From the pages to the gaming table: Designing a homebrew system to adapt a book series into a ttrpg

Author ORCID Identifier

Ricardo Victoria-Uribe 0000-0003-4494-5105
Nazario Robles-Bastida 0000-0002-7822-9003

Authors

Ricardo Victoria-Uribe, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de MéxicoFollow
Nazario Robles-Bastida, University of CalgaryFollow
Chris BirminghamFollow

Country

Mexico

Abstract

Adapting media properties, in particular fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, has been a staple of the development of tabletop role-playing games since their inception. Different properties, ranging from Lord of the Rings to Call of Cthulhu and everything in between has been undergoing this process. Developing an indie game based on indie and self-published books can be used as a promoting tool on overlapping audiences, which is the case for the selected book series for this design exercise. This paper has the aim of sharing these developing experiences during the early stages of creating a quick start guide supplement that can be included in further books and promotional material for readers.

Recommended Citation

Victoria-Uribe, Ricardo; Robles-Bastida, Nazario; and Birmingham, Chris (2025) "From the pages to the gaming table: Designing a homebrew system to adapt a book series into a ttrpg," Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM: Vol. 4: Iss. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/jrpssteam/vol4/iss2/3