PREGAMING

YES, YOUR GRACE’s wild pre-release Discord roleplay server

- Lauren Morton

It’s an auspicious day in Atana. Members of the gentry have gathered in their finest with the kingdom of Davern to witness the wedding between their two princes. As the officiant, Queen Soproxi of Atana bursts dramatically into the room only fashionably late to the festivities. “GOOD MORNING RICH MEMBERS OF ATANA!” She yells. “AND BEAUTIFUL WAR-TORN DAVES!”

The queen’s bold entrance is met with dozens of reactions from the crowd in the form of Discord emoticons beneath her all-caps messages. There are nearly 50 of us sitting silently in a voice chat room called ‘the-wedding’ listening to a bot called ‘Rythm’ provide the sounds of a lute-playing bard. An unknown number more are spectating the ceremony unfold in several text channels. These are my first confusing but intriguing moments in the official Discord server for Brave At Night’s upcoming kingdom management game Yes, Your Grace.

DUNGEONS & DISCORDS

The important roles of the kings, queens, and princes are all played by community-elected members. Mike Rose, company director of Yes, Your Grace’s publisher No More Robots, says the first few weeks were spent letting members get to know one another and choosing a kingdom to join. After that, Rose says he encouraged folks to start choosing ‘parts’ to play. “I didn’t realize at the time what I was doing,” Rose says.

“I essentially turned the Discord server into a D&D session. Just a really, really long one.”