⚔️ Can JP make his own perfect TTRPG?
Can JP Coovert make his own perfect TTRPG? How important is it that designers play their own games? And waging war across Japan in Rumble Nation.
TL;DR Summary
⚔️ Can JP make his own perfect TTRPG?
🤔 Do you play your own games?
🎲 Recently played: Rumble Nation
⚔️ Can JP make his own perfect TTRPG?
It’s been a good few weeks for having some of my favorite designers and creators covering Exeunt Press games! Last time, I mentioned that Caveat Emptor was featured by Liz at Beyond Solitaire (video). This week, I was surprised to find that JP Coovert (Star Borg, Dragon Town) featured Make Your Own One-Page RPG in his latest video!
In Can I make the perfect TTRPG?, JP uses the guide as a starting point for his new (decidedly more than one page) roleplaying game. Beginning with selecting the types of fun to focus on (fantasy & fellowship) and continuing through the exercises in the book. Although he starts with Tunnel Goons for mechanical inspiration, the end product looks like it will be something even more simple and streamlined — allowing the story and fantasy to stay up front.1
I’m thrilled to see the guide being put to use and helping people make games. This demonstrates that it’s not just for new designers and not just for one-page games.
The Print + PDF version of Make Your Own One-Page RPG is in stock and available now from the Exeunt Press Shop.
Also, check out JP Coovert’s Patreon for monthly TTRPG adventure zines.
WATCH: Can I make the perfect TTRPG? by JP Coovert
🤔 Do you play your own games?
I listening to an episode of Dan Bullock’s Game Design Deep Dive recently. The interview was with David Thompson, an experienced historical wargame designer (Undaunted: Normandy, War Chest, Resist!) and one of my personal favorite board game designers. His Undaunted 2200: Callisto is easily on my list of all-time favorite games.2
Toward the end of the interview was this exchange:
Dan: So, final question. What have you been playing lately that you’ve been excited about? Have you gotten a chance to play anything lately? You seem pretty busy in general.
David: Yeah, so, I don’t play a ton. I play every once in a while. I’ll get together with some of my buddies on Tabletop Simulator and we’ll play stuff. Usual that kind of stuff is, like, the group tends to have a preference toward area majority kind of games, like a Blood Rage or whatever.
David explains that he likes Tyrants of the Underdark and El Grande. He has a local group that is into some historical wargames. But most of what he calls his “legit gameplay” is with his kids and playing family games — not historical wargames. Excluding family games, he gets maybe 4 - 6 hours a month of gaming.
Dan seems a little surprised by this (as was I), mentioning that he feels playing a lot of games is crucially important to his design process:
Dan: I mean, for me personally, I would find it really hard to design projects if I didn’t have an equal or greater amount of time spent playing things, if that makes sense. It’s really hard to imagine designing without having that opportunity to play with other people.
David says that he’d almost never play his highly-regarded Valiant Defense series of solitaire historical wargames:
David: I don’t think I’ve ever taken one of them out and played it by myself after it’s been published.
I think this exchange is really interesting and enlightening for a few reasons:
Everyone has a different ideation and design process: Some people (myself included) need to be constantly playing new games and exploring new mechanisms to stay motivated and generate ideas. Others can get that same benefit by interacting with online communities. Still others get their inspiration elsewhere. There are no wrong answers here.
Creators don’t always consume their own works: John Green (Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars) has said that he would never open a book he’s written after it’s done. I’ve heard many board game designers mention that they rarely, if ever, play their own games (excluding playtesting).3 It’s OK to want to create art (and yes, games are art) for others to experience and enjoy. You don’t need to fill your own house with your own paintings.
Eating your own dog food is of questionable value: The phrase “eating your own dog food” shows up in the tech world fairly often.4 It means using the products developed by the company in house — sometimes to ensure the best product and other times simply as marketing. While it sounds like a good idea, internal usage rarely reflects real customer experience and is subject to cultural biases. Similarly, I’d question the “value” of having game designers play their own games more often.5
This interview allows us to give ourselves some grace as game designers.
It’s OK if you have a month (or two) without as much gaming as you’d like. It’s also OK if (as a TTRPG designer) you spend more time playing other systems than your own. There is no single, “optimal” path for game design.
Find what works for you.
LISTEN: Interview with David Thompson at Game Design Deep Dive
🎲 Recently played: Rumble Nation
Originally released in 2017 in Japanese, Rumble Nation (Shinichi, 2017) was recently republished in a new English edition by Hobby Japan.6 It’s also available on BGA.
The game itself is extremely simple area control with just a few possible actions on your turn. Mostly a player will roll three dice (3d6) and place soldiers into a region on the board.
The really interesting part is at the end of the game when each area won reinforces adjacent regions. It’s a fascinating game that I’ll no doubt cover in an upcoming Skeleton Code Machine.
PLAY: Rumble Nation designed by Yogi Shinichi
Thanks for subscribing to Exeunt Omnes!
Check out games.exeunt.press for all the latest games and resources!
- E.P. 💀
Tunnel Goons is a “simple table-top role-playing game” by Nate Treme of Highland Paranormal Society. It’s one of the systems I recommend new designers use in Make Your Own One-Page RPG due to its simplicity and clarity.
I wrote about how Undaunted 2200: Callisto uses negative optimization mechanisms in a really interesting way at Skeleton Code Machine.
An important distinction here is “after it’s been published.” This excludes playtesting games which happens during development and only refers to playing a game (or not) after all development is done and it’s a finished, retail copy sitting on a shelf.
The origin is somewhat debated. Most often it’s attributed to Lorne Green, as Alpo’s celebrity spokesperson, saying that he feeds his own dogs Alpo brand dog food. Others claim it began at Microsoft when a manager urged employees to use the company’s products internally titled “Eating our own dogfood.” The often repeated story of Kal Kan Pet Food president Clement Hirsch eating a can of their product during shareholder meetings is an urban legend and not supported by evidence.
To be clear, I mean this as playing their games for fun — not playtesting. Playtesting during development is an entirely different topic and one that is important.
Google Translate translates the original name of this game 天下鳴動 (Tenka Meidō) as “The Whole World Resonates” which I think I like better as a title.