Didn't you say in another video that the coin flipping mechanic you tried was a dud? Maybe not the best example to use here...lol

I'm trying to decide my dice system right now. I'm toying with the idea of replacing static modifiers (ex: +4 for DEX, -4 for half cover, -2 for range) with a die roll to generate a range of modifiers. So that instead of the +4/-4/-2 example above it would math out to +d6/-d6/-d4. Instead of a net -2 to your d20 roll, you could end up with a net modifier that's probably still going to be -2 but might be as bad as -9 but as good as +4. It sounds complicated and mathy and maybe in the long run it will turn out to be too much. But it's pretty easy to wrap your head around, the most popular d20 system right now already uses a mix of static modifiers (from attributes, items and circumstances) and dynamic modifiers (from weapon damage rolls and spell variables) to generate results. (edit) and once you start mentally mathing out the why's of game design like this, it helps you to understand why some game mechanics are like they are. The Most Popular d20 System makes hitting more predictable and reliable, but the unreliability and the greater range of results come from damage rolls and maybe that's how you want to design your game and maybe it isn't.

This just appeared in my feed as I'm here trying to line out the basic concepts for a post-apocalyptic survival game that includes elements of settlement building, inter-group diplomacy, complex social encounters, social influence as a currency, resource management, Missions to send out your NPC followers you have Influence over to accomplish specific goals, long -term Projects for research, facilities construction, or romance, NPCs and followers with undiscovered traits, perks and benefits (or hindrances) that can only be unlocked through social interaction... Most TTRPGS are heavily focused on what happens in combat. Sometimes with good-enough crafting rules. But most are also woefully inadequate for resolving mental or social encounters with anything more complex than simple Attribute rolls or contested rolls with a winner-take-all outcome. I started with a d100 concept but I think I like the simplicity and math-ease of a system like a dice pool that adds dice for various advantages and subtracts dice for various disadvantages. I think the mechanics for resolving actions (usually, dice mechanics) is going to be the place to start the actual work since it's the foundation of everything you build afterward but I also have the notebook I started with filled with notes about character archetypes, the kinds of systems and subsystems I wanted, and things that I've rarely or never seen in other TTRPGs. Looking forward to this series to get ideas, feedback and input from other designers, players and just casual observers. Subbed.

Hey! Just discovered your channel and would love to learn more about your system. Do you have a Kickstarter coming up soon? Or what's the status of the system itself? All the best.

Hello, new to your channel. Well I am a traditional artist and illustrator and to be honest ever since AI art has become a thing I went into the mentality of we either adapt to it or get left behind by it. So in all honesty I have been using it the same way you have. As a visualization tool, I still make my own concept art and thumb nails but ai art can be used in the process of visualizing. Now for my question. What software do you recommend for making charts and table in your ttrpg?

I look at it like this, i put tons of art online and likely the ai trained on art I already made, so if i use ai art im just using my art anyways 😊

Out of curiosity, why use Owll Bear instead of roll 20? A lot of people don't seem to know this, but Discord is now integrated with roll20 to where you can run roll 20 from within a Discord server. Moreover roll 20 has its own integrated map making software. I personally prefer Incarnate for my maps, by doing it on roll 20 kind of just keeps everything within one site.

Do you have a Discord for fans? I recently watched your series on making a ttrpg, and I found some of the advice to be very informative, especially Anydice.

Photopea is also free, and Affinity is currently running a 6 month free trial and 50% sale on all of their oroducts

Krita and Inkscape are good options for raster and vector art respectively, and are both completely free. Blender is great all around for 3D work as well as light video editing. KDENLive is apparently very good for video editing, as is the free version of DaVinci Resolve. Not 100% sure but I figured editing a video, say for trailers, might be handy at some point.

it sounds amazing dudeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

🙌🏾🙌🏾

I have just used google doc for making my "rulebook". As for other sites Anydice is great if you need to look something up quickly and Owlbear is used in my Saturday games. The only thing i'd add is a site called Photopea, it is a free photo editing site, and much like Photoshop you can also make art in it, i have used Photopea to make character sheets hence the recommendation.

I'm using Obsidian to organize all my notes/set up a dictionary for all my words. Just a complete compendium of my game.

Just wondering, why use PDF Escape? LibreOffice Writer can create editable PDFs. Affinity is excellent software, but for beginners I would recommend trying things like InkScape and The GIMP first. They're free, so if they don't do what you need no harm no foul. My 2c. p.s. I've been recommending LibreOffice to people for years.

thanks!

Good video. More visuals of the software themselves would have been nice tho. For the art part, I suggest using a free computer software like Krita and a drawing tablet, which can be easily purchase for less than 70$ if you aren't picky and snag a discount price deal (my first drawing tablet was 20$, niw I own one I paid 50$ and it has served me very well for years). It still requires you to learn to draw a bit of course, but if you pick an easy and abstract style it is very doable with sone reference images by your side. If you don't want to drae, there's also the option to just commission an artist to do a few key illustrations - of course this will cost a bit more than just a free software, but it's way more time efficient and can give great results, especially if your system fills a short book (or even just a few pages) that can be "filled with images" with just a few pieces of strategically placed assets.

Would love to hear experiences of indesign vs ms publisher with publishers

I feel like the editing is too minimal and doesn't really enhance the talking points you are showcasing. The talking character is nice, but some floating logos of the software you are talking about with their names or infographics would work nice.

I'm trying an opposed roll-over mechanic with D10s. GM rolls a die with difficulty adjustment and player tries to roll higher with ability mods

Great advice I’m not making one but now I’m considering it. Keep up the awesome work and fun animation!

