Welcome to the first of several designer diaries which will look deeper into the design process behind the game, unveil some of the mechanics and why we chose them, and as we get closer to launch show off examples of the components, miniatures, actual gameplay and more!

Hey you. You’re finally awake. I’ve got some choices for you. Should you take a left, or a right? Should you follow the tough rebel, or the kind legionnaire? Will you slay the dragon, or befriend it? Trust the Daedric Prince, or walk away from their enticing promises?

The world of Skyrim is rich in narrative choices. From the very first moment, you’re sucked into a world where every path you take changes the world forever, making your experience unique. A biographical journey that goes beyond what’s expected from a simple adventure game. When we started designing the board game, we set ourselves the goal of keeping that spirit of free will intact. Our ambition was to give the players a highly customisable experience, let them write their own story, according to their character’s personality and quirks. More so, we wanted to present that sort of narrative sandbox for groups of one, up to four players. In hindsight, I can say that it was a titanic, yet incredibly exciting task.

The first hurdle we faced in the process was dealing with the housekeeping side of the game. We didn’t want players to be slaves to the mechanics, spending the majority of their playtime adjusting, correcting, and shifting components to reflect every small choice. So, how can we create a system where decisions are truly important, but that doesn’t turn our players into game managers, rather than heroes?

Our solution was to focus the narrative on a simple deck-building mechanic. Every choice a player makes adds or removes cards from different decks. Quick and painless, but still hugely meaningful. Did you save the son of the Jarl? Well done. Now add this card to the Event deck. Whenever you draw it, people in the Stronghold will celebrate your success, covering you in praise and gifts. Do you really want to steal that horse? Not a problem. Just draw this card and... Oh, look, now the guards of the Hold are chasing you. You better hope that horse is fast enough to keep you out of trouble! Did you murder the wandering bard? You’re not a good person. Remove this card from the deck. The next time a player wants to interact with the poor bard, they will instead find their corpse. Who knows? Maybe they can even loot it!

These three actions — adding cards to decks, removing cards from decks, drawing cards from decks and adding cards to your character sheet — are the bricks and mortar of the game’s narrative. This way, a simple one-step action can make a player choice meaningful and impactful. Cards that are removed from the game are removed forever. Please, don’t tear your cards apart! You might want to reset the whole thing to start over, and having your components held up with tape would make for a deeply underwhelming experience.

This is it, for now. Next time we will talk about the experience we wanted to create with this game. In the meanwhile, be happy, have a sweetroll, and try not to steal other people’s horses!

- Juan

With each designer diary we'll introduce another member of the design team, starting with today's author Juan.

Juan Echenique is a London based actor, writer and game designer. His journey with Modiphius started helping with the development of the expansions of the second edition of Siege of the Citadel. In that project, he was particularly involved in the writing of the Sean D’Armatto story and in the level design of the Richard Borg part of the Designers’ Pack. He’s part of the design team of the Skyrim and Achtung! Cthulhu board games (more on that one another time) and has worked on Agatha Christie - Death on the Cards, Vampire 5th Edition and Dishonored the RPG, among others. Within the team, he specialises in narrative writing and creating crazy new mechanics when designing new games. His passion for semicolons often puts him in harm’s way; it’s only natural.