Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Talislanta is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game created by Stephan Michael Sechi, first published by Bard Games in 1987. It draws its inspiration from Jack Vance's Dying Earth novels and the travelogue spirit of the Arabian Nights rather than from Tolkien. It built its identity around a single blunt promise printed right on the box: "no elves". No dwarves, no halflings, no standard-issue fantasy races at all - just dozens of original cultures found nowhere else in the genre.  The game has passed through five editions and nearly as many publishers, including a stint at Wizards of the Coast in the early '90s, and creator Stephan Michael Sechi now makes the entire back catalogue - every edition, every supplement - available for free through the official Talislanta Library. Description Playing Talislanta starts with a choice. Instead of creating a character from separate race, class, and skill lists, players pick one of well over a hundred archetypes. Things like the Cymrilan Rogue Magician, the Jaka Beastmaster, or the Mandalan Mystic Warrior - each one a fully realised character tied to a specific culture. Complete with attributes, skills, gear, and a place in the world already worked out. A little light customisation (a point moved here, a skill added there) and the character is ready to play.  What makes the game distinct isn't its mechanics, which are deliberately light, but the scale of its setting: the continent of Talislanta is home to more than a hundred distinct peoples, and the rulebooks spend far more pages on culture, custom, and worldview than on combat math. It rewards players who want to explore a genuinely alien fantasy world over chasing mechanical optimisation. System Overview & Key Features Archetype-Based Character Creation Character creation isn't a build process, it's a selection process. Every archetype in the book arrives fully statted, dressed, and equipped, tied to a named culture and a defined role in Talislantan society. Archetypes are deliberately unbalanced against one another, since staying true to the setting mattered more to Sechi than parity between character options. The Unified Action Table Skill checks, combat rolls, and magic all resolve on a single d20 chart. Attacking works exactly like any other skill roll: add a skill rating, compare to a target number. There's no separate combat subsystem to memorise, which keeps the rules themselves down to a few dozen pages even in the densest editions. Modes and Orders Magic runs on two interlocking pieces: Modes (twelve broad effect categories like Attack, Heal, or Illusion) and Orders (culturally rooted schools of magic, from Cartomancy to Elemental Magic). A magician's Order shapes how a Mode behaves and looks when cast, so the same underlying effect plays out completely differently in different hands - which lets a short list of Modes support a near-endless variety of actual spells. A World Built Without Tolkien Every culture in Talislanta was designed to avoid genre default: no elves, no generic barbarians, no standard dragons. In their place are peoples like the Thralls (identical clone-warriors distinguishable only by tattoo), the sky-sailing Phantasians, and the shapeshifting Sindarans. The setting material - not the rules - is where most of the page count and most of the game's reputation live. Links talislanta.com - Official Talislanta website talislanta.com/talislanta-library - Free official PDFs of every edition and supplement ever published

Novissa Spola is a tabletop tactical RPG being developed for VR, mixed reality, and PC. Inspired by classic tactical RPGs and the physical experience of playing around a tabletop, Novissa Spola combines strategic turn-based combat, character building, exploration, and a fantasy campaign designed to be played solo or with friends. The game is currently in development, but a playable demo is already available. The demo gives you a chance to experience the tabletop-style gameplay and tactical combat that form the foundation of Novissa Spola. Visit the official website www.honestcabbage.com to play the demo, view the trailer, and stay up to date on development. Development is ongoing, with the full game planned to expand the campaign, characters, world, combat systems, and cooperative experience.

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.

When Sky and Sea Were Not Named (WSSWNN for short) is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game. To play, you'll need a set of gaming dice, your imagination, and a few friends. One player, the Guide, narrates the story and sets up challenges for the rest of the group. The other players take on the roles of heroes who set forth upon doomed floating islands, rescue people from their fates, and rebuild civilization. A game of When Sky and Sea Were Not Named might be limited to a single island that players explore in a few hours. Or it can be a sprawling adventure spread out over months of play, with heroes steadily gaining more powerful abilities and technology. Beyond action scenes and combat, WSSWNN is about your heroic characters and their journeys together. You can learn new lore from other characters—perhaps allies you've rescued, or even foes you've graced with mercy. You can invoke your hero's ideals in dramatic moments, potentially turning failure or struggle into success.

DC20 is a fantasy tabletop RPG designed by Alan Bjorkgren, a former high school math teacher and track coach better known online as The Dungeon Coach, where he spent years producing D&D 5e homebrew content before deciding to build his own system outright - a decision accelerated by Wizards of the Coast's 2023 OGL controversy.  Rather than reinventing fantasy TTRPGs from scratch, DC20 keeps 5e's basic silhouette - classes, levels, a d20 core - while substantially rebuilding the parts Bjorkgren felt were holding the format back: action economy, damage resolution, spellcasting, and character customization. Its June 2024 Kickstarter broke $1 million within its first week, and the game has been in active public beta ever since, currently on Core Rules Beta 0.10.5, with the full Core Rulebook still pending release.

