Tabletop role-playing games are a rapidly-growing space, with new designers constantly innovating. As a small press publishing company, Possum Creek Games is constantly looking for new talent and new projects. Here are our guidelines for submission!

What We’re Looking For

While we are broadly a publishing company, Possum Creek Games has a particular style and in-house brand that informs what we choose to publish. When applying to Possum Creek Games, consider not only whether you’d be a good fit for us, but whether we’re a good fit for you. Here are some of the qualities we look for in the games we publish:

• We publish tabletop role-playing games. We aren’t currently looking for board games, video games, novels, or poetry.
• We publish “story game” systems, inspired by the work of Avery Alder, Vincent and Meguey Baker, Jeeyon Shim, etc. We aren’t currently looking for adventures or modules.
• We predominantly publish Belonging Outside Belonging systems, or diceless bespoke systems. This doesn’t rule out other systems, we’re just being honest about what we favor.
• We publish zines and books, ranging from 5k to 30k words. Most of the books we publish are trade paperback size and black and white. We aren’t currently looking for large (50k+ word) epic tomes or one page TTRPGs.
• We are looking for games that are mostly or entirely complete, that need a development team to support them. We aren’t looking for concepts, ideas, or post-crowdfunding projects.
• We publish games predominantly by marginalized authors. We encourage submissions from Black, Indigenous, and other writers of color, writers in the global south, queer writers, and disabled writers. 

Understand that it might take months or even years before your game is published. We work on a schedule over a year ahead of the present, which means there might be a large gap between “we want to publish you” and the book in your hands.

Submission Email

If you are interested in submitting a project to Possum Creek Games for us to consider publishing, please send an email to main@possumcreekgames.com with information about both yourself and the project.

In the email, please be sure to include all of the following about yourself:

• Your name and what pronouns you go by
• A couple sentences about yourself
• Links to your public social media / website

Then, include all the following for the project:

• The name of the project
• 1-2 paragraphs summarizing the project both narratively and mechanically. This should be a broad stroke reflection, like an elevator pitch.
• 1 paragraph about how you visualize the final project (are you imagining a zine, a softcover book, a hardcover book etc.)
• Information about previous publishings, if any (including places like Itch.io)
• A copy of the game in its current form, as a Google Docs or .docx file. We do not accept games in layout.

We will not draw inspiration from any submitted projects, and we will read them only to evaluate for the purposes of publishing. We will attempt to respond to every submission—whether with a proposal or a brief rejection—but ask that your wait a minimum of 6 months before sending any status queries or additional work. As a small team, we appreciate your patience as we work our way through the submissions queue.

If we choose not to publish your project, that is not a personal rejection or a mark against your writing ability. We currently publish around 2-3 projects a year, and we get many more pitches than that. We have to say no to many talented and incredible designers, for any number of reasons.

Our Services

When we take on a project, we bring all of the following to the table:

• We provide developmental editing and feedback, as well as line edits and copyedits. We expect the writer to be present for this and involved in the editing process, while also being receptive to changes.
• We lay out the text, along with bringing art, proofing, indexing, etc. to the book. We will be responsible for connecting with artists, editors, etc. but we are open to your preferences — each project is its own team.
• We will work with manufacturers to develop the book and print it.
• We will create merchandise for your book if applicable.
• We will work with you for marketing. We expect you to be present and active during the marketing process, but we will also provide marketing resources.
• If the project is appropriate for crowdfunding, we will work with you to run a crowdfunding campaign on an appropriate platform.
• We will provide fulfillment from our warehouse in Utah, including wholesale delivery, connections to distributors like IPR or Heart of the Deernicorn, and direct delivery to pre-order customers. We will provide ongoing fulfillment through our website and manage inventory stock.
• We will reprint the book as necessary and ensure there’s always enough in stock.

We compensate writers via a mixed advance/retail royalty model. This will be negotiated based on how well we expect the book to sell and the costs we put into the book. We often negotiate different rates for crowdfunding vs. post-crowdfunding sales.

If all of this sounds like a good match to you, please contact us at main@possumcreekgames.com and we’ll be in touch!