^{Today's letter is something a little different: an article I wrote about how to create your own TTRPG. I don't usually share guides or resources here, but I thought that folks who don't consider themselves TTRPG designers might enjoy seeing the process demystified. If you'd like to see more pieces like this, let me know.}

Hi. My name's Kurt, and I'm an award-winning TTRPG designer. This is an annoying and pompous way to introduce yourself, unless you happen to be introducing yourself before sharing a 2,000 word essay about how to make games.

Yesterday, a member of one of my gaming communities asked how she can get started designing TTRPGs. I couldn't find any resources that said what I wanted to read, so I wrote a guide myself made of stubbornness and Vyvanse. I'm sharing it here in case it's helpful for anyone else who's not sure how to get started.

Step 0: Read and Play RPGs

The first advice I give hopeful designers is always this: play a bunch of games. Whether you're poet, painter or RPG maker, your work will always be better if you build your art on a broad, sturdy foundation.

Lots of folks stumble into design by playing D&D and then shaping it into something new. And if they're having fun, more power to them! But the best games tend to come from a strong understanding of the medium, and that means putting in the time to see what's out there.

Step 1: Sketching the Idea

To make a good game, start by making a crappy game. Jot down some ideas, establish a central mechanism, and get just enough on paper to start playtesting.

For me personally, I like to open the writing process with a "vision" that I can circle back to. What is the scope of this game? What is the kernel of inspiration that is driving me to create this piece? Is there a feeling (laughter, nostalgia, loss, satisfaction) that I'm hoping to invoke with this design? I write this up-front so I don't lose sight of it later as the game begins to come into its own¹.

Step 2: Playtesting

Games are not birthed fully-formed like Athena from Zeus's forehead! You want to take this puppy out for a test run as soon as you possibly can.

You will very quickly encounter things you never thought about when the game existed as a perfect idea to admire from the safety of your brain. You'll see places where your rules aren't supporting play: something that sounded fun in theory might feel cumbersome in practice; something that you thought you'd need oodles of content for might run smoothly on its own; something you thought was a fun blank canvas might actually need prompts to get the ball rolling.

When you playtest, you need to keep an eye out for these pain points yourself. Remember that what players tell you at the end of the session is probably not as useful as what they felt during play². If someone can ID a place they got confused, great -- pen that down. If someone suggests a way to fix it, take that with a grain of salt. They are not your co-designers; they are your audience³.

Step 3: Writing & Editing

As you playtest and refine your work, your ultimate objective is to create a rule document. TTRPG rulebooks are a strange medium to crack: they are part fiction, part technical manual... and the second bit is more important than you might guess. If you don't have any experience with technical writing -- stuff like standard operating procedures for a workplace -- it's maybe worth looking into books or courses that could help give you a good understanding of how to communicate clearly in writing⁴.

The really basic gist is this: you want to present information in a logical, consistent way. You need to lead with the most important information.

Sometimes it's hard to know what that means.

This may sound obvious, but a game's rules (in writing) and a game's rules (in play) are totally different things. Your rule document exists to support play, and is usually the only lens that people engaging with your game will have to view it through. Your game can have incredible rules and a terrible rule document⁵. These are separate problems.

If you have a writer or editor in your life who's willing to review your work, kiss them on the forehead and welcome their feedback. I like to get a Google Doc going in Suggestion mode, since it allows for flexible simultaneous editing, and your editor can comment on each change they make to discuss the rationale.

Trust me when I say that an editor is the most important person who will ever touch your game. Some things you just can't see on your own! With some help from editors and beta readers⁶, you can develop your initial rule sketch into a document that can actually guide someone through their first game without your supervision.

I'll acknowledge here that in reality, writing, editing and playtesting are an iterative process, not discrete steps. You'll flow between them. Keep tweaking the rules (and their presentation) until you have something that feels right.

Now you have a game that can be played without you in the room. You're done!

Well. Sort of.

Step 4: Formatting

Formatting is a broad category. It encompasses everything from typefaces to tables of contents; graphic design to good housekeeping. A well-formatted document should be easily navigable, with page numbers, embedded hyperlinks and appropriate line and paragraph spacing. You can technically do all of this in Google Docs, though most pros use a dedicated formatting program like Affinity Publisher or the (much more expensive) Adobe suite⁷.

Unless you're MÖRK BORG, good formatting is often invisible. Above all, you want to be consistent. Ask questions like: what header am I using for this section? When am I using italics or bold? When am I using page breaks? These are questions that your editor may already have asked (bless them).

If you're planning to print your game, you'll need to decide what page size you want to use. "Digest" size (half-letter) is common for smaller books in North America; A5 is common in Europe. If you're not planning to print, you'll still need to think about what size you want the document to be for people downloading a digital version.

In terms of graphic design, formatting is a deep well that could be talked about forever. There's a really solid intro on the "grid system" by Explorers Design; you can read it here.

Step 5: Art

Art is, in many ways, an extension of these same design principles. It may feel like a separate idea, but ultimately, a game book's art is just one more tool it uses to communicate an idea with its readers.

