the 'Dionysian' options across the games. Currently, you can simulate this by choosing to look into the Underworld and its properties when the character builder asks what you did in the library.
That is also currently (after a fix), the way to simulate the conditions needed for the 'chaos' option, which can alternatively be gained simply by living in the Underworld full-time (or almost full time—three weeks a year on Olympus or less, basically). Chaos is the 'primordial' domain of the Underworld itself, and you need a stronger connection to it than just living there part time to tap into it in a situation like that.
For nightmares, you need to have learned a little bit of dream magic from Hypnos, which means you went to see her and didn't arrive as quickly as possible, since doing so means you wake him up prematurely and he's a bit grumpy about it and disinclined to offer extra perks. (This can be simulated by the character builder as well, by choosing to have gone at the second available opportunity rather than the first. I think it explicitly mentions learning dream magic.).
Corruption is specific to the Hekate route, and in particular, to her magic still being cursed after the final encounter with Crataeis, Kyra, and Echidna (and of course connected to yours, still). You have to tap into her power, and then choose to go further, reaching beyond what she's offering you to where she's containing that corruption in her magic. Naturally, she's going to want to discuss that afterwards.
All of these options are also only available if you go after the attackers. Madness, nightmares, and chaos can be gained either way, but if you want corruption (like vengeance), you need to go first thing, so no one is there to theoretically stop you from killing people.
I think I or in some cases commenters have explained basically how to get every domain at this point either just now or here, so for everyone else, please check that out before you ask me how to get a specific domain.
In the Chapter 8 manticore fight with Pyri, my MC avoided all the spikes (using their combined magic to burn them to ash), but the narrative assumes they were wounded.
And when they went to visit Iasion afterward, Demeter was there of course, but my MC offered for her to stay, which I found surprising, because they were still barely being polite to her when forced to interact before. Do you have to refuse even the possibility of interacting with her to keep your MC angry at her and/or distant with her? Because they did see what was happening when she returned with Lady Maia, and they did allow her to help with the public garden project instead of telling her to stay away. I wasn't sure about it, so I thought I'd let you know. Thanks so much for your story!
Hey anon,
I think you sent me like a bunch of bug reports/questions similar to this in a couple of chunks a while ago, so thanks for those. I think I've made adjustments to correct everything that needs correcting, and I implemented some of your suggestions as well.
It turns out I was keying Demeter's response/the subsequent one from PC when you happen upon her and Iasion off whether you'd completely excluded her from all interaction thus far, which does seem like it's not quite enough nuance, so I added some other conditions that will trigger the choice about how to respond to her. I think it's much more balanced now for those in a bit more of a grey area, so cheers.
I'm almost embarrassed to ask this, but I feel like inquiring minds want to know. When Hades takes MC back to the flower field and has them straddle his lap... Is he... ehem.. aroused? Was this supposed to be a fade to black kinda thing or was it just a lot of kissing? Or up to player interpretation?
That's all up to your interpretation, anon. I left it vague on purpose, so people could give the context (and their ideas of what happened afterwards), the amount of 'heat' they prefer.
Just because nobody has really talked about it yet, the new domains are so friggin cool! I'm a bit sad we don't get to play around more with them, but considering the branching I can see why you put it more towards the end.
I know you probably aren't planning it, but with a bit of a break, if you ever feel like getting back to this version of the Underworld I would LOVE a book 3!
Ikarios is working with Grandpa Scapha, Mom Demi and Dad are getting on Zeus' last nerve with their lovey dovey courtship, Odysseus pissed of Poseidon AND Athena maybe, we get to take sides in Aphrodite's affairs with Ares (the younger), there's a cool temple with Nikos finally all grown up and pretty, Apollo being miffed that his oracle boy is our worshipper primarily and not his. Orpheus and his wife are accidentally causing weird cults to spring up since they kinda regularly come back from the dead and now people get all creative again with the whole immortality pursuit (maybe Kronos is at it again, too).
Pyri is punching Theseus goodbye after his mandated labour term is up, there is room for all kinds of stuff with all these heroes on the Isles getting too bored to stay peaceful, MC helps Makaria develop her domain/magic and stuff with her parents gets explained more (a parental rights trial coming up?), .......I dunno, I'm just really reluctant to say goodbye to these characters and all those possible relationships and their variants. The more books there are, the more choices and variations, the more insane the branching and coding, I know, but it does not stop me from wanting to continue seeing my Persephone (or whichever other people picked) develop even further.
