Reapers

This is a Final Production from Graphic Storytelling, The Animation Workshop, VIA University College, 2023

Website: Kira-Rasmussen.com

Contact: Kira.d.rasmussen@gmail.com

All rights reserved © Kira Rasmussen, 2023

Entrance to Death’s temple

Welcome to Rhyss, where belief has the power to birth gods, and death is not always the end. Join us in the Iron City, an ever expanding young metropolis where newly built skyscrapers stand side by side with ancient temples to the gods. In “Reapers’’ you play as Lilly, an unlikely new recruit to the mysterious and ancient Reaper organization.

Concept

“Reapers” is envisioned as a story-driven action adventure RPG, where the player character has 3 distinct personality variations. The choices made during the game affects character relationships, mission outcomes and eventually tallies up, locking the game into one of 3 distinct endings. In “Reapers” you play as Lilly, a social outcast who, much to everyone’s confusion, is the first reaper personally chosen by the goddess of Death in nearly 4500 years. The plot follows Lilly as she struggles to navigate the strict rules and traditions of the Reaper organization, and learns to use her new powers. All the while trying to solve the mystery of why Death chose her, and who or what is killing people in the Iron City.

THEME

Thematically, “Reapers” focuses on the harm caused by outdated institutions when they refuse to adapt to the needs and problems of a new age, and instead cling tight to meaningless tradition.

“Reapers” explores this on a societal scale as the Reaper organization is so caught up with their own traditions that they mishandle vital threats, and on an individual scale with Lilly, a person who doesn’t fit into the system. The 3 personality variations are differing ways of responding to that alienation.

Tone

“Reapers” handles serious themes, but I’m deliberately avoiding a grim and pessimistic tone. My target audience is the young adult market starting at 13+, so I’m aiming for a tone similar to a Shounen anime. The story needs room to take occasional dives into horror and tragedy, while still having space for fun lighthearted moments.

There wont be any long monologues about the “power of friendship” in “Reapers” but it maintains an optimistic attitude that things can change for the better, if you play your cards right.

The player character: Lilly.

WORLD BUILD

The world of "reapers"

The world of “Reapers” consists of two large continents, Rhyss and Kosume, and the remaining scattered islands of a third northern continent, its name forgotten to time. The world is populated by humans who have the ability to create gods from their thoughts and belief. Gods are a fact of life here, and often trade favors and magical powers to humans in exchange for worship. Ideas, beliefs, willpower and memory hold great significance here.

THE GOD HUNTERS

Story Seeds

What happened to the Northern continent? Someone has gone to great lengths to ensure that there are no written or spoken records of this event. Why?

The God hunters are a human organization based in Kosume who ensure that dangerous and violent gods are snuffed out at the roots early in their creation by strict control of information

A brief HISTORY

ANCIENT AGE

Dawn of humanity - 3.000 BP

DEFINED BY:

The first gods are born, they reflect a nomadic hunter gatherer lifestyle. They are gods of the elements, gods of core emotions, gods of the Hunt

KEY EVENTS

-2600 BP: The first reaper is created

-2500 BP: The next generation of reapers build the temple to the goddess of Death

-50BP : A great catastrophe/ war/ conflict shatters the Northern continent

YEAR 0: A number of powerful gods band together to form the Pantheon to protect the world from more catastrophes

01 AP: Rhyss accepts the Pantheon, and it is outlawed to worship any other gods

100 AP Kosume rejects the Pantheon, relying instead on God hunters to ensure their safety

THE AGE OF INVENTION

1500 AP - Present

DEFINED BY

Humans become more invested in understanding the world around them. Gods of science, discovery, invention, and industry are born

KEY EVENTS

YEAR: ? Dawn of humanity

YEAR:? The first Waywards appear

YEAR: ? The goddess of Death is created

THE AGE OF CIVILITY

- 3.000 BP- 1500 AP

DEFINED BY:

Humans learn to work the land and settle into cities with temples, laws, and governments, creating gods of harvest, war, wisdom, commerce, justice, fortune and protection

BP: Before Pantheon

AP: After Pantheon

KEY EVENTS

1500: The Iron City starts to form around Deaths temple, along with temples to other pantheon gods

1700: The little town of Amity is built near the Iron City

1750: Children in Amity believe a god is protecting their town, creating a god of Protection

1880: Amity is deliberately flooded, to make room for a dam allowing for fresh water supply to the Iron City

1920: “ REAPERS” game storyline

1920: The wayward soul of a god returns to the mortal world for the first time in recorded histor

The Gods

Anything that has been believed into a tangible existence is referred to as a god. Gods die if they are forgotten, and their level of power depends entirely on how many people worship them. Many gods trade magic and favors to their believers in an attempt to ensure their own survival.

The nature of a god

A god embodies the idea that created it, both in it’s nature and temperament, so multiple gods embodying the same idea can exist at the same time. A people living in a harsh desert might create a cruel sun-god with a harsh temperament, while a people in milder climates might create a gentle sungod that embodies the happiness of summer. Gods who represent the same thing often exist in competition with each other, naturally leading to wars and conflict. It’s not unheard of that gods with more gentle temperaments decide to coexist though. How powerful a god is also depends entirely on how many people believe in them, and how strongly those people believe. The scale ranges all the way from “world ending entity” to “benevolent house spirit.”

A world of Chaos

The ability to create a powerful entity from belief alone is a dangerous one if left unchecked. One out of control dooms-day cult could literally bring about the end times by creating a god whose sole purpose is to end the world. Over time many rules and regulations have been put in place, both by gods and humans, to avoid this.

