(IYO) the best TTRPG web site

EOTB · March 22, 2019, 02:29:54 PM

Doing some research.

What is the best TTRPG website in your opinion, and why? Or do none really stand out as more or less enjoyable/functional?

I'm talking about websites by game producers intending to present a professional, as opposed to purposefully "DIY" look. So Frog God, Green Ronin, WOTC, Paizo, etc. I'd consider LotFP "professional" also, but only a tic or two beyond what I would call a "DIY" look.

Why do you like it? Aesthetics? Speed? etc.
How do you use it? Resources? News? etc.
What do you wish you'd get out of it that you're not, currently?

Alexander Kalinowski · March 22, 2019, 02:50:14 PM

Knights of the Black Lily. Just kidding. It's just a fairly humble site.
My serious answer would be FFG. It's just very sophisticated and polished. I think FFG understands the industry very well, perhaps better than anybody else.

S'mon · March 22, 2019, 04:23:53 PM

Well the best rpg website is DMDavid's blog...

In terms of glitz and browsing utility, hm I guess the Paizo site.

EOTB · March 22, 2019, 04:50:03 PM

Quote from: S'mon;1080296Well the best rpg website is DMDavid's blog...

In terms of glitz and browsing utility, hm I guess the Paizo site.

Content excluded. Just the site structure/mechanics/whatever, writing quality excluded. (Unless that's a driver of your traffic)

I'm looking for examples good website construction for a TTRPG "commercial" purpose, but not things to add to my reading list per se.

Alexander Kalinowski · March 22, 2019, 05:37:55 PM

Ah, I did that myself before setting up my website. So, if you want more examples of smaller scale websites than FFG that inspired me, here's my list of favourite reference sites that I studied:
http://www.unity-rpg.com/
http://www.fraggedempire.com/
https://www.cityofmist.co/
http://sigil.info/

German:
https://magun-rpg.com/
http://www.aera-rpg.de/

Been looking at them mainly for structure and webdesign reasons. Hope it helps!

EOTB · March 22, 2019, 05:59:09 PM

Thank you, Alexander. I appreciate your links.

All of those are beautiful sites. I admit, the FFG site you recommended previously is the best I've seen recommended today; here or elsewhere. Fast to load, clean to the eye, organized. So far, it stands apart.

(Never played those games so was unfamiliar with it)

Omega · March 22, 2019, 06:25:36 PM

Quote from: Alexander Kalinowski;1080289Knights of the Black Lily. Just kidding. It's just a fairly humble site.
My serious answer would be FFG. It's just very sophisticated and polished. I think FFG understands the industry very well, perhaps better than anybody else.

FFG has also in the past totally screwed over its RPG fans. One of my players absolutely refuses to touch another FFG RPG after something that happened involving their Warhammer forum or somesuch. That and at least one other skeleton in their closet makes them a less than reliable fora unfortunately.

Omega · March 22, 2019, 06:29:29 PM

Quote from: EOTB;1080326Thank you, Alexander. I appreciate your links.

All of those are beautiful sites. I admit, the FFG site you recommended previously is the best I've seen recommended today; here or elsewhere. Fast to load, clean to the eye, organized. So far, it stands apart.

(Never played those games so was unfamiliar with it)

I'd love to suggest BGG. But unfortunately they have not a damn clue what an RPG is and their weird urge to add a entry for every damn individual magazine article makes for a horribly needlessly cluttered RPG section. That and the other more onerous problems like covert censorship and so on makes it unfortunately not a fora Id suggest.

kythri · March 22, 2019, 09:58:30 PM

Are we considering RPGgeek as part of BGG?

Omega · March 23, 2019, 02:12:24 PM

Quote from: kythri;1080353Are we considering RPGgeek as part of BGG?

That is that I meant. BGG and RPGG are the same site.

RPGPundit · April 01, 2019, 07:34:07 AM

theRPGsite?

asron819 · April 05, 2019, 07:30:23 PM

Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game website. Tons of free PDFs, a dungeon builder, random encouters, random adventurers, bandits and pirates. It's easily my favorite version of D&D.

https://www.basicfantasy.org

for anyone not familiar with it

EOTB · April 06, 2019, 04:55:13 PM

Quote from: asron819;1082439Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game website. Tons of free PDFs, a dungeon builder, random encouters, random adventurers, bandits and pirates. It's easily my favorite version of D&D.

https://www.basicfantasy.org

for anyone not familiar with it

I wasn't familiar with it so am very glad you mentioned it. OSRIC has a similar mission, so there's a lot of best practices there for a game not trying to make money off the rules themselves.