Style and Tone
Palimpsest is a game about doing and telling. It is an exploration of the ways in which we perceive and construct both our world and ourselves.
Major themes of Palimpsest include:
- Identity and agency
- The interrelation between life and art
- Conflict and power
- Legacies and afterlives
Untir is an expansive place, filled with horror and glory, beauty and injustice, triumph and tragedy. Accordingly, the tone of Palimpsest makes ample room for darkness, particularly in its exploration of the loss of agency that can come with fame and its acknowledgement of human beings' capacity to cause significant harm to one another.
For more information on the sensitive themes which Palimpsest offers scope to explore, please see the Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy. Note that players are not expected to make their characters' backstories or arcs exceedingly dark if they do not wish to.
On Fame
At the centre of Palimpsest lies the concept of fame. Fame is the state of being known of. It comes of being told of. It manifests in many forms.
Palimpsest has no prescriptions about player characters' approaches to fame. Players are encouraged to have their characters pursue (or reject the pursuit of) fame in whatever way they feel is right for them.
On Player Character Death
Be aware that in Palimpsest, death does not necessarily have to be the end. Echoes persist in the House of Fame.
There is no expectation for players to explore character death, but if they wish to do so they may.
Inspirations
- The House of Fame by Geoffrey Chaucer
- The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Course II of the English Language and Literature Degree
- Undertale and Deltarune by Toby Fox
- The Tyrant Philosophers series by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- The ORPGSoc Society Game