Personas y dados: Literary and game design resources

In this second installment of this series about Personas y dados I begin a non-official companion of the book in which I will show you some lists of resources which can be helpful if you decide to create a role-playing game, focusing on literary and game creation.

To read the first part of the series with the review of the book you may follow this link.

But before starting I can give you some advice:

1. It's advisable to be experienced first as players and then as referees before beginning to design your game, because this will allow you to see both points of view (although do not pay much attention to me, as I started role-playing as a referee).
2. It's highly recommended (although I would say it's mandatory) that you read a lot and everything, public libraries and Internet websites like Project Gutenberg (and the like) or Wikipedia will be of gret help to inspire you.
3. Always have a notebook at hand where you can write down everything that comes to mind (inspiration is very volatile and unpredictable, you never know when ideas will appear).
4. Although nowadays we have writing software and text processors you may also be interested in handwriting to sketch the initial ideas of your projects (a set of scribbled notes is always more immediate than sitting down and thinking in front of the computer).

Resources for literary creation

You may be asking yourself why I have decided to include a list of websites and resources which are basically designed for literary creation in its various facets, but in fact it's something logical because when you are creating a game of this kind you are also creating a narrative and in some cases even your own setting (which can be a world or even an entire universe), which must appeal your potential readers and players.

Having said this I proceed to give you this list of books and resources, it's a little sample of what you can find searching in Internet which I'm sure will allow you to experiment and will satisfy your desire to know more about this topics:

• Writing Fiction | Escribir Ficción
  Practical guide of the Gotham Writer's Workshop of New York, published in Spain by Alba Editorial, giving information about key elements of the art of writing with a great number of examples and proposing a set of practical exercises wich may be useful to you.
  
  In the Gotham Writer's Workshop website there's also links to resources which may interest you: Toolbox
• Literautas
  Project by Iria López Teijeiro (Web | Twitter) and Tomeu Mascó (Twitter) aimed at aspiring writers that puts on sale the guides Como escribir una novela, Saca al escritor que llevas dentro, Como escribir diálogos and Claves para convertirte en escritor.
  
  Besides these guides there's also specialized apps available and in the blog's website there are some categories which may be interesting for you:
  • Taller de escritura (Writer's workshop)
  • Ejercicios de escritura (Writing exercises)
  • Técnicas de escritura (Writing tecniques)
  • Palabra de escritor (Writer's word)
  • Fichas de personaje (Character's files)
  • Recursos para escritores (Resources for writers)
• Los mundos que escribes
  In this book by the writer and lawyer Fabián Plaza Miranda (Twitter), published by HT Publishers and available as digital and printed formats (although it seems that the latter is already sold), there's a comprehensive review to the methods to create fantasy and science fiction novels and it's done in an entertaining and didactic way, so it can be of great help to design the background of your game.
• Microscope | Microscopi
  This game written by Ben Robbins and published translated to Catalan by Maqui Edicions (paper edition | digital edition: Itch.io, Lektu, DriveThruRPG) allows the shared creation between several players of a gaming universe and it could be very useful to design the game's background.
• NaNoWriMo
  The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a USA non-profit organization which has been holding a global literary creation contest since 1999 that proposes to its participants the challenge of writing a 50,000-word short story during the month of November.
  
  To help the aspiring writers the NaNoWriMo website have several resources like pep talks of authors of the stature of Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss and preparatory guides (this can be accessed if you are registered on the website) as well as the 2020's preparatory guide (available without registering) which is interesting because it can help you to order the initial ideas of your game.
• Writers Helping Writers
  The website by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi offers, besides many guides for the writer, software and workshops, a set of tools which can be very interesting:
  • Building your toolkit (a list of samples of their products in pdf format allowing to organize contents of the piece you are working on)
  • Writers Helping Writers Show, Don’t Tell Pro Pack (a free sample which can be downloaded directly and allow to work the "show instead of tell" technique)
  • Resources for writers (a list with links to all kind of resources)
• Save the Cat!
  Website collecting the teachings of the screenwriter and author Blake Snyder (1957 - 2009) besides offering books, classes, coaching and software also offers a set of advice and tools which may be useful to plan your adventures, being the most important in my opinion the "beat sheets" allowing you to structure stories from a cinematographic point of view:
  • The logline (one or two phrases describing the story)
  • The genres (the 10 cinematographic genres in which stories are divided)
  • The Blake Snyder beat sheet (the structure of a "beat sheet)
  • The board (the board gathering all the information of the scenes contained in the "beat sheets")
  
  Some examples of the above which may interest you are the following ones:
  • Train to Busan
  • Avengers: Infinity War
  • Psycho
  • The Princess Bride
  • Predator
• Mythcreants
  Specialized blog for speculative fiction storytellers coordinated by volunteers and financed through Patreon offering many interesting articles regarding writing:
  • Storytelling
  • Writing
  • Worldbuilding
• TV Tropes
  Website devoted to gather topics present in all types of media (novels, comicbooks, television series, cinema, games) to help all people willing to write stories and in need of inspiration.
• Escrilia
  Website devoted to creative writing of the architect and graphical designer Tomás Auchterlonie, which can be very useful to have clear ideas about the trade and what it means. I do not consider that there is any article on his website that is more important than another, so I advise you to give it a good read.
• Worldbuilding Stack Exchange
  This website contains a large number of questions and answers regarding issues about world creation and the list of resources offered is very interesting.
• The Search Engine for Writers - Hiveword
  This searcher contains links to more than 60,000 articles of all kind related to various facets of creative writing (genres, creativity and inspiration, etc.).

