Cool Name goes here
THE PLAN
There had been a lot of concern around the amount of control large proprietary companies potentially have over RPG system licenses and their restrictions. In the end, that problem actually worked out pretty well for everyone involved BUT many people were worried that their games—even their businesses and livelihoods—were at risk. As we said, it worked out okay in the end, but it got a few of us thinking.
What if there was another cool game system that wasn’t owned by a company? What if this system belonged to the RPG community instead? It wouldn’t matter if you were a publisher or a gamemaster or a player, you could create anything you wanted for this system for free and without asking anyone for permission! Together, we could create a fantastic set of compatible resources for gamers everywhere!
Join us as we make this dream a reality and demonstrate what is best in roleplaying games and gamers. Help shine a spotlight on our community’s collective creativity and camaraderie. Be part of a celebration of our hobby’s ability to bring diverse groups of people together to create magic.
Get In On the Action
CONSULTING DESIGNERS
STEVEN S. LONG
A veteran designer best known for his work on the HERO System but he’s written for more games that most of us have played!
KENNETH HITE
Author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night’s Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of Vampire: the Masquerade.
TOIYA KRISTEN FINLEY
Toiya, who not only brings a wealth of experience designing both digital and table-top games, but literally wrote the book on writing effective game narratives.
DBJ
A multi-talented designer, author of the inspired Cinematic Environs collection, and host of the YouTube show, RPG with DBJ.
MONICA MARLOWE
A Paizo RPG Superstar winner and the author of the highly rated Pathfinder adventure module, Down the Blighted Path.
CRYSTAL MAZUR
An exceptionally talented designer who has created content for Onyx Path, Third Eye Games, Apotheosis Studios, Black Void, Wet Ink Games, and Iron Bound.
ROBIN D. LAWS
Designer the GUMSHOE investigative roleplaying system, Ashen Stars, The Esoterrorists, The Dying Earth, Heroquest and Feng Shui.
ELOY LASANTA
An ENnie-Nominated designer and an instructor for Central Michigan University’s game design program
MATT FORBECK
A veteran game designer who is the writer and co-designer of the new Marvel Multiverse Roleplaying Game.
OWEN K.C. STEPHENS
The co-creator of the Star Wars Saga Roleplaying Game and the Design Lead for Starfinder from Paizo Publishing.
who is mechanical muse?
We are a collection of unique and inspired professionals from around the world. Founded out of Dexter, Michigan in 2015, Mechanical Muse supports numerous projects and events while publishing original material such as the fantasy setting, The World of Aetaltis.
We love roleplaying games! Like REALLY love them. We’re also all huge fans of all things fantasy and science fiction, from D&D to Tolkein to Star Wars and beyond!
But we’re more than that. We’re writers, artists, game designers, and editors. We’ve written science fiction and fantasy for companies like DAW Books, written and edited for roleplaying games like Shadowrun, crafted articles for Dragon Magazine, created art for games like Magic the Gathering, and produced cover designs for best-selling authors like Terry Brooks, Brad Beaulieu, Anthony Ryan, and Brian McClellan.
What we want more than anything is to use our skills and experience to bring an amazing universe of adventure to you. We want to craft a universe that will awe and inspire you, that will make you laugh and cry, and most importantly, that will make you believe in heroes again. (If you’re like us, you’ll probably agree—the world could use a few more heroes.)
This is our passion and our purpose, and we can’t wait to share it with you.