Josh Heath

Josh Heath

@highlevelgames.bsky.social

COO HLG, philosophy, TTRPGs, intercultural dialogue, Star Trek, communications, and journalist

421 followers503 following446 posts

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Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

Last night I put my newest game live on DriveThruRPG! Swords and Science is a game designed to take advantage of my new system, The Great Hero System, which is designed to help run games that resemble He-Man, Captain Planet, She-Ra! #ttrpg #gamedesign legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/5607...

legacy.drivethrurpg.comSwords and Science - Ashcan Edition - High Level Games | DriveThruRPG.comSwords and Science is a new game and new system being developed by a crew of awesome creators who have worked on all kin

Josh Heath reposted

Level Zero Games
@level-zero-gaming.itch.io

This Saturday, 10/17! Come to PeopleCon if you're a DC, MD, VA local! Free tabletop gaming event!

Josh Heath@highlevelgames.bsky.social

DC, Maryland, Virginia local? Come check out PeopleCon 3 this Saturday at People's Book in Tacoma Park, MD #ttrpg #indiegames omnes.exeunt.press/p/gene-koo-p...

omnes.exeunt.pressTalking about PeopleCon with Gene KooPeople’s Book in Takoma Park, MD (Washington, D.C. area) is hosting a free indie tabletop game market on Saturday, October 17, 2026. I’ll be there! Here’s what to expect!

Josh Heath reposted

Level Zero Games
@level-zero-gaming.itch.io

Legends of the Dark World is a 1 page tabletop RPG designed to play like a top-down Zelda title. It's a rules-lite grid based dungeon crawler with fast character creation and includes a guide for crafting your own Zelda-like dungeons! Get it at @peoplesbooktakoma.com only during PeopleCon!

Josh Heath reposted

Failbetter Games | Wishlist Mandrake on Steam!
@failbettergames.com

Replying to @failbettergames.com

The role will close to applications on the 21st of October. To apply, please read the full job posting and follow the link to the application form from there; there's significantly more detail, especially on what we can offer as an employer.

failbettergames.comWriter and Narrative Designer (Senior/Mid-Level)We’re looking for a Writer and Narrative Designer to join our small in-house team at either a senior or mid level, working specifically on Fallen London.

Josh Heath reposted

Sticky Doodler ⏭️ These Games Are Not For Sale
@stickydoodler.bsky.social

Montgomery County MD's library system hosts its own anime & comic con! This year, Designed in the DMV will be there offering indie and zine games to delight everyone. Tomorrow might be the perfect weather to explore the great indoors with us! 📅 Sat, Sep 25 🕚 11-7 📍 MoCo Fairgrounds, Gaithersburg

Binary@binarystar.games

DMV folks! @junkfoodgames.bsky.social and I will be at RisuCon (in Gaithersburg) on this Saturday, the 26th. We'll have a fine selection of both our games and games from other designers in the area. Stop on by and say hi! www.risucon.com/risucon

risucon.comRisuCon | comic | Montgomery County, MD, USARisuCon is Montgomery County's Comic Con. RisuCon is the annual meeting of the Montgomery County Comic & Cosplay Club. RisuCon features vendors, seminars, games, trivia, anime screenings, and a cospla...

Josh Heath reposted

Chris | Junk Food Games
@junkfoodgames.bsky.social

all set up for tomorrow! look at all these artisanal, locally-crafted, independently-designed analog games!

Chris | Junk Food Games@junkfoodgames.bsky.social

Catch me at #RisuCon this Saturday! I'll be slinging a bunch of cool indie ttrpg's all made by local designers! Any locals should come swing by and say hi!

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

Sometimes spite motivation is good motivation. I was getting very annoyed at a person on a discord last week so today I finally put words to page and have nearly 2500 words on a #Shadowdark supplement. #ttrpg #indiedev hopefully it'll be everything I want it to be 😂

Josh Heath reposted

Sticky Doodler ⏭️ These Games Are Not For Sale
@stickydoodler.bsky.social

Kickstarter launch day video I did not script this in advance so today's coloring space is nothing special, just I decided the sky outside the Torii is night, with sparkly stars. Anyway go back this game. It's $8 or $12 to make you see coloring in a whole new light! youtube.com/shorts/YeXjo...

youtube.comA #ColoringBook #PuzzleGame for everyone, #crowdfunding now!YouTube video by StickyDoodler
Sticky Doodler ⏭️ These Games Are Not For Sale@stickydoodler.bsky.social

When the crayons all snap into the exact right numbers in Color Jams, it's magic. Back it when it launches tomorrow and experience it for yourself! youtube.com/shorts/U3RrI...

youtube.comCozy Coloring Game launches TOMORROW 🖍️YouTube video by StickyDoodler

Josh Heath reposted

Sticky Doodler ⏭️ These Games Are Not For Sale
@stickydoodler.bsky.social

We created Designed in the DMV to lift each other up as artists so we can better connect with players. So I'm super grateful to Grint and @gigantic-spider.bsky.social for repping the rest of us this weekend in eastern Maryland. Thank you!

