Run a #TTRPG for 100+ players at once with Crowdplay
May 13, 2024
What’s the ideal number of players for a TTRPG game? Five or six? What about dozens? Or hundreds?
What if you wanted to run a Dungeons and Dragons 5e game for hundreds of players, most of whom have never played a TTRPG, all at the same time?Introducing Crowdplay, a solution that allows presenters to run immersive encounters for dozens or even hundreds simultaneously!
What is Crowdplay?
Crowdplay is simplified, streamlined system for teaching D&D 5e basics through shared narrative encounters. A presenter explains the game and uses “Table GMs” to facilitate the encounter. A Table GM needs no experience with Dungeons & Dragons or other tabletop roleplaying games. The Crowdplay system uses simplified rules that anyone can use without experience.
Key features:
Designed for large groups of any experience level
Focuses on core TTRPG mechanics: Ability Checks, Initiative, Advantage/Disadvantage, and, for some extra fun, critical successes and failures!
Built on 5e to prepare players for full 5e play
Demonstrates that experience is not necessary to have fun as a Dungeon Master
Can be used in-person, online, or both at the same time
It’s free to download and use
Teach TTRPGs Anywhere!
We designed Crowdplay to answer the question, “What is Dungeons & Dragons?” through a fun interactive demonstration. We tested it at a non-gamer event with 100 players, including 6–8 attending via Zoom. 5–6 total attendees had ever played a TTRPG before, and we updated the design based on that test.
We designed the final product to be usable in nearly any setting, such as:
Business Conferences
Family Reunions
Motivational Speaker events
Classrooms
Neighborhood Barbecues
Gaming Conventions
Tween Birthday Parties and Slumber Parties
Church Youth and/or Family Events
Those times when a horde of kobolds invade your home looking for entertainment (As we’ve all experienced!)
A Little Problem: Examine the Kit
This all-in-one resource includes all of the files you need to run a Crowdplay game:
Presenter’s guide PDF with tips for facilitating Crowdplay sessions.
PowerPoint presentation file to visually set up the narrative and mechanics.
Pregenerated character sheets representing a wide range of diverse heroes to demonstrate the limitless character possibilities that tabletop games offer
Comprehensive Table GM guide for coordinating the encounter in person and across multiple “virtual tables” using apps like Zoom, with insider info on enemies, adjudicating ability checks, initiative chart, encounter management chart, and more.
An escort mission with an encounter facing hostile goblins, including multiple possibilities for success.
AI chatbots are immensely popular tools, and many have speculated about how to use them to improve D&D and other TTRPG games. Here’s a list of prompts that you can use to improve your game.
Add Variety to Your Game
Give me some recommendations for great D&D 5e books and resources from third party publishers
If you ask a chatbot for these resources directly, it can create suggested resources from adventures to stat blocks, but because AI uses an average of everything, you’ll only get average results. It can be helpful to get you past Blank Page Syndrome (AKA Writers Block), but everything gets repetitive quickly, and don’t expect any ideas that will blow away your players.
But by suggesting products made by actual design professionals, it might show you some of the more popular books by creative designers who know and love the game and have invested themselves in making your game better. Or you can check out the most popular titles at the DMs Guild.
It will hallucinate though, suggesting books that don’t exist, so you’re probably better off asking people about their favorite resources or going to the suggested companies’ websites.
Give me a list of D&D 5e blogs that give Dungeon Masters great advice, and give me directions how to subscribe to them
Because you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s hard to get general advice from a chatbot that’s helpful beyond the most generic suggestions. But thankfully, the hobby boasts many amazing blogs full of great tips that will answer questions you didn’t know you had and give you tips you’d never think to ask for. Or you can follow the RPG Blogroll to get a steady feed of insights and suggestions from people who know the game and write from extensive experience.
Get Feedback to Improve Your Ideas
Give me a list of online communities where Dungeon Masters give each other advice
While you could feed your latest adventure idea into a chatbot and ask for feedback, even minimal experience playing the game as a human will give you more insight than a chatbot. The problem is that chatbots don’t have insights. A black pudding has more insight than a chatbot.
