Train of Thought Design Diary 1
Progress on De Excidio has been slow, but there have been some recent ideas I'm going to be exploring about changing the board as the game develops. However, they're not quite gelled yet, so I've been focusing on other projects while those ideas percolate in the background. One of these projects has really come together quickly, with lots of positive feedback from playtesting, so I'm going to write about it.
The Genesis
About a two years ago, I had an idea for a semi-cooperative wargame (at the time named "Battle of Ideas") in the mold of Churchill or Congress of Vienna in which players are post-Socratic philosophical schools working to overturn the Athenian status quo. I envisioned it as a way to bring things I loved about Hex-and-Counter wargames into a simpler and non-violent framework. After a couple of tests, it was clear that that vision didn't work. Players were too incentivized to battle each other, and it was too complex, even with simplified action cards. I put the idea on the shelf and spent more time on Rex Regnant and Hench.
Beard Dad Games
Late in 2025, I had a brainwave, what if we moved from one genre beloved by "beard dads" (wargames) to another (trains). This immediately cleared up a bunch of issues with the prior version-
- Players now couldn't directly attack each other, so action was forced against a collective problem.
- It allowed for more focus on the action minigames and gave players another subgame hook.
- It kept the support/betray dichotomy that I love to explore!
It also let me change the name of the game to something a bit catchier and punishing ("Train of Thought"). I'll be talking more about Train of Thought in the next few weeks, and I'm planning on bringing it to Unpub, so if trains + philosophy sounds like a good time, stay tuned!