Skip to main content

On Sale: GamesAssetsToolsTabletopComics
Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
(+5)

Hi. I'm Dan Maruschak. I live in Eugene, Oregon, USA. I've designed several RPGs as part of design contests over the years, but I haven't commercially published any yet.

The idea I'm working on for #RPGenesis is inspired by the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In the story Dr. Jekyll hints that his ideas about human nature containing both good and evil elements are just the beginning. He suspects that further study by others will reveal that humans are a bundle of disparate natures. My game (I'm still trying to think of a good title) will be about the colleagues and contemporaries of Jekyll who are studying this new and disreputable science, conducting their studies and experiments in pursuit of their own goals. Since the science involves manipulating the essences and nature of people there will likely be dramatic or horrifying results from some experiments, as Jekyll himself discovered. This is an idea I've toyed with before but never made progress on because the mechanics I was trying to use were too complex and cumbersome. I'm hoping that working on this as part of RPGenesis will help me take a fresh look at the idea and hopefully come up with a mechanical design that works.

(1 edit) (+4)

Hi, Dan, welcome to RPGénesis!

Interesting concept - are you thinking of using the "four humours" approach in regards to the "people's essences"?

In regarding to titles, that is normally something I struggle with (my first project only got a title one day before the end of the event) so feel free to ask for suggestions. It was a friend who helped me get my title.

(+3)

No, the essences will be more like freeform traits, like "violent" or "generous". Before I started writing I thought I was going to take some inspiration from a previous game I've written where the traits all have a positive and negative aspect (an example from that game: the "genius" trait had the positive aspect "clever" and the negative aspect "arrogant"), but as I've been thinking about it I'm not sure if that will work. I realized today as I started writing the game that my ideas about how I want the mechanics to work are still pretty fuzzy.

I definitely have trouble with titles, and I may ask for suggestions later in the week, but I want to focus on my mechanics first.