Play tester advice

[Archon42]

Hello y'all!

I am new here, and I am looking to be more active in the community. I have been writing a lot of content and intend to publish a book using the Dungeons and Dragons 2024 rules. I was wondering how you all get play testers? I know it's easy to get someone to play your game, but how do you get others to try it without worrying someone is going to take your content and run with it?

Any and all advice would be very welcome!

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Take your content and run with it? Are you worried about someone stealing your ideas or just about the game getting out of your hands in some way? I wouldn't worry about either.

I think the ideal plan to find playtesters for D&D content is to play D&D in general with a lot of different people and then invite the ones you suspect are likely to give you useful feedback to do some playtesting, optimally in several separate groups. Scale this operation up or down according to what you have time and energy for, how much feedback you really need, and how much fun you are having.

 

[aco175]

If I post something on DMsGuild, I tend to have played it with my gaming group at home before I post. It is not the same as having a editor and a separate group play it, mostly since I wrote it and know what I meant. It does allow me to notice something that did not work and something I might have worded funny and some spelling errors. I would not call them professional though.

 

[Morrus]

without worrying someone is going to take your content and run with it?

Don't worry about it. Nobody is going to do that.

 

[Archon42]

Take your content and run with it? Are you worried about someone stealing your ideas or just about the game getting out of your hands in some way? I wouldn't worry about either.

I think the ideal plan to find playtesters for D&D content is to play D&D in general with a lot of different people and then invite the ones you suspect are likely to give you useful feedback to do some playtesting, optimally in several separate groups. Scale this operation up or down according to what you have time and energy for, how much feedback you really need, and how much fun you are having.

Ya, I mean, it is a full-on setting with 48 subclasses and a whole world. It's just massive, and I intend to publish it. (I know that's a whole different topic) So what I'm getting at here is that I need a lot of testers to test this, but I don't want to just give out my content, you know. I'm fine if people get to play it, read it xyz, but I just want to know how to protect the work that I have put into this, you know. In case someone just goes, Oh, this is all nice and packaged, and I know how to publish, I'm going to just take this.

Now, since I have put this up here, I have done some digging, and I'm finding that I'm pretty protected just out the gate, but there are a few things I can do to truly protect myself without a lawyer. However, I wanted to know what the community thought. Thank you for your feed back

 

[Archon42]

If I post something on DMsGuild, I tend to have played it with my gaming group at home before I post. It is not the same as having a editor and a separate group play it, mostly since I wrote it and know what I meant. It does allow me to notice something that did not work and something I might have worded funny and some spelling errors. I would not call them professional though.

So I am in a very unique situation. I was in the Military for a while and made a bunch of friends. they currently play DND all over the US and have there own tables. I trust my friends more than most of my family, but I don't know anyone at their table. So im trying to protect my content while at the same time having many people play it.

 

[Morrus]

Ya, I mean, it is a full-on setting with 48 subclasses and a whole world. It's just massive, and I intend to publish it. (I know that's a whole different topic) So what I'm getting at here is that I need a lot of testers to test this, but I don't want to just give out my content, you know. I'm fine if people get to play it, read it xyz, but I just want to know how to protect the work that I have put into this, you know. In case someone just goes, Oh, this is all nice and packaged, and I know how to publish, I'm going to just take this.

Now, since I have put this up here, I have done some digging, and I'm finding that I'm pretty protected just out the gate, but there are a few things I can do to truly protect myself without a lawyer. However, I wanted to know what the community thought. Thank you for your feed back

Your concern is that somebody is going to take your laid-out PDF and simply sell it as-is themselves?

If you're worried a playtester would do that, why aren't you worried a customer would do it when you sell it?

This just... doesn't happen. Trust me, in 26 years of publishing TTRPG games, not once has this happened to me or to anybody else I've seen. It's not a founded worry.

What might happen is that your work will get pirated, but that applies to everyone and everything. WotC can't stop it, movie studios can't stop it, major book publishers and music labels can't stop it, and you certainly can't stop it, and it's not worth your effort trying--any measures you put in place will inconvenience your actual customers and won't slow the pirates one jot.

So, to reiterate--don't worry about it. Just make your stuff, put it out for playtest, and then sell it. There are much bigger worries than this.

 

[Truename]

To follow on to Morrus, speaking as someone who has sold content (not gaming-related), your biggest problem will be getting people to care about it and mention it to others. They love it so much they steal it and sell it as their own? Ha! You should be so lucky.

 

[Morrus]

Exactly. You’ll likely, like the rest of us, have the exact opposite problem—getting people to even acknowledge the existence of your work. Focus on that. If you’re lucky enough that it’s so popular that people are trying to steal it (which they won’t) then you’ve won.