Despite losing my power one day this week and my internet going in and out over the weekend, I still had time to play video games. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email, message me on social media (see About page), or just reply to this post with a link to your thing to let me know it’s out. Or even if you didn’t make it and you just think it’s neat, let me know!
Sylvie Miniature Sylvie Miniature is a short challenging platformer that is playable in the browser. The source code is available too if you wanted to see how it was made.
The New Secret of Pinocchio For the 30th anniversary of the Russian ZX Spectrum game “The Adventures of Buratino” its creator released a Windows remake of it and extended it with new material. It’s available for free on Itch.
Music Maker 95 Music Maker 95 is a little synth playable in the browser on Itch where you play with some retro sounds in an interface resembling a program from the 90s.
Robocop Vs Predator Robocop Vs Predator is a free game inspired by Game Boy games that were weird crossovers like Robocop Vs Terminator or Iron Man And X-O Manowar. It’s a very silly and challenging action platformer.
Slave Zero X: Episode Enyo Slave Zero X: Episode Enyo is a free prequel to Slave Zero X, which was a recent 2D action game which itself was a prequel to Slave Zero, a 3rd person action game from 1999. I have played neither of those games but I’m excited about people making free Quake episodes to promote their game, which is what this is. It’s a lot of effort too. The 6 level episode features new guns, enemies, and soundtrack.
Boyfriend Dungeon: Life On the Edge Boyfriend Dungeon: Life On the Edge is an official tabletop rpg based off Boyfriend Dungeon. I was a fan of the original game and also have a fascination with official tabletop rpg adaptations so I hope to play this soon. I’m also relieved that it’s not another 5E reskin and it’s a unique system based on Rhapsody of Blood and Powered By the Apocalypse.
Day of the Sandwich Day of the Sandwich is a cute little adventure game about making a sandwich, inspired by Day of the Tentacle and made in Adventure Game Studio and playable in the browser. I didn’t even know AGS games could be playable in the browser so that alone was exciting to me. It was made for a 14 day game jam and you can watch them develop it on their Twitch stream. If you would like to make a point-and-click adventure in the free and open source engine Adventure Game Studio, I highly recommend this tutorial by Julia Minamata, who is currently developing The Crimson Diamond.
Rise to the Commander of the Wolf Triad Rise to the Commander of the Wolf Triad is a browser game made in PICO-8 where you climb a tower and throw bombs at Commander Keen? It’s a late entry to the Toy Box Jam, which is hosted by Tom Hall (Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom) every year on Itch where developers must make a game using the collection of assets that are provided to them.
Gex Jam 2024 Do you miss 90’s platformer mascot Gex? Well there’s a jam coming up in a month where you can make anything featuring the guy.
Posts About Puzzle Games There were two recent posts about indie puzzle games that I really liked. Thinky Third Thursday is a monthly roundup of puzzle games by the designer of puzzle games like A Monster’s Expedition, Cosmic Express, and A Good Snowman is Hard to Build. There was also this post on Cohost highlighting A TON of puzzle games.
Rogue Declan After posting about Amiga games last week, someone mentioned this very nice looking Amiga game that was released last year. It looks like its got a boxed copy available for pre-order too.
It is the 90s and there is time for games. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email, message me on social media (see About page), or just reply to this post with a link to your thing to let me know it’s out. Or even if you didn’t make it and you just think it’s neat, let me know!
Solo But Not Alone 4 This is the fourth in a series of charity bundles on Itch that are made up of solo tabletop rpgs. The proceeds from these bundles go to mental health related charities and you can click on the bundle link for a description of who it’s going to this time. It’s an incredible bargain for a collection of great games and I’m proud to have my KLF-inspired game Chill Out in here.
XYZZY Awards The winners of the 2022 XYZZY awards have been announced. If you want to see what people in the modern IF scene are up to, this is a great way to see some of the games coming from there. Since the page doesn’t link to where the winning games are available, hopefully no one minds too much if I basically copy the post but link to the games.
TRAMCITY HAKODATE This is a new game on Steam in Early Access where you are a driver for Hakodate, Hokkaido’s tram service. This cohost post does a better job explaining what the game is and the future plans for it, plus it has a link to the Steam page.
Psycutlery Psycutlery is a platformer game that has been in development for a few years but has finally been released, and for free! It’s a beautiful looking game and I think it’s worth downloading off of Itch.
HalOPE HalOPEis described on the Itch page as a surreal exploration/”puzzle-ish” RPGMaker game about breaking cycles and becoming whole. I haven’t played it yet but it looks lovely and is available for free.
Thinky Games If you’re looking for more puzzle games to play, ThinkyGames.com has a good post covering games from two recent game jams.
DUSK DUSK is a new sci-fi rules-lite tabletop rpg from Gila RPGs. DUSK uses the LUMEN 2.0 system, and is a diceless RPG focused on resource management rather. The core rules for the game are available for free!
