So, this came from yesterdays Malts and Meeples stream. I am playing through the campaign of Paper Dungeons by Alley Cat Games. The question came up about where I ranked the game, and the answer is very highly. But I wish that the campaign was just a little bit more interesting. That the monsters were more unique and that the campaign element were more than just a bit of flavor text.

I want to design one now, so let’s get started.

The Campaign Roll and Write Theme

So now I want to design a roll and write campaign game. I thought about just doing another fantasy/dungeon crawler roll and write. But there are several of them out there, Deadly Doodles, Paper Dungeons, Doodle Dungeon, and Drawn to Adventure all fit that fantasy theme. Instead, I thought of two options. I could go Sci-Fi, likely a direction that we’ll start seeing more and more roll and write games go. Or, I could do wyrd west. Think Wild Wild West with Will Smith.

Why that theme, one it is kind of fantasy adjacent. You end up with crazy monsters or creatures that you can play as. But it isn’t going to be your standard fantasy. Pull out your pistol, load up your pack mule, and get ready to adventure in the Wyrd West.

Why Theme First?

Honestly, theme can be where you start, but I doubt it is standard for most designers. Or if it is, it is something that is held onto loosely. In this case, since I thought about it in the context of what Paper Dungeons is doing, I wondered what else might work theme wise for a campaign. It is more specific at a campaign level.

It is also important for me, while I own roll and writes and other games where the theme isn’t there, for me theme is important. If you hook me with a theme from the beginning, I am more likely to buy a game. And Wyrd West, Fantasy, or Sci-Fi all hook me when I think about.

So when I design or start to design an idea, theme is going to be important for me. And I want what I design in the game to make sense in the theme. If I put something into the game that doesn’t make sense, it firstly makes the game harder to teach. But it also breaks the immersion in the theme and in the game.

Why Wyrd West?

So any setting is going to give some level of ability to create a story. Wyrd West is just not one that I see used all that often. To go along with that, it lends itself to a fair number of the fantasy story tropes, but giving you a different setting for them.

Plus, then you are still able to create some of those leveling and story progression items. What character do you pick to start, are you the crafty outlaw, the robot sheriff, the damsel working at the bar with a dead eye shot? There is a lot of story there, and ways that you can build upon those characters.

Wyrd West also allows you to explore a lot of different things for monsters. Zombies, Vampires, Lizardfolk, other dimensions, all of them are fair game. I can even lean into Steampunk if I want, again harkening back to Wild Wild West and their giant mechanical spider.

Campaign Roll and Write Next Steps?

So what is the next thing I need to think through. The mechanics of the game, really, though some of those, being a roll and write, are going to be somewhat in place. But I want to think about missions, what do they look like, how the campaign progresses, and how characters level up or gain new abilities.

That is the one thing I really miss from the Paper Dungeons campaign is progression. I want to take something I got last game, or in between games to make what I do grow. Your standard campaign has character progression, so I want to figure out what that’ll look like in my game.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here