itch.io

Yeah ... in 2019 I published like 14 ttrpg projects of varying sizes, but in 2020 and 2021 (so far) I've published 1, and only because I started it in 2019, so I imagine a lot of people are probably feeling like they aren't "active" as designers right now and don't have much to share from their own work. 

But as for theory and discussion, maybe something a bit more structured could help? Like, a new topic or prompt every Thursday ... something like that.

On a side note, I am not sure how I feel about outright "debates" in this scene/industry/field, just based on my experience witnessing "discourse" on twitter. I personally never want to engage in discussion where any one person or group is prescribing any one "correct" practice or methodology for design (I think there is definitely space to discuss more effective and objectively more ethical business and labor practices, but that's a different area entirely). In the end, stuff like "do systems matter" or "is playtesting necessary" ends up in the same broad territory as "what is art" and suchlike, except it's less abstract, even less interesting to push in any one direction, and much more likely to alienate and gatekeep designers ... unless it's DnD bashing, because DnD is objectively bad and everyone knows it, obviously, though I do think that horse has been beaten deep underground by now. So when it comes to theoretical discussions it'd be good to emphasize the subjective and highly individual nature of these practices instead of focusing on intentionally provocative "are dice bad, actually" prompts. Like, instead of "are dice bad, actually" we can ask  "what is your experience (if any) designing for diceless play, and what challenges and advantages have you encountered in the process?" I dunno. Just rambling now. But I guess this is one of the reasons I would be keen to move some of the "discourse" away from twitter and back towards a medium without a strict character limit.