Mists & Memory
An Anthropomorphic Noir TTRPG
Mists & Memory is a noir game about an agency of cunning anthropomorphic Investigators seeking their fortunes—and their memories—on the streets of a city perennially being destroyed and created, surrounded by a malevolent Mist called by some the Aether. It is a world in which you have to assemble yourself, day by day, from the scraps left behind by yesterday.
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Based on the Illuminated Worlds game system made famous by Candela Obscura, Darrington Press, and Critical Role, we have obtained licensing to use their system while adding our our unique spin on the system in the form of Memories. Memories are the keystones to who your character is--but they can be stolen. Eaten. Changed. Corrupted. And as they are changed, so are you.
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The town is displaced in time as well as in space. While it’s roughly set in what for we humans of Earth would be the 1910s to 1930s, several aspects of its technology have lagged behind. While pistols and even rifles are available, there are few Tommy guns. While there’s no Prohibition to keep people from their martinis or moonshine, the technology level is approximately that of this liminal stage of human history.
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The Mists that surround and periodically engulf the city slowly corrupt and corrode self and identity. They erode memory. They destroy form and shape.
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Occasionally, new buildings appear in the city after the Mists have swirled in. Complete with residents, sometimes shops, sometimes businesses. After a week or two, most residents forget that these buildings weren’t here before.
Occasionally, buildings disappear from the town, leaving empty, open lots and perhaps a few pieces of debris. Their residents sometimes disappear with them—if they were inside at the time, anyway. It’s certainly possible to have been out for an evening meal, only to return to find you no longer have an apartment at this address.
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And to wonder where you would be now—perhaps even who you’d be now—if you’d been home at the time.
After a week or three—a month at most—most people in the Town forget that those buildings were ever there. That those people ever existed. But not you.
You remember.
That makes you different, important. Special. It makes you curious. Capable of wondering at the mystery of the world around you.
It’s what makes you an Investigator.
For the Core Rulebook of Mists & Memory, please see:
PDF: DriveThruRPG
Hardback: IngramSpark
Softbound: Pending proofs from Amazon
Kindle: Amazon Kindle Store
For the tie-in novel, In Memory's Shadow, please see:
Softbound: Will be released October 14, 2024
Kindle: Amazon Kindle Store Pre-orders available!
Credits
Deborah L. Davitt
Writing, Setting, Layout
Jason W. Davitt
Game System Design, Character Design
Emily McCosh
Maps
Carmen “Siplick” Abarca Llopis
Cover Art
Irene Cabrejas, “CherishCat”
Interior Art
Garry Moss
Game Consultant
Jared Oliver Adams, Tom Biddell, Nastya Ivanova, Phil Goodall,
Amelia Gorman, Akshay Kumar, Garry Moss, Alexander Thomas, Matt Yelland
Game Testers