Mission: Design a science fiction roleplaying game that my friends and I would enjoy playing.

This statement probably seems obvious, unoriginal, and of little value. Nevertheless, it needs to be the first and most important point of reference for every design decision, both large and small, because it is exactly what I’m trying to do. After years uninvolved in this part of the gaming hobby, I am interested in getting back into roleplaying but recognize that there are many hurdles to organizing a game among my friends. With a game custom designed for our interests, strengths, play styles, and outside lives, I’m hoping to maximize the odds of generating interest. I welcome the input of others and invite anyone else who might read these pages to make use of my work. But when it comes to final design decisions, I will always choose what will work best for my existing group. This philosophy leads to several design principles:

• The game should be easy to learn and the group should be able to begin play without much up front investment in time. Because of our busy lives and our history with board games (where a 3 hour game is considered long), I can’t expect a lot of patience. Should I finally convince people to try the game, I’ll need to draw them in quickly.

• The game should employ interesting new mechanics without totally abandoning the traditional elements of roleplaying games that my friends remember from their past experiences. There is a certain nostalgia for roleplaying, but right now the group is enjoying exploring the many varied mechanics found in modern strategy board games.

• The game must balance realism and heroic fantasy. Escape is definitely a benefit to gaming. And heroic adventure is what I think my friends would expect from roleplaying. However, I don’t think that they’ll be able to completely abandon their professional backgrounds even during a game about an imaginary world.

Based on these principles, my overall design concept is an RPG styled after a board game. There are board games based on RPGs and I know that some of my friends have expressed interest in them. But while the designs of those games seem to have adopted the same or similar principles, for the most part they focus on monsters and combat. I think a game with more sophisticated challenges, plots, and characters would be of greater interest to my group. It’s certainly what I’m interested in.

At the other end of the spectrum is the story-game crop of modern roleplaying games. I’m amazed at the innovation in these games. However, I’m not, and I don’t think my friends are either, the artistic, explore-your-emotions type of people. A game about character development (as in personality and emotions) exclusively—with no or minimal plot—would not go over well. Still I plan to draw heavily on story games for inspiration. Improv, acting, and extensive speaking in character—no. But sophisticated representations of social situations—yes.

In fact, I think that there are strong parallels between story games and board games. In pursuing a more sophisticated approach to modeling behaviors, personalities, and social interactions, story games often treat a character’s mental state or motivation as a resource—one that may be depleted and restored over time. Other aspects of play are also treated as a resource in some story games. For example, a persistent shared dice pool could represent limited reserves of luck, money, loyalty, or political influence.

These mechanics are similar to what you see in modern Euro-style board games, which place a heavy emphasis on managing resources. Employing them in my roleplaying game design will hopefully make it easier and more enjoyable for my friends.

Other board game inspirations that I think may help me meet my design goals include:

• Accessories or props to minimize record keeping for characters. For example, cards or tokens to be placed with character record sheets would represent wounds.

• The ability to declare victory when a certain goal is met. The potential for a definitive end (win or lose) might provide my players with some comfort regarding the time commitment required.

• Multiple paths to victory. In traditional roleplaying games, character advancement is achieved by accumulating experience points, which are used to purchase skill advancement. But in Euro-style board games, the measure of success is victory points, which can be earned many different ways at the same time. Explicitly measuring success with multiple factors in a roleplaying game adds a strategic element to the game and may also help with players who have somewhat different interests. For example, a player interested in business can focus on the character’s wealth, while the player interested in politics can focus on developing a character’s power and influence. Game mechanics may provide a method for comparing the two approaches.

With a general approach set, the next step is an outline.