God of the Hunt From the Ancient age

THE PANTHEON.

After a war between gods vying for power nearly destroyed the world many years ago, a collection of the most powerful gods left standing agreed to form the Pantheon. The Pantheon members recognized that if humanity were to be destroyed, all gods would die along with them. For this reason, the members of the Pantheon have forbidden each other from directly engaging with the mortal world, and are strictly forbidden from harming humans. They may only engage with their worshipers through visions and dreams, and grant their faithful moderate magical powers.

The rise of Centralized Belief

Each member of the Pantheon has amassed millions of followers and dozens of temples scattered around the world. On the continent of Rhyss, creation and worship of gods outside the established pantheon is outlawed, ensuring the continued unchallenged survival of its members, while at the same time, making it nearly impossible for newer gods to come into power, for better of for worse. This dynamic has only increased during the age of Invention, as humanity grows more and more globally connected and information can be shared across the world at a moment’s notice to millions of people through a telephone or radio.

Who are the members of the Pantheon? How many are hiding terrible secrets?

The waywards

Not all souls go willingly with the Goddess of Death when their time is up, some return to the mortal world and linger there as ghosts. These are referred to as wayward souls, or simply waywards. Due to a process called corruption, a wayward soul has a limited amount of time where it can remain in the mortal world, before it starts going mad and needs to consume the energy of living things to continue existing. The nature, temperament, and level of power each wayward possesses is as varied after death as it would have been in life.

History

Waywards have been around for as long as humanity has, but within the last few hundred years they have started causing more severe problems, with the world population skyrocketing, and more and more people settling in large cities. These densely populated areas practically act as buffets of energy for hungry waywards.

THE CORRUPTION

Regardless of the varied nature of each individual wayward, through a seemingly unavoidable and involuntary process, when a wayward soul has lingered in the mortal world for too long, it will start to corrupt, sucking the life energy from the living inhabitants of the world in order to sustain itself. As the corruption grows stronger, the wayward will physically transform, going from a shape similar to the one they had in life to a more unrecognizable monstrous form. There is a limit to how much energy a human soul can contain

so a corrupted wayward will at some point hit a limit to how much energy it can consume and naturally destroy itself. It is the amount of death, damage and pain a corrupted wayward can cause the living in the meantime, that causes the Reaper organization to step in. How long it takes for the corruption to set in varies greatly from wayward to wayward.

THE soul TETHER

The physical manifestation of a human soul takes the form of a golden tether. When a person dies, the tether snaps and they find themselves with the goddess of Death. Unlike the living, a wayward has no physical body to kill, they are made of energy and can recover from any physical attack by absorbing energy from other things. The only way to “kill” a wayward soul is to cut the tether itself. The ability to see soul tethers, and use tools to cut them is unique to the reapers.

Late corruption. Acts & looks monstrous

WHO BECOMES A WAYWARD?

The key factor in who returns as a wayward is will and belief. In Rhyss, will and belief holds magical powers, even to the point of temporarily cheating death by binding one’s soul to the mortal world. But it is not so simple as “deciding” to become a wayward. It is not a conscious choice as much as it is the same nebulous power of will that allows some people to wake from a coma while others don’t.

SYMBIOTIC POSSESSION STORY SEEDS

Waywards have been getting stronger and evolving along with humanity, and a few have even gained enough power to possess the living. What happens when it is discovered that possession can be consensual and harms neither human nor wayward?

THE CAUSE OF CORRUPTION

If will and belief are sometimes strong enough for a soul to return from the dead, why are they not enough to keep them “alive” as waywards?

What causes the corruption, and can it be stopped? Should it?

Stage two: Early corruption. Acts & looks humanoid

The Reapers

The Reapers are an ancient organization founded to protect the living from wayward souls. They are devoted followers of the goddess of Death and through their connection to her, they gain advanced physical abilities as well as magic. They have served their function for thousands of years, but when new threats emerge beyond their understanding, their many ancient traditions and rules may be their downfall.

ORIGINS

Thousands of years ago, a young man saw his entire village murdered by a corrupted wayward soul. The man called on the goddess of Death, and demanded to know why the soul of someone who had already died, should have any right to kill so many living things. Death told him that ferrying the souls of all living things to the afterlife was no small task for one god, and chasing after the few souls who escaped her was hardly important. The man made Death an offer; in exchange for a fraction of her power he would chase those wayward souls and return them to her.

Death agreed.

ABILITIES:

What sets a reaper apart from ordinary people is their ability to see wayward souls, their supernatural speed, strength and agility, and their ability to turn any tool or weapon they wield into one that can cut through a soul tether.

RULES AND CODES:

Reapers are strictly forbidden from using their powers to interfere with the living, and it is their policy that all wayward souls must be reaped immediately, regardless of whether the wayward is openly hostile. They operate under the code that leaving a wayward soul in the living world for even a moment longer than necessary, poses an unnecessary risk to the living, and they believe that efficiency is a mercy for everyone involved.

BECOMING A REAPER

The goddess of Death left her first reaper with instructions on how to connect other humans to a fraction of her power, allowing for the creation of new reapers without her direct interference. The Reaper organization is incredibly selective about who gets to join them, and under normal circumstances a person will go through years and years of grueling training before being allowed to join their ranks.

THE crucial MISUNDERSTANDING

The Reaper organization is one of the very few “self governed” religious organizations of Rhyss. Unlike many other gods who take great care in choosing who to bestow their blessings upon, Death is entirely indifferent to human affairs, and after creating the very first reaper she left them to their own devices.

During a millennial long game of telephone between generations of reapers, they lost this vital piece of information.

