Roleplaying games began from wargames, which were a power fantasy of commanding armies to do or die in service of inscrutable and whimsical causes. Naturally, roleplaying games trended toward more individualistic power fantasies - the eternal staircase of character improvement and "leveling up."

Recently, I've seen a game about entropy. The opposite of a power fantasy, it's an inevitably fatal struggle against the great specter.

That inspired me to try writing my own game of gradual dwindling, people clinging to power despite the knowledge that it one day will slip from their grasp. That theme got me thinking about Elric of Melnibone, and that in turn turned my thoughts to Atlantis.

What better metaphor for hubris and mortality than the demise of Atlantis?

So I wrote atlantean hobos. Make what you will.