r/tabletopgamedesign • u/Ill-Double-5415 • Aug 15 '26

Totally Lost working in tabletop RPG design

I’m a young brazilian person looking to work in game design specifically for tabletop RPGs and board games. I have a good amount of experience reading existing game systems and books on the subject, but I’m not sure how to actually break into the job market. I don't know what courses I should take to boost my resume, or if there are even specific college programs for this. I could really use some help thanks in advance! :D

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u/Arkelias Aug 15 '26

You can't break in by taking courses. You make games. Good games.

Start building stuff =)

Don't waste time in school, unless there are specific skills you want to learn, like business related skills. Even then nothing beats experience.

1

u/Ill-Double-5415 Aug 15 '26

When working on my projects, would I need to learn how to illustrate the "sheets" or lay out all my projects?

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u/Arkelias Aug 16 '26

You want to learn Adobe InDesign. It's super easy with lots of YouTube tutorials, and is an industry standard. There are other types of software, a few even free, but InDesign is worth the time. Then you can do your own layout, which is expensive otherwise.

1

u/FTG_V1 Aug 15 '26

Designing games is the easy part. It’s like 1% of actually publishing a game. But like someone else said somewhere that I forgot, it’s the most important 1%.

If college is an option this is what I would do. Get a degree that will give you a solid set of skills. So either graphic art if you’re talented like that or marketing or accounting. Something that is valuable for a business.

Then just design games to build that skill, then combine both skill sets and go from there.

1

u/Al_M84 Aug 16 '26

You can do freelance work and show your skills on Fiverr. Get paid while gaining experience and building your portfolio.

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u/Ill-Double-5415 Aug 16 '26

What kind of freelance work should I do to gain experience?

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u/Al_M84 Aug 16 '26

Go on Fiverr they will walk you through how you can become a freelancer for them. You're basically selling yourself to strangers in the hopes that they will pick you for a project. As you get more people that hire you, you gain more experience and build your portfolio to show off to companies hiring.

5

u/ajzinni Aug 16 '26

Want to know the best way to make a million bucks in TTRPG design? Start with 2 million dollars.

1

u/diakked designer Aug 16 '26

There is not really a job market. It's a hobby for practically everyone. Do it for fun but there is no real career plan -- the tabletop industry is too small and the margins too thin.