#ttrpg creator

[thehomebakery]

Moving Out Sale

Hey folks, I'm running a massive sale on my itchio to help me escape a rough home situation and have a place of my own.

Everything is 50% Off! So If there's something you've been thinking about picking up in the future, or if you've wanted to get it for a friend, now's a great time!

I'll also say, even if you're unable to buy anything (completely understandable) if you could reblog this that would be incredibly helpful.

Discover the Sale Here

I also have kofi if folks want to donate there also 💕

What do you get in the bundle:

The Cakeish Corner

The Cakeish Corner is the wonderfully chaotic bakery of Proprietor Willow Stumblefoot. All baked goods all come with a little dash of magic, whether you want them to or not. Really it's a perfect place for any adventurer to spend their dough at!

The Rootless Boutique

The Rootless Boutique is a travelling shop run by the mysterious Magwitch, a fey creature of unknown ability and an interest in the material plane.

Sugar & Snow

A festive bundle of 5e goodies, based on the Nutcracker.

The Adoption Armoury

The Adoption Armoury is a curious place, tied up as it is in a mixture of haunted items, petty bookwork, and unusual characters, it is the perfect shop for those who would love a friend they could bring everywhere with them. Perhaps even one that could act on their behalf, if asked nicely enough.

The Skeleton Closet

Discover the Skeleton Closet, a remarkable establishment selling items of necromancy and ritual. Meet the skeletons who work there, and play out relationship events as your party gets to know them.

[bekandrew]

Operation Lavender Now Available on StoryPath Nexus!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/487239/Operation-Lavender?affiliate_id=1734601 Rescue trans people from Florida as a superpowered nova in the year 2028! Learn about being trans in the South and how YOU can spot and combat transphobic rhetoric! If you want a discount, become a supporter on my Patreon! Burning Refuse tier and above get 20%+ discounts on my fixed-price ttrpg products.

[thelastomnitect]

Hey there, Voyagers✨

This one is for all you new followers out there!

-Omni

[wyverewings]

I’ve planned to announce this when it was actually released, but due to it being much more difficult than I thought it would be, I’ve decided to announce preemptively…

I am making a Kirby-themed TTRPG!

It’s currently in the very early WIP stage, and I am… not experienced with making TTRPG stuff. Probably someone else would be better at making a Kirby TTRPG, but I am nothing if not stubborn, plus I wouldn’t want to force a burden on anyone.

Part of why I’m not really the best at making a TTRPG is because of me not really being too experienced with TTRPGs aside from DnD and Pathfinder. But I’m not unwilling to learn about more TTRPGs! I’ve been watching No Small Feat, and it’s played with Fabula Ultima, which seems pretty interesting, and I might take inspiration from it, if I manage to get it on Roll20.

I might scrap some stuff, but I want to keep the friendliness, flight, statuses, skills, starter traits, and the astral trait.

I’ve also got a very barebones Discord server, where I plan to outline development! If you want to join, I’ll DM you a link!

[koko-mochi]

I actually wrote a game about this some years ago! https://amyweston.itch.io/formative

🪶

[zackapplewhite]

⏰ 1 Week left to sign up for the TTRPG Marketing in 2024 Webinar!

📈 Analysis & evaluation of market trends to help you plan for 2024

👍 Professional advice on ways you can defend against the bad and capitalize on the good

📷 Recording and materials sent to all sign ups so schedule conflicts won't keep creators from learning

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Sign up here! https://forms.gle/rqBNsH3kUu3iP7DB8

[lalionnecosplay]

The prelaunch page for The Apothecaire's Apprentice is live! Click that "Notify Me" button to receive a notification when the Kickstarter campaign goes live! 🤩

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lalionnepublishing/the-apothecaires-apprentice-ttrp

[critfailofficial]

Craft cam fully set up (we think anyway) look forward to scuffed build streams, sculpting, and other things for TTRPG content. Just gotta organize the work space.....

[thehomebakery]

AI in the TTRPG Space

For anyone who is a regular on sites like DMs Guild or DriveThruRPG you'll have noticed how prevalent AI Art is on covers, usually on the front of writing also made up by AI etc.

