Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Pathfinder 2nd Edition is a tactical, crunchy and highly customizable heroic fantasy roleplaying game system published by Paizo. Originally released in 2019 as the evolution of the Pathfinder system (which grew out of the D&D 3.5 system, as a reaction to the release of the simplified and more video game-like D&D 4E). The system recently received a comprehensive "Remaster" overhaul, which decoupled the game from the legacy Open Game License (OGL), moving it to the system-agnostic ORC License. The Remaster version has updated various terminology and streamlined different conflicting mechanics, the core engine of PF2E remains exactly the same as before. Description Like other d20-based fantasy games, players are an adventuring party that go on adventures, defeat enemies and uncover various mysteries while the Game Master (GM) is in charge of running the world around the characters and is in control of managing any enemies and non-player characters they might encounter. However, where D&D 5E leans heavily on "rulings over rules" and simplicity, Pathfinder 2E has shifted its focus on customization and making sure that with every system balance is maintained. Pathfinder 2E is ideal for players who are more into tactical combat, clear rules for exploration, and the ability to build unique character concepts with a reasonable amount of customization without accidentally breaking the game or worry too much about maintaining balance. The system comes with great tools for the GMs as the system provides clear guidelines and mechanics for most situations, meaning the GM rarely has to invent or interpret rules on the fly to keep the game moving. System Overview & Key Features The 3-Action Economy Pathfinder 2E is famous for their action system. Instead of pre-defined action types, the player can perform creatively distribute their actions how they see fit. Instead of always having a "move action" that the character can utilize or leave unused, the system allows a character to instead use that action as an extra attack. Or instead of attacking, the adventurer can move twice (or thrice, if using all actions). Degrees of Success Instead of approaching "1" or "20" on the d20 die as a critical result, The system considers "oversucceeding" as a critical success. Succeeding a roll by 10 or more points it is automatically a Critical Success. If you miss the DC by 10 or more, it is a Critical Failure. Because of this, every single +1 or -1 improvement feels more impactful and important. Feat-Based Character Customization There are no "useless level-ups" Every single level-up players make meaningful choices by selecting from an extensive assortment of Ancestry Feats, Class Feats, Skill Feats, and General Feats. This creates a situation, where even two characters of the same class can be played completely differently. Reliable Encounter Building The game's underlying math is rigorous and highly functional. An encounter mathematically classified as "Severe" will actually push the party to their limits. GMs can trust the system's encounter building rules completely. Keyword and Trait System Spells, weapons, and abilities have specific traits (like "Incapacitation" or "Fire"). If a rule has a trait, it consistently interacts with the rest of the game's mechanics in the exact same way, removing ambiguity. Edicts and Anathema PF2e has abandoned the traditional moral alignment system. Deities and classes are governed by Edicts (things your character must strive to do) and Anathema (things you must avoid), creating a more nuanced approach to roleplaying.

Mutants & Masterminds is a superhero role-playing game written by Steve Kenson and published by Green Ronin Publishing. The current 3rd Edition, which also serves as the engine for the DC Adventures game, was released in 2010. It is highly flexible, point buy system that allows players to build any superpower they can come up with, from classic caped crusaders and vigilantes to cosmic entities and mystical sorcerers. Description Mutants & Masterminds' game mechanics use a highly modified version of the d20 System. All characters in this game, from heroes and villains to the average person on the street, are defined by eight abilities, basic traits each character has to a greater or lesser extent. Abilities tell you how strong, smart, and aware a character is, among other things. The abilities are: Strength, Stamina, Agility, Dexterity, Fighting, Intellect, Awareness, and Presence

