Kredonystus asks..
So what inspire the want to make this game? Not good enough combat in others? A response to a particular game? A lack of realism in most games? Just coz why not?
These are the sorts of questions that game designers wish people would ask more often. It's so rare that people who put ridiculous amounts of thought into their work have a chance to show off they "why" and not just the "what?" without feeling self-indulgent.
Sword & Scoundrel has a very long history at this point. The very first version of the game was essentially a fan-made second edition of the by-then defunct The Riddle of Steel. It was one of a few projects born of the trosfans forums, and one of only two that saw the light of day (to my knowledge, anyway). In those ancient times, there were a few of us on the team. Myself, Higgins, and a helpful dude named Sean Cochran, both of whom still have a credit on the project. It thus started with some very simple goals: we wanted to take all the splats from TROS and make a single volume book that ironed out some of the bugs that were commonly known to people in that community at the time.
It didn't take long before our focus shifted, though. As the project went on, it became clear that we weren't just polishing old mechanics but creating a lot of our own material whole-cloth. The more we iterated and innovated on the subject, the more it became clear we were making a new game in its own right. Since then the game has gone through a handful of significant design generations and a few different names. Even the actual design goals have shifted over time.
Bumping into TROS the first time was for me magical and formative. The game's creator, Jake Norwood, used to bandy about the saying "they come from the sword fights and stay for the spiritual attributes." This was absolutely my experience. I was originally captivated by TROS for the way it approached combat -- it was, in effect, my first exposure to HEMA -- but what really got me was the way in which play focused on who the characters were and what was important to them. It was a piece of the puzzle that I didn't know I was missing and radically transformed the way I played literally every game thereafter.
In the years since, I've learned a lot about game design and I've learned a lot about fiction. While it would be easy to groan in dismay at the years spent on this project, I don't think I could have designed what this is becoming before now. It's truly only been in the last couple years I've finally put my finger on what I was trying to achieve and figured out how to articulate the kind of intense, personal experience I want to deliver. It's taken a great deal of time and study just to wrap my head around what makes the genre S&S is tackling work, and it's only been in the last year I've been able to properly explain what we're referring to in the first place.
So to answer the question more directly:
Sword & Scoundrel is my attempt to sooth a longing. It is a system built around satisfying a craving for intense, personal storytelling about passion and conflict. It's an exploration of morality and ambition, and about who we are when push comes to shove, what we're willing to do to get what we want and what we're willing to sacrifice for what we believe. It's a kind of niche within a niche whose exemplars span westerns and crime dramas, political sagas and samurai films because what matter is the human conflict at the heart of story, rather than the trappings it wears.
Other games have come close but have all fallen short for me in some way. TROS ignited this flame for me, but was a diamond in the rough. In some ways more beautiful for its flaws. The Burning Wheel is another contender for the prize and is an absolute marvel of design, but it is much like a Swiss watch -- a deep and impressive series of interlocking gears that are fascinating to watch, but requires serious commitment to mastering the game and its mechanisms lest innumerable mechanisms bind up against each other and cause the whole thing to seize.
Sword & Scoundrel is a mad attempt to fill an extraordinarily specific storytelling niche. It is balanced between the kind of depth of mechanics required to inform and deliver that experience, and the kind of approachability and ease of play lacked by the few other games that have tried. It is by now an old friend. My shadow, at once muse and nemesis. We have together both grown and matured over time, constantly pushing me and challenging me to be equal to its measure. I am incredibly grateful for the way it has caused me to develop as a writer and designer, and for the awesome people I have met as a result. Even if the game goes nowhere from here, it will have been worth every drop of sweat and tears along the way.
Thanks again to all of you who have shared this journey with me.
-- Brooks.