ESOTERIC EBB. Look forward to the spinoff, ESOTERIC EGG.

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{NOTE: change this to WIZARD or ROGUE depending on player choice}
Esoteric Pocket Watch. A common magic items across the Coast. Mass produced during the Coast War. Can help identify and avoid Esoteric Pockets.

What's Ebb?

ESOTERIC EBB is an isometric, Disco-like, TTRPG-turned-CRPG, featuring deep and branching dialogs with a staggering amount of choices.

You are THE CLERIC, an expert in esoteric events, and a glorified government goon. Five days until the first-ever election, a tea shop explodes in the heart of the city. They send you to deal with the mess.

The Helm. The standard-issue helmet given to every Cleric in Norvik. Extremely iconic. Terrifyingly masculine.
Rôstkort. A Voting Card. Every box is filled in. Whoever did that must be very confused.

As you take on the city with tense dice rolls, wield reality-shaping magic, and explore the streets and tunnels of a fantasy metropolis - the biggest question will of course be...

WHAT ARE YOU VOTING IN

THE ELECTION?

Please don't act like this with your actual DMs.

Political Party

The Nationalists

You're a hero. Defender of the innocent. No one knows this more than you. So you'll be voting for the old regime: The Party of Norvik. Those who held the reins since URTH's fading, through this tumultuous and straining Post-War Era.They are theocratic nationalists. An electorate of high priests and noble families rule along with seven city magistrates and palace cardinals. They carry on the will of their founding god. Nothing else.

Political Party

The Freestriders

They've liberated a dozen city states already. Each through rigorous diplomatic relations. Norvik is next. Their fleet already floats in the harbor. Their coin already pocketed by every guildmaster.They've already won. The Revolutionary Freestrider Party will always win - no matter the outcome, for their only goal is to bring democracy to every bay along the Coast. Their republican dream cannot die.

Political Party

The Azgals

They built this city. Now they want to rule it. Fair enough.These godless dwarves were exiled from their vast undersea realm. After URTH's reconquest of the troll-infested ruins, it was dwarven labor that raised it to the metropolis of today. The Azgal Worker's Party makes that point very clear.But would the dwarven social-democratic model work on the coast? Many workers believe this to be the case. However, some don't consider them quite radical enough...

Everyone Else

The City Below

Political intrigue, cut-throat businesses, and below it all? A vast, sprawling dungeon. The City Below is esoterically warped, still a hot target for adventurers, delvers, and wanna-be archaeologists- despite the High Patriarch's best attempt to board up and bureaucratize it all.While the election looms above, you will have to descend into trap-filled hallways, wrestle with mimics, and enjoy the stinging sensation of gel-cubes. All while looking for clues, witnesses, and some highly esoteric suspects involved in the tea shop explosion.

No, Cleric. You can't eat him.
Alignment is intent, nothing else. So it doesn't matter how smart you act- if you've ever thought something stupid, you *are*.

What's in Ebb?

SET-PIECE COMBAT SEQUENCES. Clerics in Norvik are taught to use violence as a last resort only, although not everyone follows the mantra so strictly. When need does arise, a roll of the dice determines life or death.

Broken Sword. A standard-issue Urthguard blade. It's shattered.
An anti-magic bronze shield from a Coast War legionnaire. It shows the combined might of Arcanists and Old Diminor warriors.

DEEP CLERIC CUSTOMIZATION. As a government employee, a helm and uniform is required of course. But no one said anything about accessories! Customize the look and abilities of your cleric as you choose how to engage the many tense encounters in Norvik.

WARP REALITY TO YOUR WHIM. As an expert in all things Esoteric, your cleric can learn any number of spells, and use them to unlock narrative choices. Control minds for fun and profit. Detect secrets in the tunnels below or in the thoughts of your enemies. Speak with anyone, living or dead, just to see how they insult you.

Greasy Instructions. Instructions for casting the spell 'Grease'. It's very slippery.

What's the Lore in Ebb?

POST-ARCANEPUNK WEIRD FANTASY. Based on Christoffer Bodegård's homebrew setting, The Esoteric Coast, Ebb takes place in a world where mythological creatures sell newspapers at corner shops and ideologies overtake the ramblings of dead gods. Set during the aftermath of a great magical war, it is a time of radical revolution - and you get to be the igniting spark.

