Hello there,

My name is Flannery Wynn. (they/she – If you feel need to use gendered terms, I am happy with femme-coded language, so go with whichever is most natural for you to use–gender-neutral or feminine.) I am the lead game designer of the PRISMA System and Sekai TTRPG… well the only game designer. I'll try to avoid making this too boring or too much about me, but I do want to at least introduce myself a little. I've had an interest in game design for longer than I can remember. As a child I was coming up with card games and ideas for video game. As a teen I actually developed a couple card games and board games to play with myself and friends, as well as have worked on some pet project video games (mostly of the Novel Game/Visual Novel variety).

Now that I'm in my (late) 20s, I want to actually make something to put out there in the world. Not for some sort of naive idea of fame or wealth… but just to say I did it. This project started about 3 or 4 years ago as an off-and-on project that I've had an interest in… but nervousness and anxiety would regularly overtake and snuff out any sparking feelings of passion. I'm going to be honest, even making this subreddit and making this post… It terrifies me. I'm afraid I'll say or do something wrong only to result in people not giving me a chance… not giving my game a chance. But I'm trying to gradually overcome that fear of rejection by doing a slow roll-out of the various rules while I work on finishing my game. Even if people don't express interest, I'm hoping that by simply putting my game out there bit-by-bit I can at least garner a little bit of confidence in myself and my work. And, perhaps, other TTRPG devs, Game Masters, and players could give feedback on my rules to identify any problems as I'm working on them.

So, what is the game?

There are two sides to my game: the PRISMA System and Sekai TTRPG. In the simplest terms: the PRISMA System is the fundamental engine on which Sekai was built, whereas Sekai itself is more the specific ruleset for a specific incarnation of the PRISMA System. In a way, the PRISMA System could be seen as the core nuts-and-bolts of the game whereas Sekai would be the more game-specific flourishes. Sort of like how other companies have multiple games that are similar in some key ways but different in others… PRISMA System is the way in which any game I make will be, at its core, similar.

So why not just name them the same thing?

Originally, they were. In fact, it was always originally just "The Sekai System" (TSS). But then I had so many ideas for different ways to play with the core game engine, (some of which widely deviate from the main rules I was working on,) to the point I realized that if I wanted to take the time to explore different ways of using this engine… I needed to separate the two, if for no other reason than my own sanity. (I'll get back to you later on how well that worked out.)

Ok… So WHY "PRISMA System" and "Sekai TTRPG"?

Well, first, let's explain the easy one. I think the word choice makes it pretty obvious, but I'm a bit of nerd… just a tiny bit. "Sekai" is the romanization (that is to say, "that's how you write it in Latin/English characters,") of the Japanese word 「世界」 which means "World". The original name for my game and system ("The Sekai System") was a soft pun on the Japanese word "Isekai" which translates to "Other-World". Or in other words, it was "The World System" and "Other-World System" in its original form. That meaning still exists and floats around in the flavor and lore of parts of my game, (some of which I will explain in a bit,) but "The Sekai System" itself refers to a different segment of the engine that would be shared by certain games I make and not others. (All "The Sekai System" games will be "PRISMA System" games. Not all "PRISMA System" games will be "The Sekai System" games. I get that's a bit complicated, but it's just nomenclature/naming nonsense. Not anything of practical importance.)

The central conceit of my game was always meant to be that while I would provide a main world (and some occasional "Other Worlds") in which official material would take place, I made my game with the intention and desire for players and Chroniclers (Game Masters) to create their own worlds, pick and choose from Official Material as they saw fit, modify what didn't work for them, have the tools available for them to create their own content, and then throw out the rest. The idea was to make it so that my game would have it baked into the system that what happens with your table is a valid "canon" and that people shouldn't be more focused on Rules-Lawyering or Lore-Lawyering than actual gameplay. (I think both Rules Lawyers and Lore Lawyers have a place at a table and I don't want to discourage them. I just want to make sure the story being told is given the opportunity to flourish also. There must be a balance.)

PRISMA System is a little harder to explain. Simply put, I'm a bit of a polychromatic chick. I like rainbows, I like glitter and sparkles, and I like shiny gemstones and kaleidoscopic lights. Most importantly, as a Game Master and a player, I love dice. Combine the fact dice are all technically prisms and my preferred aesthetic could be described as "prismatic"… basically the name was destined for me to fall in love with. From there, I chose "PRISMA" over "Prisma" because… well, honestly for aesthetic reasons. I simply like how "PRISMA" looks better and I think that's valid enough of a reason for me. Also I made a LOT of use to rainbow and prismatic imagery in my worldbuilding (not to an obnoxious extent, I swear!) that I wanted to include it in the actual system someplace that matters. I figured the name was a good place… and I just really like the name, okay?