Resources for gaming design

Besides the resources I have listed in the previous section you also will be interested in studying the many technics allowing to structure a game and its adventures, something that the following list of resources will help you:

• Role-playing games theory
  To read an introduction to the theory I advise you to read the corresponding article as well as the devoted to the history of role-playing games, both at Wikipedia.
• Kobold Guides
  The publisher Kobold Press is selling a set of design guides which may complement advice appearing in Personas y dados (in fact they are one of the recommended reference works in the book).
• Grupo creativo 1D12monos
  In the blog of this group of gamers you will find a set of posts analysing some aspects which may be helpful, offering translations of English language role-playing blogs with downloads that can help you:
  • Teoría del rol (Role-playing theory)
  • Teoría GNS - Contenidos (GNS Theory - Contents)
  • Diseño de aventuras (Adventures design)
  • Descargas (Downloads)
• Bastión Rolero
  Blog managed by many authors devoted to promote role-playing games and offer all kind of articles, including translations of English language blogs, as well as the Un dungeon en una página contest (here ypu will find this year's announcement).
  
  I show you some categories of the blog I think will interest you about games creation:
  • Sección: Ambientación y escenarios (Section: Setting and scenarios)
  • Sección: Campañas (Section: Campaigns)
  • Sección: Creación de aventuras (Section: Adventures creation)
  • Sección: Creación de juegos de rol (Section: Role-playing games creation)
  • Sección: Dirección de juego (Section: Game mastering)
  • Sección: Herramientas roleras (Section: Role-playing tools)
  • Sección: Iniciación al rol (Section: Role-playing initiation)
  • Sección: Metajuego y elementos fuera de partida (Section: Metagame and out of game elements)
  • Sección: Partidas de investigación (Section: Investigation sessions)
  • Sección: Preparación de partidas (Section: Sessions preparation)
  • Sección: Sistemas (Section: Systems)
  • Sección: Traducciones (Sectio: Translations)
  • Sección: Worlbuilding (Section: Worldbuilding)
• La Biblioteca de Dol Amroth
  The blog by Funs Athal (Twitter) also offers interesting thoughts about the creation of adventures and games:
  
  • Consejos (Advice)
  • Diseño de aventuras (Adventures design)
  • Teoría (Theory)
• ars ludi: Ben Robbins
  Ben Robbins, author of Microscope also have a blog in his website sharing articles about:
  • Role-playing theory
  • Game design
  • Story Games
• The Forge
  Website devoted to promotion, creation and review of independent role-playing games, offering miscellaneous and interesting articles about the creation of games (Archive | Articles) and the explanation of the GNS theory (Gamism, Narrativism, Simulationism) by Ron Edwards in 2001:
  • Chapter 1: Exploration
  • Chapter 2: GNS
  • Chapter 3: Stance
  • Chapter 4: The Basics of Role-Playing Design
  • Chapter 5: Role-playing Design and Coherence
  • Chapter 6: Actually Playing
  • Acknowledgments
• Greg Costikyan In the website of one of the creators of the original Star Wars role-playing game, published by West End Games in 1987, it's possible to find articles, presentations and books which may be interesting for game designers:
  • Randomness: Blight or Bane?
  • I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games
  • Uncertainty in Games (The MIT Press)
  • Tabletop. Analog Game Design (ETC Press) (the pdf can be freely downloaded and the book has CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 license)
  • Talk like a Gamer
  • Where Stories End and Games Begin
  • Learning from Fiction
• John Kim's Styles of Roleplaying Page
  Educator John H. Kim has written and collected a great number of articles about role-playing theory and System design.
• The Alexandrian
  Website of the writer, actor and game designer Justin Alexander. The list of articles Gamemastery 101 contains many role-playing design and game's refereeing advice (some of them had been translated and published in some of the other blogs I recommend in this same post).
• A la luz de una bombilla
  Website of the designer, disseminator, educator and publisher Jose Manuel Pedraz. In his website he have a blog with interesting posts about role-playing games and game design as well as many resources.
• Roleropedia
  Wiki devoted to role-playing games that also contains articles about its history and role-playing games theory.
• RPG Museum
  Wiki devoted to role-playing games, and among other contents also offers a section about role-playing theory.
• International Journal of Role-Playing
  Academic publication with the goal of analyze the role-playing games as a cultural phenomenon and from the scholars, developers and playrs point of view. At the time of writing this post it has already published 10 issues.
• Analog Game Studies
  Academic publication devoted to study games with analogical elements (pen and paper, dice, cards, tokens...). The magazine can be read at the website and bought printed or in ebook format through ETC Press (pdf can be freely downloaded without the need of being registered users), they also have many articles about role-playing games among others.
• RPGnet Forums: Tabletop Roleplaying Game Design
  Forum of RPGnet devoted to role-playing games.

Next installment

I hope that the lists of the first entry of this unofficial companion of Personas y dados have been interesting, in the next entry of the series I will talk about licenses and systems that you can use to create your games.

This entry it's also available in the following languages:
Castellano Català