Mothership (2018)

Get your table playing in minutes, not hours.   GATEWAY RPG is a free, modular d20 system designed for zero-prep adventures, sudden one-shots, and seamless intro sessions. Powered by familiar 5E mechanics but stripped of all the bloat, GATEWAY lets you run any genre instantly: from neon-soaked cyberpunk streets to grit-filled noir alleys. What’s Inside? The 42-Page Core Rulebook: A streamlined engine for Players and GMs, available in both English and Spanish (Reglas en Español). The Deluxe Edition: The definitive 102-page PDF compiling the Core Rules, Solo Rules, and Bestiary into one volume. Accessible Formats: All rules are formatted in high-quality, printable PDFs with options for both white and book-textured backgrounds. Ready-to-Play Content: Jump straight into the action with Pre-generated Characters and One-Shot Adventure Modules spanning multiple genres. The Player’s Toolkit: Includes printable and form-fillable Character Sheets, a 1-page Quick Reference sheet, and a dedicated d20 Oracle for Solo Play. Starter Bestiary: A multi-genre supplement featuring 25 adversaries across 11 settings, from High Fantasy and Space Opera to Cthulhu-style Horror. Universal Compatibility: Use the Advanced Play Variant for long campaigns or easily port your characters into D&D, Pathfinder, or Star Wars d20. Homebrew & Variant Rules Supplement: Level up your game with 20+ pages of optional mechanics. Features include "Spark of Heroism" (Inspiration), Pushing for Success (Partial Success), and Genre Modifiers for high-tension Survival or Cosmic Horror play. Pocket-Sized Character Sheets: Compact sheets designed for portability and efficiency. Solo Play Quickstart Zine: A portable, zine-style guide for quick, on-the-go solo adventures.

Salvage Union is a RPG set in a Post-Apoc world where MegaCorps rules pockets of civilization and nomads on giant 'Crawlers' comb the wastes for 'salvage'. Players are part of the 'Salvage Union', on one of these roaming Crawlers and deploy out in jury-rigged Mechs to collect salvage and investigate their ruined world. Description Playing Salvage Union means playing a crew of salvager mech pilots living aboard a massive, mobile home base called a Union Crawler, scavenging a corporate-ravaged wasteland for scrap to keep their community alive. Beyond raiders and rival scavengers, threats include monstrous Bio-Titans, alien Meld, and the Corpos who still control most of the world's remaining resources. Much of the game's appeal comes from its two-layered loop: narrative exploration and salvaging runs outside the mech, and tactical, resource-managed mech combat once things go loud, tied together by a deep crafting system that lets pilots build and refit their machines from scavenged parts between missions.

NovArchaic is a modern-day science-fantasy tabletop role-playing game focused on identity-first character creation, a structured-but-creative action system, and fun, rewarding crafting. Character creation focuses on a character with a backstory rooted in the setting and goals that, once completed, unlock new ways to improve. All actions use a unified passive and active skill system, tied into a flexible critical-effect system. But what about the setting? NovArchaic's core setting is a world that didn't know it wasn't whole. The core reality shard is our modern world, with its cell phones and memes. Then there are fractures and other shards containing magic and monsters. Slowly, as time passes, these parts of the universe try to come back together, but it's a complicated, bloody mess.

Ishanekon: World Shapers is the (probably) biggest free Indie TTRPG with over 2,500 character options. It has been mainly developed by Jan Luyken, aka Blaze Reason, with the aim of creating a game that can compete (if not surpass) the current biggest games on the market while remaining affordable for anyone. With its easily adaptable rules and wide range of options, from beginner-friendly to highly complex, it is designed to satisfy the needs of almost any story and play style. Description From epic fantasy and sci-fi to mundane humans facing everything from common threats to cosmic horror, Ishanekons: World Shapers’ modular design lets you easily adjust the rules to help you experience your stories. This game is designed with the idea that you bring the flavor, and the mechanics help you bring it to life. The 10 Archetypes with over 200 Sub-Archetypes, 1000+ Abilities, 600+ Talents, 300+ items and upgrades, and more allow you to build anything from a simple cat to a city-destroying kaiju. Role and complexity filters let you find what you need quickly while helping you avoid those features that might be too overwhelming for your liking.

An absurd, over-the-top, comedy/horror D&D Actual Play Podcast starring some of History's most infamous monsters. Join the adventures of The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Frankenstein Monster, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wolfman, and more as they're forced to ban together to survive the supernatural horrors of the "Engl-ish" Countryside. Table Talk Table Talk is a special interview series on the D&Dark Podcast where the host interviews other tabletop roleplaying game creators, game masters, and actual play podcasters about their shows, design philosophies and creative spaces. Links dndarkpodcast.com - Official website spotify.com - Spotify feed podcasts.apple.com - Apple Podcasts feed

Pathfinder is a heroic fantasy roleplaying game system with a high amount of character customization and progression, published by Paizo in 2009. It was developed as a response to Wizards of the Coast transitioning the D&D genre to D&D 4th Edition, which was seen as a strong deviation from the math-heavy norm from 3.5E. Pathfinder was built using the Open Game License (OGL) to revise and expand upon the beloved 3.5 ruleset.  The system it directly evolved from is Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition The second edition of the game was released in 2019 as Pathfinder 2nd Edition Description Pathfinder 1e is well known for its "crunch". It relies heavily on strict rules, mechanical variation and math. The system is perfect for players who prefer heavy character optimization and customization, focus on tactical combat encounters and a strong ruleset for almost any situation. Pathfinder is proud of it's complexity and very much focuses on it. Boasting a massive library of  spells, classes, and feats, allows the players to build very mechanically different and unique characters. It is also renowned for its "Adventure Paths": epic, six-part published campaigns that take characters from level 1 to roughly level 20. System Overview & Key Features The d20 System & Action Economy Like 3.5E, the core engine runs on a d20 roll plus modifiers. On every turn the characters have a set structure to perform their actions. Mechanically separated into Standard, Move and Swift actions. Archetypes & Deep Customization Instead of relying on complicated "Prestige Classes," Pathfinder 1e popularized "Archetypes." These allow players to swap out base class features for heavily themed alternatives right from level 1. This enables the players an extensive levels of customization when combining with the thousands of available feats to further personalise their unique character concept. Base Attack Bonus (BAB) Martial prowess is measured by a Base Attack Bonus. As this number grows, martial classes can eventually achieve "iterative attacks," allowing them to attack with their weapons multiple times per their turns, although penalties apply for repeated attempts. Combat Maneuver Mechanics (CMB/CMD) The system introduced two systems to simplify actions like tripping, grappling or disarming your opponents: Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense. This created a single, reliable formula to use when performing maneuvers against an enemy. Skill Ranks Instead of a single "Proficiency Bonus" like in modern games, players are given a pool of Skill Points at every level (determined by their class and Intelligence score) to manually distribute across a massive list of skills, allowing for highly granular non-combat abilities. Lethality and "Crunch" As characters level up, the numbers grow exponentially. This means, that by reaching higher levels of encounters, characters and their opponents are dealing huge amounts of damage, alongside with various magical buffs and spells that could instantly kill a character. Planning and tracking situational modifiers and buffs becomes vital for survival. Additional links pathfinderwiki.com - Pathfinder Wiki  aonprd.com - Archives of Nethys (Official free rules database for PF1e)