Amiga Games It also felt like a lot of new games for the Amiga were released this week, at least from looking at Indie Retro News. There was Ami-H.E.R.O, an update of Activision’s H.E.R.O., a port of the arcade version of Tetris, a news update about a top-down arcade game called Hyperborea Resurrected, and news about a dungeon crawler called Dungeonette.
If you enjoyed this post, you can find ones from previous weeks here
Prismatic Wasteland has issued a challenge to blogs to create a new resolution mechanic for tabletop rpgs.
My challenge is thus: In January 2024, come up with a new resolution mechanic for a TTRPG and give it a name. It doesn’t need to be good (in fact, most the good ones have probably already been taken). It just needs to be new! You don’t need to plan to use it in your games; it can be absolute detritus for you. But one blogger’s trash is another designer’s treasure. You never know how great an impact one throwaway idea on a blog might have.
There’s already a nice list of mechanics on the page and I thought it would fun to come up with my own. This one requires a children’s basketball hoop for kids ages 18 months and up.
You could probably use a basketball hoop for adults I GUESS but this is more likely to be inside a house next to your table where you’re playing a ttrpg. Anytime you have to take an action that is risky, take a shot on the basket. Making a basket means the shot was a success, hitting the rim but not having it go in means it was a success but there was a complication, and missing completely means it was a failure. You could have them make the shot from 8 feet away but feel free to adjust the distance based on the player’s basketball ability. If the character has a skill modifier bonus, the player can take additional steps towards the hoop, or steps away if they have a penalty.
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!
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.
Even though we’re in that weird liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s Day, where I have lost track of time and no longer know what day it is, a lot of great games were released this last week. If you recently released something that you want included, always feel free to send me an email or message me on social media (see About page) to let me know it’s out.
Winter sales! Winter sales are still going on Itch and Steam. Go buy some neat games if you want.
Who Took the Books Your mileage on this one may vary on how much you want to play a Christmas game at this time of year but Tom Hall, creator of classic games like Commander Keen, has released a new game for the PICO-8. It’s a really cute puzzle game where you play as Santa and must find all the books in the game. It plays a lot like an adventure game where finding items will let you explore new areas. It’s also just fun seeing how much Tom Hall is involved with the PICO-8 community and is always organizing new game jams or rating PICO-8 games 5 stars on Itch.
Sewer Rave Not a new game but Sewer Rave is now available for free/Pay-What-You-Want on Steam and Itch.io. It’s a game where you explore a rat infested sewer during a giant rave.
Baby Time! Baby Time! is a new game by Goloso Games to celebrate becoming a parent. It’s a Lost Vikings-style platformer where each of the three playable characters has different abilities and you use them all to solve puzzles. Congrats to Goloso Games on the baby.
Saṃsāra Saṃsāra is an interactive poem created for the Kissinger is Dead jam. It’s a good poem and I’m also just happy that there was a jam about how awful Kissinger was and celebrating his death.
Hamayumishi: Chochin Challenge Hamayumishi is a new side-view twin-stick shooting game by Nice Gear Games that’s playable in the browser. It’s a fun arcade game with some nice art and neat slow motion gameplay mechanic!
Against the Wind Against the Wind is a new solo/coop fantasy tabletop rpg by Cezar Capacle that is focused on wilderness exploration and creating unique heroes. The game is technically in beta but I feel like it’s already a beautiful book and solid game, and with it blowing past its goal, will only become better. If you’ve never played a solo tabletop rpg before, I think this is a good one to start with.
Snake on a Train Snake on a Train is a cute endless runner made in PICO-8 where you are a snake riding in a mine cart. The game was created for the Toy Box jam which was hosted by Tom Hall and is playable in the browser.
Galactic Foodtruck Simulator 2999 Galactic Foodtruck Simulator 2999 is a game created in ZZT for the DOS Game Jam, hosted by me! I’m always impressed by what you can do in ZZT and this is no exception. In this game you have 40 weeks to establish a successful food truck business in space. Playable in the browser.
Indie Tsushin: Year 1 Indie Tsushin: Year 1 is a compilation of writing found in the first year of Indie Tsushin, a zine that covers indie games and interviews game developers from Japan. Picking it up is an excellent way to support indie games coverage and make sure projects like this can continue
WOOT 2023 I only found out about this a few hours ago and I don’t really follow the modern ZX Spectrum too closely so I might be screwing up the details of this but WOOT 2023 looks to be a compilation of new ZX Spectrum and apps, with a nice variety of stuff. I got excited because a dev I do follow, Sloanysoft, seems to have a Doctor Who fan game in it called Blocktor Woot in the Sloanyverse of Madness.
FREAKHUNTER I haven’t played this one yet but it looks like something I’ll really enjoy. FREAKHUNTER is a dungeon crawler/rail shooter hybrid and I really enjoy the low-poly aesthetic it has.