When considering artwork for your game, you'll need to think about where it makes sense. Whether you're exploring the wonders of public domain, or you're an artist yourself, or you're choosing to commission artwork from someone... know your scope. Where would the right image be most impactful? (The cover? Sections? Character archetypes?) How much time or money would it require to get 5, 20, 50 pieces of art? Consider mapping out what two different levels of art investment would look like, comparing the real costs and benefits of each.

I am a huge advocate of doing your own art, even if you're a total amateur. There's something delightful and authentic about someone who gave it an honest try, and nobody's ever judged Grant Howitt for his early scribblings.

If drawing is a horrifying idea for you, know that there is a VAST world of images from hundreds of years of art and design that you can find online for free. Make sure you credit these images explicitly... and have fun with it. Some of my favourite projects have been works where I've repurposed historical art into something new just by screwing around in some image editing programs.

When you're looking for visual inspiration, look broadly. Maybe your game's look should be inspired by a magazine, or a cookbook, or a vintage advertisement. You don't need to look at other fantasy games to tell you what yours should look like⁸.

This might go without saying at this point, but I would not recommend using AI art. In the best case scenario, you'll miss an opportunity to learn a new skill. In the worst case scenario, you'll alienate your audience and support the corporatization of human expression. Art is a chance to make your game sing! Why not use your own voice?

Step 6: Distribution

Let's keep things simple here and assume you want to release the game online.

The two most popular ways of doing this are through the sites DriveThruRPG and itch.io. Both of these are storefronts where many people upload, share and sell their games.

On both storefronts, you'll have a publisher page (for you) and a product page (for your game). Both will take time to set up, so don't assume you can post your game five minutes after you finish your final draft.

As a general rule, itch.io allows for more flexible webpage designs and is less work to set up. DriveThruRPG has the advantage of being a dedicated TTRPG marketplace, but it tends to favour more traditional games (and its storefront page is more cumbersome on both the front end and the back end).

Once you have your profile set up, write a description for your game. I cannot emphasize this enough: USE THIS DESCRIPTION TO SAY THE OBVIOUS STUFF. What genre is your game? What materials are needed to play? Is it for campaigns or single sessions? How many players does the game accommodate? Is there a Game Master? What files come with the download (and how many pages is that PDF)? Are there inspirations or cultural touch points you can point towards to entice the reader up-front?

I can't tell you how many game pages I've read that don't say these incredibly basic things. That's what a game page is for! Assume we know nothing! If you write nothing, we will continue to know nothing afterwards! I have no reason to download your game -- let alone buy it! -- if you don't offer the same info I would find if I looked at the back of a board game box.

With the description written out, you have a few more fussy details left. You'll need a cover image or thumbnail, depending on the site. You'll need screenshots. You'll need to set a price -- or not, if that's your decision. You might need to choose a URL, or set tags for people to search and find your work.

Finally, you need to upload your game files. This is important: make sure your files are clearly named, with the title of your game and the version the reader is downloading⁹. In the event that your game includes a larger batch of stranger files -- for example, mp3 files for an audiobook or art assets for online play -- zip them up in a zip folder so the buyer doesn't have to individually wade through or download 40 files.

Ending Thoughts

There are like a million other things you could do for your game; the sky is the limit. Maybe you want to hire on guest writers, or run a Kickstarter. Maybe you want to physically print and ship your shiny new TTRPG. Those are beyond the scope of this post, but I've written a couple articles on Reddit on each; I've linked them above.

Best of luck with your game development. It's a fun ride.

Footnotes

^{1: Having a "vision" laid out also helps prevent scope creep later.}

^{2: A player once suggested that I might try making my WIP into a video game. This is pretty indicative of why you need to be behind the steering wheel: you know what you’re passionate about, you know what you're trying to make, and you know what's feasible with your skillset.}

^{3: They do deserve a thank you though! Not everyone is willing to sit down and play your weird half-finished baby. I like to credit all my playtesters by name (or pseudonym) in the credits of the final release, and send them digital copies once the game is done.}

^{4: I've heard good things about The Insider's Guide to Technical Writing (Van Laan, 2012), though it can lean more corporate. You don't need a book specifically about TTRPG writing -- trust me that being a better written communicator will help you pretty much everywhere, all the time, for the rest of your life.}

^{5: I played one of these just this month, and it is a little heartbreaking.}

^{6: A beta reader is like a playtester, but their job is to read your game and try to understand it. Your most valuable beta reader is someone who hasn't played the game with you yet. If they're an MVP, they might even play the game later and share their thoughts.}

^{7: I'm willing to bet that there are stunning games made entirely in Google Docs. There's no shame in formatting in whatever program you have access to. The reason dedicated formatting programs exist, though, is because they are built with the robust toolset you need to create attractive, stylized documents. While you can do this in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, it's going to be more difficult.}

^{8: And if you do want a bog standard fantasy book, seriously consider whether that olde yellowe papere texture is doing you any favours.}

^{9: If I download another game-rules.pdf I'll cry.}

^{15: There is no footnote 15; that’s just the number of small-ish games I’ve created and published since 2021. If you like puppets or Zelda or theme parks or feelings, maybe go read one. I know you like to read, since you’re reading a fake footnote at the end of a huge article about games.}