Tokens
Published June 29th, 2025
What are these tokens anyway?
Last weekend I handed out 29 tokens during Free RPG Day 2025 so I imagine there are at least a few people out there itching to turn them in. I'll soon have app sign up and a way to redeem token codes so I'll take some time to explain them and where they're going.
en I'll be at @gamekastlecp.bsky.social on Saturday for #freerpgday2025 freerpgday.com! Psst!: the code on this token is real (but not yet usable), see oneshot-incarnate.com
[image or embed]Oneshot Incarnate<@oneshot-incarnate.bsky.socialJune 19, 2025 at 9:04 PM
I did that ^ last weekend!
How tokens work
In broad strokes, you'll keep tokens on your account and acquire them either using the codes found on physical tokens or by buying them in-app. To start, tokens will be available at 1 for $20. I'll eventually have bundles and promotions and all that but for the immediate future this is the plan. I plan to appear randomly at scheduled games to hand out physical tokens with codes on them as sort of a one shot loot goblin.
You spend tokens to post games as an organizer, as well as to apply to games that have been posted. The original plan was that game masters, organizers, and players would each spend 1 token but more on that later.
So as an organizer you spend a token to create games, and the token becomes 'held' until the game becomes 'finalized'. The game becomes finalized once all applicants have been accepted. Once the game is finalized the token will be spent.
As a player or game master you use a token to apply to posted games. Similarly, applying to a game will 'hold' the token, then after all applicants are accepted and confirmed the game will become finalized and the token will be spent.
Tokens prevent non-serious sign ups
I used to run the Silver Spring Dungeons & Dragons 5e One Shot Meetup group on meetup.com and found that during some games everybody would show up, but at others we would plan for 7 and end up with 4, or in some cases need to cancel entirely. With D&D in particular it's frustrating as a DM to have last minute changes because you've planned for a certain level of difficulty and have to change it on the fly. Everybody that has participated in a campaign has also ran into this, you know what I mean.
Because sign ups in general will require a token you can expect that any game posted on Oneshot Incarnate is 'real'. If posting or applying to games did not have a limiting mechanism you would see people post or apply to multiple games simultaneously and just going with the one that works out.
Tokens fund development
Oneshot Incarnate is a boostrapped project, that is to say that I (Jason) am funding ALL of the up front costs. I'm not strictly opposed to investment but I'm not seeking any outside funding. Additionally, I do not plan to do any general advertising using Google or the like. I personally despise general advertising as well as advertising personalized by behavioral analytics. I may eventually advertise for local businesses, but for now it's more like I have to pay venues to be able to secure tables.
I put out a survey on a couple local discords in 2024. Prior to that survey I assumed that a subscription model would be favored but virtually all responses I got preferred a pay-per-play model. On a personal level I get it, it's what I would prefer too. Luckily, it is also the most straightforward in terms of development.
I have priced tokens to fit into the same kind of idea of movies or fitness classes. I think $20 is entirely reasonable for ~4 hours of a niche interest. In person gaming is fairly niche and TTRPGs are niche within that. I'm not trying to displace the current mechanisms for getting games, I'm trying to add on top of it. My most charitable view of what I'm trying to do here is connect a bunch of people like me, that have difficulty finding like minds with which to spend our game time.
Game masters, organizers, and players all spend 1 token?
Initially, that was the plan. Now it is the initial plan. Haha! Ok, so I recognize that not all roles are created equal and game masters and organizers (and game masters that are also organizers) have a fair bit more pressure than players that are neither.
It's really important to me from a quality perspective to retain the idea that all games on Oneshot Incarnate are 'real'. To that end, everybody will spend 1 token when creating or applying to a posted game.
However!
To get around this, I will be offering a kind of rebate system, or at least you can think of it like that. I'll automatically apply rebated tokens so you won't need to keep and manage reciepts.
I have participated in each role myself and I consider game master to be the hardest, organizing to be a significant second, and playing to take as much effort as you like to put into it.
Regarding game masters, I acknowledge that game masters are the vast minority of the playerbase and therefore I'll be offering a total rebate. That is, you spend one token to attend a game, you get 1 token in return. This means you'll need to get a token to begin with but after that you'll always have tokens as long as you GM. This doesn't mean that 1 token will get you everything you want, you'll still need to have multiple tokens to apply to (or create) multiple games simultaneously.
For organizers, I personally found organizing to be a significant effort and the reason the game even happens in the first place. Based on my experience I decided to make it into a separate role (or maybe more like a role modifier) to reflect how integral it is to group dynamics. The organizer typically has many responsibilities including securing attendance, a venue, snacks (ideally this is delegated but I always provided snacks myself and considered extras to be bonus), and indicating time during sessions (as in '2 hours remaning'). I'll be offering 0.5 tokens per game organized. That is to say, you spend 1 token to post a game, then attend it, and you get half a token back for future games.
If somehow this is wildly successful I will happily include ways for players to get rebates tied to things like number of games played.
But like, what about PAYING game masters?
So I dunno, I don't have a fully fleshed out idea on this. I recognize both the immense amount of work it takes as well as the idea that we're all here to have fun. If game mastering is not fun for you and not worth it at 1 token cost, 1 token rebate, then don't do it!
Ultimately I am not at a point where it's worth it to work out the complexity of having game masters essentially as gig workers. I could have something along the lines of 'this game master expects tips' but I also don't really like the ambiguity of tipping as an idea. If you feel strongly about this one way or another please throw a comment to the void (below).
Next steps
Soon I will have account creation and a way to enter token codes. They're already working in development but I have to make sure they're good to go before they go to production. I want to get games going asap but these things take time.
I could really use some interaction
Here are a couple options to reach me: