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@jogadorsonhador

Jul 3

The year was 2010, #RPGenesis was born in abreojogo.com, a forum for tabletop games in Portugal. Inspired on #NaNoWriMo from the beginning, we challenged each other to write a new #ttrpg in a week by putting at least 5K words on paper. I try to make a convincing logo.

In 2011 #RPGenesis becomes international joining designers from Portugal and Brazil. Here are a few submissions that I've still managed to keep on my hard drive from that year. Already an incredible variety of #ttrpg ideas were made into actual playable games👍

For the 2012 #RPGenesis we tried to have two different weeks, one to create new games and another to work on already existing ones. We also start translating the event to English. Both attempts have little engagement, the original premise is still what keeps the event going.

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Dreamup Games

@jogadorsonhador

Aug 16, 2021

Random stuff I've learned from #RPGenesis: sometimes you can just focus on finishing something you can playtest your ideas with.

You can tweak the difficulty of your #RPGenesis design by adjusting randomness or the concentration of responsibilities. Difficulty is not necessarily bad as it generates word count. Less randomness and more cooperation can lead you into having much more to explain in your game.

On the other hand, saying "just roll for it" or "just have the GM decide" are common strategies namely for one-page RPGs. You can still use these in #RPGenesis for aspects of your design that you don't feel like deciding right now and would rather write about something else.

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Dreamup Games

@jogadorsonhador

Feb 25, 2021

So many issues in #TTRPG sessions have to do with disconnecting what needs to come together. The game we play and the fiction we imagine in it. The person hosting the session and all the other people at the table. How we know something will ruin our fun but still do it anyway.

Disconnection between game and fiction is a bit like debt. You manage it but it may cause problems in the long run. Like not addressing why someone loses hit points and then, when they are recovered, it can feel cheap and hollow. Vincent Baker has a few great articles on this.

Disconnection between players is maybe more deliberate. People like to do their own thing on their own time. Characters and the world that they live in are created separately and then the whole thing doesn't fit. But let's put up a cardboard wall and ignore the disconnect :)

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Dreamup Games

@jogadorsonhador

Feb 7, 2021

What kind of fictional premises have you found helpful for our usual #ttrpg stories that involve multiple protagonists? Besides the standard you-all-meet-in-a-tavern, invited-to-a-party, secret-guild-of-good-dooers, letter-from-a-distant-relative stuff that's a bit weak.

For example, in games like #NightWitches or #BlissStage we have the pilot-to-co-pilot approach. Doesn't matter if it's planes or mechas or, I don't know, submarines. The premise usually involves drama, rivalry and having to work as one cohesive physical unit.

Another is to split the traditional single protagonist into different facets that can be played with as a way to explore their inner world. While #BlueBeardsBride goes all in with it, #WraiththeOblivion does this by everyone having a Shadow personality played by another player.

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Dreamup Games

@jogadorsonhador

Dec 20, 2020

1/5 Putting out the data from dreamup.games/dndrpg/ that I collected from reddit, September to December. For a total of 34 320 unique users that posted/commented during these months, 25 563 were active solely on r/dnd (75%), 7 972 on r/rpg (23%) and 785 on both (2%).

2/5 So, 3 out of 4 of all unique users in the two biggest RPG subreddits are active only in r/dnd. If we look for #TTRPGs ranked on ICv2 and look at subreddit subscribers, something like r/pathfinder has 29 948, r/shadowrun 40 697, r/rpg 1 307 575 and r/dnd 2 234 415.

3/5 One question is if r/dnd can be a gateway for other RPGs as compared with r/rpg. So, I've also looked at the smaller subreddits to check the possible overlap. For example, r/dnd and r/shadowrun had 69 users in common while r/rpg shared 124 with that subreddit.

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Dreamup Games

@jogadorsonhador

Jun 29, 2020

Some #ttrpg verbs I have little interest in:

To run, as in running games like I'm some kind of machine.

To let, as in letting someone do a thing as if I'm some kind of authority.

To deal, as in having to deal with some problem that the game I payed money for is ignoring.

To run or to be the referee (our heritage from Strategos that #dnd has infected many #ttrpgs with) means I don't get to play. Or that I play with myself while everyone just gets to color within the lines. Nope, hosting the game doesn't mean I can't get to play with my friends.

To let or this strange vocabulary where freedoms we all already have are "granted" to us by those who run (ugh) the game or by the game itself. Don't buy a game because it gives you a set of permissions. Buy it because it gives you the tools that can make what you want come true

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