u/Hopeful-Product-7404

Its finally done!

Iron Lung The Board Game (Fan Game) is printed and finished.

To be clear, this is not official in any way, and is only a fan made (playable) piece of art.

Ever since the announcement of u/markiplier's Iron lung, I wanted to do fan art. Then, with the trailers and the eventual movie, the amount of style and artistry only exacerbated it. I am not a traditional artist by any means but one thing I can do is make board games.

I have played this game with friends, family and even taken it to GenCon to played it there. It is a fun experience, mimicking a lot of the themes and feelings from the movie as you navigate blind with hidden movement, physically marking on a map as a power hungry Leviathan hunts you down.

This is my Fan Art and love letter to Mark and his phenomenal work on the movie. Fantastic job u/markiplier and crew for making such a fun movie. I hope you see this and appreciate the hippieness and excitement you have brought into the world.

Box art prototype for Iron Lung the Board Game. More parts to come.

I have also been thinking about the lore of u/Markiplier 's Iron Lung and how it all fits. So if you don't mind be yapping, Ima yap. (its all speculative so let me know your thoughts at the end as well) (Spoilers for the Iron Lung Movie)

In our universe, matter and energy can nether be created nor destroyed. When the Quiet Rapture happened, it was assumed that all terrestrial planets and stars just vanished. If this was true, what happened to all that matter, and more importantly, what happened to all that energy. The energy and matter of "being" and "consciousness" however, is right in front of us the entire time.

Some time after the Quiet Rapture, the first blood ocean found by the Coalition Of Iron was discovered and labeled Z-8. The raw unfiltered consciousness of all living beings being snuffed created a vacuum. The blood oceans are a bleeding point of potential. Desperate for guidance and direction, it will latch onto any extreme emotion like a catalyst and crystalize itself around that idea creating a new form.

Z-8 however was approached with pure scientific curiosity. Sterile, void of feeling and emotionless to the best of all participants that dove into the blood. The destruction of SM-4 (Nicknamed - The Lemniscate) was the closest the came to any catalyzing event but it was delt with perseverance in a controlled manner and ultimately spawned a connection with the convict realization program. Even though convicts died in the ocean and some resentment still festered, the main point of any expedition into Z-8 was purely discovery. This sentiment was reflected in early submersible designs like the SM-9 that give a hopeful fighting chance to the convict participants.

Near the end of the expeditions into Z-8 and the destruction of Filament Station, there were more emotional "executions" performed, however, it was to little to late. Faced with the lack of emotional resources, the blood ocean congealed, petrified, and died out.

Enter AT-5, a bigger, healthier, point of potential ripe for any catalyst. At this point, the Convict Realization Program has been fully corrupted and with the hatred seeping from all crewmembers in recent memory of the destruction of Filament Station, the Coalition Of Iron provided the perfect strong emotional catalyst for the Blood Ocean.

Research was still conducted but it was tainted with rigged expeditions, hateful manipulation, and plenty of blood and death on the hands of the administration. This crystalized into the form of a large leviathan like creature made from the bodies of all those sacrificed in the depths of the blood ocean. Unintelligent, driven by instinct to stalk, hunt, kill, and consume. As the bodies grew, so did the leviathan, the hate and malice driving it to sabotage data, destroy submersibles and probes, and corrupt any who try to use the blood ocean as a resource.

It is no longer a resource, it is a hunting ground.

The Leviathan is not the only thing to awaken however. Every convict, machine, and tool bathed in the blood of consciousness can create its own destiny if the willpower exists. It is seen in the SM_4.2 that perseveres thew its destruction in being rebuilt and reused. In the SM-9 (Nicknamed - The Lobotomy) with convicts own hope shielding them from the maddening drum of malice in an unfixed engine vibration, and most notably in the SM-17.

The SM-17 is a burner sub of the highest degree. It was not designed to complete any successful missions and was rigged in every possible way for failure. despite this, 1 successful mission was carried out anyway. The piolets resolve, driven by pure spite, awoke the SM-17 and the piolet completed the mission in spite of every obstacle. Though he died shortly after, the consequences of those actions still linger. The future crew of the SM-17 rarely survive, but the SM-17 (Nicknamed - The Black Body) remains one of the few submersibles that returns no matter the mission.

