“how fun a nice browser game for the whole family :) maybe i’ll make another game! hopefully a new family

i miss my kids”

It's been five days since I published my first tabletop RPG, which I co-designed with a friend. After more than two years and seven months of designing, redesigning and playtesting with friends, I finally made the decision to put it out there for the world to see. It was a dream come true. I'm happy I got to accomplish something I found significant in a year when everything else felt seemingly aimless. Then again, it was just the start. The next thing in mind was marketing this game of mine. You know, leaping out of the circle of friends to find others who would be willing to try it out.

Man, I should've known this would be the hard part for me. I've done what I can since the day I published it, I guess. WhatsApp communities, Discord servers, subreddits, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, been there and done that, too. I was really glad I'd get to talk with someone Ijust started to knowabout a project that meant so much to me. Well, it's the fifth day, and I haven't met anyone interested in playing the game with their friends. Here's what I've seen so far:

1) Tabletop RPGs aren't common in my area at all. I've had to explain what exactly it means several times, even pulling up some Critical Role clips so they'd know what it looks like. On one side, my game could be the hammer that breaks the ice and introduces people around me to this wonderful subgenre. On the other side, the ice is tougher than I expected it to be. I thought it'd be easier to draw people in as long as the writing is good and fun to read, when in Reality, that only got me a "cool!" or a "good for you, man". It's nice and all to be complimented, but they'd move on the next day. I'm not simply looking for readers. I want people to play my game and have fun doing so.

2) I find it harder for me to convince people in TTRPG communities to try out my game, and I feel it has a lot to do with the fact that they also want people to try out theirs. Unfortunately, it's not always going to end up as a "why don't we try out each other's games?" . Not long ago, I asked a question in one of them. I was confused and tired like I am right now, trying to know if people aren't willing to try it out because it's a diceless RPG and people are used to TTRPGs with dice mechanics. I asked to know whether that was the case, and if it was interesting, how would I market it better? I tagged the channel in the server where I dropped the game link so someone could check out the game and they'd have a better idea of why I'm struggling with the marketing. Somehow, a fellow game designer replied in a way that accused me of disguising a marketing ploy in the form of an actual question. I explained that it was nowhere near the case and I wasn't even confident enough to market the game in such an outward manner, but I got no reply afterwards. The short convo made me more confused, and now I had lost all interest in marketing as a whole. 

I got some strength today. Enough to make a post. I made an announcement post some days ago, but I can't find it. I thought to send another announcement, but I was afraid it would seem like I was trying to spam, so I just decided to rant instead. I might get some views and no replies, but I'm too tired to care about that now. I don't want to be discouraged even further, so I don't think I'd drop any link in this rant.

 Thank you for your time, random person.

I know about No Thank You, Evil and some other more mainstream ones but I'm also curious about indie games that are available that are aimed at kids or would be kid appropriate with little to no hacking.

DOWNLOAD NOW

This was a game originally made for the 2025 yandere  game jam which ran for a month, but we didn't make it and decided to just develop it as a separate project. 

This is the first game I have ever developed and written, so the mechanics, and storytelling might feel a little off, but I'm still pretty happy with the fact I was able to finish this with the help of many wonderful people, as listed above, please check them all out!

Well - here is my first game Kingdoms of Bog https://tipigames.itch.io/kingdoms-of-bog

Its a character driven, low model count, fantasy skirmish game set somewhere between whimsy and grimness in the dark folkloric world of Bog!

I would love for you to check it out, its a dream of mine that other people will play a game I have written.

I have complete all the artwork and layouts myself, feel free to ask me any questions regarding design choices etc!

Cheers!

1. A Human that it is the next ¨demon lord¨ or whatever and now he is between betraying everything or not.

2. A Man infected by powers that make him more than a human, face moral choices and temptations, multiple routes depending of what faction he joins.

For a point of reference, these are the games that have what i am looking for:

1. CataclyZm

2. Parasite Black

3. The last sovereign

I realized I forgot to do this MONTHS ago - much on my mind, apparently.

In any events, I'm having a crack at creating my own Supers Narrative Fiction-First

Forged in the Dark ttrpg - Disruptors: Agents of Change.

You can play regular, straight-up narrative supers with your own heroes (or villains!),

or you can take a stand and try to Change the World!

https://voxorbis.itch.io/

Please let me know what you think... my website has even more content on it!

(It has a Free Trial Scenario, with pregens and everything, so you can take it out

on a test run - all you need is Blades in the Dark or go to the SRD!)

Hi Community,

I’m diving into creating a tabletop RPG campaign to share on itch.io and want to make it super immersive. What’s your go-to approach for crafting campaigns that keep players hooked?

