Make your own one-page RPG (Part 2: Exploring one-page RPGs)

A step-by-step guide to making your first one-page TTRPG

Welcome to Skeleton Code Machine, a weekly publication that explores tabletop game mechanisms. Spark your creativity as a game designer or enthusiast, and think differently about how games work. Check out Dungeon Dice and 8 Kinds of Fun to get started!

This is Part 2 of a series. Be sure to read Part 3 - Choosing a Theme next!

In Part 1 we covered how this Create and publish your own one-page TTRPG guide will take you from blank page to published TTRPG. If you missed that one, you should check it out before starting!

In this part we are exploring the various elements and types of one-page RPGs.

Available in print and PDF

Make Your Own One-Page Roleplaying Game by Exeunt Press

The Make Your Own One-Page Roleplaying Game PDF is available right now. It compiles all the posts into one volume with improved layout, expands the text in some areas, and includes a chapter about the 8 Kinds of Fun. A limited run of print copies will be available at the Exeunt Press Shop in August 2024.

What is a one-page RPG?

Whether you are a board gamer or TTRPG player, you are probably familiar with some common roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder. Those games rely on large books of lore, rules, and worldbuilding to facilitate play. Other RPGs opt for a more “rules lite” approach, like MÖRK BORG where all the core mechanisms (but not the whole game) can fit on a single page. Still others like Lady Blackbird easily fit the entire game onto just a few pages.

How far can we stretch this approach? We can distill and concentrate an RPG so that every part of it fits on a single sheet of paper!

That’s the broadest definition of a one-page RPG: It’s an RPG that fits on just one page.

Indeed, not a definition that is very helpful!

Common elements of one-page RPGs

What are some common elements of one-page RPGs? Here are a few of the most common ones:

• Concise theme and setting: There’s no room for pages of lore and backstory. Instead, short phrases and evocative language is used.

• Simple core mechanisms: It’s hard to fit complicated tactical combat rules on a single sheet of paper. If the game has mechanisms, they are short and well known.

• Reusable components: It’s hard to include custom components. You’ll use dice, cards, pencils, paper, and things people might have around the house.

• Narrative prompts: One-page games commonly rely on prompts — short phrases or words that when combined can evoke a narrative and story.

• Solo-first: While not all one-page RPGs are solo games, a good number of them are. Making a game solo can reduce the mechanical complexity and save some space vs. adding rules for a GM.

• Random tables: Roll some dice and look up the result on a table. It’s a space-efficient way to pack in a lot of combinations and information.

• One-shot friendly: Some one-page RPGs can be played as a campaign, but many are made for a single session.

With endless variations you’ll be able to find one-page RPGs that have all, some, or none of the elements above. The list is not a definition. It’s a list of common elements that can be useful when designing your game.

Types of one-page RPGs

If we take those elements and combine them in various ways, what kind of game can we make? Here are a few examples:

• Traditional roleplaying: Players assume roles and a Game Master (GM) acts as mediator and arbiter of the rules. Other times there is no GM, and the game provides prompts, random tables, or other methods so the players can know what happens next. Example: Lasers & Feelings

• Solo journaling: The player controls a character (usually) and the game provides prompts or scenarios to which they react. They write down what they say and do in a notebook as one would keep a journal. Can be similar to a creative writing exercise. Example: The Last Tea Shop

• Drawing game: The player or players draw and sketch as a core mechanism of the game — sketching weird plants or monsters. This type of game can generate fun artifacts of play when done. Example: Exclusion Zone Botanist

• Collaborative storytelling: While the game might ostensibly have a goal, the purpose and real fun is how the game facilitates group storytelling. Might include some social deduction elements. This can also include worldbuilding games that aren’t focused on a map. Example: Murder at Morsley Manner

• Tactical combat: Swinging swords and shooting lasers, these games are focused on combat. Usually have a defined core game loop. Example: Micro Souls

• Exploration / Map Making: Some are similar to drawing games with freeform maps, while others provide a hex grid. Focus is on worldbuilding, exploring the unknown, and ending up with a map that can sometimes be used in other games. Example: Dave’s Tiny Galaxies

• Worldbuilding: This type can be a mix of collaborative storytelling, exploration, and map making. The focus is on creating a new, living world usually with factions and a history. Example: Grasping Nettles

• Mechanical game: Less focused on narrative and usually includes an explicit core game loop with victory conditions, playing in the interesting space between board games and roleplaying games. Example: TOPOG: A Dice & Hike Game

None of these are strict definitions, and most games probably combine two or more of the ones listed. There are countless other types of RPGs as well, especially when you start subdividing the ones above. For example, some of Spencer Campbell’s games are tactical combat plus resource management, and yet also an RPG.

Any type of RPG you can imagine can be made into a one-page game. The best games blend and play with types and genres. Some games push that limit so far they might not even include playable rules.

How to find one-page RPGs

One-page RPGs aren’t as common as the big-book RPGs on the shelves of your friendly local game store (FLGS), but there are countless ones out there. Here are some places to look:

• itch.io: This is probably the best place to find one-page RPGs. You can search by tag or view submissions to the previous One-Page RPG Jams.

• Reddit: More discussion of the topic than posting of completed games, but r/onepagerpgs is helpful if you want to learn more and find some new games.

• Discord: The One-Page RPG Jam Discord has discussions about all things one-page RPG. Great resource if you are joining the jam.

📝 Exercises

Each part of this Create and publish your own one-page RPG series includes something to read/watch and something to make/try. Here’s your assignment:

1. Check out Honey Heist by Grant Howitt.

2. Check out the one-page, trifold edition of Eleventh Beast by Exeunt Press.

3. Choose three (3) of the 2023 One-Page RPG Jam submissions that look interesting.

4. For each of the three jam submissions, answer the following:

   1. Which common elements of one-page RPGs does it have?

   2. What type of one-page RPG is it?

   3. What kind of fun is it trying to evoke in its players?

5. Choose which type of one-page RPG you’d like to make (or roll a d8 on the list).

6. Make a list of which common elements you’d expect your RPG to have.

Today we are just getting ideas for the type of game you’d like to make. In tomorrow’s post you’ll choose a theme!

— E.P. 💀

P.S. Get this series as a single PDF in Make Your Own One-Page Roleplaying Game by Exeunt Press. Available now.

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