Based on Pam Punzalan's essay "The Elements of TTRPGs: A Starting Point", I put together the map of development for Bleak.

I am very open, and welcoming, actually, to questions to poke an dprovoke at any or all of these points.

The Elements of "Bleak"

Bleak is a fantasy game for 1-6 players, with or without a GM, and is inspired by the soulslike genre, or at least my personal experience with it.

Fantasy

What experience or experiences do you want your game to bring to life?

Undertaking a lonely journey (solo or not) in a dying, bleak world, searching for a beacon of hope.

World

what is this game about?

A dying world inspired by Dark Souls and fantasy medieval-ish aesthetics. This is a land of crumbling institutions and fallen estates where nothing ever happens anymore, as if the world was exhausted, as if there it held a long breath indefinitely.

Body (Audience & Players)

Who is this game written for?

This game is designed for solo players, duets with 1 gm + 1 Harbinger, duets co-op, and small groups, with or without an extra player as the GM.

it is meant for players looking for a challenging game. Fans of minimalist rulesets, fantasy games, and the soulslike genre should enjoy it the most.

Tension

What situations are facilitated by this game?

In Bleak, the world won't go anywhere and the stagnation is crushing. Over time, even you will stop being you. Some just sit and wait for the "end", others roam in search of purpose, while others stand in your way. For whatever grand purpose the Heroes did this, the price was terrible.

Design (Rules/System)

What can players do and not do?

The game mechanics push the players to discover a world that is procedurally generated. Overland travel relies on a hex flower, delving on a ladder table, meeting npcs on random tables and so on. The idea is to emulate the feeling of ignorance or obliviousness about the world while the players engage the story through "fan theories"

Form

What does the game look like? How does the game present itself?

Bleak is formatted as a digital book, its layout based on the Classic Explorer. The book contains some illustrations from public domain, probably all by Henry Fuselli, that will help convey the tone and mood of the game. It needs several six-sided dice to play, a few hours of spare time, a form of journaling or drawing, and can be engaged by a small group of players, with or without a GM. The page count seems to be going 30+, in A5 format. Maybe there will be a form of print on demand for it.

Touch

What are the kinetic experiences players experience through the game?

The game relies on roling dice and drwing or take notes, hopefully both, to be fully explored. Players will experience a world that needs to be discovered as it is formed, since they are unreliable narrators of its truth. I expect wearines and frustration to be part of the game as failure is accompanied by setbacks and loss. The game is played also by giving it up.

Principles

What is this game REALLY saying about the real world?

• the world breaks when few individuals have too much power over it
• scarcity and vulnerability threaten identity
• grand saviours can only create problems or solve problems they create

Intent

Why did the designer do things this way?

To try an experiecnce that on one hand emulates the souls-like gaming experience, but also plays with the meta element of discovery and theorizing that comes from the yilding of partial, incomplete, or sparse information through mechanics of worldbuilding and shared storytelling.

More devlogs to come over development. I would like to talk about combat mechanics next.