TTRPG Tools

Systems

There are TTRPG systems for nearly every kind of story. Some are free and compact, while others span shelves of core books, settings and adventures. I have only played a portion of the games below, so the descriptions are intended as short signposts rather than comprehensive reviews.

Genre is flexible. A single game may support several tones or styles, but each one is listed where its most recognizable experience provides a useful starting point. Some systems also have Starter Kits that let you try them before buying a core book.

Fantasy

Epic & Heroic Fantasy

  • Dungeons & Dragons (5e, 2014/2024) — the mainstream fantasy juggernaut with a vast adventure ecosystem.
  • Pathfinder (2e) — crunch-forward fantasy with deep character options and robust adventure paths.
  • Daggerheart — collaborative heroic fantasy driven by Hope and Fear, character relationships and shared worldbuilding.
  • Nimble — fast, tactical 5e-compatible fantasy tuned to minimize slog and spotlight choices.
  • Legend in the Mist — rustic fantasy about folk heroes in a narrative-focused adventure.
  • Index Card RPG (ICRPG) — DIY-friendly d20 toolkit that prizes speed and table flow.
  • DC20 — crunchy-but-approachable fantasy from The Dungeon Coach.
  • Draw Steel — action-oriented fantasy RPG by game designer and YouTuber Matt Colville.
  • Tales of the Valiant — 5e-compatible rebuild with new classes, monsters and rules options.
  • Dragonbane — classic Swedish fantasy revived as fast, dangerous and adventurous play.
  • The One Ring (2e) — lore-first licensed Middle-earth role-playing.
  • Enclave — diceless, narrative-first fantasy about teamwork.

Cozy, Whimsical & Fairy-Tale Fantasy

  • Mausritter — rules-light adventures about brave mice in a huge and dangerous world, blending whimsy with old-school peril.
  • Keeper’s Call — rules-light d6 fantasy with fast character creation, concise rules and a hand-drawn style.
  • Wanderhome — pastoral fantasy about travelling animal-folk, changing seasons and life after conflict.
  • Dolmenwood — old-school adventure in an eerie fairy-tale forest inspired by British folklore.
  • Brighter Worlds — whimsical fantasy adventures built from Cairn.

JRPG-Inspired Fantasy

  • Fabula Ultima — cinematic fantasy about bonds, character styles and over-the-top arcs.
  • BREAK!! — anime- and SNES-flavoured fantasy emphasizing teamwork, clarity and accessibility.
  • Legends of Akeroth — hopeful, nostalgic JRPG fantasy supporting guided, group, duet and solo play.

Old-School, Dungeons & Exploration

  • Cairn — rules-light fantasy about dangerous forests, inventory play and emergent peril.
  • Knave (2e) — lightweight, slot-based OSR built for exploration and fast preparation.
  • Maze Rats — ultra-compact OSR with large random tables and speedy character generation.
  • Old-School Essentials (OSE) — faithful B/X retroclone with clear rules and layout.
  • Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) — gonzo Appendix-N fantasy with zero-level funnels and wild magic.
  • Forbidden Lands — hexcrawl survival fantasy with strong exploration and base-building.
  • Shadowdark — modern old-school play with real-time torch timers and a classic dungeon ethos.
  • Crown & Skull — hex-driven dark-fantasy “world engine” with tactical foes.
  • Tiny Dungeon (2e) — minimalist fantasy on the TinyD6 chassis, suited to quick starts. (TinyD6 also covers other genres.)
  • The Black Hack — streamlined OSR core with many hacks and community-created games.
  • Five Torches Deep — 5e-meets-OSR dungeon crawling with resource pressure.
  • HackMaster — detailed, tongue-in-cheek fantasy descended from an AD&D parody.
  • Worlds Without Number — classic fantasy adventuring paired with extensive sandbox-building tools.

Solo & Cooperative Fantasy

  • Ironsworn — quest-driven dark fantasy designed for solo, cooperative or game-master-guided play. The complete digital edition is free.

Heists & Strange Cities

  • Blades in the Dark — industrial ghost-punk capers with crew development, position and effect, downtime and stress.

Horror

Cosmic & Conspiracy Horror

  • Call of Cthulhu — investigative cosmic horror using BRP, with sanity and relentless dread.
  • Delta Green — modern conspiracy horror about agents confronting the Mythos, damaged bonds and burnout.

Gothic, Folk & Urban Horror

Cyberpunk & Near-Future

  • Cities Without Number — cyberpunk sandbox sibling to Stars Without Number, with faction tools and missions.
  • Cyberpunk RED — official continuation of the Cyberpunk line, set after 2020 and before 2077.
  • Technoir — gritty, high-tech and hard-boiled adventure.
  • Neon City Overdrive — fast-playing cyberpunk action using an intuitive d6 dice pool.
  • Zaibatsu — Neuromancer-inspired dystopian action in future Tokyo.

Contemporary Action & Mystery

  • Everyday Heroes — modern d20 action with chases, hacking, hazards and licensed blockbuster settings.
  • Kids on Bikes — collaborative, rules-light adventures about small-town heroes facing big mysteries.

Universal Systems & Toolkits

  • Savage Worlds (SWADE) — a fast-playing multi-genre engine with many published settings.
  • GURPS — detailed universal toolkit for constructing and playing in nearly any genre.
  • Cypher System — narrative-forward universal engine in which players make most of the rolls.
  • Fate — flexible, fiction-focused system built around aspects, skills and fate points.

Science Fiction & Science Fantasy

Hard & Exploratory Science Fiction

  • Traveller — classic far-future science fiction about travellers, starships, trade and exploration.
  • Stars Without Number — sector-building sandbox science fiction with OSR roots.
  • Coriolis – The Third Horizon — Arabian-nights-in-space adventures involving mysteries, factions and icons.
  • Diaspora — Fate-based hard science fiction about small crews and collaboratively mapped worlds.

Survival Stories

Mecha & Tactical Science Fiction

  • Lancer — far-future pilots and highly customizable mechs, pairing narrative play with detailed tactical combat.

Weird Science Fantasy

Superheroes

  • Masks: A New Generation — PbtA drama about young superheroes discovering who they are while defending their city.

Post-Apocalyptic & Military Survival

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