Let's Make Testing Easy!
Testing turns good products into great products. Every project benefits from testing, from the biggest system books to the smallest gazetteers. Too often, products go without testing because their creators feel that they don’t have the time or know-how to run tests.
It doesn't have to be that way!
Pesto's Guide to Testing is a comprehensive guide to TTRPG testing aimed at new creators, but includes plenty of tips and resources for experienced designers as well.
Topics include:
- What Do Testers Look For?
- When Should I Start Testing?
- How Do I Prepare for Tests?
- Where Can I Find Testers?
- Using a Bug Tracker
- Collecting Feedback Through Surveys
and much more.
The guide is also brimming with resources, including a bug tracker, a guide for players on how to be a good tester, and rules for building characters for testing 5e products.
Who's Pesto?
Hi! I'm Pesto (actually, I'm Spencer), and I'm a freelance tester and designer. I've been testing TTRPGs since 2019 and I'm the contract senior tester with MCDM. I've also tested for M.T. Black, Uncaged: Goddesses, the Doomed Forgotten Realms series, and several crowdfunded products that are coming soon.
Which is all to say that I've spent hundreds of hours testing products designed by some of the best in the business.
And I'm going to share all of my secrets with you, for free.
Why am I doing this? I owe my success to the many mentors that shared their expertise as I was getting started, and still help me to this day. This guide is my way of paying that forward.
Financial Breakdown
Your support will allow me to release this guide for free. New developers have enough up-front expenses to worry about; I don't want this to be one of them.
Editing: $250
A guide isn't any good if it's not clear and easy to read, and I've teamed up with Sabriel Mastin, my longtime editor and a great friend, to make sure that happens.
Stretch Goal 1 - Print-on-Demand and Amazon: $500
If this campaign raises $500, I'll work with Chris Hopper to offer this as a softcover print-on-demand on DriveThruRPG and as an epub on Amazon.
Stretch Goal 2 - Double the Editor's Rate: $750
I would love to give more money to my editor. She makes sure no one else finds out about my egregious misuse of commas. If this campaign raises $750, I'll be able to do that.
Stretch Goal 3 - Reinvestment: $751+
Every dollar after $750 will go toward art and editing for future products. A war chest will allow me to get a bunch of on-hold projects back on track.
Yes, there will be kobolds.
Timeline
Pesto's Guide to Testing is about 95% written at the moment.
Once it's done, I'll float it to a few fellow testers to get their
feedback, and then it's off to the editor. My goal is to have the PDF
fully released by the end of March.
If we hit the first stretch goal, I'll work with Chris to get a
timeline for the print-on-demand and epub conversion, and will update
this section as soon as I have it.
Perks
I'll create a custom 5e kobold stat block based on a short prompt you provide, such as "flying grenadier" or "sparkly unicorn rider". It'll be around 300 words, so pretty similar to the ones in Flee, Mortals!. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
I'll perform a read-through of one of your projects (up to 5,000 words) and provide bugs in a bug tracker. Normally this would cost between $50 and $100. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
I'll run a 4-hour playtest for one of your projects (up to 5,000 words) and provide bugs in a bug tracker. Normally this would cost between $150 and $200, to account for reading the material and entering the bugs themselves. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
- Includes Backer Discount Read-through
I'll create a custom band of ten 5e kobolds stat block based on a theme you provide, such as "ascended angelic kobolds" or "volatile brewers". The stat blocks will average around 300 words, so pretty similar to the ones in Flee, Mortals!. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
Highlights
See all activity109FAQ
Wait, free? Really?
Yep! My goal is to list it on Itch.io and DriveThruRPG as pay-what-you-want with a suggested price of $5, and the message "grab it for free now, and if you find it helpful, consider buying it once your product breaks even."
I won't be able to offer the print-on-demand or Amazon versions for free—that isn't an option for those platforms—but the PDF will always be free.
What are the terms and conditions for custom kobolds?
I reserve the right to reject any prompt, and will do so if the prompt is hateful or discriminatory. If I reject your prompt, you'll have a one-time opportunity to provide a new one.
I will provide you with a work-for-hire contract specifying that you own the copyright to the kobold after it's delivered, but that if you use it in a product, you must credit me as its designer. Depending on the number of rewards claimed (kobolds, read-throughs, and play-throughs), fulfillment may take several weeks. Kobolds will be delivered in the order that the signed contracts are received back.
You must redeem this perk by December 31, 2023.
What are the terms and conditions for read throughs and play throughs?
I reserve the right to reject any project, and will do so if the project is hateful or discriminatory. If I reject your project, you'll have a one-time opportunity to provide a new one.
I will provide you with a work-for-hire contract specifying that you own the copyright to the bugs after they're delivered. You'll be required to credit me—and if it's a play-through, the other testers—in the credits of the project, and will be required to provide a digital copy of the finished product to the testers. Depending on the number of rewards claimed (kobolds, read-throughs, and play-throughs), fulfillment may take several months. Tests will be delivered in the order that the signed contracts are received back.
You must redeem this perk by December 31, 2023.
Where is the art from?
All of the illustrations are © Wikimedia Foundation, education team and are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.
What happens if the project isn't funded?
Many kobolds will cry. It will be a sad day for all koboldkind.
But on a more serious note, the project will still move forward, though I might need to delay it in favor of paying work so that I can save up to pay for it to get edited.
Activity
I'll create a custom 5e kobold stat block based on a short prompt you provide, such as "flying grenadier" or "sparkly unicorn rider". It'll be around 300 words, so pretty similar to the ones in Flee, Mortals!. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
I'll perform a read-through of one of your projects (up to 5,000 words) and provide bugs in a bug tracker. Normally this would cost between $50 and $100. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
I'll run a 4-hour playtest for one of your projects (up to 5,000 words) and provide bugs in a bug tracker. Normally this would cost between $150 and $200, to account for reading the material and entering the bugs themselves. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
- Includes Backer Discount Read-through
I'll create a custom band of ten 5e kobolds stat block based on a theme you provide, such as "ascended angelic kobolds" or "volatile brewers". The stat blocks will average around 300 words, so pretty similar to the ones in Flee, Mortals!. See terms in FAQ.
- Includes Name in the Credits
