Writer/ Game Designer
Published: July 2020
View on itch.io
Download Excerpt
Published: July 2020
View on itch.io
Download Excerpt
Fusion is a tabletop role-playing game that enables stories of feelings, friendship, and space rocks. One of the major inspirations for this RPG is Steven Universe, which provides an excellent touchstone for the tone, style, and pacing of Fusion.
Fusion encourages players to explore the themes of friendship, compassion, and emotional growth. Fusion uses the Powered by the Apocalypse framework and includes 8 playbooks, basic moves, specific rules for creating and playing Fusions, as well as information on creating a setting and two default settings to play within.
Contributions
- Designed and developed the initial concept, systems rules, settings, and example characters to effectively convey tones and themes of Steven Universe.
- Ran playtesting sessions and integrated player feedback.
- Wrote rulebook, playbooks, and accompanying materials.
- Ran playtesting sessions and integrated player feedback.
- Wrote rulebook, playbooks, and accompanying materials.
Challenges and Process
The intent of Fusion was to create a gameplay experience that felt like being in an episode of the show Steven Universe. The primary challenge in this was to develop mechanics that codified and reinforced the tones and themes of the Steven Universe as well as more concrete aspects of the show such as character powers and abilities. The rules also needed to be specific enough to hit the tone of the show while allowing for sufficient freedom for players to tell their own stories and establish a unique canon from the show.
The first step was to identify the key elements of the show: friendship and emotional growth set on a background of high-stakes peril. Next, was breaking down the rules of the Powered by the Apocalypse framework and assessing them against the key elements of Steven Universe. From there the need for new mechanics or adjustments to existing mechanics was identified. After that, the new rules were designed and iterated on through several playtests and feedback both from Steven Universe fans and those with no experience of the show.
