The Knot Knot Games Discord has passed 100 members!
We are actually 120 members strong now. At this rate, we could probably invade Liechtenstein. I haven’t checked the logistics, but I am feeling confident.
More seriously… wow.
When I created this Discord about a year ago, I genuinely wondered where I would find 100 people interested in talking about TTRPG design. I had no experience growing anything online, no secret marketing strategy, and I would sneeze every time someone said the word “influencer”.
It Started With a Few Friends
At first, the Discord mostly revolved around my own games.
I invited some friends. Then people from my local game shop began joining. Eventually, I gathered my courage, stepped into the terrifying wilderness of online promotion and started talking about the community on places like Reddit.
Little by little, people arrived from outside my immediate circle.
At the beginning, keeping the server alive required a lot of pushing. I had to start the conversations, organise the events and generally poke the community with a stick to check whether it was still breathing.
But something gradually changed.
People began sharing their projects without waiting for me. Complete strangers started giving each other feedback, discussing design problems and supporting games they had only just discovered. Conversations continued when I wasn’t there to drag them forward.
The Community Found Its Own Purpose
My original idea was simple: create a place where people could follow my TTRPG work, test my games and talk about game design.
Then I started listening.
I realised that many designers were stranded. They had ideas, prototypes and half-finished games, but nowhere comfortable to share them. They needed feedback, playtesters and other stubborn nerds willing to debate whether a mechanic was secretly brilliant or obviously cursed.
The Discord slowly stopped being only a community around my games. It became a community for people making games of their own.
That taught me an important lesson: builders need to listen.
You can begin with a strong vision, but the people who join will reveal needs you could never have planned for alone. Changing direction in response does not mean abandoning the original idea. It means paying attention to the evidence in front of you.
We now have design conversations, playtests, live events, streams and people exchanging thoughtful feedback. We are even on Twitch, where we have achieved a whopping peak of nine viewers. YouTube is coming next, so fame is clearly inevitable.
But those platforms are merely means to an end. The exciting part is seeing people create, connect and help one another.
What Promoting a Community Online Taught Me
Promoting anything online is strange and, quite frankly, a little terrifying.
You can carefully craft posts, test different ideas and study what gives you the greatest reach. But reaching more people is not quite the same as reaching the right people.
One of the most useful things I learned was that being recognisably yourself is the best filter.
In the age of AI, we often fall into the trap of wanting to produce perfectly polished work. Sometimes, that deprives us of what makes us unique. Over time, I decided to leave in the weird phrasing, typos and so on…
Some people will not like it. That is fine. The internet is large. They can go elsewhere, kindly.
The internet is also very good at rewarding conflict. People get rage-baited, content creators stir the pot, and everyone is encouraged to turn disagreement into a tiny public war.
Over time, however, I learned to treat even the worst people I meet with kindness. It became my greatest shield and weapon, allowing for slower but more solid growth.
Approaching people with an open mind, even when they are difficult, has helped shape the kind of community we now have. It is filled with stubborn but kind people who care deeply about making great games.
They recognise themselves in the weird tone and the philosophy I try to foster. They stick around because of that.
What Comes Next
What Comes Next
Every completed milestone reveals another. The next stage is not simply about making the member count go up: it is about creating more ways for people to participate, contribute and build momentum together.
I want to design the community’s future with its members, expand our reach across Reddit, Twitch, YouTube and Instagram, and multiply the playtests, design discussions, live events and project showcases we organise. The goal is not to chase numbers, but to find more creators and players who need this kind of space.
As tempting as becoming a community overlord sounds, building this together seems healthier. There is still a lot to figure out, especially alongside my extremely reasonable production calendar, which is booked until October 2031. But after a year of pushing the server forward, it is beginning to create momentum of its own.
I am not building alone anymore.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you to the friends who joined at the beginning, the people I met through the local game shop, and everyone who found us online.
Thank you for bringing this place to life. Thank you for sharing your games, testing mine, supporting complete strangers and being stubborn nerds who care about design.
If you make TTRPGs, have a game idea of your own, or simply want to discover and support independent creators, join us on Discord.
You can also find our live design events on Twitch and follow our upcoming videos on YouTube.
Hope to see you there!
Aram