This is the first development diary for Mysteries & Perils. I want to take you inside what's already up and running, screen by screen, in the same order the game unfolds, so you can feel where it is now and where it's headed. Grab a coffee and come with me.
The user area
Your headquarters. In one place you'll find your character, your adventure in progress, and the way straight back into it. And there's more on the way: achievements to chase, rewards for players who pay attention, choose carefully, and dare at the right moments. Every decision you make could earn one, which makes you think twice at every fork in the road.
Choosing your adventure
Before anything else, you choose which story you'll live out. Each adventure is a world with its own mood, its own secrets, and its own dangers. That's already your first choice that carries weight, and none of them are innocent. For now we only have the test adventure, but I'll soon start writing the one that launches with the Beta.
Creating your character
This is where you give life to who you'll play, and the game walks you through it step by step. No memorizing tables: you make the decisions that matter and the machine handles the math underneath. On the left, your choices; on the right, the explanation of each one. Even someone who's never seen the system will know exactly what to do.
Species (or race). There are nine to choose from, each with its own identity and traits: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Dragonborn, Tiefling, Gnome, and Orc. The Half-Elf is a little gift from us: it isn't a separate species in the 2024 edition, but we brought it back as a visual choice, running on the same rules as the Elf, for anyone who loves that heritage of two worlds.
Skin tone. Two tones per character, a small detail that makes them look more like the one you're picturing.
Your class: start with the Fighter. Every journey needs a fighting style, and the first class that's ready and playable is the Fighter: the master of arms, the one who holds the front line. It's genuinely functional already, from the first blow to leveling up. And it's only the opening act: other classes are already in the oven and will arrive little by little.
Alignment. Your character's moral compass, from the righteous hero to the lawless trickster. It has less to do with the numbers and more with how you'll roleplay who they are. But watch out: many encounters with NPCs shift depending on your gender and your alignment. So, will you dare to play chaotic evil?
Ability scores. You spread the points yourself and decide whether they're the bruiser, the nimble one, the clever one, or the stubborn one who refuses to fall, and the result shows up on the spot.
Skills. This is where they shine outside the fight: stealth, persuasion, insight, arcana. Skills tell you what your character is good at when the sword stays in its sheath.
Choose the name and forge your character. Finally, the name and the completed sheet: the instant a pile of numbers becomes someone, with a story, a face, and a calling. They're ready to play.
Character sheet
Ability scores, skills, health, and everything you've earned, always one click away. Built on the 2024 system at its core, this screen is all about the information: keep an eye on it and understand what each ability or trait does.
Inventory
Your backpack, and it's truly yours. Weapons, armor, potions, torches: each item takes up its own space, and it's on you to decide what to carry, what to equip, and the exact moment to use it. That potion you saved could be the difference between breathing again and becoming a line in another adventurer's journal.
Journal
A diary that keeps your quests and the steps you've already taken, so you never lose the thread of a story that's yours alone. And here's a nice touch: your personal diary (the right-hand page) is truly yours, the place where you write down and store all the important information.
The adventure scenes
Every moment of the story is a scene illustrated with attention and care, made for the deepest immersion possible, with the narration leading you by the hand. Rather than a wall of text you cross on autopilot, it's a place you look into, breathe in, and step inside. No oracle will give you that. It's the essence of the gamebook, right in your browser.
NPCs who talk to you
The world isn't empty. Its characters step up to talk to you, with a portrait and a voice of their own. They stare you down, taunt you, plead with you, sometimes lie to your face. You'll grow to hate some and care for others, and that changes the way you play.
The fork in the road: why your choice is real
Here beats the heart of a gamebook, and here lives what makes M&P different. You reach a crossroads and decide where to go. Picture a tree: each of your decisions opens a new branch of events, and every branch is real, written by hand, one at a time.
This is not an AI spitting out random text at every click, something anyone can do for free in ChatGPT and that plenty of so-called "gamebooks" out there sell as if it were magic. Here the tree was planted with care, branch by branch, so that every path carries weight, consequence, and meaning. It was the hardest part to build, and it's exactly what makes your choice matter for real.
Combat
The enemy in front of you, your actions at hand, and the die spinning to decide the blow. That little chill when everything hangs on a single number happens right there, on your screen, no fuss. You decide when and how to attack, use abilities, drink a potion, flee the battle, switch targets. Even the die to recover HP after a rest, you roll it yourself.
And then comes the reward: the enemy down in front of you, the battle won, the breath you were holding slowly coming back.
Combat log
Every blow, every hit, and every miss is recorded, so you can relive the fight and understand exactly how you won, or how you nearly died.
Leveling up
When experience piles up and you grow, your character gets stronger, and a step-by-step guide walks you through the new choices. It's the moment you watch the one you created take shape, and become more your own.
About using D&D in our game
M&P runs, at first, on the 2024 5th edition rules of D&D. But there's a catch: Wizards, the owner of D&D, only officially releases a portion of those rules for people who want to build on them. So we don't use 100% of the system; we use the part that's free, with respect for what's theirs. And because M&P is a gamebook you play on your own, not a group table, a lot still had to be adapted to make sense playing this way.
In this early phase, the game is being built with a limited set of rules, but they are the real 2024 5th edition rules. And look, I started down the hardest path on purpose. It would have been far easier to invent my own lean, simple system, but I wanted to deliver the weight of the system players already know and love. And this isn't the end of the road: over time M&P will have other systems, starting with one of our own, much lighter and aimed more at storytelling than at rules. Each one for a different kind of adventure and player.
Why your support truly matters
M&P hasn't opened yet, and how much it grows depends a great deal on you. Every person who follows along and every piece of feedback that comes in is what lets me invest more time and speed everything up. The better the result and the more people engaged, the faster the next adventures, the next systems, and the next screens come to life. I don't mean that as a figure of speech; it's literally how this project moves. If you want to see M&P become everything it can be, sticking around and sharing your opinion already makes that tree grow faster. Join the waitlist and follow every step of this build up close.
That's it for now. In the next diary, I'll tell you what's moved forward.
May the dice roll in your favor. By Mario, creator of Mysteries & Perils.
