Actual Play Entertainment

Overview

Actual Play Entertainment (APE) is an independent RPG network that is dedicated to bringing you quality, well produced, actual play podcasts. Our games have a combination of being fun, tense, and exciting, with a dash of improvised humor that will make you laugh-out-loud. You might even cry! Who knows? Games in the works:
Alien the RPG https://groupfinder.gg/library/alien-rpg
,
Traveler 2nd Edition https://groupfinder.eu/library/traveller-2e-2016
,
Dungeons and Dragons 5E https://groupfinder.eu/library/dungeons-dragons-5e-2014
,
Delta Green https://groupfinder.eu/library/delta-green-2016
,
Call of Cthulhu https://groupfinder.eu/library/call-of-cthulhu-2014
(Pulp and 7th edition), and more.

Campaigns

Operation: Blackstar

Set in 1997, this Delta Green campaign begins with a trip to the forgotten town of Groversville, Tennessee. What starts as a simple investigation unravels into alien abductions, government lies, and the Mi-Go’s terrifying experiments. A slow descent into paranoia, body horror, and conspiracy — where every choice risks pulling the agents deeper into the shadows of the Blackstar project.

The Two-Headed Serpent

A rip-roaring Pulp Cthulhu campaign of action, intrigue, and cosmic menace. The heroes work for the Caduceus Foundation, battling disease and disaster across the globe — but their missions hide a secret war against ancient serpent people bent on reclaiming the Earth. From lost jungles to frozen wastes, to the ruins of Mu itself, the adventure explodes with two-fisted action, pulpy science, and occult horrors beyond imagination.

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Other entries

Fantasy Grounds Unity
Tools & Platforms

Fantasy Grounds Unity

Virtual tabletop (VTT)
English
Free
Fantasy Grounds Unity is a high-power virtual tabletop originally released in 2004 and completely rebuilt on the Unity engine in 2020. Developed by SmiteWorks, it is the industry pioneer of "automated play," where the software handles complex rules, modifiers, and combat math natively. In a massive industry shift in late 2025, the platform moved to a completely free-to-play model, removing the traditional $50 license fee to compete directly with modern browser-based rivals. Description Fantasy Grounds is often described as a "Digital Dungeon Master’s Assistant." It is a standalone application (not a browser site) that provides the most stable and deep automation available. While it has a more traditional, window-based interface that can feel daunting to new users, it rewards the "Power GM" with unparalleled control over combat and data. Since becoming free in late 2025, it has positioned itself as the premier "zero-cost" entry point for groups who want professional-grade automation without a subscription. System Overview & Key Features Native Ruleset Automation Unlike other VTTs that rely on community plug-ins, Fantasy Grounds features "Hard-Coded" automation for its primary systems. When a player drags an attack onto a target, the software automatically checks for cover, calculates the hit against Armor Class, applies damage, and tracks temporary hit points or resistances without any manual input. V5.1 Visual Intelligence The 2026 update introduced "Aggregated Notifications." Instead of scrolling through a wall of text in a chat box, combat results like damage, saving throws, and status effects now appear as elegant visual icons and pop-ups directly over the tokens on the map. 2.5D Tactical Mapping While it supports traditional 2D top-down maps, FGU includes a unique 2.5D camera mode. This provides a sense of depth and perspective to battlemaps, making the digital table feel more like a physical diorama with "placeable" 3D-like objects like trees and furniture. Total Offline Capability Because it is a localized application, you can prepare your entire campaign, build NPCs, and write story entries without an internet connection. Your data is stored on your hard drive, giving you total ownership of your campaign files. The Fantasy Grounds Forge FGU features an integrated marketplace and community portal called "The Forge." This allows GMs to browse and auto-install thousands of community-made extensions and themes that update automatically whenever the main software is launched. Cross-Platform Unity Engine Built on the Unity 6 engine (as of 2026), the software offers smooth performance on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It uses hardware acceleration to handle complex dynamic lighting, weather effects, and large-scale vision blocking for massive dungeon crawls. Additional links fantasygrounds.com : Official Fantasy Grounds website fantasygroundsacademy.com : Community-led training and free classes forge.fantasygrounds.com : Official community content and extension portal

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The Dark Eye menstruation calculator
Tools & Platforms

The Dark Eye menstruation calculator

German
Free
Toolkit
For anyone playing a female character in The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) who doesn't want to keep track of when their character is menstruating, I’ve written a tool that displays the next twelve occurrences. The calculations are based on the Calendar of the Twelve Gods, which is the most widely used calendar in Aventuria. I assume a 28-day cycle, with the period typically lasting one week.

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Ludonarrative Dissidents
Actual Play & Podcasts

Ludonarrative Dissidents

English
Universal
Podcast
"Ludonarrative dissonance" is a term from game-design commentary, describing a moment when the game mechanics pull in one direction but the game story pulls in another, creating dissonance. The ‘Ludonarrative Dissidents’ are three game designers, reviewers and commentators, veterans in the field of ludic narrative, who have come together to discuss the art, science and craft of RPG design by vivisecting game systems and seeing what makes them run.  Your hosts are Ross Payton, Greg Stolze and James Wallis. Ethos Every episode of Ludonarrative Dissidents is built around four pillars: What does this game do? How does it do that? How do people play it? Why do they play it that way? (and how well does it succeed?) We examine games from all angles: mechanical, ludic, narrativist, historical, cultural, structural, whether or not it’s fun, and Greg complains about its use of the future-conditional tense. We look at its influences and pedigree, its narrative engine, its world-building, its book-design, and James reveals that he dated the designer’s sister, or something like that. In season 2 we have added episodes that look at specific aspects of RPGs, such as initiative systems, metacurrencies and diceless games. Origins The idea behind Ludonarrative Dissidents came from a Twitter discussion in early 2021. Someone was looking for RPG designers to work on a project, someone else suggested Greg and James, and after the two of them politely declined, a third person opined that a podcast with the two talking about games and game design would be quite a thing. Greg and James exchanged a virtual glance across the Atlantic, Greg mentioned the idea to Ross, the three of them filled a Google document with ideas, and the project was born.

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