How to Write an Indie TTRPG - Graphic Design

You’re almost ready: You’ve written your game. You figured out the appropriate safety tools and mechanics. You’ve done your multiple rounds of editing, and your playtesters have given you great feedback. Your revisions are complete. As far as you can tell…

You’re done. Your game is ready to go. Except for one thing…

Graphic design.

Now, we all know the old adage of “don’t judge a book by it's cover,” but let’s be honest: When it comes to things like games (and books, and movies, and and and) we sometimes tend to gloss over ones that don’t appeal to us. We all have our personal design aesthetics that we like, and there’s nothing wrong with that! And frankly: Graphic design isn’t for everyone. It can be really challenging, especially if it’s all brand new to you!

Here are some of my suggestions for you, if you’re new to game design and aren’t sure where to begin with putting your game into a graphic format:

1. Look at other people’s games that are in similar theme to yours. If you’ve got a space game, look at other space themed games. Fantasy? Find some dungeon crawlers. Warm and cozy? That’s a big niche right now, and there are tons of games with that vibe. There are games out there already with every aesthetic design you can think of, so don’t be afraid to look at what other people are doing and use that information to figure out what you like (and, more importantly: What you don’t like).

2. Talk to other game designers, and your playtesters. It can be really helpful to bounce ideas off other people in the game design space, along with the people who know your game. My playtesting group has been incredibly helpful (and vocal, in a good way) about sharing their thoughts when it comes to my cover designs and font choices and, while I might not always listen, their feedback is invaluable. Lots of game designers also love to talk shop, and are happy to help each other out - If you need someone to review, or give you a vibe check, drop me an email and I’ll give you my thoughts!

3. Canva is an incredibly valuable resource. Literally all of my games have been designed through Canva, and there’s a reason for it: Even in its free version, the platform is dizzyingly robust, offering the ability to provide designs for book or ‘zine covers in many different standard sizes or clip art elements or photos for background, and much more. They also offer affordable printing services, as well.

   1. A subpoint here is that there are also many other free and valuable resources available for use out there, depending on what you’re looking for. Unsplash is great for royalty free photographs, and Itch.io has a huge amount of resource heavy asset packs (D&D related, comics-themed, or maybe you need a specific font type), many of which are free to use.

Once you’ve done your research, the best thing you can do is go with your gut. You know what you like and you know the vibe of your game, so put the two of those things together. Take your time: There’s no rush!

And remember: Do one more round of editing before you publish - Don’t be like me and have your game printed with a spelling error.

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How to Write an Indie TTRPG - Playtesting

As with editing, playtesting can be a challenge. You’ve got everything ready: Your game is in a word doc, it’s been edited, and you’re feeling confident. So, how does one do playtesting?

In my opinion, there are three “versions” of playtesting:

1. You can play your game.

2. Your friends can play your game.

3. You can source strangers to play your game.

So, let’s look at each of these options.

First stop should always be: Play your own game. Even though you’ve written it and edited it multiple times already, and you know this game and its mechanics better than anyone else… You should step away from it for a day or two, then sit down and read it over and see how the flow of rules and instructions work. If you’re able to play it through to completion without any challenges: Great! Sometimes, playing your own game will reveal flaws in the flow of how you introduce mechanics, so take your time and be objective (the hardest part, truly).

Now, Option Two: Get your friends to play your game. Hopefully, you have some folks in your life who also enjoy TTRPGs. If so, entice them with the idea of playing a brand new game that their very best friend in the whole world wrote! Or maybe snacks! I find that homemade cookies usually work best.

If your friends don’t play TTRPGs, this could be an excellent opportunity to introduce them! Especially if they’ve heard of or played something like Pathfinder or Dungeons & Dragons in the past, but never played any indie games.

