Creation of ARCTIX (blog)
Actual work on this game began in 2013, except it was meant for the apocalyptic setting of Everwind, which is a fictional sci-fi world that used to have magic. I had originally wanted to create a new mechanics system not unlike the SPECIAL system from the Fallout games, because I really like how you spend points there (Fallout 3 and New Vegas). I even created a new acronym, FABLED, which stood for Foresight, Aptitude, Brawn, Longevity, Esteem, and Dexterity. Two problems stood out with that system, though:
- The names for the attributes weren’t as intuitive as SPECIAL or something like what D&D uses.
- Having a skill setup on a scale of 1-100 was actually really slow and painful when playtesting.
Rolling two d10s and trying to get under a skill level for a lower-level character was tragic. You rarely ever succeeded, even for the simplest of tasks. But I really loved using d10s, and around here you can only buy them in sets of 10, so I went back to the drawing board to see if I couldn’t make a new mechanical system that uses all ten. This is when I created the ARCTIX system. I like the tactile feel of rolling lots of dice, so it was the most intuitive way for me to create a setup using 10 dice. And after testing a number of different ideas, I settled on what the game uses now:
- Traits – your basic attribute score determines how many dice you get to roll
- Skills – your skill stat determines what you must roll to succeed
With those mechanics solidified, I simply combined them with my love of clever acronyms and created ARCTIX – Archetypes, Traits, and Influence. Once I had the acronym, I used those three things as the core mechanisms for the game. These became the most important elements.
Archetypes, to me, are especially important, because I have a history with tarot cards. I knew I wanted the setting to be an apocalyptic one, so it only made sense to me to make archetypal characters a mainstay in the game. I once wrote an article for HexCam about the perfect team to have in an apocalypse, which had 5 people with differing capabilities: medic, hunter, soldier, engineer, and negotiator. These became five of the archetypes for Rainwall, except I needed to balance things out, so I added the sixth: the rogue. Then I changed the names and Bob’s your uncle: Medic, Charmer, Outlaw, Hunter, Fixer, and Merc.
I kept the same six traits that I used in the FABLED system, except I changed the names to be more intuitive. Once I had all the core elements in place, the rest kind of fell in line. Somewhere in the last few years I switched from the Everwind setting to a new one, which was based on a different project I had tried to use for a short film back in 2012. I really liked the storyline for that, and always felt it needed to be told. This was a place where the world ended because of the actions of just one person. The original version simply dealt with a plague outbreak, but I wanted something more for this. I felt that it wasn’t enough to go up against other humans and wild animals, and I thought the zombie thing might be overdone. So Rainwall has its own monsters.
This brings us to where we are now. The game is nearly complete and ready to be playtested by outside players. I just need to populate the game with items really, along with the logistical work of creating a PDF document that explains the rules and gameplay. All in all, I’m satisfied with how it worked out. If I had just one piece of advice for other game designers, it would be this: never be afraid to make drastic changes. Don’t settle when you can improve something. If it’s painful to kill something you were fond of, just resolve yourself to make the next iteration even cooler, then looking back you will always be glad you did it.