This year I will be participating in #Lore24, a daily activity for folks in the tabletop rpg community to build a setting by writing a tiny bit about it each day. It doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re going to focus on that day or how much you write. It can be just a tiny bit each day. It looks like it’s something that originally started on Mastodon. This blog post has a really good description of how it works.
I’m still not sure how often I’ll share updates about it. I know eventually I’ll put it out there but I also don’t want to share daily updates. Maybe weekly or monthly? I bounced off Dungeon23, the last daily activity in the ttrpg community, mostly because I don’t really like building dungeons that much and was generating a lot of filler rooms, but this has already been more fun for me. I’m starting off with a fantasy setting inspired by the Zork games but I’m also hoping that over time it will grow into something more unique. Consider joining in!
Much like how I wrote about the CompUSA I frequently went to in the 90’s, I figured I should also write about the bookstore I went to for over 15 years, the Borders Books & Music in Novi, Michigan. From 1993 to it closing in 2011, it was the bookstore of choice for me. There was (and still is) a Barnes and Noble that was closer to me but I preferred shopping here due to the larger size and more variety.
Early memories of it involve me spending time in the children’s section of the store while my dad would look at computer books. I was absolutely into Star Wars as a kid and since this was the 90s and there were only three movies, the Star Wars books were how I could see more of the universe. I also occasionally checked out the strategy guides for video games while here, looking up any parts of games I was stuck on so I could go home and make progress. Another random memory were of the in-store music performances that would occasionally happen. One being of a woman doing scat singing in the center of the store with no backing music and my younger brother and I just being baffled by it.
Much like the CompUSA I mentioned earlier, it was located in the Novi Town Center shopping area, only a couple stores down from that. It outlasted that store by a couple years but it felt pretty obvious during that time that it wouldn’t be around forever. Much has been written about all the mistakes Borders made so I won’t go into those, but one of the signs for me was applying for a programming job at their corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor and then that posting eventually being canceled before I got to do an interview.
While it’s very unfortunate that there’s basically no photos of the store available online (I could have sworn there used to be some), there’s a few videos still up that show what the store looked like. This video of a car driving through the parking lot on the last day it was open shows the exterior, and there is a book signing with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth showing what a big chunk of the store looked like inside. There is also a video on the C-SPAN website of an author doing a reading inside the store in 1997, which doesn’t show that much of the store but is still a nice little 90’s time capsule.
On May 26, 2024, I came across this t-shirt that a vintage store in Michigan was selling in a Facebook post. It was already sold by the time I saw the post but still, I think it’s neat that it exists.
There is actually a much better tribute to this specific store than this post, and that is on this blog here. It’s about how they essentially recreated that Borders in a room of their home. If I had known the store was selling off shelves and signs from the store when they were closing, maybe I would have picked a few things up. It’s an incredibly impressive job they’ve done with the room.
If you have any of the Novi, Michigan Borders, or the CompUSA and Egghead Software that were in the same shopping area, I would love to see them.
Come check out the 80s MMO Habitat, developed by Lucasfilm Games, this Friday through the NeoHabitat client. Streamer BogusMeatFactory will be hosting a meetup so people can play the game at the same time and experience the game the way it was meant to be played. See the article here for more details https://renoproject.org/the-gathering-of-the-avatars/
After taking a break last week, my rewatch of the Hartnell era continues.
Keys to Marinus I was surprised this got such a mixed reaction from critics. It’s much better than some of the other stories that have come up so far, and not offensively gross like Marco Polo. There’s a lot of variety in the things happening and the trial part of the story, which seems to be the thing people have the most issue with, really isn’t that long. We also continue seeing the Doctor evolve into a kinder character. I think the criticisms of Susan’s writing are fair game though.
The Aztecs There’s some great writing in here and really fun subplots like the Doctor accidentally getting engaged and I can see why people love this story. Unfortunately there’s so much brown face and stereotypes of the Aztecs so I kinda can’t recommend it to anyone. There’s definitely a thing happening where I’m respecting a lot of the 90s Doctor Who writers a whole lot less because I look up every Doctor Who story on Wikipedia and the reception for the ones that I thought were fun like Keys or The Daleks will get some criticism but the ones that have aged like milk receive nothing but praise from them. Really weird shit. From my memory of watching the show before, I think this is all the racist shit for now until I get to Talons of Weng-Chiang, so hopefully you don’t have to read me vent about this for a while?
Masters of Luxor I also listened to one of the Lost Stories from Big Finish. Masters of Luxor was apparently a story that was meant to be the second one for Doctor Who but was replaced at the last minute with The Daleks. It’s pretty solid stuff. I think the script was replaced because it would have been hard to film, but it was probably for the best anyway since The Daleks is a better story that introduced the most iconic villain. Still enjoyable though. It’s fun hearing the actors for Susan and Ian again, Carole Ann Ford and William Russell, and they do a good job. It’s probably the closest we’ll get to a full radio drama for the first Doctor with the original cast
Last year I wrote a list of the game I’m looking forward to in 2023 and had a lot of fun so I’m doing it again. If you don’t see your game on here, don’t be weird about it! It’s just a blog where someone that is still waking up is trying to remember games they’re looking forward to. It is not a serious games site. I once posted a recipe by the guy from Ernest Scared Stupid. Come on. Some of these are repeats of last year’s list, because it turns out making games is hard and it’s a miracle anything gets released. If you think any of these games look cool, consider adding them to your wishlist so you can help with whatever algorithms are used to get.
If there’s a game you’re excited for that isn’t on here, let me know about it! This can include stuff you’re working on.
The Crimson Diamond
The Crimson Diamond is a point-and-click adventure game strongly influenced by Sierra’s 1989 adventure game The Colonel’s Bequest. I’ve been following the development of the game for a while now through the developer’s weekly dev streams and the demo on the game’s Steam page and everything indicates this should be a great mystery to solve. This was on last year’s list but from watching the dev streams, it looks like development is getting close to the end and I’m confident it will come out this year.
