One-Page RPG Jam 2024!
A community-building game design challenge!
For the last five years, the One-Page RPG Jam has been bringing together a community of game designers to make tabletop role-playing games that can fit on a single page.
Why a single page?
Because they are fun, fast, and easy to learn. They have everything you need to play (aside from dice!) and they leave a lot of space for your imagination to fill in the gaps and have a good time with your friends.
It’s no secret that the TTRPG market is dominated by big names with high production value and multi-hundred page rulebooks. But more rules do not necessarily equate to more fun! To quote the One-Page RPG Jam event,
“Restriction breeds creativity, the only limit is the imagination of the designers and the players.”For some, designing games is the best way to bring their dreams and artistic visions to life. Role-playing games, in particular, are quite good at evoking tones, feelings, and aesthetics in the art of storytelling, without the rigid boundaries of a specific narrative as told in a novel, for example.
Role-playing games provide a unique sandbox with a bespoke set of tools that give you a framework. When done well, they help you shape a certain kind of story without imposing restrictive limitations on the stories you tell.
Plus, they are incredibly fun. A great way to spend time with your friends with collaborative storytelling, structured imagination, and endless shenanigans for all!
I’ve been designing my own TTRPGs since… *checks Google Drive* 2013? Really? Damn. That’s a long time for not having published anything!
But that’s why I’ve joined the One-Page RPG Jam!
I’ll be posting developer’s logs here on Storm’s Eye as I craft these games, so you can follow along with my process. Feel free to offer suggestions and feedback!
My intention is, first and foremost, to have fun, but also to get some real experience formatting and publishing a game, and to show off my skills as a designer. I plan to publish more games in the future, so I want to be a part of the community, too.
For me, the greatest challenge, I think, will be to keep the word count low! And to create some decent art for an aesthetically pleasing layout.
To me, it seems the key ingredient of a One-Page RPG is the vibe. The setting, aesthetic, mechanics and general feeling of the game all contribute to a factor of uniqueness that really makes a one-page RPG stand out among the crowd. The vibe is what draws people in and makes them want to play your game!
So my primary game for this jam will be…
Scum City Power-Washers
A game of dystopian sci-fi, super-sentai, teen drama in which players will take on the role of Power Washers, who don super hazmat suits with military-grade sanitation equipment to cleanse the Metropolis of toxic waste-born monstrosities, and the corrupt corporatocracy that created them. Meanwhile, they will have to avoid mutations and corporate suspicion, manage their social lives, and get good grades in school to uphold their secret identities and keep their loved ones safe.
Will they be able to clean up the city? Or will they succumb to the filth?
You’ll find out in the One-Page RPG Jam! - #1pRPGjam
The Jam starts in just 4 days, on July 21st, and goes until August 25th.
So you have a bit more than a month to make your game!
The optional theme for this game jam will be revealed when the Jam officially begins.
You can follow my games at the Storm's Eye Itch page
Or right here on the Storm’s Eye Substack!