This is legitimately something I theorize about a lot, and especially paired with @jeeyonshim’s thoughtful journal prompts, I think that we can lower intimidating barriers to creation and create space for making by...well, I think art in TTRPGs should actually suck more. 1/? https://twitter.com/liledgyacrobat/status/1385613627932225543

For context, I teach children, and I was already an experience designer before making games. Production values matter in experience design, but if you center the participant/player, then the most important thing is creating work that welcomes the player to it. 2/?

For example, here are two "community boards" from two of my large installations. It's a self explanatory and known interaction, w/ a low barrier of entry. It can be pre-populated a bit, but the audience naturally knows how to add to it, and participates in the experience. 3/?

And these are examples from "logbooks" I've used in installations. Assume the audience wants to play, assume they want to contribute, and create easily understood space for that desire to play, and those contributions(which produces even richer work). 4/?

So, in Field Guide to Memory, for instance, we talked a bunch about how to lower those barriers, and encourage making. And my answer was always "provide examples, but poorly drawn ones." 5/?

And I certainly don't think the art in Field Guide is bad! I'm not calling my art bad, it's obviously not! But it is approachable, and very much within reach. You can see the techniques I used. You can draw a map that looks like mine, it's not that hard! 6/?

What @jayackley said, exactly! A lot of TTRPG art is beautiful. It is world building, tone-setting, a stunning display of skill and talent. But it doesn't openly invite a player with no art background to make art. 7/? https://twitter.com/jayackley/status/1385674907095375873

And getting a player to make art is, of course, not the purpose of all(or even most) games, TTRPGs or otherwise. But if it is, maybe consider having the art suck more?

8/okay, I think I'm done now.