Mantle: Mask On

Please direct bug reports to the CoG Forum (link in pinned post). Thank you <3

[jjdove]

Game Link for Mantle: Mask On

Mantle: Mask On

In New Cronaca’s city streets and back alleys, where corruption and ugly hearts fester and scramble over one another for the prize of innocents’ lives and well-being, in a city where the police prove impotent and private armies pick up the slack, where vice starts to rust minds so deeply that such struggles seem as life should always be. In this city, where life turns a blind eye to death, a vigilante is born.

Naturally, this responsibility falls to you.

Balance two identities as you embark on the journey of becoming an adult whilst spending your free time plunging your fists into the murky waters of New Cronaca’s underworld—where the ripples always seem to come back to you.

Play as male, female, or non-binary. Options to be straight, gay or bi-pan.

Choose your defining attribute and feel it influence your role as a vigilante and all the everydays in between. Are you brain or brawn? The thinker or the bruiser?

Experience a cast of characters from all over the city, control how you interact with them and shape your personality in the process.

Separate your identities. Do you smile behind the mask and frown without it? What top will you wear to work? And, when you fight crime, do you subscribe to the idea of a cape?

Build the beginnings of deep romantic or platonic relationships with four featured characters throughout the story: a socially anxious delivery driver working for the local café, your privileged and haughty co-worker, or a police officer knee deep in their work, and, of course, your best friend.

Wrestle with choice and consequence as you define not only only the story, but also the world’s first meaning of the word hero.

You’ve been burdened by this mask for so long; it’s about time you put it on.

--

Link to the Choice of Games Forum post:

(Feedback welcome!)

[WIP] Mantle: Mask on (Character-driven superhero story) [155,000+ words]

In New Cronaca’s city streets and back alleys, where corruption and ugly hearts fester and scramble over one another for the prize of innoce

[jjdove]

So can we tame the redhead brat?

With manners, perhaps.

[jjdove]

Then who are Gwen and Felicia?

For context: Spider-Man characters and who of the Mantle cast represents them.

Oh, tangent, but I really wanted to do a Catwoman/Black Cat type RO, but I just didn’t have the room!

Maybe in future books? ;) haha.

So, there isn’t really a 1:1 for that archetype—but I suppose Lee would actually work in that slot. That kind of cat-and-mouse, playful unlikely ally vibe.

For the second one, I confess, I don’t actually know much about Gwen other than Emma Stone being hot.

Oh, but she’s famous for dying, right?

In that case, I think the Mantle character most like her is—

[jjdove]

Which of the characters receive hugs the best?

All guesswork, obviously; it’ll be up to you to find out ;)

Foster: Teddy-bear-like. Especially from H. You won’t hear them complain.

Redfern: You will hear them complain.

Lee: I’m not sure if hugs are really of interest to them, if they’re on the receiving end. Like, I think if they required comfort or intimacy, then they’d prefer conversation or a gesture more personal or unique.

They’d see a hug as basic or perfunctory.

Cass: Taken by surprise—but, no, don’t let go.

[jjdove]

Y'know on the matter of parenting, H would probably suck at it and be an absent parent due to having the great power and great responsibility of being a superhero.

Or maybe they could take the kid out to watch crime fighting on a baby carrier. For female H the kid could get a headstart with a heavily pregnant H out there fighting crime like that one spiderverse motorbike lady

True on your first point—although, I think H has still yet to even master the “great responsibility” part of their life, lol.

As for your second point, it’s funny you should mention that…

[jjdove]

If Redfern knew how we spoke (and thirsted, and wished to impregnate-) about them, how would they react? 🎤

Blocked.

[jjdove]

I was the anon begging to be crushed by our favorite police deputy (lovingly). And I had to move and haven't checked this blog in like... four or five days? but Are your anons okay? Like I thought *I* was being a bit much. But uh. *scratching head*

Kinda concerned over here.

Talking about the previous Redfern/pregnancy saga, right?

Well, firstly (if any lawyers are listening) I don’t take ownership for all these horny people! I’m sure I’m not the only IF blog that they go to with these kind of asks, haha.

But, secondly—and more seriously—I think it’s ultimately fine. So long as people respect when the boundaries are put down, then it’s not a problem.

Like, I don’t want this to be a 24/7 spicy-ask blog, but, I get it: there’s a bit of a content drought at the moment, in terms of supplying actual discussion, lmao.

[jjdove]

Mantle Monthly [June 2026]

❤️🧡🤍🩷💜

Getting to sunmer already?? Has anyone checked if time is actually speeding up, like, should we be worried about that, or…?

Anyway—I have been working my dove tail off lately, phew. I wanted to get to a certain point by the end of May, and I got there—but, god damn, am I glad to give myself a little weekend now, lol.

I tell you, whoever decided that sitting down and reading through your own work should be so tortuous, I’d like to have some words. And I’d also like someone else to edit those words for me.