Details:

• Setup: Solo designer, crafting a fantasy RPG campaign using itch.io’s project tools (PDF upload, free tier, 2025).
• Context: Inspired by itch.io’s tabletop community (e.g., monster bestiary systems), I’m building a campaign with narrative depth and player-driven choices. Current draft has 10 pages, 3 core story arcs, but lacks engagement “spark.”
• Steps Tried:
  • Added lore and NPC backstories for depth.
  • Used itch.io’s metadata tags (e.g., “fantasy,” “narrative”) for discoverability.
  • Tested with a small group; feedback suggests more interactive elements needed.
• Goal: Create a campaign that feels alive, encourages player creativity, and gets downloads/shares on itch.io.

Questions:

• What techniques do you use to make your RPG campaigns immersive and engaging?
• How do you balance narrative, mechanics, and player choice in campaign design?
• Any tips for leveraging itch.io’s tools (e.g., tags, project pages) to boost visibility?
• For those with popular campaigns, what’s your secret sauce?

Excited to hear your tips! Thanks!

the discord sever: https://discord.gg/uv9JV9VZ
my discord name: LuciaSnowblack
DM me if you are interested. Thanks

The theme is puzzles, and it will run from May 17th at 2 PM to May 27th at 2 PM! Your goal is to make a puzzle game in 10 days!

Here is the link to my Game Jam page: https://itch.freezing.top/jam/the-puzzle-game-jam-

Have fun!

Explore a map built to maximize social chaos and player interaction.

Join our Discord community for updates: https://discord.gg/techrunners

You can also wishlist us on steam, we want to reach our goal of 1000 wishlists. Currently at (103/1000) 

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3659190/TechRunners/?b

Since 2015, I have been working in the translation field, and I have experience subtitling gameplay videos, as well as a long-standing passion for the gaming industry. Although I haven't worked directly on game localization yet, this has always been my goal, and I feel more prepared than ever to take on this challenge. I have a history degree, which has fascinated me by narratives — whether they are told in books, movies, or video games. My passion for gaming began in childhood and has shaped my taste and professional trajectory. I see my life as an RPG: I'm a Scholar, always searching for knowledge to fulfill both the Main and Side Quests on my path. My primary mission now is to turn my passion for games into a solid career in game localization, helping to create memorable experiences for players worldwide.

Recently I've been particularly impressed with how Spire handles it, but I'm curious for more

I’m PsychHound, or Luka. I’m a TTRPG dev here but I’m also in grad school for game studies, researching therapeutic applications for gaming. I’m doing a research study through my university looking into long-term tabletop roleplay and emotional resilience.

Essentially, my research is asking the question: Does long-term play of multiplayer tabletop roleplaying games affect your ability to weather social and emotional challenges?

The study is additionally interested in whether marginalized communities have a different experience with tabletop roleplay and emotional resilience than non-marginalized groups do.

The study will take place in a few stages.

The first stage is a survey. On the survey, there are screening questions to make sure all participants qualify for the study, and then open, short-answer questions about both your experiences with roleplay and making characters, and also questions about emotional resilience. You’re able to answer questions with little depth to more depth depending on your comfort level, or skip questions if you need to. The survey will take approximately 30 minutes, but depends on how in-depth you go with your answers

The next stage is an optional follow-up interview. After the survey closes, three participants will be selected to complete an opt-in interview which will last approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour. During the interview, we will discuss more in-depth your answers from the survey, and talk about the character(s) you’ve played.

The survey will be open from 3/27/24 to 4/12/24, or until I hit my maximum number of responses 

To qualify, you must be a tabletop roleplayer, who has played at least three roleplay sessions of a multiplayer TTRPG, during a span of 6 months or longer. You must be 18 years or older and an American citizen

If you know others who qualify and would be interested in the survey, please feel free to share this post or the survey link with them as well

You can find the survey here: https://lukabrave.surveysparrow.com/s/emotional-resilience-and-tabletop-roleplay...

Thank you so much to everyone who is able to participate or spread the word!

I'm thrilled to announce the release of my new horror game, Confined, inspired by the PS1 era. After six weeks of dedicated work, I'm excited to share it. I would greatly appreciate it if you could check it out and possibly share it with others. It's also FREE!

Confined is a short horror-puzzle game where you have three minutes to solve a puzzle to escape a kidnapper’s grungy, dangerous basement.

https://stagefreight.itch.io/confined

I've been working on a game for about a half a year now. I think it'd be a waste if no one played it. So with your help how can I improve my advertising capabilities?

I have seen that some tools are very good at this especially graphics. I have not noticed the game industry would have an effect too along with the content writers and photographers.

Just saw an AI tool that is dedicated to game assets only. So what is the future of free game assets sites like 'itch' and others or the assets download sites...

How do you create the prototype type for a card game?

Do you just cut a bunch of paper and make fake cards for it?

How would I make something like those if anyone has tried making one?

I could also use some games that make use of traditional family games gear that we all have at home (Cards, dice, chess, parcheesi, dominoes...)

