The Loose Playbooks Jam is an event encouraging the creation of playbooks! Make a playbook for your favorite game! Make a playbook for your least favorite game! Make an extra playbook for your own game! Make a playbook that isn't attached to any game at all, you just really like the structure of Belonging Outside Belonging but simply haven't the wherewithal to make a whole gosh darn game about it despite the multitude of concepts you're sitting on all of the time (don't @ me)!

What is a playbook? 
Within the context of tabletop roleplaying games, a playbook is a class—more or less. It's a series of guidelines and prompts that you create (usually) a character based around. A playbook will usually tell you what a character can do. You've probably seen it in the context of games based on Powered by the Apocalypse (Masks, Root, Monster of the Week) or Belonging Outside Belonging/No Dice No Masters (Wanderhome, Dream Askew, Venture & Dungeon), and perhaps even Forged in the Dark (Blades in the Dark, Scum & Villainy, Beam Saber). Of course, plenty of other systems use playbooks! Playbooks aren't even restricted to just character creation, technically. For example, some games use playbooks for settings, giving a place a narrative role and actions it can take in this way. 

Playbooks are often based around archetypes or tropes associated with the genre or premise of the game they're for, but not necessarily. You're more likely to see the term in narrative-focused games, rather than "crunchy" games that use a lot more mechanical focus, but that isn't a hard and fast rule. A lot of the difference between playbooks and classes is, in all honesty, about vibes.  

So what can I submit?
Playbooks! I'm not going to sit here and build strict guard rails on what counts and what doesn't, and simply ask you to use your best judgment. Regardless of what (if any!) game the playbook is attached to, you can submit it. You can submit singular playbooks or collections of playbooks. I just ask that you don't submit whole games just because they use playbooks—if you start making some playbooks and a game grows out of them, though, that's fine!   

What games can I make playbooks for? 
Whatever games your little heart desires! More or less. Please be mindful of the original game creator's guidelines on creating derivative content. Most of the time, though, you're going to be in the clear for that kind of thing, especially within the indie ttrpg community. But it's always good to check!   

A handful of creators have offered up their games, listed down at the bottom, to highlight! Those games all use playbooks and the creators would be more than happy to see you make something for their games. You are absolutely not restricted to that list! It's a great place to begin if you can't find a starting point yourself, though.   

You can also make a playbook unaffiliated with a game entirely! You can just make a playbook to roll around at the bottom of your purse like an extra quarter or a mint you stole on your way out of a restaurant and then forgot about! Sometimes you have a concept strong enough to write about but not to make a whole dang game out of, you know? Here's your chance to do something with that!     

If I make a playbook that's not for a game, what do I do with it afterwards? 
Make the game! Adopt it out and let other people make a game with it! Use it for a completely unrelated game! Admire your creation and be content with the fact that you have created for its sake and put the fruits of your labor out into the world! I don't know, I'm not your mom.  

If there's interest, we can consider some kind of follow-up event where we do something with unaffiliated playbooks, but let's move one step at a time!     

Can I submit playbooks I've already made? 
Please only submit playbooks made during the jam period. If you've done something like start a project only to abandon it, though, and you pick it back up for this jam, that's fine.     

When can I start working on my playbook? 
Feel free to plan and plot in the time leading up to the jam, but please only begin writing once the jam kicks off!     

Can I charge for my playbook? 
This depends on the game you're creating for! Please make sure you're following all derivative creation guidelines set out by the creator of the game you're making a playbook for, if you're making a playbook for a game. If they allow it, if you're creating for your own game, or if you're just making an unaffiliated playbook, you are not only allowed but encouraged to charge for your creations. 

To save you some time, I've ensured that all games highlighted in this jam description allow you to charge for the content you create based on them!

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Game Suggestions

The creators of the following games have offered them up to be highlighted for this jam! As previously stated, you can make a playbook for absolutely any game you'd like, if you want to make a playbook for a game at all. That said, if you're not quite sure where to begin, one of these games would be an excellent start!

Games are listed in alphabetical order. If they use a specific engine (such as Belonging Outside Belonging/No Dice No Masters or Powered by the Apocalypse), that will be listed beside the title.

Dreampunk (Belonging Outside Belonging-adjacent) 
Playbook Types: character
When your character dreams, they visit a separate world in which they have their own unique powers.

Faire Season (Belonging Outside Belonging)
Playbook Types: character
Visitors to a renaissance faire end up wrapped up in a quest and adventure of true magic.

Heroic Chord (original engine)
Playbook Types: character
A pastoral post-apocalyptic game about people choosing what kind of world they want to build.

How to Embrace a Swamp Creature 2e (Belonging Outside Belonging)
Playbook Types: characters, setting elements, annuals/events
A game about mentally ill-swamp things in a deprived commuter town.

The Glass Dream Game (Belonging Outside Belonging)
Playbook Types: character, setting/background
A game about people working together to build a better world through understanding beauty and games.

Lost Years (Belonging Outside Belonging)
Playbook Types: character, setting
A game set in a boarding school menaced by a mysterious force that threatens to empty the students of everything that makes them themselves.

No Choice But to Win! (Harmony Drive)
Playbook Types: characters, obstacles/support
A sports anime game based on all the drama and camaraderie of the genre.

Ode to Becoming (original engine)
Playbook Types: character
A game about reaching across the other side to a life you do not have, longing for what another has and you do not.

Thirsty Sword Lesbians (Powered by the Apocalypse)
Playbook Types: character
A game for telling queer stories, about relationships developed through dramatic action.
Note: community copies available here!

Unincorporated (original engine)
Playbook Types: setting
A gmless, no-prep game about small-town drama.

Warehouse Bitches (Belonging Outside Belonging)
Playbook Types: character, setting
Playing as a cast of the titular warehouse-dwelling trans folk in hellish Hex City, you fight back against the Time Worm after its prophesied arrival.

Wool of Bat (Belonging Outside Belonging)
Playbook Types: character, setting element
A game about being a witch and doing both the marvelous and the mundane.