Exophobia
Exophobia is a Metroidvania FPS inspired by FPS from the 90s. I enjoyed my time with the demo when it came out. I don’t know if the Blake Stone series was an inspiration for this game but it reminds me of that era of FPS instead of most of the retro FPS revival shooters that seem to be inspired by ID Software and Build-engine games. This was also on last year’s last but the release date lists 2024 so I’m hopeful that I’ll get to play it soonish.
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Not an indie game but I’m mostly excited for this one because my kids are excited. Princess Peach is their favorite character and it’s nice that we’re getting a game focused on her. I generally enjoy Nintendo’s games so I’ll probably have a good time with it.
She Dreams Elsewhere
She Dreams Elsewhere is a surreal RPG with a stunning art style. The art and creature design look wild and I’m looking forward to exploring this world when the game comes out.
Super Cucumber
Super Cucumber is a 2D platformer where you play as an aardvark superhero. I liked the dev’s previous game Down the Drain and have had fun playing the beta of this too.
Twilight Oracle
Twilight Oracle is a fantasy comedy point-and-click adventure by the developer of games like Blood Nova and The Corruption Within. I’ve enjoyed playing all the other games by this dev and the demo for this was solid too. It comes out at the end of the month so I won’t have to wait very long to play the final version of this game.
Kitsune Tails
Kitsune Tails is a 2D platformer that looks like is inspired by Super Mario Bros. 3. I really like the previous platformers by the studio and I think this one looks really cute!
The Last Exterminator
The Last Exterminator is a FPS inspired by games from the 90s like Duke Nukem 3D and Blood where you fight alien cockroaches. Sure, I’ll play another one of these. There’s a demo I should probably try first but I do like that it looks like the 90s Duke Nukem Forever that we never got so assuming that demo is fun, I’ll probably pick this up too.
Harold Halibut
Harold Halibut is an adventure game life on a city-sized spaceship submerged in an alien ocean. I really love the stop motion aesthetics the game has.
Tactical Breach Wizards
Tactical Breach Wizards is the newest game by Tom Francis, designer of Gunpoint and Heat Signature. It looks to be a fun tactics game with a fantasy influence and the screenshots showing off dialog indicate that it has the same humor his earlier games had.
Acronia
Acronia is a queer DOS game inspired by Apogee-era shareware games such as Duke Nukem 1 and BioMenace. It’s been fun following the studio on social media and seeing the game come together and get a soundtrack. I loved the alpha version of the game that is available on their Itch page and hope that we see a full version released this year.
Gobliins 6
Last year’s Gobliiins 5 was a surprisingly good revival of the series and it’s exciting that a new one has already been announced and is currently in development. There’s not much that we know about it other than what I covered in my post here but it makes me happy that the series is back.
Wonky Works
Wonky Works is the newest game in development by ondydev. I don’t know much about it but I’m a fan of the developer’s previous games like Tres-Bashers and Binky’s Trash Service.
Captain Disaster and The Two Worlds of Riskara
This year we should see the third game in the Captain Disaster series. The first two games were fun sci-fi adventures and I’m really impressed by the improvement in art style in the screenshots that have been posted so far.
Sam & Max Season 3 Remaster
It’s not really a new game but I’ve enjoyed the remasters of Telltale’s Sam & Max games by Skunkape. They make the games look like how I remember the game looking and not how they actually looked, and are generally hands off with the content of the game, only making small changes to parts where the humor has not and other small enhancements. The Sam & Max series got better with each season so I’m looking forward to revisiting the best one Telltale made. It sounds like this one has taken longer to do due to all the technical changes Telltale was making to the engine at the time but it will be worth the wait since this was also the best entry in the series.
The Drifter
The Drifter is a point-and-click adventure by Powerhoof, developers of games like Crawl. This is their first commercial adventure game but they’ve done a few short, free adventure games that I’ve enjoyed. It’s developed with their Unity plugin PowerQuest and it’s nice seeing another tool pop up for adventure game developers as well.
Rosewater
Rosewater is the next point-and-click adventure by developer Grundislav Games. It’s a western set in the same universe as their previous game, Lamplight City. I’m excited for the diverse cast of characters, focus on multiple solutions, and love the rotoscoped animations.
Neyyah
Neyyah is a first-person point-and-click adventure inspired by Myst and Riven. The game looks absolutely amazing to me and it will be fun playing one of these types of games that isn’t by Cyan.
Nivalis
Nivalis looks to be a business simulator set in a cyberpunk city, but looks to have some narrative elements as well. It’s by the developers of Cloudpunk, which I really enjoyed, so this is one I’m looking forward to.
Ghost Bike
Ghost Bike has you riding around in a semi-open world on a bicycle so yeah, of course I’ll be interested in that. I think it looks nice and the music should be good too, even if the record label advertised in the trailer turned out to be a bunch of buttholes when news came out that Chromatics broke up. Plus it’s by the developers of Nidhogg, so that’s neat.
Fiend’s Isle
There’s not really a whole lot known about Fiend’s Isle but it’s a dungeon crawler inspired by 90s game which is absolutely a thing just for me.
Agent 64
Agent 64 is a new FPS inspired by Rare’s classic N64 games Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. I think it emulates the style of those games perfectly and the demo, which is available on the Steam page, was a lot of fun.
Still Ridge – A Supernatural Adventure Game
Still Ridge is a point-and-click adventure game with a retro-aesthetic set in a West Virginia town. You play as a dream traveling therapist investigating a murder he witnessed in his dreams. The developer of this one previous did some stuff in the HauntedPS1 community and from the little bit I’ve followed of this game, it seems to be made with a lot of love for older adventure games.
Loco Motive
I loved the original version of this game that appeared in the 2020 AdventureX game jam and this looks like a nice remake of that game with improved graphics. I’m interested in seeing how they expand the story as well.
