I am Kyle MacLachlan.

Adventurer’s Guidebook

Medium: Adobe InDesign and Portable Document Format (.pdf)

Game design has been one of my favorite past times for years, and one such game I’ve been developing has been The World of Eridin. This fantasy world has been through more changes of medium since I started it back in 2015, starting off as a novel, before changing to a film, then a tabletop game, then a video game, then back to a novel, and a cycle is formed. This project is to show how I was developing World of Eridin into a playable Tabletop RPG.

This document is created in Adobe InDesign, an amazing tool that can be used for writing novels, magazines, or, in this case, player handbooks. This particular iteration is the second version. The original InDesign files have become lost to time - or, maybe on a previous computer and was never migrated over to my current systems. So I used a copy of my .pdf file to reconstruct the document.

This version does not contain any graphics or artwork. I want to note that I did this intentionally so that the focus was on the text and layout rather than on artwork that I did not draw or compose. I also wanted to focus on the core mechanics I was working with, primarily the players stats. In 2022, I had seen on social media that Wizards of the Coast was stopping it’s Open Game License (OGL) on it’s Dungeons and Dragons game. This was impactful as I was using DnD as a base to build the World of Eridin - well, Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, The Legend of Zelda, and a few other fantasy genre games. It was because of this OGL ban that I started working on making the World of Eridin use it’s own system for abilities, classes, and mechanics.

One such system, the stats, became known as the SPECIALS system. SPECIALS, as you could guess, is an acronym for the seven stats players use to create and play a character. Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck, and Spirit. I had to figure out what each stat would mean, how it translated from Dungeons and Dragons original formatting, and how to apply my two new stats, Luck and Spirit, into the gameplay. It was important to note that Spirit became the stat for magical attacks and mechanics; I didn’t want characters to rely on Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma to bolster their magic spells. Imagine a Bard with a high charisma stat able to cast powerful spells just because they’re bold. So now, the Bard could have a high charisma stat, but their spellcasting would not be based on that same stat. It’s a bit complex, but it’s still in the early stages of development and balancing.

The World of Eridin is also a diverse and populated world, where players could pick from a wide arrange of races found throughout the land. Two noteworthy species I’ve been working on was the Sandveil Elves, and the Lycans.

Elves are commonly described as fair-skinned forest-folk, who can commune with the trees and nature. So, I thought about how I could create a different kind of Elf, one that had no access to the trees or forests of their kin, and who have evolved and developed in a different biome entirely. The desert was a stark contrast, and I ended up working through this concept. The elvish skin would have high levels of melanin to protect their skin from the UV rays of the sun in the desert heat. Their attire would be silk and soft fabrics. Their homes would be built from sandstone. Even their belief system would rely more on the spirits of the Sun, Wind, and Sands rather than Water, Air, and Nature.

Lycans were created from a curse from another land entirely, and having that curse migrate to the locals in the land. Those who were blood-born had the curse transfer from generation to generation through down the bloodline. They were less feral, and had more control over this lycanthropy transformation. Those who were night-born are the first to be cursed, either through a spell or through a venomous bite of a Lycan. As the moon waxes and wanes, their senses are intensified. And a final note, both kinds of Lycans had complete control over when they could change into their wolf-like state. They are not werewolves.

This project continues to evolve and change as my inspiration for this project waxes and wanes. Sifting through things that inspire me, I end up shelving this project when too many ideas no longer work for the story - If I get inspired by sci-fi, and now want to work on a project that crosses the galaxy, I wouldn’t want to work on the World of Eridin to change it’s identity as a fantasy world. I would like to think that this ability to pause a project for others is a talent so I don’t overwork an idea to the grave.