WyshMaykers Designer Notes - The Themes

WyshMaykers, if you haven't picked it up yet, is a story-telling game about individuals who can make anything they think come true. Like all stories, there is a theme or two to this one. Feel free to blatantly harp on them in your own games of WyshMaykers.  

***Power Corrupts*** 
One of the themes, and the most sinister, is that power corrupts people. This is kind of a deep philosophical question more than a statement. Does having the ultimate power to make what you want happen make you corrupt or were you corrupt already? Are people naturally good or evil at the get-go? Does giving someone a weapon make them violent or does it give them a tool to carry out their tendencies? This theme is hinted at in the Larkin's story in the book, and it is something that is really fun to explore in the game.  

***Want*** 
When someone really wants something they are willing to do some crazy and inspiring things. To woo a woman, men write poetry, perform acts of valor, and a sundry of other things. To pass a test, students study insane hours living off of high-caffeine beverages and pizza. We work hard for things that we want. Most of the time, we grow from these experiences and it shapes us as people. WyshMaykers explores a world where people get what they want without the work. How does that affect a person? Do they become lazy? Do they stop "growing" as human beings? Do they want anything after some time? 

***Selfishness*** 
A few religions and some not-so holy philosophies preach some form of the many over the good, or that concentration on the self is a sure-fire way to bad things in this world or the next. The idea of wyshing for things is inherently selfish. People ask for things that they personally want. Even if what they ask is for another person's benefit, the WyshMayker is the person that wants to see that thing occur in this world, thus, the Wysh is somewhat selfish. If a character has any of these religious or philosophical notions about the removal of the self, being a WyshMayker become either a dangerous temptation, a curse, or a mixed gift.  

***Gifts***  
If a person gives you a gift for your birthday, you can either use it, throw it away, re-gift it at a later date, let it sit around and collect dust, or deny the gift. wyshing is a gift to the characters in the game. What players do with the gifts is really important to the story/world. Do they appreciate it, abuse it, let it go stale,or ignore it? How do they use the gift given? What a person would do with unfathomable power is really a fun thing to watch as a Story Referee, as is makiing Supporting Cast Characters with different takes on what they do with the gift.  

Well, that really covers most of the major themes for the game that we had in mind and we enjoyed exploring. If you had some others, let us know by commenting to this post.