The Expanse RPG

Modern AGE is a genre-toolkit tabletop roleplaying game covering everything from the Industrial Revolution to the near future, published by Green Ronin Publishing in 2018 and designed by a team credited as Matthew Dawkins, Meghan Fitzgerald, Sian Ingham, Steve Kenson, Alejandro Melchor, Chris Pramas, and Malcolm Sheppard. Rather than shipping with a fixed setting, it hands a table the rules to build gritty two-fisted action, pulp adventure, urban fantasy, or a dystopian near-future campaign from the same core book. The system is built on the Adventure Game Engine (AGE), the same engine Green Ronin uses for Dragon Age, Fantasy AGE, and Blue Rose, built here as a fully classless implementation rather than the class-based approach those other lines use. Description Characters are built from backgrounds and life experience rather than a class list, advancing across 20 levels while a table decides for itself what kind of modern-ish game they're actually playing - a two-fisted pulp game, a grounded action thriller, an urban fantasy campaign with magic running underneath the modern world, or something further out toward science fiction.  The Game Master leans on the same optional Arcane and Psychic Power rules whether they're running secret agents, monster hunters, or conspiracy investigators, turning them on only for the campaigns that need them. It's built to be picked up by a group who already knows roughly what modern-day game they want to run and just needs a flexible, classless chassis to build it on, rather than a game with a setting of its own to sell.

Released in 2014 by Chaosium, Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition is the latest version of the cult-classic cosmic eldritch horror role-playing system originally launched in 1981. The story is based off of the  literary works of H.P. Lovecraft and lovecraftian works. Instead of setting the players up as heroes, the characters are regular investigators who are exploring cults, forbidden knowledge and various eldritch-cosmic entitites and threats. Description Occupations in the game for the characters include academics, reporters, and private investigators. The gameplay loop revolves around uncovering information, analyzing clues, and evading dangers. As the supernatural elements in the game are considered more powerful than the investigators, they have are not expected to actually confront most of the threats head on. Instead they usually have to resort to avoiding or escaping any situation that may arise. Combat is lethal and usually leads to characters getting permanently killed or pushed to insanity (which eventually is the same).  System Overview & Key Features Percentile Framework (d100) Every action is resolved by rolling two ten-sided (d10) dice to get a result from 1 to 100. If you roll is equal to or under your skill rating, the action is deemed a success. This approach simplifies the mechanical process of the game, as there are no complex tables to keep track of and compare to decypher whether it is a success or failure. Pushed Rolls If a character fails a skill check, they may attempt to "push" the roll, allowing for a second attempt. This requires the player to come up with a new, more desperate approach to performing the task. If this subsequent pushed roll also fails, the Keeper describes a severe and immediate negative consequence. Sanity and Madness A core mechanic of the system is the tracking of mental stability. Investigators lose points from their Sanity gauge when exposed to anomalous creatures or disturbing truths. Drops in Sanity result in the character experiencing temporary or permanent forms of madness, which can manifest as new phobias, delusions, or a temporary loss of player agency over the character. Bonus and Penalty Dice To account for situational advantages or disadvantages, the game employs a system of bonus and penalty dice. If a character possesses a distinct advantage when performing a task, an extra d10 is rolled and taking the higher result. A disadvantage means rolling an extra d10 and taking the lower result. Combat Lethality Physical altercations are inherently dangerous by design. Investigators possess limited hit points, and the damage output of both conventional firearms and anomalous entities is high. Recovery mechanics are slow, simulating realistic healing times. This structural lethality serves to discourage combat and incentivize stealth and investigation. Expendable Luck Players can spend points from their character's Luck pool to retroactively lower a dice roll. The points are subtracted on a one-to-one basis until the dice result qualifies as a success. This ensures that the Luck pool is a limited resource which should be used and utilized in the most critical situations. Additional links chaosium.com - Official publisher website and digital storefront drivethrurpg.com - Digital repository for official scenarios and sourcebooks