Despite the fact that the original use and intent behind many of their strict rules and codes has been lost to time, the reapers of the modern day still dutifully follow them in the belief that they are the will of the goddess of Death herself, and not man made rules that were made thousands of years ago.

What type of person manages to call an audience with Death, and walks away rewarded with exactly the powers he demanded? What is his story?

Reaper commander Allegra, the current leader of the Reaper organization

THE GAME

Characters

PLAYER CHARACTER: LILLYAN FOSTER

Core

Lilly is the player character in “Reapers” she is the vessel the players will experience the world through. She has 3 distinct personality variations the player can lean into to achieve different game outcomes.

Lilly is an eccentric and impulsive young woman in her early twenties, who comes from humble beginnings. She has a very direct way of communicating, often speaking entirely without implications, assumptions and lies. She will speak the same way to a beggar, a king or even a goddess which is one of the key reasons why Death selects Lilly as her new reaper. At the start of the “Reapers” storyline Lilly has no family and few friends, and no real place in the world to speak of.

THE 3 VARIATIONS

Connective: This Lilly has fully embraced her eccentricities and is a joyful and curious character. Lilly accepts herself, and engages with the world with curiosity, always eager to learn new things. When faced with a repressive Reaper organization, Lilly will listen and ask questions, always aiming to understand before she acts, but still follows her own judgment. A connective Lilly is always trying to form connections with people, despite the possibility of rejection.

Individualistic: This Lilly has a sizable superiority complex. She is convinced that Death chose her because she is special, and has long since decided that she doesn’t need anyone else. An individualistic Lilly takes to the Reaper organization about as well as a cat takes to bathwater, treating orders and advice with equal disdain, and categorically refuses to listen to anyone but herself. This Lilly makes a sport out of pissing other people off, subconsciously trying to drive people off before they get a chance to reject her.

Suppressed: This Lilly is fearful, and believes that her own strangeness and eccentricities are to blame for her isolation. When faced with a repressive Reaper organization, Lilly sees it as a once in a life time chance to finally belong somewhere, and does everything in her power not to ruin it. This Lilly constantly suppresses her own instincts, hesitates to ask questions and tries her very best to only show others a toned down version of herself, believing its the only way to be accepted.

Shape design Civilian outfit Turn

COMPANION NPC: DORIAN HALE (Non Playable Character)

Dorian in standard

Core

Dorian is an high ranking member of the Reaper organization. He is charged with training Lilly to become a proper reaper. He is a mandatory NPC companion in the game.

Dorian is a man in his mid forties who comes from a well respected family that has worshiped the goddess of Death for generations. Dorian is disciplined and skilled, he is not a man who loses control or questions traditions. Dorian has dedicated his entire life to the Reaper organization, giving up any parts of himself that didn’t fit their mold since he was a child. Outside of his function as a reaper, he has no idea who is he is.

VARIATIONS

During the game, Dorian functions as a tangible representation of where Lilly stands with the Reaper organization as a whole, and most importantly, he showcases that there is a possibility for change.

With a Connective Lilly, Dorian has positive character growth. Through interacting with Lilly he learns that he doesn’t have to sacrifice being his own person in order to function as a reaper. Dorian and Lilly become unlikely friends.

With an Individualistic Lilly, Dorian has negative character growth. He reacts to Lilly’s hostility with hostility of his own, and doubles down on his views when Lilly insults and mocks the Reaper organization. Dorian and Lilly cannot stand each other.

With a Suppressed Lilly, Dorian is stagnant and has no character growth. A suppressed Lilly will rarely question Dorian or the Reaper organization, leaving him in his comfort zone with no incentive to change. Dorian and Lilly are largely indifferent to each other.

The goddess of Death

The goddess of death

The goddess of death Death is the embodiment of practicality, born from the idea that death comes for all, fair or not, rich or poor, young or old. She is an unwavering force of nature who keeps no council but her own, with the singular goal of protecting the cycle of life and death. Although she is the patron god of the Reaper organization, she has paid them no particular mind in more than 4000 years.

CORE

The goddess of Death came into existence between 15.000 and 2.5 million years ago, making her one of the oldest and most powerful members of the current Rhysic pantheon. For thousands of years Death has cut the soul tethers of mortals and forgotten gods both, so the rest of the pantheon gods are inclined to give her a wide berth. Unlike many other gods, Death doesn’t vie for power or remembrance, believing it is in all things nature to die, even hers. So long as the cycle of life and death is not threatened she will take no drastic action.

Death is a practical creature, she has no use for worship or useless tradition and she has no patience or understanding for the intricacies of human communication, filled with implications, expectations, assumption or lies. When Death has need of her reapers for the first time in thousands of years, she is unimpressed with their pedantic rituals and reverence, and their tendency to fall to the ground screaming in pain whenever she speaks directly to them, so Death looks elsewhere.

Variations

Death is an ancient unknowable creature, so Lilly’s personality variations only have subtle effects on her. Death will show a hint of annoyance with an Individualistic Lilly, seem slightly bored with a Suppressed Lilly, and mildly amused by a Connective Lilly.

The wayward god

The Wayward god is the main antagonist of the game. It’s not unusual for gods to die, but the soul of a dead god, returning to the mortal world as a wayward? There are no historical records of such a thing, and many, including the Reaper organization, would insist it is impossible.