Riven
Hell yes, cannot wait for this one. I don’t even know if it’s coming out this year but it still deserves a mention. Their remake of Myst in 2021 was very good so I’m excited to see what they do with this. It sounds like they’re expanding and reworking parts of the game too so it’s not a straightforward 3D remake like their Myst remake was. Even if the remake was just a 3D version of the game it would be a massive project, so I’m not going to be surprised if it takes another year to come out. I’ll miss the great FMV in the original game but the few screenshots they have look great.
Zid Journey
Zid Journey is the sequel to Zniw Adventure, a wonderful cartoon adventure game inspired by classic Humongous Entertainment adventure games. Since this looks like more of that, I will be happy to play this as well.
Dream Settler
I will play absolutely everything in the Hypnospace Outlaw universe. Loved that game and loved Slayers X, so I will be buying Dreamsettler on day 1.
Duppy Detective Tashia
Duppy Detective Tashia is a choice-driven adventure based on Caribbean folklore. I think the artwork looks very nice and I liked the puzzle game that spritewrench released last year, On the Peril of Parrots.
Phoenix Springs
Phoenix Springs is a point-and-click adventure where you are searching for your missing brother. I think the artwork in this looks beautiful, especially when it’s in motion.
Stunt Derby
Stunt Derby is Noclip’s first video game. It’s just a very goofy multiplayer game where you drive around on tracks and have fun with the physics. The demo was a lot of fun and I think it’s supposed to be a lower cost game too. It reminded me a little of the DOS game stunts in how simplistic it is, but in a good way.
Hauntii
Hauntii is a twin-stick shooter/adventure game. I don’t know a whole lot about the game but I think it looks really nice and it’s supposed to come out in Q2 2024.
Tachyon Dreams Anthology
Tachyon Dreams Anthology is a collection of three games that were previously released on Itch but with some minor tweaks and new content added. They’re all inspired by Sierra’s 80s parser graphic adventures. I really enjoyed those games so I’ll happily play them again.
Enoch: Children of Fate
Enoch: Children of Fate is a cyberpunk point-and-click adventure. I don’t know a whole lot about it or the developer but I think it has some nice pixel art so it’s going on my wishlist.
Dome-King Cabbage
Dome-King Cabbage is a visual novel set in the world of a monster collecting rpg. Man, look at that art.
Midnight Margo
Midnight Margo is a new adventure game by the developers of Whispers of a Machine. I really enjoyed that one and I know the art style for this game is divisive but I’m really into it.
Ashbury Pines
Ashbury Pines is an idle game where you solve a murder in a small town. I haven’t played that many idle games but I’m so curious how a Twin Peaks-inspired murder mystery game works in the format.
Roman Sands RE:Build
Roman Sands is a surreal mystery game by the developers of Paratopic. Really enjoyed that game and I’m into the Y2K aesthetic this one has.
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is the one that will probably end up being my game of the year in 2024. I really love what Digital Eclipse has done with their previous releases like Atari 50 and the Making of Karateka, and now they’re doing a compilation on one of my favorite game designers. I don’t know how they’ll ever be able to top this.
The Legend of Skye
The Legend of Skye is a fantasy point-and-click adventure game inspired by games from the 90s. Sometimes I just want a cozy adventure game and that looks like a well made version one of those.
Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure
Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure is a remake of the game from the 90s. I was really impressed with the beta version I tried. Having controls that aren’t frustrating definitely changes the game, but I think the spirit of the original is still there. The new art is a nice update of the original’s too.
The Ape Painting
In The Ape Painting, your date’s hideous painting has fallen off the wall and killed him, leaving you trapped in an apartment of nightmares. I really liked Cain’s previous interactive fiction game WASTE EATER and I’m looking forward to playing something bigger.
Heir of the Dog
Heir of the Dog is a new point-and-click adventure by the developer of Lucy Dreaming. Really like what I played of that one so once I finish that, I’ll have this to look forward to.
Vaporwave Pinball
I enjoyed the demo I played for Vaporwave Pinball so as long as the full game is more of that then I’ll be happy.
Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged
I like that first Broken Sword, although probably not as much as most adventure game fans seem to, so any excuse to revisit it is fine with me. The updated visuals look nice and it seems to remove the stuff that was added in the “Director’s Cut” of the game that kinda ruined the pacing, so this will probably be the version I end up recommending to other people.
Broken Sword – Parzival’s Stone
We’re getting two Broken Sword games this year! It sure looks like another Broken Sword so sure, ok, I’ll play this one as well.
BlueSuburbia
BlueSuburbia is a first-person interactive fiction game that is currently available for free but in Early Access form. I really like what I’ve played and I’m looking forward to seeing how this game continues to grow.
Dread Delusion
Dread Delusion is another game currently in Early Access. It’s a fantasy rpg heavily inspired by Morrowind. I haven’t actually picked this one up yet but I will sometime this year and I get to look forward to it growing and having more weird things added to it.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory
SKALD is a party-based rpg inspired by 80s CRPGs. I haven’t played the demo yet but I really like how it looks, I’m interested in the setting they’ve been showing off so far, and as a fan of the era of games that inspired it, I’m looking forward to seeing how they modernize that style of game.
Old Skies
Old Skies is the newest game developed by point-and-click adventure game studio Wadjet Eye Games. While they’ve produced other adventure games in recent years like The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, this will be the first they’ve developed since Unavowed. The time travel premise sounds like a lot of fun and it features great art by Ben Chandler.
Nighthawks
Nighthawks is a RPG written and designed by Richard Cobbett (Sunless Sea/Sunless Skies) with art by Ben Chandler (Technobabylon, PISS), and produced by Wadjet Eye Games. From following the Kickstarter updates, the worldbuilding seems like a lot of fun and it should be a pretty lengthy game.
Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends is a 2D platformer based on the Little Nemo comic series. I think the art is fantastic and as a fan of the character ever since I played the NES game many years ago, it’s nice to see another video game being made starring the character.
Alone in the Dark
Being a fan of Alone in the Dark is the video game equivalent of being a Weezer fan. There hasn’t been a good entry in the series since the first game and even that one gets harder to recommend to people because of the gameplay mechanics aging poorly over time. However, this one is a remake of the first game, set in the early 1900s, and has two playable characters again so could this finally be another good Alone in the Dark game? Maybe?
