The moment when a new game comes to life is never the same for me. What I write and design depends a lot on my mood and on the passions I’m living in that moment. At the same time, other factors come into play: what the market might be interested in, and what I believe players are craving at that point.
Links of Sin, our latest role-playing game, adds another variable to the mix: experimentation. This article isn’t about the game itself, but rather about what it means to give shape to a project where so many different elements come together.
A quick note before we dive in: I usually compare the birth of a game to that of a child. This time, though, it feels more fitting to think of it as the growth of a plant.
Links of Sin: the Soil
The soil from which our game grows is the world of RPGs. A world that has radically changed in recent years. Alongside the classic massive tomes, we now see leaner rulebooks, master screen games, Solo Mode games, hybrids with board games, purely narrative experiences, and more.
The soil hasn’t just expanded, it’s also changed in nutrients, allowing new seeds to sprout thanks to players who are more numerous and, above all, more curious.
But soil is also something authors can’t fully control. We can decide where to plant our seed (narrative games? Campaign games?), but not what’s already beneath the surface. What we can do is study it: what kinds of “plants” are already growing there, and how many? Are there too many massive, overgrown plants (games heavy on mechanics)? Or does the ground really need yet another dragon-shaped tree (fantasy RPGs)?
Analyzing the soil (the market) is the first step before planting a seed, whether you’re already holding it in your hand or still searching for it.
For Links of Sin, I picked a patch of soil still partly in the shade and not overly cultivated, the same spot where I had already planted VHS: the field of RPG/board game hybrids.
Links of Sin: the Seed
The seed is the essence of what you want to create: it represents the idea.
It’s not a fully fleshed-out setting or a finished, tested system yet, but rather a sense of the game’s tone, its complexity and longevity, the tools it will use, and the components it will rely on. Of course, even these early ideas need to fit the soil you’ve chosen.
For Links of Sin, the seed looked like this:
- An urban Gothic Noir setting, somewhere between The Crow, Sin City, and Constantine;
- Simple mechanics, accessible even to new players;
- Hybrid design, playable both with and without a game master;
- New elements: no dice, but standard playing cards and a coin, tied both to the rules and the setting.
Links of Sin: the Nourishment
Once the seed is in the ground, it needs nourishment. What kind of protein does it need? How much light, how much water?
This phase means enriching the initial concept: going deeper into the setting, shaping the aesthetics, the world’s inhabitants, and the main characters. At the same time, it means refining the mechanics; not their final form yet, but enough to understand how checks will work, how characters will be defined, what their abilities will look like, and, most importantly, why a player would want to embody them.
In the case of Links of Sin, the nourishment took this shape:
The City of Meden (the setting). A city split between Scourges and Inquisitors (once Demons and Angels). Meden is a city caught in-between, with no place in space or time, claustrophobic, conceived as a ring to finally decide who would rule humanity. Over time, though, both Angels and Demons abandoned their heavenly goals in favor of pure power. Meden became a kingdom of corruption, pain, and death, with flames and crowns of thorns as its symbols. The souls of its citizens became the currency used to measure the factions’ strength.
The Four Horsemen (the characters). Players step into the shoes of ordinary citizens chosen to become the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, tasked with stopping Scourges and Inquisitors by harvesting the souls of Meden before its corrupted rulers seize them.
Cards and Strategy (hybridization and experimentation). I didn’t want a classic RPG with character sheets, stats, and gear. Instead, I aimed for immediacy, removing character creation and using cards strategically. Aces represent the Horsemen, face cards the rulers of Meden (Scourges and Inquisitors), and number cards the citizens: souls the Horsemen must harvest before they’re corrupted. Strategy and setting had to work hand in hand, creating a true card game… built on betrayal.
The Tempters (the role-playing element). To make it a true hybrid, role-playing needed to be part of it. That’s where the Pacts with Scourges and Inquisitors came in. They know the Horsemen are stronger, but also that they can’t harvest all the souls alone. Pacts become negotiations between masters (Scourges and Inquisitors) and players (the Horsemen), tools of temptation and corruption used to twist the balance.
Links of Sin: the Growth
Once it’s nourished, the plant grows as you envisioned it. Of course, weeds will need pulling, branches trimming, diseased parts cutting away, but from then on it’s mostly a matter of respecting its growth and making sure it takes the shape you intended.
For Links of Sin, the mechanics needed special care. Being a strategic game, the rules had to stay firmly tied to the setting. I wanted a system that was quick and easy to learn, but one that still immersed players in Meden’s atmosphere, even without relying heavily on narrative or interpretation.
Links of Sin: Conclusion
In a garden like the RPG world, countless plants grow (some from very different seeds and nutrients, some from almost identical ones) yet they still bloom into something unique.
So don’t get hung up on finding untouched soil, or on trying to grow the tallest tree or the one with the most leaves. Focus instead on nurturing the plant you truly want to bring to life. Work on what you can, and make compromises only when they don’t betray your vision.
That way, when you look at your garden, you’ll know those plants carry your name and your ideas, visible for everyone to see.
One last thing for those who want to create a game, or already have: always be proud of your work, especially when it’s born from passion and authenticity. You, as an author, are a unique kind of soil, and every seed you plant takes root through your own soul.
Here are a couple of other articles you might find useful, also about the process of creating a game:
Thanks for reading, and keep creating!
– Simone