Thanks for providing an informed answer like this!!

It struck me that the gameplay I had in the works is not any good at all, and I am actually considering using RPG maker even, being that my games have become more a way to get my characters to life and tell their stories, and less something I actually intend for any sort of sizeable audience to play and enjoy. 

We may differ there though. It seems to me like you are interested in your games getting an audience as well as telling your characters' story! That is a project of quite a big magnitude, so I can see why you'd be 6 months in already. Usually I hope to have the entire game finished in 6-8 months, now with an RPG that would obviously not be possible :P

If the RPG maker approach neither works (it probably won't :P), I'll try creating a new prototype with the approach you described. But I have to admit, it's quite hard for me to imagine a game which is really focused around the characters, essentially without the characters xD

The other thing I was thinking of doing was maybe visual novels. That would at least give me the chance to focus heavily on all the aesthetic aspects like the art,, music and writing.