Learn how to make a tabletop RPG from scratch. Covers core design, writing, playtesting, and publishing your first TTRPG.

How to Make a TTRPG: A Practical Guide for New Designers

So you want to make a tabletop role-playing game.

Maybe you've been running games for years and keep hacking the rules. Maybe you have an idea that doesn't fit any existing system. Maybe you just think it would be fun.

Good news: you can absolutely do this. People make TTRPGs in a weekend. Others spend years. Both are valid. Here's how to actually get started.

Start With the Experience, Not the Mechanics

The biggest mistake new designers make is starting with dice mechanics. Don't open a spreadsheet. Open a notebook.

Ask yourself:

What stories does this game tell? Heists? Cosmic horror? Slice-of-life in a fantasy village?
How should it feel to play? Tense? Silly? Melancholy? Empowering?
Who are the players? Experienced RPG folks? Total beginners? Kids?
What makes this different from what already exists?

You don't need perfect answers. You need a direction. Everything else flows from here. If you're not sure what a TTRPG even is, we've got a quick primer on what tabletop RPGs are that might help frame your thinking.

Design Your Core Loop

Every TTRPG has a core loop. It's the thing players do over and over. In D&D, it's explore, fight, level up. In Blades in the Dark, it's plan a score, execute it, deal with the fallout.

Your core loop should reinforce your game's themes. If your game is about desperate survival, the loop should create scarcity and hard choices. If it's about community building, the loop should reward cooperation.

Try writing your core loop in one sentence: "Players do X to achieve Y, which leads to consequence Z."

If you can't summarize it, you're probably not ready to write mechanics yet.

Build Mechanics That Serve the Fiction

Now you can think about dice and numbers. But keep it simple at first. If you want a deeper dive into mechanics, check out our guide on how to design a TTRPG system.

Resolution Mechanics

You need a way to resolve uncertainty. Here are the most common approaches:

Single die vs target number (roll a d20, beat a 15). Simple, swingy.
Dice pools (roll Xd6, count successes). Granular, rewarding.
Opposed rolls (your roll vs their roll). Dramatic, interactive.
Cards or tokens. Unique feel, different tactile experience.
Diceless (narrative authority, resource spending). Fiction-first.

Pick one that matches your game's tone. Gritty survival games benefit from systems where failure is common. Power fantasy games want players to feel capable.

Characters

Decide how characters are defined:

Attributes/Stats. Broad categories like Strength, Charm, Wits.
Skills. Specific things characters can do.
Playbooks/Classes. Predefined archetypes with unique abilities.
Freeform traits. Players write their own descriptors.

Simpler is almost always better for your first game. You can add complexity later.

Write It Down (Badly)

Get your rules on paper. Don't worry about layout, art, or perfect wording. Write like you're explaining the game to a friend at the table.

A first draft should cover:

What the game is about (1-2 paragraphs)
Character creation (step by step)
Core mechanics (how to resolve actions)
GM guidance (how to run the game, if it has a GM)
A starter scenario (so people can play immediately)

That's it. You don't need a bestiary, a setting encyclopedia, or 200 pages of lore. You need enough to sit down and play.

Playtest Early and Often

Your game will be broken. That's fine. That's normal. Every game is broken at first.

Run it with friends. Run it with strangers. Run it online. Every session will reveal something you didn't anticipate.

Watch for:

Confusion. Where do players get stuck reading the rules?
Dead air. Where does the game slow down or stall?
Dominant strategies. Is one option always the best choice?
Fun. When are people leaning in? When are they checking their phones?

Take notes after every session. Not during, you'll miss the good stuff.

If you need playtesters, check out our guide on how to find playtesters for your TTRPG.

Iterate, Don't Precious

Your first idea is not sacred. Kill mechanics that don't work. Rewrite sections that confuse people. Cut content you love if it doesn't serve the game.

The best TTRPGs on the market went through dozens of revisions. Yours will too.

Each round of playtesting should focus on fewer, smaller problems. If you're still redesigning core mechanics after ten sessions, step back and re-examine your core loop.

Prepare to Publish

When the game feels solid, when playtesters are having fun and the rules make sense without you in the room, it's time to think about publishing.

Layout and Presentation

Google Docs works for early playtesting
Affinity Publisher or InDesign for professional layout
Canva for simpler, clean layouts
Homebrewery or GMBinder if you want a classic RPG look

Art

You don't need art to publish. Plenty of great games ship text-only. But if you want visuals:

Commission artists (check Twitter/X, ArtStation, Fiverr)
Use stock art from sites like DriveThruRPG's publisher resources
Use Creative Commons or public domain art

Where to Publish

Itch.io is the easiest starting point. Indie-friendly with a pay-what-you-want option.
DriveThruRPG is the largest TTRPG marketplace.
Your own website gives you full control but it's harder to get traffic.
Kickstarter/BackerKit works well for funding larger projects with print runs.

For more on this, read our guide on how to sell your TTRPG. And once you're selling, you'll want a plan for how to market your TTRPG too.

Get Your Game Discovered

The hardest part of making a TTRPG isn't the design. It's getting people to find it.

The indie TTRPG space is crowded and fragmented. Your game might be on Itch, or DriveThru, or your own site. Players are scattered across Reddit, Discord, and a dozen other platforms. Getting discovered means being visible in as many places as possible.

That's why we built TTRPG List. It's a free, searchable database of tabletop RPGs. When you submit your game, here's what you get:

A permanent listing that players can browse, search, and filter by genre, system, and type
A free backlink to your store, Itch page, or website. This helps your SEO and sends traffic directly to where people can buy or download your game
Discoverability alongside other indie games. Players come here specifically to find new TTRPGs they haven't heard of. Your game shows up next to other games in your genre, which puts it in front of the right audience
No cost, no catch. We're an indie project too. We just want to help small games get found

It takes a few minutes to submit and your listing stays up permanently. If you've put months (or years) into making a game, spending five minutes to get it listed is a no-brainer.

Just Start

The TTRPG space is one of the most welcoming creative communities out there. Nobody expects perfection from your first game. They expect heart.

So write your weird thing. Playtest it at your kitchen table. Put it on Itch for free. See what happens.

You might surprise yourself.