r/RPGdesign rules, stats, and what to post

This is a gathering place for anyone, casual or professional, who designs, hacks, or otherwise works on the mechanics of pen and paper tabletop roleplaying games. The people here are game designers, homebrew hackers, and creators building their own systems. They talk about mechanics, design choices, and how to make tabletop games better. If your product or project serves people who make tabletop roleplaying games, this is your room. If you just want to sell something to roleplayers in general, this is not the room for that.

Four rules decide whether a marketing adjacent post survives here. “Civility” bans personal attacks against anyone or their work, gatekeeping, and condescending behavior, so never trash a competing game or a commenter. “Helpfulness” requires critique and criticism to be constructive, which shapes how you respond to others and how you frame your own work. “Crowdfunding” is the big one for founders, because crowdfunding posts are limited to projects listed in the Project Index and require prior moderator approval. “AI/LLM” bans obviously AI generated posts and comments, so write everything yourself in your own voice. “Legality” matters too, since you cannot link to or encourage plagiarism or piracy.

A good post here is a genuine contribution to tabletop game design. Share a design problem you are wrestling with, a mechanic you prototyped and what you learned from playtesting, or a question about how to structure a rule. If you have a tool, a newsletter, or a service for game designers, the honest path is to participate first, answer design questions with real substance, and only mention your project where it genuinely helps. If you want to crowdfund, get your project into the Project Index and ask the moderators for approval before you post anything. Write every post and comment yourself, in plain human words, because AI generated content gets removed.

Do not post a crowdfunding campaign without prior moderator approval, and do not post one unless your project is listed in the Project Index. Do not post or comment with AI generated text, because the AI/LLM rule removes obviously generated content. Do not link to anything that encourages plagiarism or piracy. Do not attack people or their work, do not gatekeep, and do not be aggressive or condescending. Keep any critique constructive, whether you are giving it or inviting it.

The AI/LLM rule caught my eye, because it means a polished post written by a chatbot is a removal risk here, so write every word yourself. I also like that crowdfunding is not banned outright, it just has a gate, which tells me the moderators want real projects from real members. With no observed top posts to learn from, I would start by answering other designers questions before sharing anything of my own.