Cyberpunk RED is the fourth edition of the a tabletop role-playing game system published by R. Talsorian Games in 2020. The story takes place in the near-future of 2045 following the events of the Fourth Corporate War. The period for the game's storyline is named the "Time of the Red" due to atmospheric pollution. The system it directly evolved from is Cyberpunk 2020 Description Players in the game are referred to as "Edgerunners". They are mercenaries, criminals, and specialists living in the metropolis of Night City. The games focus on completing jobs and surviving in a megacorporations and street gangs controlled society. As the global supply chain has collapsed, resources are scarce and players must often rely on black-market brokers, known as Fixers, to find their equipment, weapons, and armor. Cybernetic body modifications are a recurring topic in the game, with the emphasis on the risks of enhancing one's body and mind with. System Overview & Key Features Core Dice Mechanic (Interlock System) The game uses a Interlock System. An action's success is determined with a a ten-sided die (d10) and adding the relevant Statistic and Skill rating. The total is compared against a Difficulty Value (DV). Lifepath Generation When creating a character, the player can either roll or manually pick various options from the "Lifepath" tables. The choices made will define the character's cultural background, their family history, romantic relationships, and potential enemies. This is a built-in method of creating an immersive and entangled character backstory. Roles and Special Abilities Characters are defined by their "Role," which is a the game's class system. Players have a choice between ten different roles: Solo (combat specialist), Netrunner (hacker), and Medtech (doctor). Every role has their unique Special Ability which gives them unique gameplay mechanics. Combat and Armor Combat in Cyberpunk RED relies heavily on their body armor rather than high hit point totals. If an attack successfully penetrates a character's armor, the armor's defensive rating is permanently lowered by one point. This mechanic makes extended combat encounters dangerous and forces players to consider alternative approaches. Netrunning The game's hacking rules require Netrunners to be physically close to the computer systems they want to breach. In the setting, the global internet was destroyed, meaning remote hacking is no longer possible. Cyberware and Humanity Players can install cybernetic implants into their characters to gain new abilities or improve their stats. Every implant reduces a character's Humanity, which subsequently lowers their Empathy . If a character's Humanity reaches zero, they develop a condition called Cyberpsychosis. This generally results in the player permanently losing control of their character and no longer being able to play them. Additional links rtalsoriangames.com - Official publisher website and digital storefront cyberpunk.net - Official franchise portal for cross-media content

SAKE is a traditional tabletop roleplaying game with a touch of strategy game. It is a crunchy, modular, d20 point-buy game set in an early-modern fantasy world, with detailed systems for domain-building and overseas trading. Description In SAKE, you play the ruler of a domain, a merchant prince, a pirate lord or start as an adventurer with the goal of rising to power. You delve into dungeons, explore pockets of the Otherworld to find treasures, make pacts with fickle gods, study dangerous magic, scheme to assassinate rivals, trade to gather resources and raise an army to fight wars. SAKE is a full point buy system, which means all character development happens by buying skills and abilities using EXP gained from your character's personality traits and events during gameplay. SAKE is designed to take place in an early modern (fantasy) world, with muskets and plate armour, cannons and galleys, rising capitalism and waning feudalism. With magic and gods mixed in. The game's rules support more serious types of campaigns, like balancing between different political interest groups when playing domain ruler, or deciding how far one is ready to go when meddling with gods or magic for power that could save their party and/or domain. SAKE comes with its own world – the Asteanic World – but it is by no means exclusive to it. It can be used to play in other early modern fantasy worlds, or even in Earth's similar historical period. Additional links sake.ee - Official website drivethrurpg.com - Full book

Shadowrun is a science fantasy tabletop roleplaying game that mixes cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime fiction in a near-future world where cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures coexist. FASA first published it in 1989 and ran the line until closing in 2001, after which the property passed to WizKids and later to Fantasy Productions and Catalyst Game Labs. Catalyst published the Fifth Edition (SR5) in 2013, with Jason Hardy as Shadowrun line developer, and the sixth edition followed in 2019, set in 2080. SR5 builds on the Fourth Edition rules, makes combat deadlier, streamlines the Matrix, expands the gear options and speeds up character creation. The franchise also includes the living campaign Shadowrun Missions, more than 50 novels, a trading card game and several video games. The system directly evolved from Shadowrun Fourth Edition, and it was succeeded by Shadowrun Sixth World (2019), which removed limits and cut the skill list from 80 to 19. Description Players take on shadowrunners, deniable operatives hired by megacorporations to do data theft and break-ins. Street samurai, mages, adepts, riggers and hackers each handle a part of the job, and the Game Master (GM) runs missions, with Seattle as the main setting. Magic has returned to the world, bringing metahumans such as orks, trolls and elves, and dragons hold high corporate and political posts. The game asks a table for system knowledge. Characters are defined by skills, not classes, with large pools of options for gear, magic and cybernetics, and reviewers have found the rules awkward or fuzzy in places. It suits groups who like planning a heist, optimising a build and playing in a layered, gritty world, and who are happy to read.

