The Game Designer’s Guide to Creating Licensed Tabletop Games

Author:   James Sheahan
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:  

9781032947556


Pages:   188
Publication Date:   14 May 2026
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Our Price $362.25 Quantity:  
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The Game Designer’s Guide to Creating Licensed Tabletop Games


Overview

This book explains the steps in creating a licensed tabletop game and the factors which influence its design using examples, including the designer’s first-hand experience of converting the Fallout videogames into Fallout: Wasteland Warfare. Converting an existing property, such as a videogame or film, into a tabletop game provides all the challenges of tabletop design whilst adding many more challenges, restrictions, limitations, and pressures. This book covers all the necessary topics, such as: Gaining a license and working with a licensor Identifying boundaries the license creates, which defines the design space in which the game must exist Studying the IP’s setting to understand what the tabletop game can be, how to extract principles and details from that setting, and the important challenges that must be resolved Addressing the inevitable changes to the source material that must occur when adapting to the tabletop medium Creating the game mechanics – the most fundamental building blocks of all – and imbuing them with the license to portray the IP’s characters, action, and atmosphere. The book takes the reader through the process of designing a licensed tabletop game and explains how a license adds opportunities to be embraced and challenges to be overcome. Using behind-the-scenes knowledge of creating licensed games, the experience, insights, and lessons learned from a career in games will assist and inspire readers to bring a licensed world to life. This book will be ideal reading for games professionals looking to learn best practices for designing games based on existing properties.

Full Product Details

Author:   James Sheahan
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   CRC Press
ISBN:  

9781032947556


ISBN 10:   1032947551
Pages:   188
Publication Date:   14 May 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction, Chapter 2: Boundaries, Chapter 3: Setting, Chapter 4 : Converting to Tabletop, Chapter 5: Game Mechanics, Chapter 6: Conclusion

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Author Information

James Sheahan is a game designer with over 28 years’ experience working on video games, tabletop games, gamification, experiential games, escape rooms, ad campaigns, and more. James has worked across almost all game genres and platforms, original and licensed IP (including Star Wars and Fallout), and many of the largest global brands.

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