Title: The Reading Room is Open: Arcanum (Demo) is Now Available!

Hello Itch.io,

I'm thrilled to announce that my new game, Arcanum: A Digital Cartomancer's Tale, is now available to play, free in your browser.

This project has been a whirlwind of development. I built this game and its entire custom engine, Bardic, from scratch in just over five weeks. I'm so excited to finally open the door to the reader's desk and invite you in.

What is Arcanum?

It all starts with a package:

A worn leather client book, a voicemail inbox full of messages from strangers, and a letter from "M. Thorne," a tarot reader you've never met. No explanation. Just: "They're yours now, if you want them."

Arcanum is a literary, character-driven game about becoming a professional tarot reader in a "quietly weird," not-quite-Seattle. Your job isn't to save the world; it's to read cards for clients, each with their own deep, branching, multi-session arcs. Your interpretations matter. Your guidance will change their lives—for better or worse.

What's in this Initial Release?

This is a massive demo, featuring the complete, 3-session arcs for the first two clients from the game:

• Margaret Chen: A quiet, grounded, and emotionally heavy story. You'll guide a widow navigating profound grief, cultural expectations, family obligation, and the challenge of finding a new identity after 40 years.
• Nyx: A high-concept, genre-bending thriller. You'll guide a techno-shaman through corporate espionage, spiritual warfare, and a reality-bending heist—all from the "safety" of your reading room (and your dreams). 

This release contains the full 84,000-word narrative for both clients, including all their branching endings. A single, complete playthrough (Prologue + one client's full arc) should take you about 2 to 2.5 hours.

A Note for Developers (The "How")

I didn't just build Arcanum. I built it with Bardic, a brand new, Python-first interactive fiction engine I wrote from scratch specifically for this game.

Bardic is for writers who love Python and developers who love narrative. It lets you import your own Python classes (Card, Client), use real lists and dicts as state, and manage complex, data-driven stories without the headache.

Arcanum is the flagship demo. It's running on the exact same tech you can download and use yourself. If you're a developer, I invite you to play the game and then check out the main Itch.io page for a link to the pip install and the full (open-source) documentation!

What's Next?

M. Thorne's client book is long. There are more names... and many more dreams.

The game is free and playable in your browser right now.

I'd be deeply honored if you'd play it. And if you're a fellow developer, I'd love to see what you build.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy your time at the Reader's Desk.

- Kate