Option Three is the one that is likely the most challenging for a lot of folks: Getting strangers to play your game. It can be hard to find people, though in the end there are options such as social media that can be helpful. There are large communities of TTRPG players on sites like BlueSky and Mastodon that would likely jump at the chance to be part of a playtesting group. Another place to look is Itch.io: You can use the Community forums to make a help wanted post, and request playtesters.

Truly, I believe that the hardest part about playtesting is getting feedback. When you’ve poured hours into designing a game, it can be really challenging to hear when it’s not perfect. One thing to remember is that the folks who are playtesting your game genuinely want it to be the best it possibly can be. All of their suggestions come from a place of love that’s focused around that goal. So don’t be too harsh when they have suggestions…

And don’t be too hard on yourself! Just like any other writing project, no game is perfect on the first draft. There will be revisions, there will be changes, and that’s okay. Keep working on it, and be sure to ask for more feedback as you go. Remember that with every game you create, your skills will get better and better, so keep going!

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How to Write an Indie TTRPG - Editing

Okay, so. You’ve got your framework built, your mechanics laid out, and a narrative woven into your game. There’s the start of a story, a hook for your players to care about. A reason for them to go on. Your first draft is done, so now it’s time to do the dreaded thing: Edit.

Editing isn’t all bad, but it is a crucial step toward finishing your work. As I am not a grammarian (yes, that’s an actual thing), I have some suggestions to help with your editing process:

• If you, like me, prefer to write your drafts out by hand: Type your draft into a word processing document. This will allow the program to automatically assist with spelling challenges and some grammatical issues.

  • If you are so inclined, you can also make use of a tool like Grammarly for this part.

• Review your work for clarity and conciseness. In places where you can, using fewer words to say the same thing helps your readers stay focused and engaged. Clarity also means using everyday words that your player understands. There’s no reason to make your language overly flowery when it comes to the rules and mechanical instructions of your game: Straightforward language is best.

• Have someone you trust review your draft. Not necessarily for spelling and grammatical issues, but for readability. Allow them to leave comments in your document, and check your ego at the door: A lot of comments or questions isn’t a bad thing. They’re simply areas for improvement, and this is why I suggesting having someone you trust do this step. They will be honest with you, because they want you to succeed.

As a general rule, I expect at least three rounds of revisions for each game: The initial grammar review, a clarity review, followed by at least one peer review and the incorporation (or discarding) of their suggestions.

All editing and revisions take time, but it really is a crucial part of the process for creating a game on your own. What I see as the most challenging aspect is coming up next week, though: Playtesting!

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How to Write an Indie TTRPG - Safety Tools

In the last few years, I’ve learned a lot about safety tools in TTRPGs. There are a lot of options for multi-player games, but it can be hard to know where the lines and veils are in a solo game experience. As someone who hasn’t has much experience designing games for more than one person, we’ll be focusing on single player game safety tools.

Generally, safety tools for solo TTRPGs boil down to a couple of things: The ability to give personal consent and trust, agency, and a willingness to be vulnerable. Let’s take these one at a time.

We all have a pretty firm understanding of consent: Effectively, this is giving permission for something to happen. When it comes to solo games, this can be a tricky thing for a player to give. One way we, as designers, can help a player in this regard is to provide content warnings and a detained synopsis of our games. This allows the player to make a more informed decision before they even start playing. Of course, this also means that someone may decide not to play your game, but it’s better to have lost a player to safety concerns than to lose their trust when they stumble unknowingly into triggering content.

Content warnings can take a lot of different forms, but I find it best to include them on both the store page and in the game document itself. For my newer games, I generally include warnings in the copyright text block, along with any other notes. For my earlier games, safety tools are worked into the layout of the game and that includes their content warnings. Any way you want to do it is valid, as long as you do have them.

Warnings should include anything that could potentially be harmful to your player. Remember to think about this in broad strokes, and hone in on the fact that your game isn’t just for you. If you’re not sure where to start on this, check out some other indie games and review their warnings. Some easy things to get you started include common fears and phobias.

