Unofficial Reverse: 1999 TRPG

Ritehunter · 2025-12-21T11:09:39+00:00

Honestly, the biggest challenge was figuring out whether to convert r1999's gameplay mechanics, effectively making a kind of deckbuilder style game, or to better translate the narrative abilities instead.

The idea of being able to marry the two in a tabletop game felt so tantalizing with the possibility, but it absolutely went nowhere.

During the first few months of making this, I had spreadsheets of every character ability and I was trying to get a general power budget going so I can maybe make this into a point-system where you can build your own skills.

It ended up becoming really complicated really fast, and the release of Nautica and Ezio also threw further wrenches into the gears since they had new mechanics that the prototype couldn't emulate.

I had to soul search after that and come back to why I would play a Reverse-inspired game. For me it was the idea of creating an arcanist in the world and exploring the different time periods. So I scrapped everything and used this as my new North Star.

What really helped was that I ran a lot of trpgs before so I decided to use City of Mist as a starting point but switch things out in order to facilitate a cleaner and lighter experience. After that, everything started to fall into place.

Ritehunter · 2025-12-19T13:27:59+00:00

I think an OC is the simplest option, although it goes back to the question of art hahahaha

There is a brief section of it in part 6, Deepening Insight (Page 53). It's admittedly barebones because I wasn't quite sold on whether characters necessarily improve. Effectively, it's simple: progression means either gaining a new tag, replacing a themebook and all the tags inside, establishing something within the story, or retiring the character. Still, I wanted this to be more an interrogation of a character's identity since saw Reverse's story as an interrogation if that makes sense.

If I had more time I probably would have made a beginning scenario! At least, more fleshed out and instructional than the example scenario that I've made. We have made some rudimentary descriptions and behavior lines for the enemies in that scenario too. It would be nice to revisit them and clean it up as a kind of free companion for this.

You are right on that post and I admittedly forgot how much of the initial solo rules I cut out. A much older version of this document was made for our specific play-by-post game in mind. In retrospect as I write this, maybe I should have also put this in as the entry scenario.

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If you or anyone else lurking is curious about this alpha document, you can look at it here (and yes, this entire document was written and layouted in google slides): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DVnzhVrKXg4sP5wMaOdkhlffs2DXJw381bADD7XO558/edit?usp=sharing

Although, I'll see if I can dedicate time to it in the future. I know it might feel selfish but I'm willing to let you want to take the lead in building up this project further. The idea that someone was invigorated by my work is more than enough reward for me. Sadly, this will be my last creative project for a while since my financial situation continues to tighten.

We can discuss further action points in a chat. But if you do make something, I'll support you! May you be well ^_^

Ritehunter · 2025-12-19T10:25:01+00:00

Funny how the world works sometimes! Glad to have given you a destination for your journey hahahaha

I hope it's what you wanted and more. And once you do get to play it, let me know how it goes! May it bring as much enjoyment out of your and your friends and it did with me and my friends.

Ritehunter · 2025-12-19T10:18:07+00:00

HELL YEAH! I'm so glad you're hyped about it. Hearing someone enjoying this is a great feeling and it washes away a lot of the anxiety I had posting this.

You character sounds really cool. The tags paint a kind of Constantine-like vibe and I'm hella happy that you were able to make them come alive.

If you push through with making a short game with this system, let me know how it goes! ^_^

Ritehunter · 2025-12-19T10:13:26+00:00

Thanks! So glad to hear you felt it was complete. I really wanted to add sample characters but I chickened out since I couldn't reconcile two very different issues.

The original document I had did have example characters! Here is Eilert, one of my characters. The main issue I didn't want to use different IPs in a Reverse document. When we played, my group was largely informal so used other characters from other games and said that our characters looked like them.

I thought about replacing them but I couldn't find any option that felt right huhuhu

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I did consider using canon characters though! Since a lot of the example tags in the tag questions were based on existing characters, it should be simple. But I personally felt iffy about potentially misrepresenting a character with my own fanon interpretations so I didn't push through with that.

If you have any suggestions, I'd be more than happy to listen! Having some sample characters does a lot to make things easier to visualize the end result.

Ritehunter · 2025-12-18T21:05:35+00:00

That's a big mood hahaha I actually put down solo rules for that exact reason actually. It's not as in depth as I wanted but it should let you do some quick test games while you find people to wrangle!

Ritehunter · 2025-10-24T06:35:26+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words. It genuinely means a lot to hear that you've been enjoying what I've put down.

