Layout thoughts for August.

Numbers: proportional v. tabular figures.

Your numbers can come in different proportions depending on the typeface and font. Proportional figures are designed to be read in sentences and have varying widths depending on the number (1 is thinner than 2, for example). On the other hand, tabular figures have fixed widths. Making them particularly good in stacks, equations, and tables. Tabular numbers are consistent. If you want to know more about these difference and find out what "old style" and "lining" is, check out this design article, "Don't Neglect the Numbers," by Shambhavi Ojha.

Leave the body text to workhorse fonts.

The biggest mistake I see from first-time layout designers is the overuse of "cool" typefaces in their headers and body text. Save the funky, stylistic typefaces for your cover page, art, and (maybe) headers. The boring typefaces will serve you much better, re: Baskerville, Caslon, Alegreya, Open Sans, Roboto, Lato, Futura, etc. It might seem like you're dooming your game to genericide, but look at these typefaces in the big-picture. Their style sneaks up on readers in the macro (paragraphs, pages, and spreads), in the micro (letters, words, and sentences) you want something legible, readable, and flexible.

But don't use just any workhorse font.

There's no such thing as the non-choice. Helvetica and Times New Roman are often treated by non-designers and self-proclaimed anti-designers as the True Neutral of fonts. They're not. Too often sterile fonts like Helvetica pour into indie games without so much as a wink and a nod. Remember: everyone has relationships to typefaces, especially the boring ones. Helvetica is the typeface of municipal buildings, corporations, and the Euro punk posters that subvert it. Times New Roman is the typeface of homework assignments, resumes, and workplace correspondence. Keep the associations in mind when you use them.

What's the deal with the emojis?

You might have noticed emojis in previous issues. I've been using them as a visual shorthand for non-blog links, like resources (📁), archives (🗄️), inspiration (💡), podcasts (🎙️), and videos (📺). Favorites of the month get a heart (❤️).

Explorers' Loot

• ❤️ Nominated for the CRIT Awards! The Explorateur has been nominated for best online blog or blogpost. If you like this newsletter, I'd love your vote.
• Great Book Covers: July '26. This is a new potential semi-regular series from me. Cover inspiration from across the tabletop rpg industry.
• Public Domain Art Resources. I've resurrected my old list of public domain art resources. If you need free-to-use art, start digging here.
• How to Design with Hyperlinks. Criminally underused and regularly botched, here are some definitions, rules, and hacks for your next rpg pdf.

A word from the author...

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Quests & Rumors

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

• RPG Trader. It's a refreshing new marketplace with a clean interface, revenue split, tags, and a firm anti-ai policy. I'm cautiously optimistic about it.
• One-Page RPG Jam 2026. This Ennie award-winning game jam is about making new, one-page tabletop roleplaying games. Ends Aug. 16th.
• Astronaut Mission Jam. Create brainy, puzzley missions that astronauts (past, present, and future) have to take on. This jam is short. Ends Aug. 23rd.
• Flimflam Jam. If you like hardboiled crime, cigar-chomping kingpins, and ham sandwich dialogue—make something for Crime Wave before Sept. 1st.
• Vaarn Summer Jam '26. Make something for Vaults of Vaarn, a science-fantasy rpg, inspired by Dune, Hyperion, and Mobieus. Jam ends Sept. 30th.
• Chainlinked Game Jam. Create your own content for the semi-cooperative dungeon-defying rpg, Chain×Link. Or make a hack of it. Jam ends Oct. 4th.
• 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.

• ❤️ Why Didn't Silent Titans Change the World? by Valeria Loves. A rumination on creativity, understanding them, and a hidden masterwork.
• The Feel of Gunfire by Ye Olde Revivalist. A review of Luke Gearing's Violence. A game I didn't get before reading this review (and ignoring the melee rules).
• A Book of Beasts by Prismatic Wasteland. This supplement of a supplement by Jason Lutes serves as a great lens for reviewing bestiaries in general.
• The Thoughtlessness of Deathbringer's Marketing by Magnolia Keep. I would describe Professor DM's marketing strategy as "reactionary." Cynical.
• Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between by Idle Cartulary. Clean layouts positively sing with a complex, interactive adventure. Sounds like a winner.

