First Post: What to do with this big old blank canvas?

“I have decided to write my own RPG”

That my friends, is the easy part. That is what I said several years ago, and I still haven’t finished the game. Why? Because I keep going back to a blank canvas.

You see, the problem isn’t that the game isn’t ready. The game has been ready in several different versions. Each one scrapped when I saw that it hadn’t quite meet my expectations. Each one destroyed upon finding an imperfection. This has been a stupid habit of mine that I am putting to an end right now.

SinisterForces is finally starting to take shape now that I’ve stopped demanding perfection of myself. The first release of the game may suck. So be it. I’m cool with that now.

Why? Because the second release will be better. And the third release will be better than the second. And so on, and so on.

And that is what you do with a big old blank canvas. You paint on it. You paint and let the results come out horribly, horribly wrong. Then you improve upon that painting, and do all that you can with it and leave it be. It isn’t like I’m getting paid to write SinisterForces. I don’t even have plans to make money off of it. I just want to write an RPG that I and others will enjoy playing.

With absolutely nothing to lose, why do I keep sabotaging myself by throwing the game out and starting from scratch every time I find something wrong with the game? Because I thought designing the game would be easy. I didn’t expect it to be difficult. I’ve been playing RPGs for years, and now understand that playing RPGs in no way qualifies a person to design an RPG.

You get your qualifications by producing a game. That is it.

I have decided to write an RPG. And this time, I actually am writing it.

Feel free to leave a comment if you like (you will have to register for an account, but it is free). I’ll continue to post on the progress of SinisterForces as I write it, and would love to hear about your own design dillemas and other such things. Regards!