RPG Systems Design
The Ability Drain System
A custom tabletop RPG resource and risk system built around the tension between power, flexibility and consequence. Developed and refined through long-term campaign playtesting.
Game & Systems Design Portfolio
Simon Rune Stender.
Game and Systems Designer with 6 years of professional experience designing interconnected systems, progression, balancing and live content for large-scale simulation games. My work focuses on clear rules, meaningful player decisions and systems that remain understandable as their complexity grows.
Selected case studies
Examples of systems design across tabletop and shipped digital projects, with an emphasis on design reasoning, iteration and collaboration.
Technical Systems Design
H3 Hex Map
A global building-placement system that translates OpenStreetMap data into gameplay-relevant H3 tile classifications through research, weighted rules, testing and close engineering collaboration.
Production Systems Design
The Care System / SEG-V
A dynamic support system based on real-world emergency care units. It converts changing conditions at an operation into scalable personnel, vehicle and equipment requirements.
Design focus
My work often sits between player-facing design and technical implementation, with particular emphasis on systems that need to remain legible, tunable and extensible.
Systems & Feature Ownership
From concept and constraints through documentation, implementation support, testing and live iteration.
Progression & Balancing
Structuring costs, pacing, incentives and probability so choices stay meaningful across progression.
Player-Driven Systems
Designing mechanics that create choices, consequences and emergent outcomes rather than fixed solutions.
Technical Collaboration
Strong technical understanding, code literacy and experience defining systems together with client and server developers.
Live Iteration
Using player behavior, feedback and production constraints to refine shipped systems over time.
TTRPG Design
More than a decade of Game Master experience, including original mechanics, reactive worlds and long-form narrative systems.
Contact
For professional inquiries, you can reach me by email or LinkedIn.