You'll have seen how this sort of thing is happening at a rapid pace, clogging up the what's new sections, and in some cases actually in bestselling sections, or promoted by the site's social media.

It's incredibly frustrating.

I understand why it's happening in a sense, from a casual consumers' perspective this work is often very shiny from the outside, often promises a lot of content for your games.

It's also hard for human creators, artists, writers etc to compete. If we want to make something good that takes time, if we need to hire others that costs money.

As a result there might be less in it, the price might be higher because of upfront costs.

It certainly won't be coming out as quickly.

The trouble is I find, it's easy for folks to say no, I'm not going to support that. But you need to also then support human creators!

So please, don't just avoid buying AI content. Support human art as well!

(And if you want to do so for this human writer consider checking out DnD goodies here and here)

[anim-ttrpgs]

If any of y'all had tips for aspiring TTRPG creators, what would they be? I'm hosting a "How to Make your own TTRPG" panel at a con this weekend, and anything to show folks from a fellow indie studio would be great!

Yeah a bunch. Each one of these could basically be its own post, but here are the condensed versions.

Social Media

You need social media. No one will ever hear of your game without a strong social media presence. And as much as it sucks, your best bet is probably tumblr. It’s the only populated social media site that allows your posts to be widely circulated without you having to pay, and also long form enough to actually include information. I dedicate one day a week entirely to social media and that’s just about the only reason we make any money at all.

Also, when using tumblr, the first five tags you put on a post are the most important, those are the tags that make it show up on people’s dashboards. The first twenty tags are the ones that make it show up in search results. Don’t put the name of your game in the first five tags generally, because if no one has heard of it yet, no one is following those tags.

Don’t Paywall Your Game

You deserve to be paid for your work if you indeed did any work at all (we’ll get to that), but that just isn’t the world we live in. Unless you have an advertising budget to essentially trick people into buying a game that might end up being crap, you need something to prove that your game is worth spending money on. Without an advertising budget, that proof has to be your game. Setting your game to pay-what-you-want, or providing “community copies,” lets people try your game before they buy. Plenty of people will buy up-front when given the option, and others who can’t afford it at that moment will download it for free then come back and pay later. Some people will never pay, but what that means for you is that they either never experience your game, or they pirate it. People experiencing your game, showing it to their friends, and talking about it is one of the most valuable pieces of advertisement you can ever have. It will ultimately lead to more people who are willing and able to pay learning about your game.

Start Small but Not Too Small

Do not make a one-page game for your first game. Do not be like us and make a 700-page game for your first game. Try to aim for something between 20 and 200 pages, especially if you’re one person or a small team.

Play and Read a lot of RPGs or Your Game Will Suck

Would you watch a movie by a director who had only ever watched one movie? Would you read a book by an author who had only ever read one book? Hell no, those would suck.

Read many rpg rulebooks, from many different genres and decades, play as many of them as you can (by the rules) to understand how the rules work and why they’re there. This will give you the creative tools you need to make something that isn’t just a weaker version of the last RPG you played. No, listening to "actual plays" does not count.

Most actual plays stray significantly from presenting a regular gameplay experience in favor of an experience that is entertaining for an audience. If you want to learn martial arts, you should be watching martial arts tournaments, not WWE.

If you want an actual play podcast that has my “actually mostly presents a real gameplay experience” approval, try Tiny Table.

If you say you don’t have time to read rulebooks, then you don’t have time to design a good game. Studying is part of the process of creating. If you don't, you won't even know about gleeblor.

This will let you know whether your "innovation" is more like "Cars don't need to run on gasoline!" or "Cars don't need crumple zones and airbags!"

The Rules Matter, So Design with Intent

The rules matter the rules fucking matter holy shit what you actually write down on the page matters I can’t believe this is actually the seemingly most needed piece of advice on this list. The. rules. matter.

Design your game to be played in the way you designed it. The rules affect the tone and genre of your game, they affect the type of people PCs can be and the kind of stories that will result from gameplay. Bonuses encourage PC behaviors, penalties discourage PC behaviors.

