Small Fires

dev blog for Small Fires | interactive fanfic wip | play here! | main @medowlarken

[smallfires-if]

updated July 13, 2026

Play Here! | Updates | FAQ | Ko-Fi

Small Fires is a 17+ text-based interactive fanfiction set in the world of Dragon Age.

Read the full intro post here.

Background Origins

Read the overview post here.

Dhalis - Child of the Alienage (x)

Dovely - Child of Rebellion (x)

Dane - Child of the Circle (x)

Delacroix - Child of Nobility (x)

Companions

Read the overview post here.

Simon West - the Recruit (x)

Anasha of White-Deer Hold - the Augur (x)

Matthieu Lièvre - the Scholar (x)

Asi the Ironfist - the Smuggler (x)

Arden Silahan'nin - the Hunter (x)

Spoiler Tags

demo spoilers

prologue spoilers

Other Tags

your asks

typos

other IFs

dividers by @uzmacchiato

[shepherdsofhaven]

I happened to see a new open-source text-based interactive fiction engine on Reddit, in case anyone is interested! It seems ideal for anyone wanting to make Disco Elysium-style text-based games and looks very stylish as well as easy to learn! 👀

https://www.reddit.com/r/interactivefiction/comments/1u2xha0/andstar_plain_text_engine_for_disco_elysiumstyle/

andstar

a game engine for branching dialogue with RPG elements. write in plain text, play in the browser, share with a link.

[smallfires-if]

I now have a Ko-Fi!

As a fan project, Small Fires will always be free to play and never feature paywall-locked content. However, if you do want to show your support for my work--for Small Fires, A Nose So Red and Cold, or anything else--you can buy me a coffee over on Ko-Fi! Donations are never expected, but always greatly appreciated.

Follow the link ⤷ hereˎˊ˗

[smallfires-if]

I now have a Ko-Fi!

As a fan project, Small Fires will always be free to play and never feature paywall-locked content. However, if you do want to show your support for my work--for Small Fires, A Nose So Red and Cold, or anything else--you can buy me a coffee over on Ko-Fi! Donations are never expected, but always greatly appreciated.

Follow the link ⤷ hereˎˊ˗

[smallfires-if]

Rolan's scary

He's literally nice wdym.

[smallfires-if]

update 07.09.2026

Happy July! I hope everyone is staying cool through these insane global temperatures.

The first draft of Chapter 1 is now sitting at ~34k words, which puts us a little over the halfway mark! I anticipate the whole chapter to be about 50k-60k in total, not including the code.

Here's a snippet:

what a cad

And a belated thank you to everyone who gave feedback on the last Story Log update! Not only is it a fun way to show off game choices, but I think it'll be helpful when recalling past events in future chapters--we're starting to get into the meat of the main story, and there's a lot going on.

[smallfires-if]

Orathe is kind of dreamy. You’ve made a really interesting character. Do you have any information you could share on him that wouldn’t be a spoiler or revealed in game?

Hmm, I already talked a bit about his and Rolan's relationship over on my main blog, but as far as new info...

His family is originally from the Marcher city-state of Hercinia! His grandfather moved the family to Ferelden after a huge scandal involving his wife, the Umber ancestral signet, and a dashing lady pirate from the island of Estwatch. They don't talk about it.

[smallfires-if]

hi! iim sorry but is there a reason why mc always has ivory skin?? i assumed it was bc i had my first mc with fair hair but the next one had black coily hair and was still pale 😔

Hi! It sounds like you're just missing the skin tone cycle choice--it's the first one that comes up in the Prologue:

And even if you miss it the first time, you're able to edit your MC's entire appearance, including skin tone, before finalizing your character. Click on "No, let me choose again." when prompted on the confirmation screen:

The skin tone options are ivory, light, rosy, copper, tawny, olive, deep russet, and ebony. Hair color/texture has no bearing on skin color or vice versa.

[queen-scribbles]

Though all before me is shadow, Yet shall the Maker be my guide. ~Trials 5:1 ---

Official portrait for my @smallfires-if MC Juliena Delacroix, courtesy of the always amazing @commander-sarahs-art

[magicvicky2]

I’ve played the @smallfires-if prologue not so long ago and I’ve enjoyed a lot… So here’s my Knight Corporal Dovely and her BFF Simon UvU

[smallfires-if]

Hi, sorry to bother you but I noticed something that might be a small bug in the prologue- I chose to tell Keenan the truth about Saga, but my story log shows that I lied to him that she is dead. Not a huge deal, but I thought I’d mention. Everything else in the story log seems accurate!

Thank you for your work on this really wonderful game. I look forward to more immensely lol

Ah yeah, looks like the choice flags were just switched around. An easy fix--it should be correct now!

[smallfires-if]

update 06.24.2026

The first draft of Chapter 1 is now sitting at ~28k words in total! We're getting there, slowly but surely.

Here's a snippet:

some banter

Also, I'm pleased to announce an update to the current Prologue build now available on itch.io! You can now track major story events and MC choices in the Story Log, which is available in the sidebar menu:

peep those chapter titles

However, please note that any old saves (pre v2.1.4 update) will be missing an entry. Specifically, the choice in passage 'hunt 4' when the MC is faced with some uncooperative civilians. I had to add a few new passages in order for the Log to work correctly, and this is the unfortunate side effect of that.

old v2.0.3 save

new v2.1.4 save

It's purely cosmetic and won't have any effect on your game, but if it bothers you, you'll have to reload an old pre-'hunt 4' passage save and replay from there.

But besides that, please let me know if you encounter any typos or bugs!

[lyraeluxstudios]

Your story in Arkavala begins here, dear Nursrava

Thank you for all your patience, love and support! You can now play the prologue for The Starweaver's Dream on itch.io!

