064: Designing TTRPG layouts with Chris Hopper

Chris Hopper is the layout and graphic designer for Burnaway, as well as for several other ttrpgs in the indie scene. We talk about working as a freelance layout designer, working within this community, tips for working with your designers, and making your games and layouts more accessible. I learned so much from Chris, and I know y’all will too!

This episode is actually going to be the first in a short series in which I chat with some of my own project team members. What does that mean? Well, some of you may remember that last year, I mentioned I am the project manager for a new indie ttrpg called Burnaway. The game is launching on Kickstarter on February 7th, and I wanted to introduce you all to some of the awesome people behind the scenes! Be sure to check out the show notes for a link to the pre-launch page on Kickstarter, and the Arnamantle website, where you can grab an interactive story primer to get an idea of the game’s setting.

Find Burnaway

• Kickstarter
• Website

Find Chris:

• Linktree

Find Roll Play Grow:

• Show Page
• Patreon
• Discord
• Lightheart Adventures Website
• Lightheart Twitter
• Lightheart Instagram

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction & Updates
• 4:24 Chris Introduction
• 9:19 How Chris got into game design
• 13:36 How Chris got into freelance layout design
• 18:23 Chris' typical ttrpg layout design process
• 27:45 What writers can do to help make layout design easier
• 31:35 Commons mistakes in ttrpg layout design
• 34:11 Making your layouts more accessible
• 39:53 What has been the most challenging part?
• 44:04 What has been the most rewarding part?
• 47:08 Upcoming Projects
• 49:06 Where can people find you?
• 50:10 Wrap-up