I mean there's still ch10 and an epilogue, but yeah. I'm getting wistful. Also, I went back and forth in my saves, but finally I settled on decay over chaos for the new domain, just bc that line about it being such a good blending point in between life and death is so perfect for the Hades romance and all our previous conversations about the topic. (Also, compost. And wine fermenting. Technically MC could grow things too much so they rot before kinda.. but this feels more deliberate and kinda cool.) Especially with the visual effects! Hades probably hates it, but my Sephie is delighted. She has a thing for goth boys anyway, she doesn't mind getting/becoming a bit freaky.
Also, I REALLY hope we can get a bit more insight into the RO perspective of things before things fully wrap up. Just a bit of a POV from their view would be such a tantalizing treat!
Yes, I replayed again with the same Hades romance instead of the Hekate one I was kinda semi planning to go for. I do not know why, it always ends up being him. I guess it's fate!? 😅
I don't think I'm going to be adding RO POVs to the game at this stage, just because I think that's something that needs to be very deliberate, and now of all the times would be a little too eleventh-hour for it to make sense.
As for a third book, well, I won't close off the possibility of returning to this setting and these characters entirely, but it's certainly not within my current plans (which to be fair are really only 1-2 projects ahead). I'd say definitely don't hold your breath, but maybe someday I'll do a DLC or something. I don't pretend to know what the future's going to be like, especially not anymore.
Congrats on being so close to the end! I know you shared the potential domains for Iason, so I was wondering if you'd share the potential domains for the player character?
Sure! The player character, if involved in the Laüs subplot this time, gets two of the following domains (not all combinations are possible):
Many of these are dependent not just on the actions you choose at the time, such as where to go and how to handle things (and in what order), but also pre-existing factors like whether your magic is still bonded with your RO/PO's, or whether you took certain other options at various points in the past.
(Madness is slightly bugged right now, in that you can get it, but it isn't reflected properly in a few conversational options later on. I'm working on this and it will hopefully be fixed by the time Chapter Ten comes out.)
chapter nine was absolutely perfect omg, so emotional but also so so beautiful, im sad it's almost over 😭
also Hades this chapter OMG HE WAS EVERYTHING
I'm still at the point where I can't believe it's only a chapter and an epilogue to go! Fully just... alternating between trying to get my head around it and Not Thinking About It (tm). It's going to hit me like a truck when it actually registers though, for sure.
Like the others all have 'alternate' forms (e.g. horned Hades, aquatic Charon), the PC will at some point develop one as well, especially as they come into their own in terms of power and influence. Those little tidbits were just meant to be hints at possibilities, since the whole thing isn't covered in the scope of the game. :)
Wait the "life" domain doesn't have one because it's just strenghtening PC's original domain?
As of right now, only the options to curse or kill the attackers have this detail. I'm still deciding whether or not I want to (or even can) do something similar for the more abstract ones, like mercy or protection, especially because some of them don't actually involve any use of magic at the time at all (just, e.g., talking to someone).
Life's in that second pile for now, but this is on my list of things to go back and look at when I do edits. I also have to consider that if I give a physical manifestation to these other options, and then a PC takes one of those and also an option to curse the attackers, it happens twice, but differently, so it's a bit of a balancing act, because it's meant to be like... one small hint, and not something that's constantly happening to them when they use magic now, if that makes sense.
hi alekto anon again! That makes sense, it was just confusing I think because it’s not mentioned in the mc’s thoughts or anything either. Any chance we could get our mc to be able to ask about it or at least think about it (even just wanting to kiss her again because of the I love you’s and all)? Totally fine if no, this is your vision! Thank you for writing such a lovely story either way! Hope you have a great day!
I'll put this on my list of things to look at when I'm going through the editing process, anon. Totally legitimate feedback, and I appreciate your thoughts. :)
Really loved the update! There was so much anxiety but it was all worth it with that end scene with Hades. Turned out to be one of my favorite chapters, the if is so cozy I just want to keep hanging out with everyone ToT. Thank you so much for this if, very excited for the next chapter!
