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There are maybe three reasons I design games. One is money, one is ambition, and then there's the third one... 1/13
One of the games I'm working on is THE GRASS CROWN, a hex-and-counter -- well, square-and-counter -- battle game about set piece battles in the Roman Republic. It's the second game in our Shields & Swords Ancients line, itself derived from our S&S II series. 2/13
I would not call the S&S games my most popular or best-selling titles - the solo games, Table Battles, and the choo-choo stuff all have a wider appeal. Those are, to a degree, games I do for money. 3/13
Nor are they the ones that garner the most acclaim or attention. Those would be games like This Guilty Land or The Vote, serious games that seek to make an argument or to provide a model that might be useful for reflecting on the here and now. 4/13
Those are driven by ambition - by a desire to do something with the form, by having something to say and a need and a way to say it. I would say that my reputation as a designer, and to a lesser extent Hollandspiele's as a publisher, comes from ambitious, opinionated games. 5/13
How the manipular legion fought, how the Roman way of war was changed by the Marian reforms - these aren't vital issues that need illumination, and the game's model, while effective, is nowhere near detailed enough to be in any way definitive. 6/13
THE GRASS CROWN isn't a game that's going to make beaucoup bucks, though we anticipate it will sell well within its niche, and it isn't a game that's going to win us accolades and fancy pull-quotes. 7/13
I'll be "Tom Russell, designer of Irish Gauge and This Guilty Land", not "Tom Russell, designer of Irish Gauge and The Grass Crown" -- it's not going to be a game that I'm "remembered" for (if in fact I would be remembered at all). So, like, why do it? 8/13
Well, that's the third reason. I design some games for money, others for ambition, and some games -- some games I design to stay sane. Because the thing about doing angry, opinionated games that Seriously Engage With History is that it's really flipping depressing. 9/13
For each of these, I spend a year or more of my life immersing myself in misery, cruelty, stupidity, and injustice. Heck, sometimes a game doesn't have to be a "message" game to take a toll on me. (This game on Shackleton is just one gut-punch after another). 10/13
If all I did were Very Important Ambitious Message Games, I would be a wreck. If all I did were games that I thought would sell well, I would be hollow and empty. Part of being a working designer is finding a way to recharge the ol' batteries. 11/13
Traditional-ish hex-and-counter style battle games are more about the craft of game design than the art, more about applying my knowledge & experience than trying to reinvent the wheel or find a way to express some big, messy truth in game form. 12/13
Reading about the Battle of Pydna doesn't ruin my day or my weekend, doesn't fill me with despair or rage, doesn't make me unpleasant to be around. It keeps me working - keeps exercising those muscles - when I'm in-between the big showy games I'm better known for. 13/13