The little god of protection

In Rhyss, the worship and creation of gods outside of the established pantheon is illegal, but this is easier said than upheld. Before its death, the Wayward god was a god of Protection, willed into existence by the children in Amity, a small town near the Iron City. It embodied the idea of a loyal and devoted protector, kind and chivalrous like a knight from a fairytale one would tell children. Unfortunately a god with only a handful of believers is not a very powerful entity, and a few centuries later Amity was cleared and flooded to make room for a dam, supplying more water to the ever growing Iron City.

Hannah Fairchild

At this point, the god only had a single believer left, 10 year old Hannah Fairchild. With no village to protect, the god shifted its purpose to protect her instead. It followed her when she moved to the Iron City.

Despite running in dangerous circles as a jewel thief and a con-woman, Hannah still spent her life being a little safer than most, a little less prone to accidents and illness. At the age of 51, Hannah Fairchild died under mysterious circumstances that her god did not have the power to prevent. With no one left to remember it, the god of Protection died with her. Hannah’s soul passed peacefully into the afterlife. The god’s soul did not.

THE WAYWARD GOD

The Wayward god returns to the mortal world, not understanding that it has died. It has repressed the memory of what happened to Hannah Fairchild and frantically searches for her, growing increasingly mindless with corruption and grief in the process, having lost its only purpose and connection to the world. It is in a waywards nature to become corrupt and consume living things, and it is in a god’s nature to grow endlessly if only they are fed enough belief. What was once a nearly forgotten village god, now has the potential to grow in power until it consumes all living things.

A young Hannah Fairchild, and her god of Protection.

Setting

THE IRON CITY

“Reapers” is set in the Iron City, a rapidly expanding young metropolis where massive temples to ancient gods stand side by side with newly built skyscrapers. The Iron City is a center of innovation, commerce and culture, housing people from all different walks of life, and is equal parts as vibrant as it is inhospitable. The story takes place in the Rhysic version of the 1920’s.

City districts

The Iron City features several districts that the player can unlock and then fast travel between. Each district holds its own charm, challenges and level recommendation.

TEMPLE DISTRICT

The Temple District is the city’s religious heart.

CENTRAL DISTRICT

The Central District is prestigious but always sits in the shadows of the massive temples.

Southern DISTRICT

The Southern District and the harbor are home to the working class.

EMERALD island

The Emerald Island holds only elaborate gardens and mansions.

THE OUTSKIRTS

The Outskirts is home to those who cannot afford (or do not wish) to live in the city proper.

UNDERGROUND TUNNELS

Things are already going bump in the night in the newly opened subway tunnels.

THE ISLAND

The Northern Island is currently one massive construction site.

Death's temple

KEY LOCATION

The oldest building in the Iron City is the temple to the goddess of Death, a massive monolithic structure towering over the surrounding city. The temple held a lonely vigil at the edge of the sea for almost 4000 years, until it was discovered that the bay would make for a great shipping port, and the Iron City sprung up around it. The temple serves both as a place of worship, a massive tomb extending far underground, and as a base of operation for the Reaper organization.

Temple interior

Key location

Death's realm

Key location

Since the formation of the Pantheon, gods have not been allowed to reside in the mortal world. Instead they exist in parallel dimensions, that mortals may sometimes traverse in visions or dreams. Deaths realm resembles the scorched remains of a long dead planet.

Story framework

In “Reapers” the audience will be allowed to experience the story through making their own in-game choices, and then having the narrative reflect the consequences of those choices. I don’t believe that a roleplaying game should have “wrong” options that do not let the player win the game. Regardless of how you play “Reapers” you save the world from doom. It’s the pieces you are left with when the dust settles that are on the line.

INDIVIDUALISTIC CHOICES:

The individualistic playthrough is characterized by Lilly making aggressive and arrogant choices in actions and dialogue, assuming she is better than everyone else, never listening to anyone and refusing help from others.

Consequences:

When Lilly makes individualistic choices, she will be left more alienated and alone than before, and often lose opportunities to gain better insight into situations. She drives away potential help and allies, and is in constant conflict with the Reaper organization.

SUPPRESSED CHOICES:

The suppressed playthrough is characterized by Lilly being hesitant and avoiding making decisions for herself, defaulting to following any orders she receives. She tones herself down and looks to others to tell her what to do.

Consequences:

When Lilly makes suppressed choices she loses options. Once a suppressed choice is made, the decision is no longer in Lilly’s hands and her influence on the narrative grows smaller as other characters make decisions over her head. There is very little conflict with the Reaper organization.

CONNECTIVE CHOICES:

The connective playthrough is characterized by Lilly embracing herself, and questioning everything. A connective Lilly is always trying to learn the reasons behind things, and trying her best to understand and emphasize with the people she meets. She follows direction when it seems sensible to her, and discards direction when she sees a better way forward.

Consequences:

When Lilly makes connective choices she learns more information, and gains options that are not available in the other playthroughs. She is in conflict with the Reaper organization but the friends and allies she makes stands by her.

Examples

Situation: Lilly is given the Reaper training uniform

Refuse to wear uniform (Armor penalty) +10

Wear uniform correctly +10

Add personal touches to uniform +10

Situation: Lilly and Dorian encounter a wayward soul who seems confused and scared, but not hostile. Dorian goes to reap it without hesitation.

Do nothing +100

Attack Dorian +100

Get in between Dorian and the wayward +100

Note:

The color coding and point tally is behind the scenes information, I want the player to choose the actions and dialogue options that feel most authentic to them, without placing a visual value judgment on their choices.

I chose the examples above because they illustrate the point well, but not every choice in the game should have exactly three options, especially not in dialogue, and there should be an emphasis on the option to ask questions during dialogue selection.