Grint@greenintern.bsky.social

www.csmd.edu/hawkland/ind... I'll be tabling at Hawkland Gaming Festival tomorrow (9/19), representing the Designed in the DMV collective along with @gigantic-spider.bsky.social. If you can make it down to the College of Southern Maryland we'd love to see you! It's shaping up to be a great event!

csmd.edu Hawkland Gaming Festival | September 19, 2026 Join us September 19, 2026 at Hawkland Gaming Festival for Open Gaming, Game Library, Paint-and-Take Miniatures, Demos, Tournaments, Vendors.

Josh Heath reposted

Chris | Junk Food Games
@junkfoodgames.bsky.social

These are some of the cool indie ttrpg's we are gonna have at RisuCon! All by local designers! Featuring @slyrobotgames.bsky.social @stickydoodler.bsky.social @binarystar.games @greenintern.bsky.social @highlevelgames.bsky.social @playsamovar.bsky.social and me!

Chris | Junk Food Games@junkfoodgames.bsky.social

I'll be tabling at a local anime con later this month! I'll be representing the design collective I'm part of, Designed in the DMV, and will be selling cool indie ttrpg's! I'll also be tabling next to my wife Emily, who makes really great crochet creations. Come swing by if you're local!

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Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

4) Bring things back in focus. As a GM, your players will go off on a tangent if you let them. (No, I promise you the door isn't trapped) And this happens in team meetings too. Your role as the meeting facilitator is to know when to call a halt to the tangent and when you should let it unfold.

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

Notes and action items. Players need notes about what happened in a game session. Notes and action items are the same in a meeting. Keep good notes. Write out the due outs or action items and then follow up next session/meeting. Don't leave a dangling plot hook unless everyone agrees! #ttrpg

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Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

Speak Just Enough. GM role is to give context to the world. That's your role in meetings too! Give enough context to let the smart people do their work. Explain the problem and let them cook up crazy fixes. In D&D and other games the players make wild choices and that creativity is great at work!

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

Share the spotlight. As a follow-up to #1, you as the facilitator should help share the story spotlight. Get that dominant team member to cede airtime. You're all working toward a common goal (like slaying a dragon) so everyone needs to be the hero. A good GM helps balance strong and quiet voices.

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

Meeting Management: One of the skills I've been complimented on several times over the last few years is my meeting management style. I learned this from decades of being a Game Master for tabletop roleplaying games and the skills are easy to list but less easy to put into practice.

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

1) Everyone should be encouraged to participate. Call on folks and directly ask them what they think. Players in D&D often need to be coached through what is possible and have questions they won't ask until they are brought into the scene. The same is true for team members in most meetings.

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

One of the best things I did last year was join the Designed in the DMV Collective. It's an informal group of game designers based in the DC Metro area. To say I love it is an understatement. The people are awesome and it's helped a lot #ttrpg #gameDesign #localindie #indie www.designedinthedmv.org

designedinthedmv.orgDESIGNED IN THE DMVDesigned In the DMV is an organization of people who make tabletop (physical) games in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area. We include writers, artists, visual designers, dicemakers, GMs, and anyone else...

Josh Heath reposted

Thought Punks 🎲 TTRPGs + Punk 👩‍🎤
@thoughtpunks.com

🎲 #TabletopTuesday Spotlight! 🎲 Let’s boost awesome creators! Share your own #TTRPG project or shout out a creator whose work deserves more love. What makes it special? Drop links and let’s celebrate each other! #TTRPGTuesday #TTRPGCommunity #IndieGames

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

My newest game uses cards. Specifically it uses tarot cards. I've said before I don't like cards as randomizers and that is still true. However, the tarot cards in Calling Cards are storytelling support vehicles, not success and failure randomizers. For me, cards are much slower 1/3 #ttrpg #games

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

than dice as a success randomizer. They feel complicated even though they aren't and they take up more space and have to be handled better. However, as a storytelling tool I think they work well. Cards have meanings attributed to them because of divination and card game history #gamehistory #tarot

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

So, with Calling Cards the tarot you use are designed to help you tell a story. You look at the card itself, analyze the content inside the card and use it to help create a character for your play partner(s). So its random only in so far as you'll pull a different root character idea each time 3/3

Josh Heath
@highlevelgames.bsky.social

Game Design Idea Small groups are given a box/bag of LEGO. Then they are given instructions for a random build of at least 100 bricks. Assign people different roles: instruction reader, project manager, builder and have the team work through the difficulties. #teamBuilding #gameDesign