Posted July 02, 2020 by Emily Pennyway
#kickstarter
This August, the world of memory is launching a new project: Mnemonic: A Weaver’s Almanac. You can follow the project at the link below to get notified right away when the project launches:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mnemonicrpg/mnemonic-a-weavers-almanac
I’m sure you have questions. I’ll do my best to answer them.
The Weaver’s Almanac is a book that a weaver in the world of Mnemonic carries with them while traveling, to help them tell stories with the people they meet. It’s meant to be one version of the book, which is why it’s “A” Weaver’s Almanac and not “THE” Weaver’s Almanac.
The Almanac is part core rulebook, part setting guide, and part collection of small supplemental pieces written by members of our TTRPG communities.
The primary goal of this Kickstarter is to develop a digital PDF. I have secondary goals about a print run, too, if this thing does well, but for now let’s focus on the digital.
We’re crowdfunding this because it's gonna need art, and writing from more than just me. We have a team of designers and writers who are working to make it a good representation of the setting as Not Just Belonging To Dee.
There are 13 of us on the Core Team, one for each card in a Poker suit, but we’re all Aces (heyoo):
The Almanac is a 180 page document containing the Core Rules for the Mnemonic roleplaying game, setting entries for the world of memory, and a *whole mess* of supplemental material written by members of the community.
Calling it an “Appendix” feels like it undersells what’s included here. We’re talking 60 pages of rituals, microgames, poems, songs, recipes, gameable lore tables, and anything else that people are excited to talk about.
Each piece will be a page long, and we’re leaving a whole lot of space here for pieces written by not just the core team, but members of the broader TTRPG space.
So if you’ve ever had a thought for a lyric or OSR thing in Mnemonic, keep an eye out! We’re especially looking for content from people experiencing marginalization along axes of gender, race, and disability.
As a baseline, everyone who contributes writing to this project will be paid “15 cents per word that could fit on a page”, and our page size is 250 words. If you write a page, you’ll get paid for all 250 words, even if your entry is fewer than 250 words.
We also have stretch goals planned to increase that per-word rate. It’s gonna be a good time.
Mnemonic is an anti-canon setting, meaning that players are explicitly permitted to create new details or remove old ones if something doesn’t fit. The setting guide is there to give you a set of 54 touchstones to use if you want them, either as inspiration or as a foundation for your story or game.
Every entry in the setting guide comes with 4 guiding questions to help you handle the material thoughtfully; those questions are specifically intended to help players avoid cultural appropriation, but they’re also just a great way to get players invested in their own group’s version of the world.
This is the first "Play an ongoing game in the world of Mnemonic" and it's built around four one-session structures: The First Gathering, Scene Play, Deck-Burner, and Saying Good-Bye.
There’s also a whole set of thirteen tables for using magic. You’re gonna want to use them. You’re gonna regret using them. You’re gonna want to use them again. (If you’ve ever heard me talk about “rolling the Fire Die”, this is what that’s about.)
For now, go follow the project on Kickstarter so that you can be notified right away when the campaign launches. Follow me on Twitter so you can help boost info as it comes (@DeePennyway), help us build momentum on this thing.
And then come August 15... Be ready. We’re gonna weave some amazing stories here.