The search for answers is the driving force of the plot. What is killing people in the Iron City? Why did Death choose Lilly? Why did a god return as a wayward? Looking for answers to these questions will take the players all over the map, all the way from dark underground tunnels to fancy cocktail parties.

Old institutions new problems is the thematic core of “Reapers.” As Lilly joins the Reaper organization it should be clear that they are an outdated organization, more occupied with upholding rituals and traditions that no one remembers the origin off than helping citizens or waywards.

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

We’ve established through the narrative and theme that the world is flawed and destruction looms in the horizon. Now what? Through the in-game choices the player is given an opportunity to choose how they want to interact with the theme.

Interaction from a connective playthrough

main quest summary

Lilly accepts Deaths offer in a dreamlike vision

BACKSTORY

The story is set in motion when Hannah Fairchild dies. She was the last living believer in a little god of Protection, so the god dies with her. The god of Protection returns to the world as a wayward soul, but it is confused and corrupted and does not remember that Hannah has died. In its search for Hannah, the Wayward god starts to cause chaos in the Iron City. The goddess of Death senses the potential world ending catastrophe this could turn into, and tries to mobilize her reapers, but finds them too caught up in their own rituals and traditions for her to communicate with them. Death forgoes her reapers and sends out a vision to anyone with an open mind, looking for someone she might be able to communicate the threat to. Death finds Lilly, an unusual young woman and in a half remembered dream Lilly agrees to become Death’s new reaper.

AcT ONE

Lilly wakes up one morning with reaper powers and has no clue how she got them, barely remembering her dream conversation with Death. Her daily life is interrupted when she encounters a friendly wayward and tries to interact with it, (it’s important that the players first encounter with a wayward has no hints of violence until a reaper shows up). A reaper takes note of this, reaps the wayward and brings Lilly to Deaths temple where she is put before Reaper commander Allegra. Death has not personally chosen a reaper in more than 4000 years, so the commander is very skeptical about the origins of Lilly’s powers. Right now the Reaper organization is in a state of mild chaos, trying to understand the reason behind the many recent deaths occurring in the Iron City. The commander does not know what to make of Lilly, but on the off chance that she really IS Deaths chosen she will need training. The Reaper commander puts Dorian, a high ranking reaper, in charge of overseeing Lilly until they can figure out what to do with her.

Lilly begins her training as a reaper, doing low level missions, and occasionally receives strange cryptic dreams from Death about some looming threat. Even though Lilly is more receptive to communicating with Death than the other reapers, Death is an immensely powerful being, and she needs to tread carefully to not shatter something as fragile as a human mind into pieces when she speaks. The looming threat of the Wayward god and why Death has chosen Lilly are unknown to the characters in the story, and solving these mysteries is the driving force of the main quest plot.

ACT TWO

Lilly quickly grows bored with the lower stakes training missions and is tired of being bossed around/nervous to prove herself/eager to help. She decides to take matters into her own hands and start investigating the deaths around town through a series of more intense plot-related quests. At this point it also becomes clear to Lilly that most wayward souls are not hostile until they reach late stage corruption. Whether to reap the wayward souls immediately through combat, solve whatever unfinished business they have in the world of the living, or simply spending a moment to explain to them that they have died, is a big point of conflict between Lilly and the Reaper organization.

As the bodies keep piling up in the Iron City, and Death’s cryptic visions continue, the stakes of the quests get higher. Lilly and Dorian find themselves solving murders like detectives at fancy parties, exploring abandoned buildings for clues, and sneaking into forbidden areas to get to the bottom of the mystery. At the end of act two , Oliver Maes, a lower ranking reaper and friend to both Lilly and Dorian, dies at the hands of the Wayward god. Against his own volition, he returns to the mortal world as a wayward soul, making Lilly and Dorian’s disagreement about how to handle wayward souls very personal.

ACT three

Lilly and Dorian finally collect enough clues and accounts to solve the death of Hannah Fairchild and her god. Suddenly Death’s cryptic visions start making a terrifying amount of sense. Lilly and Dorian have a brief but terrifying encounter with the Wayward god, seeing how powerful it truly is. After encountering the Wayward god that the games plot branches into 3 different paths depending on player choices. What each path has in common is that Lilly and the Reaper organization makes a final stand against the Wayward god who has grown incredibly powerful.

NOTE:

In the third act, the player’s choices lock in, and the game effectively stops being a roleplaying game. This should not be noticeable to the player, as Lilly will still be greeted with the illusion of choice; only the choices made at this stage have little to no effect on the plot.

The time for decisions is over, now come the consequences.

Endings

Individualistic ENDING: REAPERS FALL

In an individualistic playthrough, Lilly and Dorian’s conflict comes to a head after encountering the Wayward god. Lilly forgoes warning the Reaper organization and instead marches straight into combat with the Wayward god. When the Wayward god is at half health Dorian shows up with reaper reinforcements but they are ill prepared and most of them are killed and consumed by the wayward god, including Dorian and the Reaper commander. An individualistic Lilly can’t connect to the Wayward god so it has to be taken down by force. With the majority of the reapers dead, and the rest finally realizing that Death has never overseen them or cared for them, the organization falls apart. With no one standing in their way, corrupted wayward souls cause unchecked havoc in the moral world once more. The goddess of Death mirrors Lilly’s individuality and has no interest in her once the threat to the world is overcome. Lilly finally realizes she was never a special “chosen one” and ends the game the same way she started it. Alone.

