Dice Goblin

Work on DANGER CLOSE is progressing, but as it progresses, I’m thinking about the pending task of layout. This had me thinking about something else. I LOVE print and PDFs – but I personally mostly consume RPGs by reading (portrait) PDFs on my (landscape) monitor. Is there no better way?

Update: This post has a sequel! Prototype: Presenting TTRPG texts in a digital native format

Disclaimer: I read a great take on this topic before – through a link on Bluesky – but I don’t remember who wrote it. I’m still looking.

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My DANGER CLOSE ashcan is progressing nicely – but I’m also realizing the playability really depends on its presentation. So, I started considering the puzzle of “how do I layout all these tables on a page, and what size page do I go for”. For many recent releases – such as all my FIST modules – I included .html versions, along with constantly-present menu, thanks to Typora’s export functionality.

I love it, and I find it a really neat lightweight solution that I often use myself for quick reference. But – we could do so much more. Tooltips. Sidebars. Links. Fill in some details on one page, and other pages show context-sensitive information, such as, I don’t know, your character’s stats.

Here’s the thing: I love books. I love print. I have shelves groaning under the weight of gorgeous RPG tomes. But when I actually sit down to use or read these games, nine times out of ten, I’m squinting/scrolling/zooming at a portrait-oriented PDF stretched across my landscape monitor, scrolling endlessly through pages that were designed for paper, not pixels.

It feels fundamentally backwards. We’re using these incredible, high-tech devices; machines capable of real-time computation, dynamic content, instant cross-referencing, just to render static print pages. It’s like using a smartphone as a paperweight.

What Could Digital-Native RPGs Actually Look Like?

I’ve seen cookbooks as a good reference for clear, concise conveyance of information, and thus as good inspiration for layout of TTRPGs. However, why can’t we take cues from (good, non-spammy) online recipes/cooking instructions for digital versions? A recipe I used last week contained a tool to indicate how many people were eating, a checklist ingredient list, a step-by-step recipe to tap through – very simplistic in terms of tech, but great in terms of user experience.

When I brought up this topic in the Prismatic Waystation discord, Rise Up Comus (Bakshi Gandalf himself) shared that the amazing Designing Dungeon Course was designed with this philosophy in mind:

And I mean, I can definitely see it – it’s slick, it’s smooth, it’s digital-first.

But still, I think there’s more that could be done with stuff like this:

• Tooltips
• Context-relevant content
• Automatic pickers/rollers for any dice notation or table
• Bookmarks; easily label/highlight paragraphs of importance, with one central spot where you can find all your notes
• Sidebars to see your character’s information

I’m not talking about VTTs here – those are their own beast entirely. I mean the core texts, the SRDs, the rules references we use to actually learn and play these games. What if they were built to leverage everything digital can do?

The Solo RPG Case Study

This thinking hits especially hard when I consider solo RPGs, which is what I’m working on right now. Solo players are already juggling multiple roles (GM, player, sometimes oracle) while managing dice, notes, character sheets, and reference materials.

I also love the whole vibe of just taking some dice and a notepad and being able to play (and DANGER CLOSE is designed for this, as well!) but let’s be honest – we’re generally going to be near a screen of some sorts, right? If only to play background music or write down notes.

I fully get the ideal of having less screen time, of browsing one’s books and notes, sketching and scribbling. Fuck yes. But let’s face it: we’re not going to print out all of our PDFs (we probably shouldn’t). So I’d love to see our screen time be used more effectively.

The Opportunity

Here’s what excites me: digital-native design could be a massive competitive advantage for indie creators. While big publishers are still thinking in terms of “book + PDF bundle,” indies could be creating genuinely better experiences for how people actually consume RPG content in 2025.

We have the tools. Web technology is more accessible than ever. Platforms like Notion, Obsidian, and even simple HTML exports from Markdown editors can create rich, interactive documents. The technical barriers are lower than they’ve ever been. These tools just aren’t quite there yet, I think. I don’t know the solution either – I’m just being passionate over here. I’m still researching options as well. But come on, everyone – could this all not be so much slicker?

I am not arguing for no more PDFs/books – though if you feel like it makes for spicier discourse, feel free to react to this post like I did. Right now, there’s no easy solution to publish digitally. I’m arguing for “wouldn’t it be neat if there was?”.

Update: Relevant Links

I know I’m not the first one to bring up this topic, so as I learn about relevant links, I’ll post them here.

• The WOP Model (Web, Offline, Physical)