The Explorateur: Issue #7
Monthly design discoveries for tabletop rpg designers including jams, critique, theory, and tools. Vetted. Looted. Curated.
90% of good design is good writing.
I like to repeat this often. I know it sounds dismissive or even reductive, but hear me out. You can put a game in a beautiful typeface, on a beautiful page, with beautiful colors, but it won't matter if the writing—the idea, the prose, the rules—don't matter. And that's the obvious argument.
The less obvious argument is that, as much as "The medium is the message" the inverse is true. The message decides, shapes, and limits the medium. Writing is design. And design is writing. The end result of the two is one. And while players and audiences can forcibly (some might say "easily") ignore part of that finished work, it isn't in the spirit of the thing, but in spite of it.
Good design is in dialogue with the writing, creating harmony and tension like a flowing narrative. Bad design fights with the writing, ignores it, or tries to distract the audience from it—like a movie with great effects and no plot or ideas to speak of. And just like I said earlier, the inverse is true. Long purple prose with no sharp ideas or evocative things to imagine, is difficult to design around. It's hard to fit on a page, to pair with good colors, or depict with an illustration. And that's before we even consider mechanics. The bigger and more hard coded the writing, the smaller and more prescribed the design. There's a reason why Pathfinder's design favors big pages and clean tables—how else do you fit the writing on it?
90% of good design is good writing. The jury is still out on the opposite...
Until then, on to last month's discoveries.
Quest Givers
This section shares any game jams, contests, and collaborations. If you want to share a community event, jam, or project message me on Bluesky.
- Meatheads Jam Part II. Nothing is better than a big ole' blockhead with muscles. Why make something about spells or songs, when it can be about punching something really, really (really) hard? Jam ends May 15th.
- The Maple Jam. Celebrate Canadian creators and spotlight Canadian art, history, and culture by making an rpg, supplement, or some other rpg related thing. I can't wait to see what comes out of this. Jam ends July 1st.
- Spring Supplies and Shots Jam. Make one-shots and random tables for Frontier Scum, the rules-lite acid Western roleplaying game. It's a great acid-infused take on Spaghetti Westerns. Jam ends July 11th.
- Fun with Fäng Jam. This one's all about creating adventures for Fängelsehåla (lovingly referred to as Fäng). It's a family-friendly, rules-lite game out of Sweden with a horde of resources and prizes. Jam ends Sept 11th.
- Desert Dwellings Jam. An Explorateur exclusive (or rather, a jam shared with me in advance). Make a game or adventure using Odds & Ents' Desert Dwellings art pack (it's free when the jam starts). Jam starts June 1st.
- Enter the Zungeon. People keep making awesome adventures for this, so I'm going to keep sharing it. Check out the Zungeon Manifesto and make your own Zungeon before the year is up.
Reviews & Exhibits
Critique and examinations of tabletop rpgs, adventures, and more. I try to share exhibits with something to say other than the usual, "Is this worth buying?"
- Playing the Chaplains Game by Skeleton Code Machine. Spoiler warning: If a solo game about war and paranoia sounds interesting, you should play Mechs into Plowshares. Otherwise, you might read this and wish you had.
- The White Horse of Lowvale by Widdershins Wanderings. Tania Herrero's previous adventure, Crown of Salt, is one of the rare Mörk Borg adventures that stands toe to toe with Johan visual design. Is this a repeat but for folk horror?
- High Number Too Good! by Hendrik Biweekly. Cthulhu Dark squeezes a lot of narrative juice out of its die rolls. Its a rare game whose mechanics perfectly encapsulate the genre and create great dramatic pacing.
- Mothership is Good Enough by The Indie Game Reading Club. I'm a confesssed Mosh fan, but I agree with Paul here that the beauty of the game has always been the culture and community around it. The rules are good enough.
- Battle School and the Looming Context by Rowan Zeoli at Rascals. Can a game be critique just because it says so? I love this question and answer from Rowan which cuts to the bone of many rpgs from the lyrical to the old-school.
- This House Hungers by Idle Cartulary. A 41-page adventure for Knave with a death-trap mansion inside. Nova examines how form and function can aid or hinder an adventure' design while digging into this gothic-themed romp.
- Mausritter, Wargame by Familiar Waves. Everyone knows I like Mausritter. This review explores the overall composition, complexity, and design of The Estate—a mini-campaign and boxed set.
- Doom of the Savage Kings by Between Two Cairns. Podcast. If you haven't explored Dungeon Crawl Classics, the cult classic rpg full of dungeon delving and weird-shaped dice, Doom of the Savage Kings is a great entry point.
Rumors & Bestiary
The never-sponsored section of the newsletter. These links are the treasures I found while wandering the internet wilderness.
- Knock! Issue #5 is crowdfunding! by The Merry Mushmen. If you read this newsletter, odds are you know about adventure gaming's infamous bric-a-brac of old school magnificence. But if you haven't... hand over your wallet!