Do not fall for the trap of “oh well people will just play it their own way based on vibes anyway so it doesn’t matter what I write the rules to be.” Write that you wrote this game to be played by the rules and that significant changes to the rules mean that players are no-longer playing the game you made. Write like you deserve for your art to be acknowledged by its audience. If you don’t, then there is no point in anyone playing the game you made, because if the person who wrote it doesn’t even care what the rules say, why should anyone? The people whose “playing” of TTRPGs consists of never opening the rulebook and improving based on “vibes” will still do that no matter what, but the people who would have actually tried to engage with your game will find that it sucks if you don’t even care what the rules are yourself.

Playtest

You need to playtest your game if you want it to work as intended. You need multiple sets of eyes on it. If you don’t have the opportunity personally to do so, just release your game anyway with the acknowledgement that it’s unfinished. Call it an alpha or a beta version, and ask for people that do play it to give feedback, then update and fix the game based on that feedback.

Ignore Feedback

Most people do not have any game design credibility, perhaps least of all TTRPG players. You do not, in fact, have to listen to everything people say about your game. Once you ask for feedback, people will come to you with the most deranged, asinine, bad-faith “feedback” you can imagine, and then get really mad at you when you don’t fall to your knees and kiss their feet about it. You do not need to take this feedback at face value, instead you need to learn to read between the lines and find out which parts of the rules text are being misinterpreted by players, and which incorrect assumptions players are making about your game. Then, you update and improve the game by clearing those up. Only like 30% of “feedback” you receive will actually be a directly helpful suggestion in its own right at face value.

You can’t please everyone, and shouldn’t, so appeal to the people who actually like your game for being what it is, not the people who don’t.

Read Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

Yeah this one sounds self-serving but hear me out. Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is as much a treatise on TTRPG game design as it is a game itself. When it presents mechanics and rules, it tells you what they are, why they are, how they are, and what you’re intended to do with them. This makes it an excellent example to read for anyone wanting to get serious about game design and learn how TTRPGs tick under the hood, and an excellent example of a TTRPG that expects players to play it the way it was written to be played, and why that is a good thing. Also you can download it for free.

[thelastomnitect]

Time for the Weekly Twitch Schedule, my Voyagers!

NOV 4-10, 2024

GENTRY DOLAAN ARTSTREAM- Wednesday 10:30am EST <Webcomic Artstream>

THE BREAKFAST CLUB- Thursday 10:30pm EST <Nerdy News & Hangout>

NO STREAM- Saturday I'll be Organizing for Universal Health Care! <As a member of the working poor, building class solidarity is hella important to me! So, this weekend, Ill be OFFLINE, joining my comrades in some revolutionary logistics work!>

------------------------------------------------------------

All this can be found on my TWITCH CHANNEL!

SEE YOU THERE, VOYAGERS~

[artcher-artwork]

Fennec Fox Wizard! Twitter warmup request Can you send me a cute animal and D&D class? Coloring sheet for Patrons

Also! New Tier/Benefit for Patrons!

Whenever I take requests I'll be looking through those requests first, so it gives a little higher of a chance your idea will be chosen if you want to help support my work!

[robotics5]

Shoutout to DUMMY SYSTEM, a really cool TTRPG that does a more thematic job of being an Eva rpg than even Sad Teen Mecha Pilots does

It's got really evocative social mechanics that rely on dragging others down till they break, and each player plays as both a Pilot and an Officer, except the GM who is the Commander.

It's open-ended and rules light but in a way with just enough mechanics that it doesn't feel like you're just let loose unprepared

[unlawfulgames]

SOOTY BEARDS IS OUT! Come get your dwarves and your beard oil! Help us slow fund a physical release! https://plusoneexp.com/pages/sooty-beards

What is Sooty Beards?

A setting zine about a fantasy dwarf-hold crossed with a decaying American coal town. People are leaving and things are falling apart. If something doesn’t change–if things can’t change–it’ll become a ghost town soon.

Sooty Beards Features:

8 Run-down urban and wilderness areas complete with “What Used To Be Here?” And “What’s Here Now?” tables to bring out the weight of ages.

8 Strange, Dual-Statted Creatures to populate your dying coal town with, whether your game uses d6 or d20.

Dozens of quirky, narrative items to discover, from screaming lanterns to steampowered ballistic sportballs.

