At the beginning of the pandemic on an eerily quiet Saturday afternoon in March 2020, I sat down to design a game.
My sense at the time is that a lot of people were scared, isolated, and/or lonely. I thought if I designed an infinitely scaling, remotely playable game that anyone could print out at home, in a small way I might be able to connect with people around the world who were suddenly cut off from their gaming groups.
A few days later, I hopped on Facebook Live to play the first version of the game, and I was surprised and delighted by the number of people who joined me. The camera stayed on my dice and the 3 active realms (the same realms for all players), as the dice in Rolling Realms are used by all players. People asked questions, shared their scores, and pointed out things that did or didn’t work well. I typically playtest in private or via unguided “blind” playtest sessions, so it was refreshing to try it live with people around the world.
Over the next month or so, I iterated and played Rolling Realms this way nearly a dozen times. I’ll never forget the camaraderie and fellowship of those games, and I’ve heard from many people that it had a positive impact on them during a difficult time. It absolutely had a positive impact on me as a person and as a designer.
I truly had no intention of publishing Rolling Realms–why publish a game that anyone can print on a single piece of paper? But as the game evolved, I realized that it had the potential to bring joy to more people in an officially printed format, and by using reusable dry-erase cards, people wouldn’t need to print out the realms every time they wanted to play. Plus, each of the realms is a distilled minigame based on each of the 9 games we had at the time–an easy fit for a 3×3 grid on a piece of paper–but we had 2 other games in the works at the time, so using cards allowed us to include realms for those games in the box.
While our localization partners were reviewing and translating the game, one of them–Feuerland–contacted me to ask how I felt about making a realm based on Terra Mystica. I hadn’t considered making realms for non-Stonemaier Games, but we were already working on promo packs for realms that would release after the core game (another benefit of using cards as realms is that it made the game infinitely expandable–without meaning to, I’d accidentally designed an expandable card game!), so we decided to give it a try.
Artist Marius Petrescu had previously shared his versions of my realms on BoardGameGeek, and I really liked his work, so I reached out to him about working on the promo realms. It’s been a pleasure to work with Marius to this day.
Upon the game’s release, I decided to rekindle the game’s origins by playing the game live in the Rolling Realms Facebook group. A few people played along with me, but the biggest surprise was how many people watched and played afterwards on the YouTube version of the video. As a remotely playable game–one designed specifically not to have player interaction–I’d stumbled onto a game that anyone could play against me at any time.
The other surprise about the liveplay–which I split into 3 segments, one per round, each lasting around 10-15 minutes–was how I enjoyed it. I’m not a solo gamer, but spending a few minutes to solve a little puzzle (even just with a few people watching live) brought me a lot of joy. As a result, a year later I’ve now played 32 games of the published version of Rolling Realms live on Facebook.
The next surprise was that fans of the game started designing their own realms based on their favorite games and sharing them on BoardGameGeek. To date there are over 100 fan-designed realms. Some were so clever that I reached out to the designers and the publishers of those games to get permission (and pay them a licensing fee) to fully develop and publish promo packs based on those realms.
It was also an inspiration for me to design more promo realms based on games I enjoy (again, with the permission of the publisher) and other upcoming Stonemaier Games. It’s so easy to playtest new realms that the the design process moves much more quickly than full-interaction games. As recently teased, there are quite a few promos in production:
I was working on promo realms batch by batch, and I realized that I needed help creatively and logistically. So I reached out to a member of the Automa solo team who was active in the Rolling Realms fan realm community, Karel Titeca, to see if he would be interested in being the lead designer for promo realms. Karel has been wonderful to work with, and I’ve appreciated refocusing as a developer for the promo realms instead of as the designer.
Given its humble roots and the nature of its streamlined gameplay, I’ve always had modest expectations for Rolling Realms sales. Yet the game has over 40,000 units in circulation, and we’ve kept it in stock on our webstore and through retail.