Newspapers. There are many newspapers in Norvik. Some of them are even respectable.
Gauntlets of Ogre Power. A pair of rare magical power gloves. Ominous draconic words are written inside. Cool skulls though.

THE CITY OF NORVIK is holding its first ever election. The tension on the streets is sizzling, and somebody just blew up a tea shop. Great. Since no one else wants to touch it with a ten-foot pole, it's up to you and your goblin companion Snell to unravel the political web of intrigue and shine a light on the secrets hidden within this ancient city.

AN OPEN-ENDED QUEST. Juggle factions and make tense choices as you complete your QUESTING TREE: a quest log, skill tree, and mind map all at once. Each Quest Branch can take root in your mind and alter The Cleric’s playstyle through game-changing feats. But beware, your choices will have lasting consequences on the city and its populace...

Mind Expansion. One of many potions to be found in Norvik. These are often used by students to temporarily increase their ability to take in knowledge. This one's cooked in Reeds, by one of the more popular Mega-Covens.
Mind Expansion. One of many potions to be found in Norvik. These are often used by students to temporarily increase their ability to take in knowledge. This one's cooked in Reeds, by one of the more popular Mega-Covens.

Want to learn more? The ESOTERIC COAST is a quickly growing world in which I've got all kinds of cool stuff planned. For now, you can read more in the devlog section - but make sure to also follow me and my collaborators for more information in the future.
-Christoffer Bodegård

Esoteric Ebb, Vol. 1
(Original Soundtrack)

24 tracks composed, produced and mixed by Anders Bach, Brian Batz and Kristian Paulsen.

Mastered by Angel Marcloid at Angel Hair Audio

Released by The Big Oil Recording Company

Vol. 1

1. Endless Ebb
2. Waking Morgue
3. Norvik
4. Peril
5. Comrades
6. Dear Snell
7. At The Throne
8. This Halo Glows
9. Merchants
10. Night on Tolstad
11. Questions Need Answering
12. Waterlane
13. Dank Bodies, Mooring Visage
14. Light of Brr
15. The Cabin
16. Shwmae, Dyn Metel Rhyfedd!
17. Roots
18. A Specter, A Trifler
19. Entering the Pillar
20. The Missing Paladin (feat. Sleep Party People)
21. Chosen of Urth (feat. Seiðr)
22. Voids of Resolution
23. Days of Jor (feat. MØ & GNOM)
24. An Esoteric Ebb

Ask Chris

From the official Discord

Ask Chris

On the official Discord, I've had a thread open for a long time - it's called ASK-CHRIS. Since it's now filled with a literal TROVE of lore-related Questions and Answers, I decided to hoard it all up in place where everyone can check it out. Right here on the website. Check it out!

FAQ

Over the years I've received a number of questions regarding Esoteric Ebb on the Discord server, via email, in DMs, and so on. I've collected these into an FAQ available here.

Wiki

A fan-made wiki site containing a very detailed overview of the development history. Check it out here.

Devlogs

From 2023 to 2026 I put together a series of writeups I called 'An Esoteric Campaign'. I started writing these, if I'm being fully honest, only in order to give some life to the Steam page. To just prove that the project was still alive, during those longs months of slog-dogging development.But the response to them has been universally positive. Which is lucky. If I'm making a game mainly composed by words, then I should probably be able to create a handful of decently entertaining blog posts as well. Otherwise I'd be in big trouble.

An Esoteric Campaign

Loot

What else do you need?

An Esoteric Campaign

World Building

Only high INT players will have the BRAINS capable of reading this much unnecessary lore.

An Esoteric Campaign

Art of Ebb

"Artwork? In my text adventure/interactive fiction? I don't think that's allowed."

An Esoteric Campaign

Dialog Design

Christoffer Bodegård is a wise game developer who takes on reasonable tasks, and does not aspire to any foolish ambitions of greatness.

An Esoteric Campaign

Writing

"Writing about writing about writing."

An Esoteric Campaign

Spellcasting

"MAGIC MISSILE! MAGIC MISSILE! MAGIC MISSILE!"

An Esoteric Campaign

Alignment

"My character is lawful neutral. But you know. In a chaotic way."

An Esoteric Campaign

Questing Tree

"If only quests grew on trees."

An Esoteric Campaign

Ability Scores

A dev blog about the ability score design in Esoteric Ebb, alongside a discussion of narrative tone and gameplay benefits. (The first one had to be serious.)

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