These three tenants are the key to surviving the depths of the Leviathans layer. The Board Game takes place before the destruction of the SM-8 in the initial discovery of the deepest trench in the blood ocean. With plenty of fresh convicts from Filament Station, they send down 3 submersibles on a mission but the Leviathan is to strong at this point and still could devour all the crew.

With the successful scanning of the trench, and the official discovery of the Leviathan creature, the Coalition Of Iron sends down there most resilient submersible, the SM-8. They are not surprised at its destruction but still need the data stored on its black box.

At this time, the Leviathan has evolved, consuming the administrative minds of the scientists on board and growing into Ellie. Fully embodying the hateful manipulative murderers of the administration of the Coalition.

Enter Simon and the SM-13. A burner sub nicknamed the Iron Lung for its slightly larger O2 reserves. We see the events of the movie play out (Fantastic job u/Markiplier, love your performance) and the thing that saves him and ultimately destroys Elly. Simon never loses hope, keeping it with him at all times even when the sub is flooding and he is about to die. He perseveres thew every setback mapping out his surrounding and coming up with a plan to continue going. But most importantly, driven by spite, he continues threw being brought up and put back down into the ocean, threw the hallucinations and manipulation of Ellie, all because everyone silently said he was expendable.

"I just want to live. Is that so wrong? Why doesn't anybody else want that?" - Simon

This all culminates in the final battle. He sees the destruction of the SM-14 and the death of Ava, he knows he is at the bottom of the blood ocean in the deepest trench, and he is face to face with a pure embodiment of fear, malice, manipulation, and death.

But he perseveres, continuing on until the bitter end. He continues to hope, strapping the black box to the life jacket and to make it to the surface. But most importantly, he fights Ellie, ramming the SM-13 into her and fighting every step. Even when her teeth puncture the hull, he preservers, and keeps fighting, Hopes the black box makes it, and just to spite her, brakes her tooth in the fight!

This extreme emotion all at the bottom of the deepest part of the blood ocean spawned a new crystallization. Represented by the last tree, one final act sundered Ellie and destroyed the forming god of malice and death that was Ellie.

The future is unknown but hope still reigns.

Any way that is my head cannon for the lore.

Sorry for the long post, but let me know what you think.

Concept Art, for u/Markiplier Iron Lung as a Board Game

Sell sheet for Iron Lung the Board Game, showing off minis and cards as well as the box art concept.

Inspired by the Movie poster but my own spin on it (i know its not super original but I am not a graphic designer so cut me some slack)

Mark has also relieved a lot of the behind the scenes footage and VFX shots of the final moments so making the lore make sense was a must.

because of this, I have changed the lore a bit so now the board game takes place before the events of the Game/Movie as the first dive into the newly found AT-5 Blood Ocean.

After the new discovery of AT-5, serval scans were performed and probes sent down to no avail. With all the data that could be collected with these methods, its time for the convicts to earn their keep.

This is before the discovery of the Leviathan / Frog / Eel monster and before the destruction of the SM-8. So I hope it all fits into the Iron Lung Universe.

Also been working hard making the game better, Fixed serval issues including time, and power balance. The game now lasts a consistent 45-60 min with 4 players. there are also more powerful Iron Lung abilities to balance out the massive powers of the Leviathan all while keeping the terrifying feel of a powerful predator hunting you down.

The game is ridiculously fun and very tense full of strategy and bedrail.

If you have any thoughts or suggestion, let me know.

Concept Art, for u/Markiplier Iron Lung as a Board Game

Sell sheet for Iron Lung the Board Game, showing off minis and cards as well as the box art concept.

Mark has also relieved a lot of the behind the scenes footage and VFX shots of the final moments so making the lore make sense was a must.

because of this, I have changed the lore a bit so now the board game takes place before the events of the Game/Movie as the first dive into the newly found AT-5 Blood Ocean.

After the new discovery of AT-5, serval scans were performed and probes sent down to no avail. With all the data that could be collected with these methods, its time for the convicts to earn their keep.

This is before the discovery of the Leviathan/Frog/Eel and before the destruction of the SM-8. So I hope it all fits into the Iron Lung Universe.

Also been working hard making the game better, Fixed serval issues including time, and power balance. The game now lasts a consistent 45-60 min with 4 players. there are also more powerful Iron Lung abilities to balance out the massive powers of the Leviathan all while keeping the terrifying feel of a powerful predator hunting you down.

If you have any suggestion, let me know.