Instead, find online places with other players and GMs. All of the major social media platforms have them. Personally, to avoid chasing algorithms, I prefer oldschool forums like EN World.
Give me a few questions I can ask my players to make sure they’re all enjoying the D&D 5e game that I’m running as Dungeon Master
You can’t ask a chatbot what your players value most in a game. It has no values. You have to ask the players. But a few pointed questions can be helpful.
Impress your players with amazing art for your encounters
Give me a list of sources to find low cost or public domain non-AI fantasy artwork that would work for my D&D game
Instead of exploiting talented artists by using their work without their permission, find some interesting art & use that for inspiration. It’s the reverse of how most DMs design their encounters, but perusing the Smithsonian collection, Wikimedia Commons, or other sources can give you many adventure, monster, or treasure ideas. Sadly, most public stock art sites have become nearly useless as they’ve been flooded with AI images. If you’re looking for something specific, DriveThruRPG is the only fantasy art site I know of that forbids AI images to be added as stock art (although they still allow it to be used in other products with a content flag and haven’t removed the hundreds of AI-generated images currently in their library), support actual artists so they can keep creating original pieces by purchasing stock art from DriveThruRPG.
Notice the Pattern?
OK, this article is a but tongue-in-cheek, but I hope you recognize the point. What makes tabletop roleplaying games great is the people. For all the amazement over AI tools, human creativity can ponder an idea, consider it, and imagine it. AI takes a Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder of words and mindlessly puts them into a mold, the opposite of what makes analog games so great.
Talk to people — local and online communities. Support creators, both the homebrew community and professional designers and artists. Get advice from people who care about their players and want everyone at your table to have a great time.
We explore the connections between language, masculinity, and tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) experiences with sociologist Dr. Steven Dashiell. He studies language in male-dominated spaces like gaming conventions.
We discuss how language use, rules lawyering, gamesplaining, and off-topic conversations (metadiscourse) at gaming tables can create barriers. These reinforce masculine norms and potentially alienate players from underrepresented groups. Dr. Dashiell shares research on gendered speech patterns, the historical invisibility of women TTRPG players, and the challenges that women face asserting themselves without seeming overly aggressive.
The conversation also covers the benefits of increased gender diversity in TTRPGs. Dr. Dashiell explains how bringing your authentic self enriches the gaming experience for all. He offers insights for designers to create more welcoming, inclusive spaces.
Whether new or experienced with TTRPGs, this episode provides a valuable perspective on building a more equitable gaming culture.
00:00 Welcome and intro 00:21 Accessible character sheet for print & reading disabilities 00:56 Ready-to-Roll: Fairweather Friends D&D adventure Kickstarter 01:29 Interview with Dr. Steven Dashiell sociology of language 04:57 Gender representation in TTRPG spaces 06:24 Metadiscourse and inside references 07:21 Masculine language and behavior in gaming 08:18 Rules lawyering and excluding players 12:14 Gamesplaining 14:51 Historical gender erasure of women gamers 16:12 Benefits of diversity in tabletop RPGs 18:26 Murderhobo 25:08 Charisma in D&D and its effect on inclusion 28:36 Male dominance in D&D 31:33 Bringing your authentic self to gaming table 41:40 Designing more inclusive TTRPGs 50:32 Gendered guilt when missing game sessions 52:01 Jerks and toxic behavior study 57:31 Support Inclusive Gaming
Gaining Advantage 36: A Game-Changing Education Revolution
May 13, 2024
In this thought-provoking episode, Dale sits down with Dr. Dave Eng, an expert in using board games for educational purposes. Dr. Eng shares his groundbreaking insights on how tabletop games can revolutionize the learning experience. From cooperative classics like Pandemic to the innovative “Matrix Games” that leverage words over numbers, this episode dives into the benefits of interactive gameplay in classrooms. Discover how board games can foster critical thinking, teamwork, and experiential learning in ways traditional lectures cannot. Learn about Dr. Eng’s inspiring work and his mission to bring gaming literacy to educators worldwide.
