Wrestling with your NaGaDeMons

You need to make a roleplaying game.

Not sell a game, not become a TTRPG publisher, not create an SRD and build a website. Just…make a roleplaying game. This is the part of the newsletter where you ask me, in your head, “Why, Quinn?”

This is the part where I praise the gods of writing for these rhetorical devices because I’ve got a response:

Make a roleplaying game because you were born to.

I’ve talked before about the essential humanity of TTRPGs. The connection and expression they allow is unlike anything that we do. As generative AI looms large over the entirety of human artistic endeavor, it’s instinctual to feel overwhelmed. Hopelessness and despair wait on the other side of the door, knocking loudly.

But the way out is through; we must open the door. My sincere belief (destined to make me a footnote or a prophet) is this: the sea of slop being generated by AI will elevate human expression instead of extinguishing it.

That sea feels endless, and navigating it will take time, but I feel that the polished and soul-barren nature of AI makes it easier to distinguish human work. It’s not 100% and it’s definitely possible to be fooled, but in general AI art has no value because it is not trying to communicate or express anything; the “generative part” of generative AI is the aspect that means the least in art.

But what I’m talking about is more than the end-product. The true value of art is in what we derive from it. The process of consuming and producing art is what gives it meaning and value to us. Society offers many channels for consumption, which in turn places a burden of professionalism on our attempts to produce art. Don’t write a book unless you’re going to be the next N.K. Jemisin. Don’t make a game unless you’re the next Mike Pondsmith.

This thinking tethers production to consumption. It sets us adrift in the sea of slop. I’m not a professional, so I might as well not bother.

My friend, you are not flotsam drifting aimless in a sea of slop; you are an island of innovation. You are made of stories and tall tales, your soil is curiosity and joy and sorrow. New worlds and thoughts grow in that soil. When you build a TTRPG, you offer that bounty to the world.

Whether anyone consumes it or pays for it, your birthright as a singular, one-of-one living soul is the act of expression. It’s not what anyone extracts from your work that makes it worthwhile. The value is the process which you must undergo to create that expression.

Is this the longest way possible to say “I think you should do National Game Design Month (NagaDeMon) this year?” Probably.

If my words resonate with you: Please join the jam.

Join the community.

Get inspired. Inspire others.

Make something simple.

Make art.

This topic up-ended my regular newsletter, so I’ll have something for you next week.

We have an official Thoughtcrime Games discord: “Imagination is For Everyone” 

Say hi!

If you join the NagaDemon discord, I’ll be on their as gamefiend and the channel for my game is it-wants-blood.

I hope to see you there.