So what's the deal with the Subreddit?

Most everything here is pretty straight-forward, I think. This is a Subreddit for me to make and share content regarding my game and I hope other people might want to engage with it. Hopefully as more and more content gets released people will take interest in my game and want to try character creation.

I think most of the Post Flairs are self-explanatory, so I won't insult you by explaining all of them, but I hope you won't mind me explaining the Mod-Only Post Flairs.

• Chronicler's Corner / Ask Renna!
  • Any post marked as this will indicate that the content here is more along the lines of answering questions about the mechanics as it pertains to gameplay. It's the posts where I will go through and do outright Rules Clarifications. While my game is inspired by the wargame tradition, I would not define it as one personally. I've focused far more on the non-combat pillars of my game design, though I am making sure to also take care that combat feels good as well.
  • As a result there might be some rules interactions people might be curious about if they were intended or not. So, I want to have a space where I can go through, take as many questions as I can find, and compile the official answers to them for people to be able to reference either between the playtest and official release or after the official release if the content between the two versions goes unchanged (or if the question doesn't come up until the official version has been released). Of course, I'd answer the questions as I see them so people don't need to wait, but the point is so that there's a nice, clean, simple resource people can consult to know what the most accurate and up-to-date official rulings are when it's relevant.
  • The comments section of these posts will be for people to not only discuss the new rules clarifications and give their own opinions and rulings, but also for people to ask questions directly intended for me to answer in the next Chronicler's Corner.
  • Okay… so that answers the first half, but what about "Ask Renna!"? Who is Renna and why would you want to ask her anything? Simply put, Renna is the character writing the flavor and lore of the world within the fiction of the rulebooks, whereas I'm the one taking her notebook and turning it into a mechanical game that you can play. I don't want to explain too much about her here, but the short answer is she's a girl from our world who found a book one day while she was on a walk. When she picked it up and started reading, she got sent Through the Looking-Glass into the Other-World about which she made detailed notes and descriptions of the various peoples and things she saw and encountered.
  • The point of the "Chronicler's Corner / Ask Renna!" section allows you to ask questions not just about the mechanics of the game but about the parts of the world you're actively interested in learning more about. Most of the questions will be answered from Renna's perspective whenever possible, mechanical questions included, but I will cut in and answer things plainly if necessary or give my own follow-up comment in order to facilitate clarity. Think of these posts as basically AMAs where you can get the lore and rulings questions you want.
  • I promise this section was longer than the rest of the sections combined.
• Announcement!
  • Any time I have important news, I'll be sharing it here. Progress reports, life updates, ETAs for various types of content, and so forth… all of it would fall under this flair. Basically, if it's meta-relevant news, then it goes here.
• Official Content!
  • Any time a finalized official resource is complete, I will be sharing it under this flair. Why here and not as an Announcement!? Because I would rather use Announcement for everything else. This is so that people can just go through and find the official content readily available to them for a quick download.
  • This only applies to rules-related content though. If I were to write Renna's story (for example) and share that, then I would share it under Announcement! as that'd be (from a "business" perspective–as if this hobby I enjoy counted as a business for me–and not a personal perspective) less content and more merchandise for those who want to support the official release.
• Rules Talk & Playtest Material!
  • Here is where I will provide actual content for the game. Starting out, my content here will mostly pertain to just snippets of rules. As I get more comfortable posting and sharing, I'll post more and more rules. Once I finish writing up the Base Rules Document (beta release), I'll then make it into a PDF and share that as Playtest Material. I hope that by that point at least enough people will have gathered enough interest to want to try my game, but even if not then at least I can say I published it.
  • I should mention my game is more granular than some systems but not as granular (in my opinion) as others. The official release will include less granular Alternative Rule!s, but I'm not yet sold on if I should include those in the Playtest Documentation or if I should save those for the official release. I'll release a poll on people's thoughts if we reach 100+ Adventurers in the Subreddit OR when I get closer to completing the Playtest Base Rules Document.
• Official Poll!
  • Sometimes I might have a bunch of ideas I want to work on or use and I might ask you all to tell me what you'd rather I put out next. Other times I might want your opinion on recent Playtest Material. Then there are times where I might just simply have random questions I want to know the answers to. That's where Official Poll!s come in. They exist so I can ask for your thoughts and listen to what other people think.

Honestly, its gotten late… sorry, I think I can see the sunrise starting to break… It's gotten early. So I'm going to call this post here. I hope that you found this to be not too presumptuous or arrogant on my part. If so, I do apologize. I hope you have a wonderful day/night/whenever you are. I'll talk to you soon.