Are there any games you’re looking forward to that haven’t been mentioned here? Please let me know! It can also include games that you are working on. I want to know about everything!
After a bit of a break, I started playing tabletop rpgs again. It helped that I had some time off at the end of the year and didn’t want to spend that time working on projects. Here’s some that I enjoyed playing!
My First Fansite My First Fansite is a short solo tabletop rpg where it is the year 2002 and you are creating a site for your favorite band. The Itch page for the game has a website generator in the browser that is optional but adds a lot to the game as you build your page. This was a wonderful tribute to this era of the web and I highly recommend it if you have any nostalgia for this time.
Record Shop I think I mentioned this one in a previous indie game roundup but Record Shop is a solo ttrpg about digging through collections of albums at a record store and writing about what you find. Record stores are one of my favorite places to be so of course I would like this.
Ex Novo Ex Novo is a GM-less game where 1-4 players generate a playable city. The game is easy to pickup once you get in the flow of following the prompts and is written so you can play while following along with the book. My friend and I weren’t trying to build a city for a future book or tabletop rpg session so we just had fun building a little city by the sea and seeing what comes up while we play. I am not posting my map here because I cannot draw maps with a mouse, but it was a fun time.
Together Among the Stars I’ve been a fan of the solo ttrpg Alone Among the Stars for a very long time but didn’t make time for this two player version until now. It’s a fantastic variation of the game and adding a tiny bit more complexity is fun and allows for a greater amount of detail for the planets you discover.
Alone on a Journey Speaking of Alone Among the Stars, I also read Alone on a Journey. It’s a zine compiling three games by the designer and notes for making your own version. I had already played Alone Among the Stars and Alone in the Ancient City (both are great) but didn’t play Alone Among the Shifting Trees, which I also had a good time with. It’s a beautiful zine.
Someone in a Discord channel I’m in was asking for solo tabletop rpgs to try out and these were the first ones I came up with off the top of my head. I know I’m missing out on a ton of great ones but it really doesn’t seem like a bad batch if you’ve never tried one before? Plus a lot of them were in giant Itch charity bundles so if you picked those up, you probably already own a few of these games.
The Ironsword series is good for fantasy adventuring and maybe what I would recommend if you played a lot of fantasy ttrpgs but wanted a solo one.
The Wretched is a survival horror sci-fi game played with a Jenga tower that has inspired a lot of other stuff through the Wretched & Alone framework.
Ex Novo is a city building game for 1-4 players. The designers also made one for building a dungeon. One of the writers for this also wrote a book called Virtual Cities, about cities in video games, which I enjoyed very much.
Delve is a Dwarf Fortress inspired game where you manage a Dwarf colony. The same designer also made one called Delve, which is like Dungeon Keeper and has you building a dungeon.
I just picked up Against the Wind and it’s a very solid fantasy rpg.
Rune is a Dark Souls like rpg that I heard is good. I’m a fan of other games by the designer.
Anamnesis is a solo journaling game about reflection and self-discovery.
Alone Among the Stars is a classic solo rpg where you explore space and journal about the planets you find. Plus it’s available for free/pay-what-you-want.
Dwelling is a ghost themed solo rpg where you wander your new home and conjure spectres.
Here is a list for games that have official tabletop rpg adaptations, and unofficial ones that cite the game as the inspiration. I’m fascinated by adaptations of video games to ttrpgs and video games based on ttrpgs and wanted to see what was out there.
The title of each game links to a page where you can read more about the game or buy it. Eventually I’ll add games that would be a good fit for doing the tabletop version of the game and maybe also games that were based off tabletop rpgs. For time saving reasons, most of the descriptions just come from the Itch page they’re on. For the most part I’m not including D&D supplements on here aside from official ones just because I’m hoping this page will encourage people to check out new games. Also not including more broad inspirations and not that many supplements just because I have to have a cutoff somewhere, maybe in the future? If you’re just looking for the officially licensed rpgs, I don’t really have a good way to only show those in here. Just search for the word “Official” I guess, because I did mention it whenever those come up. For what it’s worth, I think a lot of the unofficial games are better than the officially licensed games so consider checking those out too.
It’s very likely I’ve missed a lot so please leave a comment if there’s a game you worked on or played that should be included.. Corrections are welcome too. If you see a game you made in here and think “It’s actually more like ____” then let me know!
Anthem AEGIS is a love-letter to looter-shooters like Anthem built with the LUMEN system
Armored Core Apocalypse Frame is a game built with the LUMEN rpg system. You are an Ace – a highly skilled pilot referred from a Division in The Collective and assigned a humanoid combat vehicle known as a Frame. You and your Strike Team of fellow Aces must take on The Collective’s greatest threats, ensure its survival, and carve a path for its continued success.
GUNBARE! is a power fantasy military-scifi TTRPG designed for 3-5 players. Inspired by the premise of Azure Lane, Armored Core, and the works of Tsutomu Nihei, play as a Fleetgirl, a living weapon onboard a generation ship currently running from a hostile alien empire.
Arx Fatalis Arx ObsKura is a LUMEN game inspired by Arkane Studios’ 2002 rpg Arx Fatalis and old-school adventure tabletop roleplaying games. Using six-sided dice and Tarot cards, you and your friends will plumb the deep places between cities, braving Eclipse cultists, ratfolk, Ylsian Knights, and more as you find your way in the dark.
Assassin’s Creed The Assassin is a solo game using the Wretched & Alone system where you are playing an assassin’s last mission
Atlas Reactor Cyberrats was inspired by games like Atlas Reactor, XCOM, Shadowrun, and Band of Blades. Players will control two Operatives who have been genetically engineered, and/or a giant rat. Operatives go on missions, fighting the military, the invading aliens, or members of other megacorps.
Bloodborne Beneath a Cursed Moon is a Gothic fantasy game that uses a system based on the Apocalypse World engine. Take the role of monster hunters and slay vampires, werewolves, mermen, and more in a game inspired by Castlevania and Bloodborne.