Agency refers to the feeling of control over one’s actions and, therefore, their consequences. This one is a bit harder to define for solo games, as the player is always in control of their choice to play. It’s important to remind the player that if they feel unsafe, they can step back at any time.

The concept of agency also extends to the idea of specifically seeking out games with themes or content that the player knows will be challenging to harmful to them. Obviously, this isn’t something you can plan for, but you can do your best to protect them by giving them adequate content warnings and providing them ample opportunity to choose to play your game or not.

Please note that this isn’t to say that there shouldn’t be games with triggering or challenging content. As designers, it’s still up to us to ensure our players know what they’re getting into when they sit down to play. Whether they’re seeing a kind of catharsis, or some other result, isn’t for us to police.

These two ideas dovetail with the concept of the player having a willingness to be vulnerable. Many solo TTRPGs put the player in a position of vulnerability, whether that is from not knowing what comes next (through the flip of a coin, roll of a die, or turn of a card) or through gameplay that may lead to prompts that challenges their worldview or are emotionally impactful. Any of this can lead to feelings of vulnerability, which can make a player feel uncomfortable.

In a game where a Game Master is present, there is a level of trust that is given; in a solo game, that trust has to be created by the designer, a kind of contract with the player. They have to trust themselves, to know when to step back or how to press through an uncomfortable situation to one that evokes better feelings.

In the end, a player’s safety all comes down to trust: Trust in themselves and trust in the designer. It is a contract we enter into with them, a promise to keep them safe, even when the questions we ask and the scenarios we design are emotional, scary, or just plain challenging. It’s a promise we should take seriously, and hold sacred, so we can provide the best experience possible for our players.

How to Write an Indie TTRPG - Mechanical Design

Welcome to another edition of How to Write a Game series, this one focused on game design. Initially, I had wanted to cover both mechanics design and layout design, but we’re going to use this one to talk mechanics and rules only. We’ll have a follow up about layout design later.

"Princess with a Cursed SRD" by Anna Anthrophy, and the Wretched and Alone SRD by Sealed Library and Chris Bissette.

For some game designers mechanics are very important, but also terribly tricky. There’s a balance between creating something new, and taking inspiration from other’s works without copying them directly. My biggest piece of advice for new game designers is to start yourself off with a softball: Play lots of games, find out what you like, and see if there is a System Resource Documents (SRD) for it. SRDs can be a lifesaver, especially if you’re wanting to create a game that is similar to another designer’s.

A good SRD will give you all the information you need to create a “new” version of the original game you played. Many SRDs will explain why a certain mechanic was used, or what type of game works best with their system. For example, the Princess Sword SRD explains that because the system uses a tarot deck it may be best suited for fantasy-style games, as many tarot decks do not feature modern or sci-fi imagery and may not evoke the right vibe for your game. SRDs will also include information on how to properly label and cite your work, indicating that your game uses a specific framework and you’re authorized to do so.

For me, personally, building games whole cloth is challenging. I find that I do my best work when building off a framework, creating something something that fits my vision around those mechanics. There are a few games in my library that are original creations, but just as many are based off the work of other creators who have inspired me with their games.

Mechanics in TTRPGs are important: Leaving your players with questions about how particular things work can lead to games being left unplayed, and so I find it is best to ensure that your ruleset is written in clear and concise language. Even if your game has a lot of moving parts, your players should be able to understand why each mechanic exists and what it does for the rest of your game. In one of my upcoming games, I’ve included a coin flip mechanic to tell the player if they are alone on a turn or if they have crew members with them. While this is a mechanic that could be left out, or a choice left up to the player to decide, I opted to include it and leave that choice up to chance. That mechanic could also be completely overlooked or unused and it wouldn’t change anything about the game and its end results: A journal documenting their playthrough.

