So You Wrote a Game… Now What?

How to Share Your Indie RPG With the World - Part 1

By Chris Hill, Scrap Yarn Games

So you’ve written a game. It might be a micro-RPG that came to you in the shower, a solo pub-crawl through a monster infested town that was written as a dare (hi friends!), or a sprawling campaign setting that you've been working on for years. However your game came to be, sooner or later you’ll reach the same question every indie designer hits: how can I put this into the world and maybe make a buck or two?

A lot of people assume you need a publisher to take notice of your game before it can ever see the light of day. That’s one route, sure, but it’s also a much tougher one, especially for new designers. The easier path? Bet on yourself. Self-publishing lets you get your work out there without waiting for a gatekeeper to wave you in.

You don’t need a huge menu of platforms to get started, just a few solid, beginner-friendly ones, and we absolutely have those. Since Scrap Yarn Games is basically just me (plus a handful of excellent friends for playtesting and an assortment of muses), I want to share the path I took and a few other options worth considering. They’re all accessible, low-pressure, and supportive places for small or brand-new publishers. You just need to figure out what will best fit your goals.

Why I Started with itch.io (and Why You Might, Too)

Itch.io is like the cozy front porch of indie tabletop design. It’s been incredibly welcoming to this beginner, comfortably flexible, and it seems built to support creators who are experimenting, learning, and trying things out. Even though many people still associate itch.io with video games, the tabletop section is full of small designers and solo creators. It’s a place where your game can be exactly as tiny, or ambitious as you want it to be.

One of the biggest reasons I publish on itch is the pay-what-you-want system. You can set a fixed price or use a “suggested price” model where players choose to pay more, less, or nothing at all. They also offer “community copies,” which let you give out free downloads while keeping your main price intact. All of this lowers the barrier for new folks to try your work and creates a culture of generosity that I really appreciate. And if you want to share the game with friends or reviewers, you can slip them a free copy directly without touching your pricing or tossing a pile of freebies into the public space.

Itch allows creators to choose how much revenue they share with the platform. They have a suggested 10% revenue sharing, but you get to decide how much you want to pass along and honestly? This is a bargain. Most companies will ask for 30% or more, so I always give itch their due cut. They’re providing a service I value, and I want them to keep the lights on. I think of it as contributing to the creative ecosystem I’m benefiting from.

Another thing I love: itch doesn’t demand exclusivity. You can publish your game here, and later, if you want to try another storefront, you’re free to do that and it effects your itch account exactly 0%. For small creators, flexibility matters. In these early days of Scrap Yarn Games, that freedom, plus the tools they offer, made itch the perfect place to begin.

DriveThruRPG: Bigger Audience, Bigger Trade-offs

DriveThruRPG.com is the largest roleplaying marketplace on the internet, and there’s no denying the visibility that brings. People go to DriveThruRPG specifically to look for table-top games, supplements, zines, and adventures. The storefront is familiar to long-time gamers, and if someone’s browsing for something like your game, there’s a decent chance they’ll actually find it. DriveThruRPG also offers extensive print-on-demand services. If you're ready to bring your game into the physical world but don't want to invest in printing equipment or distribution, this is an excellent place to start.

But DriveThru’s size and bonus features come with trade-offs. Their revenue share is significantly larger than itch’s, and if you aren’t exclusive to their platform, that percentage climbs even higher. That’s something to be aware of when you’re a small publisher working on tight margins. They’re also better suited to creators who already have an established audience or a few titles under their belt. For brand-new designers it can feel like stepping into a very big room where everyone is already talking loudly.

If your goal is broad visibility and you’re ready for a larger commercial environment, DriveThru is a solid option. But if you’re still finding your footing, it may not be the easiest place to start. At some point Scrap Yarn Games will absolutely expand to DriveThruRPG, but I’m not rushing it. I’m still developing my catalog and finding my voice, and for the moment, smaller platforms offer the breathing room I need.

Ko-fi: A Small Shop Before A Big Shop

Ko-fi.com is often used as a tip jar (sort of like a one-time use Patreon), but it's also platform where you can upload digital games and sell them directly. It’s clean, it’s easy to use, and it’s great for folks who want a lightweight storefront without diving into the world of Shopify or building a full website.

