Mnemonic is Coming to 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.

Why an Almanac?

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.

Why Kickstarter?

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):

• Guanzon (he/him!)
• Lexi Antoku (they/she)
• Ajey Pandey (He/Him)
• Brandon O'Brien (he/they)
• Nicholas Masyk (He/Him)
• Dee Pennyway (they/them)
• Liam Ginty (They/Them)
• Pam Punzalan (She/They)
• Sin Posadas (They/Them)
• Synxiec (He/Him)
• Ben Scerri (they/them)
• Carl Pierre-Louis (He/Him)
• Vince Smith (he/him)

What is the Almanac, really?

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.

The Supplement

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.

The Setting Guide

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.

The Core Rules

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.

• The First Gathering is the session where everybody gets introduced to their characters and the group. I hesitate to call it character creation, but by the end of it you’ll know who your character is, what their relationship is to the rest of the group, and at least one cool memory to share of your time together.
• Scene Play is a session framework where everyone gets to be Weaver for a scene, presenting a scenario where their character has focus and asking the other players to fit themselves in as well. If you played “Carved in Crystal”, this framework should look familiar.
• Deck-Burner...hoo dog, I’m excited for this one. You know those big action sequences in a movie or TV show where everyone’s racing to the Boss Encounter, and people get interrupted in their chase because suddenly your old rival is there and you’ve just got to *deal with this real quick*? Deck-Burner is that. Run through the cards of the deck, pausing to build fight scenes and score points, and then culminate in a final encounter with your story’s villain. It’s a hoot.
• Saying Good-Bye is...I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, it’s a funeral. It’s the session you run when somebody in the group didn’t make it out of the last session, and so now we’re taking the space we need to say good-bye to them. The person whose character was lost leads the group through mourning their lost friend, and then gets to introduce a replacement character if they want.

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.)

Sounds Great! How can I help?

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.