Traveller 2E is a sci-fi tabletop roleplaying game system, that was published in 2016 and updated in 2022, by Mongoose Publishing. It involves the characters adventuring through star systems, engaging in (space) exploration and engaging in battles both on ground and in space. The system it directly evolved from is classic Traveller (1977) Description The characers in Traveller can be humans, robots, aliens or of a genetically engineered species. Each character is distinguished by their occupation - whether they are a civilian, military, a noble, a young cadet or a veteran. Each type comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. To further expand on the sci-fi aspect of the game, some characters are prone to extra-sensory abilities, such as telekinesis, telepathy and others.

I'm a simple tavern keeper who spends their time spilling the hottest tea. Crispy's Tavern is a drama YouTuber who covers stories both inside and outside the TTRPG space. On the side, Crispy gives advice to aspiring GMs on Crispy's Academy: RPG Tips and posts cosplay photos on their social media. Links youtube.com  - Youtube channel patreon.com  - Patreon page

Shadowdark RPG is a modern masterpiece of old school fantasy tabletop gaming, created by Kelsey Dionne and published by The Arcane Library in 2023. It blends the lethal, dungeon crawling spirit of the Old School Renaissance with streamlined, modernized mechanics inspired by the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Description In Shadowdark, players are adventurers delving into tombs and ancient underground cities in search of gold and glory. The game is highly lethal, emphasizing player skill, resource management and creative problem solving over character sheet abilities. The dark is a physical, terrifying presence and making sure keeping the light on, is beyond vital to survival. System Overview & Key Features Real Time Torches Torches last exactly one hour of real time. The Game Master sets a physical timer at the table. When the timer runs out, the light goes out, and the characters are plunged into total darkness where deadly monsters thrive. Familiar d20 Mechanics The core system uses a standard 20 sided die (d20) with advantage and disadvantage, making it incredibly easy for modern players to pick up. However, modifiers are kept extremely low to maintain a grounded feel. Randomized Character Growth Instead of picking from a massive list of feats or skills when leveling up, players roll a random talent on their class table. This speeds up character creation and forces players to adapt to the unique strengths of their adventurer. Slot Based Inventory Encumbrance is simple and strict. Characters have a number of inventory slots equal to their Strength score or a minimum of ten. Every item, from a sword to a torch, takes up exactly one slot, making resource management important. Additional links thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark - Official The Arcane Library website shadowdarklings.net - Shadowdarklings (An excellent online character creator)

King Arthur Pendragon is a tabletop roleplaying game of Arthurian chivalry, tragedy, and multi-generational legacy, originally designed by Greg Stafford and first published by Chaosium in 1985. It's one of the hobby's oldest continuously-revised games, having passed through five earlier editions and several publishers (including Green Ronin's Arthaus imprint and Nocturnal Media) before returning to Chaosium, who released the 6th Edition in April 2024.  Stafford completed the design draft for this edition before his death in 2018, with longtime Pendragon line editor David Larkins overseeing it to print - a fact the game's own promotional copy leans into, framing it as the culmination of nearly forty years of Stafford's design thinking on the setting. Description Players take on knights of Arthur's Britain, sworn to a lord and bound by a code of chivalry the game asks characters - and players - to genuinely wrestle with rather than simply declare. The Game Master (GM) runs a campaign built to span decades of in-world time: between adventures, a Winter Phase resolves a knight's marriage, estate management, aging, and family events, and campaigns are explicitly designed to carry a player from their original knight's prime through old age and into playing that knight's own heir.  The game asks a lot of a table willing to commit to it - character death by old age is expected, not a failure state, and a knight's personal flaws are written onto the character sheet where they can force bad decisions at the worst possible moment. In exchange, it delivers something few other RPGs attempt: a genuinely generational campaign where a table can watch the consequences of one knight's choices land on their grandchild decades later.