Sarushima Island
A FATE based tabletop RPG soaked in neon lit rain and old timey cigar smoke. Players find themselves amongst a conflict between humans and the Tsuiho, a sentient race whose metropolis has recently been discovered on Sarushima Island.
ROLE
World creator and gameplay designer
TEAM
Team of 6: writers, designers, an illustrator and graphic designers
SYSTEM
Fate Accelerated and Fate Core (tabletop)
PROJECT
University project, 5 weeks, 2021
Worldbuilding: An Alternate History
• Co-created the world's history, from a 1916 laboratory to a 2057 metropolis
• The Tsuiho imitate the comics, films and newspapers left behind
• A 1920s jazz bar city with a neo-noir tone (Blade Runner, Backbone)
• Class divide, corporate greed and prohibition, echoing late Tokugawa Japan
Gameplay Systems: Built on FATE
• Adapted Fate Accelerated and Fate Core to the setting
• Playable Tsuiho races and example character sheets
• Game Master section and an adventure funnel
• Items, currency, transport and trade as levers for players
Factions and Story Hooks
• Four factions: Cult of the Lambs, Working Class, Trash Pandas, Wolfpack
• Locations from Parliament House to the Scrapyard, each a ready-made scene
• The Weaver's Web expansion: a politician's plot to incite a gang war
Design Intent
• My impact: as one of two world creators I shaped the setting's history, and designed how the Fate rules play within it
• Moral ambiguity by design: profit with the gangs, fight for what's right, or cast morals aside for revenge or riches
• Playtested at the table before release
• Released on itch.io as a gamebook and expansion
Credits
Team of 6: writers, designers, an illustrator and graphic designers
Lachlan Taylor: World creator and gameplay designer
