I’m really fascinated by History, particularly Ancient History, and one of the regions that most intrests me is the Near East during this time period. This particular game was inspired by an amazing podcast about this era and region called Kings of Kings by Dan Carlin, and by the song Dopesmoker by Sleep, which tells the tale of a merchant caravan going on an incredible journey in the desert.

These two elements made me greatly inspired to create a game that would also evoke these feelings.

My main goals when designing this game were:

• creating a fairly historical map of the region
• the map should be fun and intresting to explore with various types of areas and cities
• the journey should feel gruelling and intense, with the threat of starvation, poverty, and banditry always present
• players should feel like half of their story is in their control, and the rest is up to where fate will take them
• characters should feel human and all of them (both players and NPCs) have personalities that dynamically impact the game
• players should be able to build relationships with NPCs (be them friendships or rivalries)
• having a dynamic trade system that feels alive and takes into account supply and demand
• having a market that players can directly influence by manipulating the forces of supply and demand

I think that overall I managed to fullfill all these goals, and I’m very happy with the game, even though I never had the time to completely finish this deep and complex game. Based on several playtests, I feel like I nailed the gruelling journey, dynamic characters with personality, and dynamic trade system. I still really want to finish it when I get the time!

All the game design and design of the map and cards were done by me. A friend made the artwork for the mercenaries. I got the images for the trade goods and the merchants online.