A “Why Did You Even Come Here?” table to give your characters quick, easy, and miserable motivations for visiting the crumbling city of Vesallberg.

More than 20 evocative pieces of art and a beautiful map of Vesallberg by Charles Ferguson-Avery.

CREEPING DEPRESSION

Instant talking canaries! Just add booze!

A glossary of useful terms to get you speaking like a native ‘Berger in no time.

A supplemental bonus book with d66 backgrounds for Vesallberg locals, compatible with TROIKA!

What People Are Saying

“An evocative portrait of community decay in the form of a TTRPG setting -- the troubles of these dwarves in their failing mine resonate strongly with the concerns of the modern day. Bleak in the best way. One gets the sense that this text is just the tip of the Vesallberg, as it were; hints lurk throughout that there is much more going on beneath the surface. (What is up with those *cats*?)”

- Dr. Mac Boyle of The Maniculum Podcast and Marginal Worlds TTRPG

The Creators of Bridgetown have done it again. They’re created a grim, nay whimsical–nay grimsical – setting that makes me wish I could grow a beard.

– Asa Donald of Backwards Tabletop

Ah, Vesallberg, miserable rock, “titanic triumph and miscreation”, a dying city stripped of resources, but full of beards (and the ecosystems within them). A wonderfully horrid place to visit, from the Slag Hills to the Deep Delvings. Come for strange misadventures among the Koljar Dwarves, Big Folk, and Scrawny folk. Stay for the deep, dark, hilarious writing; the whip-smart Politics(™); and the amazing illustration. Once you arrive you may never be able want to leave.

—Adam STATION, An Infinity of Ships, Make 100 Bastards

"How do you communicate background and lore in an RPG without it becoming a slog through a textbook? Quotes, cool tables, beautiful maps, and evocative art. This book makes it easy to picture the dwarf-hold of Vesallberg!”

-Joshua McCrowell of His Majesty The Worm

“This is like Veins of the Earth but with more life and less crunch. I really dig it!”

-David Schiduan of Technical Grimoire

“Welcome to Vesallberg, the Phoenix of the Wetlands™! … How’d that sound? Too corny? It’s too corny, isn’t it. Oh, that’ll send ‘em running away even faster. Stupid, stupid…!”

-Dent Pigiron, Newest Head of the Visitor Center

From the Team

From Furtive Goblin

Like most of my projects, what would eventually become Sooty Beards started as a half-joking mashup of X and Y shared with my friend John. In this case the “X” and “Y” were “Khazad-dûm” and “a dying coal town”, which turned out to be the magic words. For the next year he and I threw ideas back and forth and built the doc up, but soon I found myself in my first ever leading role with final say on what our team did. A fun idea became my first test as a game designer. And if you find yourself interested in picking up a copy of your own then hey, thanks for helping me pass.

From John Gregory

Just like Bridgetown, Furtive Goblin came up to me and said “Hey, I’ve got an idea!” And I responded, “I shall assemble The Team.” And, well, once again some of the Very Vilest Viziers have come together to give you something weird and bleak, a mix of dark humor, social commentary and dwarves being dwarves. Pulling from somewhere between my Appalachian coal-town ancestors and Furtive’s literal experience living under a rock, I’d like to think we’ve made something that will speak to that yet burning coal in your soul.

From Tony

I had 2 people message me asking if I could help Furtive get a zine published. I was already interested and then… they mentioned beards. At one point they tried to give me a “developer credit” but really Furt, John & Charlie did all the work and it’s beautiful, grimm & whimsical all at the same time. Each level of design layering on the next, to create something more than the individual parts. At the end of the day, unlike Vesallberg, I think people will flock to this project because of the earnest love that the creators have for what they have made, and each other. It’s great to be the 1st fan of a project, but it’s just as good to be the 3rd fan.

Follow Up

If you have additional questions, would like to schedule an interview, set up a time to play with us, or have any other questions please feel free to reach out via email to Tony@PlusOneExp.com

[purpleandsilver]

🎶 I just got a package 🎶 I just got a package 🎶 I wonder who's it from 🎶

It's TTRPG mail!!!! I bought Fantasy Age from Green Ronin!