Dev Diary 1 - Out with the Old, in with the Oldschool

I’ve been making games for a little over five years now, and in that time my games have followed a fairly simple structure. This structure - which would eventually become the RHP System - is built around two players as they navigate a world that changes with the seasons. This formed the basis of Right Hand Path, Suburban Shaman, and the Gastronomancer, and would eventually be hacked into the multiplayer game We Stalk the Hedgerows. 

The thing is, I’ve never been one for comfort zones. I don’t say that in a LinkedIn Lunatic, tech-bro, “disrupting the space” kind of way, either. Professionally I like to leave my comfort zone for the same reason I like to pick up new hobbies on a semi-regular basis, or for the same reason I will go on hour-long deep dives into topics I’ve otherwise never heard about: I get bored easily. 

It was leaving my simple, narrative-heavy, rules-light comfort zone that ultimately led to the development of a new system, which I have been working on in one form or another since 2023. The initial idea was very much a Dark Souls PvE experience, and a lot of that DNA still remains in the finished game: This is a dark and unforgiving setting, with a gameplay loop that centres around managing energy levels against damage output whilst avoiding or mitigating the threats that are coming your way. However, somewhere along the way I ditched the PvE gameplay loop for a duel-centric PvP system. I envisioned a world where combat is the driving force of the narrative, where the weapons, armour, spells, and equipment a player has tell you the story of how they got here. 

I envisioned Kingbreaker. 

What Is Kingbreaker?

Kingbreaker, in its simplest form, is a two-player TTRPG system. The basics are as follows: 

• All actions are determined by a maximum of 2d6. For those of you familiar with the RHP System, this will come as no surprise. 

• Players have two key resources: Hearts - which denote their overall health and robustness - and Vigour Tokens - which denote how much energy they have to perform certain attacks and abilities. 

• During character creation, a player will select weapons, armour, backgrounds, and abilities from a set list inspired by heraldic symbols. As they do so, they will build their character’s Banner - a coat of arms that tells their story and catalogues their skillset. 

An example of a completed Banner, outlining the player's abilities, starting equipment, total health, and stamina.

• Players progress by defeating their opponents, spending in-game currency on upgrades, and undertaking special objectives on behalf of Patron NPCs. 

• Rather than status effects that are triggered automatically or as the result of a dice check, Kingbreaker uses an Ailment system in which each of the game’s six conditions ticks up along spokes of a wheel. When the wheel is full, the Ailment takes effect (usually with devastating consequences). 

A view of the Great Chapel of Providence, which serves as the setting for Kingbreaker: The Crownday Festival.

The edition of Kingbreaker that I am currently working on - Kingbreaker: The Crownday Festival - is a two-player PvP version of what will be a much larger PvE experience. In this game, two Duellists will create their Banners and go head to head in the Great Chapel, where they will fight for the honour of becoming a Kingbreaker - a sort of undead, spiritually-sanctioned hitman, destined to defeat one of the Deathless Kings that rule over this land. 

My main influences for this game come from the oldschool RPG tradition: This is a game where narrative is emergent from mechancial interactions, where the character you create helps to determine who they are, what they believe, and why they fight. I was also inspired by a recent surge in the Dungeonsynth genre and aesthetic, with the game's artstyle being heavily inspired by heavy metal album covers, and the work of the incredible Plastiboo.

At time of writing, my plan is to add the finishing touches to Kingbreaker: The Crownday Festival, with the aim of releasing in summer of 2026. In the intervening months, I will be releasing semi-regular development diaries, keeping you abreast of any updates and explaining the game, its world, and its central mechanics in greater detail. I also have some ambitious plans (including a visual novel/character builder set in the universe) that may take a little time to realise. 

I look forward to inviting you on this journey, and can’t wait to see where it leads.