Bonus points if the game has a theme.

 know card games aren't as popular for demand but I thought it would be a fun one to experiment with

 I will have another chance to try this with another group of students. This time I will have them create a more clearly defined "map key" to go along with their map.  I will have some large chunks of time(1 hour, short break, then 1 hour) to work with these students in a relatively relaxed setting for a few days.  There will probably be 10 to 12 of them. I will be doing some more typical jig-saw(I have this information; You have that information) activities and role-play dialogues(shopping/restaurant, etc...), but since I will have these big chunks of time, I'd like to try integrating some different activities, especially ones that result in a product.  I'm considering something like Magizoology to complement introducing animals along with habitat/diet, etc...  I'm also considering something like Evergreen Wilds to practice describing past experiences and problem-solving.

Itchio has a ton of these "solo journaling games" and other outgrowths from the TTRPG community and I know there is a lot of cool stuff out there. What are some other tabletop games/activities that could work well for this context?

Hello fellow game developers! I'm currently conducting research for my final year of University and I would really appreciate your help by filling out my survey. It will only take a few minutes and your responses will help me gain valuable insights into the game development industry. Thank you so much for your time and support!

https://forms.gle/14iUQ5F5vB2LPdzU7

I make pixel art illustrations and I was wondering what asset packs do you look for and what do you look for in these asset packs. 

What is are some green flags or formats you appreciate. 

Thank you

Edit: I have just realised that I have posted this in Tabletop gaming category, which I apologise. I will keep this discussion here anyway but will post on the relevant category.

Edit: You can jump to the discussion here in the proper category: https://itch.freezing.top/t/2033609/what-do-you-look-for-in-asset-packs

Before making any uninformed suggestions, I’d like to know if there’s a channel or federation of critiques on itch where they discuss practices. Then we’d neeed to know what are the app limits. I mean, there’s already a lot done, but I think there’s a lot more to do, and maybe it can be done with less effort and some coordination. Thanks for your attention and twice so if you can try and make evaluation progress on itch.

I hope it is okay to post this here, but I have a few questions.

I’m just beginning to design very small ttrpgs and taking part in a game jam. Is there any ressource that lists the different system suitable for small games with an explanation? I keep seing frameworks like PbtA, FitD, 24xx, osr and a few I know. But others I never heard of and it’s kinda hard to comprehend.

On another note, these boards seem really quiet since 2019/2020. Did anything happen in the community or did discussions maybe shift to another platform I am not aware of?

Thanks in advance

xoxo

Or is there an addon of the bundle?

I love tabletop gaming but unfortunately do not have the chance to game with others in person much.

I always revert to RPG PC games for my fix. Just wondering if something like this robot would appeal to actual tabletop gamers?

Please forgive me if I am posting incorrectly/wrong section.     I am trying to find  an article about a  One Page Rpg  Contest winner from the 1990's  in a dragon magazine i believe.    I do remember the article  showing how  to build  a gnome  engineering class  producing magical effect through engineering instead of normal  wizards.    Unfortunately I have not been able to find the article in all the  Dragon magazines I have  found online.   

Hopefully this  someone can  remember   article better than I can.   

Must Have A Reddit Account

Must Have Your Own Dice

"The Publisher Pool is a set of codes for free copies of the layout app Affinity Publisher, redeemable via the Serif Store. These codes are available for indie analog* game designers who'd have trouble affording the app, to help make layout design more accessible."

I wanted to invite you all to a speaker series here at SMU Guildhall. Join us as we hear from Morgan Wilson, Game Designer at Naughty Dog and Guildhall alumnus! Wilson will share unique insights from both his career and from his time developing The Last of Us Part II, one of the year's most successful titles. With a breadth of games like Doom Eternal, Sky:Children of the Light (iPhone Game of the Year), and more under his belt, Wilson has developed with the best. Q&A to follow!

To register, click here for more info. and for the RSVP page: https://conta.cc/2H0nIvi

Thanks,
Rene' Archambault
SMU Guildhall

I've been digging into the games from the Racial Justice bundle and am trying to decide what I should pitch to my friends to play. The folks I have in mind have minimal ttrpg experience--I've started a couple D&D campaigns (as a player) and listen to 5e/PbtA related podcasts.

From the bundle, Subway Runners, Blades in the Dark, Troika, and Damn the Man Save the Music stick out as being appealing, but I'm open to a short-ish, pre-made D&D campaign.

Thanks!
PS we'd be playing over Discord, so the remote elements of Subway Runners are appealing

Come join the fun and let's explore the world of Fainbure together!🥳

http://kck.st/3hc4i45

Got any  questions for the devs?  Please ask them here! I have been experimenting with writing TTRPGs for a few years now, but this is my first ever project to  go on kickstarter. I'm super excited! So hopefully it piques your interest. <3