Hey Leaf, this is @swordpeddler from twitter. First of all thanks a whole hell of a lot for putting some spotlight on this; right now independent creator-publishers in tabletop games have basically one central market to sell our wares and a lot of us are looking for other places to go. There has been a huge push to move to itch for about a year now. Something that would help us out a lot is these better tags, and I have some suggestions. The biggest one is I think you should change "Physical Games" to "Tabletop Games" as the broadest, top level category—I think physical games is a fine descriptor but as a colloquialism it is less known.

These are my sidebar suggestions to keep it as neat as possible; these categories are broad strokes of the kinds of games and game accessories made for tables:

Roll and Write: these are solo-play tabletop games, not strictly roll playing games in the same sense as D&D is. A good example is this gem: https://metalsnail.itch.io/hall-of-the-dwarven-king

Role Playing Game: this is where you'd drop your regular, full games or so. Knave is a full RPG, and is the type of game that'd drop in to this category: https://questingbeast.itch.io/knave, as would Nora Blakes Endless Waltz: https://neithernora.itch.io/endless-waltz, this one about snakes: https://kiramagrann.itch.io/a-cozy-den, or even https://makebigthings.itch.io/damntheman.

RPG Supplement: this is a category for things like adventures and campaign settings that are compatible with other, full RPGS. Existing  examples of this would be https://olobosk.itch.io/the-will-of-rot, https://cone.itch.io/coldwinter, or https://swordfishislands.itch.io/hot-springs-island.

Board Game: this would be your print & play games that are not RPGs, things like: https://randyo.itch.io/scoundrels, https://rockmanor.itch.io/maximum-apocalypse, or https://adriannovell.itch.io/magos-y-tabernas-printnplay.

Card Game: this is print & play card games like: https://evilisa.itch.io/qwap, https://offcutgames.itch.io/complicated-board-game-the-card-game, and https://terriv.itch.io/pusherkings.

Utility Apps: things made to support tabletop games like https://cone.itch.io/hex-kit.

Zines:  tabletop zines are wildly popular, and you're going to see a bunch of them uploaded to itch around March, when the "Zinequest" Kickstarter Event starts to fulfill. This is going to be a popular category!

I think you'll find a lot of people will want game-specific tags, so there is a good place to start. A lot of independently produced tabletop material is made to be compatible with existing games, so you'll see people want tags like this: PbtA, OGL, OSR, FitD and Fate. Those may be greek, but a lot of people are going to get it trust me. Other popular tags to cover all of the proposed categories would be wargame, solo, adventure, source book,  print & play, campaign setting, core rules, system neutral, rules light, gmless, map, hex crawl, social, one page, and 2-players. I am sure other users will come up with some more good ones.

In tabletop games, most of the time when you see genre it means the same thing as it does in the literary world; so instead of adventure as a genre like you have in digital games, we would want stuff like fantasy, sci fi, post apocalypse, western, crime, horror, investigative, pulp adventure and stuff like that. I bet we could rustle up a good primer somewhere on that!

As far as classification goes, I think most of the categories, tags, and genre will cover what folks traditionally expect out of sorting tabletop games. Maybe someone else has better suggestions.

And finally I think the biggest thing I would love to see to make selling tabletop games through itch is an upfront way of selling a physical book; I know we can use the rewards tool but something more front and center might be cool? I'd also love, if possible, to be able to add more than one thing to a cart via the widget. But that's a heavy ask!

Again, thank you so much for replying to me on twitter and stepping up, I know a lot of people are looking at itch now as an alternative to what little there is now.

The two previous comments really nail everything, but I'd like to repeat: I know it might be a big ask, but being able to sell print copies of our games, meaning physical books, boxed boardgames, etc, would be very helpful!

Grasswatch Games is still looking for a store front through which we can sell our own copies of Sundown (as opposed to a service like Indie Press Revolution, which only lists stock that you ship to their warehouse) and having that option on itch would be amazing.

Thank you!!

I just posted the first game I've ever published independently here and am psyched to see this conversation. A lot of the most relevant stuff has already been said above, but categories for low prep, no prep, one-shot and campaign would be amazing for folks looking for games to fit specific life situations that come up fairly regularly.

Also, there's pretty big crossover between designers and players of tabletop RPGs and larps, so larp classification tags could also be very useful - things like, well, larp, as well as parlor, freeform, boffer, nordic. I'm not that deep in the classification system, but those are some broad categories that would be a not terrible place to start.

It's important to be able to find games in the same medium, but often times folks who try to offer analog games have "related" games as digital, because they might share the tag "post-apacolyptic" or more notoriously, "rpg".

What I would really want to see is an easy way to distinguish analog games from digital games without relying on looking at a given tag. This also extends beyond games, as some folks use itch for tutorials, fonts, curriculum, and other resources that are related to games content as a whole.

There is a lot of other considerations with expanding itch to facilitate analog games, so by no means am I devaluing other people's very valid input.

I'm pretty much going to second Cone of Negative Energy - except for one detail. I don't know how far we can nest things, but I think the distinction between Role Playing Game and RPG Supplement is very blurry _and_ also repeated in other areas, for example you might have a Board Game and a Board Game Extension or a Board Game Variant.

