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  "description": "Monthly design jams, critique, theory, and inspiration for tabletop rpg designers by rpg designers. Vetted. Looted. Curated. ",
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  "publishedAt": "2026-03-01T05:30:40.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.explorersdesign.com",
  "tags": [
    "**The Bloggies Concludes for 2026.**",
    "**Designing Lore Blocks.**",
    "Bluesky",
    "**Old-School Essentials Month.**",
    "**Blog Carnival:** Tiny Epics: Small Souls in a Big World!",
    "**Blog Bandwagon: Maps!**",
    "**Lean Green Zine Jam.**",
    "**Total//Effect//Jam.**",
    "**Make Moves Jam.**",
    "**Daggerheart - a Dishonest Review (full of Lies)**",
    "**Settlers of a Dead God**",
    "**Triangle Agency**",
    "**Resonant**",
    "**Public Access**",
    "**Legends of the Mist**",
    "**We Read the Bloggies**",
    "**Bloggies for Casuals**",
    "**Armour for Lodestar**",
    "**Shoulder Tables**",
    "**Be of Good Cheer**",
    "**Gallows Corner RPG Readthrough**",
    "**The Princess and The Dragon**",
    "**Product Photography**",
    "**Tyranny of the Form**",
    "**The Visual Design of Blades '68**",
    "**TTRPGs Need Instructional Designers**",
    "**You Need to Describe Doors**",
    "**Talking to the Dungeon**",
    "**Writing things in Networks is Unreasonably Effective**",
    "**Pokemon is OSR**",
    "**Unblocking Yourself: Dungeonize your Home**",
    "**Navigation Games**",
    "**The Layout Rogues Guild: ZiMo Workshop w/Mike Martens**",
    "**Zine Planning Page by Page: A ZiMo Workshop w/Kyle Latino**",
    "**Communities are not Fungible**",
    "**A Comprehensive Guide to Book Cover Design Cost.**",
    "**Overlay Fact Sheet.**",
    "**Jules Vernacular.**",
    "**The Tenth Muse.**",
    "**The New Transparency**",
    "**Designing an Afrocentric Megadungeon**",
    "The Explorateur: Issue #16Monthly design jams, critique, theory, and inspiration for tabletop rpg designers by rpg designers. Vetted. Looted. Curated.Explorers DesignClayton Notestine",
    "_Explorers Design_",
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  "textContent": "# Three Design ideas for RPGs.\n\n### #1 Until you can explain it simply, you don't understand it fully.\n\nThis is a good thing. It means you still have something to discover about the game, rule, or idea that you're trying to describe. I heard this bit of wisdom from an architect ages ago and I can't help but apply it to everything—game design, marketing, politics—you name it. Plain and approachable language doesn't mean a lack of knowledge, but the presence of it. Until you have that plain articulation, you don't have it figured out. Keep chipping at it. Sometimes the thing that unlocks everything else is the name.\n\n### #2 Separate your project goals from its table stakes.\n\nI've been thinking about this lately after running design workshops at my day job. It's a common mistake. A project starts with a goal and it's a nothing burger. The equivalent of a restaurant declaring, \"Our mission is to serve good food.\" Of course it is. Bad food puts you out of business. Good goals are unique and specific—they close doors and create focus. Stand for something. Banality makes a project weak, un-focused, and vulnerable to drift. Don't try to make a \"good\" game. Try to make a game that does specific things well.\n\n### #3 Consider putting that dividing line somewhere else.\n\nSometimes designers put a column-width line between their headers and its respective body copy. In most cases that's wrong. Controversial, but you should never sever the head from its body. If you want to underline the type, use the underline feature. Don't use a dividing line. You want the relationship between your header and body copy to remain connected. When you use a dividing line as decoration, you rob it of its function and risk creating confusion. Instead, put the line _above_ the headline so that it separates it from _other_ sections. For most projects, you don't even need dividing lines, whitespace does the same thing unobtrusively. Open a well-designed textbook or cookbook, and you'll notice that the space between a section's header and paragraph is smaller than the vertical space between the end of one section's body copy and the next section's header.