If someone only reads Batman comics their whole life, they are missing out on other great stories and can the content can feel stale over time. The same thing goes for tabletop role-playing games; gaming fatigue is a real problem for people who stick to one thing for too long.
There are plenty of TTRPG systems out there to try, from mysteries to hero stories to general adventures and everything in-between. There are hundreds of reasons that sticking to Dungeons and Dragons, while a great game itself, makes no sense. Here are ten TTRPGs that you should check out.
10 10. Kids On Bikes
Kids on Bikes, created by Doug Levandowski and Jonathan Gilmour, is all about community building through role-playing. The premise of the game is like the classic 80s trope where a group of people comes together to solve a mystery. The Goonies, Stranger Things and IT would all fit as a game of Kids on Bikes.
The game is played by focusing on heavy roleplay aspects. The players are set into a town where everybody knows everybody. Every part of the game is decided by both the GM and the players. The use of dice in this game is interesting because each attribute, such as Brawn and Brains, has a die set to them, depending on the character, ranging from a d4 to a d20.
9 9. Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is exactly what it sounds like. You play as a vampire from one of the many sects and clans from the World of Darkness, an overarching world that the creatures of the night inhabit. The point of the game, if there is one, is to survive in a big open world that has hostility around every corner.
The system was adapted for a well-received video game in the form of Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines. There is a heavy choice-based aspect of this game, starting from the creation of your character to the interactions with NPCs. The stories are allowed to be darker from the start of the session.
8 8. Masks
Superhero RPGs aren’t always fun, but Masks does it well by placing limits. The game uses the Powered by the Apocalypse core system which sets up how the leveling and rolling system work. Instead of rolling a d20 plus modifiers, you roll 2 d6s and add smaller mods. Depending on where you land, you can get a failure, mixed success, or success.
The most interesting part of Masks is the end of the session moments. Each session is meant to be played out like a single issue of a comic book. At the end of the sessions, your scores for labels shift around, but not by you. Your teammates look back at your session and move your traits up and down according to how you behaved and progressed in the issue. You don’t stay the same character and it is refreshing.
7 7. Champions of the Earth
Taking the same formula as seen in early Power Rangers and merging it with a realistic world set in 20XX, Champions of the Earth follows five young heroes in their journey to save their city from the forces of evil. It uses the Op20 dice system where you roll d20 against d20, and the higher roll wins.
The game, created by Collin Kelly, follows the adventures of the teenagers with attitude as they come into their powers and selves. While the game is still being playtested via a podcast of the same name, they are releasing the play information in the coming months. It has a fun vibe with it and allows people with the dream to be a Power Ranger to be one.
6 6. Mouse Guard
If you take the grandiose world of Dungeons and Dragons and shrink it down to a valley, you can get the world of Mouse Guard. Players get to create tiny mouse characters that go on adventures, help others, and maybe even fight some snakes... *ahem* dragons.
Throughout the game, you roll 6 six-sided dice, assuming you don’t have the branded die. 1-3 is snakes, which means failure, 4 and 5 are swords, which are successes, and a 6 is an ax, which is just a better success. The beautiful game is based on the graphic novel series of the same name by David Petersen.
5 5. Ten Candles
If you want an unironically emotional game where you know from go you are going to die, check out Ten Candles. A horror-based RPG where you create characters based on a few words and play through your own choices in a world that wants you dead, Ten Candles has only a few rules. At the start of the game, you have ten candles lit on your table. Certain decisions can cause one to be blown out, which makes the story take a turn.
Additionally, if a player accidentally blows out a candle, it counts. There is a dice system that corresponds to the number of active candles as well. The point of the story is to create characters that connect and try to solve the mystery before they die. Before the game starts, a voice memo is recorded by the players and then played back at the end. Hearing the hope in the characters before everything went bad is perfectly tragic.
4 4. Star Wars RPG (Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny)
Since these two systems work practically the same, they need to be put side by side. They are Star Wars games where players can play smugglers, pilots, Jedi and more. Because it is a Star Wars system, you can play out the same scenarios as A New Hope while finding out just how bad that movie could have gone for its heroes.
Their dice do require a bit of learning, as there are six different types of die that stand for different things. Some are successes and some are failures, and you essentially roll against yourself to find out if you pass or not. It is the perfect game for anyone wanting to be in the universe, even if it is only pretend.
3 3. Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu is a mystery game that draws on the lore of creatures, gods, and demons that could be in the world. The story-driven game is about finding out who or what is making things go bump in the night. It is similar enough to Dungeons and Dragons, notably older editions, that new players can get a handle on it.
Its biggest draw is the madness system. Actions have consequences in the real world, and Call of Cthulhu doesn’t shy away from this fact. By using a system that forces players to think about their actions, the stories can be more developed and use logical backings that aren’t “I punch it hard.”
2 2. Cyberpunk 2020
The excitement that arose from the announcement of Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 2018 should be indicative of just how much of a presence the original tabletop game has. Set in a cyber-dystopia, Cyberpunk 2020 was all about telling futuristic stories of life and gangs. Coating everything with a shiny layer of technology, the system requires players to want to be a part of the next Blade Runner.
There are plenty of character archetypes to choose from and play through a campaign as including rocker boys and solos. There is a mechanic called humanity points which is tied to your empathy as a human. Attractiveness is also a trait.
1 1. Monster of the Week
Another Powered by the Apocalypse based system, Monster of the Week is about a group of hunters as they deal with the formulaic weekly appearances of monsters in their small, idyllic towns. Taking inspiration from Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there is a multitude of characters that you can make to explore the world that you co-create with the Keeper.
Each character has access to their own set of moves that can aid their hunt and change the story. The rolling system is set as a pass/fail, the same as Masks. Each move allows for specific questions and actions, each having benefits and consequences for successes and failures. The game really shines in how the characters can behave with each other and the world around them. When you have a mundane, which are the Xanders, next to an actual angel, the Castiels, they can get into wild and wacky situations that make the game more fun.