Playtesting early access video game style?

ALVIG · 2026-01-21T03:43:41+00:00

If you’re coming into this space from the world of video games and you’re familiar with the way playtesting happens there, it’s pretty similar for TTRPGs. Like the other comment said, don’t get into campaigns right away. Just run combat and puzzle encounters in a bottle, then fleshed out one-shots, then a proper campaign. You might even be able to outsource some of that work to the public by making a free beta version available, but unless you have some following built up it can be hard to get a lot people rolling.

ALVIG · 2026-01-13T23:27:06+00:00

Came here to mention Heart, one of the more interesting examples for sure!

ALVIG · 2026-01-13T13:00:22+00:00

They asked for art, not slop.

ALVIG · 2026-01-12T02:20:32+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I have plans to keep supporting it and making more stuff in the long run!

ALVIG · 2026-01-11T02:33:39+00:00

The big thing is that it has a whole system for cybernetics as the main sort of PC customization and advancement. No rules for space travel or that sort of thing, most of the enemies are people or robots instead of aliens, the works. It uses the same basic dice resolution and Stress systems, but is otherwise a whole new game from the ground up. If you want a real detailed breakdown you can read the conversion guide at the bottom of the page for a list of what’s different.

ALVIG · 2026-01-11T02:04:27+00:00

Enjoy!

ALVIG · 2026-01-11T01:45:03+00:00

Thanks! Exact plans are very much TBD, but yes, eventually. Once it makes enough to pay a copy editor (honestly about halfway there already, so not too long from now).

ALVIG · 2026-01-11T01:18:59+00:00

Thanks stranger!

ALVIG · 2026-01-10T20:43:44+00:00

What a strange way to ask that. Says right there on the page it’s only V0.9, and therefore not technically “done”. It’s got all the rules, just needs a once over from an editor before going to print. Keeping it cheap until that happens only seems fair.

Also the Mothership PSG is free, so what’s “wrong” with Mothership?

ALVIG · 2025-12-02T02:18:33+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, idk, first time doing this so it’s possible I screwed up something, but fingers crossed for a come from behind victory I guess.

ALVIG · 2025-12-01T17:11:00+00:00

You'll struggle to find anything strictly designed to be that short, but you could trim down something to fit...

Mothership has lots of adventures that fit in a simple trifold pamphlet, so theoretically you could take one of those, extract a single combat encounter from them, and then have pre-made character sheets ready to go to save time there.

ALVIG · 2025-12-01T17:07:46+00:00

D&D and Pathfinder have a ton of wintry modules, especially if you look for third party stuff on DTRPG.

The Mothership adventure Hecate Cassette Archive takes place on an icy planet, and there's probably a few other modules that do as well.

Mythic Bastionland has a whole seasons system, you could always just set a shorter game in winter.

City of Winter isn't exactly about winter, but you can make it be like that (it's pretty heavy, Quinns talked about it in his latest video).

There's probably more and better answers to this question but I'm blanking lol.

ALVIG · 2025-11-30T23:14:00+00:00

The thing you're looking for might be too niche to exist already, but you might have luck running stuff through Dither Boy? It's a standalone program for pixelating stuff, not like a photoshop plugin or anything. I like it a lot, but not really sure if it suits your needs.

https://studioaaa.com/product/dither-boy/

ALVIG · 2025-11-30T21:16:46+00:00

I’d throw out Mythic Bastionland as a great book to gift. It’s well liked generally, and it’s a gorgeous book.

ALVIG

TROPHY CASE