by RJ Redden

There's a specific kind of brain-splitting moment that happens when something you've only held in your imagination suddenly exists in physical reality where other people can experience it.

I know because I've had it twice in my life, and both times left me suspiciously moist around the eyeballs. (Sawdust. Definitely sawdust.)

The First Time: Walking Into My Own Set Design

Way back in the day, I did set design for theatre. The process went like this: get the concept approved by the director, build a physical model to show the actors and designers, then everyone goes off to do their part building it.

Weeks of construction. Painting. Problem-solving. Adjustments.

And then one day, I walked into the theatre from the audience entrance and saw actors rehearsing on the completed set.

MY set. The one that had only existed in my head a few weeks before.

My brain short-circuited. How are there characters moving through a space that was only in my imagination?

Then logic kicked in: Now it's in reality. Now other people can have their own experience with it.

The sawdust must have been particularly bad that day. Really aggressive sawdust. Probably pine.

The Second Time: Building an RPG of My Fictional Tavern

Fast forward to a few weeks ago.

I run a content creation community centered around a fictional interdimensional tavern called the Come Wright Inn. There's a mysterious ninja content creator named Scribbling Sensei. A snarky celestial warlock barkeep. A clockwork owl named Professor Hoot who communicates through specific hoot sequences and occasionally faceswings at particularly frustrating situations.

(Yes, faceswings. Just like a facepalm, but Hoot doesn’t have those. He's a very dramatic clockwork owl.)

My community members love these characters. They reference them. They quote Professor Hoot's hoots. They ask what RJ the Barkeep would say about their creative struggles.

And I thought: What if they could actually play in this world?

Not read about it. Not imagine it. Actually PLAY in it—make choices, go on quests, interact with the characters, earn XP, collect official Come Wright Inn items.

Here's what I did NOT do: spend months learning game design, Unity, programming languages, or hire a development team.

Here's what I DID do: I opened Claude (an AI assistant) and said, "I want to build an RPG of the Come Wright Inn."

We started designing it together. Characters. Mechanics. Quest systems. The whole world-building architecture.

Then I moved over to another software (Replit) to continue building and refining.

And now? It halfway exists. It needs more refining, but it’s featuring heavily in my upcoming release plans. 

My imaginary tavern is a place people can actually visit and have adventures in.

Cue the sawdust. (Definitely oak this time. Maybe some mahogany.)

"I'm a Writer, Not a Game Designer!"

Maybe you’re channeling your inner Dr. McCoy right now. Maybe you said it out loud with the full dramatic hand gesture and everything.

"I'm a WRITER, not a GAME DESIGNER!"

(But you're also secretly leaning forward in your chair, aren't you? Intrigued despite yourself? Yeah, McCoy would do that too.)

Here's the thing: I'm not a game designer either.

But game designs—like world designs, merch designs, card game designs, and all types of creative designs—follow certain formats. These formats can be learned. These formats can be worked with. And more importantly, the blanks can be FILLED IN by you, using the details you've already created in your stories.

Your fictional world isn't hurting for design expertise. It's crying out for you to translate the details you already know into a different medium.

Think about what you already have:

• Character personalities and dialogue patterns
• World rules and internal logic
• Conflicts and resolution paths
• Emotional beats and story arcs
• Visual descriptions and atmosphere

Every one of those things is world-building infrastructure that can be translated into almost any format.

What Else Is Possible?

Once I realized I could build an RPG, my brain started spinning with possibilities.

I could create a Cards Against Humanity-style game using my community's inside jokes and content creation struggles.I’m toying with the name Inn Appropriate Situations. ("Professor Hoot's disapproving hoot" as a card? "Scribbling Sensei's mysterious cape transformation"? The combinations write themselves.)

I could design an idea generation card deck—physical cards people could shuffle and draw from when they're stuck on content ideas. Shuffle, draw, get unstuck. It's like tarot for writers, but with less mysticism and more "oh THAT'S what I should write about."

I could commission a line of bobblehead characters. Scribbling Sensei with his transforming cape. Professor Hoot with his adjustable spectacles AND a faceswing action feature (press the base, watch him dramatically swing his wing to his face in copper-feathered disappointment). RJ the Barkeep with her cosmic drink shaker that maybe glows in the dark because why the hell not.

And here's the kicker: I can actually DO these things. Not someday when I magically acquire new skills. Not if I win the lottery and can hire a team. NOW. With the tools available RIGHT NOW.

Because AI isn't replacing creativity—it's removing the technical barriers between your imagination and reality.

The Real Shift: From Pages to Experiences

For most of writing history, if you created a compelling fictional world, readers could only experience it one way: by reading your words and imagining it themselves.

Want readers to spend more time in your world? Write another book. And another. And another.

But what if your readers could:

• Play a game set in your world
• Use a card deck that channels your characters' wisdom
• Display a bobblehead of their favorite character on their desk
• Participate in an interactive experience that extends your story

These aren't distractions from your writing. They're expansions of your creative universe.

They're ways for readers to have their own experiences within the world you built—just like those actors rehearsing on my set all those years ago.

The Technical Stuff (Way Easier Than You Think)

I'm not going to pretend building an RPG took five minutes and zero effort. It didn't.

But it also didn't require me to:

• Learn to code from scratch
• Take game design courses
• Understand complex software
• Hire expensive developers

What it required was:

• A clear vision of what I wanted to create
• The details I'd already developed about my world
• A conversation with an AI tool that could help me structure it
• Willingness to iterate and refine

The AI didn't create my world. I did that through years of writing and community building.

The AI translated my vision into a format I couldn't have built alone—at least not without investing months or years learning entirely new skill sets.

That's not replacing creativity. That's amplifying it.

What's Hiding in Your Imagination?

Here's my question for you: What world have you built in your writing that's just sitting there on pages, waiting to become something readers can actually experience?

What characters have you created that people could interact with, play as, or keep on their desk?

What inside jokes, wisdom, or world-specific logic could become a card game, a tool, or an interactive experience?

The barrier between "I'm just a writer" and "I'm a world-builder who creates multi-dimensional experiences" is thinner than it's ever been in human history.

You don't need to become a game designer, a product developer, or a tech expert.

You need to be willing to have a conversation with tools that can help you translate what's already in your imagination into formats you never thought possible.

The Sawdust Moment Awaits, Grasshopper

That moment when you walk into the theatre and see actors moving through YOUR set?

That moment when you load up a game and see players making choices in YOUR world?

It's the same moment. The same brain-splitting, reality-bending, suspiciously-moist-eyeball moment.

The only difference is how much easier it is to get there now.

Your imaginary world is ready to become real. Your readers are ready to experience it in ways beyond the page.

Want to hear a bit more from me? I'll be diving into writer’s block at the upcoming Pen and Potential Creating Creativity: The Soul of the Storyteller conference. Come ready to rethink what's possible. I’ll see you there!

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About RJ

If your audience engagement feels like you’ve been screaming into a black hole, then RJ is your digital fairy godmother. Her wand wields AI, chatbots, and augmented reality to create engagement so addictive, your audience will forget Netflix exists. She also speaks fluent human in a world obsessed with algorithms.

Find her online at blackbeltbots.com.

Top Image by Deleyna via Midjourney.