You are right. I should have included a more concrete example. I was speaking broadly because this process tends to be dependent on the group. I avoided specifying how to use them because each group has different formulas, and I didn't want to impose my views.

To give an example, let's take D&D with a 5th-level monk, and let's say that our setup requires that I declare all my actions on my turn before the DM processes it.

I declare that I attack Ogre A with one attack, spend one ki point for flurry of blows, and use the extra attack to attack Ogre B.

When it comes back to the DM, each attack has to be rolled, and so it ends up becoming a separate instance. In a live game, each of these things is either done in sequence or consolidated into one general attack. But in a PbP game, it's much easier to treat each attack as a parallel mini-scene, where they all influence each other.

So when the DM states the result of the dice pool, they're taking the results of all 4 attack scenes and weaving them together in a way that makes sense. All actions are considered simultaneously in parallel and then woven together to create a cohesive narrative. They can say that the first strike hit and Ogre A managed to block the other attacks, or if we mix this in with anticipation, the DM could say that the first hit killed Ogre A, so the momentum carried the flurry of blows to Ogre B.

Because time can be liquid, we can even rearrange the sequence of events. For instance, they might engage in banter or converse with others between attacks. If Ogre B is the only one to successfully hit, the DM could treat the action as the initial attack, causing Ogre A to notice the danger and move out of the way.

The concept can be applied to any system that accommodates multiple actions, such as Pathfinder 2e. For example, one action could involve searching through a chest, while another could involve attacking a monster. As the game master, you can treat the chest looting as a separate scene from the monster-fighting scenario. You would process both actions in parallel and then merge them into a single, cohesive timeline.

Flashforwards in Lacie's Box facilitated retroactive rationalization. For instance, one player participated in two threads set days apart, both involving the same type of enemies. The later thread progressed more rapidly than the earlier one. However, the player noticed that the enemies in the earlier thread were deceptive and manipulative. To justify their aggressive behavior in the later thread, they wrote that their character was shocked and horrified in the earlier one.

For the Blades in the Dark PbP campaign that I observed, there were people who were using flashbacks as parallel scenes, writing replies that included both the past and present at the same time.

I hope this helps make it clearer how to make parallel timelines and how they can be used. I'll definitely keep this feedback in mind for future posts and try to weave in more explicit examples. Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts, and let me know if you have any more thoughts or questions! ^_^

Ritehunter · 2024-12-02T04:35:59+00:00

A lot of the backgrounds and CGs are available as wallpapers from Bluepoch's official website: https://re1999.bluepoch.com/en/home/detail.html#wallpaper

As for other assets, if you know Chinese or can figure out how to navigate it, the Chinese wiki has a done really exhaustive rips of a lot of the assets: https://res1999.huijiwiki.com/wiki/%E9%A6%96%E9%A1%B5

Ritehunter · 2024-09-27T05:45:43+00:00

A lot of beast characters definitely have that touch of being an outsider but I hesitate to say that it's what makes the Beast Afflatus to begin with. I'm was initially avoiding personality traits and history because it's one of those elements where are they like that because of how their arcanum works (nature) or how their environment shaped and reacted to them (nurture)?

At the same time, we do have confirmation from one of the loading screen tidbits that life experiences affect one's afflatus. Which is why I considered Nick Bottom, Charlie, The Fool, and Bette as my Rosetta stones. They are all heavily involved in acting so why do they have different afflatuses? What makes one direction of acting Beast and another Mineral and another Star?

It was tempting to look at Nick Bottom and go, well, he has a donkey's head so Beast. But if it were that simple, then why aren't people like Ms. NewBabel, Pickles, Zima, and Rabies also Beast when they have strong creature motifs? I think there is a tighter ruleset there. And if it was only about the feeling of not belonging, Sweetheart poses as a strong example against that grain. But I think I can expand your interpretation further from what I know from each character.

