The Tinker’s Cathedral

Alex Buchel calls game design a tinker’s job, not an artist’s. Rules evolve. Systems improve. Nothing is ever finished. This is either humility or misdirection, because the thing he tinkered into existence — a skirmish wargame called SAGA — has fifty factions spanning six historical periods and a fantasy universe, all running on a single mechanical chassis so elegant it hasn’t needed replacing in fourteen years.