Resources for TTRPG Creators
I am not a TTRPG creator, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night I hang out with a bunch of them on various discords. Occasionally people have asked questions about or shared resources for various aspects of TTRPG creation. I dug into a bunch of those posts and have compiled here a number of the resources people suggested, grouped by various topics. Hopefully they will be useful for some of you. If you have more resources that you like, ping me on BlueSky and I can add them to the list.
Other Resource Collections
- Copper Compendium's So You Want To Make A TTRPG
- Thoughtpunk's Open Source TTRPG Resources
- Starshine Scribble's TTRPG Creator Resources Masterpost
- The Gift of Gabes TTRPG Creator Resource Database
- Nico de Gallo's Human-Made TTRPG Resource Guide
General Advice, Talks and Panels
- Novecento's How To Start Creating Your Own RPG Stuff
- Purple Martin Games on their RPG Resource Stack for Creating RPGs
- Eldritch Lorecast on How to Publish a TTRPG - from Homebrew to Hardcover
- Rising Tide podcast for their talks
- RPG Design Panelcast podcast
- Sine Nomine's Guide to Small Publisher RPG Production
Adventure and Dungeon Writing
- Shawn Merwin's Let's Design an Adventure series
- Joseph R. Lewis' YouTube Playlist on Adventure Writing
- Skeleton Code Machine's Make Your Own Adventure guide
- Josh McCrowell and Warren D's Dungeon Design Course
- Delta Green Scenario Workbook
- Levi Kornelsen on Situations and Dungeons
Art Resources
- Explorer's Design Public Domain Art Resources
- New School Revolution Public Domain Art
- Skeleton Code Machine Public Domain Art Resources
- Nala J. Wu's Alternatives to Generative AI Art
- Hummus Mode's I am not paying Nohr for the cover art (2.0) Spreadsheet
- Smithsonian Open Access Public Domain Art
- Fine Art Free Searchable Database of Museum Public Domain Art
- Public Domain Review's Public Domain Image Archive
- Araukana's Comprehensive Guide to TTRPG Art Commissioning & Licensing
- Loot the Room's RPGs and the High Cost of Art and Zero Budget Book Covers
- Texturelabs Free Textures
Icons
Layout Resources
- Exporer's Design Free InDesign and Affinity templates
- Free Rpg layout templates for Affinity and Canva
- InDesign templates that match the 5e 2024 style
- Laura Hirsbrunner's Simple 5e Microsoft Word Template & Beginner's Guide
- Ryan McCready's Best Free Fonts
- Fontesk's Free Commercial Fonts
- Plus One EXP and Mike Martens on RPG Layout for Horrified Beginners and The Layout Rogues' Guild
- Beer with Teeth Posts on Publishing and Layout
- UXPlanet on Grids in Graphic Design
- A Reddit Post on Preparing Files for Print
- A Graphic Design Stack Exchange Post on Useful Resources for Composition and Layout for Print
Editing
- TenPenJenn blog post on Editorial Types and When You Might Need Them
- X thread by Ray Winniger on Common Editing and Writing Mistakes for D&D Products
- X thread by Sadie Lowry on Information Design for RPGs, using cookbooks as a comparison
- Loot the Room on Form and Structure, showing how to rewrite the same encounter to fit different styles
- Levi Kornelsen on Instructional Design for RPGs and More Instructional Design
Playtesting
- Spencer Hibnick's Pesto's Guide to Playtesting
- Trekiros' Quest Check website to connect creators with playtesters
Marketing and Sales
- Levi Kornelsent's One-Page Sales Copy Guide and One-Page Marketing Plan
- Explorer's Guide on Packaging: An RPG's Guide to Surviving Shipping
Crowdfunding
- JP Coovert's Budget Breakdown and Debrief
- Night Noon Games' Budget
- The Mighty Jerd on Kickstarter Math
- Hilander Games' Kickstarter Debrief
- Jay Dragon on the Two Key Crowdfunding Equations
- Emily from Odds & Ents on Pricing