Something about this video felt much too long and meandering, and not very useful or helpful. It lost my interest very early on, and that's coming from someone that is generally very patient and does not need very much stimulation to pay attention. Best wishes to you, and I hope you improve as you continue your journey.

I use Notion and AI chatbots for the creation stage. I use AI to get feedback on my ideas, do some calculations and have it GM parts of my system for me. I also tried AnyDice but haven't quite figured out how to create my unique system with it. Also, I can't find many tutorials for it.

I honestly don't see much moral difference between using an AI generator to get inspiration, and browsing Pinterest, or Deviantart, or whatever other art repository for the same purpose.

my game replaces classes with modifiers. You choose 3 modifiers at the start. Each modifier adds a Buff and a debuff. one modifier i have in mind is Conquerer, this modifier adds +5 health every time you take some land with the party but you can't have companions

in my game im using a mix of Roll under and roll over. you need to roll under a certain number but over a lower number for certain tasks (Lockpicking mostly). This mechanic is to balanced high Strengh stats as the roll under number is lower the stronger you are

I don't think it's there yet, but soon, within 2-5 years, you'll be able to upload your PDF of a ttrpg, or one of your design that you're testing, into an AI and be able to play it. The AI will be the GM, it already can kind of GM now but it's not good enough yet. You'll also be able to have AI agents play the game with an AI agent GM to get lots of iterations. Or you can be the GM for AI agent players, or be a player with other AI agent players with an AI GM. The next 10 years are going to be very interesting.

thanks for the content man.

I kid you not, I was JUST pondering a dice system exactly like what you mentioned your game using XD

After almost a year learning through the "wrong" methods, learning the hard way, I finally found this video. I am gonna recommend it to anyone who says I want to start a TTRPG, as the game master, to spare them the trouble <3

6:13, regarding AI, "I would like to hear your thoughts on the topic in the comments." Me: It's a trap!

This is not a video, this is a slide presentation. Just so you know

Every artist steals from each other, so feel free to make money off of it

I used Scrivener and AI art.

Ai art programs are kinda like guitar hero. It’s fun to play around with but don’t go around saying you can play dragonforce on an actual guitar.

Great videos so far. Dig them overall. Good voiceover, good theme music, good concepts and overall advice. Keep it up!

It's hard enough to get paid as an artist, and hard enough to not have your work taken without credit. So I'm firmly in the no AI art camp. But, I do appreciate the resources you've offered. And I see your compromise. I use reference material, but where I've obviously drawn inspiration, I credit the previous artists as much as I can.

When it comes to AI art, I think the way you described using it is close to how I use it. Mostly just use it to help create a "mood board" for my work. Something I look at to get me into the feel of what I am making.

03:44 how are you screwed when you need to roll 2d10 under 25 10+10=20 20<25

I'm using a d20+skill die engine against a fixed player stat number for my current game. Because for this type of engine each level of improvement in both skill die size and stat number represents the same +5% chance to succeed as long as the stat is bounded between the skill die size and 20. This consistency of improvement and thus interpretability is something I value hugely and a major reason why I don't use dice pool systems which some people prefer, where changes in modifiers near fringe cases are decreasingly impactful.

The conceptualization for my Hakorz TTRPG actually started with the combat system. I have a player who has incredibly bad luck with rolls, and will always miss when is big beefy guy is trying to strike a giant rat. So I created a Shield System that all people have. The shield is similar to AC, but if you either meat it or get a low roll, you decrease the shield by that attack roll, which is also what determines your damage. Getting it down to 0 not only allows you to deal full damage, but that target must skip their turn to recover their shields. This portion of combat made me think I should make combat easier for the players in turn order, and that resulted in my game's theme. As the title described, it's a sci-fi game in the digital world.

This has been some great advice.

This was very interesting. Thank you for sharing. I have been working on a TTRPG for a long time, and you aren't kidding - things just keep popping up that you need to deal with. One trap I have to force myself out of is not making things too complex. In my younger years, tomes of rules was the way to go and I loved it, but now elegance and simplicity is the way to go. Have you been pulled into the trap of getting too detailed in your rules? Also, love your lore! I think its a unique take on how to activate magic and science, and merge them. Well done. Can hardly wait to read the rules.

Its interesting on level 4 you provide exploding ammo. This means your class abilities are tied not only to capability but access to equipment. This gives your TTRPG a certain feel - more like a pulp feel, I would imagine - rather than a more hard feel like Traveller might. I only bring this up, because I think this would be a good topic - choosing the feel you want for your TTRPG before sitting down and designing - do you want it like D&D 5e where every character is essentially a superhero, or more like 1st Ed AD&D where death is around every corner? Do you want the action to be more cinematic or do you want to have more of a gritty tone? Just a thought. Really enjoying this series. Thanks for sharing.

In my game, I'm using number of successes. The standard d6 gets a success on 5 or 6, or it can be upgraded to a strong die which gets a success on 4, 5, or 6. These dice are put into a dice pool, a concept which was alluded to in your video, but probably deserves to be called out directly because so many TTRPGs use dice pools (like Shadowrun, for example). Great series. Keep it up.

Have a look at Quest Worlds. :P

Obsidian is awesome when it comes to keeping track of my information. It requires some markdown knowledge to be used effectively, but its hyperlinks provide you with what's pretty much your personal offline Wikipedia, formatted however you want and can. It's a lot better for this purpose than Discord was for me, but I won't be surprised if some will still prefer Discord.

Tiny Tales is a really cute world setting though. I'd like to play sometime.