Suppressed ENDING: Reapers REMAIN

In a suppressed playthrough, Lilly and Dorian rush back to the Reaper organization after encountering the Wayward god. Lilly falls back and lets Dorian do the talking, convincing them to join the fight. Many of the reapers are killed and consumed during the first part of the battle with the Wayward god since they don’t truly understand the threat. When the Wayward god is at half health it gets a hold of Lilly and manages to consume a part of her soul before the other reapers beat it back. Lilly is alive but a massive chunk of her soul is gone forever. The Wayward god is eventually taken down by force. The Reaper organization does everything in its power to bury the whole incident, and years later after the unremarkable death of the Reaper commander, Dorian becomes commander of the organization. Missing a sizable portion of her soul, Lilly lives on as a shell of herself with no real personality or opinions, blindly following orders. For the rest of her life she serves as one of the most efficient and highest ranking reapers in the organization. She loses her connection to the goddess of Death, who now cannot communicate with her any better than any other reaper.

Connective Ending: REAPERS CHANGE

In a Connective playthrough, Lilly and Dorian try to warn the Reaper organization of the Wayward god. The Reaper commander refuses to believe them so they must engage her in a mini boss fight. After defeating the Reaper commander, about half of the reapers join in the fight with the Wayward god, but they are well prepared and suffer minimal losses. When the Wayward god is at half health, Lilly has a chance to connect with it, making it understand that Hannah Fairchild is dead. The Wayward god calms and let the reapers send it back to the goddess of Death, wishing to be with Hannah wherever she is. Having disgraced herself by ignoring a world-ending threat, the current Reaper commander is deposed. The player can choose to lead the Reaper organization as Lilly, or hand over the organization to a changed Dorian. Regardless of which of them ends up “technically” being in charge, they lead the Reaper organization together, and work to make the organization better. Lilly’s connection to the goddess of Death remains, and through Lilly’s insistence Death takes a slightly more active interest in her reapers.

The Wayward god reveals itself

Narrative segment

There are a lot of video game features that both creators and audiences simply accept as part of the medium. The player character can often sprint around with the speed and stamina of an Olympic athlete, they can carry a small department store’s worth of equipment in their inventories, and if they fail their mission and die? Well time simply resets itself and they get to try again. We accept these things in a video game the same way we accept set pieces being wheeled on and off stage during a theater play, but I think taking these features for granted can cause us to miss out on some interesting storytelling opportunities.

For example in a game where the characters literally work for Death herself, not taking advantage of the “Game over, you died” feature would be a waste. The first time a player dies in “Reapers” it triggers a cutscene where the player has a chance to speak to Death.

Scene Script & storyboard

COMBAT GAME PLAY EXT. Alleyway - EVENING

We are in an indistinct alleyway, LILLY is fighting STOCK WAYWARD, and losing. With each hit Lilly takes, the screen gets progressively more colorless and bright.

One, Two Three hits

The last hit depletes Lilly’s health bar completely, she staggers for a moment then falls to her knees.

The screen goes fully white.

FADE TO BLACK.

CUTSCENE EXT. DEATH’S REALM - NIGHT

LILLY cracks one eye open, groaning. She is lying face down on the ground.

She gets to her feet, unsteady, casting her eyes around in confusion.

A GOLDEN STRING protruding from her chest steals her attention from the unfamiliar environment.

She runs her hands along the string, eyes following its path, up, up, up.

A massive ebony disk looms far overhead. The disk cracks open two enormous eyes, as DEATH stares down at her dead reaper.

It’s clear now that we are in Death’s realm, everything is coated in rich darkness, and tinged with a pervasive red glow. The only things that exist here are jagged floating cliffs, pieces of a world long dead. Lilly is standing on one of these cliffs, floating gently between Death’s two massive hands.

Death lowers her face closer to Lilly, casting a shadow over Lilly’s face. All at once Lilly understands.

CONNECTIVE

DIALOGUE OPTION 1: (summary) Ah well... At least I tried.

LILLY:

(Trying for casual but failing)

So this is the end of the line then? Ah well at least I tried. Best of luck finding some other poor soul to clean up this mess.

Death tilts her head ever so slightly in response, puzzled.

Lilly holds her soul string between her own hands, mimicking the motion of scissors with two fingers.

LILLY

(Distracted by movement off-screen)

So how does this work then? You go snip snip with those perfectly manicured nails...And my immortal soul is just...Gone? Forever?

One of Death’s massive hands rests expectantly at the edge of the cliff. (The movement Lilly was tracking)

With less hesitation than a person with a healthy sense of self-preservation would show, Lilly strides over and steps onto Death’s palm.

After a moment of hesitation Lilly curiously reaches out to touch her hand to the mask of bone that makes up Death’s face.

The massive palm raises up, until Death holds Lilly at eye level.

DEATH

(Slowly, sounding as if she speaks with a thousand voices) Goodbye... Lillyan Foster

(Transition to standard Game-over scene)

A golden string winds across the darkness for a moment before it is pulled taught. It vibrates slightly.

FADE TO BLACK.

(With the sound of scissors closing)

OVER BLACK TITLE: Load previous save?

Scene Variation: individualistic dialogue OPTION

DIALOGUE OPTION 3: (summary) I’m not done!

LILLY

This cant be it! You chose me for a reason!

Death tilts her head a fraction, darkly amused

DEATH Did I?

Lilly looks tiny as she staggers to the ground before Death, clutching her head in pain as Death continues to speak

DEATH

You think...Too highly of yourself.

Lilly grinds her teeth and bears it until the ringing finally stops. She yanks her hands away, scowling as she staggers back to her feet

LILLY (Furious)

What do you me-

She cuts herself off, eyes widening, as a shadow falls over her.

LILLY No-!

