Single-page dungeons or business card RPGs can be decent short releases to see if your layouts are too weird. Same for entries jam game—Themed game design contests are often held on the indie game marketplace itch.io. If you’re still designing a less accessible rulebook after this test run, don’t worry: You can always release another version.
Bookcase of Many Rules
The two-version release goes by a few names: Seger calls it art/print-friendly files. TTRPG outreach consultant Yubi describes them as simple/stylized. Whatever the name, releasing a beta and a more accessible version allows designers and players to get the most out of both worlds. It also sets a precedent for the resale of accessible texts, which could inspire publishers to update rulebooks years ago and perform better after launch (equivalently). similar to how video games are patched for community accessibility, balance, and feedback). Ashley Warren, director of Storytelling Collective, an online program that teaches TTRPG design through the RPG Writer Workshop, has seen the industry change for the better. For the best examples of accessible design and top designers in charge, she recommends using indie creators online as the Northern Stars.
“I really think a lot of the best outreach work is happening in the independent publishing community, where a lot of TTRPG creators publish accessible modules to itch.io, Warren said. “Those are the things that change the industry.” At least 6,000 people have taken RPG Writer Workshop’s accessibility lesson since it started in 2018, and their Discord channel is full of designers checking out each other’s accessible designs. . Questions like “How will a screen reader handle Roman numerals?” or “Can we trade the alt text of our battle map and see if we can recreate it from the description?” chat along with GIFs and words of encouragement.
As I sat down to visualize my TTRPG rule book, I knew I wanted a crude zine-like PDF filled with distorted text, decorative borders, and lapsed 1950s cartoons. in the public domain. It was overwhelming to plan, much less read as a player. But there are also a lot of questions I have around accessibility: Are my design efforts enough? Is it releasing two versions of the player looking at the magazine or the spartan list? Am I thinking about any accessibility concerns? Thankfully, the stand-alone accessibility scene is much more forgiving than I imagined.
“There will never be a document that everyone can access. Impossible. You can never plan for every accessibility issue — there will be accessibility issues that we don’t think about today that will really matter in six months, a year , five years, 10 years,” Yubi explains – hinting towards new technologies, or even lingering symptoms of COVID like problems with memory and concentration. “Can only provide one option, provide options, I think it’s really powerful.”
Yubi, like many of the consultants and experts I’ve interviewed, returns to the chorus of “don’t let perfection get in the way of good,” as well as acknowledging that game designers are trying their best. strength at the time of publication. As TTRPG designers form closer relationships, often through the online independent world, they are able to hold each other to a higher standard. I thought I was perfecting my magazine palette until a fellow designer linked me to a web access support tool to check the contrast of the text on the background color and their readability. I went back to the drawing board, but I learned a few things along the way. Each year, more such accessibility resources are published, and more consultants are taking calls to ensure the game reaches as many viewers as possible.
At times, the requested accessibility fix can come as a surprise to everyone involved. Part of Joe DeSimo’s job at The Academy of Games, a game-based consulting firm, is organizing TTRPG events, such as the company’s team building activities. In spring 2020, one of the Dungeons & Dragons teambuilding campaigns he was running got everyone on the adventure team involved in each adventure — except for one player. DeSimo could say she wanted attention, but “the material, the style of play, even a traditional character plate wasn’t for them,” he says. He suspects it’s because D&D has a 300-page rule book, and this is the type of person who wants a comprehensive overview of the entire book — even if their adventure only applies to a few. short page. So DeSimo started a solo session with her, where instead of playing D&D, they tried Honey Heist, a one-page TTRPG about bulldozing and stealing.
“She looked at the PDF and said, ‘I can do this,'” DeSimo said. “It’s night and day.” She started playing, now considerably more relaxed, and soon returned to the main lesson. For this new player, her accessibility concern is not the graphic design of the rule book, but the low scale of the information inside the book. As more empathetic game designers and administrators notice concerns like hers and move to remedy them with the help of tagged PDFs, easy-to-read tables, text, and artistically welcoming, the reach of the TTRPG can be extended to millions of new players.
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