Their System, Our Game: Homebrew and the Worlds of Pathfinder Scott DeJong 9780472040261

Our favorite tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) provide a chance to act out a fantasy. It might be the desire to wipe out foes with a single strike, the ability to charm even the most curmudgeonly townsfolk, or maybe even just the aspiration to adventure as a potted plant. Since game systems don't always let players craft the kinds of games they want to experience, this is when they turn to the "homebrew" process to create personal rules and worlds. While Pathfinder has a history of being an underdog to the longtime industry leader Dungeons & Dragons, it has an ethos of open game design that inspires players, indie makers, and third-party content creators to brew up new rules, characters, classes, and game settings.

Their System, Our Game looks at the history of Pathfinder and how it encourages aspiring makers to break into the game design space. Through interviews with player-creators and third party makers, the authors use a range of perspectives to define homebrew for TTRPGs. Taking a closer look at homebrew design, they create two homebrew campaigns (available as free downloads) collaboratively with two different groups of players. Player accounts of gameplay and designer reflections of how their homebrew actually played out at the game table outline some of the challenges and perks of designing on the fly, creating customized settings, and bending or breaking rules. The book concludes by going through the research, interviews, design, and play analysis to show what homebrew and Pathfinder mean together. Ultimately Their System, Our Game is a celebration of how players use homebrew to explore creation and expression in their own TTRPGs.

Scott DeJong is a PhD Candidate at Concordia University, Fulbright Scholar, and incoming postdoctoral scholar at McGill University Montreal.
Marc Lajeunesse is Research Associate and Coordinator at the Technoculture, Art, and Games Research Centre at Concordia University.

"Their System, Our Game is an engaging and organic blend of social science analysis, playable RPG supplement, and a love letter to it all. This is a great community-centered introduction to Pathfinder and the essence of the hobby, which is subversive co-creation."

"In Their System, Our Game, DeJong and Lajeunesse analyze the history, culture, and communities of Pathfinder to show how the game's systems and use exemplify wider patterns of 'open gaming' and homebrew. Through archival work, interviews, and ethnographic design research, the authors write both a love letter to and a deep investigation of tabletop players' practices and creativity. The result is a useful introduction to homebrew, tabletop game play, and tabletop industries for scholars and TTRPG fans alike."