How to design an RPG with free art

Or I'm poor but want to be creative

Hello and welcome back to Sneak Leaps!

Alright look, I’m a cheap bastard. It’s the truth, I’ve accepted it. I also like making RPGs, and I feel the best RPGs are accompanied by art that invokes the feeling of fantasy, dread, wonder, horror, or whatever the RPG is about. So how do I combine those two things?

Well, like, that’s kinda what this post is about.

Are you here expecting how to find cool public domain, or royalty free art? Well you are in the wrong place! There are a ton of great resources for how to find free art, none better than this

Skeleton Code Machine

post.

Public domain art resources

Also, check out the recently launched Public Domain Image Archive!

I recently made a game called Zorg! using art from the amazing Hairic Lilred, who is totally kickass and allows their art to be used under the CC-BY licence. Check out their stuff, it’s pretty fun.

Pro-Tip: Make sure you are abiding by any licence or public domain laws. And give credit to the artist even if it isn’t required because it’s cool and your a cool person.

Also check out Zorg! It’s a fun adventure. Wait, is this whole post just an advertisement for Zorg?

Now this is how I do the thing.

Step 1: Finding the Art

Using cool guides like the one from Skeleton Code Machine, I started browsing the public domain or Creative Commons art. I’m looking for a few specific things and I start grouping art pieces:

Important note: I don’t yet have a specific idea or story for an RPG at this point. I’m going in with an empty mind. Completely smooth brained.

1. Consistency in art style - Similar colour schemes (black and white, or water colours or etching, etc). I’m looking for pieces that look like they could be from the same works.

2. Similar subjects - Knights and dragons, or sci-fi, or whatever.

I gather a large amount of these works that fit. Maybe 20 pieces.

Pro Tip: Look for specifics artists as you’ll likely find similar art styles and subjects.

Step 2: Find the Story

I then pulled up all the art pieces I found, looking for these three elements:

1. A dramatic scene - Something cool or interesting that will set the ‘vibe’ for the game I’m considering making. This scene adorns Zorg's cover, as you can see above. I love that scene. What is that wax construct? Who is the person fighting them? What kind of dungeon does this happen in?

2. A heroic character - Who is going to represent your good guy or protagonist in the story if you like to use fancy words? See Shazza below: Look how cool she is and she has a friend rat? She has got to be the hero.

   

3. A bad guy - Who is going to represent the badie you’ll go up against? Antagonist for fancyfolk. See Otis below: He just looks a bit mean, doesn't he?

Step 3: What Kind of Game will this Be?

This part isn’t a step as much as it was something I had been thinking about as I moved through the first two steps. What is this game even? This is where we go from daydreaming and looking at pretty pictures to putting a game together.

As I was making this for a game jam, I knew I wanted it to be a smaller but self-contained adventure. It had to have dungeon crawling, and I wanted it to be solo. All that coalesced in my brain juice to create a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style game (or gamebook, as it is also known).

Step 4: Mechanics to Serve the Story

Now we know a whole lot about the game but we don’t know how it will actually work.

There can be an argument made for mechanics leading game design, but because with Zorg we already have a story, characters and the type of game we want to make, mechanics need to serve what we have already.

The core of Zorg’s rules.

In the case of Zorg I wanted a very simple stat and check where it is just a d6 + stat, always aiming to equal or beat a 5. Simple and easy to learn, it is a great fit for the kind of rollicking cozy adventure I want with Zorg.

Step 5: Fill in the Blanks

Let’s take a quick stock of what I had at this point:

✅ Kickass Art
✅ A fun scene, a bad guy and a good guy
✅ Know what kind of game I want
✅ Simple mechanics to serve the story

At this point, I sit down to write the actual game, the full story plot, the dungeon, the enemies and other challenges. That may seem like the ‘hard’ part but honestly, because I already have so much established and a majority of the story and game elements decided, it comes easily.

Significant large additions are:

• Caleb and Ross as playable characters.

Caleb and Ross

• The Frogkin family adds a bit more of a reason to be adventuring

• Lots of evilfolk and traps to fill in the various rooms of the dungeon.

And there you have it. Zorg! was completed in under a month from the first concept to publishing on Itch. You don’t need to move that fast, and I’d recommend you definitely give any game you are working on more time in the playtesting stage than I did (it was for a jam after all).

Quick Design Lessons for Using Free Art

🎨 Art sets the tone and vibe of the game. I believe art is essential to an RPG. It tells players how the game should be played and inspires them to pick up dice or invite their friends over. 

🖼️ If you're using free or public-domain art, Start with the art! Look at the art, group pieces you like into similar images, and construct a story or situation in your head that combines several images. 

👩🏼‍🎨 Scenes in art you should look for - A good guy (protagonist), a bad guy (antagonist) and a cool scene that sets the vibe (I’m sure there is a fancy term I don’t know).

🤯 Go into the process with an open mind for mechanics - If you head into this wanting to use a specific mechanic you may find yourself a bit frustrated. Instead, consider looking at mechanics only after you’ve done the other steps first.

Final tip: If you are using art freely given by a living artist to the community, like Hairic, and your game makes a few bucks, consider tipping them. It isn’t required, but it’s a nice thing to do, and you're a nice person—I know it.

Thanks for reading Sneak Leaps! If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe, and welcome to the New Year!

—

Croaker