Eclipse Phase is a detailed science-fiction exploration of uncertain futures. It investigates the nature of transhumanity as it transforms itself, physically and mentally, into something posthuman. It balances the immense dangers of advanced technologies with a vision of how we can negate these risks and enhance our capabilities to improve and prosper as a species. Description Transhumanity stands on the terminus of evolution and extinction. With the ability to upload our minds and nanofabricate almost anything, death and scarcity were nearly defeated. Then a war against super-intelligent AIs infected with an alien virus wiped out 95% of the population. Earth is a ruined wasteland, overrun by machines. The remnants of transhumanity—bio-engineered humans, uplifted animals, and infolife—expanded throughout the Solar System. The AIs left behind a network of wormhole gates that we now use to explore and occupy distant exoplanets. A new cabal of hypercorps and oligarchs seek to preserve outmoded political and economic systems, while patchwork factions of radical scientists and techno-anarchists experiment with new social models, from each according to their imagination and to each according to their need. /images/general-media/1779972799_ox7h9OdI.jpg Characters switch their bodies—called a morphs—at will. Choose from genetically-modified transhumans, synthetic robotic shells, uplifted animals, or digital infomorphs, optimizing your capabilities for specific missions. Your character’s mind and memories are backed up and can be restored if you die—a built-in system of “save points” and functional immortality. Characters are skill-based, with no classes, so players can customize their team roles and specialize in fields of their choosing. A package-buy system enables quick character creation and customization while also defining elements of your character’s background. Gear and morph tracking is simplified with the use of gear packs and points for each mission. Links eclipsephase.com - Official website eclipsephase.com - Quick-Start Rules discord.gg - Discord server patreon.com - Patreon page

Mage: The Ascension is a modern-day supernatural roleplaying game created by Stewart Wieck and a team of designers at White Wolf Publishing, first released in 1993 as the third of White Wolf's original World of Darkness game lines, following Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. It went through a second edition in 1995 and a Revised Edition in 2000, largely overseen by Phil Brucato, before Onyx Path Publishing released the 20th Anniversary Edition in 2015, the version most tables run today. Where Vampire is about hunger and Werewolf is about rage, Mage is about belief: player characters are ordinary people who have Awakened to the understanding that reality itself is negotiable, and the game is built entirely around the consequences of acting on that understanding.

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)

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play (abbreviated to WFRP or WHFRP) is a role-playing game set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. The fourth edition rooted in the first and second editions was released under licence by Cubicle 7 in 2018. The system it directly evolved from is Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition Description The primary setting of WFRP is the Empire, a faction located in a region of the "Old World", that is based loosely on the Holy Roman Empire, with a number of baronies, counties and dukedoms fashioned after the fiefs of elector counts and dukes. One of the most identifiable features of the Warhammer setting is Chaos. While the forces of Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy Battle are depicted primarily in the form of bloodthirsty marauders, towering dark knights and savage beastmen, Chaos in WFRP is an insidious force gnawing at the fabric of society.

