Arydia started out as fantasy-Xia, but a few months into development I was having trouble reconciling differing gameplay elements I really wanted to include. After a while, I realized that there were two distinct games I wanted to make: One was a sandbox, fantasy Xia. The other was something different, more like an old-school RPG with true exploration and lasting progression.I made the choice to go forward with the latter, and that was the genesis for Arydia. I would love to make fantasy Xia someday, (maybe next?) but I really feel pleased with my choice in gameplay design, and I can’t wait to share all the new ideas, mechanics, and components in Arydia!
Honestly, my original response didn’t go back far enough for this question - so...(que harp and ripple fade, voice over “it all started when...”). Back in 2014 I wanted to run a DND campaign for my game group - we’d never done one before! After weeks of research and learning about the systems involved, I discovered just how much work a DM has to do in order to keep a campaign going, seeming like 2-3 hours a week of prep alone, for a decent campaign. Even if you’re using pre-made content. So I went looking for, as you say, the RPG in a box (we’d already done the Descent 1 campaign) and I couldn’t find anything that was what I wanted. So I thought, I could spend the time to run a campaign for my friends, or instead, I could focus on putting all that time and energy into making a campaign that anyone could play! So that’s long been the overarching goal with Arydia - I want as close to a full Tabletop RPG experience, but I’ll do all the prep and organization for you. So the dream is you, being so busy with life, work (kids?) etc. can still sit down with your friends sit and have an adventure!