Tales from Myriad is a Campaign-focused fantasy game run by a GM for at least 2 players. It is a 2d6 system with exploding dice and a magic dice pool-per cast (with miscasts!). It embraces whimsy and chaos, making every session an unpredictable adventure. Its standout features are its unique magic system that adds excitement and surprise to every spell, its character creation is quick and easy (plus, CLOTHES! Your wardrobe keeps you alive!) and the mechanics are approachable for newcomers while still offering plenty of depth and creative freedom for more seasoned players. With its focus on dungeon-delving and its playful, unpredictable style, Myriad is perfect for those who love creativity, surprises, and a touch of chaos in their games.

At First Sight is a role-playing game where most of the action takes place in The Breach, a city founded after a magical cataclysm known as The War. The city is dominated by five great mages whose towers rise around a massive rift of darkness created by the power of The Prophet, who is said to hold the fate of the city in his hands. The strange and esoteric city we live in is divided into five districts, each hosting one of the towers where the great mages reside, and which give their names to the schools of magic that shape its inhabitants. Description The city is in decline, magic is spiraling out of control, bringing plagues and magical monstrosities. The five great mages haven’t been seen for a long time, and people are starting to take the law into their own hands, fighting for control of the city’s various zones. For this reason, many mages are beginning to form small gangs in their hideouts, competing for power and respect while dealing with plagues and monstrosities.  The goal of most of these gangs is to find The Prophet, as whoever discovers him will decide the city's fate. All this while avoiding The Affliction of The Breach, a "disease" caused by prolonged exposure to the massive rift dividing the city. This affliction generates strange memories in the protagonists, driving them mad or robbing them of control over their magic, turning them into new monstrosities wandering the city's streets. At First Sight is a highly narrative game with intense, exaggerated action, where players manage one of these mage gangs struggling to survive in this cursed city known as The Breach.

Mischief is a D12 chaos-driven game of magical mayhem that keeps your TTRPG sessions fast, intense, and unpredictable. Classless character builds offer maximum customization. The Luck system keeps gameplay quick and swingy. Prep is uber-simple and fiction-first. The Mischief engine is designed for easy reflavoring to suit your next campaign or setting!

Old Gold is a tabletop roleplaying game of daring exploration, creative problem-solving, and fast-paced tactical combat, in which you play as adventurers brave (or foolish) enough to delve into ruins and monster-haunted wilds for the old gold that awaits there. I hope you'll find as much joy with it as I have. Description Tabletop roleplaying games, such as Old Gold, follow a simple game loop: the Referee (or yourself, if playing solo) sets a scene, players say or do what their characters would, and the dice settle whatever is uncertain. Being a good Referee. You are a neutral arbiter. When a situation isn't covered by the rules, you make common-sense rulings. You let the story emerge from what the players do, and let the dice fall where they may. You are the eyes, ears, and nose of the players. You telegraph danger, and you reward clever thinking. Being a good Player. You ask lots of questions, take notes, draw maps. You ask what you would do, not only what your character would. You plan and work with your party. You play to win, but you're ready to lose.

Shadow of the Demon Lord is a grim dark-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game set during the last, doomed years before an apocalypse, designed by Robert J. Schwalb and published by his own studio, Schwalb Entertainment, in 2015 following a Kickstarter campaign.  It builds a d20-based system deliberately stripped of the modifier-stacking common to games in its weight class, replacing most situational bonuses and penalties with a single abstracted mechanic. Schwalb later returned to the same core system for a lighter, more traditional-fantasy spinoff, Shadow of the Weird Wizard, released via Kickstarter in 2023. Description Characters begin as ordinary commoners rather than destined heroes, in a world where the Demon Lord's return is already underway and survival - not glory - is the realistic goal of most adventures. The Game Master (GM) runs a setting that leans hard into body horror, corruption, and creeping dread, and the game states its demands plainly.  Characters can and do die, sanity can crack under the weight of what they witness, and doing what's necessary to survive can leave a permanent, mechanical stain on a character's soul. It's built for a table that wants D&D-adjacent fantasy combat without D&D's heroic framing - closer in spirit to grimdark fiction than epic fantasy, with character death treated as a real and fairly common outcome rather than an exception.

Hallowed: Saints and Heretics is a Table Top Roleplaying Game set in the world of Engealon where your character can either revere one of the seven gods to wield divine magic or reject the gods and walk the path of a heretic, drawing forbidden power from the Outer Darkness.

Pokémon Tabletop United is a tactical, rules-medium tabletop roleplaying game designed to capture the depth, strategy, and wonder of the Pokémon video games and anime. Built for one Game Master and a party of trainers, it features extensive class and skill customization for human characters, detailed turn-based Pokémon combat on grid maps, and comprehensive Pokédex stat blocks spanning multiple generations.

The Era Of The Elementals (TEOTE) is an open world Tabletop RPG that revolves around element themed powers. This game is primarily played with a D20. You can instead use 4D6-3 as a substitute. This games comes in one big "book" or 3 smaller "books". You get both when you buy it. It can be played alone and it even comes with a guide on how to play solo. It was created by a single Indie Developer with a budget of 0$. No AI was used to create this game. Originally from Earth, you are stolen away and taken to a world where humans are able to harmonize with the elements so strongly that they can control and create these elements as if they were extensions that spring from their very souls. These humans are called Elementals. When you first begin your adventure you will be given control over a single element, but you can learn to control all of them as your adventure progresses.