\n\n✋\n\n****Did you know this post gets updated?**** Sometimes I miss something and add it later. Don't forget to check out the web version for the latest treasure trove of links.\n\n### Explorers' Loot\n\n  * **The Bloggies Concludes for 2026.****** If you somehow haven't seen the nominees and winners of this year's Bloggies, you're missing out.\n  * **Designing Lore Blocks.****** I revisited the character schema designed by Zedeck Siew and Munkao in _Reach of the Roach God,_ and retooled it into a stat block replacement for stat-free games.\n  * **Explorers' UX Updates.** I've managed to make updates to the website's code. I tweaked accordions, removed Google tagging, and added a floating table to the sidebar for desktop users. Please hold the applause until the end.\n\n\n\n### Quests & Rumors\n\nGame jams, contests, and opportunities. Drop me a line on Bluesky.\n\n  * **Old-School Essentials Month.****** Prepare your spirit for a collab project led by Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome on Backerkit. May 5th – June 6th.\n  * **Blog Carnival:** Tiny Epics: Small Souls in a Big World! Blog about tiny heroes in a small world ala Mausritter, Pico, or Household. Ends March 31st.\n  * **Blog Bandwagon: Maps!****** This blogging event, hosted by Prismatic Wasteland, is all about maps! Share all of your map ideas. Ends April 27th.\n  * **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.\n  * **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.\n  * **Make Moves Jam.****** Create or share singular Moves using Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) design philosophies. Jam lasts all year. Ends Dec 31st.\n\n\n\n### Reviews & Critique\n\nCritique and examinations of tabletop rpgs, adventures, and more.\n\n  * **Daggerheart - a Dishonest Review (full of Lies)******_by Valeria Loves._ Another incisive review delivered in the style of an insult comic routine.\n  * **🎙️****Settlers of a Dead God******_by Dead Letters._ Sam, Misha, and Walid give a crash course on setting guides before asking, \"How does _Settlers_ do?\"\n  * **🎙️****Triangle Agency******_by Dead Letters._ I couldn't share only one episode.__ Triangle Agency is a brain-burner. A sublime drowning of theory awaits you.\n  * **🎙️****Resonant** _by Ansible Uplink._ Chris Airiau and David Kenny cover a lot of design ground in this review of Amanda P.'s sci-fi module. A long listen.\n  * **📺****Public Access** _by Quinns Quest._ The Carved from Brindlewood system gets some love in this episode. We get some insight into Quinns' playstyle, too.\n  * **📺****Legends of the Mist******_by Deficient Master._ This frenetic video covers one of my favorite games. If you like mechanics like FATE's, give it a watch.\n\n\n\n\n\n### Design Examples & Best-iary\n\nThe spotlight section of the newsletter full of showcases and projects.\n\n  * **🎙️****We Read the Bloggies** _._ If you don't want to read the nominees from this year's Bloggies, I have good news: You don't have to. You can listen to them!\n  * **Bloggies for Casuals******_by The Dolent Chronicle._ A great primer for casuals who don't have it in them to read 80+ posts (you are likely not the audience).\n  * **⚙️****Armour for Lodestar******_by Rambled Worlds._ If you like a more granular armor system, I think this multi-layered AP sub-system is particularly fun.\n  * ⚙️ **Shoulder Tables******_by Bommyknocker Press._ This random encounter/events table might look familiar, but I love the framing here. Finally a satisfying label.\n  * ⚙️ **Be of Good Cheer******_by Goblin Punch._ A fun GLOG-inspired system for healing that links to downtime activities like sharing meals and having friends.\n  * **📺****Gallows Corner RPG Readthrough******_by Bastionland._ What a beautiful game to look at. This history-inspired game about peasants is worth the look.\n  * 💸 **The Princess and The Dragon******_by Outrider Creative._ I rarely promote crowdfunding projects, but this Perils & Princesses adventure is a gem.\n\n\n\n### Theory & Craft\n\nDesign tools, resources, theory, and advice for rpg designers from rpg designers.