How to Blast Your Way Into Indie TTRPG Design & Play
A very quick introduction
I’ll keep this succinct and to the point, since I think there’s so much advice out there and most of it’s just jibber jabber, including this. But at least this jibber jabber is short!
To start: read about Game Design Philosophy in the context of Powered by the Apocalypse. Great piece for thinking about your own philosophy and how you approach not just design, but play and facilitation.
Next, Jay Dragon’s “A Dozen Fragments on Playground Theory” — great for getting an understanding of the basis of all play.
Finally, one of my personal favorites due to what it’s advocating for, “Slow LARP Manifesto”, great for learning about LARPs and, in particular, the power of slower stories and games.
A game I think you should both play and read, “Paranoia.” A very fun introduction to the idea that all elements of a game are part of the game itself and effect play. The old edition suffices for this particular introduction, but there is a new one out. Play careful attention to the power dynamics, the tone of the game, and particularly, the tone of the writing and the voice that it assumes.
My number one piece of advice is to go out and make stuff. It’s the same advice I got when I was a young writer: just write a bunch. Make a bunch of stuff. For me personally, I don’t care about polish when it comes to my early works. I just care about making things and asking people what they think and seeing if its fun to play. If you’re more into polish, write as much as you can, shelf it, write some more.
In between all that writing, consume. But don’t just limit yourself to consuming things about games. Consume anything and everything you can get your hands on, and do it thoughtfully. What can that book you read about architecture tell you about the way people view the world, how they interact with it? What does your newest TV obsession use to draw you in? How do you play in the world around you? Consumption begets production, if you let it. So ya know, get out there, kid, and make a bunch of stuff. Fail a lot, succeed some, play constantly.