As seen in the media

Featuring The Story Engine

Featuring Peter Chiykowski, Creator

What began in 2019 as a single Kickstarter campaign has grown into an indie creative studio trusted by writers, RPG players, teachers, librarians, podcasters, filmmakers, and worldbuilders around the world.

What makes our approach unique is the core philosophy that guides every tool we create. All of our systems are:

  • Open-ended and system-agnostic, so they fit any genre, writing style, or RPG without boxing you in.

  • Created by award-winning writers and designers, including Aurora Award-winning creator Peter Chiykowski.

  • Tested by thousands of storytellers, ensuring each deck works in real creative environments—at the writing desk, the gaming table, and the classroom.

  • Community-powered and independently published, shaped by the creators who believe in this work and helped bring it to life.

  • Designed to help you discover and strengthen your own creative voice, whether you're building worlds, characters, campaigns, or stories from scratch.

Since launching our first deck, our community has helped us:

  • Reach over 50,000 creators worldwide
  • Raise $2.8 million across four crowdfunding campaigns
  • Release multiple bestselling decks, expansions, and creative toolkits
  • Launch our first official tabletop storytelling party game
  • Support writing groups and tabletop communities in dozens of countries

Our Mission & Values

At our core, we believe storytelling is a human instinct: Everyone has a voice worth hearing. Everyone contains worlds worth exploring. And sometimes all you need is the right spark to bring those ideas to life.

Our mission is simple: Make writing and storytelling more accessible, fun, and empowering for anyone with a tale to tell.

Our Design Principles

  • Creativity Should Be Approachable

    Our tools remove the intimidation of the blank page and make it easy to jump into a story—whether you're a new writer or a veteran GM.

  • Tools Should Adapt to You

    Everything we create is open-ended, genre-flexible, and designed to fit your imagination, not box it in. These values guide every product we make—from the very first Story Engine Deck to our latest game—and continue to shape the next chapter of The Story Engine.

  • Storytelling Is Community-Powered

    Our decks are shaped with input from thousands of writers, teachers, GMs, podcasters, and educators who use them in the real world.

  • Human Creativity > AI

    We do not use AI at any stage of our creative process. Every component of our decks is made by a team of passionate writers and designers, while the art is licensed from human artists and photographers.

Who Our Products Are For

  • Writers

    Break through the blank page, build characters, and explore new narrative paths.

  • Game Masters & TTRPG Players

    Prep sessions, improvise adventures, and create memorable in-game moments.

  • Teachers & Educators

    Use our decks for classroom writing exercises, group storytelling, and curriculum enrichment.

  • Storytellers of All Backgrounds

    Artists, podcasters, comic creators, filmmakers, playwrights—anyone who needs a spark.

We create decks of creative prompts that help you generate:

  • Story ideas
  • Character concepts
  • Lore and worldbuilding
  • D&D and RPG campaign hooks
  • Prompts for creative writing classrooms
  • Creative sparks for games, books, comics, and more

Why Creators Trust The Story Engine

Created by Award-Winning Storytellers

The Story Engine is led by Peter Chiykowski, an Aurora Award–winning writer, illustrator, and narrative designer whose work has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Best Canadian Poetry, Best Canadian Speculative Writing, Globe & Mail, and internationally recognized games like EMBERWIND and FRACTER.

His comics and storytelling work have been featured by Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Newsweek, and The Huffington Post.

Guided by Creative Experts Across Disciplines

Every tool we make is shaped with input from real creators who use them in the field, including:

  • Writers & editors
  • Dungeon Masters (DMs) & Game Masters (GMs)
  • RPG players
  • Teachers & educators
  • Actual-play podcasters
  • Visual artists
  • Game designers
  • Narrative designers
  • Worldbuilding specialists

Trusted by a Global Community

Since 2019, more than 50,000 creators worldwide have used our tools: writers, teachers, GMs, designers, and entire tabletop RPG groups who rely on The Story Engine to unlock ideas, build campaigns, and run more engaging creative sessions.

Our Reviews

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    "This is THE BEST thing I have ever purchased for myself in regards to my writing!! I have had so, so many fantastic thoughts and ideas on stories of mine."
    —Britni

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    "I absolutely LOVE The Story Engine Decks! I was expecting a simple card-draw system but was so pleasantly surprised to see the number of creative ways suggested to weave those card draws into such a full, flowing idea! Absolutely brilliant system!"
    —Mischi

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    "I am completely in love. My wife and I both use both decks - she for writing, and I for TTRPG prep and worldbuilding. We've got all of the expansions, and we've swung by the past two years to talk to Peter at GenCon! A wonderful tool made by a wonderful human."
    —Alexor Huxley
Read More Reviews

Meet the Team

Peter Chiykowski, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer (he/him)

Peter is an award-winning writer, illustrator, and narrative designer. He is the creator of Rock Paper Cynic, The Story Engine Deck, and six books of comics and fiction. Peter holds a MA in English and BA in English & Creative Writing from Dalhousie University.

Miroki Tong, Co-Founder & CEO (she/her)

Miroki is a strategist, entrepreneur, and arts producer with deep experience helping creative businesses grow sustainably.

Formerly an award-winning performer and producer in theatre, film, and live events, she has served on juries for the Ontario Arts Council, mentored student entrepreneurship programs, and led angel investment due diligence teams. Miroki holds a BA (Hons) Arts & Business from University of Waterloo, and MBA with specializations in Strategic Management and Marketing from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Eric Weiss, Community Manager & Writer (he/him)

Eric is a writer, performer, and narrative designer with nearly two decades of experience in arts and tech. He is the former Games Editor of ThatShelf.com, the writer, co-creator, and co-star of the stage play #NotAllFedoras, and has served as Narrative Designer for the EMBERWIND role-playing game. He also holds a BA in English (Drama and Theatre) and Sociology from McGill University. 

  • Creative Work:

    • Narrative design for EMBERWIND (RPG) (#1 Tabletop Game Award & Best-in-Show Award, Salt Lake Gaming Con; #1 Judge’s Choice Award and People’s Choice Award, OhayaoCon)
    • Writer, co-creator, and co-star of #NotAllFedoras
    • Narrative design for The Mysterious Package Company

  • Game & Tech Writing:

    • Games Editor at ThatShelf.com
    • Multimedia Editor at FindBiometrics and Mobile ID World
    • Freelance writing published by Polygon, Playboy, the Canadian Film Centre, Indie Game Reviewer, and other outlets

  • At The Story Engine, Eric leads customer experience, including newsletters, social media, and customer service. He also supports creative and product development as both a writer and editor.

    LINKEDIN INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK

Zach Schuster, Graphic Designer (he/him)

Zach is a graphic designer and illustrator from Calgary, Alberta. He spends his time working  on cool things with his friends, like the card game Wizlords in Space and comics like Thrud and Hero-Man.

At The Story Engine, Zach designs card layouts, packaging, and web graphics, and has provided guest illustrations and helped direct creative projects like the animated sequences of the new Dungeon Tryouts trailer!

INSTAGRAM

Our Social Impact

  • 350+ decks donated to classrooms, libraries, and community groups

  • 99 endangered penguins rescued through SANCCOB

  • 3,992 trees planted through Eden Reforestation Projects

Join Our Community

Contact us:

  • General: reach our through our contact form
  • Press: press@storyenginedeck.com
  • Mail: 324-582 St. Clair Ave W, Toronto, ON, M6C 1A6, Canada