Hi everyone!
I want to write a short series about how I created the final version of SCRIPTUM.

CULTURE

Scriptum was born for the Eternity TTRPG jam, which had the theme “Libraries and Collections.” A fascinating prompt that immediately made me think of a game about writing and finding books. 
A bit like in video games, when you explore a world and come across journals or letters that reveal hidden lore: I wanted to capture that same feeling of discovery, of a world telling its story through texts. 
At first, the idea was simple: the wanderer finds books and collects them. Interesting, but also a little empty: books risked being just objects. 
So I took a step further: books wouldn’t just be collectibles, they would be building blocks to create entire Cultures. 
Each text became a piece of a larger mosaic: the life, values and contradictions of a people.
That change of perspective transformed the game: no longer “find books,” but discover Cultures through books.

WHY THERE ARE NO STATS

In the first draft, Scriptum had two stats: Body and Mind.

• Body was used to face concrete obstacles: avoiding traps, fighting guardians, etc.
• Mind was used to interpret texts: decoding symbols, extracting knowledge, etc.

It was a classic structure: conflicts → dice rolls → success or failure.
It worked, but I felt I was moving away from the real heart of the game. 
The real question wasn’t whether the wanderer got the book, but HOW they reached it and WHAT it revealed.
I didn’t want the focus on dice rolls, but on the narrative process itself:

• How is the book kept?

• Who protects it?

• Why is it considered important?

Even these questions alone say a lot about a culture. 
So I made a radical choice: no stats, no dice.
In Scriptum you always get the book: the challenge is to describe the journey and uncover the secrets within. The result is a purely narrative game, where the focus is on writing, not rolling dice.

THE DOUBT

Here’s the dilemma: removing randomness made Scriptum closer to my vision, but maybe less “appealing” for players who expect dice, cards or tokens. 
And there's another thing: Scriptum requires a lot of writing. You need to describe places, situations, books, Cultures. It's meant to be slow and reflective. Sometimes I asked myself if I should add a light system to resolve conflicts with dice or cards, just to bring more variety. 
But in the end I chose to stay true to the idea that mattered most to me: a game built entirely on narration and imagination.

I'M PROUD OF SCRIPTUM

Despite the doubts, I’m PROUD of Scriptum.
It’s not just my longest and most complete game so far: it also marked a personal step forward.
I wrote more pages than I ever thought I could. I added examples, explanations and tables to make the game clearer and more accessible. I worked on the layout, to make it pleasant to read and flip through.
Along the way, I learned a lot: how to think like a designer, how to make hard choices, how to focus on what I really want to share with a game.
And most importantly, I gained confidence: now I know I can create manuals that are more complete and more personal.
Scriptum is just a first step, but it’s an important one.

Thanks for reading!

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