Thread by @PaulCzege

1/ Have you seen people talking about the tabletop storygame and RPG scene on itchio, but then weren't impressed with any of the games? Then this thread is for you.

2/ It's clear to you that a lot of #ttrpg games published on itchio haven't been playtested? Maybe your unconscious gamer reaction is, "I don't buy ideas."

3/ Or maybe you're not seeing how they're even playable.

4/ I pretty much spent this year diving into the itchio scene, perceiving its energy and trying to figure it out. I designed and published a game a month from May through September. I joined and participated in four game jams.

5/ I've traded games and made friends with other designers.

6/ And here's the big thing I learned: the small games people are making and selling on itcho aren't products in the ways gamers are conditioned to process them.

7/ And they're not just ideas either.

8/ They're...incitements.

9/ You have to shop for them in a different way than gamers have been trained to shop. And you use them in a different way.

10/ I'm convinced the future paradigms of RPGs are being discovered in the itchio scene. Nothing has flowed out powerfully yet, but it will.

11/ (So now feels like the time to figure it out for yourself if that's something you're interested in. Remember the frustrations of folks who wanted to engage with the Forge scene in 2006, only to be confronted with too many years of activity to catch up on?)

12/ The thing is, RPGs have always been incitements. Jorune aims to incite you to play with the fullness of its worldbuilding. Primetime Adventures aims to incite you with its system and procedures. D&D aims to incite with its survival challenge and advancement rewards.

13/ But what makers of small games on itchio are doing is exploring the wider landscape of incitement.

14/ There are games like @bjrecio's Cockamania, which aim to incite with cultural expression.
beej.itch.io/cockamania

@bjrecio 15/ There are games like @temporalhiccup's The Mermaid Spell, which aim to incite with procedures of ritual and affirmation:
temporalhiccup.itch.io/the-mermaid-sp…

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup 16/ There are games like @mariamison's Forgetting Your Touch, which aim to incite with almost unfathomable care and trust:
mariabumby.itch.io/forgetting-you…

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 17/ There are other games that aim to incite with just wholehearted life expression.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 18/ This is what will flow back into the rest of the hobby, a wider landscape of working incitements.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 19/ The designers participating in the itchio scene get it. We read each others games and have an incited response. This is what you have to figure out how to do.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 20/ And this is why a game not having been playtested isn't a flaw. You could be the first to ever play it. That could be its incitement for you.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 21/ When a design scene is about the exploration of incitement, then what makes a game complete is just having everything it needs to incite a response.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 22/ Is it clear what I mean by incitement? Games that are products in the way gamers are used to are fun ways to use your energy. The best small games, if you know how to use them, create energy. Incitement is a game creating energy.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 23/ From what I've seen, the southeast Asian scene is furthest down this path of energy. They are so high energy at the moment.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 24/ They know how to use the games for energy. They were making them and supporting each other and creating more and more energy that was spilling all over until they were literally propelled into organizing their first ever indie play con, for which designers made all their…

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 25/ …games as pamphlets and zine style books to sell at tables and where all the games got played with great enthusiasm.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 26/ The thing is, RPGs are such a subjectively functional construction. If the transaction is a product purchase, the justified emotional stance is skepticism. Probably the game won't work for you.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 27/ But if a game isn't a product. If it's an incitement. You have to learn to shop differently.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 28/ The designers of small games on itchio are yearning and striving to spark your incitement. They believe you are more than a gamer buying products that probably don't work for you.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 29/ They believe you bring your whole self and capacities to the table, and that you can trust and achieve things they imagine for you if you just believe it yourself.

@bjrecio @temporalhiccup @MariaMison 30/ To be incited you have to figure out how to believe in yourself as much as their games do. That's how to shop for games on itchio. Shop as if you believe in yourself.