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Clayton Notestine

Clayton Notestine
A black table with papers on it. An Explorers Design membership card, coins, a sword, and pools of blood.

Explorateur

Explorers Design in Review

A 2024 retrospective, the best Explorers Design articles of the year, and plans for the future.

03 Jan 2025
The Explorateur: Issue #3

Explorateur

The Explorateur: Issue #3

Monthly design discoveries for tabletop rpg designers including jams, critique, theory, and tools. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

01 Jan 2025
The painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper cut, flipped, rearranged for the game Nighthawks.

Critique

Exploring Nighthawks

In this week's design delve, we inspect how tabletop games engage with fine art.

19 Dec 2024
A control panel with dials, buttons, and faders. It's meant to represent the controls behind a design.

Education

Accessibility in Tabletop Design

What is accessible design? Why is it important? And how can we get more of it in tabletop game design?

17 Dec 2024
An accessibility checklist among shuffled papers.

Education

Tabletop Accessibility Checklist

A forever-unfinished list of guidelines for making analog games more accessible.

16 Dec 2024
The surface of the ocean and its crashing waves with the title "Sunk Cost Homebrew Factions" over it.

Theory

Small Factions for Sunk Cost

Homebrew factions for the early release of Sunk Cost a game by Magnolia Keep.

12 Dec 2024
A cover image for the Bucket of Bolt review. It depicts the game's logo and ramshackle ships.

Critique

Exploring Bucket of Bolts

In this week's design delve, we lift the hood on ritual mechanics, product design, and splitting your product into different pieces.

10 Dec 2024
A holiday themed pile of dice, poker chips, and tree ornaments.

Critique

2024 Gifts for RPG Designers

Here are 5 gifts you can get your favorite game designers. No gold necessary.

03 Dec 2024
The Explorateur: Issue #2

Explorateur

The Explorateur: Issue #2

Monthly discoveries for tabletop roleplaying game designers. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

01 Dec 2024
Not All That Glitters Is Gold

Theory

Not All That Glitters Is Gold

A mini-article of 50 roleplaying game currencies that aren't gold for Blog Friday.

29 Nov 2024
Typography 101: Getting Started

Education

Typography 101: Getting Started

Beginner tips and tricks for setting up, arranging, and pairing your game's typography.

26 Nov 2024
Should you define what an rpg is? Written on a stack of papers surrounded by cartoon blood.

Theory

What is an RPG? Doesn't matter.

Should designers explain what rpgs are in their games? My short answer is no. My long answer is complicated.

19 Nov 2024
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Explorers Design

Explorers Design

Bespoke adventures, tools, and resources for tabletop game designers.

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Explorers Design

Bespoke adventures, tools, and resources for tabletop game designers.