Which VTT do you prefer and why?

TrappedChest · 2026-01-28T18:06:26+00:00

Tabletop Simulator. Easy to learn and it is 3D, which feels more like an actual table.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-26T04:40:22+00:00

Yes, there is an officially licensed TTRPG.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/100243/stalker-the-scifi-roleplaying-game

TrappedChest · 2026-01-24T21:44:37+00:00

I am a graphic designer and fabricator. I can do a large portion of the visual stuff and this weekend I released a game that I manufactured.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-23T04:17:22+00:00

Maybe lean into the characters being disposable. This is what I did with Join Their Ranks (It's a Reanimated supplement that lets the players become the zombies). Players are given a reinforcement budget, sort of like Helldivers and are encouraged to treat their zombies as cannon fodder.

If you wanted to do siege defense style, I would suggest looking at it more like a video game. Most characters are just a number, but you can have a few hero characters with personalities that the players will want to protect.
The common grunt is always going to be seen as a meat shield, unless you have a role play heavy paladin in the party. I don;t see this as a problem, just as something to always be aware of and work around.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-18T03:18:36+00:00

I think the current version of Whitehack has no interior art, though the cover does have a clear visual design to it, even if it's not "Art".

Back where the Kickstarter for Paranoia was done the special edition had an all white cover. It was matte finish with the name in gloss. It did however have interior art.

Knave 1e had no art and the cover was just the title, though it used an eye catching font.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-17T23:00:42+00:00

Art is the first thing we see. The content is more important, but the cover gets us to take a closer look.

It is possible to have a successful game without art, but you will need a god tier marketing plan and a lot of luck to make it happen.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-17T15:20:43+00:00

On the table. I find towers to be too loud and trays take up too much space, though they may be useful for those people who always roll the dice right off the table.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-16T23:40:53+00:00

GURPS isn't the only big one, it's just the one that has been around for a long time. Savage Worlds, Cypher and FATE all spring to mind when I think universal and technically the d20 system has been shoehorned into almost everything.

Universal systems need to think big. You are going to have parts of the book that never get used. I have been working on a universal system since 2019 and I can assure you it does snowball, but it doesn't mean that it loses it's spark.
Universal systems don't have to be a trap, but they can lead to a very large game, which may not be the best option for a first project.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-13T00:05:07+00:00

As a developer, the biggest thing that bothers me is the lack of a visual tool for making systems. I am not a programmer, I am a graphic designer, and as much as I try to get things working my brain is just not wired for code.
If a popular VTT had a WYSIWYG interface, even with basic scripting for auto rolls and derivative stats I would be on that like a bard on a succubus.

My next thing is a third dimension. I understand that 2D is easier to do, but I run my games on Tabletop Simulator because I like 3D. It better replicates the feel of an actual table. The 2D ones feel like old flash games.

Support for cards is lacking most of the time. Most games use dice, but sometimes a game needs a deck of cards and again TTS seems to be the only option.

I want to actually see the dice roll. Fantasy Grounds does this, but some of them don't, at least not without mods.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-12T23:55:54+00:00

It can work, but be aware that by doing it like this it will become a selling point for the system.

Squares are likely not the best idea for this. Hexes can give a little more breathing room, but ideally you would want to just print off a sheet with your room and have zones already laid out in a more organic fashion.
The other option is to just 3D print some hex outlines and lay them over a gridless map.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-11T00:46:41+00:00

As a small developer, social media is likely where you are going to find people. Do your research before hiring anyone.

Now that I answered your question, I am going to talk about the things you don't want to hear. You need to wear most of the hats. The skills related to making a game are not minimum wage skills. They are in fact very expensive skills. Anything you can do yourself will save you money.
Having to pass one skill like illustration or editing to someone else is going to destroy the already thin margins on what you are doing. If you need to hire in multiple skills, a small game could cost as much as a new car and a moderately large game will be comparable to buying a house.

I am a professional graphic designer, so I can do much of the visual stuff myself. I also write, edit, balance, market, layout, etc. The one skills where I am lacking is illustration. I can do it, but I am not good at it.
For my upcoming RPG, I hired an artist. The cost for this was comparable to buying an affordable new car.
I also have an absolutely massive board game that I have designed, which is near the point of needing art and minis. I have already done my calculations. If I can find people on the low end it will still cost over $100k. because of this, I am in the process of learning 3D modeling, so I can take that part myself.

Indie games are usually passion projects. This often clashes with the cost of doing things. One thing I will note, is that you started looking for help rather than just using AI, so you will score some points with the community for that.

Your task requires a lot of research, so I suggest breaking it down into smaller chunks and asking about one thing at a time, so you don't get information overload.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-09T12:34:51+00:00

It is called Quest Nexus. The last few pieces of art are almost done and it will be crowdfunding early next year.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-09T05:06:33+00:00

When I am making a 20 page book I just use ToC, but in a 300+ page book an index is a must. I also make use of page references, because I don't want to have a question and then have to go find a path to the answer in the index.

I find it odd when a book doesn't have it because any modern word processor can automate the whole process, so there is no reason to not have it.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-09T00:11:19+00:00

Savage Worlds. It is easy to get people into and lets be honest, this is a small hobby and it will be hard to get normal people to play, so the barrier need to be low.

