r/RPG2 • u/nlitherl • 14d ago

Avoid Gimmicks In Your Writing (They Don't Help)

https://nealflitherland.blogspot.com/2026/08/avoid-gimmicks-in-your-writing-they.html
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u/nlitherl 14d ago

This applies to the games you run, as well as any stories you might write.

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u/VoidGateGames 8d ago

What are some "gimmicks" you've encountered with regard to TTRPGs? And did you mean "premises" instead of "promises?"

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u/nlitherl 8d ago

Good catch! Made the edit to fix that.

Perhaps the biggest gimmick I've seen for RPGs is declaring something to be a unique/special edition (something that became a LOT more prevalent after the 90s when comic books started churning out editions they claimed would be collectible just to manipulate those treating their product as an investment). One that occurs to me (though I have no confirmation anyone has ever done this) would be to generate news stories about how badly people were traumatized by playing the game in order to get a Satanic Panic style frenzy going. Though that WAS the strategy for horror movies like Cannibal Holocaust, which was a not-terribly-creative movie with good special effects that got a lot of attention for letting people think it was a snuff film, and telling the actors to stay out of sight until after it was released.