In the Arena
In the Arena
Steve Dee
My advice to all people trying to get started in RPG design is to start small. And keep coming back to small. RPGs can be giant hardcover books but you can also do a huge amount with a few tiny touches. All the games in this series were produced in one hour flat, using the GAMES system. You can find them all and that system on the Tin Star Games page and watch us making one on youtube. If you use our method and/or make a game in an hour, please link to the site and let us host a link to your game!
You can download In The Arena PDF HERE
In The Arena was our first proper run in front of a large crowd. When you get more than about five or six people it can get a bit more chaotic, and it shows in how it’s not particularly clear what the card adjectives are really doing here or who does the “fighting” in the arena. But as in Future Thieves, the setting is really evocative with just a few hints at the wider world. The idea of people describing what they want and betting on outcomes and then letting it all hang on gladiator fights is really interesting. It takes away the avatar stance, and makes the players more like writers, while also driving every session into this loop where no matter what happens before or after, it is who wins in the arena that matters. Lots of games have downtime mechanics in them; in this game all the plot and character ONLY happens in “downtime”. I’d love to see more games explore that dynamic. We also got a proper graphic designer to help us out here,, as you can see! Thanks to Marcus Bendall.
This article is part of the Indie Game Developer Network's blog series. The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the IGDN or its members.