18XX Rail Way is about meddlers that are fighting against a world wide train conspiracy

In here I've disclaimed my current game design process. I'll use that as a frame work to keep things organized here

SPARK

This one only exists due to other people influence on me. After I published 24Blue for the OSR JAM, Jason Tocci commented something like 'all there is left now is an PBTA 24XX hack'. Challenge accepted.

Another trigger here was a fan that also play boardgames mentioning that there is a series of railway games set in 1800s, so a conspiracy tying all the game together would be cool. Challenge accepted again.

What kind of characters could the meddlers be? Now do I tackle clues? What is the conspiracy goals and resources?

RESEARCH

There's  a PBTA game about investigation called Brindlewood Bay (BB onward). It has a collab way of solving mysteries that I wanted to play with. This seemed like a perfect opportunity for it. So investigation wise I was covered,

For the characters, I recalled all the conspiracy movies I ever watched (even rewatched Conspiracy Theory).

Not much research here, after all it could be hell crazy.

WATERING

I started with the investigation system since everything would be based on that. After revising Brindlewood Bay, I summarized and tried to tweak it so it fit in a single column. Pleased with the result. In the end it relates more to the main dark conspiracy of the game instead of the regular cases. 

Since I wanted moves to help with the narrative PBTA flow, I knew It would need a full page just for the characters. I'll probably miss details tables here, so I have to make due with the room I got.  (Brief reflection: you could make the game more gonzo and less harsh and make the meddlers a Scooby Doo party... just saying).

The first class I thought about was the paranoid, clearly inspired in the movie Conspiracy Theory with Mel Gibson. Detective followed as the classic archetype of 'I'm good at this but this sucks (big Raymond Chandler fan here). The Journalist and Seer came from movies where you know but you don't have power or you're known for being a crook but you're right this time. Engineer and Apostate were created to strengthen the tie between trains and conspiracy, besides the fact that i liked the term locomagic.

Since this demanded more persoanlity, I use questions for character creation instead of table. Also added the vibe quotes that started using in 18XX Victorian. I'll definetely do those for all classes in 18XX Almanac. So fun.

GM tables for the the conspiracy were hard. I needed clues that could work in the BB format and the other way too. Also needed that clues from one step of the puzzle could work with clues from other steps. Tricky. Remaining tables were kinda easy.

CUTTING

Some people liked the investigation ssystem based on BB. Other's didn't like not having a 'correct' solution. I thought was no harm to just add the alternative 'don't use it' and go more Call of Cthulhu or Gumshoe. Definetely need to expand here in 18XX Almanac. Specially in  NPC list. We had to improv a lot here and when running I still miss it. I've been using other 18XX tables for that.

I thought mixing a more narrative approach would make things confusing but it wasnt case. What did happen was some folks wanted more PBTA things and others wanted less. Not necessarily a problem but something to consider spending more time finetuning.

Combining with other 18XX games

This one is kinda generic, you want the problems of other games to be either a part of the conspiracy, a collateral of it or in struggle to subjugate/be subjugated by it.

• Muramasa the broken blades are a important resource for the conspirators
• Outlaw  outlaw discover all their previous missions benefited the conspiracy in some way
• Locker the conspiracy planned the davy jones prison break, they want an specific escapee and power
• Night Night Lord were actually rivals of the conspiracy, they have ways to massively disturb their plans
• Victorian a mastermind is the leader of the conspiracy, it's hard to openly challenge him
• Dreams the conspiracy is a master escapist and thief, never totally grasped and taking truths away
• Ragnarok ex-heroes, thought to be deceased, actually left to join the conspiracy
• Solomon the conspiracy is alway a masterplan from a demon to bring hell to earth, everything else is a lie
• Richelieu king made a dela with the conspiracy, his country would be overlooked in exchange of his help