MIRIN SCASSELLATI
Designer, Maker, Student
Revelation
(Summer 2021)
The Setting: Film noir 1920s Urban City with Fantasy Creatures
The Premise: A supernatural detective agency attempts to
uncover a thousand-year-old crime.
The Format: 4 "episodes", 4 hours long, 4 players.
Played twice with two different groups.
The Characters
Like all of our games, each character has their own unique mechanic--a way their powers/character works.
Each player had a character sheet and backstory page.
(click to view in fullscreen)
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The Story
Each campaign lasted 4 episodes. The first 3 had a similar premise for both groups, with the finale customized for each group of players.
Episode 1: The mysterious woman at the bar claims she just escaped her kidnappers and asks the party to recover her stolen ring from them. After traveling to her capture's cabin, it becomes clear that Snow's story doesn't quite add up. What's with the weirdly religious miners, why does her fiancé have such a mysterious bruise, and what is it that Snow isn't telling?
Main focus: Mystery solving, introduction to the world, foreshadowing the main plot
Episode 2: An old friend of Lisa's calls her in a panic. Some maniac is trying to kill her and her husband--or so she's convinced. The party shows up, and finds themselves trapped in a maze of death. With a time loop the players can't escape and an unknown affliction turning the party against each other, the players must trust the witch in the woods to get them out--even if that takes looking within.
Main focus: Puzzles and traps, introduction to main conflict
Episode 3: In a collective dream utopia, the team finds themselves living out alternate lives in a cozy little suburbia. They each have a perfect family, fresh adventures to embark on, and always end the day the heroes. So why is it that they decide to leave?
Main focus: Action/adventure, character development
Episode 4:
Group 1: When the players went to sleep, the four of them had a strange "marked" affliction. Now, it's been three weeks, and the whole town has it. When they find a group of rebels called the Poets, pieces of their backstories begin to fall into line. Will they find the root of all of their troubles before the town is lost forever?
Group 2: The world they came back to is falling apart--for them, and seemingly nobody else. Lisa Lou's demons are at war, and Sir Ted's long-lost love has come back--only on the side of the evil mayor. After a heartbreaking reunion scene, an offer from a muse that's hard to refuse, and Hector Kane's dark side finally coming to light, the players finally get to slay the dragon and save the day.
Main focus: Plot resolution, character arcs
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A series of handouts created for the game, all created by me. Some online resources (ie. newspaper template) were utilized.
I love using handouts in games to give a sense of environment and to drop clues in a more subtle way. (For instance, the newspaper above appears twice--the newspaper at top left was given to them before the first session. The cut-out bottom right showed up during the second game, when they uncovered their attacker, and was a fun moment of recollection when the players realized the foreshadowing).