Draw Steel is a tactical heroic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game designed by Matt Colville and the team at MCDM Productions. It is built to provide a modern, cinematic alternative to traditional d20 fantasy games. It focuses on high action, tactical depth, and ensuring that every player character feels like a legendary hero from the very first level. The system it is a spiritual successor to is Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Description In Draw Steel, players take on the roles of Heroes. Unlike other systems, the characters are heroes from the start. The characters are already capable of taking on the world and whatever threats may arise. The system encourages a highly tactical approach to combat encounters, promoting teamwork and clever use of abilities to control and affect any battlefield they might find themselves at. System Overview & Key Features The 2d10 Core Mechanic The game abandons the d20 focus and instead offers two ten-sided dice (2d10) instead. This creates a better mathematical average and becomes more predictable and reliable. No To Hit Rolls Draw Steel eliminates the traditional roll to hit. Instead, heroes automatically hit their targets with their primary abilities, but they roll to determine how much Power or impact the effect has. This keeps the game focused on making meaningful tactical choices rather than wasting turns on a miss. Heroic Resources Each class manages a unique resource, such as Focus or Valor, which builds up during a fight. These resources are spent to activate powerful Signature Moves and Heroic Abilities, ensuring that combat has a rising sense of drama and escalation as the heroes grow more powerful the longer a battle lasts. Tactical Movement and Forced Position Combat is designed for a grid. Many abilities do more than just deal damage; they allow players to slide, push, or pull enemies and allies across the battlefield. Positioning is vital, and the environment is intended to be a weapon that heroes can use to their advantage. Tiered Success Action resolution often uses three tiers of success. A low roll might provide a success with a cost, a middle roll is a standard success, and a high roll is a spectacular success that might trigger bonus effects or additional damage. This ensures that every roll contributes something to the ongoing narrative. Links mcdmproductions.com - Official MCDM Productions website mcdm.gg - MCDM community and developer portal

Rolemaster is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game known for its percentile dice, detailed skill system and graphic, table-driven combat, published by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE). It began in 1980 as a set of rules grown out of house rules developed by Pete Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton and Kurt Fischer for a Middle-earth Dungeons & Dragons campaign at the University of Virginia. Rolemaster Unified (RMU) is the newest edition. It was released in December 2022 after a long public playtest, and it draws on the Rolemaster Classic (RMC) and Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing (RMFRP) lines. It is issued as Core Law, Spell Law, Creature Law and Treasure Law, with a Character Companion and an Arcane Companion alongside. ICE still sells the older RMC and RMFRP lines too. The game has a reputation as one of the hobby's most intricate fantasy rule sets, and a reviewer of the Unified core book called it extremely complex and described it as "at a fundamental level the same game" as the 1980 original. Its setting-neutral rules have an official setting in Shadow World, and ICE's older lines also include Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) and the simplified HARP. Description Players create adventurers from a wide menu of races, cultures and professions, and the Game Master (GM) runs them through a fantasy campaign in whatever world the table prefers. Every skill is open to every character. A profession decides how cheaply a character can develop each one, so two characters can be built very differently from the same pool of points. The game asks a table to accept a lot of numbers. Combat is built on tables and a hit can end in a gruesome critical result, so players have to weigh how aggressively to fight against the risk of a death-dealing blow. It rewards groups who like building a character in detail and don't mind looking things up, and it is hard going for those who want to run a game from memory.

HackMaster is a crunchy, old-school fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published by Kenzer & Company, created by Jolly R. Blackburn and David Kenzer. It began as a fictional game, a parody of Dungeons & Dragons played by the characters in Blackburn's comic strip Knights of the Dinner Table, and became a real product when the comic's fictional third edition turned into the published Fourth Edition in 2001. That edition won the 2002 Origins Award for Game of the Year 2001. HackMaster Fifth Edition followed in 2011, bringing a Player's Handbook and Gamemaster's Guide, and the line has since grown to more than forty add-ons and supplements. Kenzer and Company announced a 25th anniversary edition, HackMaster XXV, in March 2026 through a Kickstarter campaign. The Fifth Edition directly evolved from HackMaster Fourth Edition, which is a custom system derived from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D). Description Players create characters from a race and a class, as in the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons, in a low-magic world that reads as strongly old-school. The default setting is the Kingdoms of Kalamar. The Game Master (GM) runs combat, exploration and the consequences of both, and the game's rules back up a harder, more simulationist style than the parody that started it. The game asks a table to accept a lot of detail. The rules are described as crunchy, with many optional combat moves and fighting styles and wound-by-wound healing that takes real time. It suits groups who enjoy knowing exactly how a fight works and don't mind reference tables, and it is a poor fit for anyone who wants a quick, rules-light evening.

