Playwright is a tabletop RPG that uses a 3d20 take-the-middle system with a universal target of 15 for any challenging task. Players gain Advantage or Disadvantage based on the situation, and that determines whether they take the higher or lower result from their roll. The design goal has been to create a simple and dynamic tabletop game that has a modern approach to characters but mimics old-school RPG brutality and gold-driven progression for the campaign experience.

I designed the game system as a solo hobby project over 6 years, started during the pandemic lockdown in 2020. Throughout development I have maintained a live rulebook and playtested iterations with friends and strangers in both live and digital tabletop settings, often one-off adventures used to showcase character features and stress-test combat. Much of the current work has been created using Google Docs, Sheets, and Canva for basic drafting, and the digital whiteboard Shmeppy for testing.

Playwright started as a homebrew modification to Tavern Tales and is heavily inspired by my favorite RPGs: D&D 1st, 4th, and 5th editions, Deathwatch, Blades in the Dark, Fate, and Burning Wheel.

As of Spring 2026, Playwright is currently in ashcan form while I design a print-ready layout in Affinity Publisher 2 and write a series of adventures with maps, enemies, and continuing narrative to be included with the rulebook as a miniature ‘onboarding campaign’. My plan is to release the game on Itch.io for free to get further reception and testing under a CC-BY 4.0 license.