Dwarfing Lilly entirely is one of Deaths massive hands, it comes down over her with finality. The massive fingers surrounds Lilly like prison bars before the hand closes and retreats back into the darkness, leaving only large gashes in the ground where Lilly once stood.

A golden string winds across the darkness for a moment before it is pulled taught. It vibrates slightly.

FADE TO BLACK.

(With the sound of scissors closing)

OVER BLACK

TITLE: Load previous save?

Scene Variation: suppressed dialogue OPTION

DIALOGUE OPTION 2: (summary) Tell me what to do...

LILLY (Fearfully)

I...But you wanted me to do something...

Death shows no reaction to this, withdrawing her face out of frame.

LILLY (V.O.)

What do you want from me? Please, tell me what to do!

DEATH

There is....Nothing...To be done...

The screen shakes as Death speaks, a loud high pitch ringing lingering after she is done. Lilly desperately clutches her ears trying to block out the sound. She is hunched over in pain.

When silence falls Lilly hesitantly removes her shaking hands the barest inch away from her face.

The vast space around her is entirely empty. Death is gone. Lilly has a moment to look around in confusion before the golden string attached to her chest goes taught. For a split second her eyes widen, she grabs for the string

LILLY Wait-!

A golden string winds across the darkness for a moment before it is pulled taught. It vibrates slightly.

FADE TO BLACK. (With the sound of scissors closing)

OVER BLACK

TITLE: Load previous save?

Game play considerations

As a game with multiple endings “Reapers” has a lot of replay value. It’s important that the game has diverse play styles to support this.

Magic

Revitalize (Heal)

MIND

Perception (Clues and loot give off a faint glow)

Combat

Focus (Adds 5 sec to timed decisions)

Insight (Sharpens Lilly’s sense of insight)

Attack

(Basic attacks do more damage)

Skill trees

Health (Adds to Lilly’s health bar)

Defense (Block physical attacks)

One way that games can promote different play styles is with skill trees. The player earns points from leveling up and can then use those points to unlock skills, giving their characters different advantages. Depending on which skill the player chooses to level up, the combat and game experience gains a lot of variety.

Reveal soul (Reveal a waywards soul tether) Soul shatter (Ranged magic blast)

Weapon customizability

The reapers don’t have a ton of costume/armor variety to emphasize their strict and uniform nature, but a practical organization would want their members to have weapons tailored to suit them. During the game as Lilly levels up she gains tokens and gathers materials for the scythe smith, allowing for much more weapon customizability.

Curved black obsidian blade

Attack bonus + 15

Handling: + 5

Rusted steel handle, hollow

Handling: +5 (lightweight)

Defense: - 5

Straight steel blade

Attack bonus: + 10

Ornamental handle, stolen from a statue.

Handling: -10

Game design engines

CHOICE MOVEMENT

When designing quests, missions and story lines for an open world video game, moving the player across the map to fun and unique locations is an important design element. You’ve made this whole world, let people see it!

VARIETY

Too much of the same activity is the silent killer of a fun game. Make sure quests and missions are designed to vary between exploration, combat, cutscenes, puzzles, dialogue, sneaking and investigating.

The core of a roleplaying game is choice. When designing quests and missions make sure to add meaningful choices and options that impact the narrative or characters.

MEDIA

Why a video game?

“Reapers” is a video game because the ability to interact with the story-world opens up for a new level of immersion. I want the audience to be able to participate in the story, revealing the theme through actions and consequences rather than telling the theme through a single narrative. In an interactive video game, the audience aren’t just observing the characters, they are invited to BE the characters and literally walk a mile in their shoes. An interactive medium is also perfect for lore heavy worlds, since the audience isn’t forced to sit through long exposition sequences, but are free to explore the world at their own pace.

Media landscape & Target group

a Fresh take on Fantasy

“Reapers” is meant to scratch the same itch for exploration, adventure and battle as a high fantasy action roleplaying game, but at the same time to keep it fresh by bringing the high fantasy concepts of gods, ghosts and magic into a unique setting. Both within games, books, films, TV-series, anime, novels, and tabletop RPG’s, the fantasy genre is a behemoth. There is no shortage of fans to find here, rather the challenge becomes standing out from the crowd. “Reapers” follows a very traditional fantasy formula, but a simple shift of time period to the 1920’s instantly narrows the immediate competitors. This way “Reapers” wont suffer immediate comparison to any recent high fantasy, OR modern fantasy stories. “Reapers” closest I.P. Cousins would be Full Metal Alchemist for the overall tone, mood and world building, and Bioshock for the media and setting.

Gamers

Video games have a very diverse audience of players, ranging from achievement minded first person shooter fans, to fans of peaceful social simulation games. With “Reapers” I am specifically targeting the story focused fantasyaction roleplay gamers.

This may sound like a niche, but its a thriving market. In 2021 Gamerant made a list of the 15 Highest Grossing video games of the decade, 4 of those were fantasy action roleplaying games. (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Diablo 3, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, who all sold between 20 and 30 million units each.)

Young adults

“Reapers” was designed with a unisex young adult audience in mind, starting at 13+. As a game, “Reapers” would be rated “Teen” since it does contain combat and death, but never in a graphic or gruesome way. Thematically, “Reapers” delivers the idea, wrapped in fantasy and magic, that the powers the be aren’t always right. That many modern institutions are hopelessly stuck in the past, causing needless pain and alienation. It posits that you are right to question the way of things, and more importantly that things can change, though this change wont come from mindless obedience or aggressive pessimism. These themes are relevant to all ages, but I believe they will strike a note special with the young adult crowd, who left childhood behind two steps ago and are just starting to look at the world critically.