You're welcome, anon! I do feel that the Laüs stuff is by far the most tense/difficult set of scenes in the game, so I wanted to make sure players were rewarded for getting through it by some quality time with their RO/PO. It's all about balance, or something. :)
Congrats on the chapter update, I'm off to replay. Because again my saves are all broken. Sigh. Not your fault, it's hardly a chore to replay it and esp now with the fast forward options for the chapters.
Oh, also, I hope that in the final version, MC can still be a klutz more often, bc those scenes always amuse me to no end. Being (un)stealthy with Iason .. or what I would have loved was for the first talk in the tent to have Persephone stumble against a table corner or tent pole or something. And either the RO or friend with her or dear dad can perform a save?
I had this weird daydream when I re-read the scene of her being so far away with her thoughts she stood up too abruptly and conflicted with her seat and Hades, gentlemanly warps space to make sure she doesn't fall with Papa watching that nonchalant interaction between the two and going like "ah, that seems familiar, I have seen/had this look". So yeah, that's where this came from.
Thank you so much for writing and sharing and bringing my green thumb fantasies to life! I genuinely cry at some of the parent scenes, it doesn't matter how often I've read them already.
I can't believe we're close to having to say goodbye to this universe already....
It's wild how close we are to the end, isn't it?
One of the items on my editing to do list is to find at least a handful more places for all the traits to show up in the narrative (as flavor, rather than as a 'check' for an outcome). So hopefully there will be at least a few more before the game goes to publication!
I’m losing my mind over the new chapter it’s so good! I’ve been going back through and trying different options both romantically and it terms of handling the whole situation and I’ve been fully sucked in each time it’s great. I was wondering about the physical effects of… asking?? The ro for help and if I missed anything on whether they were permanent or if it’s just up to the player to headcanon? As soon as I read that there was an effect I was thrilled especially with the fact that each one was specific to the ro. Again amazing chapter as always!!
Any such physical changes are temporary in the sense that they disappear shortly after manifesting, but permanent in the sense that the PC will in the future be able to cause them again by calling on the new domain that resulted from all that, if they wish.
Like the others all have 'alternate' forms (e.g. horned Hades, aquatic Charon), the PC will at some point develop one as well, especially as they come into their own in terms of power and influence. Those little tidbits were just meant to be hints at possibilities, since the whole thing isn't covered in the scope of the game. :)
hi Jess! Chapter 9 is so intense omg!! I should have seen that coming but I totally didn’t so it was a huge emotional rollercoaster! I had a question, I’m romancing alekto and am now wondering if she’s asexual and I didn’t notice this whole time? Just bc it seemed the picnic would have been a good place to get more physical. I loooove your stories!! Thanks!!
Well, I think the romance end could be read as a sort of (very early) fade-to-black, but you're right that Alekto is certainly less physically forward than most of the others. She's not asexual, it just takes her a little longer to venture something like that.
There will be a more 'physical' scene in Chapter 10, for those inclined that way, but this game doesn't and won't contain anything like an actual explicit sex scene. Think more like emotionally-charged kissing, maybe a bit of the prelude to something explicit, then a fade-to-black.
As announced at the beginning of the month, you can now play the entirety of Blood of the Living's ninth chapter, which as it so happens is the penultimate one.
Basically, some stuff happens, and then you can have some feelings about it. Or, if that stuff doesn't happen for you, you can have feelings about other stuff that's already happened. Or both. Feel what you feel, deity of Spring. Who knows? Maybe some of the characters will give you even more things to feel some kind of way about.
I'm no good at advertising, but as always, I hope you enjoy it. :)
I had a fantastically productive month working on a very long and involved chapter. The tl;dr is: Patreon early access to Chapter Nine has begun, and public release will be on 11 June.
The slightly longer version is, this chapter ended up taking a while because of all the very long scenes in it, including several route-exclusives, one of which is a Big Conversation (tm) that covers recent plot developments, and processing what happens earlier in Chapter Nine, if you're involved with the Laüs subplot at all.
After this, there's only Chapter Ten and a hopefully-brief epilogue to go, so we're coming around to the final stretch of the game and the duology as a whole. I'm going to do my best to provide a satisfying conclusion/denouement, so I hope you'll stick around.
Have a lovely month; I'll be back with another update on 1 July, if all goes to plan.
