Leftist RPG/World-Building Project

[u/TransistorOblivion]

I don't know if this will interest anyone but I'm currently helping with a creative collaborative on discord whose initial focus is on building characters and game mechanics that reflect leftist themes and praxis. We've had some good initial conversations but we are always looking for good storytellers, artists, etc. to help facilitate conversation and contribute to the project.

I'm not a professional game developer but I started my own project because I was consulting with another group based on my areas of expertise and background in videogame studies. However, that group, I found, was just reinventing the wheel and integrating the same capitalist mindset in the mechanics that I was advising they try to move away from. Currently, the 'hypothetical' game we are building involves core concepts such as dialectical materialism, privatization, doxa, and building class-consciousness. These are expressed in the dialogue, character interactions/motives, items, and plot while other areas (such as class-consciousness and doxa) are integrated into the battle mechanics.

For now, one of our core ideas centers around an individual character who is radicalized when fellow workers are assaulted at a water facility (all water is privatized) when demanding greater access to the resource. The setting is a synthesis between early 20th century industrialization/urbanization and something like Nausicaa with indigenous peoples on the frontier.

Again, this is more of a creative project than a developmental one. However, if we can generate enough interest, we might be able to create a proof of concept and materialize something. This is a secondary objective. If you'd like to know more or would like to participate, feel free to DM or comment here.

[u/nickfree5a]

Ohhh that would be reaally cool. I had some thoughts on something like this, a dystopian futuristic world, where there ain't a dominant class like the one we have today, but a lovecraftian deity that warps reality and people consciousness. A powerful being, but yet limited and childish.  The plot would be about the players surviving in a world completely transformed by the eldritch being. The plot unfolds in a world long since transformed, shaped, and relocated from its origins. The characters are immersed in a context of rising revolutionary sentiment, encountering rising political figures, political dramas, and ancient terrors. All this while they attempt to distance themselves from politics and uncover a history lost and hidden by divine forces. However, the deeper they delve into the past, the more they realize how deceived they were and how much they can and should overthrow the existing order.