Plus, Dale reveals Wyrmworks Publishing’s pioneering effort to introduce the first-ever braille ruleset for tabletop RPGs, making the hobby more accessible than ever before.
0:00 Introducing Braille to the TTRPG hobby
06:49 Interview: Dave Eng, EdD on gamifying education
Throughout its entire history, what monster has wiped out more parties than any other, through every edition?
Nothing can TPK an adventuring party before it even sets out like the dreaded Schedule! (Mwah-hah-hah…yeah, I know. It’s so deadly, it’s not even funny.) Trying to coordinate 4–6 schedules and find a time that works for everyone consistently is a feat that few with outside responsibilities ever gain.
And even when you can set something up, what do you do when three players have to cancel at the last minute?
Imagine a magic item so powerful that it can give you advantage against such a powerful foe! Introducing…
This adventure has 1 charge. While carrying it, you can expend the charge as an action to start an adventure with the 1 or 2 players who could still make it. The adventure regains its charge every time you’re with a different player.
That’s right — a one-shot adventure for a DM and 1–2 players that’s designed to require no prep. You can carry it on your phone, as a pamphlet, or as a card deck in your pocket, ready to play for characters of level 1–4! The adventure includes quick reference tools to help the DM keep track of NPCs and other details. And you can get the whole adventure for only $1!
The First in a Series
The first Ready-to-Roll Adventure, Feyweather Friends, launches on Kickstarter this spring. Mix an invasion of new aberrant Far Realm nasties with fey creatures, and you’re sure to have a great time instead of calling it off and going home!
And of course, like all of our work, this adventure is designed for inclusivity.
At Wyrmworks Publishing, our mission is to help you make lives better through tabletop roleplaying games. That mission inherently depends on you — we can’t do this ourselves. We — our team, our patrons, and our subscribers — the Dragon’s Hoard — worked together as a party of thousands of heroes to make lives better last year.
Here’s what we did together in a year (in roughly chronological order):
We released Limitless Heroics – Including Characters with Disabilities, Mental Illness, and Neurodivergence in Fifth Edition, the most comprehensive disability compendium ever created for a tabletop roleplaying game. Thousands of gaming groups, including both home groups and professionals like therapists, schools, specialized education programs, support groups, and a children’s theater have added this and other Wyrmworks Publishing resources to their game spaces to make them more inclusive.
Multiple libraries and game cafes have made Limitless Heroics available thanks to purchasing it themselves or through your donations. I get frequent notes from those who have added it to their game space. We love hearing about the impact it’s having!
Changing the TTRPG Industry
We were the only public voicespeaking to the effect of the OGL debacle on accessibility (that I could find, and I looked). In the short time Hasbro posted its final OGL survey, that page got 27,000 visitors. I hope that some of the readers who subsequently filled out the survey form, including the hundreds who clicked through to the survey from that page, included those accessibility insights in their responses. And I hope that it in some small way added to the influence of so many others who fought for our community. More than that, I hope that it raised representation and accessibility awareness at Hasbro for future designs across their product lines. We’ll never know whether they heard us, but we’ll keep talking about it regardless.
Disability in the Afterlife In 1 Corinthians 15:42-49, Paul briefly ponders what bodies will look like when we awaken in the spiritual realm, saying “there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another.” Basically, no one knows what our bodies will look like in the world to come, but it is reasonable to assume they will be an “idealized version of ourselves,” whatever that means to the individual. For many people, this likely means an end to their physical and mental disabilities. However, our minds and bodies have a way of shaping our identity – our sense of who we are. For example, one person may feel that their reliance on a prosthetic is a hindrance, another person may feel that their prosthetic is an extension of their own body, and an integral part of their physical identity. As a result, the diversity of human bodies in the afterlife is likely to be diverse as it is in the Physical Realm, with some people choosing to be freed from aspects of their physical form that they did not like, and others choosing to embrace their disability as an eternal part of who they are. This is why some people (like Rodney or Rodriguez) may appear in this adventure with a disability, even though they have already entered the afterlife.
