Three Design ideas for RPGs.

#1 Content can be helped or hindered by its format.

The format, size, and dimensions of your publication creates inherent allowances and limitations that compliment or hinder different writing, art, and more. For this reason, format is never automatically transferrable or an insignificant design decision. Some games, like Apocalypse World, sing in epub or physical formats like US Trade, while games like Triangle Agency do not.

#2 The better you know "the rules" the better they break.

The rules are worth learning especially if you plan on breaking them. Think of them like an inheritance. If you break them without understanding them, you risk repeating the same mistakes and being unoriginal by dint of ignorance. But if you learn the rules (and, more importantly, the reasoning behind them), then you can break the rules in new and targeted ways as innovation, commentary, or rebellion. Part of learning a rule is learning how others broke it last.

#3 Nothing beats real experience and perspective.

The more time I spend in physical spaces playing games, reading books, and talking to real people—the better I get at my craft. Mastery over the theoretical is worse than nothing. Play games. Playtest often. Read non-rpg books. Go for walks. Cook food for others. Print shit out. Crumple it up and throw it away. Ride a tram. Drink a pint. Sit on a bench. Memorize different species of birds. Be real.

Quests & Rumors

Game jams, contests, and opportunities. Drop me a line on Bluesky.

• Old-School Essentials Month. Prepare your spirit for a collab project led by Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome on Backerkit. May 5th – June 6th.
• Cave Jam! Make caves. Or lairs. Every cave tells a story older than fire. And some of them have big frog dudes with clubs and shit. Jam ends April 14th.
• Lean Green Zine Jam. I love any jam that supports tiny bursts of creativity. This one: Make it small. Make it green. Make it a zine. Ends April 20th.
• Blog Bandwagon: Maps! This blogging event, hosted by Prismatic Wasteland, is all about maps! Share all of your map ideas. Ends April 27th.
• Total//Effect//Jam. Binary Star's hosting a jam to celebrate the launch of Null_Space, a sci-fi game with novel mechanics. Jam Feb 16th – April 30th.
• Islands!! Islands!! Islands!!! Jam. Design weird islands for the game Islands of Weirdhope, a standalone expansion to Eco Mofos!! Ends June 1st.
• You Cannot Play This TTRPG Jam. This is a game jam for games that do not exist. They won't ever exist. They will never be playable. Ends June 21st.
• Make Moves Jam. Create or share singular Moves using Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) design philosophies. Jam lasts all year. Ends Dec 31st.

Reviews & Critique

Critique and examinations of tabletop rpgs, adventures, and more.

• Public Access is Not What You Think by Fail Forward. This review has spoilers which, to be honest, the "spoiler" is what I want reviewed in games.
• Rating Every Room in White Plume Mountain by Prismatic Wasteland. The classic TSR module gets a fun room-by-room review with star-ratings.
• Roach Motel by Idle Cartulary. If you love graphical layouts with neat little tricks and shorthands, Norgad's work is unmissable. Nova digs deeper...
• Drought Dragon Desolation by OSR Rocks! How much detail is too much? What supports play in Merry Mushmen release by Liam Pádraig Ó Cuilleanáin?
• Emergence by Save vs. Total Party Kill. Another Mothership module: bleak, weird monsters, and evil corporations. How does Emergence fare with the formula?
• Take This You Fiends! (Tunnels & Trolls) by False Machine. Every review of Tunnels & Trolls introduces me to an entirely different game.
• Building Circuits in We Shall Be Monsters by Skeleton Code Machine. SCM explores how Seb Pines's latest release uses a zero-luck prompt system.
• 🎙️ The Voice of the Text (Triangle Agency) by Dice Exploder. Seraphina Garcia Ramirez and Sam D talk Triangle Agency, it's writing, voice, and more.
• 📺 Draw Steel by Questing Beast. A review and play report that captures a lot of what makes Draw Steel different, which is to say: a whole lot.

Design Examples & Best-iary

The spotlight section of the newsletter full of showcases and projects.

• TTRPG Webrings by Cobb.Land. I love webrings, they offer a kind of "walkability" to connected blogs. Explorers Design is part of the root ring.
• ⚙️ Diceless Resolution by New School Revolution. A super simple resolution system that reminds me of playing rock-paper-scissors in LARPs.
• ⚙️ Exquisite Chimera by Patchwork Paladin. I've seen this idea before, but I like this version best. It takes some inspiration from lore blocks, too!
• ⚙️ Designing Location Blocks by The Play Reports. A side-by-side comparison of different games and how locations can work as lore blocks.
• 📺 State of the OSR (at PAGE) by Limithron. It's been a year since the last "State of the OSR" panel at Gary Con. This time with new guests! A fun show.
• 📺 Interview with Emily Entner by Wet Ink Games. Emily's design work speaks for itself: Precious Things, Glatisant, and The Peddler's Prize.

Theory & Craft

Design tools, resources, theory, and advice for rpg designers from rpg designers.

• What is a degenerate game state? by Skeleton Code Machine. Exploring the concept of degenerate strategies and game states in board games and more.
• Gears of System, Gears of Lore by Old Dog Games. A post all about rules, their friction and impact, using gears from cars and bikes as a metaphor.
• Elements of a Key 3 by BAATAG. An audit (and investigation) into different room descriptions from Holy Mountain Shaker to Keep on the Borderlands.
• Designing for Pirate Borg Pt. 3 by OSR Rocks! This three-part series is a great read for designers who plan to publish. A walkthrough on development.
• Energy Coin Adventure Design by Mindstorm. A mental model for mapping out dynamic and static elements in an adventure as potential and kinetic.
• Rules are not neutral! by Humberto Tramujas. An important reminder that context is inescapable. "Rules are not neutral; they carry traces of past use."
• Dungeons are People by 3×5 Arcana. "A dungeon worth dying in, has personality. It believes things, it wants things... It is a person."
• Everything I Know About Making RPGs by Brackish Draught. This is a long post with a little bit of everything for everyone from art to advertising.
• 🎙️ Ship of the Dead Podcast is back! If you like listening to design, craft, and industry chatter. I highly recommend listening to the whole backlog.
• 📺 Designing Puzzles for Adventure Games by Direct Sun. Brad Kerr and Joseph R Lewis join Direct Sun to talk all about panels at Gary Con 2026.

Inspiring & Non-roleplaying

Design tools, theory, and inspiration from the world beyond tabletop rpgs.

• A Comprehensive Guide to Book Cover Design Cost by I Need a Book Cover. An invaluable look into the current rates for literary publishing.
• King Gizzard and The Poster Wizard by True Grit. An interview and tour with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's poster designer, Amy Jean.
• Making Type: John Roshell Comic Craft and Swell Type by Adobe. A conversation with the type designer who pioneered comic book digital lettering.
• 💡 BP&O Branding Archive. If you like logos, word marks, and color palettes, you'll like this publication that researches and reviews them.
• 💡 The Design Blog. Similar to the link above, this website has all kinds of inspiration from graphic to interior design for brands of all types.

Design Archive

Old articles, missed articles, famous or overlooked, resurfaced for the newsletter.

• ⚙️ Bingo-Style Experience Points by Githyanki Diaspora. I'm surprised this five-year old post never ended up in everyone's mechanics chop shop.
• New Simulationism by Sam Sorenson. This is a manifesto about diegetic play. It has stood the test of time, which is not something most manifestos do.

Missed the last issue? Read it here.

The Explorateur: Issue #17

Monthly design jams, critique, theory, and inspiration for tabletop rpg designers by rpg designers. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

Explorers DesignClayton Notestine

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