Work In Progress is a game about magic, hope and creativity. Players are Muses: narrative entities that exist in the mind of a struggling author, Jo, seeking to rekindle their literary career and break through encroaching Writer's Block. Muses will trek out across the surreal Dreamscape in the hope of "mining" ever sought-after Tropes, plan heists and interventions into Jo's literary ideas, and shape Jo's Magnum Opus according to their own designs.

We aim to give Work In Progress a bright and optimistic tone. Even as the known world the players inhabit is beginning to close in and fall apart, they have the power to reshape it, break new ground and turn the tide. As such, while the backdrop is one of impending peril and threat, the potential for players to transform the world around them for the better - to be heroes, and to create stories as they see fit - will be in the foreground.

This tone of optimism, mystery and wonder will be tempered in places by questions of bittersweet victory, sacrifice and creative struggle. Aspiring writers are told, to create a masterpiece of fiction, that they must 'kill their darlings' - but what does that mean for the Muse who has to take up the knife to actually do the dirty deed?

That said, we also expect this game to have a theme of humour and levity throughout. While not a comedy game, player characters wield hyper-stylised plot devices, symbolic archetypes, and cheesy clichés as their tools of their trade - it will, as such, hopefully feel fun to play a Muse.

The Muses and their world are the creative force behind Jo's creativity, and is based on what they know: a relatively ordinary existence in a relatively ordinary place - a person in their 40s who is starting to lose their creative edge, though who once had a prolific output.

Thus, Spindle looks very much like a sleepy motorway town, with small streets and run down, cramped shopfronts, though the insides of these buildings may be much more extravagant - it all depends on what they are used for. There will occasionally be landscapes and buildings that clash with this small town, as Factions have built up their own identity in this world. Muses themselves are a colourful cast of characters that embody one of seven Ideals, though we have intentionally allowed these to be interpreted widely, and may range from subtle reimaginings of emotion to stark expressions of niche interests - and everything in between. Despite these initial inspirations, Muses are shaped by their world and who they interact with, forming complex characters based off simple beginnings. However, a slight tinge of sadness pervades with the impending Great Fade.

Work In Progress is meant to take a satirical and lovable tone to all of its stories and characters. Amidst the dense emotional moments, relationships and high concept intellectualism of the Dreamscape, there lies a silliness in how these elements are interpreted and used, and an underlying sense of the necessity of cooperation. Curiosity is also a large part of the Work In Progress world, whether it be through exploration or wondering just how high you can get on the social ladder. Muses are beings attracted by the “What if?”, however players choose to interpret that.

Names of Muses in Jo's Dream are extremely varied. Some choose to go by human names (usually unique, pretentious, or with a literary or artistic connection); others choose names related to what they do in Dream, while others still choose things even more abstract, such as something relating to their Ideal, terms relating to an artistic movement or a few poignant words from a poem. Above all, wordplay abounds. Some groups within Dream have their own naming trends or conventions - not every Muse will follow them, but many do. Some examples (taken from NPC Faction members) are as follows:

• Morta Lipwig: Conductor of the Ticket Office at the Academy of Thought.
• Reminiscer: Founder and owner of the Food for Thought café.
• Radio Dream: Operator of the Free Idea Forum's radio station.
• Brother JoSeph: A dedicated member of Jommunity.
• Pando Rasbox: A NFWS senior manager.
• Avant Garde: A struggling member of Pure Inspiration.
• Ursus: Head of security at the Sell-Out Syndicate's Trope Exchange.

We have written Work In Progress to cater to a wide range of playstyles and approaches, all of which will be equally valid, rewarding and full of peril and opportunity. Exploration, investigation and unravelling mysteries will represent a large part of the game, but Dream is also a place of larger-than-life characters, politicking and social intrigue, where emotions and stories are literally what make the world go round.

In order to direct you towards the kind of game you are interested, check out the Faction pages, each of which has a section indicating some of the playstyle elements that might interest you, whether that’s exploration of the world, intrigue and social maneuvering, or ill-advised experimentation with the metaphysical underpinnings of the setting. We don’t want you to feel restricted by this, and, naturally, there’s always more than meets the eye, but if something is particularly interesting to you this should point you in the right direction.

We aim for there to be a mix of Player versus Environment and Player versus Player content, with more PvE material at first. When characters clash, their disagreements will largely be over competing visions of the world and the stories produced by Jo rather than attempts to murder each other, meaning that character death - while possible - is less common. We intend to ensure that losing in these conflicts is just as interesting as winning, and is never a 'dead end'. If your character does end up dying or becoming unplayable, we'll let you know in good time so that you have plenty of time to create a new character. We'll ensure that you aren't at a disadvantage for entering the game late!

The game has been inspired by a number of sources. These include but are certainly not limited to:

• The Thursday Next series (book series)
• Inside Out (film)
• The Astral Realms sourcebook of Mage: The Awakening (tabletop RPG setting)
• The works of William Shakespeare (plays)
• Deadwood (TV series)
• Sunless Skies (video game)
• Previous Society Games, including Ultimate Monster Battle Arena, Maleficarum, Tempest and Corporation
• Welcome to Night Vale (podcast)
• The Maltese Falcon (book)
• The Fifth Element (film)
• Homestuck (webcomic)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! (card game)
• Wreck-It Ralph (film)
• Inception (film)
• Psychonauts (video game)
• Namesake (webcomic)
• Inkheart (film)
• Monsters, Inc. (film)
• r/MemeEconomy (subreddit)

Though the Vignettes in Work In Progress will contain a large variety of stories, from a number of different genres, we will not be using real-world fiction. Instead, we will be creating our own 'fictional fiction' that represents the media, literature and other creative projects that Jo has engaged in over their lifetime.

Some of this fiction will be intentionally derivative, playing off well-known archetypes and tropes within a particular genre in order to create a space in which the players can shape the narrative, while some may be set in historical settings with well-known historical figures, though they will always be fictionalised versions. However, we will not be introducing direct parallels to existing real-world fiction, and nor will we be attempting to accurately recreate history.

Alongside this, we won't be accepting characters that are lifted directly from existing media or are obvious parallels of real-world characters from stories. Muses are more like actors and artists who may take many different roles and (while outside of a Vignette) do not embody any specific character other than themselves. They may copy some mannerisms from their favourite archetypes, but they are their own selves - with all the unique characteristics and experiences that go with that.