The Future of Explorers Design

Important subscription info, a poll, and the next adventure.

Platforms have been nothing but trap-filled dungeons. And I have wandered into every dart-filled hallway, deadfall, and gelatinous cube.

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, TikTok, Youtube, Cohost, Mastodon, Discord, Slack, G+, RPGnet, Gauntlet Forums, RPG Geek, Patreon, Ko-Fi—I’ve tried them all.

So, now the question is: where does Explorers go from here?

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What’s in this Issue?

1. How to Use Substack

2. The Future of Explorers

3. Audience Poll for Content

4. Where to find Explorers

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How to use Substack

Step 1: Choose Your Subscription

There are two versions of the Explorers’ substack (not including the paid subscription, which is currently empty and not encouraged. Stay free. Don’t worry about paying.)

Announcements. This subscription is for marketing. I’ll use it very little. If you want to support me and stay in the loop about any new tools, templates, and games—this is the subscription to keep.

Adventures. This subscription is for entertainment. This is where I’ll post design delves, product reviews, and in-depth thoughts about the rpg industry, craft, and hobby. Keep this subscription if you like my other social media.

You can subscribe to one or both through the newsletter’s website.

Step 2: Tweak Your Notification Level

Substack is what I’m using for a newsletter. It’s a platform that straddles the line between a social media platform and a traditional blog. (It’s not very good for email marketing.) This means you can be notified for way too much!

I recommend turning on “Smart Notifications” in your user settings and toggling off nearly everything. Trust me. You can also toggle some settings newsletter-by-newsletter, but the options are more limited. I made two versions of my newsletter to give you greater control over your inbox.

You can find your notifications under settings.

Step 3: Support Your Creators

Substack is new. If you like how it feels (I do), I recommend sharing your favorite publications anywhere you can. If you like what I do here on Explorers, you can show your support by sharing the link below.

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The Future of Explorers Design

Now that we’ve gotten some of the technical work out of the way let me tell you about what I plan on doing for the future.

Work small. Collaborate often.

Explorers Design is going to publish more products. Not “content” but tools, templates, and—wait for it—game stuff. I think it’s safe to say that making things is the best way to build an audience and community in tabletop rpgs.

I resisted this for a long time. Being an industry academic, critic, and advocate was my dream, but those roles have historically depended on big-tent platforms and advertising. See famous reviewers on YouTube and staff on historic publications. These are all subsystems the new internet and late-stage capitalism are walling off.

The resulting conclusion has been extraordinarily freeing. I need to make cool stuff with other creative people. Go to conventions. Collaborate with publishers. Be a person with a creative label. Not a creative label hiding a person.

Write more. Write fast. Write worse.

I’m a slow writer. Working as a full-time copywriter in advertising had given me PTSD-related dysgraphia—a neurological condition that causes your brain to scramble your writing and render it impossible for yourself and others.

I literally cannot read this newsletter correctly. It’s all on faith.

If I’m going to write (something I still love to do), my natural tone of voice will have to feature prominently. That means it will make no fucking sense 25% of the time. 50% of it will be metaphors, similies, and idioms. The remaining 25% will be the content you know and love—heady, abstract, and deep in detail.

This new strategy requires two leaps of faith:

1. My writing is going to be less neutral. In the past, I tried to write in simple sentences with little to no creative flair. This was part of my effort to educate the largest swath of people while avoiding the hate parade of channels like Twitter.

2. My writing is going to be treated as a permanent work-in-progress. I’m going to share more of my ideas and theories. Even the ones I might not agree with in the future. I’ll try to remember to mention when I’m doing that.

Don’t make games. Support games.

I don’t plan on making any systems (though I have a few ideas). Instead, I want to focus on making adventures. The deceptively harder task of this industry. Can I make a good Mothership scenario? Maybe my Mausritter notes can finally find their way into a layout? We won’t know until I try.

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What do you want from Explorers?

I like the way this website feels. It’s fun to use. It’s fun to read. The question is, what do you want to read in the Adventures newsletter?

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Where to find Explorers

You can still find me on Twitter. The goal is to fully divest and move to a more specialized online presence in the coming year.

Explorers Design Website. When in doubt, I’ll always have Explorers Design the website. It’s a difficult space to maintain, but you can find all my products, major announcements, and movements there.

Explorers Itch. If entering your payment info into a Shopify website scares you, my Itch is a comforting alternative. You can find all of my major releases there as well.

Explorers Design Instagram. I regularly post releases and events on my feed. If you like design as much as I do, it’s also where I share my favorite inspiration from across Instagram.

Explorers Discord. Conversations are going strong in the Explorers studio. Some say its where the rpg design greats trade ideas and insights. We’d love to see you there.

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Final Thoughts

Substack is an experiment. A rare experiment that lets me take my newsletter subscribers elsewhere if it doesn’t work out.

If you like what you’ve read, have ideas, or just want to say, “Hey, I read your newsletter.” Leave a comment or join me wherever you can find Explorers Design.

Until next time, never stop exploring.