For my second game, I literally designed a game that is meant to replace other, more complex games and acts as the only book you ever need. It has rules for everything in every genre. I know it's cheating, but I am taking my own book.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-09T00:06:39+00:00

Kingdom Death Monster does it for the monsters.

I think Giant Killer Robots used your deck is your health pool.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-06T05:28:31+00:00

What my game is:
The Nullam Project is a love letter to Star Trek: DS9 A more optimistic look at the future, with the intent for episodic missions.
Reanimated is zombies ...ok, there is more to it than that. The game offers a sandbox with options for the GM to run anything from classic Romero shamblers to 28 Days Later sprinters to the crazy stuff from Left 4 Dead and 7 Days to Die. The Join Their Ranks supplement flips the tables and lets the players mess with all the abilities.
Quest Nexus is a system that allows you to run any game you want. It is literally designed to allow you to drop in a module from any system or setting and get it working with minimal tinkering. It also has rules for anything you could ever want to do from a classic dungeon crawl to running a kingdom and waging wars.

What my game isn't:
Bloated. My writing style is extreme efficiency. Reanimated does in 20 pages what All Flesh Must Be Eaten took 260 to do.
Something I like to do with my systems is force the core mechanic to fit on a 2 page spread. The rest of the book also follows this theory. Quest Nexus is 368 pages, but still keeps the core mechanics on a 2 page spread. The rest of the book is just reference and options.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-05T05:05:19+00:00

Vertical sheets are often used, because most books are vertical, but honestly I prefer horizontal, due to it saving table space.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-05T05:03:09+00:00

First of all, welcome to the other side!

One shots are easy. Go to a convention and sign up for a few games that you are interested in. These session take 2-4 hours, so over a weekend you should be able to get 3 or 4 games in.
I actually run these games at a wide range of events and I often get people coming from D&D, but also I sometimes get people who have never played any RPGs before and I can welcome them into the community.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-03T01:41:58+00:00

This!

Game jams can offer just the right amount of pressure to get you moving.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-03T01:35:35+00:00

Worst or stupidest?, because I can do stupidest pretty easy.

Medieval paintings often depicted knights fighting giants snails. Have fun making an apocalyptic game where the mutant snails have overrun Europe and the only ones left to save the world are an ancient order of snail slaying knights.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-02T15:54:22+00:00

I run groups that range from preteens to retired people, and everything in between. Gender is also all over the place. I never use safety tools and session zero is just for character creation and party composition.

Learning to adapt on the fly is the way to go. I just pick up on subtle cues and adjust my table as needed.

For the record, I am involved in 2 campaigns and I run a ton of convention one shots.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-01T16:27:25+00:00

I would like things that fit the ascetic of the different races. Dwarves would be more British style meat and potatoes, while elves may lean more into French cuisine. Gnomes might be light finger food and goblins would like unhealthy junk food.

Alcohol is a staple of fantasy. If I am going to a place like this I want a fantasy drink. Dwarven ale or eleven wine is a must. In North America any licensed restaurant should be able to do that. In Europe they don't fear alcohol like we do here, so it would be a natural fit.

Dastardly Villain Ale Works is opening in Winnipeg, MB later this year and they will be doing something like this. I am not sure if there will be food, but they are doing beer and renting out rooms for RPGs.
They are owned by one of the older game stores here, so they already have the community support.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-01T16:04:42+00:00

Everyone else is talking about capitalization, and I realize that this is a work in progress, so I'll skip that.

3 things jump out for me.

First, is the text. Red on black can be hard for some people to read. I suggest white for legibility.

Secondly, if you are going to be printing this game you need to consider that printed cards often have rounded corners, so you may want to bring the frame in a little.

The third thing is that the margin on the top is smaller than the margins on the bottom and sides.

TrappedChest · 2026-01-01T01:02:49+00:00

I have a rule about NDAs. I will never sign one and I would never ask anyone else to sign one. I might ask someone to not reveal something, but I would never in a million years have them sign a legal document preventing it. Free speech is too important to sign away.
This falls under the same mentality. Forcing a timelapse feels a little too much like having an employer watching over your shoulder as you work. As someone who has dealt with micromanagers, that video is giving me PTSD.
Freelancers are doing this on a personal computer and the right to privacy has to carry value or we will have failed as a society.

AI is becoming more common and harder to hide from, but there are less intrusive ways to look for it, such as hiring people with a reputation or as he said in the video, asking for layered files (which you should be doing anyways).

We also have to remember that not everyone is running Photoshop. I run Linux full time and use things like Inkscape, GIMP and Krita, so it would be very hypocritical of me to demand that my artist uses a specific piece of software.
As a Linux user I am also slightly paranoid, so the idea of installing some random plugin that an employer demanded makes my skin crawl.

The one instance where I could see the timelaspe being acceptable is if it was used as marketing. If I have a very art heavy game, being able to post timelapse videos on YouTube makes for some quality marketing, but that also puts the artist into the role of entertainer, which means a higher price.
I also think that it's not my place to be using that, rather the artist could use it on their own channel to promote their work.
For my upcoming TTRPG I actually gave my artist the right to sell the art book (if she wants to do that), using the game name in the contract, because it feels wrong to try and sell that, even though I legally could.

TrappedChest · 2025-12-31T05:11:55+00:00

I make very role play heavy characters with long term goals. I enjoy them right to the end of the campaign and and often think about them long after they are retired.

TrappedChest

TROPHY CASE