Alchemistresses: A queer game about magical girls, reincarnation, and self-discovery. It was successfully funded on Kickstarter.
Alchemistresses is a Tabletop Roleplay Game for 3-4 players and a Game Master by Allison Kyran Cole, Dora Elizabeth Rogers, and Michael Marcotte. You will be playing everyday teens going to high school and dealing with all of the shenanigans that ensue. But there is something very special about you: you are the reincarnations of powerful magical beings. The mistress of one of the five elements. The memories of this former life have been lost to you, and it will take time (maybe even the entire season of an anime) to remember who you were then and what that means for who you are now.
This is a game about magic, fantasy, mystical creatures, and good versus evil. It is also a game about drama, dances, crushes, popularity, and pop quizzes. Most importantly, it is a game about coming of age, self-discovery, loss, friendship, and FEELINGS!
A note on Magical Girls: Magical Girl is a job description, not a gender. While in your past life you held the title of the Mistress of your element (for example “Mistress of Fire”), this does not mean you need to identify in any particular way re: gender. Your past and present life can have different identities, orientations, and bodies. This game uses transformation and recovered memories as metaphors for coming of age and self-exploration, particularly in relation to queerness. Part of this narrative is reconciling who you think you are with the undiscovered parts of who you might be.
The Story of Alchemistresses
Have you ever had a project you loved, and couldn’t let it go? For me, that project is Alchemistresses. Mikey and I started designing when we were both fledgling game designers. We ran our first playtest for Alchemistresses over seven years ago. I still have the character sheets to prove how far it has come. Since then I’ve gotten a master’s degree in game design, won awards for my work, done game commissions for clients like UNICEF and Times Square Arts, run two successful crowdfunding campaigns for TTRPG projects, and am a full-time game designer by profession.
But I love this game, and I could never stop working on it.
I need more explicitly queer games, and I need more games with explicitly femme aesthetics. There are some amazing ones out there now (I’m looking at you Thirsty Sword Lesbians), but definitely not enough. So that’s what I have been designing passionately in the background for the last eight years.
What People Are Saying About the Game
Features
All of the fun and awkwardness of high school: from crushes to track meets
A unique reincarnation-based memory mechanic
An easy-to-learn combat system
A campaign built to provide a complete and satisfying narrative arc in 12 sessions
A comprehensive Game Master guide, making it easy to run— even for first-time GMs!
An amazing team of contributing writers and designers
Original Audio for your Magical Girl transformations created by award-winning musician Lyndsie Alguire
Over 30 illustrations by Léonore Renahy
The full game includes: a custom gold coin, alchemy points tokens, a full set of sparkly (of course) dice, and high-quality prints of character sheets with resolve trackers themed to the elemental colours. All packaged in a beautiful bag printed with custom art.
Contributing Writers and Designers
Sadia Bies, designer of Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous
Sharang Biswas, writer and designer of Tome of Dark Delights
Naomi Clark, designer of Consentacle
Jess Rowan Marcotte, designer of Awkward Times At Moonbeam Market
Dora Dee Elizabeth Rogers, designer of Sapphic Slumber Party
Brandy Rose, game designer of Cutest Patoot Games
Legendary Vermin, designer of Alley-Oop!
Check out some great gameplay!
ABOUT ALLISON
I’m a queer artist and game designer from Montreal with an MFA in Interactive Digital Media and Game Design from New York University. I have a passion for Live Action Role Play, Immersive Theatre and becoming the best Escape Room Player the world has ever seen.
Currently working to found Soft Chaos, a worker-owned cooperative, I’ve spent years making eclectic games and installations that have shown in festivals and venues internationally (including Indiecade, E3 and the Museum of the Moving Image).
This will be my third TTRPG crowdfunding campaign— having successfully funded Denial & Yearning in 2021 and Cadences with Soft Chaos earlier this year.
ABOUT DORA
I'm a writer and game designer in Montreal, QC. I'm also an avid tabletop game-player and GM, a lesbian, and a trans woman. My work is interested in domesticity, intimacy, flirtation, and being gay as hell.
I've created both digital works, such as Arc, an interactive fiction about a hacker and a modified mercenary working together on a cyberpunk heist, and on TTRPG games and supplements. Recent projects include Denial & Yearning with Allison, a game about writing your own lesbian romance novel, and Sapphic Slumber Party, a game about beauty, insecurity, and intimacy.