- Blogs on Tape Season 6 Has Begun by Nick LS Whelan. Podcast. If you prefer your blog posts delivered via dulcet tones, I'm afraid this is the only option. The good news: the quality and curation is immaculate.
- Ship of the Dead's "State of the OSR" by Limithron. Podcast/Video. Ignore the title if it gives you hives. This panel is actually a blast with thoughts, stories, and ideas from great creators like Brad Kerr, Kelsey Dionne, Matt Finch, Yochai Gal, and Luke of Pirate Borg fame.
- How Jennell Jaquays Evolved Dungeon Design P.1 by Nickoten. You probably already know Jaquays' influence on the hobby, but if you somehow haven't, this sets the scene for "Jaquaysing the Dungeon."
- D&D 2024 Ignored One of 5th Edition's Original Goals by DM David. Before creating 5th edition, the Wizards team gave themselves specific design goals. This article looks back at what we lost when those goals changed.
- The Witches of Bizharr by Bruno Prosaiko. A PWYW comic full of fearless adventurers in a strange (very strange) science-fantasy world? By one of the most prolific and successful illustrators working in rpgs today? Say no more.
- It's All a Great Big Mess... by Zakary Ellis. The mess in question is Zak's work on Peasantry, a beer and pretzels game about dirty grubby peasants. To be clear: design is supposed to be messy, so I found this post very comforting.
Theory & Advice
Any ideas, guidance, and tools that make playing and creating in the tabletop space more engaging, meaningful, and rewarding. This is the catch-all section.
- When Is the Cake Baked? by Idle Cartulary. Nova reviews somewhere between 2–3 modules a week, and many of them, frankly, feel only half-finished. Which begs the question: how do you know when it's fully baked?
- Graphic Design Tips for Print & Play by Revivify Games. The tariffs have officially arrived (booo!) which means at-home printing is back (yay!). But before you export those files and press publish, check out these solid tips.
- Don't Ask These Playtesting Questions! by Skeleton Code Machine. Playtesters always know how your game feels, and never how to fix it. This list has 10 questions to ask at your next playtest (and 3 to run from).
- Typst for Tabletop RPG Design by WindowDump. Every year markup-based typsetting systems get bigger and better. This thread on The Cauldron explains how to use maybe the most popular option: Typst (w/ examples).
- Practical Examples and Analysis of TTRPG Layouts by Matthew Andre. Pulling apart layouts is a fun exercise. This two-part series features many examples, showing not just their differences, but Matthew's ideal layout.
- Writing RPG Adventures: NPCs by Joseph R Lewis. Video. Another week, another video. This time with practical advice about NPCs, their design, and why it might not be ideal naming your NPC "X'arxis Dœ'Böaç."
- Better Social Stats in Fantasy RPGs by Drolleries. This article interrogates D&D's discrepant social mechanics by showing what we lose when it's divorced from the narrative and overly reliant on charisma-takes-all.
Design Lore
Design inspiration from beyond tabletop rpgs. I share them when I find them.
- Creating Bluey: Tales from the Art Director by Goodsniff. I'm always entranced by the work of cartoonists. This dive into the nuts and bolts of Bluey's design is clever, insightful, and deeper than you think.
- Typographic Posters Archive. Over 11,000 posters from 44 different countries. It's an overwhelming torrent of color that might just shake a cover or convention flyer idea out of you—so get to it.
- A Look Into the Rise of Design-led Board Games by Chappell Ellison. Maybe it's the tariffs endangering everything I love, but sometimes I like to look at pretty board games and get all teary eyed. These are works of art.
- Item Zero's Design Words from A to Z. Item Zero makes gorgeous books and fonts that demystify the design process. Unfortunately, they cost an arm and a leg, so I'll settle for their online glossary of terms which are fun to read.
- Studio Showcase: The Young Jerks. I'm going to start sharing the occasional design agency and their work, because what's more inspiring than seeing graphic designers do what they do best? This studio is funky.
- Artist Showcase: Jake Foreman. The vibes are giving 60s/70s psychedelia fed through a printer. The day my money tree bears fruit, I'm comissioning King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's artist to make an Eco Mofos!! cover.
Design Archive
Sometimes I miss something or want to bring it back from the dead.
- Form and Structure: The DNA of Adventure Modules by Loot the Room. This article is one I wish I wrote. It looks at how different systems, businesses, and play cultures structure, build, and unravel adventures.
- Enough Dweeb Adventures by Knight at the Opera. This review and exploration of different adventures never ceases to make me laugh and smile at how it perfectly defines why some adventures just don't grab me.
Missed the last issue? Read it here.
Clayton Notestine
This newsletter uses rare affiliate links to support Explorers Design. If you notice any broken links, mistakes, or bad actors in this newsletter, please let me know.
Explorers Design is a production of Clayton Notestine. If you liked this issue, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing.
