Is creating a new TTRPG a pointless endeavour?

[Delta Arena]

Hi everyone, I am looking for advice... or perhaps comfort? not entirely sure.

Two years ago (in 2022) I was still GMing D&D and I decided, with my party, to create a new TTRPG for us to play. I had many issues with D&D and was already homebrewing a lot of it. By fall 2022 our D&D campaign finished and we decided to move to pathfinder 2e, since my system still wasn't ready.

After GMing PF2e for roughly a year and a half, and participating in PaizoCon as a GM, I have gotten to love the system. I homebrew no rules, only a few creatures and hazards. But I have continued to work on my TTRPG system.

My system is now in a playable state and I have had two sessions testing it. The three people who have played it seem to enjoy it so far, but I can't help but wonder... Is it just a pointless endeavour?

Creating a system is a lot of work, not to mention that you are, by default, starving for content when compared to stablished systems. Furthermore, I worry that it is just too similar form PF2e. I know that's fine from a legal point of view, as I'm thiunking of using the ORC licence, but from a design perspective... it makes me wonder if I'm losing my time.

I have tried my best to make sure there are unique things about the system. Dice work differently (it is not a d20 system), character creation is somewhat different (with less thing being class / ancestry dependent), there are no attributes, combat uses a more complex version of three action economy, spells being nonexitant compared to PF2e's spells, and so on. And yet, I just can't unsee the elements that make it like PF2e. You gain class, archetype, heritage and general feats, you level up to level 12, you have profficiency levels with your skills, it is a three action economy system, there are four degrees of success, and so on.

So I open up the question to you all, is creating a new TTRPG a pointless endeavour?

[keftiu]

There is a time-honored tradition of people who, having played their first bit of D&D, set out to write their own game that will fix all of its flaws - which is a bit like trying to build a car from scratch after you get your learner's permit. These games, full of earnest effort, are usually known as 'fantasy heartbreakers,' mostly because they come from designers who've never read a non-D&D game before and are thus likely to make rookie mistakes.

You tried to make something, and that's always a noble exercise... but TTRPGs are a creative field with decades of history! People have tried a lot of things beyond what Wizards of the Coast is willing to put between two covers.

Go read stuff that isn't about fantasy adventurers, like the occult-industrial heist crews of Blades in the Dark or the doomed corporate space-truckers of Mothership. Find some that don't use a d20 - or better yet, don't use dice at all, like Jenga-based Dread or the emotional token economy of Dream Askew. Play a worldbuilding game, like Microscope or I'm Sorry, Did You Say Street Magic?. Try a solo game; Thousand Year Old Vampire and Artefact both made me sob into my journal.

If there can be other videogames than Call of Duty and Fortnite, there can be other tabletop games than Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder.

[Steve Geddes]

It's not pointless, but it may not be profitable.

If you get joy from the creative endeavour itself then that's a worthy point to it. If the people who play it enjoy it then that's another. Realistically, its unlikely a homebrewed system is going to become The Next Big Thing, but if you're not dreaming of commercial success that doesn't really matter.

There are so many games out there (particularly indie, small press games) that the chance of a robust system being truly, totally unique is vanishingly small. It's (nearly) all been done before - but the fresh combinations, perspectives and presentations of new games still has value. Don't be discouraged or feel guilty about similarities - it doesn't lessen the achievement of making a game that people enjoy.

[Delta Arena]

Fortunately I am not doing it for economic gain, but more as a creative excercise, I suppose. Since I started I have done some overhauls of what I started with. For instance, I began with a D&D/Pathfinder like ancestry selection which I swapped for something akin to a body part selection. And, inspired by games like GURPS, I have added an active defense system, instead of using AC.

I am aware of fantasy heartbreakers and that is partly what makes me feel guilty, to the point where I don't know how much is similar and much I think it is similar out of fear of coming out with a fantasy heartbreaker.

[Grankless]

The most important thing is that you like the thing you're making.

[Dancing Wind]

I think any person who engages in creative endeavors does so, in part, for their own joy. If their creation brings joy to other people, that's a bonus.

So, from the story you've told, it sounds like you have already achieved the primary creative objective: designed a new game that you and your friends enjoy playing.

If you have goals beyond 'creating' and 'bringing joy', then sure, those goals may not be met by your game. If you want to become a renowned game designer, then maybe this isn't the best piece to showcase to the wider rpg world. First attempts in any creative field are seldom commercial blockbusters.

It might help you if you identified what goals you are 'afraid' of not reaching if someone else uses a derogatory term like 'fantasy heartbreaker' to describe your game. If you've already met your primary goals, there's probably nothing to fear.

[Leshy GM Delta Arena]

Sorry for the very late reply, but thank you. You are right on the points you've made and I'll continue to work on my game and just have fun with it.