Spotlight & Best-iary

The spotlight section showcases interviews, design examples, and projects.

• ❤️ Rootring Months Later by Among Cats and Books. Since its launch, +169 blogs have joined the network (including this one). So what's next?
• ⚙️ Three-Round Combat by Pretendo Games. A simple rule that would improve a lot of combat-heavy games where "the cool stuff" happens early.
• ⚙️ A+B+C Using Combinatorial Random Tables by Skeleton Code Machine. An examination of different random table types and how they work.
• 📺 Crows: Is it OSR? by MCDM. James Intracaso is heading a new game at MCDM that looks a lot like an OSR game, but is it? (Yes.) Does it matter? (No.)
• 📺 The Tradition, The Hobby, The Hobby Business, The Business by Matthew Colville. This walk-and-talk about the industry is good for us creators.

Theory & Craft

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

• How to Write an OSR Adventure by David Blandy.  "[Adventures] are like a “Standard” in jazz... the basis for a set of improvisation." A chewy read.
• Object-Oriented Conversations by To Be Resolved. You've heard of "conversation games," now let's consider this companion framework...
• Revisiting the Lumpley Prumpley by Vincent Baker. This is a great companion read to the above article. Baker revisits "The Lumpley Principle."
• Layout Set-up Checklist by Graftbound Press. Emily is giving me a run for my money with these beautifully succinct and actionable posts about design!
• Levels of Play by Murkdice. There are many ways to use a playground. Some use the slide, and others play goblins under the slide. (Not me, I'm a good kid.)
• To Play is to Explode by Backwards Tabletop. "A pet peeve of mine is when people say that what makes RPGs beautiful... is that they are open-ended."
• "Jaquays Your Dungeon" - Another OSR Maxim by All Dead Generations. Gus's quest to decipher the OSR's laws continues with receipts.
• Bat Out of Fantasy by in lowercase. Fantasy is stuck in nostalgia. Or maybe fantasy isn't asking the right questions of nostalgia. Either way, I enjoyed this.
• 8 Ways to Stock a Dungeon by Skeleton Code Machine. Exploring the many dungeon stocking methods. From Gygax's tables to an all-new THORCS! system.
• 🎙️ Making Games #3: Print Happens by Games Omnivorous. Printers, paper stocks, proofs, production mistakes, and countless other decisions.

Inspiring & Non-roleplaying

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

• 📺 Why We're Doing Journalism Differently by People Make Games. "I stopped saying I do documentaries about games, and started saying..."
• The Origins of Vintage Comics Pt. 1 by True Grit. From the '30s to the '80s, tech dictated the signature look of comics. Check out the example images.
• What Brands Are Actually Made Of by Amelia Nash. "[Brand] is a kind of alchemy, conjured from form, color, typography, imagery, sound, and motion.” Not quite.
• 📁 Material Design 3.0 by Google. Material Design 3 is Google's open-source design system. A great source for education, components, and tools for UX.
• 📁 AngleRef.com An amazing tool for drawing portraits. Adjust the pose of the 3D skull, and AngleRef will fetch you images of people in that exact pose.
• 📁 Wada Sanzo Color Combinations. Wada Sanzo was a Japanese painter and costume designer who studied color theory so you don't have to.

Design Archive

Old, missed, famous, and overlooked articles for the newsletter.

• RPG Essentialism and RPG Exceptionalism by Vincent Baker. What are rpgs really? Is it counter-productive to treat them like a coherent medium?
• Conceptual Density (or 'What are RPG Books for, anyway?) by Against the Wicked City. You can weigh an rpg book by its ideas (or lack of them).

Missed the last issue? Read it here.

The Explorateur: Issue #21

Monthly jams, critique, theory, and resources for rpg designers.

Explorers DesignClayton Notestine

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