Media platforms

For all that video game players are handed an entire world to play with, we still want more. More of our favorite characters, more stories, more lore, more collectibles.

CASE STUDY

As a case study, Let’s look at the Dragon Age game series, which together has sold more than 11 million units. The Dragon Age series has three games, but in addition to those there are:

- Seven novels following stories set in the Dragon Age universe.

- Ten comic book installments set in the Dragon Age universe.

- A film about Cassandra Pendragast (notable non player character)

- Two books detailing the lore of the Dragon Age universe.

- A tabletop RPG set in the Dragon Age universe.

- A “Heroes of Dragon Age” mini combat app game

- A six episode Netflix show released in December 2022

“Reapers” has a different tone and setting than Dragon Age, but they share the same type of expansive world build that allows for story driven options across multiple platforms.

Examples

TABLETOP horror MYSTERY GAME

A table top roleplaying game set in the “Reapers” universe would preserve the element of choice and interactivity from the video game, and it would be a fun way to lean into the murder mystery horror genre.

A murder has taken place in an old mansion, and the players can choose between playing as a detective character, on the scene to solve the murder, or a reaper character, on the scene to handle any waywards. Will the players be able to solve the murder mystery? And more importantly will they be able to leave the mansion alive?

EPISODIC ANIMATED ADAPTATION

“Reapers’” main storyline is also well suited to be translated into an episodic animated show. The visuals are already stylized in favor of animation over realism, and trying to cram all the lore, characters and plot into a movie is counterintuitive when shows are so popular these days. There would need to be some adaptational adjustments to account for the loss of interactivity though. For example, a suppressed Lilly would make for a very passive protagonist in a medium where the audience can only watch her and not control her. An Individualistic Lilly would be most active in the narrative, and has plenty of character flaws to overcome.

DEVELOPMENT

Early development

“Reapers” is a case of “bottom up” world building where I started with a handful of characters (Lilly, Death & Dorian in that order) and then had to make a world for them to live in. Their early designs were made before I settled on the 1920’s time period.

This version of Dorian looked too much like all the Marvel superhero actors merged into one man.

Lilly’s core design hasn’t changed dramatically.

I don’t recall why I wanted her outfit to be 50 shades of brown though?

Lilly’s design came to me on the first try more or less, I could visualize her very clearly.

Death was really fun to design. Its not only humans who die, but plants and animals as well, I wanted her to design to reflect that.

In contrast Dorian was more like pulling teeth, I couldn’t really get a clear image of him in my head so he’s been through a lot more iterations.

Character exploration

Even though their visual designs have gone through a lot of changes, both Lilly and Dorian have stayed very consistent in their characterization. Early on I like to do character-acting and movement sketches to get a feel for the characters. Lilly moves a lot, she talks with her hands and twists and turns like a ferret. Dorian is straight backed and a lot more precise with his movements.

Costumes

I knew from the beginning that my goal with the reaper uniform was to merge the visuals for a priest and a soldier. I decided early on a dark blue color palette with gold touches, and an emphasis on square and blocky shape language.

These explorations are mostly focused on “practicality” vs “the rule of cool.” Ive written my reapers as a very practical no-nonsense organization, but I’m also designing for a fantasy video game, there needs to be a healthy balance of both.

& Props

As research for this project I got a hold of an old rusty scythe and it turns out that garden tools make for horrible combat weapons. The whole concept of fighting with a scythe is impractical to the core, so “rule of cool” won this round by a big margin.

Early on I had the idea that my reapers could also use other “tools” for their reapings, like scissors or sickles. It ultimately didn’t make it into the project because the scythe motif is so strong that just by seeing a person holding one, you know they have a Death/reaper theme and I didn’t want to compromise that.

Setting

When I was creating the setting for “Reapers” I wanted it to reflect the story’s themes. Death’s temple has stood looming and unchanged for thousands of years, but within the meager span of 400 years, it has literally been surrounded by a high speed modern world.

Temple design exploration

Concept exploration

Time period

Early explorations for setting the story in a fantastical version of the 1920’ s instead of the “vaguely medieval” setting that’s very classic for high fantasy concepts.

Elements of this exploration ended up getting merged with the personality of the exploration below to form Hannah Fairchild.

The tall frame and severe face from this exploration made it into the design for Reaper commander Allegra.

Tone Protagonist

I’m very attached to Lilly, but I did briefly consider if Death’s first reaper would make for a more interesting protagonist.

However, when writing I found that he serves the theme really well as a mysterious almost mythological figure that the Reaper organization nearly worship, but once again have terribly misunderstood.

He also made it in as a story seed though. I would love to explore more about him, especially the unique and “gentle” way he handles soul tethers in comparison to the current Reaper organization.

During development I left the age rating open to see where the story took me. I eventually settled on a teen rating since my theme is very relevant for a young adult audience, so children being possessed and made to kill didn’t fit the tone anymore.

“Possession” made it into my story seeds though as something other stories set in the “Reapers” universe might explore.

Thank you

MENTOR

DJ Cleland Hura

COORDINATOR

Peter Dyring Olsen

SUPPORT

The Storybible Gang

Ninke Naujoks

Anemone Christensen

SUPERVISORS

Cecil Castellucci

Joana Mosi

Joe Kelly

Mads Skovbakke

Martin Rauff

Sascha Altschuler

Steve Seagle

This is a Final Production from Graphic Storytelling, The Animation Workshop, VIA University College, 2023

Website: Kira-Rasmussen.com

Contact: Kira.d.rasmussen@gmail.com

All rights reserved © Kira Rasmussen, 2023