Borderlands GUNFUCKS is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by games such as Borderlands and Bulletstorm that is built on the LUMEN system.
Boyfriend Dungeon The official Boyfriend Dungeon ttrpg uses its own custom system based on Rhapsody of Blood and of the Powered By the Apocalypse design.
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon While it’s based off the book license and not directly from the game, Callahan’s did receive a GURPS supplement.
Captain Blood BABY?! is a game where your soul has been scattered across an alien planet and you must retrieve the fragments with the help of a universal translator. The game is focused on exploration and players using images to communicate with each other.
Castlevania A Castle Outside Time is a one page rpg has players exploring a dungeon and is inspired by Castlevania style exploration and has a Dark Souls style resting mechanic
Huntervania is a Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) tabletop role playing game that explores the lives of vampire and monster hunters in a gothic setting.
Let’s Kill Dracula is a 2 player rpg about being trapped in Dracula’s castle and needing to destroy him.
Crypt of the Necrodancer I Have Enough Training is a narrative adventure journaling game and a hack of “The Adventurer” by James Chip. It was inspired by Crypt of the Necrodancer
Necrocartais a solo Carta game where players explore a mysterious dungeon on a quest to find the Heart of the Crypt.
FUTILE LAMENTATIONS: DARK EXISTENCE is a pamphlet ttrpg inspired by Darkest Dungeon where you must face the horrors that afflict The Village, continue your Campaign knowing that you can die or fall into madness at any moment.
Dark Souls There are actually two official Dark Souls rpgs. One that was released in Japan by Group SNE and one that is in English by Steamforged. The Group SNE game has unofficial English translations floating around online that I won’t link to here but are pretty easy to find.
There’s also lots of ttrpgs inspired by Dark Souls.
Bleak Spirit is a storytelling game where you and your friends create a brooding, cryptic tale about a stranger in a strange land.
Bonfire & Blade is a rules-lite tabletop RPG inspired by the setting and themes of Dark Souls, with a system based on the pamphlet RPG Vampires & Claymores. It can be run by one person facilitating the game as the Fire Keeper, with one or more players exploring the world, and a handful of 6-sided dice in two colors.
Dice Souls is a zero prep Souls-like dungeon exploration game for one or two players.
Exhumed is a pamphlet dungeon inspired by Dark Souls tutorial levels: short and somewhat linear, but meant to set the stage, give opportunities to learn the style of play, and offer hints of interesting things to come.
Fever is a tabletop roleplaying game for a Game Master and players where you play as Chosen struggling against a cruel world as you hope to rebuild the broken Sun.
Grave is a toolkit for soulslike fantasy TTRPG play built on the rules for Knave.
You Died is a solo game using the Caltrop Core system to fight through bosses.
Death Stranding The Death Stranding Solo-RPG is a one player ttrpg where players control a Porter and explore outside of their starting City in search of Preppers, Distribution Centers, Cities, and the resources to connect them to each other.
Deep Rock Galactic Bedrock Mining LLC is a push your luck mining game inspired by Deep Rock Galactic
Desert Bus Bus of the Desert is a solo game based on Desert Bus, an intentionally boring mini game created for an unreleased Penn and Teller game
Desert Golfing While it works with any form of Golf, the GOLF system was originally designed for play with Desert Golfing
Destiny LIGHT is an homage to Destiny. “LIGHT is a rules-lite, power fantasy tabletop RPG designed using an early version of the LUMEN system. It’s all about creating powerful characters, called Beacons, and feeling incredible badass as you take on dangerous missions and collect valuable loot.“
Diablo “ANGELSPAWN is a high-action combat game about humans with angelic lineage fighting an unending war against the tides of evil. It is a love letter to one of my all-time favorite games—Diablo—and is powered by the LUMEN system, created by Spencer Campbell. The game focuses on frenetic combat, waves and waves on enemies, randomized loot, and slowly improving your character towards a perfect killing machine.”
Dishonored Received an official TTRPG from Modiphius that included involvement from the folks who worked on the video games.
paKtbound is a streamlined tabletop role-playing game built with the LUMEN system and inspired by Arkane Studio’s Dishonored series. Take on the role of the Paktbound, poor wretches who have pledged themselves to the service of the Stranger, as they tackle heists and hits in the rotten city of light and mirrors.
Dungeon Keeper RISE: A Game of Spreading Evil is a map drawing game that puts you in control of a monstrous dungeon as you seek to reach the surface and take over their puny kingdoms.
Dwarf Fortress DELVE: A Solo Map Drawing Game is a map drawing game that puts you in control of a dwarven hold as you discover the horrors that lurk below.
Elden Ring RUNE is a solo tabletop RPG inspired by the soulslike genre of video games, including Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. In RUNE, you are a wanderer of the lands of Obron. The world is dangerous, but full of power if you are willing to reach out and take it.
The Elder Scrolls UESRPG is a free unofficial game based on the Elder Scrolls series of games.
There is also After\\Burner, a tabletop roleplaying game focused on fast and positional starfighter combat and military sci-fi drama that was made with the LUMEN system.
Emperor of the Fading Suns The official ttrpg was developed internally at the same time as the computer game
Encarta MindExplorer is a single-player tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the MindMaze game in Encarta and the aesthetics of educational materials from the 1990’s. You will explore a building constructed from your imagination during a dream you have one night and meet the characters that live inside it.
Eve Online Strongly inspired by the MMORPG Eve Online, Heavens of Khepri features characters that spend most of their time piloting space ships, but this time you’re playing as the NPCs in the MMO.
FFRPG is another free rpg that’s been built by fans and has been ongoing since the 90s.
Final Fantasy VII Into the Glacier is a solo journaling game inspired by the glacier sequence in FF7.
Final Fantasy XIV Online An official ttrpg is currently in development
In the LUMEN system game Crystalline, players are Heritors, the bearers of Soul Stones- mnemocite gems which record the deeds and powers of the great heroes who once bore them. Players embark on adventures to topple the Empire, face the Shadows, and extinguish the fires of war which threaten to burn all to ash.