The concept of mechanics in indie TTRPGs also takes on a multitude of different concepts and ideas. In the game Ten Candles, your group literally has 10 lit candles in their playing area and when they have all burned out, the game is over. In 32%, the color of the card you draw has different meanings based on what your character is doing. The Wretched uses a tumbling block tower to relay the condition of your ship. It doesn’t all have to be dice rolls.

In the end I think the most important part of mechanics and game design is ensuring that your rules and mechanics for each rule, the how and why behind them, are clear. You can only go so far on concept alone, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box! Utilize tokens to represent health, use a lit stick of incense to create a timer, create instructions for making a little paper cut out lighthouse that the players can put together (that one’s in The Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe, so maybe don’t do that, but you know what I mean). The sky’s the limit, and I’m so excited to see what you do!

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How to Write an Indie TTRPG - Inspiration

Welcome to the first series of this new blogging venture, all about how to write your own indie TTRPG game! This will mostly fall into a sort of advice column, where I talk about what has (and hasn’t) worked for me, when it comes to creating indie TTRPGs.

I feel that I should preface this all with the caveat that I am, by no means, an expert on writing or indie game design. However, it has been a few years since I wrote my first game and I have a fair few out there in the world. Please take my advice with a grain of salt, and be sure to do your own research. That’s what’s worked best for me.

Probably the first and most often asked question about my game design process has been, “Where do you get your ideas?” This question has so many possible answers, but the easiest one I can give is “everywhere!”

My first suggestion to you, ‘O Searcher of Inspiring Stuff, is to slow down and take in what’s going on around you. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Sometimes it’s the way sunlight glimmers off the water, or falling leaves, or the warm and cozy feeling that settles over you with a good mug of tea. Sometimes it comes from a conversation, or a book, or a particularly good song. And sometimes, it comes from absolutely no where at all.

Recently, game designer Paul Czege asked me where I came up with the idea for Foam & Fiction, which is somehow one of my most popular offerings on Itch.io. The story here is so boring and not at all glamorous - I remember waking up in the middle of the night and typing “Magical bookstore / café game” into the notes app on my phone.

You may be thinking, dear reader, did I have a dream that prompted this late night revelation that awoke me from a dead sleep? I cannot say. But regardless, when I woke up proper the next morning, I had so many ideas and I feel like Foam & Fiction came together very quickly. The part I really agonized over? The title. My brain could NOT come up with a name for a café / bookstore, and kept getting hung up on Foam Party… But I also really did not want to get sued by Marvel for copyright infringement, so here we are.

The initial cover concept for Threshold: Autumn covered by a bottle of gold ink, a leather notebook, a dip calligraphy pen, and a note that reads: "The story isn't possible without you."

So much of my inspiration comes from other games I play, as well. Other indie games, solo games, MMOs, resource management games, micro games. I love reading games others have built and picking apart the mechanics to create something of my own within their framework.

My whole indie game design journey started with a publication by Siren Song Games, designed by my friend Meghan Cross: The Silent Garden. This game opened so many doors for me, and helped me understand exactly what we, as designers, could push a game to be. My first two games, Threshold: Autumn and Winter, were created with The Silent Garden framework in mind: A narrative story with many branches, many paths, all of which ask the player to check in with how they feel and what they’re experiencing every step of the way.

The Threshold games were absolutely transformative for me, as both a writer and a designer. I pull inspiration from so many places: My love of rural town life, Studio Ghibli films, the Fatal Frame video game series, the concept of a night market, sirens who lure people into the water, growing up on the northeast coast of the United States near both the ocean and the forest, the movies The VVitch and The Village, videos of explorers in ice caves, and my deep love and respect (and fear) of the ocean. The list goes on.

As I am now realizing how long this post is becoming, I feel the need to draw it to a close with some simple advise, my dear reader: Take inspiration from everywhere. Everything. Everyone. And don’t be afraid to try new things and make mistakes. Everything you create will need revisions and changes and multiple versions… It will never be perfect on the first try. But keep going! You got this. I believe in you.