Make your own one-page RPG (Part 1: Introduction)
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 1 of a series. Be sure to read Part 2 - Exploring one-page TTRPGs next!
One-page TTRPGs are a relatively easy way to try out game design. In fact one of my first attempts at a one-page game, Exclusion Zone Botanist ended up receiving an ENNIE nomination with over 20k downloads at last check. It has since been updated with improved layout and additional art in the zine edition.
With the 2024 One-Page RPG Jam now open, I wanted to share what I’ve learned.
This week, Skeleton Code Machine will be publishing a six part series on how to create and publish your own one-page TTRPG, with one part going up each day.
Available in print and PDF
Want this guide in a complete edition? Make Your Own One-Page Roleplaying Game is available now in print at the Exeunt Press Shop and PDF at itch.io. Written by the creator of the ENNIE nominated Exclusion Zone Botanist, this Skeleton Code Machine guide takes you through every step of the process from initial concept to publication. It offers practical advice and examples you can use.
From concept to publication
This series will start with a blank sheet of paper (or screen) and end with your game ready to publish online. It’s a lot to cover, so it will be broken into six parts:
Introduction: This is what you are reading right now — an explanation of how the guide works and what each section will cover.
Exploring one-page TTRPGs: What kind of game do you want to make? Review some notable one-page games and explore some common elements.
Choosing a theme: Coming up with an idea is fun, but sometimes you can get stuck. Some ways to brainstorm ideas and develop a broad concept for your game.
Selecting mechanisms: Learn how to leverage existing TTRPGs and system reference documents (SRDs) to quickly develop rules and mechanisms.
Writing, layout, and design: Your game’s art and design are the first things your potential players will see (Layer 2). It sets the mood for the game and communicates what kind of game it will be. Learn where to get art and tips for design that will look good on both screens and in print.
Publishing: If you make a one-page TTRPG, you’ll want to share it with others. Learn how to get your game published online and in print.
Depending on when you read this, you can submit your new game to the annual One-Page RPG Jam held each summer!
Consume and create
When I taught the game design class at my local library, I ended each class with a Consume & Create exercise. It’s an idea stolen from Start With This podcast:
Consume: Something to read, watch, listen to, or otherwise consume to learn more and get some inspiration.
Create: Something to do, make, and try using what you’ve learned.
The people in the class really enjoyed this method, and felt that it gave them enough structure while also letting them make their own things.
Each part of this series will end with some exercises that are a mixture of consuming and creating.
Share your work
“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
It’s really exciting to create something new! Making a new game, regardless if it is good, bad, complex, or simple is a wonderful activity. Show it off!
Submit your game to one of the many game jams. Sell it at a local zine fest. Hand out free copies at a convention. Post it on social media. Share it on Discord. Talk to your FLGS and see if they want to carry it!
You can also share your game with Skeleton Code Machine! Submit your game and it might be featured in a future article!
Crude, amateur, and small
I noticed a passage in The Complete Book of Wargames (1980) that inspired me:
From this sprang other lines of communication among hobbyists. Taking a cue from the world of science-fiction fandom, gamers began publishing “fanzines” or “zines” — amateur magazines or newsletters characterized by crude reproduction, small circulation, negligible editorial standards, and short lifespans. Home-brewed games of similar quality followed.
While it is unlikely the editors of the book meant that as a compliment, that’s how I read it. In that paragraph I see excited and enthusiastic gamers making things and creating because they can! What’s better than that?
We need more “amateur” games with “crude reproduction” and “small circulation”, not less. Make stuff not because it is perfect and slickly made. Make stuff because it’s fun, and engaging, and because you can.
I hope this series inspires you to create your own one-page TTRPG.
Continue to Part 2 or get the entire guide in print at the Exeunt Press Shop. Also available as a PDF at itch.io.
— E.P. 💀
P.S. Check out the trifold versions of Exclusion Zone Botanist and Eleventh Beast to see one-page RPGs from Exeunt Press.
Skeleton Code Machine is a production of Exeunt Press. All previous posts are in the Archive on the web. If you want to see what else is happening at Exeunt Press, check out the Exeunt Omnes newsletter.
I find one page RPGs a unique challenge. I struggle with brevity (anyone who reads my newsletters will know). My first ever game was meant to be one page and ended up a dozen!
Looking forward to these tips!
This is exactly the kind of manifesto I didn’t know I needed. That quote from The Complete Book of Wargames reads like an unintentional love letter to zine culture — and your reframing of “crude, amateur, and small” as a strength made me grin. There’s something magic about the constraint of a one-page RPG—it forces clarity, tone, and creative risks you might otherwise polish away.
I’m especially curious about one-page RPGs designed for use in the wild—museums, art stores, bookstores, even nature walks. Something light, poetic, maybe map-based. Almost like a playable field journal or a social ritual. If anyone’s played with that format, I’d love to see what came out of it.
And the “Consume & Create” framework? Might steal that for my next writing group.
Subscribed instantly. Already plotting a trifold of my own.