Design Diary: From 18XX to 3 Dice and a Sheet of Paper

When I first started working on Rust & Revenue, my goal was to take the essence of an 18XX economic game and compress it into a fast, solo-first roll-and-write format. I wanted a game you could set up in minutes, play in under an hour, and still feel the arc of growth, competition, and decline that defines train games. Roll-and-writes are usually lighter fare; 18XX is a sprawling system.

That meant making some hard choices about what to keep, what to adapt, and what to leave behind. A full 18XX experience relies on sprawling maps, meticulous bookkeeping, and multi-hour sessions where every train and stock certificate has to be tracked. None of that was going to survive the transition. But the feel of 18XX - the way companies rise and fall, the tension of investing, and the sense that every decision has a cost - that was what I wanted to carry over.

Scaling down the economy:  The first step was shrinking the numbers. In traditional 18XX, cities can pay out handsomely, shares stack up, and stock values swing. For a compact design, though, big numbers don’t create tension - they just create math. I deliberately kept cities and towns on smaller values so that every pip mattered and payouts felt lean but meaningful.

Service capacity over trains:  Another adjustment was abstracting trains. Instead of tracking every piece of rolling stock, I shifted to the idea of “service capacity.” It was cleaner to manage but still forced the same tough choices - do you push to expand, or do you risk falling behind when new, larger capacities come online? It kept the pressure while removing clutter.

Pips as currency:  The dice had to matter for more than randomization. Using pips as currency tied the whole system together. A single die roll represented money, tempo, and opportunity. That decision immediately gave the game the kind of tight economy I wanted, where every action feels like a tradeoff. I expanded on this for multiplayer by adding an extra die for turn order. Timing is contested in train games, and I’m pleased with how Rust & Revenue layers that tension into another decision point.

The rhythm of growth and decline: One of the things I love most about 18XX is that companies don’t just climb forever - they stagnate, they rust out, they collapse if you aren’t careful. Preserving that arc in a 30-minute game was important to me. By forcing players into a rhythm of investing and operating, and by letting company value fade over time, Rust & Revenue creates a natural pressure to adapt. You can’t just ride one company to victory.

All track is your track - unless it’s not: In 18XX, track is usually shared. Stations are used by railroad companies to mark and block competitors, with hex tiles upgrading from yellow to green to brown while terrain complicates construction. Rust & Revenue simplifies this by assigning values to lines on the map that are paid out with pips. It’s a roll-and-write, so it’s perfectly fine to draw on the board - though if you tried that in an 18XX game, you’d probably be thrown out.