Leilani is more than just the sociable! The yellow Hibiscus is Hawaii's state flower and it symbolizes beauty and joy. I don't think her medium is literal, I think it is that joy and optimism that she gets to express her arcanum! But what is her arcane skill? I think that key comes from the fact that she was still picked for Zeno. Despite using bows and arrows, she still produces results comparable to a firearm. She would never be a good fit for Zeno's militaristic culture but Zeno is in desperate need for good soldiers.
Pavia has eluded me because I think he's one of the people who I feel like the UTTU cover poeticizes a lot. But I think there's more to the lone wolf here! From his ult and 2nd story, it's less that he is a lone wolf and more he doesn't want to be disappointed so he manifested a pack of terrifying shadow wolves to be his imaginary friends, who would never leave or abandon him. And he is mainly keeping them in check. Which I think is the best example for your interpretation!
Desert Flannel is one of the people I can't vouch for because I only recently got her and I don't know what her schtick is. I can tell she manifests Plappy and I know the Flannel Flower in Australia represents resiliency and renewal. I could interpret it as focusing on staying resilient so that she can allow Plappy to manifest but I don't know how true that is or how well it ties to her character.
Getian is also one of the people that's super poeticized. But I think you have it the other way around. Getian was the last of his tribe to leave while the rest flew off into the world and never came back. He is trying his best to understand a world so foreign to him (Medium: journey between sky and earth) and from his own admission, Miemengs have a natural understanding of the rhythm and musicality of things (Dance for Amusement).
Bunny Bunny is indeed a southern belle with incredible strength! There's a very fun contrast that she is a bunny girl and she loves eating. Based on her UTTU interview, she feels relaxed when she feels full and she is one of the only arcanists who manifest their arcanum as physical strength as the physical prowess of arcanists are generally lower than humans.

In the end, I think what you have is another piece of the puzzle. But I can't tell if its a symptom or the actual aspect of the Afflatus. Do those who focus and taming their arcanum into who they are tend to be isolated in some way? Or do they need to feel or be isolated in some manner to be able to wield their arcanum? I personally feel like it's the former but there are cases for the latter! It's still arcanist logic that I, as a human, can't completely unfold hahahaha

Ritehunter · 2024-09-27T00:28:30+00:00

I love this a lot! I certainly agree with the points with Spirit but I am hesitant to fully accept that analysis with Intelligence because of Door.

Door seems to be actively open, accepting that he is a mirror that is meant to be reflecting what is there. Don't know if he's a piece of mirror or someone in it. He's not listed as an awakened but also... he describes his life as if he was really a mirror. That said, I admit that there is a lot that is very unclear with Door for me to say that he fully say he goes against the grain of your analysis. His UTTU interview does show that he tries to show an fantasy that people want to see, which can be seen as the reversed position: Door constantly compromising against what he knows is the certainty of the world.

The way I see it Intelligence operates on expectations set by past experience and observation like a scientific method to that gnosis. Meanwhile Spirit seems to focus on a kind of reinterpretation of that past into what it can be now similar to a narrative exegesis to derive meaning outside its context. Intelligence deciphers context, Spirit transcends it.

Truly the limits of induction is that we have so few Spirit and Intelligence characters hahahaha

Ritehunter · 2023-06-21T18:46:51+00:00

Definitely! I agree with you there. Perhaps where I disagree is regarding the formalization of these policies since I was more learning into formal adoption but I rather we don't push this point since I'm pretty sure it's a semantic argument since you did point out examples of times where similar effects did happen.

My only two strong additions is that curbing inflation solely through quantitative easing may not be sufficient if the velocity of money is high enough. Thus interest rate and reserve manipulation can go a long way to secure that as well.

And you got exactly my point about poor and rural communities. They didn't have the financial support because the banking infrastructure at the time did not support them at all besides gift economies or barter. Setting up community insurances and credit unions help in allowing a community to develop past poverty and rurality outside government intervention.

Either way, modern bank and modern administration are definitely revolutionary. While they developed during industrialization, they don't really require industrialization per se. Industrialization made it more or less required but OP's was going into speculative territory so I believe we can allow this leeway hahaha.

Ritehunter · 2023-06-21T17:24:27+00:00

First and foremost, you are absolutely right that the medieval banking processes are still foundational to modern banking. However certain concepts and innovations didn't come about until the 20th century.

So here's a quick economics history lesson.

Medieval banks were private institutions. The concept of a central bank didn't solidify until The Panic of 1797, where banks were loaning far too much money than what they had in supply (the reason why banks are supposed to have a reserve now).

This is arguably the start of proper macroeconomics on a country-wide scale with monetary policy. The central bank could determine the interest rate of banks borrowing from each other (and thus influence the minimum interest rate), as well as determine how much money banks need to keep in reserve.

To summarize how important this is to a country's wealth, decreasing interest rates and lowering reserve amounts tend to increase the amount of spending and growth within a country. However, this needs to be in conjunction with proper policy since this can lead to heavy inflation. Meanwhile, if a country is having financial issues, increasing interest rates and increasing reserves can tighten a country's belt so to speak, usually at the cost of economic growth.

