>>6258054>>6257706>>6257751>>6257751I have uncovered a genius transcendental game design insight from playing Cultist Simulator, it is this
>MAKE PLAYER RESOURCES TEMPORARY / decay over timeIn a lot of ttrpgs players just hoard and accumulate items spells inventory they never get used and then this inhibits their upgrade path and also your GM generation of lore / item progression etc all npcs turn into item vending machines. In contrast, Cultist Simulator has an amazing design insight, it looks like this:
-ritual spell ingredients are temporary. You cannot hoard them, as they decay into dangerous game-ending failure emotion components eg Restlessness, Dread or Fascination (drives you insane)
-each turn there is a CYCLE OF SEASONS based mostly on emotions. The seasons also consume various game resources and influences unless you take measures to anticipate and counteract them
-consequently, instead of the standard rpg "HOARD EVERY ITEM LORE SPELL" etc, the gameplay becomes strategically manipulating TIMING and generation / usage of various transient and fleeting resources. Hirelings, rumours, decaying magical ingredients, emotions / feelings influences etc (There is still some hoarding in the game, of the lore books and rituals and Secret Histories dungeon vault locations etc, which are permanent)
This cycle of seasons / decaying player resources notion almost reminds me of a sort of memory cleanup cycle in programming lol, because as a dungeonmaster you can instantiate endless infinite lore items rumours spells characters locations from imagination, this is not a problem, what matters is the other side (how do you choose to REMOVE items lore etc), what is the game mechanism for deleting things to prevent endless hoarding / stagnation nonprogression. This is really clever game design, I am very impressed by this game loop idea from Cultist Simulator yay
