From Player to Publisher: Starting Ground Level Games

I’ve spent years playing games like Frostgrave, Mordheim, and Warhammer. But there was always something missing about them. The list building was always my favorite part - when you find some odd combo that plays 100% the way you want to play the game. That is always the best feeling, but you can only do that so many times before you want more. Which eventually led me into game design.

Everything started for me with Warhammer 40k. I can still remember my buddy sending me a text message saying “Check out these badass models!” Then we were both hooked. He started an Ork army and I started Chaos Space Marines. (Blood for the Blood God. Of course.) That was the beginning of the end for me. I was fully hooked on Tabletop games, just something about painting models and pushing plastic around the table was so appealing. That went on for a few years before I moved to a different state and lost the desire to play. Then another buddy got me into Frostgrave. We played that for over a year, every time we met up there was a high chance one of us thought of some whacky list to try. It was tons of fun for a while but then that began to get old. So we adventured out to play Mordheim. Mordheim has a great level of crunch with just enough odd things to make the game a joy to play but every time we would meet up we wanted something more. 

Ground Level Games exists because I needed games that didn't exist. Quick, tactical skirmish games with clear rules that respect your time. As a father, my free time is rarely my own, so I design games that can be played in 30-90 minutes without sacrificing depth or meaningful decisions.

My first game, 52Sails, launches in March 2026. 52Sails is a pirate skirmish game where playing cards replace dice and tape measures. Every card used impacts your next decision, creating a tactical puzzle of resource management and positioning. Do you use your 10 for that final bit of movement to reach the treasure or do you save it for the next clash you get into? The game is played in about 20 to 30 minutes, on a 2x2 play mat for 1v1. I learned a lot designing 52Sails and plan on posting about it on this blog. Explaining different design challenges and more.

This blog is going to be an open door into my process. My wins, my failures and all my lessons along the way. If you are an aspiring designer and just want to see how things go when designing games, this is the place for you. I’ll be talking about how I designed 52Sails. Rules writing mistakes that I’ve made along the way and the struggles of trying to balance a game system you designed. So if any of this seems interesting to you, sign up and follow along. I promise I have more to come than just 52Sails.

Thank you for being here at the start.

Playing cards and dice on a game mat - the tools of tabletop game design