Welcome to the third Dice Exploder game jam!
What is Dice Exploder? Each week, Sam Dunnewold and a rotating cohost break down one tabletop RPG mechanic as deep as they possibly can.
For summer 2025, we're running a game jam inspired by our hectic schedules. You can join the DE Discord , where there's a channel for this game jam, to discuss your submission with other participants and fans of the show.
This jam's theme is Games Played in One Hour or Less.
The neverending campaign gets a lot of attention in game spaces, but a time commitment of multiple hours and frequent sessions isn't in the cards for everyone. This jam asks you to take on the challenge of making a game short enough to be squeezed into an hour. Give us a one-shot that can be squeezed between dinner and the movie. Or take a stab at a campaign that meets on lunch hour, with each session satisfyingly fitting into an hour.
Jason Morningstar has great advice for writing a self-contained 1 hour game, based on his work on Space Games.
"Whatever happens, it happens in the span of one hour. [...] There are fewer variables and loose ends."
You can find the full advice pinned in the Dice Exploder Discord jam channel.
Take these as examples of the possibilities:
Space Games by Jason Morningstar
Three space games: Four players each, one hour each, tied together in a web of high drama and impossible choices. You can also check out any number of Bully Pulpit Games that fit the one-hour bill
Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast by Jay Dragon
Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast is played over the course of 48 chapters, each of which is a 1 to 2-hour scenario with its own unique but quick-to-learn rules. Players can take control of one of the 7 long-term residents of the B&B or choose from a cast of 50 quirky guests, each of whom has their own ongoing storylines
Going for Broke by Avery Alder
Going For Broke is a fast-paced sitcom roleplaying game about a collective house scrambling to get enough money together. It’s designed for easy learning and fast-paced play
The Listserv by Merrilee Bufkin
the listserv is a prompt-based game for 1+ players about a community email list. players go around and choose email subject lines and act out scenes, or talk through them about who sent the email, if they get any responses, and what, if anything, ultimately comes of the request. play should follow a similar pattern to a Descended from the Queen game, but without an end card.
Sharehouse by Idle Cartulary
A couch game about being young and single in house full of young, single people. It might also be a game about not being able to say how you feel. A hack of Firebrands and The King Is Dead by the Bakers.
Tons of short larps, many of which fit into an hour or less.
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Guidelines and Best Practices
- Your game MUST be designed for 1 hour session(s)
- A one hour session is the perfect amount of time to make 1 or 2 hard decisions as a group. If you're strapped for ideas, consider starting there.
- This jam is intended for analog (tabletop/pen and paper) games but if you wanna give making a video for it a shot, go for it!
- No AI writing or art is allowed in the submissions for this jam.
- Credit your inspirations and all artwork appropriately.
- There is no length requirement or limit, but to quote Sam, "I love minimalism and think most games are too big"
- Bonus objective: design a game specifically designed for actual play episodes of one hour or less, to tie in to the newest season of Dice Exploder (first episode here).
Resources
- Art Assets (some free, some paid)
- Vintage Illustrations (public domain)
- Smithsonian Open Access images
- Basics of Laying Out an RPG
If you have any questions, you can catch the collaborators for the jam in the discord, or post in the forums here.
Time to get writing!
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