An aside before we get into the meat—and I should’ve said this in my last post about it—but welcome to all the new followers from the recent shoutout posts that went around! I hope you’re all enjoying the story! 🤍

Welcome to your first Mantle Monthly—they’re mostly a big waffle sesh—but you might kill a minute or so if you stick around, so there’s that.

Oh, and it does tell you how the story’s getting on, I guess.

Related Life Stuff:

A couple of things that’ve helped me with the workload recently:

Firstly, getting it off my chest that there was in fact a workload. I had a little struggle with overburdening myself in May, feeling disappointed with how long this final editing stage is taking—but, putting a post out about it on here helped me calm down a bit. To be honest and get lovely encouragement back was refreshingly reassuring :)

And, the second thing…

I’ve managed to scrounge up enough to buy myself an actual desk for writing! Previously having been sitting on my bed. Which, you know, isn’t the most conducive environment to getting work done.

Also, having where I work and where I sleep being the same place was actually starting to get a bit exhausting, lol.

I don’t have the biggest place, but I managed to squeeze in a desk and stick down an office chair—and we’re in business.

I’m sitting at it right now, doing that thing where you spin back and forth on the chair’s rotation because you’re a simple human and little things amuse you endlessly.

Money well spent.

How the work’s getting on:

I started the current scene with it at about 38k words, and through the painstaking, trimming process of editing, I’ve managed to get it down to about…43k.

If you can’t tell, there’s a few instances of branching in this one, lol.

It’s funny, I remember being frustrated at the time that it took me the best part of a month to originally write this specific scene. I thought it was a roadblock of laziness. But I think I’ll cut myself a bit of slack now, lol.

That being said—I really like how the scene’s come out. There’s a lot of plot threaded through it, along with some narrative hints and interesting character work. I think some deep branching was what it deserves, to be honest.

And—the scene has now gone through a full edit! Which means we’re now at 8/11 scenes fully checked in total.

As I said at the top of the post, I’m in a much better flow now with the work, so I’m hoping to get through the best part of the remaining editing by the end of this month, at the least.

Obviously, super excited to get it out to you.

I’m proud of how the scene plan for the book is holding up, just as a whole, too. I think the story’s coming out better than I even planned for :)

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t already started throwing down a few inspired notes for the chapter after this update, haha…

Some teasing before I go:

A couple of decently-long RO one-on-ones in this update. I’ve just finished up Cass’—I actually had to completely rewrite a good few portions of this one—but, I’m super happy with the new stuff I’ve put in!

Writing Cass and H has been somewhat frustrating up to this point, because, by their nature, Cass makes it hard to have an engaging social interaction, lmao. This scene, however, I think is the turning point, where they’re properly starting to warm up!

As for the others: we’ll get to see some more hints of what makes Redfern tick, and both Foster and Lee have some interesting new inclusions to the narrative.

Lmao, that feels so vague when I’m typing it—but, trust me, there’s at least something interesting pictured in my mind, lol.

Anyway—Mantle Monthly over. Not so bad, right? Hopefully I wasted your time well :)

Let me know: do you have my waffles for breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

See you in the asks, and happy pride to all my queer souls and allies, mwah x

🤍🕊️

[jjdove]

I love watching The Redfern Obsession from your inbox. All brat characters are automatically sibling coded to me, so I'm just here eating popcorn and wishing I could torment them with all this forbidden knowledge I have. 😆

Condolences if you have a sibling like Redfern, lol.

Although—they’re rich. So, plus-side, maybe?

And yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if 75% of the asks I get through are to do with Redfern in some way or another. Not that I’m complaining! I just hope that, after future updates, we’ll see the love shared a little bit, haha.

[jjdove]

I saw that someone said that Redfern is MJ so who is gonna be our J. Jonah Jason?

We haven’t met them yet ;)

Also, I like how you didn’t ask “who’s Gwen” or “who’s Harry Osbourne” — you recognised that JJ is indeed one of Spider-Man’s closest relations, haha.

[jjdove]

Wonder how the redferns would act if mc kids with T doesn't inherit the red hair

See me.

In the same month, no less!

I’m worried we might be getting trapped in a time-loop of Redfern and starting a family…

[jjdove]

The question is how Redfern is going to name our firstborn ...

I think they’d name them after H, actually.

“Idiot”

“Stupid”, perhaps?

“Not-Now-H-Go Away”

“No-Come-Back-And-Shut-Up”

Obviously these are just a few ideas off the top of my head, there might be some tweaks needed here and there in the future.

[jjdove]

How about I give you one of these 💸 And another scenario question right here on your lap as well please.

One day, the Ro’s are going about their normal routine when a portal from the future suddenly opens in front of them. A young person 15 - 30 steps out in a panic. They either look like a mix of the Ro’s and H or carry a very specific object that belongs to them.