I think it'd be better to have a hierarchy or tags:

So, top level: Role Playing Game (this is the type of game).

Second level: Rule Book, Supplement, Adventure Module, Setting, etc.

some more great tags comin' out of smart people's noggins in here. Alex McConnaughey brings up a really good point about live play games that should be considered, and maybe changing Physical Games to Tabletop Games isn't the smoothest move. I would definitely add "Live Action Games" to the category list, and use things like parlor, boffer, and what not as tags.

A lot of previous posts have touched on what we're all thinking and needing. I love itch.io in general, but when it comes to my tabletop RPG games / products (I make digital games as well, but ttrpgs currently form the bulk of my catalog) discoverability has been a problem on here. Having specific analog games / physical games tags would go a long way.

Making it easy for someone looking for ttrpgs / analog games / larps / etc. to find a full, comprehensive listing of those offerings would be fantastic. As it stands, I often can't  find my own games if I search by category alone, and I actually tag them as "physical games" as well as whatever other tags I find to be appropriate. Half the time, they don't show up at all if I click on physical games and scroll through from start to finish (I am not entirely sure why this is).

So basically, yeah, a comprehensive high level tag for physical games should list ALL physical games (sortable by date released, alphabetically, or etc.), and then lower level, more specific category tags should list ALL games tagged with that category. As for the categories themselves, here's a list off the top of my head. Some of these have definitely already been mentioned, but I can't imagine it hurts to reinforce / reiterate.

Formats:

- tabletop rpg / pen and paper rpg
- board game (print and play, most likely)
- GMless tabletop rpg
- Solitaire tabletop rpg (I think this has been referred to in a previous suggestion as Roll and Write)
- Dice based game
- Card based game
- Diceless  game
- Print and play game
- Live Action Role Playing Game / LARP (some subcategories: Parlor LARP, Freeform LARP, High Immersion, Low Immersion, Powers and Secrets LARP, Nordic LARP, etc. ... there are a lot of kind of LARPS, but I am far from a LARP afficianado, so I'm sure more research will reveal a more complete picture).
 - Micro-game
- Anthology
- TTRPG Supplement / Module / Adventure (sortable by system, and with an available "system agnostic / universal tag")
- Rules heavy game
- Rule light game
- Storytelling game
- World building game
- Old School Revival (OSR) - This one is maybe somewhere in between a genre and a format.

Some Common Game Systems / System Tags:

- Unique / Original System (super important!! - not everything is DnD or a hack of something else. Most of my games fall into this category.)
- Powered by the Apocalypse (Apocalypse World Hack) 
- Forged in the Dark (Blades in the Dark Hack)
- F.A.T.E.
- Gurps
- Savage Worlds
- Cypher System
- The Dark Eye
- Gumshoe
- Basic Roleplaying
- and so on. DnD / Shadowrun / etc. are obvious ones, probably.

Some Common Genres / Genre Tags: 

- Universal / Genre Agnostic (again, very important to make this its own, viable tag)
- OSR - (again, it's kind of a genre / format / philosophy, I guess?)
- Sword and Sorcery
- Cyberpunk
- Superheroes 
- Family friendly 
- Horror (Gothic, Cosmic, etc.)
- Heroic / Nonheroic
- Dungeon Crawl
- Basically, a lot of genres pretty much directly overlap with other media. So there's probably multiple analog games in every conceivable genre (or at least one).

None of the above was meant to be exhaustive. It's just the stuff that comes most immediately to mind. 

I think having the link to physical games show up on the front page is a great early step.  It'd be great to be able to search for all physical games currently on sale (currently, it won't let me do so, but that might also be because nothing is on sale?), and to have an accurate, easy to access "new releases" page for the top level category and any number of lower level categories (as it stands, this seems to be a feature, but it never works correctly for me ... again, don't know why).

Anyway, thanks for giving physical games more consideration. If my work had even a fraction of the discoverability on itch that it does on drivethru, it would likely make a tangible difference. Maybe nothing life changing, but every dollar and cent counts, honestly.

Aleks

Hi! Most of my games are small zines or rulebooklets that are meant to be printed out. I also assemble them by hand on nice paper and mail them out to people.

It took me a while to find the Rewards system, but currently that’s the best thing on itch for selling separate things. (See http://mrfb.itch.io/standoff for an example of how I’m doing it.)

A few small changes to how that system works would make me really happy.

1.) When I get an email telling me I made a sale, let me know when there’s a reward associated with it! There’s surprisingly little messaging for “hey, you have to physically prepare a booklet and mail it out”

2.) I have a cache of about 5-20 of each of my games assembled and ready for mailing, but mostly I just have a giant stack of different kinds of paper, and I print and assemble booklets by hand when necessary. This is to say, an option for unlimited quantity rewards would be nice.

3.) A page somewhere where I can see all my currently unfulfilled rewards across all my projects. Maybe even with some kind of button to tell the purchaser that the thing is in the mail?