Final Fantasy Tactics Arma Fantasia Tacticsis fantasy adventure roleplaying with an emphasis on character & loadout customization and tactical action.
FTL: Faster Than Light Faster Than Light is a solo Wretched & Alone game inspired by the video game FTL, a solo journaling game about perseverance and about being the AI that controls a spaceship warping through the galaxy in order to save humanity.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers Accomplice is inspired by the Gabriel Knight series. You play as a research assistant for someone like Gabriel Knight as they investigate supernatural cases.
Game Genie I suppose technically it’s not a video game and more of a cheat device for them, but there’s a couple of adaptations of the Game Genie for TTRPGs. Game Genie Apocalypse is a set of 23 moves for PBTA games inspired by video games.
RPGenieis a method of integrating cheat codes and game alterations to tabletop gaming by sharing your favorite ephemera with your friends.
Hades LOOM is a game that tries to emulate the frenetic feel and player-driven advancement of the video game Hades and is made with the LUMEN system.
Heroes of Hammerwatch GRIT is a rogue-like inspired dungeon crawler inspired by Heroes of Hammerwatch where the aim of the game is to send in waves of ’20-minute’ mercenaries to loot gold, gain glory, and vanquish enemies.
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia Champions of Power and Dread is a dark fantasy strategic roleplaying game where you command legions of fell beasts.
Hypnospace Outlaw Alone in Cyberspace is a solo tabletop game about exploring the archive of a defunct network of webpages from decades ago.
In Other Waters In Other Waters: Tidebreak is a supplement for the horror ttrpg Mothership that is set in the In Other Waters universe. The supplement is playable in either as a group or solo and designed to be less stressful than the typical Mothership adventure.
Incremental Adventures You Cannot Kill Me in a Way That Matters is a solo ttrpg where you fight monsters in the forest, deal quick card layouts for yourself and the forest, resolve the round, and do it again.
Jet Set Radio Disposable Heroes is a fast paced tabletop RPG set in a near-future fantasy world city named Neo-Francisco. You play as package delivery people with incredible abilities, doing their best to survive and get that 5 Star rating that means they can eat that week.
Underground Broadcast is a micro-RPG about nimble graffiti punks kicking off the rebellion against a tyrannical organization.
The Journeyman Project Project Hypaethrus: Windows To Time has players create create unique Travelers to explore the past. Time-Travelers need to hide their existence to the temporal locals, so they take on new Personas while in the past. However, relying too much on their Past Persona can Bleed into their own identity.
Kingdom Hearts Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined is a tabletop RPG about our connections with other people, the power we draw from those connections, and traveling to different worlds. It runs on the Powered by the Apocalypse engine. The game is built to allow players to combine characters from various properties.
Knockout City Received a free official ttrpg in 2023 by Adira Slattery & Eric Feurstein
The Legend of Dragoon Chain Attacks is a system-agnostic combat mechanic for emulating Additions from “Legend of Dragoon”
The Legend of Zelda Courage is a solo RPG using the Carta System to create a dungeon-crawling experience inspired by games from “The Legend Of Zelda” series. You’ll play as the recently awoken Hero of Courage, exploring Dungeons and gathering power for your final confrontation against evil incarnate.
Forgotten Ballad is a minimalist Adventure Game – TTRPG, if you prefer – heavily inspired by The Legend Of Zelda series and the OSR movement.
Loom Loom is a fan fiction game based off the classic Lucasarts adventure game of the same name. It’s a solo journaling game where you explore the game’s world using the mechanics described in the book and write about what happens.
Magicka The Wizards of Many Hats is a game of swords and sorcery where players can cast spells by evoking the eight fundamental elements: Water, Life, Barrier, Cold, Electricity, Arcane, Earth & Fire.
Mega Man X METALUMAN is a ttrpg built with the LUMEN system as its engine and foundation for fast-paced action inspired by Capcom’s MegaMan X series.
Monster Hunter There are a lot of indie ttrpgs inspired by the Monster Hunter series. Monster Guts is a game using the LUMEN system.
Apex Predator is a single-player game inspired by Monster Hunter, in which you explore an ancient forest, tracking down and fighting titanic monsters. Along the way, you’ll face peril and find that the natural world may just be on your side.
Monster Rancher In Raising Hell, a solo TTRPG based on Monster Rancher, you’ll help your Devil grow from a baby into an adult, training it all the while so it can be a proper Devil and win one of the numerous Tournaments available in the underworld!
Moonlighter Shopkeeper Showdown is inspired by Moonlighter and has you running a shop and looting dungeons
Mortal Shell Beast Souls is a tabletop role-playing game for 2 players set in a dreamlike / virtual / metaphorical / alternative world (for the most accustomed to the world of anime, an “isekai”) where the hero is the spirit of whoever has put their body at stakes to get something special from a world other than their own.
Myst With Myst being one of the best-selling games ever, it’s not surprising that it has inspired a few tabletop rpgs. Unwritten: Adventures in the Ages of MYST and Beyond is a game that uses the Myst license and uses the FATE core system for the foundation of its rules. The game is strongly influenced by Uru/Myst Online and has players exploring modern or historical D’ni and the ages connected to it. The game has received a few smaller supplements as well as a larger sourcebook that was recently Kickstarted and focused on the reconstruction of D’ni
There’s fan games too. Bring the Page With You is a free one-page ttrpg where there is no GM/DM and is focused on players collaborating together to create Myst ages.
NieR: Automata For Humankind is a tabletop RPG made with the LUMEN system for two or more players. You play as Answer units, specialized androids tasked with reclaiming the planet from an alien threat.
Outer Wilds Pale Dot is a collaborative storytelling game for 2-5 players about a crew of non-human cosmonauts leaving their planet to explore a strange solar system, finding threads to unravel the unknown along the way.
