Ricocheteers - An Extended Universe

The Origin of Ricocheteers

I was playtesting a ghost-time-manipulation game for my System Design Board Game class one day when I realized the game I had made was not the game which the class demanded. So, I pivoted to create the simplistic, one-player board game, Ricocheteers; Maidens of the First War Fortress. This was a light war game intended to simulate the feeling of being an overpowered anime protagonist overwhelming the enemy minions easily--being easy to beat but difficult to master. As a female myself, I wanted to make the Ricocheteers a cute, all-girls squadron of powerful soldiers who ricocheted themselves or their bullets off the walls while opposing an arrogant yet posh foe. In light of the joyful tone, even with the gritty World War I aesthetic, I decided to make all of the characters' names puns which reflect their personalities and rehash all of the country names to be knock-offs of real countries. Thus, the Ricocheteers universe was born.

Characters

Ricocheteers characters are built upon tropes but they all fight their own internal battles--which are typically manifested through their ability sets in games or through other sources of fiction. While there are many named characters cataloged in various design documents or as side notes in games, the following are the most developed characters in Ricocheteers.

Rue Zedé

First featured in "Ricocheteers: Maiden of the First War Fortress" and also the "Ricocheteers" (Video Game)

"Rue is a French girl from southern Parisia. A little girl with a big axe, Rue was born an orphan but later adopted by a lumberjack who taught her to wield an axe twice her height. Rue seems quiet, as the trauma of being an orphan sits deep in her soul. However, if you hurt one of her friends or countrymen, she flies into passionate rage and will cut through any foe and obstacle to protect them. Rue dreams of returning to her lumberjack after the war."

Rue--who will make you "rue the day" you crossed her--was loosely inspired by Jean d'Arc and was first and foremost, a melee character intended to rush enemies and upon killing one, could go on to attempt to kill the next one. She mechanically challenges players to push their luck, but each successive hit lowers her accuracy. It is a balancing act between rushing into the fray for a higher combo and avoiding damage, as she is a fragile character.

Killa Knightley

First featured in "Ricocheteers: Maiden of the First War Fortress"

"Killa is an Anglish noblewoman, in the war on behalf of her younger brother and mother. When duty calls, she heeds it—as she will do whatever it takes for the honor of her family, even at the risk of her own happiness. Killa is cool-headed and serious in battle, but laughs easily and cares for others deeply. She dreams of a day when she can start a family of her own after the war with the gentle man she has been arranged to marry."

Killa kills people every night with her strategic, methodical approach to battle. In contrast to Rue, Killa walks slowly and kills enemies at a distance--carefully lining up shots to avoid all the enemy's defenses.

Major Mark Mywardes

First featured in "Ricocheteers: Maiden of the First War Fortress" and also the "Ricocheteers" (Video Game)

"Mark is an Anglishman who moved to the Empire to divorce his insane wife, as he was unable to do so in Anglisle. In Anglisle, he served in the navy in the Far East and bears a steel blade as a mark of his service. Now, hardened by his years of being in politics and the loss of his only love, Mark often comes across as snide, condescending, and arrogant-but this is just a façade to hide his broken heart. Mark has no dreams after the war—but he prays every night that his wife will remember the girl she used to be."

Mark his words, Mark will do exactly as he says. Designed to be a classic anime-villain who has lost everything and thus has no moral qualms in the pursuit of defending his country, Mark uses a katana to cut in straight, sharp lines towards his opponents or uses a his whip-sword to drag his opponents through barbed wire towards him. Inspired by actual laws in Germany at the time, Mark's tragedy is one reflected in our actual history while his aesthetic is modern and easily despicable.

Esuther Wynd

First featured in "Ricocheteers: Arena"

"Esuther is an Czecken mechanic-turned-Tank driver. In a country reforming its laws and religious beliefs, Esuther feels torn between two-worlds—the old traditions and the new practices. She is respectful and has a methodical mind, though her problem-solving attitude can sometimes appear to be a lack of empathy. She dreams of being the first woman to go through University after the war."

Named for the eastern wind which harbor disaster and chaos, Esuther was built to be a heavier, slower Ricocheteer as a tank-pilot. In the multiplayer game, her primary job was to prevent enemy movement while placing barricades through which her team could ricochet--increasing their movement.

Celia Fate

First featured in "The Epistles of Celia Fate"

"Celia Fate is an orphan rescued from the rubble of an orphanage in Parisia by Albion Vale Aboll. She stayed in the army as a child soldier and learned to become an expert sniper before losing her arm in the war--and much worse. In the aftermath, Celia struggled to figure out what it meant to live on her own and how to rise above the trauma of losing everything."

Celia sealed the fates of her enemies by shooting them long before they saw her, but she also chose her own fate and to rise above it. Crushed by shells throughout the war and losing her right arm literally and metaphorically in the process, Celia's is a journey of recovery and self-actualization.

Albion Vale Aboll

First featured in "The Epistles of Celia Fate"

"An enigma whose absence is sorely missed."

Albion is an altruistic man who makes poor choices out of fear and pride. He saved Celia from the rubble of her orphanage but also forced her into a life of war. He is often emotionally and physically unavailable, and struggles to express his emotions directly--however when he works up the courage to do so, can explain himself in educated prose befitting of a noble and officer in the army.

Yul B. Seri

First featured in "Ricocheteers: Arena" and also in "Ricocheteers/Gravesend"

"Yul is a Kussian commoner who struggles with his crippling anxiety and depression. Every day is a fight to keep going, especially in the face of his backwards country and poor living conditions. While he never excelled in school, Yul was actually quite a dreamer, imagining worlds and stories beyond what people could see. While he was conscripted into the war, he hopes just to write poetry as a profession someday. "

Yul is a healer and a sniper--built to stay at rage and support his allies through healing with his syringe-sniper rifle--as well as shoot enemies to slow them down and lower their accuracy.

Helen Highwater

First featured in "A Night in Parisia"

"A determined and energetic radio broadcaster who delivers the Cable Car News--come hell or high water."

Helen Highwater is the third voice-acted Ricocheteer character whose voice acted as a landmark over the radio in the exploration game, A Night in Parisia. Aside from being confident and bubbly, her backstory has not been heavily explored but she is very connected to the other characters and reports on them with as much energy as she can.

Themes & Tones

The question at the heart of Ricocheteers is "How does one cope with hardship?" with a secondary focus on the question "How do you navigate a changing world?" Each character has their own answer to those questions. Rue destroys that which opposes her and burns ever brighter in the face of a dangerous world, while Celia crumbles before determining to help others. Helen Highwater refuses to stop smiling, while Yul hides his feelings in his poetry shed in the mountains.

The tone of Ricocheteers varies from entry to entry a little but it typically addresses war lighter manner or treats it as a backdrop to more character-focused issues--creating a sense that war is not an event, but a feeling inside of you. In the end, we are all soldiers fighting our own battles.

World Setting

Ricocheteers is a collection of vaguely European nations intended to mimic the western theatre of the First World War. The changed names help to lighten the tone, further emphasize the "alternate history" feeling, and lessen the anachronisms used to create a more fantastical, steampunk setting--such as whip-swords, giant axes, radio broadcasts, and syringe guns. However, it still has some of the aesthetics of the First World War to give the otherwise lighthearted, goofy world a little bit of grit--represented through trenches, mustard gas, and fortresses.