– Heroes of the Heavenly Host, p. 41
We crowdfunded Inclusive Artwork: Fantasy Stock Art with Disability Representation for TTRPGs, the first and largest collection of fantasy stock art ever produced. When TTRPG publishers want to include disability representation in their products, the lack of available stock art to accompany it makes that cost-prohibitive, since commissioning quality art is expensive if you’re going to pay the artists fairly.
We wanted to remove that obstacle while supporting disabled, neurodivergent, and mentally ill artists.
Limitless Champions: Making Disabled Fantasy Heroes a Physical Reality
We crowdfunded Limitless Champions. We created the largest, most diverse collection of disabled fantasy minis ever made. Like stock art, very few miniatures include disability representation, and those available are mostly limited to representation through wheelchairs and canes. We expanded that range significantly, including miniatures and printable STL files, cards, accessible condition markers, and more. If you missed the campaign, you can find the collection in our shop.
We also licensed Limitless Champions characters to Fiona Shade Stories’ Adventure College Student Handbook to help make zir products more inclusive. One of those characters was featured in a recent Actual Play. If you’re interested in using our characters or other content, check out our HAG License or contact us.
In 2024, we will crowdfund Limitless Champions Adventures, a collection of adventures featuring these NPCs. To supplement those adventures, we created Limitless Champions Adventures Bonus Encounters with STLs and animated maps. They were each available free for a week or more, and they’re currently available through our Patreon.
Interviews
I love meeting the amazing people using TTRPGs to make lives better on our Gaining Advantage show. (We posted 11 episodes last year.) I also had the honor of being interviewed last year (including here a few from late 2022):
We want to make our resources available to everyone, but poverty prevents a lot of people from accessing many TTRPG resources. So to allow us to both pay our team and make our content as available as possible, we include full previews of our content on the product pages in our store. But that preview isn’t accessible or convenient for many people, so we also partner with you to make Community Copies of some of our products available. Thanks to individual Community Copy purchases, crowdfunding add-ons, and Patreon rewards, you helped us make the following free copies available:
We launched the Dragon’s Lair, a modular database of all of our publications, maps, and lots of exclusive content. It is the most affordable, accessible way to use our content. As of this writing, it has 1,704 entries.
We also launched the Wyrm’s Workshop, an opportunity for you to get your ideas published in our books! This also gave us the opportunity to hire more disabled, neurodivergent, and mentally ill freelancers. And because it costs money to pay those freelancers fairly, we developed a credits system via our Patreon to enable those without the financial means to contribute their ideas to the Wyrm’s Workshop.
And we emailed 49 notes of encouragement to the Dragon’s Hoard. (A big thanks to those of you who expressed your appreciation for the encouragement. That becomes ammunition to fight my inner critic.)
I’ve also had conversations with other publishers and content creators almost every day about accessibility and representation in their products.
What’s coming in 2024?
Here’s a sampling of what we’re already working on
We have at least two, hopefully three Kickstarters coming in 2024. The first two are currently in the playtesting and editing stages:
Leave a comment below or on any of our products or posts.
Send us a note to share how our work has made a difference to you or people you care about.
Finally, a heartfelt thank-you. When we started this, we wondered whether anyone would agree with our intentions and resonate with our work. We wondered whether this ridiculous idea of changing the world by rolling dice and pretending together could change lives and make the world better. Hundreds of people told me it wouldn’t work, and that I should quit before I started.
And the truth is, it couldn’t. Not without you. But here you are. And here’s how far we’ve come. And we’re just getting started. And we’re not going to stop.
DriveThruRPG CCP Partners Prohibit TTRPG Ableism
May 13, 2024
Here at Wyrmworks Publishing, we don’t want the corner on inclusion and accessibility. We want these concepts to become so ubiquitous in the TTRPG industry that our work becomes redundant, at which point, we’ll turn our focus to one of the other countless struggles in our society that keep people from knowing how loved and valued they are.
We have a long way to go, but we’re making steps in the right direction.
In May 2023, I emailed DriveThruRPG to add “ableism” to the nondiscrimination template for their Content Guidelines for Community Content Programs.
What are Community Content Programs?