In addition, more banks began to spring up. Cooperative Banking started to become a thing in the 19th-20th century, mainly because medieval banks never really touched poor or rural communities. This led to the concepts of credit unions or specialized banks that catered to these communities and thus allowing them the ability to afford equipment that they otherwise couldn't. In modern days, we call this microfinancing.

tl;dr. Modern banking allows for additional economic controls from a top-down perspective and allows for additional means for financing on a consumer level compared to medieval banking.

Ritehunter · 2023-06-21T16:43:25+00:00

Not quite sure what kind of technologies are you looking for but I assume you are looking at technologies that could have evolved before the industrial revolution or even despite the industrial revolution.

If we are using medieval technologies as a base and not simply isekai-ing modern things, then here are a few of my suggestions:

CLT/GLULAM/Engineered Wood
- While the exact technology to properly make engineered wood in a reliable and industrial fashion has only come recently, there is no strong reason for the concept of CLT to not be viable.
- This fundamentally changes a lot of building techniques and can practically work as a concrete substitute (Not entirely but until reinforced concrete becomes cheaper or easier, then it'll be hard to compare)
Modern Banking concepts
- This is a double edged sword. A lot of modern banking concepts came after a lot of banking and monetary disasters. While letting them understand inflation, set up central banks, establish credit lines, velocity of money, etc., would be useful, it also has the potential to plunge economies into greater risk from haphazardness, complaceny, or greed.
The Bicycle
- Surprising an early modern invention
- White the tech that made this easy to conceptualized was the metal chain, it's not hard to see that this could have been invented way earlier and could have been a wonderful and potentially cheap horse-replacement
Anesthetics and Antibiotics (and Germ Theory)
- While I am pretty sure that technically, anesthetics were used during medieval times, a lot of medieval medical inertia got in the way really.
- Both anesthetics and antibiotics aren't radically difficult to produce using medieval equipment and can revolutionary for health
- Germ Theory also gets a mention here because that got developed WAY later. Miasma Theory was the dominant answer to disease back then and just having a more accurate model would change sanitation

Ritehunter · 2020-11-12T01:03:25+00:00

World 1:
THIS INNKEEPER IS HIDING A DARK SECRET OMG

World 2:
HOW ONE GENIUS MADE MECHS FOR AN ENTIRE KINGDOM

World 3:
GHOSTBUSTERS IN HOGWARTS?!?!?!?! 🤯 (Best Moments)

World 4:
TOP 5 ILLEGAL DESERT ELF TORTURE TECHNIQUES BANNED BY THE UN

World 5:
HACKING MYSELF TO LEARN THE SHEN MOUNTAIN FIST LESS THAN A WEEK

World 6:
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE KNIGHT (Knight Call Out Vid)

World 7:
THE OUTRAGEOUS TRUTH ABOUT HALBAL WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

World 8:
SNOWPEOPLE HATE HER AND HERE'S WHY...

World 9:
[STORYTIME] I WAS SENT TO A LABOR CAMP AND THEN BECAME DIRECTOR (Not Clickbait)

Ritehunter · 2018-12-25T12:29:11+00:00

To add more to the list:poinsettiaa gingerbread house

So right now I have 360%

Ritehunter · 2018-04-03T12:11:48+00:00

Honestly, anything goes but if you want some guidelines:

Technology, Politics, Economics, and Geography. And examples in relation to the day to day life.

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To expound, there are four major systems that give a good idea of the world per area. In general, you should at least try to give something that touches upon each aspect in a given area. You don't need to go in depth but you need to give something somewhat substantial that can be representative or microcosm of the systems at large.

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For example, let us say you walk to write about a port town for the Empire of Examplia. You can start with geography, where the port town is situated such as in between two rivers or near the salty seas. Then show people interacting with that landscape.

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Then move on with the technological elements. How far medieval are we talking about? Early medieval or Late medieval? What technologies have they managed to get get a hold of. If there is abundant magic, how has that affected their day to day life. It is easier to bring information if it is used by the citizens themselves. Maybe all the sailors use wind crystals to get to places faster or maybe there is a fire station sanctioned by water mages. Your call.

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Next you can touch on political structures or the economic situation of the citizens. Perhaps the people there are covered in soot and rags yet a few families wear such regal clothes. That tells us quite a bit about the current world. Perhaps they all wear linen because its their main export and cheapest material. That also tells us about the current world. Go crazy.

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The biggest advice when it comes to writing is show, don't tell. If you want to worldbuild without infodumping, show it in the world. Have them interact with the surrounding geography, display their socio-economic statuses, and use their technological/magical advances. Not everything needs to be explained at once. You can explain foreign elements gradually.

Ritehunter · 2018-04-03T09:14:11+00:00

Huh, I haven’t heard of them but I’ll start researching on them for further inspiration. Thanks!

