by Luka Brave

For the last several months, I and several other indie TTRPG enthusiasts have been tackling big challenges found in the tabletop roleplay hobby as part of the volunteer network Chimera Hearts. One of these key challenges is the amount of mental effort it takes to find and learn new TTRPGs before you can play them, known as cognitive frontload. Our network has been brainstorming solutions to make engaging with new games easier.

One aspect of this is accessibility.

Something being accessible means that it’s easily able to be used, understood, or engaged with by a wide variety of people. This includes people who have varying disabilities, though accessibility also affects those who are abled. A blurry photo of densely-packed text is inaccessible, even if you have no reading or visual disabilities. A text like a TTRPG being more accessible helps everyone engage with it, and can bring in new fans of all ability levels.

Through Chimera Hearts, I have led an initiative to make TTRPGs more accessible. This has led to two outcomes. The first is a list of tips for designers on how to make their in-development TTRPGs more accessible for a wide audience. The second is a campaign to encourage more audiobook versions of TTRPGs.

Below, I’ve published my recommendations for how designers can make their upcoming TTRPGs accessible. If you’re interested in how to develop audiobooks for TTRPGs, or looking for a list of TTRPGs that include audiobooks, you can follow this link to the Audiobooks for Accessibility page.

The Accessible Rulebook Checklist

This list of suggestions helps all readers engage with your rulebook, disabled and abled alike. It has been organized by game development stage for ease of reference by designers. Implementing every suggestion won’t be feasible for or applicable to every game. However, implementing even a few of these bullet points can make a difference for your audience!

Feedback on this list was given by the Chimera Hearts server and the Dice Exploder server. Special thanks to Grace Gittel Lewis for adding to this list. You can find Grace’s Accessible Design Survival Guide here for more information.

Drafting the Game

1. Use the inverted pyramid method to order information. Information should flow from broad to specific. Sentences should start with known and established information and transition to new information.
   • EX: Combat → Melee Attacks → Unarmed Combat → Grappling
2. Include a PC build-a-long. Demonstrate a player character being built step-by-step in your character creation section.
3. Include examples of play following sample players and characters. These should be as short as gets your point across (less than a page each) and either paired with each unfamiliar mechanic or at the end of each chapter.
   • These can come in different formats, such as dialogue script, prose, comic panels, or session notes (the latter especially for solo games).

Completed Draft

1. Use clear chapter titles. Have the chapters grouped into related sections.
   • EX: Chapters grouped into Character Creation, Core Rules, and Running a Campaign
2. Make your chapters short and specific. This aids reading and looking up information during play.
3. At the beginning of each chapter, include a one- to two-sentence overview of what that chapter is about.
4. For each chapter, include a bullet point summary of the main points covered in the chapter at the beginning and a more in-depth summary in bullet points or prose at the end.
5. Include clear definitions for new terms when they appear, shortly after they appear, or follow the term with a reference to where the definition can be found.
6. Include a quick reference guide for long or complex games. This should be provided as a print-friendly sheet and/or on the inside of the front or back cover of the rulebook.
   • EX: A 1-page rule summary

Layout

1. Use color and/or symbol coding for different sections. Symbols are preferable to colors if only one can be used.
   • EX: The character creation pages have a yellow bar with stars on the top outer edge. The GMing section has a red bar with swirls on the middle outer edge. This allows those sections to be found quickly when flipping or scrolling through the rulebook.
2. If using color, make sure your pages can be read in greyscale. The minimum acceptable contrast ratio for screen-reading given by the WCAG is 4.5:1.
3. Use accessible fonts for body text that are reading- and vision-disability friendly. Titles and headers may be more ornate, but they should be larger if the font is unclear. Many people find font in sizes 12, 13, or 14 easier to read than smaller text.
4. Make sure your body text has enough room for tracking and line spacing. Cluttered and cramped text is hard to read. Paragraphs should have line breaks between them, not solely indents.
5. If your page size is larger, use two columns for text rather than one wide column. The ideal number of characters on each line of text is 50 to 75. This helps prevent overwhelm, while readers can keep their place and read faster.
6. Limit the amount of information on each page. A large wall of text on a page is intimidating and overwhelming to parse.
7. Use lines, borders, or boxes to separate sections of text and mark different categories of information.
   • EX: A line separates two mechanics under the same heading. A colored box further down the page indicates a GMing tip.
8. Keep ideas together on each page and each spread. Try not to break up sentences or paragraphs between pages or columns.
9. Make a visual distinction between creative text and informative text.
   • EX: The paragraph of in-world prose at the start of the chapter is italicized.
10. Differentiate keywords and newly introduced terms in a visually striking way, such as bolded, colored, and/or a different font.

Preparing to Publish

1. Make sure PDFs are hyperlinked and bookmarked. Tables of content should be hyperlinked to the corresponding sections.
2. Include alt text of important images, such as flowcharts or main character art.
3. Include an EPUB, plaintext file, or text-only PDF. If providing a text-only PDF, include light, dark, and lower-contrast versions.
   • Some people find colored text easier to read.
4. Create an audiobook version of your rulebook.

Find a PDF and EPUB version of this list here on Itch. Includes Accessibly Designed logos for use in rulebooks or on store pages.

More resources

Here are some more resources to check out on making TTRPGs accessible:

• Accessibility in Tabletop Design by Explorers Design dives into the differences between inclusive, accessible, and approachable design. It links to specific guidance from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
• More Than ALT Text: Designing for Accessibility hosted by the Indiana State Library YouTube account, a panel discussion on accessibility in TTRPG design. The link goes to TTRPGkids and includes further links to the panel members and their resource document.
• The Games Accessibility Knowledgebase. A database of accessibility guidance relating to games. This database is largely video game focused, but there are still TTRPG-relevant resources included.

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This page is a living document and may be added to or edited over time.

Header image by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash.

For comments, questions, or concerns, reach out to Luka at luka@psychhoundgames.com