In writing a short, elegant game, one challenge is how to provide an adequate setting for the game. I try to do that not with a lot of description, but instead by building the game around procedural tables from which the players can elicit an unpredicted setting consistent with the game's thematics.

In this case, character generation is an integral aspect of the setting. The words or tags, Advantages or Failings, that the players roll and choose, will inform the setting. Are there Monkeys? Are problems solved by Cunning or Brutality, by Magic or Lasers? Do people care about each others' Feelings or do they simply Command? Most important - what tags will the players import from their own imaginations? These are the most important clues to where the play should focus. These are where the players get agency in worldbuilding.

I adapted the character building in this game from three of my earlier games, Sigils, nevers, and One Die Four Words - most directly, from ODFW. Out of those three games' playtests, ODFW, to which this game owes the most for chargen, produced the most fascinatingly gonzo setting from the contingencies of character brainstorming. After some reflection, I realized that such would be an immensely important element of play for any game I wanted to be part of. So I stole my own work, tweaked it around, and fit it into The Mad Hermit.