Turning six years of system design into a free core engine—and letting other people build their own games with it—is a really cool move.
For players trying Depth & Doom for the first time, what do you hope hits them in that very first session: checking the rules less, making more calls on the fly, or the stories that come out of danger and tough choices? 🎲
I work on interactive fiction, so I think a lot about that moment when new players start actively making decisions on their own.
Thanks! I really appreciate that!
Honestly, I think all three go hand in hand. One of my biggest goals with Depth & Doom was to create a system that gets out of the way of the experience. I want players and GMs spending less time digging through rulebooks and more time making decisions, improvising, and actually playing.
I love when mechanics create unexpected moments haha, especially when failure doesn't necessarily mean nothing happens. Sometimes success comes at a cost, and those consequences can push the story in directions nobody anticipated. That's rock and roll!
Ideally, by the end of that first session, players aren't thinking about the rules anymore. They're thinking about what happened, what they could have done differently, and what they're going to do next.
That's really what I hope people take away from Depth & Doom. The rules should support the adventure, not get in its way. And I'm excited to see what other creators build with it! #party
Still Yiming from ISECAI here, just following up from our team's ming101 account.
"Success at a cost" is so much better at growing a story than just stalling out after a failure—that is so true haha. Wanting players to end up talking about what happened instead of flipping through a rulebook is such a clear goal. We’re also testing ISECAI, a free web AI anime academy RPG driven by free text, and I'd love to hear if you think the choices and consequences keep you invested. Down to try a short bit of the opening? If you're interested, I’ll drop the link and a unique code right in the comments.
