Overview

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Emporium is a game in which players play immortal Entities - wondrous and powerful supernatural beings - in an infinite supermarket called Emporium. Some Entities have come as customers, here to purchase the living heart of a cosmos or some good old homemade jam, while others serve as employees, ready to stack shelves, clean spills, and report any unplanned distortions in the local reality.

Emporium is a game driven by mystery and exploration, as players are encouraged to delve into the depths of the store in search of whatever it may be that their characters are looking for.

We aim to make Emporium a game of wonder, defined by the juxtaposition of the extra ordinary and the extraordinary, where even gods need to queue and a minor spillage may cause disturbances in the space-time continuum. Its tonal spectrum ranges from almost comical absurdism to the horror of the uncanny and consumerism, with plenty of space for lighthearted fun and profound philosophical exploration in between. It is tempered by a note of sorrow stemming from the understanding that all good things come to an end, and at the end of the day, the store will close.

We expect this game to have a mixture of levity and bittersweetness. When the fantastical meets the mundane, humourous events may ensure. Yes, mountains may rise and fall with your thunderous footsteps, but how then should you shop in the glassware section? On the other hand, a supermarket is a place of wants and desires - and their satisfaction for a price. Will you find what you are looking for? Will you pay the steep and strange price, or will you resign and leave, knowing you will never again find “The Perfect Sunset”?

A core part of Emporium is the incorporation of multimedia elements in every aspect of the game, from videos and audio clips on the wiki, to PA announcements and interactive bots on the Discord server, non-written turnsheets in various digital formats, and even the option to receive something a GM has created in the mail if you live within the UK.

Although this game will be run online, we are keen for it to feel just as tangible, surprising, and vibrant as the supermarket itself, and would like to take this opportunity to showcase the varied skillset that exists across the GM team. To have a look at the talents behind the various multimedia aspects on this wiki, please see our credits page.

Just as the existence of multimedia elements is of key importance to our game design, the accessibility of such elements must be a central consideration throughout. It is our policy as GMs to ensure that any video or audio content we publish is accompanied with a transcript, and that accessible alternatives are made available for any other multimedia content, including the design of the wiki. For more details, please see our accessibility page.

We have written Emporium to cater to a wide range of playstyles and approaches, just as a supermarket is there to satisfy a wide range of needs. Exploration, investigation, and unravelling mysteries will represent a large part of the game, but Emporium is also a place for fostering new relationships, gaining introspective insights, struggling against political and economics systems, and simply experiencing and enjoying all the wondrous and bizarre things the store has to offer. Some of these play styles can be encouraged by taking playstyle Quirks, while others are dependent on the areas of the game that you pursue. Themes of consumerism, corporatism, the uncanny, meaning, and religion are all available in this game, and can be pursued throughout.

Emporium is primarily a PvE - specifically Player vs. Environment - game, with exploration and navigation of the store being a main feature of the game. Where PvP occurs, we expect it to be dramatic, rare, and important to character arcs and development; the rules are set up to ensure that direct PC vs. PC conflict is cool, rather than routine. Additionally, Emporium focuses more on the exploration of economic, social, and material problems, rather than triumphs over metaphysical evil; while there will be obstacles to tackle and problems to be dealt with, using negotiation, cunning, and even violence, this is not a 'good vs. cosmic evil' story.

The cast of this game, from the Player Characters to the NPCs, is composed of fantastical and bizarre entities, whose physical manifestations in store reflect their over-the-top mythical and alien nature. A spirit of prime numbers with three faces, five eyes, and eleven wings. A sphinx who guards the body of the uncared for and unburied, draped in fraying linen and unheard last words. An enforcer of gravity, who, out of all things, has an apple for head …

While we have given guidelines and examples for creating Entities, they can essentially be anything (as long as they abide to the few store rules on physical manifestation). Similarly, where they come from is also up to the players. There is no universal aesthetic for the different homeworlds and we expect to see a very colourful multiverse as a result.

There are no rigid numerical skills in Emporium. Rather, the things your character can do and is good at are described in more qualitative terms by highly customisable Attributes. We look forward to seeing you get creative with these, but remember, your character cannot be all-powerful (even if they are technically a god). All player characters will, on balance, be treated as equally powerful in their own ways, and will each have their own niches in which they excel.

When choosing or customising Attributes, we suggest you think about the aspects of the game you are most interested in engaging with, and consider what kind of Attributes are best suited to making progress in those areas. In play, it is then up to you to justify to us how your Attributes might contribute to your success. In return, it is our role as GMs to ensure that when those things line up, everyone’s characters get a chance to shine.

Along with the many roleplaying games from which we have drawn inspiration, particular works of real-world media which have influenced the development of Emporium include: