RPG Trader Offers Alternative Marketplace for Indie Creators

Welcome to your weekly interview at TTRPG Insider. Today, we’re taking a look at RPG Trader, a new website designed to host, sell and print independent TTRPGs.

Alternative marketplaces have been a regular topic of conversation among indie creators in the TTRPG space due to the high cost of publishing. DriveThruRPG and Itch.io remain the prominent players in the online market, controlling the vast majority of online sales. While both markets offer a wide range of tools for creators to sell products, they also come with costs and website limitations.

The two leading marketplaces have each also faced scrutiny over how they moderate their own material. Itch.io delisted adult games after payment processors like Stripe pressured it to reduce adult content. DriveThruRPG delisted a game for its political language.

RPG Trader presents itself as a market alternative, where game creators get a bigger cut and where it’s specifically designed for the indie RPG scene as a whole

The project is officially out of public beta as of June 9, which means people can now buy games on the website.

TTRPG Insider got to sit down with RPG Trader co-founder (and Ten Acres Game owner) Hugh Lashbrooke and talk about the market’s origins, its plans and how it intends to serve the indie TTRPG community.

The following interview was edited lightly for clarity.

What’s the story here? What led to the creation of RPG Trader?

Hugh Lashbrooke: RPG Trader grew out of my own experience as an independent tabletop RPG creator.

I've published games through Ten Acre Games for years, and while there are some excellent platforms available, I kept running into the same challenges with discovery, publishing steps, print-on-demand setup, and overall ease of use.

Since I've spent much of my career building digital products and online communities, I thought I could do something about it and started working on a marketplace built specifically for tabletop RPGs, using modern tools and modern marketplace design principles.

My goal was to create something that complements the existing ecosystem while focusing on the needs of independent creators and the players looking for their work.

What is the goal of RPG Trader? Are you trying to create a replacement for DTRPG or Itch.io? Or something else altogether? 

Hugh Lashbrooke: The goal isn’t to replace anyone. Platforms like DriveThruRPG and Itch have made enormous contributions to the hobby and remain solid places to discover new games.

RPG Trader is focused on building a marketplace that offers things tabletop creators are looking for, with an emphasis on discoverability, flexible publishing, integrated print-on-demand, and tools that help creators grow their audience.

Many creators already publish on multiple platforms, and I expect that will continue. RPG Trader isn't asking creators to choose sides. We're trying to create a place that's valuable enough that they want to be there alongside any platforms they currently use.

How do you intend to monetize this model? 

Hugh Lashbrooke: RPG Trader operates on a straightforward marketplace commission model. The storefront takes a 20% commission on all purchases, allowing creators to keep 80% of their sales earnings. We don’t have, and don’t plan on implementing, registration fees, subscription requirements, or exclusivity agreements that burden creators with additional costs.

We also don’t have any plans to run third-party advertising on the platform - the privacy concerns around those ad providers are too great, and the user experience they offer is never good.

Why should a publisher consider hosting their content on your website?

Hugh Lashbrooke: The simplest answer is that RPG Trader is being built specifically for tabletop RPG creators.

Creators receive a generous share of each sale, integrated print-on-demand support, modern publishing tools, detailed discovery capabilities, and a marketplace focused entirely on tabletop games.

But perhaps more importantly, it's a platform being built in close collaboration with the community it's serving. The public beta exists because we want creators involved in shaping what the platform becomes.

We don't expect or want creators to abandon the platforms they're already using. What we hope is that RPG Trader becomes a place where creators feel welcomed, supported, and genuinely listened to, and that over time it earns a place alongside the other tools they use to share their work with the world.

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How RPG Trader Empowers Creators

What does sort of publishing tools does RPG Trader offer creators? 

Hugh Lashbrooke: When building RPG Trader, we’ve focused heavily on reducing the friction for people to go from creating a game to having it available for sale. We have a modern, easy-to-use interface that has already received plenty of praise from creators, and we will continue to improve it as needs arise.

We want to take the difficulty out of publishing, so creators can focus on their work without publishing tools getting in the way. Anyone is welcome to sign up for the site and explore the tools to see how they work before committing to the platform.

Can you elaborate on what “tabletop RPG-specific categorisation designed to help players discover new games more easily” will entail? 

Hugh Lashbrooke: In addition to the basic product categories, we have 12 RPG-specific taxonomies that reflect how people actually search for games. That includes genres, rules systems, play styles, tone, audience, themes, required accessories, settings, content warnings, language, and more.

For example, someone might be looking for a solo horror game, designed for journaling, that uses playing cards and is suitable for beginners. Those are the kinds of detailed searches we want to support. It also helps with recommendations and finding related games - the more connected labels a game has, the more likely it will be recommended to interested buyers.

How are you thinking about determining best practices for identifying and restricting AI-generated content? 

Hugh Lashbrooke: As a store focused on handcrafted TTRPG content, we have a zero-tolerance policy for AI-generated content in games. If a product contains text or images that have been generated by AI, even in part, it is not allowed on RPG Trader. This is the best way to support creators who work hard and don’t want to be featured alongside AI-generated content.

We understand that determining whether something is AI-generated is not easy, and there are no reliable tools to do so consistently. With that in mind, we’re relying on a combination of admin review, author disclosure, text matching for common AI-generated patterns, and user flagging. Anyone can flag a product they believe contains AI-generated content, and the team will review it.

This policy is important to us because we believe the creativity and passion of TTRPG creators should be the platform's main feature.

How do you intend to handle aspects like payment processing (which is Both a complicated subject and one that can lead to issues if dealing with adult content)

Hugh Lashbrooke: We’re using established providers to handle payment processing - currently Stripe and PayPal. We’re actively exploring other options to offer alongside them, as we know there have been issues with providers overreaching in controlling the content platforms sell.

We have a clearly defined sensitive content policy that outlines how we handle mature or NSFW content, and it has been well received so far. If we encounter issues with payment processors that affects that, we’ll push back and, if necessary, change the providers we use.

How are you thinking about “integrated print-on-demand support with global shipping” as an Australia-based company?

Hugh Lashbrooke: Yes, we’re based in Australia, but we’ve integrated with Lulu for print-on-demand books. Lulu print great quality books, and are already used by many folks in the TTRPG community. They have printing locations in 6 countries worldwide, making global shipping easy and affordable.

RPG Trader allows creators to make use of Lulu’s excellent printing service, while being on a platform designed for tabletop RPGs with a full suite of publishing and marketing tools.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to [email protected].