Overcooked! Test Kitchen is a co-op time management party RPG for 3 to 5 players inspired by the Overcooked! series
Paper Mario Doodle Adventures is a TTRPG with a 2d platforming battle grid inspired by Paper Mario and Bug Fables
Path of Exile Path of the Tainted is a LUMEN game is inspired by “Path of Exile”, players will slay hordes of monsters to acquire powerful loot and abilities. But most importantly they will be able to create their own Powers by combining them with upgrades.
Persona Inspired by the Persona series, Voidheart Symphony is a tabletop roleplaying game about mundane people diving into a demon-filled labyrinth to save the ones they love.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Ace Attorneys is a TTRPG built with LUMEN for 3 players. It heavily relies on improvisation for all three players and is meant to be played for 30 – 60 minutes.
Justicar is a game inspired by the Ace Attorney series. Players each embody a unique key Role as they collaboratively tell the story of a crime and its mysteries.
In the unofficial Phoenix Wright ttrpg, players are divided into prosecution and defense parties, and then each performs its own DM led investigation of a crime scene.
Picross Beauty in the Grid is a ttrpg where the main mechanic involves creating pictures in a grid
Planetside 2 PLANET FIST is a Powered by the Apocalypse narrative wargame of satirical scifi skirmish storytelling and a hack of CLAYMORE’s FIST, and winner of the SUBSTANCE award in the FIST: Ultra Jam. PLANET FIST is inspired by Starship Troopers (1997), Battlefield: Bad Company, and most of all, by Planetside 2.
Pokémon ForeverDex is a game played by mail where you generate new magical creatures through another players zip code
Pokemon Dungeon Crawler is an unofficial Pokémon dungeon crawler. You play as a Pokémon in a world after humans. You get a dungeon delving class (cleric, fighter, magic-user), you get a backpack, a weapon, and you head out on an adventure.
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor This is kind of an odd one to include since it’s a D&D computer game, which is not really something I want to delve into too much but I thought it was interesting that this game launched with a D&D 3rd edition tie in
Project Zomboid Superesse Mortuus is a d100 system game about surviving in a world full of zombies
Quake GRIM is a fast paced rpg where you fight eldritch horrors
Resident Evil The Mansion Incident is a solo dungeon-crawling RPG and a hack of Escape from Demon Castle Dracula by Rob Hebert. In The Mansion Incident you take on the role of a member of the Investigation and Rescue Implementation Service (I.R.I.S.) – an elite group of detectives tasked with finding, and in some cases liberating, missing persons in the sprawling mountains of the Midwestern United States – as you recover your team from a sinister, labyrinthian mansion that hides secrets and danger behind every door.
Biocalypse is a minimalist, Resident Evil-inspired adventure game for 2—6 players.
Resident Evil 2 Escape: Outbreak is an escape room-style ttrpg inspired by Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil: Village It turns out there are a bunch of games inspired by the tall vampire lady. Tall Vampire Ladies is a one page hack of Lasers and Feelings about trying to get a guy out of your castle
Tall Lady Castle Game is an 8 page single player (or small group) TTRPG about being an ancient monster that’s really bad at expressing its feelings.
The designer of that also made a companion game called Oh Do Not Find Me In This Castle Please, a solo game where you are the intruder wanting to get caught
Rimworld UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers is a map drawing game that puts you in control of a sci-fi colony as you struggle against starvation, the void, and the many threats that will assail you from above and below.
Rocket Jockey raptor 2057 is a fast-paced racing RPG inspired by the wip3out series, the hectic F-Zero series, the classic romp Rocket Jockey (1996), and John Harper’s Wildlings (2015).
Sable Of That Colossal Wreck is an open-world exploration TTRPG set in a post-apocalyptic setting for 1 to 4 players. Using a deck of cards, players will explore a wasteland, and build card house Ruins to explore.
Samorost Pocket Full of Stars is a cozy two-player ttrpg inspired by Samorost where the players have the roles of an Astronomer and the Storyteller and work together to tell a story about a giant jumping from planet to planet and meeting people.
The Secret of Monkey Island Blood Mountain Resort & Spa is a free download for fantasy ttrpgs. Inspired by the Monkey Island series, players explore a pirate themed resort. The NPCs are statted for DURF but the rest of the supplement is built to be system neutral.
Shadow of the Beast The Shadow & the Beast is a two-player roleplaying game inspired by the classic video game Shadow of the Beast. One player controls the Beast as it fights its way toward the Shadow, the evil overlord that stole its life and forced it to carry out terrible acts of violence. The other player serves as the Gamemaster (GM), controlling the Beast’s adversaries and any other characters while also setting scenes for the action.
Shadow of the Colossus On the Shoulders of Colossus includes rules for running colossal games as well as stat blocks for every colossus from the game
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus Honor Among Thieves is a tribute micro TTRPG (for 3+ players) about the thievish activities of a group of honorable master thieves who seek to only steal from other criminals.
Sonic the Hedgehog Radical Spin is a micro-RPG about melodramatic action animals for 2-5 players.
Rainbow Runaways is a Sonic-inspired TTRPG based on the Caltrop Core system, and is played with D4s and a deck of cards.
Soul Sacrifice Sacrifice arcane objects, blood, and limbs to cast spells in Soul Sacrifice, a TTRPG based on the PSVITA exclusive. Requires a tarot deck.
Space Quest 24XX Unlikely Heroes – Space Questing is a rules-lite sci-fi RPG hack of the 2400 system. Inspired by the old-school Sierra adventure series “Space Quest”, and its bumbling space janitor hero Roger Wilco, UHSQ can be used to run a no-prep sci-fi game that is more on the humorous, light-hearted side.
Star Control Capax Astra is a vaporwave space opera RPG inspired by Star Control, about exploring sectors full of strange alien people. It uses the Fate RPG system.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic An official campaign book for the d20 Modern System was published in 2008
Street FighterII White Wolf created an official game using their ttrpg storytelling framework in 1994
Streets of Rage Justice Sworn is a solo ttrpg by Sandy Pug Games that is inspired by brawlers like Streets of Rage and Final Fight
Subnautica Water Landing is a Carta-powered scenario for the Cast Away RPG. To play, you need the Cast Away rules
Sundered PHOTON is a tabletop roleplaying game for 2 players about fighting back an all consuming singularity, based on the LUMEN system by Spencer Campbell. Inspired by games like Hyper Light Drifter and Sundered, it aims to bring eerie exploration and lightning fast battles to tabletop.
