Pheno welcomes and encourages new designers. There is even a shiny New Designer award. Here is a link to the New Designer Policy
Chief Meteorologist Morph predicts your brilliant career as a game writer beginning with just 8 simple steps…
For Ms Bean's thoughts on blurb writing: The Art and Science of Giving Good Blurb (49K doc)
Please note we are strict about deadlines for steps 3 and 4. Missing them makes us miss other deadlines, which is bad for the other designers and makes us organisers cranky. If you cannot meet the blurb deadline, tell us as soon as possible. If you tell us after the deadline passes, we cannot guarantee your game will run.
We regard the playtesting of games as a good thing. We try to make it easy for you by helping to organise playtesting weekends in the months before Pheno. If possible, playtest your game before online registration opens (this means before Easter) so that you can adjust your blurb if necessary. Also, we organisers typically don’t get to play your games at the Con so we like to get first dibs!
In particular, Triptych writers and New Designers are encouraged to playtest their games with committee members, and we promise to be gentle.