A new Kickstarter adventure has launched for what may very well be the ultimate insight into what goes on in the minds of game masters during the worldbuilding process. Polyhedral is a “collection of interviews with TTRPG developers” that currently has just over 50% funded toward its $10,000 goal, with 29 days remaining.
The Kickstarter was launched by Joshua Mendenhall, a TTRPG designer, writer, graphic designer, and co-director of Islands of Sina Una. You can also catch him dungeon-mastering the heck out of the Tampo D&D adventure over on the RockPunch Twitch channel on Fridays. According to the Kickstarter page, this is his first Kickstarter project launched.
Also according to the Kickstarter notes, Mendenhall describes Polyhedral as "an interview book, wherein the interviewer has spoken to different people who work in the Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TTRPG) industry." He has interviewed numerous TTRPG worldbuilders, people who have put in the time and passion to create entire independent systems and system supplements — alongside TTRPG company owners and talented industry freelancers.
Mendenhall has gathered these various interviews into Polyhedral in order to share with the TTRPG gaming and worldbuilding community the “passion, camaraderie, troubles, hardship, and joy in what each designer shares.” He states he had a few goals to unlock with the book, including getting the high-profile TTRPG folx to talk about themselves, their industry origin stories, and encounters they’ve had during their adventures. He adds “that game designers are oftentimes some fascinating, empathetic people,” a fact that needs to be emphasized more. He also points toward his own experiences with worldbuilding, and shares that his “goal is to make a book that can help prepare people for the stresses of making these books by giving them some measure of forewarning, but also to reassure that they can make what they envision as well.”
Currently, Mendenhall has a list of 31 professional TTRPG worldbuilders he’s interviewed for Polyhedral, and adds that “a few unannounced surprises” are also in the works for the book. Just a few of the people whose thoughts and feelings you’ll find in Polyhedral include Matthew Mercer, Ashley Warren, Chris Spivey, Miguel Lopez, James Introcaso, Shanna Germain, Teos Abadia, Keith Baker, and Brandon Dixon.
Roll over to the Polyhedral Kickstarter for the full details, and to check out the 13 reward tiers to find one right for you.