Your family is cursed.
The firstborn child in each generation is born a Seer, haunted by visions of the future they can neither stop nor control. For thirteen generations, they’ve suffered in silence, seeing death and disaster before it comes but unable to prevent it or even give it voice.
You are the second born.
Born only a few minutes after your twin sister, you avoided your family’s curse - by either luck or providence. As the twin sibling to your generation’s Seer, however, you have a rare and amazing gift. You are a Speaker, able to understand her visions and translate them in a way other people can understand.
The two of you have made a living hunting down and trying to stop them at the source, plucking people from the clutches of death. You aren’t always successful, and the pay is pretty much nonexistent, but it gives you a sense of purpose and hey, it’s still better than working retail.
The visions are becoming more frequent lately, and their contents more violent. Is there a thread connecting them that you aren’t able to see? Or is this just a sign of the times?
Either way, one thing is for sure: it’s too much for just the two of you. You’re going to need help.
Speaker is a modern fantasy story in which you are a psychic (well, psychic-adjacent) crime-solver who is in way over their head. It is heavily character-driven, and focuses on relationships - romantic, platonic, and familial. It is intended to be the first book in a trilogy.
Features:
- Play as male, female, or non-binary, and choose your pronouns separately from your gender; play as straight, gay, or bi.
- Customize your appearance, and choose your personality and skills.
- Build a relationship with your twin sister as well as 5 romanceable characters; 3 are gender-locked (one male, one female, and one non-binary) and 2 whose gender is based on your character’s sexuality.
- Have a ghost dog.
- Go on road trips with your new friends and try to save people from a prophesied fate.
- Learn more about your family’s curse and what it means to be a Speaker.
Main Characters:
Non-Romanceable Characters
The Speaker - The player character. The twin sibling of a Seer, they narrowly avoided being the Chosen One pretty much just by the flip of a coin. Part caretaker, part private investigator, part vigilante, the Speaker travels the country trying to prevent their sister’s terrible visions from coming true. Their name, appearance, gender, and personality are all determined by the player.
The Seer - The Speaker’s twin sister. Older than you by four minutes, she suffers from the curse you avoided, plagued by visions of pain and death that she can only speak of to you. Stubbornly optimistic in spite of her powers, she is rarely seen without a smile. On bad days, she has trouble telling what’s real and what’s a vision, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to live her best life. Her appearance is determined by the Speaker’s, and her name is chosen by the player.
The Dog - A black dog spirit that has imprinted himself on you and your sister. He is about the size of an Irish Wolfhound, though he can increase or shrink his size depending on canine whim. Likes to go on car rides. Begs for food scraps even though he can’t eat them. Goodest boy. Name is decided by the player.
Romance Options
(all ROs are bisexual and available to romance no matter the MC’s gender. Rory and Li’s genders are dependent on the MC’s sexuality, and Azalea, Sebastian, and Kana are gender-locked)
The Neighbor - Azalea Mirin (female, she/her) - Azalea has lived next door to you for as long as you can remember, and your families are long-time friends. Gentle, soft-spoken, and unassuming, she can often be found working in her garden, and she regularly brings you pies or muffins she’s made using the things she grows. Az is very much a homebody, and has very adamantly refused to travel with you in all the years you’ve known her, though she doesn’t mind housesitting if you ask nicely. She is 5’5” with a stocky build, and has brown skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. She favors earth tones as well as bright florals, and often wears plaid or fun patterned shirts.
The Detective - Sebastian Wynric (male, he/him) - A private detective that you hired to help find someone. He doesn’t talk much and can sometimes be a little sharp-tongued, but he seems ultimately harmless - or, at the very least, he means you and your sister no harm. You’re pretty sure he isn’t fully human, but he’s never said anything about it and you’re not sure if it would be rude to ask. He is 6’4”, with a muscular build, chest-length black hair worn in a low, neat ponytail, olive skin, and bright green eyes. He tends to dress in dark or muted colors, often suits or collared shirts.
The Hunted - Roderick/Aurora “Rory” Kane (male or female) - The victim in your sister’s latest vision. You manage to save their life, but at what cost? Friendly, outgoing, and perhaps a little too trusting, their resemblance to a golden retriever is almost uncanny. 5’9" and all ropy muscle, they have short and very curly golden brown hair, hazel eyes, and tanned skin covered in freckles and more than a few scars. Favors a simple t-shirt and pair of jeans most of the time. They very rarely wear a coat or sweater, even in cold weather.
The Witch - Liam/Lily Cowles (male or female) - A healer, and potentially an old friend. Your family and theirs have been familiar with each other for generations, but you haven’t seen them since you were children. You remember them being quiet and shy, but surprisingly mischievous, and it seems that has carried into adulthood. They lean really heavily into the “spooky” angle of witchcraft, but you’re not sure how much of that is just for appearances. Li is willowy and around 5’7”, though they rarely stand up straight and as such seem a lot shorter. They have pale skin and black eyes, and their shoulder-length side-shaved hair is currently dyed a dark green. They dress mostly in black and wear thick-rimmed glasses, and you’ve noticed some tattoos peeking out from under their sleeves.
The Musician - Kana (genderfluid, they/them) - You don’t know Kana personally, but somehow every town you stop in, they’re there too. Supposedly a traveling musician who just happens to be taking the same route you are, but only they know how true that actually is and they aren’t in a sharing mood. You do have to admit that they’re a very skilled singer, so that part of their story, at least, might be true. Just shy of 6 feet tall and lean, Kana has dark skin and very pale blue eyes, and their auburn hair is worn in microbraids that always seemed to be gently moving, as if caught in a breeze. They dress mostly in pastels, especially blues, and favor flowing and loose fabrics.
The demo for Speaker can be found here! (last updated 2/3/21)
We have a discord server now too! It can be found here!
It currently contains the prologue, chapter 1, and the first part of chapter 2 and is ~80,000 words. I’m going to try and update at least once a month, but I’m a stay-at-home parent (my kid was supposed to start school this year, but then, y’know, covid happened) so some updates may be smaller than others.
Finally, I am much more active on tumblr at speakergame.tumblr.com if you want to stop by and say hi! Thank you for reading!
I’ll add some unfriendly options in the next update
that is something that will be fixed in the next update
I like having so many customization options, but I was kind of confused about one: Just after choosing our pronouns, we also choose whether we are called brother, sister or sibling. Is this meant to create a character that hasn’t came out with their gender identity?
I’m a non-binary person that uses “she/her” pronouns, and I have some friends that are female but use “he/him” so I wanted people to have the option to choose those separately!