Beginnings
It all began with a problem! I’m fairly sure that’s how most solutions are made… This concept has been through many iterations and concepts, and is still seeing changes daily. As we develop and play the game ourselves, we make the changes in real time and add it to the next version to be released.
When I started this in 2016-2017 I was working on the project solo and with zero concept of how ttrpg’s work. All I knew is that my mechanic brain and small town education didn’t have the capacity to memorize or keep track of all the math and rules associated with more popular ttrpg’s. It wasn’t until I started hanging out with our favorite nerd again that I realized what I was missing, a real game… So we started talking concept, mechanics, and simple rulings. So a game called Heroes Gambit was born.
The name Heroes gambit stuck for about 5 years before we hit the next roadblock. We needed flavor, a cohesive story of some kind. Enter, the theatre kid, who brought some new concepts and design ideas to the table. So we took what we called a Dice Generated Instance Creator, or D.G.I.C., and added more spice, through out the dry and bland flavor it had been using.
By 2020ish we had a game with a nice simple surface story, and a skeletal mechanic system that could be deskinned and reskinned with anyone’s lore and flavor. We felt good about it! Since then, we’ve seen downtimes and lulls, writers block and mechanical failure, but we kept it together and we kept developing on and off.
In 2022, I brought on many friends to help give life to the world, beyond what you will see in the base game in fact! Massive spoiler alert… We are going to push this further, and always provide PDF’s for free! This brought into play the cheerleader, a bubbly character itching to be a Storyteller, but buried behind the roadblock of overwhelming learning curve. This game is built for the souls like her, who truly had no chance or opportunity to dive into this genre! She came onboard and helped design deity, lore, and tell us where the rules really made no sense! Easily one of my favorite guinea pigs!
In 2023, I discovered Barnes & Noble Press, a publisher who would produce one off books for fair prices, (not an advertisement…) and provide all the tools for me to print and distribute a book. So we printed a book, it sucked… I did not know how much actually went into formatting a book vs. PDF. So down the YouTube rabbit hole I went! Formatting is always a work in progress, but we have it now.
In 2024 I finally committed to the final touch I think the game needed, the art. Originally and to her credit, my wife was doing the art, but while her art is amazing, she is mother first and our two daughters keep her busy, not to mention her husband’s equivalent neediness… So I outsourced, hesitantly, to the artist’s on Fiverr. The journey to find the right artist was not easy, or cheap, and took many attempts and dollars. Enter, the artist, a man I have come to love and appreciate for more than just his art! He absolutely nailed all of the art that you see in the game and on the website, bringing to life concepts for races and characters that are unique and special to the realm of Zorial. Going above and beyond to give life to otherwise useless words produced by my less than eloquent writing!
Now here we are in 2025. Eight years of development. The final art for this phase is almost done, at least 75% of the lore for future expansions is written, and formatting is close to done. Finally this year, We can bring a real, privately funded, privately developed, and made for the people table top RPG to the world!
No paywall to own the PDF’s, no hidden agenda’s, no political, or religious, nonsense (at least outside the table), and most importantly, provided with the HOPE, that our players will take it, break it, and create with it!
