I have found my experience on this game to be solidly positive since I came here to try last spring, just as a changeover from a new system was taking place to add nWoD to support combat and social stats, as well as the occult elements that can be included in the story with the opening of an Academy in the city, an aspect that was in the novels that I always loved that I did not find present in some of the other games in this theme. The potential to interact with the religious aspects of the theme is a lot of fun for me, as they were my favorite part of Jacqueline Carey's novels. There are plenty of other players who seem to find this interesting as well, and so I've enjoyed engaging in discussions and rp about both the d'Angeline religion and some of its darker shades. There is even a larger plot occurring now with characters having visions and portents that has been entertaining to talk about and explore. For me most of the fun of rp on Kushiel's Debut is interacting with great writers and developing a story that plays off the theme. I use the +request system and dice to investigate and explore, and find the community friendly. 'Cliques' exist as they do on all games, people have their groups of friends as characters that they interact with, but when I see new players join I usually don't see them have a problem finding others to play with, and group scenes occur all the time with everyone around joining in to have a good time. I came in knowing almost no one last spring, and now am enjoying myself quite thoroughly.

I'll preface this by saying that despite my complaints about this game, I still have enough fun to have multiple characters running at the same time. So, while this game does have it's flaws there are still some excellent writers and roleplayers to have fun with. The game is very cliquey, however there are enough different cliques that it is quite possible to find one that fits your interests and play style well. That being said, some cliques are more hostile than others, and there is a serious problem with understanding that In character does not equal out of character. I've had arguments with a character, and then that character has proceeded to be aggressive and hostile to one of my completely non involved alts. In addition, most of the highly involved political characters, as noted by former player and cp in their reviews, are either alts of staff, or friends of staff, and they do not like it when things do not go their way. The King, in particular, has a serious problem with IC =/= OOC. Not to mention the Princess (who is the alt of a staff member) and her circle, have a habit of saying one thing out of character, and then doing the total opposite thing in character. So if one particular member of that clique ever tells you, 'don't worry, my character may be powerful, but let's still have this intense roleplay, I the player promise not to ICly fuck you over it' it's probably a lie. My recommendation for new players is to leave these individuals alone, and let them have their own roleplay. In addition, one thing that really bothers me is that courtesan characters are only seen as opportunities for cyber sex, and not for serious roleplay (again there are exceptions). And as mentioned in a previous review, there are male characters who will hound any new female character (particularly courtesans) for ts. For new players interested in playing courtesans, male or female, remember that there is nothing wrong with saying 'no' in character, no matter if the potential patron is the King or a commoner. And if a highly ranked political character tries to use their title to coerce you into sex (I bring this up specifically because you should expect it) they are actually committing heresy, according to the books. In addition, if all else fails, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying 'no' out of character. Despite it being the expectation there is no rule that says courtesan characters are required to have ts. To conclude, I completely agree with former player and CP, but as they have said, this game can be very fun if you make a sandbox for yourself and your friends, and leave others alone. While there are some toxic elements that people should not be blind to, the game can still be a lot of fun, and I recommend at least giving it a try.

I was very wary to play on this game because I had heard a lot of negative stuff about it, but eventually I gave it a try and found myself enjoying it a lot. There was always rp to be found no matter what time of the day or night and the theme was certainly easy to get into, even for such as me who hadn't read the book series. For the most part this game is social, and though there does seem to be a bit of an effort to include political intrigue, there really isn't a whole lot of it truth be told. The little there is is controlled tightly by staff and unless you're in their little circle, you'll probably not find much of that sort of rp. In all honesty, most of the game centers around romance/sex/relationships, which if you like that sort of theme then you'll have fun here. However if you are looking for politics and scheming your way to the top, this is not the game for you. A few months ago there was system change and it was after that that a lot of negativity began to manifest itself on the game. New staff came aboard and policies changed, structure changed, etc. While the new stat system certainly seemed to work, in my opinion, the choice of the new staff members and their own OOC agendas changed the game for the worse. Where it used to be a game where anyone could basically play any type of character they wanted, as long as it was in theme, suddenly policies came came out of nowhere limiting players. As an example, one of the new staff members plays the Princess. After she became staff, a limit was placed on who could be one and the those that were were not allowed to be referred to as Your Highness. In fact, that particular change made it be that the only character in the game who could be referred to as a princess was hers. Also, any tps that go on now are pretty much all revolving staff alts, and one in particular. In my opinion, it ceased to be everyone's game, and I found this one staff alt character the focal point in nearly every scene I found myself in, even if she wasn't even actually there. Over all, this theme had great potential, but unfortunately it has become a sandbox for a few select people who need to have everything revolve around them. I don't mean to sound so critical because I really did like playing there for the time I was active. I did meet and befriend quite a few people who are excellent rpers. It's just there is A LOT of OOC manipulation and gossip that goes on behind the scenes so be warned!

After recently going through a server reset and some major house cleaning, I am so excited to be both staff and player of this game. I know there have been plenty of bumps with this game and changing over of staff in the past. All of it was before my time, so I can review it honestly in the 'how is it now'? category. Based off of the books by Jacqueline Carey, we have really tried to set up a game where political intrigue is an easy thing to step into with many, many character hooks based on predefined family trees. This instantly allows you to connect with others and have political allies and enemies almost instantly. Even lesser nobles can play their parts in the high stakes games of cat and mouse. For those that shy from politics and like to play more social situations, we have a strong need for more common characters, rogues, a thief now and then and people not afraid to play bad guys to stir things up. We have more ideas than players to play them right now! If you haven't read the books, but like European renaissance style games, then just let us know you're new and we'll make sure to help you get familiar with the theme! We are super excited to see what this new game can become. --Shem