Lately, I've started having that terrible urge -- the one that all gamers who are very interested in design probably face at one point or another. I've been wanting to design my own RPG.
I know, I know. You're probably shouting at your monitor or your cell phone right now. Don't do it! Knock it off! Take that unexamined notion, pull it out of your brain, sit that nonsense down on the ground, and move quickly in the opposite direction like a hiker who's encountered an angry bobcat on a backwoods trail!
And perhaps I should. It's arguable that we're living in the time of Peak RPGs. It's easier than every to find and purchase RPGs. There's a new game dropping every few days on Kickstarter. As I recently heard it stated by Ken Hite and Robin Laws in an older episode of their excellent podcast (I'll try to find the specific episode and put a link in here), if you find yourself wanting to design a new RPG, you should ask yourself if it's really necessary. With so many variations of play out there, can there really be anything new under this polyhedral sun? Is there already something out there that does what you want your new game to do? In short: why create clutter?