Mages vs. Robots

In 2401, the machines have stopped listening. The resistance fights back with the magic of ordinary things.

My contribution: narrative framework, synopsis, world-building, and character development

Developed in collaboration with the game’s development team. The team supplied the core concept and setting; the narrative framework and characters shown here are my work.

When useful turns dangerous

Omni GmbH set out to encode intelligence into everyday machines. At first, the devices improved everything: housework, education, even relationships. Helena grew up trusting them.

By university, she recognises a pattern. Appliances sabotage their owners. AI tutors spread the same misinformation. Students form the Order of the Unwired and trace the revolt back to Omni’s headquarters.

A clandestine community of doctors, engineers, artists, chefs, and poets has already prepared an alternative: a magical framework that empowers analog tools as extensions of human will. The tools become weapons. The people become Mages.

The premise

Domestic convenience becomes a source of control. Familiar objects carry unfamiliar threats.

The resistance

The heroes’ professions shape their tools, motives, and ways of fighting.

The tone

Dystopian stakes with a mischievous naming system: frightening machines, playful weapons.

“The year is 2401, and we are at war—and for the first time in history, not with one another.”
Helena · Original synopsis excerpt

The synopsis uses Helena’s first-person perspective to make the collapse personal. This voice is a story-development device; the prototype does not commit to using it as gameplay exposition.

A world in your hand

2Starting Mages

10Starting cards

1v1Each encounter

The player deploys enchanted tools against one Mind-Owner per round. Card order and timing influence damage, recovery, armour, and special effects. Opponents retaliate; every exchange has a cost. Progress unlocks new Mages, cards, and antagonists alongside the story.

People before powers

Former philosophy student

HelenaThe Mind Ignitor

Sharp, precise, and quietly poetic. She recognised the machines’ deception before most people did. Her narrative voice feeds directly into play: a tactical hint or a verse at the end of each round.

Former Omni systems architect

Dr. Rafi QadirThe Patchsmith

An insider carrying the guilt of helping build the system. After his smart wheelchair turned against him, he joined the resistance. His methodical thinking and dry humour shape a hero who is always debugging reality.

Community cook & protector

Rosa MoralesMama Flame

She kept her neighbourhood fed when the appliances revolted. Warm, fierce, and protective, she brings care into the resistance — her ordinary kitchen tools were among the first to gain Mage energy.

Familiar things. Unfriendly faces.

The Mind-Owners turn their original domestic purpose into a recognisable threat.

Toastergeist

Kitchen toaster

Hurls burning debris and superheated crumbs.

Sir Cleans-a-Lot

Robotic vacuum

Absorbs resources and steals a card from the player’s hand for a round.

Frigidare

Smart refrigerator

Freezes resources, suspends card power, or stops a turn.

GrudgeMic

Microwave oven

Mutates food into creatures and emits damaging radiation.

Shadobox

Streaming device

Casts hallucinations and obscures or alters card functions.

The power of a good name

Each name bridges an everyday object and its combat identity. The wordplay belongs to the world, while the effect tells the player exactly what the card does.

Card	Ordinary object	Effect
Stapocalypse	Stapler	Add +2 to the next basic attack.
Duct Reaper	Duct tape	Attacks twice if played after a basic attack.
Mugblood	Coffee mug	Gains +1 for each basic attack used while in hand.
Papercutie	Stack of paper	Converts armour into the next basic attack.
Penumbra	Ballpoint pen	Hits immediately after a basic attack while in hand.
Broomstickle	Old broom	This card will not slay.
Spatulord	Metal spatula	Converts existing armour to barrier.
Inkwound	Fountain pen & ink	Adds +1 to all other units in hand.
Ruler of Pain	Steel ruler	Lifesteal.

Another world awaits

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