Here in the UK spring is awakening and covid easing. With a new design and platform for Rand Roll it's time to look at the future.
Generators Community
Rand Roll originally came to be as I found nowhere to talk about random tables and tools as used in roleplaying games.
Building some kind of rpg gens community is the reason why I've done the creator interviews, created the rpg_generators subreddit and started the generators challenges. The generator guides are there to highlight tools people have made.
There are more communities spread out around Chartopia, r/d100, Eigengrau's, perchance and other tools.
I'd like to continue that with Rand Roll and have a few ideas
- Starting some discussions on how people use random generators and tables in their RPG games
- Better ways to use random tools. Including highlighting how they can be used in solo games and to support improvisation.
- Highlighting creators on Patreon, BuyMeACoffee and similar sites that are creating random rpg tools
- Create some random table bundles or collaborations on drivethrurpg or itch
- Look at ways we can encourage people to build rpg tools and collaborate. Platforms such as Perchance and Chartopia are perfect places to start. I'd also like to try an open source project such as around an icons story tool.
- Try some more variations on the Gens Challenges. It currently seems difficult to get others involved. Creating a random generator can be a large undertaking.
- Exploring areas that rpg tools are used, such as in solo rpgs and online tabletops.
- More 31 Days (or 30) of RPG Tools, but focused on an area such as visual tools, solo rpgs or procedural generation.
Gen Guides
The Generator Guides will continue, with a refresh, reducing some of them in number and making some of the existing ones deeper.
There are always new tools to add and new areas to cover. Areas such as visual tools, oracles for solo and tools for use in play. I may look for some helpers or look at moving some bits to an external wiki.
How We Use RPG Generators
How games masters and players use random tables and tools in games is a topic I've wanted to explore but only recently started dedicating more time to.
I need to reach into the rpg community to do this, people from subreddits and discords and social media. And from a pool of creators that have been interviewed over the years.
I know about how I use tools in rpg games but would love tips and tricks from others who use our tools. Through interviews, articles and discussions!
It would also be great to do a few case studies on particular tools such as Eigengrau's, Fantasy Calendar or Fantasy Name Generators.
And a thread on how they are used in various solo games.
How We Build and Publishing Tools and Tables
I've now interviewed lots of creators about building tools. And built a lot of tables and gens and can share some thing of that.
Looking at the results we produce, different ways generators are produced, the research we do for them. Technicalities of design patterns, nested generators and the mundane versus the bizarre. How they are presented, how much design in intended and how much is accidental.
And looking at it from the other side, if the tools we build are things people want to use.
Are there features on Chartopia, Perchance and similar sites which can make it easier for others to create their own lists of gens, for a particular setting or campaign?
If there's any interest I can talk about publishing random tables and random generators, how pdfs, tools and tables get published and marketed on places like DM's Guild, itch, instagram and DriveThru RPG.
There have also been more instances of paid generators, so looking at if this is something people are interested in or if they prefer models such as patreon and ko-fi.
One Last Question
Plus the question... What generator or random tool would you love to see?
Duncan