Why am I writing about it today? Well, part of it is that I usually write a “lessons learned” post after a preorder launch, and I realized I never did that for Rolling Realms after the preorder a year ago. The other part is that I recently revealed 2 of the 3 new promo realms that we’ll offer on our webstore next week. Because each round of Rolling Realms is played with 3 realms, my tentative plan moving forward is to release new promos in sets of 3; I think that’s more customer-friendly than releasing 1 at a time. We may deviate from that for realms associated with new Stonemaier games, as it’s easy for customers to add a promo pack to their game preorder.
Here are the 2 new realms that will be available on our webstore on September 7, both inspired by games I adore:
Rolling Realms has provided one surprise after another, and I’m excited about the future of the game. Hopefully this post has given you some insights and ideas, and if you have any thoughts or questions, I look forward to seeing them in the comments!
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29 Comments on “One Surprise After Another: The Rolling Realms Story”
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Hey Jamie,
Thanks so much for sharing your process on making Rolling Realms! I got my copy a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying it.
I am curious if you have received much feedback about the longevity of the cards over time from you play-testers and customers. Do they tend to hold up with the coatings long term or do folks start to see wear/tear on the cards?
I ask because I am designing a new game and at a cross roads with potentially using dry erase markers to track hit points and player progression. Because cards are constantly moving, the physical cube trackers are not ideal and changing to dual layered (slotted) cardstock wouldn’t make sense with MFG costs.
Thanks for all that you do!
Aaron
Thanks for giving Rolling Realms a try, Aaron! I’ve played my copy of Rolling Realms over 40 times now, and the cards and the coating are holding up surprisingly well.
Amazing! Thanks for letting me know, Jamie! Your blog posts (and book) have been so helpful during my journey of creating board games. Cheers!
[…] Rolling Realms and Liveplays: With quite a few Rolling Realms promos in the works, this year we shifted to a strategy of releasing a new batch of 3 realms every few months. They coincide with my bi-weekly liveplays of the game on Facebook (posted afterwards on YouTube); I’ve now run 39 live games of Rolling Realms that anyone can play along with in real time or at their leisure. I’ve really enjoyed this, and I’m delighted that people continue to join me for this game. […]
Did i miss the sept 7 release? Was checking the store all day on the 7th and never saw the packs….
No, they haven’t been released yet. Jamey said the shipment was delayed a couple weeks so they would release in the next week or two from now hopefully.
Rob is correct! On September 6 we learned that the shipment was arriving later than expected, so we still announced everything but won’t actually sell it until it arrives in a week or so. We’ll send a Champion and a normal newsletter alert then.
This game has been such a joy! So flexible to play with anyone at any player count. The extended community creating fan realms has been really fun to interact with and see what others come up with. Playing with and against you on your plays has been fun and I enjoy that I can ‘catch up’ with your plays when I have an opportunity. This is one of my most played games as well. The story behind this is awesome and I really enjoyed following along from the beginning. Thanks for all you do Jamey.
As a busy parent of 2, Rolling Realms has been absolutely perfect for my wife and I (she’s the one I made the “Happy Birthday!” fan realm for if you remember it). It’s so flexible too, if all we have time for is one round, we can do that. This game is truly evergreen for us. Many, many good years of play ahead. Thank you, Jamey!
Thank you for designing that fan realm, Ben! I’m glad Rolling Realms has been a good fit for you and your wife.
I love the community aspect of rolling realms, i cant think of any other game where you can play on your own time, but still play against other people. I love watching the liveplays, i generally watch at the end and play 3 rounds at once.
Would you ever consider doing a liveplay of other stonemaier games in solo mode? It would be cool to see a live play of red rising or tapestry in solo mode!
Harrison: Thanks for asking about this! I actually only know the multi-player versions of our games, and part of the reason I think I’ve enjoyed the liveplays of Rolling Realms is that a round is so short (which I don’t think is the case for solo plays of our other games).
