I decided, after several years, to stop working on A.D.A. A (cautionary) tale in RPG design.

I had an idea. I had a vision. Ultimately it should end in my "fantasy" heartbreaker. To be honest, I've lost interest and drive to continue the work. Let's reflect on the journey.

At the beginning

I came from a high from (re)watching Warehouse 13 and The Librarians (and the movies). I like a good mystery and if it included some sort of supernatural elements I like it even more. I don't seem to be alone, otherwise Uncharted or Tomb Raider wouldn't have gained such traction. Even forming entire sub-cultures such as the SCP Foundation. Not to forget Raiders of the Lost Ark which inspired all of these.

During that time we also all lived through the Pandemic. So another thing on my mind were Solo RPGs (the most prominent of which is certainly Ironsworn).

Why not combine these two things?

Rules, rules, rules

So I set out and scoured the internet.

Of course I would find something. I was not the first with the idea of an artifact hunting group. Nor will I be the last. What I found, was kind of old material, so I thought myself justified that something new was needed. That I was on the right track.

The sheer amount of possibilities and ideas ended up being one of the nails in the coffin. Like a puppy I chased all the butterflies. I ended up changing the core rules several times. And every time everything had to be rewritten again, because of course everything else depended on that core mechanic. It didn't help that the rules at that point had around 40 pages. Rewriting took more and more time. And then you had to test these changes.

You start to see no end. Around the corner waits the next flashy thing. So you don't really end up with a finished product at any point. Playtesting is not the same as enjoying playing it for "real". For me that was the second nail. Even though I enjoy a good puzzle - and designing an RPG from scratch certainly is one - you enjoy something straightforward from time to time.

The rules became something of a whish-list of what I wanted from other games. A way of how I wanted things to happen. A reflection of my playstyle. A weird mixture of house rules and half-baked ideas.

Development Hell

There's a clear distinction between designing and development. Designing is the process of creating a framework, a base. Development is filling that framework with actual content. In this context it meant producing a lot of random tables.

And that was not something I was looking forward to.

I have a newfound appreciation of the amount of time and work must have been spent on all the tables in Ironsworn: Starforged. And in all the tables that other people come up with. I often have a few good ideas but still end up with a half-filled table.

With the advent of AI (particularly LLMs) this could be a thing of the past. With just a few clicks you can generate as many tables about different topics as your heart desires. This of course opens up a whole other box of issues. Using AI to inspire yourself for the next game session is probably okay. Using it to fuel your project (that could potentially be sold) not so much.

The competition never sleeps

The TTRPG community is always evolving and doesn't stop to amaze me. As mentioned, hunting artifacts seems to be a theme in many peoples heart. So it doesn't surprise that over the last few years, others designed for that space. Triangle Agency and Liminal Horror are just two examples.

It becomes a bit discouraging if someone else is stealing your thunder. A reminder that your idea wasn't that unique after all. Why continue with your project if there's already something finished around? Yes, it might not be exactly what you wanted, but it was close enough.

Takeaways

Do I look for an excuse? Maybe. Do I think it was all a mistake? No.

Shedding projects opens up creative energy for something else. We often keep too many doors open, so we should close some, from time to time. Closed doesn't mean gone. It just means we concentrate more on the few that are left open.

I had to kill my darling, but that doesn't mean that it was all for nothing. You should always look back and learn from the things you have done. What I've created is still around. I can use parts of it elsewhere. Not everything is wasted. That is a key takeaway. Keep the things you've created. Just because it wasn't working in one project, doesn't mean it can't work somewhere else.

I want to concentrate more on single aspects of the game. Things that can be applied independently of each other and the ruleset that I'm playing with. House rules and hacks that reflect my playstyle. Hexcrawling rules for example. A kind of living ruleset that changes with my experience.

Does this mean I will never try my hands on writing a TTRPG again? Probably not. In fact I still have some ideas around. And a dream...

Maybe some things never change.