Conan 2d20 or "Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of", is a low-magic, high-action, fantasy roleplaying game set millennia ago, in the Hyborian Age. Immersed in an exotic land, strewn with ancient ruins, Stygian jungles and frozen wastes - where the heroes are daring, the treasures fleeting and the horrors Lovecraftian. Magic is shunned (but present nonetheless) and sorcerers are vilified; their dark machinations and obscene rituals have earned them fearful reputations and, often as not, a swift burning at the stake. Description The players can create competent and cunning characters from the start (best done with the online character generator - below) and immerse themselves in the joy of battle, tactical play and clever use of the environment. Teamwork is strongly encourage via archetypal characters, powerful talents and the use of shared Momentum and Doom resources, that can be used to spectacular effect or perilous misadventure.  System Overview & Key Features Momentum and Doom points are shared resources that accumulate during action scenes and battles. They are spent to activate powerful talents and abilities, which allow the characters to perform outrageous feats and spectacular displays - or imperil them just when they thought they were safe. Displays are a methods of intimidation, varying techniques that enable a character to demoralise their foes and strike fear into the hearts of man and beast alike. Win the war before it starts! Wounds and healing mechanics that allow character to shrug off scrapes but still significantly suffer from serious injuries until healed. Skills and talents related to them that cater for most possible situations and allow for daring escapades and mighty battles. Additional links modiphius.net - Official storefront and support page for the 2d20 system catalog https://pulp-lit.com/270.htmlpulp-lit.com - Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian

Ars Magica is a troupe-style tabletop roleplaying game about wizards and their allies in Mythic Europe, a version of medieval Europe around the year 1200 in which folklore and religious belief are literally true. It was created by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen and first published by Lion Rampant in 1987.  The Fifth Edition, written by David Chart and published by Atlas Games in 2004, won the Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game of 2004 and took Gold for Best Rules at the 2005 ENnie Awards. Atlas Games has since released the Definitive Edition, a revised and expanded version of the Fifth Edition with over 600 pages, new art and a new layout. It was funded on BackerKit in 2024 and shipped to backers in 2026, and it keeps the Fifth Edition rules. The Fifth Edition directly evolved from Ars Magica Fourth Edition (Atlas Games, 1996), which in turn descends from the original 1987 game. Description Players portray magi, powerful wizards of the Order of Hermes, alongside companions, skilled specialists who go out into the world, and grogs, the hired hands and retainers who do the dangerous legwork. Most players run one of each, and the group's real shared character is the covenant, the wizards' home base, often built on a place of power.  A Game Master, called the Storyguide (SG), frames the stories, which can span decades or centuries of in-game time. The game asks a table to think in long arcs. Magi spend most of their time studying and working in a laboratory, and many of the best stories come from what that research costs the covenant and its neighbors. It also asks for a fair amount of reading and bookkeeping: the magic system rewards players who plan spells and lab projects, and a character's progress is measured in seasons rather than adventures.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game of dungeon delving and heroic adventure, designed by Gary Gygax and published by TSR. TSR released a Basic Set in early 1977 to bring the game to a wider public, then published the first part of AD&D later that year as a tighter, more structured game for hobbyist players. The three core hardcovers followed between 1977 and 1979: the Monster Manual (1977), the Player's Handbook (1978) and the Dungeon Master's Guide (1979). Unearthed Arcana (1985) added many new rules. The two lines, Basic and Advanced, were developed separately and often contradicted each other. The system directly evolved from the original Dungeons & Dragons (1974). A second edition, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition, was designed mainly by David "Zeb" Cook and released by TSR in 1989. After Wizards of the Coast bought TSR in 1997, its Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (2000) merged the Basic and Advanced lines and dropped "Advanced" from the title. Description Players take on adventurers, usually fighters, clerics, magic-users and thieves, who explore dungeons, wilderness and ruins for treasure and glory. The referee is called the Dungeon Master (DM), and the rules are split into player and referee books so that the DM is needed to run a game. The Dungeon Master's Guide covers running campaigns, combat and magic items, with tables for treasure and random encounters. The game asks a table to accept a lot of tables and a high level of lethality. It is a 1970s rule set, written for referees who adjudicate and improvise, and it is not an easy introduction. Many tables run it today because they want exactly that.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition (AD&D 2E) is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game of heroic adventure, published by TSR in 1989 and designed mainly by David "Zeb" Cook. Work began in 1987 with a small TSR team led by Cook, and Steve Winter and Cook redeveloped the edition after Gary Gygax, who wrote the first edition, left TSR in 1985. The Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide sold over 400,000 copies in their first year, though lifetime sales fell short of the first edition, and the Dungeon Master's Guide won Origins and Gamer's Choice awards. TSR re-released the core books in 1995 with new covers, art and layouts, and the line was succeeded by Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition in 2000, which was revised into Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. The system directly evolved from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition (1977). It was designed to work with first edition rules, but its information was streamlined and clarified. Description Players take on adventurers drawn from a set of races and classes, and the Dungeon Master (DM) runs dungeons, wilderness and, in later years, whole settings. The edition shifted the game's feel from 1960s and 1970s sword and sorcery to medieval history and mythology, and it stressed heroic roleplaying and teamwork. Demons and devils were removed by name and renamed tanar'ri and baatezu. The second edition grew far beyond a single fantasy world. TSR added settings such as Ravenloft (horror), Spelljammer (science fiction) and Dark Sun (apocalyptic), each with its own rules supplements. The game asks a table to keep a few tables and a fair amount of arithmetic, and the many optional rules mean the DM should decide what is in play at the start of a campaign.