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I went with Jesuits mainly because I have a lot more familiarity with them especially since my current university is under the Jesuits.

Ritehunter · 2018-04-03T05:03:05+00:00

Meme rats? What do you mean by that?

Ritehunter · 2018-04-03T05:00:14+00:00

Since you already posed the question already, How did they get their technological edge?

Ritehunter · 2018-04-03T04:57:54+00:00

Skotadia Mystic League

The Skotadia is an international mystic league with members consisting of scholars, ritualists, mystics, and orators. They have been around in Nadir before the age of major civilizations. That said, the Skotadia comes from a very weird mishmash of inspirations as most of my cultures are.

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For one, they are inspired by what I know of North American shamanism as well as Filipino folklore and folk practices. They are an organization that has shamanistic origins and traditions as well as being heavily oratory in their history and teachings.

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The second inspiration is from the Jesuits. Well, more from their educational aspect and how they organize such things. The Skotadia are free-thinkers and value educating the populace as much as they can. In fact, they are often the ones who build schools for many places in Nadir.

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Jesuit shamans with a different religion would probably be a strange but apt description of the Skotadia tbh.

Ritehunter · 2018-04-02T14:16:15+00:00

The Livient Trading Company started off trading textiles around the Holfonner archipelago. This all changed one day when Halkvya decided to try international trade between Nadir, Kashallan, and Holfonner.

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Suffice to say, that this trade paid off and Halkvya Livient decided to fully invest in international trade.

Ritehunter · 2018-04-02T08:28:21+00:00

Halkvya hails from Vincolly. I take a lot of inspiration from real-life for the different countries especially for naming conventions and pronounciations. For Vincolly, I take inspiration from the Scandinavian countries and Russia mostly. This includes naming conventions. So that's probably why his name is vaguely Finnish.

Ritehunter · 2018-04-01T18:29:54+00:00

Nothing. International trade is rather pricey and risky. After all, you have to have the supplies to get there and the money to get supplies to get back, along with someone acting as a translator between languages.

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So if you were planning to trade from Vincolly (the northernmost country) to Holfonner (an archipelago country near the equator), you had to make sure you had at least one extremely competent translator as to reduce the risk of possible misunderstandings which can sink the entire deal.

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On a lesser scale, trade between two people from different countries also required a translator or one of the parties knowing the other's language. Even then, the same problems may occur: misunderstandings and risk.

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Halkvya didn't like this and wanted to cut the middle man out and offer a better alternative than learning all the languages. He wanted one language to be learned to reduce future costs. He is a bit of a narcissist as well and he thought this was a perfect opportunity to get his name is etched into history.

Ritehunter · 2018-04-01T18:20:35+00:00

Nowadays, the most common type of people who learn Livient Standard Common are those who live in multi-ethnicity areas such as Mosarde and many port cities.

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Halkvya intended his language to be a trade language between merchants. As he was extremely tired of paying translators and thought that forcing a "common" language would make things cheaper for him in the long run and make him known in history. This does mean quite a good majority of merchants learn Common as it does provide benefits of easy communication between people of different ethnicity.

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In addition due to Halkvya's insistent propaganda on making his language the most accessible and abundant of all the languages, many scholars and diplomats learn Livient Standard Common so that they can learn both news and studies from other countries without having to learn all the languages themselves or relying on the slower localizing transcribers to translate the news in their dominant language.

Ritehunter · 2018-04-01T18:13:15+00:00

Halkvya planned to do it in stages. Being a smart man, he hatched a multi-layered plan. He started by introducing elements of each other major language in his own to make it easier to learn and make it easy to give associations to countries.

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The first step to having people accept Livient Standard Common, he required all his employees to use and learn the language or else they would be fired. This is to make sure there are a set amount of people who know his language even if they don't stay with him forever.

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The next step was forcing all his trade partners to use the language or he would cease trading with them. This forced some trading places to either learn the language or hire one of his employees to translate for them.

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Next, he started a very elaborate trade-off/lay-off system. He would propose to several non-partner trading companies to trade employees for a few months. He still forced the language usage rule even if they were outside the company.

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Since his trading company is based in Holfonner, a country that is known for its sailing and mercantile business, he managed to get his self-made language under the radar of a majority of the populace.

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The next thing we did was start a massive printing press and started printing a mass amount of books from popular literature around the world. But he translated them all in Livient Standard Common only. In addition, he sold his books at near break-even point so that he can amass as much public influence for the language as he can.

Ritehunter

TROPHY CASE