Thread by @lackingceremony

I want to talk a little bit about the tools I use to do tabletop roleplaying game design, and the process by which I use them.

I know that everyone's process is different, but maybe learning more about mine will be inspiring or helpful for how you approach your next project!

For me, the thing that kills my love for a project the quickest is feeling stuck and tired, and I encounter this ever time I sit down in front of a blank page and try to just *force* writing out of myself.

As a result, I work really hard to avoid the dreaded blank page.

The first phase of a design, for me, is always a mixture of idle musing in my own brain + two-way exploratory conversations over tea with loved ones.

Even if I have specific mechanics forming in my brain, I try not to put anything on paper until I have a vision, a desired feel.

I keep a bullet journal, and I use it for games projects in a few ways.

First, I sometimes dedicate a page to exploratory musings - scrap notes, random mechanics, vision words.

Second, every four months I do up a "major projects" spread and detail the steps each one needs next.

I avoid doing early design writing (whether exploratory notes, prototype mechanics, else) on the computer. I keep it to spare bullet journal pages + index cards. That way, nothing feels prematurely cemented (which can kill curiosity). It's easy to toss ideas or remix them.

Once I have a system prototype that I'm ready to test, I let the computer into my life.

But I stick to just designing character sheets, reference materials, and other things that players will touch. The play kit, the things I expect future groups to print before playing.

I lay these materials out as I imagine they might look in final release, because part of what I'm always testing is presentation and feel.

The game needs to be intuitive to run and play on reference materials alone, otherwise it's back to the drawing board. No big rules doc yet.

A lot of this is inspired by permaculture zones of use (image on left), which I have adapted to think about game design (image on right). Design outward from the things you touch and interact with most often, with an eye to the "wilderness" that contextualizes all that you make.

Preserving my ability to easily adapt, remix, jettison, & rework for as long as possible is big in my design process.

I don't start writing the rulebook until it's time for external playtesting, and by then I can usually describe the game's feel and structures with keen clarity.

When it does come time to write a full guide or rulebook, I use Scrivener. Scrivener changed how I approach writing. I put a lot of attention into outlining before I write a word. I give myself section word counts, and rework my hierarchy and flow of information until its tight.

Staying in conversation until I know how I want the game to work & feel. Staying in notebooks & index cards until the system is fully prototyped. Staying with handouts only until I know everything works. Outlining until everything flows.

From there, writing happens very fast.

I wrote the majority of the words in the Monsterhearts 2 book during a two-day writing retreat. I wrote the majority of the "Playing The Dream" and "Designing New Games" chapters of Dream Askew/Dream Apart during a three-day writing retreat.

I had the privilege to book a short writing retreat in a clean, uncluttered environment with no distractions or people. I never learned the wifi password. I just wrote, wrote, and took breaks to walk outside.

I can't imagine trying to write all those words with kids underfoot.

From there, it's time to work with an editor. Both Monsterhearts 2 and Dream Askew/Dream Apart were edited by Daniel Wood, who I happily recommend to others. Especially with Monsterhearts 2, I got Daniel involved in lots of developmental editing. Let editors transform your work!

Before sending my writing off, I import into Microsoft Word. Since I have already established the hierarchy and needs of my text, I design my paragraph & character styles to suit. And then I go through and apply in every single instance.

My editor checks for consistent styling.

The reason that I make sure to have well-labelled paragraph & character styles when a text heads into editing is two-fold: my editor can make sure everything is styled consistently, and also, styles can be imported into inDesign from Word, meaning everything is formatted already!

And then I lay out my game in inDesign, once all the editing is done. I don't know all the fancy tricks, so I keep it simple: single-column layouts, no backgrounds.

I've slowly learned to hyperlink my table of contents, add bookmarks, and for bigger projects to add an index.

I print through worker cooperatives whenever I can. I use a warehousing/fulfillment service because I am not well situated (geographically or temperamentally) to do my own mail-outs.

(I can offer referrals privately to interested parties.)

I have sometimes used Kickstarter (which needs to recognize its union asap!). I have learned over time to keep projects streamlined and scalable, and to go live as late in development as possible.

For project delivery estimates, I always double my own estimate + add three weeks.

That's it!

End-to-end: I start in conversation, move to paper notes, playtest using only that which gets marked or touched, start working on the document only when it's needed, outline thoroughly, write in Scrivener all at once, style in Word, pay an editor, lay out in inDesign.

Oh, and to wrap up the thread: if this description got you all excited about making games, especially making games in new ways, I'll just mention that in May I'm running a five-day game design intensive called Designing Games That Matter.

tatacentre.ca/programs/desig…

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