A Community Content Program (CCP) allows third-party creators (like us) to create supplemental content for existing TTRPGs, like adventures, character expansions, and more, making more resources available for that game without breaking copyright and trademark laws. They often include artwork, style guides, and other resources to help creators make their publications capture the feel of the core game. DMs Guild, which allows the use of Dungeons & Dragons IP, is the most popular, but DriveThruRPG partners with about three dozen other companies to offer similar programs for other games.
So what’s up with the Content Guidelines?
When a publisher sets up a CCP with DriveThruRPG, they include Content Guidelines that tell creators what they can and can’t do with the game content. DriveThruRPG provides new CCP partners with a sample Content Guidelines template, which the partner can use as much or little as they want. Those guidelines usually include a nondiscrimination clause, and many use DriveThruRPG’s template for this as well:
Neither your products nor any promotional material, including blog/social media posts or press releases, may contain racist, homophobic, discriminatory, or other repugnant views; overt political agendas or views; depictions or descriptions of criminal violence against children; rape or other acts of criminal perversion; or other obscene material. We reserve the right to remove any materials that we determine do not conform to our guidelines for this program.
Nobody wants their game to be used to promote nazis. (OK, nobody that DriveThruRPG would be willing to partner with.)
In May 2023, I looked through the guidelines for all of the CCPs, and I noticed that only one company, Onyx Path Publishing, included a reference to specific ableism in their guidelines.
I contacted DriveThruRPG:
Given that the template words it, “racist, homophobic, discriminatory, or other repugnant views,” after checking every agreement, I found that only Onyx Path’s specifically mentions “ableist.” I note it especially since ableism is so widely accepted in our culture, unlike most other forms of discrimination, and while it’s certainly covered under, “discriminatory” and “repugnant” in my view, not everyone would agree, especially in the TTRPG space, but I’d like to suggest that you consider clarifying and adding “ableist” to that clause in the template for future CCPs and possibly suggest it for current ones.
A mere ninety minutes later, they replied to let me know that they were changing the template and contacting all CCP partners with the suggestion and would update any change requests immediately. (Again, each CCP decides on their own guidelines wording, so this change is 100% optional.) Considering that this is a change to legal documentation, these are weighty decisions, so I was astonished at the speed of the response!
So like Teos Abadía’s recent article about changes in D&D Beyond’s content, this is old news that you didn’t know about. I waited to write this to allow time for companies to make changes so we could celebrate as many as possible.
What changed?
As of this writing six months later, the following CCPs now specifically forbid ableist content (Remember that Onyx Path Publishing included it already):
I have every expectation that the rest consider their existing “other repugnant views” umbrella clause sufficient. If someone reported CCP content to them that discriminated against people based on ability, they would respond accordingly. Some CCP partners not listed here have personally assured me of this.
If you are a CCP owner and change your agreement, let me know, and I’ll be thrilled to add you to the list!
Why is this important?
While our culture has taken great strides to reduce discrimination against marginalized demographics over the past several decades, it’s a slow process. In every case, we still have a long way to go. However, ableism remains the most widely accepted form of discrimination.
To use a mainstream example, we recently watched the Peacock TV show, Baking It, and in the Season 1 Finale, the hosts, Andy Samberg and Maya Rudolph, did a bit called, “Nut Roast,” a parody of celebrity roasts. Here’s an excerpt:
Hey, look who it is, it’s walnut. Hey, walnut, you lumpy son of a nut, you’re the Elephant Man of the nuts. “I am not a good snack!”…
Uh-oh, it’s peanut…Look at him, he’s just sitting there. Somebody get him an epi-pen, I think he’s in shock!
In December 2021, they mocked people with facial differences and with life-threatening allergies in rapid succession. My family cringed, and I searched online for an apology by NBC or anyone from the cast or crew. Nothing. I searched for blog posts or news articles about the obvious ableist jokes. Nothing. Not even a Reddit post or tweet. In two years, nobody on earth with Internet access even noticed and cared enough to mention it until this post. And this is just one example.
