MIRIN SCASSELLATI
Designer, Maker, Student
Resurrection Game Highlights
These games represent hundreds of hours of work and a wide variety of skills to create. Here are some of my favorite pieces from the three different games we've run thus far. Click on any header to read/see more!
Want to read more about the games themselves? Find more information here:
I love creating worlds that are interesting and unique, but still feel familiar. The world of the Crossroads Kingdom is a kingdom built in the space between spaces, where portals connect to all sorts of different realms with their own leaders and politics. The only way people get to the Crossroads is by being banished from their home realm--a land full of criminals and their children, bound together by a leader who promises them Redemption and a chance at a new life.
In the second session of Revelation, the characters found themself stuck inside a time loop, in a house trapped by a maniacal killer. Each trap was a different sort of puzzle, and the time loop meant that our players could try--and die--without consequence. I love the variety of puzzle types we came up with for this game: a little bit of something for everyone!
I write a couple different types of mystery, mostly defined by scale. On the episodic level, I'm particularly proud of our Snow White mystery--an abandoned house full of clues let the players uncover the mystery of the mysterious mission they'd been sent on in the course of an hour or two. These mysteries are nice because of their self containment--everything is revealed by the end, one way or another. At the same time, writing larger mysteries can be a lot of fun, too! For Redemption, each player had a mystery tied to their character's story--like the mysterious town of Bottling--and learned pieces of the truth throughout their other adventures.
In all of our games, each player has their own system for using magic. We find it adds interesting flavor and dimension to a story-based RPG. Here I walk through two of my favorite systems we've created: Melody, the siren who became less human the more she used her powers, and Theodore, the reanimated French knight with a strict code of conduct.
Nothing sells a game like a fun map, letter, or a character's business card! Especially in games played over zoom, adding a touch of physicality to a mostly-made-of-words world is one of my favorite ways to make the world feel more realized, to drop clues in a more subtle yet memorable way, and just to impress!
While most of the storytelling happens verbally, I also have a background in creative writing. This story, The Lore of the Thief, was one of the first things we sent our Redemption players. Not only did it help to establish the world and style of the game, it also ended up being relevant as the players explore more about the mystery of King Lucius and where his memories had gone.
Communication, Collaboration, Organization--It takes more than creativity to run a game. In addition to a lot fo the creative work for the game, I'm the primary GM for all of the scheduling, communication, and episode organization for the games. We create outlines for each episode that allow us a reminder of all the necessary items to incorporate while still leaving the freedom to adapt to the player's actions. In addition to that, there are always emails to be sent, scheduling to organize, and other logistics needed in order to make these games work.