Step RPG – board game packaging design

After the death of the Great Khan, Mongolia was torn apart between four feuding brothers. As the relentless struggle for territory continues, minor warlords hungry for power join the conflict, and the Empire descends into internal chaos…

You see an opportunity. An opportunity to earn the people’s loyalty and seize real power. You set out into a brutal world filled with danger. A long journey lies ahead of you…

Step RPG is a board game project created as part of my diploma thesis, “Randomness and Decision-Making in Analog Games,” at @uap_uczelnia.

My main goal when creating Step was to eliminate fixed elements and replace them with randomness and player choices. This is reflected, among other things, in the game board, which consists of a central land and four interchangeable regions out of six available. This means that every game is different. Each region also has its own dedicated deck of cards.

Cards are drawn whenever you place your character on a given space, telling the story of what happens to you there. (For all the horse people out there, there are plenty of horse-related cards.) You never really know whether you are about to discover a treasure or come face-to-face with death. Every step you take brings you closer to the victory you seek.

And there are many ways to win. Based on your current situation in the game, you choose which path to pursue. If things don’t go according to plan, you can always change your strategy and try to win in a completely different way.

At its core, the idea is simple: you choose your character, hope luck is on your side, and try to wreck everyone else. The early game is dominated by random elements — cards and dice rolls — but as you acquire better cards, your decisions and tactical approach gradually begin to play a much bigger role.

One little detail I really like about the project is the way the illustrations are created. Splattered watercolor mixed with water represents randomness, because you never know exactly how the paint will spread. The black outlines represent the decisions we make. With the very first stroke, you can’t yet see any spectacular results, but over time, what we create begins to take shape. Most importantly, without either of these elements, the illustration would never be complete.

So far, I’ve only created a small part of the entire game, but I’m working on finishing it as soon as possible.

🐎🍃🌿🌱

And, as a little P.S., Step mixes together different beliefs and mythologies. Since the Mongol Empire stretched across much of Eurasia, it naturally encompassed a huge variety of cultures. And because the map changes from game to game, we can’t pinpoint exactly where the story takes place. So, lore-wise, I’m perfectly free to mix a Slavic noonwraith with Chinese dragons.