They rush forward, grabbing the Ro’s and blurting out,

“Mom/Dad/parent/ adoptive parent ! Please ! I keep messing up the timeline, and I need your help. H is going to become a villain and it ends in utter destruction, I can’t stop it on my own I need your help!”

I got this from another blog and dbz

I must say, I don’t accept bribery, Anon.

Save it up for when I open the Patreon, instead. How else are you gonna pay for the daily Redfern spicy scene?

Being more serious, though: as much as I’d love to answer this, it is pretty open-ended as far as scenarios go. Like, I’d have to grab a pencil and paper and start story-boarding, lol.

Also, I really try not to give too much away about the characters beyond the currently-released story which isn’t idle fact. Sorry!

Have your money back—and something extra because I feel bad! 🤍

💵💵

[jjdove]

So...Cass doesn't want kids but also does want kids? Now I'm a little confused on whether or not to pursue them with my H later (they were my first choice since the narrative and Foster seemed pretty heavily pushing H towards Cass until Redfern showed up and the playerbase sans myself collectively lost their minds)

You see, my H really wants kids and considers not wanting them to be a dealbreaker so if at some point this comes up in the story, organically leaving the Cass route with an amicable breakup would be interesting.

There's also the fact that the only RO 100% onboard with kids is Foster and them and MC seem to be too immersed in the friendzone to ever even think of starting a family tigether (except maybe adopting kids in.a "platonic uncle(s)/aunt(s)" kinda way)

Which does make me curious, would H count as the righr person for Foster to start a family with if their feelings ever DO grow beyond friendship? (a tall order since the friendship has lasted so long wothout any changes)

I think I can answer all of your questions by saying that, even if I make a post about the ROs now, the points won’t necessarily be true later in the story.

I wouldn’t write off things and I wouldn’t take them for granted, either.

Go with the flow, basically.

Also, I like that you headcanon H as wanting kids. I think that’s a sweet little hope for them to have, especially in spite of the rest of their life not really accommodating for such a want.

I like to think it could be an idyllic daydream they often have.

Also also—brave of you to take a stand against the Redfern fanclub, lol.

[jjdove]

I jusT KNOWWW that redfern has (or had if parents got rid of them) a comic collection somewhere and that being near an actual superhero gets them giddy as hell

Just sounds like wishful daydreaming from H to me.

[jjdove]

Which of the ROs would/wouldn't want kids? Who'd make the best/worst parent?

Foster would make a great parent, obviously; kindness and care are their prevailing attributes. In fact, they even used to take babysitting gigs over the summer holidays when they were a bit younger—so they’ve got the experience, too.

They were the cool babysitter that you wished was actually your older sibling.

When it comes to their want…I think they’d say yes in a heartbeat.

But—not before a slight frown. When they’d then admit they’d need to find the right person first.

I think Lee would make a good parent. I mean, they’ve got the air of authority, though they’re not particularly strict. They’ve got a lot of patience, and a lot of accrued life-lessons to dole out as well. And I think they’d enjoy the challenge too.

But there’s another but: I can’t see them wanting to give up work, to take the time away to raise a kid. Which is a bit of a roadblock.

Also, just for fem Lee, but she definitely wouldn’t want the stress of pregnancy on her body, lol.

Redfern. I mean, we’ve been talking a lot about Redfern and pregnancy lately, lol. Ironically, they’re probably our least likely candidate for wanting a family.

Family’s kind of a sensitive subject for them. When yours is world-famous, it certainly gets brought up enough to become an annoyance.

As it stands, such a spiteful disposition wouldn’t lend to the best parenting, anyway. So it’s probably for the best they abstain from the idea.

They have a hard enough time just putting up with Robin—and she’s someone else’s problem most of the time.

Cass is an interesting case. In that, I don’t think they’d want kids…but, if the responsibility were somehow thrust upon them, they wouldn’t hold the kid in contempt. They’d do everything they could to care for them.

They’re someone with a very strong devotion, despite the lack of confidence they sometimes have in its worth.

They might not realise they want a family.

Anyway—I think I’m waffling about character traits that have yet to be properly revealed, lol.

It’s not the end of the world, right? I kind of fret about “spoilers” and skipping ahead of the book in terms of revealing things—but then I figure, if you guys are following me here, then you probably don’t mind getting a few little extra tidbits, do you? ;)

[jjdove]

A lot of people here want to impregnate the bratty sub that is Redfern. Meanwhile my H is over here meshing with Foster so well but neither even realizing everybody who knows them is looking at them like 'relationship goals'. Mutual friends and their families are taking bets on who notices their feelings first and if it will happen within the year.

I take my best friends to lovers slow burn with a side of stupid to my own feelings very seriously.

Don’t have to worry about getting someone pregnant if you’re oblivious to sexual tension.

*taps head with sage-like wisdom*