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (D&D 3E) is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game of dungeon delving and heroic adventure, published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000. It was the first edition the company released entirely itself, and the Player's Handbook went on sale on August 10, 2000, with its debut at Gen Con that month. Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet and Skip Williams all contributed to the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual, and each then wrote one of the three books, with Tweet credited with the design of the Player's Handbook. The designers set out to simplify and declutter the whole system. "Advanced" was dropped from the title because the Basic game had been discontinued and the simpler name was more marketable, but it was still called the third edition. The system directly replaced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition (1989). It was revised in 2003 as Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5, a deliberately small update. Description Players take on adventurers built from a race and a class, and the Dungeon Master (DM) runs dungeons, monsters and campaigns. The edition removed many of the old limits: restrictions on class and race combinations, and on level advancement for non-human characters, are gone. Combat expanded to include a grid system that supports tactical play and miniatures. The game asks a table to be comfortable with character building. Skills and feats give players more ways to customize a character than the older edition did, and the options keep growing with each rulebook. Reviewers at the time praised its art and tightly packed rules, and one called it the best combat-oriented roleplaying game available.

Rogue Trader is a science fiction tabletop roleplaying game of exploration, trade and profit at the edge of the Imperium of Man, set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2009. Ross Watson was its lead designer. Players take on a Rogue Trader, a ship captain licensed to trade and explore beyond the Imperium's borders, and the crew who serve them. It is the second of five independently playable Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay games from Fantasy Flight, which ran from Dark Heresy (2008) to Only War (2012). A limited release sold out at Gen Con 2009, with a wider store release in October 2009. Fantasy Flight lost the Warhammer 40,000 licence, and official support ended in September 2016. The system directly evolved from Dark Heresy, the first game in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay line, and it was succeeded by Wrath & Glory. Description Players take on an explorer's dynasty: the Rogue Trader, the officers and specialists who crew their ship, and the retinue that follows them. The Game Master (GM) runs voyages into uncharted space, deals with alien species and hostile worlds, and the party earns a fortune doing it. The career paths include Arch-Militant, Navigator, Explorator and Void-master, and sourcebooks add alien player characters such as Kroot, Ork and Dark Eldar. The game asks a table to run a business as well as a crew. The rules cover interplanetary trade, ship operation, travel and combat, and a group that enjoys managing a ship, a fortune and their reputation will get more out of it than one that wants a single dungeon crawl. The 41st Millennium is a grim setting, and the book does not soften it.