fascinating parts from this brennan interview about downfall
downfall was recorded in one week and brennan described it as "one of the most intense roleplaying experiences [he's] ever had"
if avalir was showcasing the age of arcanum, downfall will showcase the actual calamity
even though avalir and aeor seem similar on paper, brennan says the stories could NOT be more different. the themes, player motivations/briefings, and genres are completely unique
downfall embraces the nuance and complexity (moral and otherwise) of the gods and digs into the idea that the gods "called a truce" to fell aeor and what that actually means
brennan says aeor actually has a large population of refugees from the calamity by the time downfall takes place. however, they didnt have a large impact on the city's architecture and so by the modern era their cultures and presence in aeor (and wider exandria) have been almost entirely lost
overall downfall seems to focus on the ways that small errors in history can change a lot
brennan describes his experience with dm'ing in exandria as "going into a sandbox and creating the toys you're gonna to play with there"
the population of aeor is "demographically meaningfully different from who was living in aeor at the height of the age of arcanum," according to brennan. basically, not every aeorian will have bolo's accent (sad)
aeormatons will be in downfall in some way
setting, plot, and character backstories were worked on in tandem
on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of tragedy, brennan said downfall would need an entirely new axis. there is a "different kind of horror" in downfall, something that is distinct from "xenomorph chasing you horror"
brennan said "there are moments in downfall where i could feel my stomach wanting to drop out of my body"