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.
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.
I just watched the new Doctor Who specials and I’m sorry but this is a Doctor Who blog now. I fell off during the Capaldi years, not because I thought the show got bad or anything but life stuff just got in the way and I never really made the time to get back to it. Then I heard Chibnall was taking over and I’m sure the 13th Doctor is great, because everyone that has played the Doctor has been very good and just has to deal with various quality levels of scripts, but I never enjoyed Chibnall’s writing and the idea of him running the show sounded rough.
Anyway, people were saying nice things on the internet about the new specials so I decided to watch them and they’re really good! I was a little pessimistic that I would since I thought the last year of specials in Tennant’s run was rough (except Waters of Mars, which I loved). I also felt like bringing him back right before a new Doctor would make it tougher on the new guy, which I guess is still possible but at least I feel better about Russell T. Davies as a showrunner again. There isn’t much I actually have to say about the episodes without spoiling anything. They’re just really solid hour long episodes and it was nice seeing people return. I forgot how queer the show was while RTD was showrunner so that’s also been very nice. Unfortunately it feels even more necessary now than it did during his original run. It’s also wild that the show has an actual budget now. I’ll have to go back to watch all the episodes from New Who that I missed before.
It also got me to start rewatching the original series again starting with An Unearthly Child. I’ve seen all of the stories for the first 3 Doctors that weren’t thrown out, along with a bunch of other ones for each of the other Doctors, but it seems like a fun excuse to watch them all again anyway, watch the animated reconstructions, and listen to the Big Finish audio dramas I have along the way. I didn’t know Unearthly Child wasn’t available because of some weird licensing stuff with the son of the writer, who owns the rights. Luckily I own the dvd of it but it sucks this is even a thing. I think the story holds up alright though. I remembered Hartnell’s Doctor being kind of an ass but not this bad. But it does help setup the growth that he eventually goes through. It’s funny to me that the first episode is so iconic and the next story introduces the Daleks but the rest of the story is basically just about some cave men. Probably makes sense to not introduce aliens in the very first story though. The soundtrack is still great too!
A few days ago I also picked up the Doctor Who Humble Bundle that’s ending in a day because of all the Big Finish stuff it has. I don’t have too much interest in the comics since the ones I read before from this line weren’t too memorable to me, but I want to play the tabletop rpg at the time. My Doctor Who ttrpg hot take is that none of the players should be the Doctor and if anything that should be the GM, or maybe a GM-less game. I’m assuming that someone has made a Doctor Who-like game on Itch.io at some point. Although I do like that the book makes it clear that you can in fact play the game without having anyone as the Doctor and basically do your own weird little Doctor Who spinoff.
My other gripe about the ttrpg is that the 8th Doctor book doesn’t mention the Big Finish audio dramas at all! I’m sure it’s for legal reasons and they didn’t get the license to but man, they’re so good. Same goes with the 6th Doctor, where he also gets to have his own character arc and growth and wear a blue suit sometimes. It just feels like, what’s the point of putting out an 8th Doctor book that only references the movie and a short regeneration special?
Oh well, I’ll make sure I keep posting about video games stuff too. Just having fun being really into a tv show again.
It’s not surprising that there’s a lot of tabletop rpgs based on video games. They often have an interesting universe to base a tabletop game on and many already have rpg mechanics, where while it’s not a 1:1 conversion to a tabletop game it does give designers a place to start. What I was surprised by was the number of tabletop rpgs that are based on or directly inspired by adventure games. I knew a lot of ttrpg creators grew up playing them but there’s quite a few that mention specific games or license the IP. Here are the ones I could think of but please let me know if the comments if I left anything out.
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.
Text Adventures
There’s also a few games inspired by the Infocom-era of text adventures. 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.
Point-And-Click Adventures
I found a few games on Itch.io inspired by point-and-click adventure games. 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.
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. Both games are available as Pay-What-You-Want.
Citizen Sleeper
With it being so strongly inspired by indie tabletop rpgs like Blades in the Dark, it would make sense that Citizen Sleeper has its own tabletop rpg. It’s not actually out yet so I can’t say much about it but it is available for pre-order here.
TTRPG Supplements
Instead of developing their own systems, many designers have created supplements for existed games. 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. Lost to the Starlit Reptiles is another adventure for DURF by the same folks that is inspired by adventure games.
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.
Let me know if I’ve left anything out. I would love to know what else exists out there. If you enjoyed this article you can play any of my tabletop rpgs inspired by adventure games like Accomplice, my Gabriel Knight inspired solo game, Alone in Cyberspace, inspired by Hypnospace Outlaw, Friendship Quest, my two-player map drawing game, and ERROR, a play out loud text adventure. The first two games are paid but just take a free community copy if you’re interested.