Hi there! I'm a game designer and publisher who's used Itch as a consumer and have been looking into hosting products here. I'm mostly chiming in to reiterate the good ideas other folks have shared. To clarify: I'm sharing info that I think is most relevent and efficient; there are lots of great ideas suggested but some of them may be edge cases.

Broad Designation: "Analog Games" and "Tabletop Games" are the most commonly used but whereas "Tabletop" only includes RPGs, board, and card games, "Analog" also includes LARPs and other kinds of games. Analog is probably the best best.

Sub-Sections:

• Board Game
• Card Game
• LARP
• Roleplaying Game
• RPG Supplement
• RPG Utility
• Zine

Genres/Categories:

• Campaign
• Family Friendly
• Fantasy
• GMless/GMfull (GMless is more popular but GMfull has a decent sized following)
• Horror
• Low Prep
• Micro Game
• No Prep
• One Shot
• Post Apocalypse
• Sci Fi
• Solo RPG
• Story Game/Storytelling Game
• Superheroes
• Western
• Worldbuilding Game

3rd Party Publishing:

• Cypher System
• Fate
• Forged in the Dark (FitD)
• Open Game License (OGL)
• OSR (Often "Old School Renaissance" but the acronym has basically moved past easy definition)
• Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA)
• Savage Worlds Aces: for official licensees of the Savage Worlds RPG (may not be possible due to licensing restrictions; contact Pinnacle Entertainment Group for clarification)
• Savage Worlds Adventurer's Guild (SWAG): for fan products for the Savage Worlds RPG (same potential licensing issues above apply)

Misc. Ideas

• Print Products: I don't need to sell print products on Itch but the option would be nice. Working with a 3rd party like Lulu or Lightning Source would be amazing.
• Mailing Lists: Not sure if Itch already has something like this but I'd like to be able to send an email to everyone who has purchased my products (only if they consent to receive email, of course).
• Forum/Social Media: I've saved the biggest ask for last. Google+ an oasis for thousands of people in several parts of the RPG community but it's shutting down. Alternatives (facebook, Twitter, MeWe, Discord, Slack, etc.) all have interesting opportunities but none of them are a solid replacement. Some kind of (searchable!) forum or social media space where tabletop gamers could chat (grouped by discussion) and share news, blog posts, etc. would be truly wonderful.

Thanks so much for taking this step, Leaf! It's the thing that's made me finally decide to give publishing on Itch a try. Looking forward to what you come up with!

Thanks a bunch for reaching out!

I'd say a common high level way of categorizing physical games would be:

1. Tabletop board games
2. Tabletop role playing games
3. card games
4. LARPS
5. other

 My major interest is RPGs and as  people mentioned being able to tag with by systems such a Fate, PbtA,  FitD, Gumshoe etc. would be wonderful.

Of course, many designers create their own system, so have the option of creating some sort of imprint tab for one's own system would be great, and really helpful for the consumer to find all the rule books, rule expansions, settings, adventures, zines, maps, pawns and other material that are related.  Even for indie publishers, it's not unheard of to have more than one core game, so being able to sort by line could really help people find this.

It would be useful to have some way of categorizing the type of RPG: class-based, skill based, narrative, OSR, experimental

Universal would be a helpful tag--people do write content that is not tied to a specific system.  

In addition to the genres people have mentioned, I'd add pulp and mystery as being 

Thanks again!

                                        Mark

Howdy! I started Emotional Mecha Jam.
People above have given reasonable, standard answers. I'd like to offer two other possibilities:

1) Make the tags freeform. This is one of the beauties of bandcamp.com: You can make tags for whatever. This means that you can find the big things everyone looks for (metal, rock, r&b, etc) but also that you can find intriguing and evolving microgenres as they evolve (vaporwave, pzacore, apocalyptic folk, aleatoric). I don't know if this is possible given your software, but imo would be optimal.

2) Sidestep the media-bound classification and make tags for emotional, mood, sexual, etc content in the style that Archive of Our Own (A03) and other fanfiction communities do it. When I'm looking for a game I don't care if it's a board game or a video game, I am trying to fill an emotional need. Do I need a game to make me happy? sad? jealous? Freeform tags solves this, but if your software doesn't allow for that, please expand all tagging options, across media to include this.

Everything said here has been fantastic so far. I can't echo the comments enough.

The one thing I'd add is, a player count classification would be tremendously valuable, as a way to sort physical games across the entire category. It's something that isn't always readily apparent by description or tags, and can be a key selling feature for games designed towards certain group sizes. If I'm looking for single-player or two-player games, being able to quickly enter in that information would save me a ton of time.

One minor thing perhaps, but it would be great if the representative image for the title could be the shape of a book instead of the shape of a computer monitor. As an option, I mean.

Hey Leaf, it's DC. We recently spoke in a brief email exchange. 

Everything posted here has been on point, so I want to cover a different need. 

Having our own forum is wildly important due to the departure of Google+ in the coming months. Most established designers have used it as a tool to connect to the community at large, and we've had many failed attempts at replicating a similar space sense.

The two sides of the coin are that we have a place to begin transitioning tabletop RPG community communication to, while you receive a direct line to the creator base, much like this post.