\n\n  * **Product Photography******_by Graftbound Press._ Another educational how-to post from Graftbound. This kind of effort beats mockups every time for me.\n  * **Tyranny of the Form******_by Nate Whittington._ \"Is the zine throttling the creativity of the scene? I think, emphatically, yes.\" A thought-provoking read.\n  * **The Visual Design of Blades '68******_by Old Dog Games._ Tim's one of the best designers working in rpgs today, and this sneak peek into '68 feels like a heist.\n  * **TTRPGs Need Instructional Designers** _by The Play Reports._ A call to action with links to Cognitive Load Theory and Working Memory articles.\n  * **You Need to Describe Doors******_by Murkdice._ Information leads to better decision making. So why do most adventures not describe doors anymore?\n  * **Talking to the Dungeon******_by Failure Tolerated._ How does a dungeon converse with its players? How does an adventure speak to interactivity?\n  * **Writing things in Networks is Unreasonably Effective******_by Dungeon Merlin._ I like how much this design truth is doubly true in analog rpgs.\n  * **Pokemon is OSR******_by Prismatic Wasteland._ I see some overlap. Dungeon delving, resource management, and party constraints—now with Team Rocket.\n  * **Unblocking Yourself: Dungeonize your Home** _by Rise Up Comus._ I love any creative technique, this system would work remarkably well for Mausritter.\n  * **Navigation Games******_by Knight at the Opera._ Answering the question: How do you run (and design) a dungeon that players navigate and explore diegetically\n  * **📺****The Layout Rogues Guild: ZiMo Workshop w/Mike Martens** _by Plus One Exp._ This is an entry-level college lecture on layout, type, and design.\n  * **📺****Zine Planning Page by Page: A ZiMo Workshop w/Kyle Latino** _by Plus One Exp._ I like this scaffolding approach to layout planning.\n\n\n\n\n\n### Inspiring & Non-roleplaying\n\nDesign tools, theory, and inspiration from the world beyond tabletop rpgs.\n\n  * **Communities are not Fungible******_by JA Westenberg._ A sobering read that pulls ideas from urban design and other fields about the nature of community.\n  * **A Comprehensive Guide to Book Cover Design Cost.****** Shout out to Lone Archivist who shared this with a few of us designers. A cool look outside rpgs.\n  * **Overlay Fact Sheet.****** Another great find from designer, BESW. This one is all about those accessiblity overlays on websites (and why they're not ideal).\n  * **🗄️****Jules Vernacular.****** Take a tour through France and marvel at all of the immaculate signage, from blackletter-appointed inns to mid-century grocers.\n  * **🗄️****The Tenth Muse.****** 120,000+ artworks from museums and institutions — searchable by feeling, mood, atmosphere, era, and medium. (With a grid view.)\n\n\n\n### Design Archive\n\nOld articles, missed articles, famous or overlooked, resurfaced for the newsletter.\n\n  * **The New Transparency******_by Jared Sinclair._ An influential list of principles. They're idiosyncratic—aggressively so—which results in compelling results.\n  * **Designing an Afrocentric Megadungeon** _by Alife Allah._ I really loved the perspective on this post, it got my gears turning on how culture informs design.\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n### Missed the last issue? Read it here.\n\nThe Explorateur: Issue #16Monthly design jams, critique, theory, and inspiration for tabletop rpg designers by rpg designers. Vetted. Looted. Curated.Explorers DesignClayton Notestine\n\n* * *\n\n _This newsletter uses the occasional affiliate link to support Explorers Design. If you notice any broken links, mistakes, or bad actors, please let me know._\n\n* * *\n\n_Explorers Design_ _is a production of Clayton Notestine. If you liked this issue, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing._\n\n## Sign up for Explorers Design\n\nGet The Explorateur, reviews, and other design resources.\n(Or follow along using your favorite RSS Feed...)\n\nSubscribe\n\nEmail sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup.\n\nNo spam. Ocassional nonsense. Unsubscribe anytime.",
  "title": "The Explorateur: Issue #17",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-01T15:42:23.590Z"
}