Unwritten

Unwritten: Adventures in the Ages of MYST and Beyond is a tabletop role-playing game set in the universe of the MYST franchise of video games. Unwritten is authorized by Cyan Inc. (formerly Cyan Worlds Inc.) and was authored by myself, with extra text from my amazing wife C. Eleri Hamilton, and published under the aegis of Inkworks Productions. Leonard Balsera was the development editor.

In October of 2013, we ran a Kickstarter to fund Unwritten, and raised 700+% of our goal of $5000, with 558 backers. Unwritten was released to the public on May 27, 2015. It is available on DriveThruRPG.

Setting

What many of our most brilliant physicists have long suspected is, in fact, true: beyond our universe, there are limitless others in mind-boggling variety. But humanity had never realized that the secret to those worlds was beneath its feet. For ten millennia, the D’ni lived in great caverns, ignoring the savages on the surface. Using their linking books, they built an empire that spanned dimensions. Its glory was ended abruptly a few centuries ago, and their city has stood empty. Until now.

Small groups of humanity have discovered the secret of the Deep City. Some have come to explore, and others have come to exploit. Some have been called to D’ni by a feeling they can’t describe, and try to make it their home. Others look out to the Ages, the universes suddenly open to them, and see opportunity and hope. And there are those among the Ages who are not happy that D’ni has begun to breathe again.

The D'ni civilization is no more. But the ending has not been written.

Rules

The rules of Unwritten are a customized version of FateCore, by Evil Hat Productions. Modifications to the basic FateCore system include:

• A de-emphasis on violence as a problem-solving method, including the removal of the Attack Action and the Stress system.
• Rules for stories based around investigation and exploration, including the introduction of the Discover Action, Investigation scenes, and Deduction scenes where players can add to the story.
• Guidance on adventures involving the environment as an opponent.
• Guidance on running games in multiple eras of D'ni history and in alternate D'ni histories.
• A description of the D'ni cavern, and a map of the central island of Ae'gura.
• Sample Ages for use in your games.

See Also

• Unwritten official website
• Purchase Unwritten on DriveThruRPG