they/them
I know ripper93 (who makes awesome Foundry modules) has recently made a free online tool for converting images to webp. It’s original intent is probably so people can use it for Foundry, because Foundry and webp are great together, but it might be a nice option to direct people to that for file conversion: https://webp.theripper93.com/
Have you tried Fabula Ultima? It’s based on JRPGs, and it’s built on having multiple classes. In fact, you start with levels in 2-3 classes! The combat is also quite easy. It all feels very video game-y but it’s quite easy to understand, and the inventory system is also lovely. (Instead of having items, you have inventory points, and when you need a potion or something, you just detract the needed amount of inventory points. Really good for the part of me that always hoards consumables because “I might need it more later.”)
There’s a quickstart available that runs you through it very well! It even has numbers on the pregens’ character sheets that are like. Don’t look at this part yet; that’ll become relevant in part 3. I suppose that’s also based on good tutorial design in video games; things are explained in gameplay instead of rule-dumped at the start.
I don’t have any recommendation for you (other than maybe Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition which takes D&D 5E and adds more customisation), but that sounds a lot of fun and I need to check it out!
(Please no PbtA or Burning Wheel stuff. I’ve tried it but it’s very much not my thing.)
Alas, the Kickstarter and any late pledges they may have had is over. Hopefully, it’ll either be put up for sale, or part of a future Kickstarter. Thanks for the answer!
For names, I tend to use Behind the Name’s random name generator.
I don’t use ChatGPT and don’t plan to. For me, part of the fun of running games is being creative and doing the work of coming up with stuff myself. I don’t have as much of an issue with ChatGPT as with machine generated images, so that’s not why I avoid it. I just think the creative work is part of the experience, and us humans can also do that far better than a computer program. ChatGPT can’t easily draw on campaign-specific themes and symbolism, can’t foreshadow the greater mysteries going on. I mean, it likely can if specifically prompted to, but then you’re still doing most of the work myself.
And if I want to randomly generate something… Well, we’re all into TTRPG’s; that’s what dice are for. (Or tarot decks. I have too many of those. They’re just so pretty and I keep hoarding them.)
Are percentage-based skills hard to understand? I’ve played a bunch of BRP stuff (Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green), so it’s basically second nature to me.
Though maybe it’s because you’re mixing d100 and d20 at that point…
Well, I’ve recently played an adventure called Station S. I’m planning on running an adventure called “Kiss of Blood” soon, once my other D&D campaign is over. (I have two biweekly D&D games I run, and one is nearly done, and once that one’s done, I’m planning on switching the other one to weekly, but first I want to run this adventure for that group.)
A friend of mine sent it to me, knowing I’d like it. It’s become sort of server meme that I like lesbian vampires, hahaha. I think he’d had the adventure printed, and the print service sometimes sends multiple copies. (If one’s a bit flawed, they’ll just send it anyway, together with a good print. Otherwise, they’ll have to throw it out. I once had a card deck printed and got three decks because of printing flaws.)
I haven’t run a lot of Call of Cthulhu; I’ve mostly played it. (And I’m playing a lot more Delta Green, mostly because I’m in a campaign for that.) The only one I’ve run has been something called Dissociation, and that was a while ago. It was with people completely new to CoC, and two of them still relatively new to TTRPGs in general. It went really well and they got into it! One character tried to commit suicide. Really good roleplaying.
I should pick up Regency Cthulhu at some point. That’s just right up my alley.
Someone I’d played with before was like. Hey, I’m planning on running a campaign in Delta Green, who’s interested? And I looked into it and thought. Well, seems cool! And the rest is history.