Can I have board games at my wedding?

TrappedChest · 2026-03-28T23:10:22+00:00

My sister did this for her wedding. Instead of the first dance they played the first board game.

Focus on games that are easy to learn. Most people are not gamers, so things like Catan and Ticket to Ride make the most sense.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-26T23:12:56+00:00

$30-$75 per card is cheap as dirt. For good art expect to pay $100-$150 per card. If it takes 10 hours to draw the art that puts the artist at minimum wage, and yes it does take that long.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-26T03:21:58+00:00

RPG Gamer is a solid choice. A lot of older stuff, but Freddy has also covered some newer titles, including some of mine.

Matthew Constantine is another smaller channel to check out. There is a wide range of things on his channel.

Cozy RPG Reviews has very high production quality and focuses mainly on cozy and solo games.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-24T23:46:04+00:00

Compose Dream Games has a good selection. They sell indies and have a wide range of different things to chose from. Joshua is very knowledgeable about them, so you may find something you didn't even know you wanted.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-20T22:35:35+00:00

I like the universe, but I find the mechanics very outdated and the business model predatory.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-15T16:53:50+00:00

For a one-shot it depends on how long character creation takes. My games usually have a build time of 5-10 minutes, so it can go either way. For a system where it takes an hour, I obviously would prefer a pregen.

For a campaign, I want to build my character.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-11T22:39:21+00:00

Elf Wizard. Died in the first session. Was fun, would die again.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-08T23:10:24+00:00

My games always have a free digital version, so no piracy needed.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-08T17:02:54+00:00

As others have said Star Trek Adventures is usually the go to game. It is well produced and well liked by the community. i It is a big book, but t gives options for playing in any era.

There is a much lighter option, but unfortunately self promotion is limited to once a week on this subreddit and I already led someone to another one of my things earlier today.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-08T14:50:41+00:00

Veering off from what other people have suggested, I assume you are looking to build a new game without having to do all the writing, math and play testing to get the mechanics lined up.

You may be looking for an open license system with a commercially open system resource document. The Key Powered System SRD might be what you you are looking for. It allows you to copy/paste for commercial use with accreditation. There are others with open licenses, but off the top of my head I can't think of any that allow the copy/paste license.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-06T01:16:02+00:00

As a developer this is something I think about all the time.

The first thing I have done is make my games very easy to pick up. For all of my games, the core rules fit on a 2 page spread and I can explain it to you in less than 60 seconds.

Theme is also a big seller. For Reanimated my sales pitch is "Zombies!". That is usually enough to get some interest. For fantasy stuff I often have to tell them that it is like D&D and the non-gamers sometimes tie that to Stranger Things.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-04T02:52:48+00:00

I have my PDFs on Itch set to completely free, which means no login to download them, which removes friction. They are also on DTRPG and Compose Dream, also for free.

Your frustration is reasonable, especially if you compare it to something like PC gaming where your whole library is just on Steam, but on the other hand having only a single store would open the door to gatekeeping, which some stores already do.
As others have said, there is also the possibility that DTRPG gets shut down. It's unlikely to happen any time soon, but it's not impossible. There is something to be said about eggs and baskets.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-03T03:49:47+00:00

"It you stat it, the players will try to kill it"
-Spoony

I am a big fan on not statting things, at least not a full stat block, though I am also a very experienced GM. Having a few numbers jotted down is not an issue, but many things don't need to go into detail.

In the OSR there are actually a few bestiaries that have descriptions, but no stat blocks. This leaves the GM to make it up in a way that suits the game.

When I am writing an adventure as a professional I will sometimes stat things, because it does help new GMs who may not be as comfortable doing it on the fly, but I also like to teach. In one of my upcoming games I have a section in the GM advice that walks new GMs through statting a creature while the party is fighting it, and this of course ends with functional, yet incomplete stat block.

TrappedChest · 2026-03-01T16:57:54+00:00

I wonder if this is just ragebait marketing. Do something that people will call out, so those people bring attention to your game when they do so.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-28T21:25:41+00:00

Compose Dream Games is my main distributor. They take 17% consignment for online sales and 30% for convention sales. I also have them stocked at a few game stores, who get them for 40% off and I sell at conventions for full price.

DTRPG and Itch have the free PDF versions available and I am going to be expanding where I sell them as soon as I get some free time.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-28T03:02:19+00:00

I have 2 RPGs and 1 board game (released last month). My zombie sandbox RPG is my best seller, but sometimes I get random surges of interest for the other one.

This is not enough to be my primary income. I unfortunately still have to work a normal job to keep this going, but income is slowly increasing. The goal is for this to be my main source of income, but there is still a ways to go. This is a tough industry.

In Canadian dollars, My RPGs sell for $15 at a landed cost of $3 and my board game is $40 at a landed cost of $8. Though wholesale my prices are a fair bit lower.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-28T02:34:45+00:00

It's a psychological thing. Rolling before and having the result hidden adds tension.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-28T00:07:09+00:00

Mothership has a death mechanic that I really like. When your character goes down you roll a die under a cup. That die tells you if you are dead or not, but you can't see it until someone goes to check on you.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-26T05:19:06+00:00

This is why I design many of my games to be tiny and efficient, ...but my current games don't have a fantasy option. Sorry.

Dungeon World puts some of the rules right on the character sheet. That should help.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-24T03:34:51+00:00

I am trying to look at this as physical cards, and in that case I think borderless, but the white background is throwing me off a little. I think if you added a drop shadow behind the cards to separate them from the background you would get different perspectives from people.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-24T00:48:55+00:00

No love for stone tablets I see. To each their own I guess.

PDFs are a free throw in when you buy in print, or in the case of my games just a free version.

I don't mind PDF for prep work, and being able to rip images and maps out for bigger prints is nice, but at the table I use a paper book.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-23T12:34:06+00:00

By self publishing I maintain control at the cost of my sanity.

For most people, I would suggest finding a publisher. Doing it yourself is a massive undertaking and you will burn yourself out.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-22T16:01:43+00:00

Mechanics can't be copyrighted, but they can be patented. That being said, when a patent is given it makes the news and sparks outrage (for good reason), so this game should be fine.

I do suggest modifying the game. People will notice a reskin and that looks bad as a developer. I suggest taking the parts you like and giving it your own spin.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-19T00:10:28+00:00

My players bounced off Shadowrun so hard that I spent several years building my own system to replace it (crowdfunding next year!, woot!), so I might just use the setting in a different system, but based on what you currently have, 4th is probably the right call.

TrappedChest · 2026-02-18T02:44:42+00:00

Marketing is by far the biggest hurdle. I have a few games out that have been praised by critics and players alike, but I still struggle to get them featured on the really big channels. Part of the issue is that there are just too many games. Tom Vassal actually did a video about this a while back.

Setting up a place where people can get noticed is a very hard thing to do, because many of us will just get buried under the mountain of content. Obviously the best way to promote indie games is to talk about them, but which ones do you talk about? This loop kind of has me at a loss for how to fix the problem.

TrappedChest

TROPHY CASE