Marginalis

Art is magic, poetry is play

Marginalis is a single-player poetry RPG, which invites the player to interact and affect the world around them through the magic of their art – specifically, through the poems they write as a bard. The main objective is to manage the key stats of hero NPCs to help the heroes try to survive their quest​. Each hero NPC has unique stats and abilities and requires a poem tailored to their tastes in order to manipulate their attributes.

Tasks

The player has three main tasks:​

  • discover vocabulary, topics, and forms for poetry by interacting with their audience of heroes​

  • determine which stats – Health, Strength, Will, Dexterity, Aether – the NPCs need help with the most to survive an attack​

  • compose poems using the forms they managed to discover while selecting the vocabulary and topics related to the NPC stats in need of change.

Evaluation

Each poem is evaluated based on several factors:​

  • adherence to form (e.g. correct syllable count in a haiku)​

  • adherence to NPC taste (e.g. not creating a limerick for a hero who loves sonnets)​

  • correct choice of keyword (e.g. not mentioning Health in a poem meant to boost the Strength stat)

Progression

As the player's skills grow, the poetry composition process becomes less structured and more dependent on the player's interpretation of the brief:​

  • Phase 1: Poem brief + Word bank + Template​

  • Phase 2: Poem brief + Word bank

  • Phase 3: Poem brief

Next

🕹️ 12 Seconds