It’s important to understand how Ko-fi differs from itch and DriveThru: it doesn’t have a searchable marketplace. There’s no central hub where people browse for tabletop RPGs and stumble across your work. If someone finds your Ko-fi store, it’s because you brought them there through social media, search engines, your newsletter, or word of mouth. That makes Ko-fi more like having your own little shop on the corner of the internet. It’s personalized, but people won’t wander in unless you hand them directions. It’s a solid supplement to a marketplace account or a good home base if you’re comfortable doing your own promotion, but it’s not where most people discover new games by accident.

I’ll be honest: I don’t have experience publishing through Ko-fi like I do with itch. But for folks who want something simple, flexible, and independent without committing to a full e-commerce platform, it seems to be a solid choice. If you want to see Ko-fi in action as a shop, check out dungeonhavoc's page to see how it's done.

Setting Up Shop on Your Own Website

For some creators, the dream is to build a little digital home of their own where their games live alongside their blog posts, mailing lists, freebies, play reports, and whatever other things they make. If you're not a web designer (it was so easy in the early days!), platforms like Wix and Squarespace offer simple tools for building dynamic sites, and Shopify and Big Cartel make it possible to turn your website into a proper storefront fully under your control.

Running your own shop means you get to shape the look, feel, and structure of your store. You set the policies, you’re not standing in anyone else’s digital shadow and while you're still paying web hosting fees, you're not sharing a percentage of the revenue from each sale. The trade-off is that this route comes with more responsibility. There’s no built-in marketplace to help people discover your work and, just like Ko-fi, your audience will find your shop because you told them about it. But if you’re ready to build your own brand space and you enjoy having full creative control, this approach can be incredibly satisfying.

Shopify is powerful, customizable, and designed for businesses with a wide range of products or long-term growth. Big Cartel is simpler, especially for small catalogs or limited releases. Both allow you to sell digital downloads easily, and pair with the all-in-one website building platforms if you plan to share updates, design diaries, or other content.

A website-based store often becomes a “second home”. Once you’ve got a few titles out in the world it becomes the place your community can visit directly, without navigating someone else’s algorithm. But for most beginners, it’s something to grow into, not something you need from day one.

Publishing The Sylvan made me realize that an itch.io page alone isn’t enough for what I want to build. I had more games knocking about in my head, but I also want a place to share the practical lessons I am learning, and to build a community around that work. A website gives me room to do all of that in one place.

Indie Press Revolution: A Future Step for Growing Creators

Somewhere between the sprawling marketplace of DriveThruRPG and getting an established publishing company to take a chance on your game sits Indie Press Revolution. They are a curated distributor that works with small and mid-sized RPG publishers. They’re not a platform most people start with, but they’re worth knowing about as you grow.

Unlike itch or DriveThru, you can’t simply upload your game and call it a day. IPR reviews submissions, has minimum standards for quality and production, and generally works with creators whose games are already polished and ready for a broader audience. But once you’re in, they help with distribution, sales, and getting your work into brick and mortar stores without the giant machinery of a major publisher.

In many ways, IPR feels like one step up from DriveThruRPG and two steps up from the scrappy, do-it-yourself creativity of itch. Not because the work is “better,” but because the infrastructure shifts. You’re no longer selling solely to individual readers, but to retailers and libraries and game shops looking to stock interesting indie titles.

For most beginning designers, IPR is way outside the starting lane, and that’s absolutely fine. But if you have a project that’s grown beyond its earliest digital release and you’re ready for wider distribution outside of a major publisher, IPR is a path worth keeping in your back pocket.

So What’s the Best Starting Point?

If you’re brand new to digital tabletop publishing, itch.io is, in my opinion, the easiest place to begin. It’s approachable, forgiving, community-oriented, and built to support exactly the kind of small, experimental games so many of us are excited to make. DriveThruRPG offers bigger visibility but asks more in return, and Ko-fi or a small website/shop setup give you autonomy but expect you to bring your own audience.

Full disclosure here: While I use Wix and Shopify to run my website and am a huge fan of what itch.io is doing for independent creators, I have not been paid to promote any of the services in this post. These are just my thoughts and experiences that I want to share with you, my fellow designers. Because whichever path you choose, you’re taking the first step toward getting your work into the hands of players, and that’s something worth celebrating.