Have you considered a subscription model where we could pay a yearly fee for monthly or bi-monthly realm packs as they are released, maybe as an addon to the champion subscription?
There is a company that offers that type of subscription, and I’m trying to see if Covenant wants Rolling Realms, but for us, the Champion program is our subscription program. :)
I’m down for this, or even pre-ordering a certain amount like 3 to 5 sets of 3 packs. Would that be a way to gauge interest and help fund future production?
Tyler: I appreciate the feedback! Though the problem isn’t about gauging demand or funding; it’s logistics (and the fact that we already have a subscription program). However, I really am open to partnering with Covenant for Rolling Realms to join the other living card games in their portfolio–they’re considering it, and maybe hearing from others like you would encourage them to try it.
I have to admit that I watch some of you RR games without even playing the game. It is just fun to watch the puzzle unfold. I would guess that I am not the only one.
Thanks for another fun, approachable game!
I love the Rolling Realms story!
It’s one of my favorite games as it’s quick, it’s perfect with any player count, it’s very variable so no two games feel the same. I still get “Aha!” moments when playing by realizing a claver way to synergize two realms.
Not sure if you have mentioned this, but beside Feuerland has there been more publishers reaching you for promo realms?
Looking forward to all those realms!
Thank you! It’s mostly been us reaching out to publishers to propose a promo based on one of their games. With as many promos as we have in the works, I think that’s probably for the best (opposed to having it start to feel like we’re a promotional tool for games we know little about). At the same time, some of the realms are based on lesser-known games that someone on our team is passionate about.
Absolutely love Rolling Realms. I like to think of it as the Smash Bros of tabletop gaming.
Do you think you’ll ever release a collection of the various promos as it seems you have lots in production!
Jonny: That’s exactly how I’ve pitched it to other publishers! :) I think we’ll stick with the flexibility of the ala carte system, but always keeping the value proposition and cost in mind. We’ll discount realms upon release, and they’ll always be discounted for Champions. Plus, with the number of promos we’re making, I think people might end up picking and choosing the realms that are interesting to them (but not necessarily getting all of them).
I have been with Rolling Realms as a fan every step of the way and it has gotten more and more exciting as these new discoveries detailed here have opened up. It is really interesting to read you went through the steps in a similarly positive way.
It started as a neat little thing I printed out and now it has developed into this wonderful mesh of lunchtime puzzler and collectible card game.
I love playing against you on Youtube and posting my own rolls online for people to play against me. The wonder of what realms are coming and the implications of how many games could be included is so fun. Then getting to try the realms and seeing how their play style is a little nod to the real counterpart is just so delightful.
Thank you for embracing something in a way you didn’t originally intend for it!
Molly: Thanks for sharing your Rolling Realms journey! I like how you summed it up–a journey of embracing the unexpected.
Jamey, I was one of the people that watched the initial Rolling Realms playtests, I also played a lot of “Nine Worlds” playtests with my game group over Zoom. Thank you, you brought us a lot of joy in a time of misery. I can’t wait to see what the future of this game holds!
Christopher, it means a lot to hear that from you–thank you for sharing.
Thank you for the kind words, Jamey! This game has changed my life quite a bit. :-) My Rolling Realms journey started in 2020 as co-designer on the Minigolf solo mode, and it hasn’t stopped since. It’s my most played game to date (beating my 200+ KeyForge plays), and there’s still so much to come. Enjoying every step of the way, and still learning so much along the way. Thank you for all the opportunities!
Thank you, Karel–it’s been a delight to work with you and see the variety of your realm designs.
I love the fact that it hadn’t occurred to you to do non-Stonemaier games at first. Those kind of unexpected moments in design where someone else’s suggestion or some seemingly unrelated event leads you down a path you never conceived of originally are one of the joys of design. In your case, it opened up all these other possibilities and as you point out, the game you thought you were designing turned out to also be an expandable card game!
Mike: I completely agree!