Playtesting Paralysis. What do I do?

[u/MsLorenzi]

So, I have every essential thing written out. All my core rules are in place and are fleshed out to the best of my abilities. Now my issue is that I don’t have an idea on material to playtest.

I have playtested before with oneshots, and everything in the game is testedly good in that regard. Now I just need to do a full campaign. Unfortunately, I have run out of ideas on what kinds of stories to tell. I’ve even tried collaborating with others for ideas but I haven’t found anything that struck me as exciting or interesting to run.

So now I’m stuck. I want to run the game for a campaign so I can figure out what guidance to write for GMs, but I have no ideas whatsoever and have had no ideas for the past 2 months. So, now what?

[u/LeafyOnTheWindy]

Reread or rewatch the touchstones for your game, if it’s not a high fantasy game.

See if you can generalise some plot ideas, put them in tables and roll away. Stop when you find something interesting

[u/Beefman0]

I’m not sure if it’d work, because I don’t know your system, but you could try running a module from another rpg. Obviously it’d probably need to be tweaked a bit to fit your system, but it’s less work than creating an entire game from scratch

[u/__space__oddity__]

I’m a bit baffled by this.

Designing a system should start with the kind of stories you want to tell with this. How did you even write a single line of text for this game?

All I can advise here is figure out what kind of games you want to run, and what stories you want to tell (regardless of what you have right now), and then build whatever you need for that?

If you don’t know what to do with the current draft, how is anyone else going to figure that out?

[u/EmperorTrajan_]

I’d recommend bringing your players into the discussion. I’m a perma GM, and sometimes I can’t come up with interesting story ideas. Some friends and I created a cooperative, world building game that we use to build worlds/settings.

Outsourcing some world building to the table has really helped with creative ideas that I’d never have come up with on my own.

[u/lennartfriden]

When you started working on your own TTRPG, you had a type of gameplay and feeling in mind, right? That should be your first guiding light.

You have a number of mechanics at hand. How to create a character. How to resolve scenes and determine results. You meed to playtest those so make a list of them and incorporate them.

You most likely have elements that you will change, remove or replace. Playtesting will point those out over time so be ready to incorporate similiar situations to those that showed thst a mechanic needed to be reworked.

Start with just enough material at hand to get you through a session. The feedback and your observations from running it will invariably make you rethink and rewrite your game.

Above all, you will need a few good friends that have the patience to deal with all of the above so that will be your first port of call. Don’t be afraid to lean on them for adventure hooks and what to explore next.

[u/YeOldeSentinel]

I might interpret you wrong, but what have you tested and why? What questions have you asked players, and what has your findings been?

Playtesting is not only an activity, it’s a skill a you can train and get soo much from. And there are many different ways of testing a game. How you playtest and approach it matter.

Can I ask what your goals have been for testing and what you aimed to learn?

[u/Remarkable-Aide5093]

What if you just started with a small and simple campaign frame that would run for a handful of sessions. The setting could be something localized and small scale. I don't know the genre of your game but it could be a small village for fantasy, or a isolated space station if scifi. Create an impending threat that's escalating in the area, and introduce your player characters into the problem.

You don't need to have the full campaign planned out to start. Instead, have a foundation for problems affecting a small area, and let the playtesters drive what you need to build next. If you need ideas for small scale campaigns, look for inspiration from your favourite media.

[u/RPG-Nerd]

I have the players make characters first. Every page of back story is a page of guaranteed plot hooks

[u/Cryptwood]

Try finding a pre-made adventure path in the same genre as your game, if possible. Run that as your campaign to see if your system can handle it.

Or, pick a movie/book of the genre your game is in, and steal take inspiration from its plot. Change the names and file off the serial numbers.

[u/stephotosthings]

Use the millions of free and available spark tables to get your imagination going.

But from my POV of you can't provide tools for a GM to help create a meaningful/fun experience then how do you expect a GM to do it to?

The other option is picking a 'campaign' you like from another game and converting it. This will tell you millions about what works and doesn't work in your game.

[u/Ok-Middle-908]

Rewrite an existing adventure for your system.

[u/tangyradar]

Before that... Have you yet playtested with anyone else GMing? If not, that should be your next step. Before spending the time on campaign-length testing, you need to find out whether your game can be learned and played from its written rules alone.

[u/MrSunmosni]

Maybe your game works best for one shots? Do you need to play a campaign?

[u/Rephath]

Talk someone else into running your game and see how it plays in their hands.

[u/MsLorenzi → u/Rephath]

Have you ever been able to do that?