Lure of the Abyss

There is a funny thing that happens with game design for me. I get an idea for a specific type of play I want to emerge at the table. A picture forms in my head of how the people I don't know will engage with the game.

Then I start writing...

As I write, I try to predict how people might choose to engage with the system I amputting in place. Will it lead them down the path I am envisioning? If I tweak this and add that, will the signs posts I put down lead them to my perceived oasis of fun?

Then I keep writing...

If I add this system to model this type of interaction, will that be enough? What if this system bounces off of that system in the right way? What will the NPCs do? Do they have to do anything?

And more writing...

And more...

And...