We have a long way to go. We’re counting on the gaming community to roll initiative with us. And we deeply appreciate DriveThruRPG and the eight TTRPG producers who quietly but publicly entered this particular fray. They deserve recognition for leading the industry along with many others who have helped raise awareness through other efforts.
Has this changed the TTRPG industry?
Has this changed the content made available via these CCPs? I hope not. I hope that all of those who create CCP content already consciously avoided ableist content. I have friends who create CCP content, and I know that they don’t need a clause in a legal agreement to make sure their products are welcoming and inclusive to all people. I expect that those who changed their agreements did so because they already found ableism repugnant and would not want their brand associated with it.
But I also hope that the inclusion of one extra word causes everyone who sees it to experience a subtle influence. Maybe they subconsciously tweak the language in their projects to avoid microaggressions. Maybe they consider adding a disabled character and discussing it with someone whose lived experience is represented by that character. I regularly encounter compassionate people who don’t realize ableism exists. Sometimes simply learning the word makes them more sensitive to it when they encounter it.
Finally, thank you to our Patrons and everyone who supports our work and raises a sword with us or other TTRPG parties to welcome everyone to the table. Rule systems don’t make this hobby great — you do.
Unlock New Opportunities for Inclusive TTRPG
May 13, 2024
Ever wished you could bring your character to life in exciting new ways? Wyrmworks Publishing is unlocking new possibilities to make your tabletop RPG experience more immersive and inclusive than ever before.
Community Copies Donated: Limitless Heroics Players
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Wyrm's Workshop Sidequest Credits
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Community Copies Donated: Limitless Heroics Full
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Community Copies Donated: Limitless Champions Adventures
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PBP Game
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I DM a game for you
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With your support, we can keep making the hobby more welcoming and help you play the character you imagine.
Welcome to inclusion.
Gaining Advantage 032: The Secret to Unlocking Boundless Creativity: Tabletop RPGs for Kids with Steph from TTRPGKids
May 13, 2024
In this episode, Dale speaks with Steph from TTRPGKids.com about using tabletop RPGs to nurture creativity and connection with kids.
Before we get to the interview, here are a few updates:
We’ll be at Gamehole Con on Friday – come say hi if you’re there!
We’re releasing free weekly encounters for our upcoming Limitless Champions Adventures Kickstarter. Get them by joining our email list.
Check out our new disabled_dungeons community on Lemmy after the Reddit shutdown.
Due to GameHole Con, there won’t be a weekly adventure next week.
Do you want to ignite your child’s imagination? Our guest Steph from TTRPGKids shares how tabletop RPGs can transform family dynamics and nurture creativity in kids.
Reddit Alternative: A Response to Reddit’s Accessibility Hostility
May 13, 2024
D&D is turn-based, but there comes a point when you can’t wait any longer and take action.
I was one of the mods over at r/disabled_dungeons, and we had a promise to keep. If Reddit didn’t change its ways, I vowed to find a new alternative community for everyone there, and if I couldn’t find one, I’d create one. Well, the time has come.
Reddit’s Accessibility Puzzle
This past summer, Reddit made changes, like setting an impossible cost on their API, which basically banished many third-party Reddit apps. Some of these apps were like magic items, offering better accessibility options that made our community more inclusive. In response, like many subs, r/disabled_dungeons went dark (private) in protest. Reddit doubled down and forced many subs to reopen, removing existing owners and mods and replacing them.
Our New Quest on Lemmy
In the face of these challenges, we decided it was time to embark on a new adventure, a quest for a more accessible and inclusive home. We found Lemmy, a federated Reddit alternative that’s more aligned with our values.
At this new community, we encourage people to find what access tools work for them. You can expect the same supportive community there with opportunities to make friends and share your adventures.
Join the Party on Lemmy
We invite you to join us and continue the mission of making TTRPGs accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Your wisdom and insights are our greatest treasures on this journey.
Now, here’s the exciting part. Our Discord remains a private sanctuary for our patrons and the talented freelancers who bring our products to life. But this new community is an open tavern where you can chat about our creations and all the fantastic products from other companies that champion accessibility and representation.
