Q&A With Paul Stapleton – Designer of Paupers' Ladder Board Game

Hello! Would you mind introducing yourself to our readers? Who are you, and what are you known for?

Hiya! I’m Paul Stapleton, and I’ve been designing board games since 2012. I guess in Brighton I’m known for BN1, the board game I made all about my home town. But more recently, Paupers’ Ladder and the world of Brighthelm have started to stick their heads above the parapet, which has been a lovely surprise. 

What was the spark that led to Paupers’ Ladder?

All my gaming passion can be traced back to discovering Talisman when I was 13. The genuine sense of adventure, never knowing what you were going to find next and the seemingly endless well of things to discover really stayed with me. Those strands eventually found their way to Paupers’ Ladder. Along the way, finding the likes of Iron Helm and Escape the Dark Castle demonstrated there’s a lot of love for games that capture that vintage of fantasy adventure.

The DIY element of indie board games and self-publishing made it feel like it was all possible, so in 2019 I stopped making games about Brighton and started making them about Brighthelm instead.

It was great to see this style of game paired with colourful artwork. Was this intentional?

Absolutely. I love fantasy themed games but my word - there’s a lot of brown and grey! I wanted to make Paupers’ Ladder stand out in that respect and hopefully evoke a cosy and warming world.  The aim was something that made gamers of a certain age go a little misty eyed but was fresh enough to appeal to plenty of other folk as well!

Tell us about why Paupers’ Ladder needed a second edition.

That’s easy! Dungeon Dive. It’s a YouTube channel that champions indie adventure games. Daniel’s lovely reviews put the game on so many radars that it led to the game selling out, and the interest people have shown made a 2^nd edition viable.

It’s been great going back to it with five years extra experience and ideas to add to the mix. The 2^nd edition adds lots of new characters, places, monsters and equipment. And more bird companions – that’s been the most popular element of the game so I’ve leant into that much more this time round.

You’ve made a gorgeous tin game, what was the thought behind that?

Thank you! I set myself the challenge of making as big a world as I could fit into something the size of a tobacco tin. As it turned out, a fishing village with its own mine was about the limit! 

I’d been playing a lot of Jason Glover’s solo games around that time and that kicked off the spark of creating a fairly small-scale adventure that still lets you make lots of decisions along the way. It was an interesting challenge having such limited space to fit it all in to and I enjoyed it very much.

Will we get to see more of Brighthelm? What’s coming next?

Absolutely! The second Tiny Tin Tale game is currently underway and should be out by the end of the year. It’s called The Siege of Shaddis Horne and it’s a tower defence game for 1-4 players. Also, now the Paupers’ Ladder expansions are all sold out or close to doing so, I need to think about what to do with those. Maybe a compendium.

But yes, more on the horizon. It feels like my brain is always at least 50% in Brighthelm so there are plenty more adventures to come. That said, I’m also working on a game called Twittens set in the little alleyways that run behind houses and through suburbs.