Your Name: RPG Elise (@rpgelise.bsky.social)
Is this your first time competing in the Jam? First time for this jam. This is my 6th TTRPG Jam on Itch.
What genre or tropes are currently inspiring you? For Dungeon Blast, I wrote for my GM style which is players going off the rails and having a laughing good time. Magic wands back-firing in Wizard Newbs has been a hit when GMing this at convention tables, so I brought this back with the magic bombs goblins toss for Dungeon Blast. Its a bit of a sequel from Wizard Newbs I have been wanting to create for sometime. If the table is laughing and having fun I have done my job as a GM.
For other jams this month, I have really been into Lovecraft style horror and finding tie ins with the current social and political climate and using mechanics that don't use mental health as a mechanic and instead use other spooky concepts. I recently submitted The Abandoned Abbey for the Appx N Jam, and created a mechanic called The Clock, the number of days you have to live in the post-apocalyptic world.
What do you hope to accomplish or how to you hope to challenge yourself during the jam? One of my big goals in game design is fitting an interesting story and replayability in a small space of a game. In TTRPGs, you get about an 8,000 word count, you are further challenged in one page TTRPGs. I think my biggest challenge so far has been the 36 word TTRPG, Endurance. One way I tell stories in a small space of a TTRPG is through the art. Art can give you a vibe for the places or in encounters you might run into. I also try to pick out relatable scenarios players can quickly get oriented to. In Wizard Newbs its a TP heist because the TP ran out. In Dungeon Blast it is "acquiring" new furniture for the goblin lair because adventurers recently came in and smashed the place. These are all situations we can relate to and don't require a whole lot of back story. This saves space on the page. For replay value, I use roll tables. Roll tables can effect the setting you play in or what hazards you face. Wizard Newbs and Dungeon Blast and a variety of magic items you can use and dice rolls impact what affect they have or if they back fire. Players get replay value by trying different magic items each time they play and GMs selecting new locations for each game, for example. Contributing to TTRPG jams with highly limited design space really helps challenge me as a creator to tell effective story in small space. It has been something I have been studying for years. I attend writer's workshops and study game design and other skills. I am always trying to find new ways to apply the tools I learn in other spaces to TTRPG game design.