Submissions

This page is designed to help you ensure your submission is ready for and fits the scope of the anthology.

Before submitting you should read over the guidelines here, then register an account (or login if you have an existing account). We strongly encourage authors to connect with their ORCID records if they have them.

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What We're Looking For

At this time, we are primarily accepting tabletop submissions that:

  • Have simple-to-medium complexity, to be accessible to a variety of players
  • Can be played in a single session of play – or, at most, a short series of sessions
  • Can be printed as part of a half-letter book / booklet, either as a stand-alone ruleset or with additional play materials in a print-and-play / photocopy-ready format
  • Require a reasonable number of easily obtainable or crafted components
  • Do not infringe on existing IP (aside from public domain) or are made with explicit permission from IP holders, including through “open” licenses
  • Can be presented in fewer than 25 half-letter (8-1/2" x 5") pages
  • Are ready to be playtested by reviewers – we strongly recommend playtesting before submission!

Note: Art is not required. All artwork & diagrams may need to be specially commissioned, approved, or adapted due to the volume’s layout

Types of games we accept include:

  • Board and card games in print-and-play (PnP) form
  • Tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) in short formats
  • “Live” games of different types: improv games, larp, escape rooms, murder mysteries, parlor games, playground games, etc.
  • Simulations and “war games,” particularly those that deal with topics other than war or that address large-scale violence in a non-traditional or subversive way
  • Single-player games and puzzle games
  • Experimental games, using novel or uncommon methods and approaches
  • Adaptations, “hacks,” and supplements to existing games, as long as those do not infringe on existing IP (game mechanics can’t be copyrighted) or are created with explicit permission from the original IP holders (including through “open licenses”)

We do NOT currently accept games that are primarily digital: video games, PC games, web or mobile games, etc.

Submission Checklist

Before submitting your game, please be sure to have all of the following:

  • Abstract of approximately 150-300 words. Consider, What is the game about? What are the most interesting or significant things about it? How does it fit the proposed theme of this volume? Who would be interested in this game / target audience?
  • Main text (e.g. narrative, rules of play) of your game. Uploads are limited to Doc, Docx, RTF, or ODT files.
  • Supplementary materials (e.g. tables, cards, images) necessary for game play. These should be uploaded as PDFs; we may request additional print-ready files (e.g. high-resolution TIFFs or SVGs) during the typesetting process. If there are organizational or printing requirements (e.g. "page x should appear as the reverse of page y"), include these specifications as well in a separate file.

Together, all content should not exceed 25 half-letter (8-1/2" x 5") pages.

Manuscripts will be anonymized by our editorial team before peer review. Please refrain from including author names and affiliations on supplementary materials.

A note on AI-generated art and text: Promptuary is intended to be a handcrafted, peer-reviewed series highlighting the incredible work of game designers and artists of all kinds. As such, we do not publish any AI-generated art or text and submissions containing any AI-generated art/text will be excluded from consideration.

Copyright Notice

Promptuary’s default assumption is that (1) authors retain ALL rights to their own games, to the extent that games are copyrightable – i.e. as specific texts & diagrams, not as rules/mechanics; and (2) CMU Press retains PUBLICATION rights to the unique version published in Promptuary (including the original submitted game draft & materials, additional text introducing or providing context for the game, editorial work on the game text & materials, graphic design & layout, and illustrations & diagrams created or commissioned by CMU Press).

This means that, while authors cannot independently publish or re-publish the CMU Press version, they do retain rights to their original text and design elements, and can publish their own version of the game. We are also open to author requests for permissions to incorporate or adapt editorial work and other non-visual CMU Press contributions to their games in future editions, so that authors can build on the Promptuary edition in the future, if they like.

That said, to provide a window for CMU Press to promote and/or sell each volume of Promptuary, we politely ask that Promptuary contributors not publish an updated version of the game for one full year after publication in Promptuary. If error corrections or crucial updates are needed in the meantime, we are happy to consider updating the digital PDF version of games published in Promptuary, if authors would like to submit corrections.

Note: Although you may see the word "author" used throughout the submission process, we acknowledge that great games require many types of creators to participate in their creation. Our editors will work with creators of accepted games to properly credit all contributors.

Peer Review

This anthology series will follow a “double blind” peer review process, where both the peer reviewers and the designer(s) will not know each other’s identity.

Peer reviewers will include game design/studies academics, game designers, and subject matter experts.

If you'd like to be considered as a peer reviewer for our games, apply today. 

Publication Cycle

As a young publication, we are still determining the schedule and frequency of publication. Following an open call, submissions will be available for a few months at a time.

The internal review and peer review processes are often lengthy, due to the volunteer-driven model of academic publishing. We will keep you updated as your submission progresses through the different stages of review.