Chapter 1 – The Birth of Dragon Brew

The question I am most asked As a game designer is “Where do your ideas come from?” followed by “Do you make a lot of money doing that?”   The answer to the second question is easy. “A lot less than you think.”  The first question is harder to answer.  Not because I don’t want to answer.  More so because the stories are not very interesting or I simply don’t remember.  So, where did my idea for Dragon Brew come from?  Dragon brew was born December 26, 2014 on a beach camping trip in San Simeon, California.

The 2014 holiday was one of those perfect storms where my wife Kate and I did not have our kids.   Honestly, it was a first for both of us.  Kid free for the holidays.  We decided to take the opportunity to do something non-traditional and camp at the beach.  Yes, we can camp at the beach in the winter – it’s why we live in California. We packed our standard camping gear; tent, inflatable mattress, bedding, clothing, chocolate, shrimp cocktails, beer, board games and a note book.  Normally I do most of my brainstorming on my laptop, but since we were camping, I needed an “old school” solution.

Kate and I lounged and enjoyed the deserted beach along with a cooler full of beer.  The thought hit me while looking at my spent Heineken bottle.  Why not have a game where you take ingredient cards and lay them to make your own beers with custom names?   I grabbed my note book and sketched out cards lining up to create beers. I always ask myself “WHY” when I think of a new mechanic.  Why would players want to do this? What is the goal of the game?  To win prizes at a beer festival of course!  Judges with personalities and unique preferences!

Theme is very important to me.  Where is the theme in this game?  The answer came very quickly – magic beers in a fantasy world where the brewing of beers has replaced war.  I was tickled by the idea of Dwarves, Orcs and Elves brewing beers in their own style such as Orcs drinking beer from a boot. Theme often pushes me from going from conception to prototype and this theme really inspired me.  I wrote “The Beer Game” at the top of the first notebook page.  Certainly not an inspiring name.  The following month it was changed to “Dragon Brew”.

That’s pretty much it.  I was able to come up with the core engine, goals and theme for the game in a single beer soaked December afternoon on a beach in San Simeon, California.

Next chapter:  Chapter 2 – Math is King!

In future chapters I will continue to tell you more about how Dragon Brew went from a concept on a beach to a Kickstarter project two years later.