For my expert interview, I spoke with Dedren Snead from SUBSUME. Dedren is an entrepreneur in his own right and is incredibly knowledgeable about art, technology, and community building. Lastly he’s played TTRPGs previously and he’s familiar with the ins and outs of TTRPG communities. 

When we spoke, he believed that the problem of TTRPG players having issues finding groups that have similar schedules, values, and playstyles is one that was worth solving. He felt that a tool that could help with this would help making meaningful connections much easier, especially since the growth in popularity has resulted in the community becoming stratified. 

We then discussed why this problem hasn’t been solved yet. The rapid growth of TTRPG communities and it’s increased population have a lot to do with it. With new people coming in, a lot of new players are inexperienced and don’t have alway have accurate points of reference for what TTRPHs involved based on the rise of the fantasy genre. Another point made was that while the market has grown, there hasn’t been much development on ways to teach TTRPGS to people. Lastly, digital tools for TTRPGs are generally new. There’s a lot of room for innovation.

A number of hurdles were also discussed. 

• Some DnD player, especially those who like to play in-person, may be slow to adopt digital tools
• It would be a digital solution for a traditionally pen & paper game.
• Early adoption might end up being difficult

With these hurdles in mind, Dredren stressed that the way the solution is pitched is important. He suggested that this might look like a dating app more or less where the luxury of connecting with experienced already vetted players.

The biggest pitfall Dedren mentioned avoiding was to build quantity over quality. 

Dedren had a number of suggestion for additional people to talk to:

• Dating app developers (Apps relating to relationship building)
• Those involved in community building
• Game designers and playtesters
• Hobby Shops
• TTRPG publishers

Lastly Dedren had great suggestions for things not already though about

•  There will be a subset of people who won’t want to pay for this kind of service
• There should be content to teach people how to play. Supplemental coaching sessions or even meet ups
• Ensuring that the app is safe to use. (Keeping person info safe, reporting system etc.)
• Could potentially sell snacks or provide food discounts. (Would be great for in-person players)
• Should have the ability to share what you are doing on social media