Play here.

for notice: @interact-if | @if-news-again

[smallfires-if]

ASK GAME

Tagged by @ri-writes-if!! Thanks!

1. What was your first favorite book?

I was OBSESSED with the Maximum Ride series when I was in middle school.

2. What is your current favorite book?

Ahh I don't have a one true fave, but I recently finished The Raven Scholar and really liked it! A top 10 book for sure.

3. What genre is your favorite, reading or writing?

Fantasy/sci-fi, but especially low fantasy/sci-fi. I'm also a big fan of genre blending when it's done well.

4. Favorite trope?

I love a good bittersweet ending.

5. If you could, what world building or story would you love to have written yourself?

I'm playing through the game The Outer Wilds right now and I want to kiss all its writers on the mouth.

6. Your favorite line (or three) that you've written?

As if I can recall anything I've ever written 🤡.

7. Favorite medium to experience a story? (Book, IF, video game, movie, etc)

Either books or 'walking simulator'/puzzle video games (The Outer Wilds, What Remains of Edith Finch, etc). IFs too of course, but sometimes I have trouble reading text off a screen for long periods of time.

8. Favorite character versus your favorite character to write: who would win?

Again, I don't really have favorites, but out of the recent ones... Simon SmallFires vs Jax DigitalCircus 😐. No winners. They would eat each other.

9. What story keeps inspiring you to keep writing?

Obviously Dragon Age lol. But I think interacting with the community here on Tumblr is what keeps me motivated more than anything else!

10. Random fun fact about you, your writing, your interests

I didn't start writing as a consistent hobby until my mid-20s! Before then I was a prolific daydreamer but never actually wrote any of it down. I've also only ever played DAO completely through one time... in 2020.

I don't know who's already done this ask game, so I'll keep the tags open for anyone who wants to give it a shot!

[sekhmetswrath-if]

Definitely check out:

Cantata by @fir-fireweed

God Cursed by @wings-of-ink

@when-life-gives-you-lemons-if all of CC's stories are great

Small Fires by @smallfires-if

Warm Me Up by @naturalecho

Bloodlines by @bloodlines-if

@rotting-ink has a few ifs

Softly Opulent by @softlyopulent-if

Sentience by @sentience-if

@spoiledblogif finished their first book for The Second Sight and the first few chapters for the second are out.

The Lonely Shore by @thelonelyshore-if

All That Glitters by @allthatglitters-game

Drink Your Villain Juice by @drinkyourvillainjuice

The Lost Bride by @thelostbride-if

The Mark of the Devil by @mkbramble-if

God Syndicate by @god-syndicate-if

Deux à Deux by @deuxadeux-if

Villain Intern by @villainintern

Weeping Gods by @jcollinswrites

Phantom Thief: Money's for Fools - on cogdemos

Autumn Winds - on cogdemos but is getting moved to twine

Season of Shadows - on cogdemos

I for sure missed some but these I believe all came out in the last 2 years.

Also DashingDon is closed so check out cogdemos.ink for choicescript games

thank you so much for the recs!! you’re amazing <33

some of these i’m already following, but some are totally new to me so i’m excited to check them out!

[albaharu]

Inquisitor Maddox Masterpost

Also on AO3 • And on Tapas

Update weekly every Monday!

Comic of an Inquisition retelling AU where Maddox (Samson's Blacksmith with 1 min of screentime in canon) is the inquisitor, mainly because I want to explore more of the cure of tranquility and tranquility in general. And also cause I love Maddox and Samson.

Chapters

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Part 6 • Part 7 • Part 8 • Part 9 • Part 10 • Part 11 • Part 12 • Part 13 • Part 14 • Part 15 • Part 16 • Part 17 • Part 18 • Part 19 • Part 20 • Part 21 • Part 22 • Part 23 • Part 24 • Part 25 • Part 26 • Part 27 • Part 28 • Part 29 • Part 30 • Part 31 • Part 32 • Part 33 • Part 34 • Part 35 • Part 36 • Part 37 • Part 38 • Part 39 • Part 40 • Part 41 • Part 42 • Part 43 • Part 44 • Part 45 • Part 46 • Part 47 • Part 48 • Part 49 • Part 50

Part 51 • Part 52 • Part 53 • Part 54 • Part 55 • Part 56 • Part 57 • Part 58 • Part 59 • Part 60 • Part 61 • Part 62 • Part 63 • Part 64 • Part 65 • Part 66 • Part 67 • Part 68 • Part 69 • Part 70 • Part 71 • Part 72 • Part 73 • Part 74 • Part 75 • Part 76 • Part 77 • Part 78 • Part 79 • Part 80 • Part 81 • Part 82 • NEXT CHAPTERS HERE >>

Shout out to daitranscrips checking the blog helped me so much to do this

Extras: (Here the full tag)

People who have draw Maddox (or related) for my AU i love u: (here the full tag)

[1966-if]

UPDATE!

PLAY THE DEMO HERE!

WIP 344k words (UPDATE 20/6/26 +100k words) Update 2: 20/06/26 +100k words Update 1: 1/09/25 +84k words Update 2 includes:

> learn Roulet's secret > visit the Dreamlands > hang out with your faction > learn your host's dark past > get revenge > go insane > solve a case > torture some humans > kill some humans > get a human pet > let your ghoul have a bite of you > call the mystery number in the Lonely Hearts column > solve a crossword > kiss your ROs (all) > do questionable things with eldritch horrors (in bed)

In the 'detective' path, you need an image to solve a puzzle. I've never added images before, so please tell me if it works for you! (also, sorry it looks so ugly, I made it in paint)

Please send me any errors or mistakes you notice! Especially if you find them in the code!

And please let me know if any text is repeated, if it mentions choices you haven’t made or made differently, or if it jumps in a way that doesn’t make sense!

Thank you!