Super Smash Bros Smash & Brothers is a one page hack of John Harper’s Lasers and Feelings for having two unrelated characters fight each other.
Suspended ERROR is a Play Out Loud text adventure where you control a robot that must fix a city’s mainframe and references Infocom designer Michael Berlyn
Tetris Scraps is a feel-good game about sharing, about harmony with nature, about bewilderment and curiosity. Inspired by Minecraft and Tetris, it uses polyominoes as part of the crafting aspect of it.
Thief: The Dark Project Blades in the Dark is an incredibly influential tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. The book cites Dishonored and Thief: The Dark Project as influences. It’s maybe a stretch to say it’s based on those games but whatever, I’m putting it here.
Tomb Raider The Temple of Karthis is a solo dungeon crawling game using cards and dice and inspired by Tomb Raider.
Untitled Goose Game Sneak Honk is a hack of Honey Heist inspired by Untitled Goose Game
Warframe Frame is a ttrpg using the LUMEN system that was an homage to Warframe. The Warframe community got really weird and harassed the creator of the game so it was briefly made free and then changed to $5000.
Wipeout Shardana: Hydro Trail GP is a 4-player nautical racing board game inspired by WipEout, Rapid Racer and actual powerboat racing.
The Witcher Technically it was a book first but all of these are based on the video game series. R Talsonian created an official ttrpg using the game’s license from CD Projekt
On The Path is a hack of Honey Heist by Grant Howitt, where players take on the roles of Monster Slayers investigating a mystery after receiving a strange letter.
The World Ends With You Heartbeats in Perfect Sync is a tabletop RPG inspired by the shounen battle aesthetic in games like The World Ends With You, Kingdom Hearts and Under Night In-Birth. Play as a group of ordinary people who fight monsters with ridiculously over-the-top weapons.
Vibe Check is an illuminated by LUMEN tabletop role-playing game for 3-6 players inspired by The World Ends With You.
World of Warcraft An official ttrpg was released in 2005 using a d20 system
XCOM: Enemy Unknown INTRUDER: EARTHLY ENTITY is an action rpg Illuminated by LUMEN. Inspired by the XCOM series, players are the last survivors of an Earth taken over by extraterrestrial forces and must Establish contact with other resistance cells, Free nations from the control of the ALIEN ENTITY, and rescue Earth.
T-DEF is a GMless game that comes in two 8-page mini zines: the Tactical Handbook that contains the rules for character creation and taking actions; and the Operations Manual, that contains everything you need to create missions for your troopers. T-DEF also has a sequel game.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Blades of Ether is a tabletop roleplaying game for three to six players. Guided by the Architect, the GM who gives life and voice to the Cloud Sea, you’ll set out on unforgettable adventures in a world unlike any other, changing Arlest forever with the wake you leave in the clouds.
Yakuza BAKA MITAI is a city pop, Yakuza-inspired playset for the PARAGON system from the AGON roleplaying game.
Zork Parsely is a collection of games where a group of players control one character by telling one player, known as the Parser, what they would like to do in the form of text adventure commands and the Parser describes what happens next. The collection even features a trilogy of Zork-like games known as Action Castle. The creator of Parsely has a few games in the series on their Itch page.
Uresia: Grave of Heaven is a system-neutral setting book by S. John Ross that is strongly inspired by the Zork series, with there even being a section explaining how it influenced the book and why they love the series so much. The book is now available for free here. Check it out and then consider hiring him for book or map design if you’re a ttrpg designer. The author also wrote a Z-Machine text adventure game that ranks as Polite on Andrew Plotkin’s cruelty scale. This game is also available for free.
My rewatch of the 1st Doctor era continues. Here’s what I watched (and listened to!) this week
Edge of Destruction It’s fine. It’s really ambitious to have a more psychological story this early on but even at the story only being 2 episodes it feels a little long. Plus the odd character behavior is never really explained that well. Still, from what I recall it’s kinda the only Tardis only story from the original series? Or at least one of the very few?
Marco Polo Obviously watched the reconstruction since all the episodes are missing. I know this is supposed to be a hidden gem but oof, couldn’t get past the yellow face for some of the characters. It would only be worse if we had the actual footage.It’s fascinating that the Doctor really isn’t in this one much and even William Russell seemed to be annoyed by this from reading about the production. It’s also wild that this story takes place over months instead of just a few days like most Doctor Who stories.
Really impressed with the reconstruction quality though, including having the actor who played Marco Polo doing an intro for the story as an older version of the character. Marco Polo is a jerk.
I guess I would recommend the novelization though? The story itself is fine.
Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles – Quinnis My first Big Finish story as part of the rewatch! I’ve listened to a lot of them before but as part of my rewatch I’m trying to listen to any along the way that would slot in nicely with where I’m at in the rewatch. So I picked Quinnis, a story in their Companion Chronicles line which is sorta in-between an audio book and radio drama. It’s narrated by the actress who played Susan so she acts her lines out and there’s also special effects, but narrates other parts. I thought it would make sense to listen to a prequel set before the series starts but it’s being told after Doctors 1-8 and references stuff at the beginning of the story that came up during with the 8th Doctor’s era like Susan’s son so I guess I goofed on this one. Ah well.
The production is nice and it’s a decent story. It also does a good job of staying true to that version of the Doctor and Susan. It’s not a groundbreaking story but a fun enough one off and has better pacing than a lot of 1st Doctor stories. I just wish it wasn’t referencing other Big Finish stuff. There’s probably other 1st doctor audio stories I would recommend over this, there’s some I’m really looking forward to listening to in my library, but it’s a fun story and pretty cheap too so why not. Only an hour long too.
