Forget D&D? – 7 Table Top Roleplaying Game Alternatives!

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You may or may not be aware of the current clusterfuck of the recent D&D PR campaign from Wizards of the Coast and the ramifications it could have not for only D&D, but also for the wider TTRPG community. The reaction in the community has been nothing short of seismic – the latest coming from our good friends at Chaosium who included this in their latest newsletter;

“Chaosium is pleased to be part of the Open RPG Creative License initiative, announced this week by our friends at Paizo.

In response to Wizards of the Coast’s new version of the Open Game License, Paizo will spearhead the development of a system-neutral open RPG license that can be freely used across the tabletop RPG industry. Chaosium, Green Ronin, Kobold Press, Legendary Games, and Rogue Genius Games are already on board, and other companies are expected to join. 

Chaosium issued its own (non-WotC) Open Game License for its Basic Roleplaying System in 2020, enabling designers to create their own roleplaying games using the Basic Roleplaying rules engine, royalty-free and without further permission from Chaosium.

“Although Chaosium has never used the WotC OGL we are very happy to be working with the rest of the industry to come up with a system-wide OGL that anyone can use.” said Chaosium vice president Michael O’Brien.”

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So we obviously didn’t want to feel left out here at the 5D Pop Culture Website. But I’ll be clear at the outset, this isn’t a pure ’best of’ list or ’new games to watch out for’ – instead it is a list of 7 games that have meant something just little bit special to us in the last year, together with a few that promise to be very special in the coming months. So forget all that D&D in-fighting….check out the list of some of the games currently floating our boat.

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Naturally, I’ll be waiting for the inevitable comments beginning with ’I can’t believe you haven’t included……..’ – and believe me, I feel your pain, because there were a number of notable honourable mentions that missed out by a proverbial whisker on being included. For instance I could have included the whole output from Free League Publishing , the company who, without fail constantly hit it out of the park with the quality of their content (including the recent Blade Runner RPG)…..so I narrowed it down to just the one from them. I include two releases from Chaosium Inc. based mainly on the fact that I simply could not choose between an old and new addition to the stable.

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So what we have is a mixture of the old, new & upcoming.

OH & by the way, we still love D&D……just not the moronic bean counters currently running the show…..

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Everyday Heroes
(From Evil Genius Games)

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Everyday Heroes™ is a modern-day roleplaying system based on d20 Modern, refreshed for the 5th edition. Updated by some of d20’s original designers, Everyday Heroes will delight fans everywhere.

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From the excitement of blockbuster action films to the combat options and tactical gear of first-person shooters, adventures in contemporary settings offer a wide range of opportunities and challenges for tabletop gamers. The Everyday Heroes Roleplaying Game provides everything you need to run a modern-day d20-style campaign with elements such as car chases, computer hacking, radiation hazards, or gunplay. For more details check out our full review of the recent PDF Release.

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Everyday Heroes can also be purchased as a PDF RIGHT HERE

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Regency Cthulhu
(From Chaosium Inc.)

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Regency England: a time of social niceties, grand balls, romantic intrigues, and disappointments—as described in the novels of Jane Austen. Through the lens of the Cthulhu Mythos, horrors weave themselves into the hearts of everyday Georgians—from the richest to the poorest.

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Regency Cthulhu: Dark Designs in Jane Austen’s England is a historical sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu. Our recent review has a quote on the Chaosium website ……”I cannot help but say that Chaosium have once again set the highest of bars for their releases – this time nailing the release of an expansion to an already much-loved game… From the level of fascinating historical detail, through the delicious artwork on display throughout, to the bounty of free resources that come with the product – it is practically perfect.”— 5D Blog

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Regency Cthulhu can also be purchased as a PDF here at DriveThru RPG

For more information check out the Chaosium inc. website RIGHT HERE

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Runequest
(From Chaosium Inc)

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RuneQuest is Chaosium Inc.’s fantasy roleplaying game set in Greg Stafford’s Glorantha. In RuneQuest, players create adventurers who explore an ancient world rich in magic. Everyone uses spells and anyone can be a warrior, equipped with bright bronze and stout armor. The gods provide fantastic powers to their mortal worshipers and can intercede on their behalf. Each RuneQuestadventurer is unique, defined by Runes chosen by the player and belonging to a definite culture and cult.

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Combat is dangerous and gritty, and every single fight could turn out to be your adventurer’s last, with critical hits bypassing armor and doing tremendous damage. Despite this danger, healing magic is readily available and smart, tactical fighting is the means of surviving and succeeding.

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The RuneQuest Starter Set is the perfect way to begin your journey into the mythic roleplaying with RuneQuest.

In the box you get:

Book 1: Introduction and Rules—an introduction to RuneQuest and the essential rules.

Book 2: Glorantha—an overview of Glorantha and the city of Jonstown.

Book 3: SoloQuest—learn to play RuneQuest through The Battle of Dangerford.

Book 4: Adventures—three linked starter adventures for your players to explore.

Ready-to-play Adventurers—14 ready-to-use game characters.

Blank Adventurer Folio—ready for creating your own adventurers. 

Roleplaying Dice – a set of polyhedral dice for use in the game.

Player Handouts – a set of ready-to-use props.

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RuneQuest can also be purchased as a PDF here at DriveThru RPG

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Dragonbane
(From Free League Publishing)

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Drakar och Demoner originally launched in 1982 and has been Scandinavias largest and most beloved tabletop RPG brand ever since. Now, Free League celebrates its 40th anniversary with a reimagined edition based on the heritage of decades of Swedish gaming, updated through the innovative game design for which Free League has been praised for worldwide.

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A legend is reborn. in 2022 Free League launched the kickstarter for Dragonbane / Drakar och Demoner, a new and reimagined edition of Sweden’s first and biggest tabletop roleplaying game. The highly anticipated fantasy game was funded in just 4 minutes. The new edition is due for release this year and has consistently been voted amongst the top of the most anticipated releases of 2023.

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Free League Publishing’s content in PDF form can be viewed here at DriveThru RPG

The Free League website can be visited RIGHT HERE

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Shiver
(From Parable Games)

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SHIVER is a tabletop roleplaying game that lets players bring their favourite scary movies, spooky tv shows, and horror stories to life. Ever wanted to play through the plot of your favourite film on the tabletop? Or wanted to make sequels, prequels and original stories in the worlds of pop culture you love? SHIVER lets you play that!

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SHIVER is setting neutral allowing you to play any story, anytime, and as anyone. Want to play a game of teens in survival mode against a zombie horde? Kids on Bikes who dread exploring a haunted house on Halloween night? Or perhaps a medieval monster hunter looking for a werewolf, vampire or mage? SHIVER can deliver stories and characters for anything from cult pulp classic to Cthulhu fuelled eldritch mystery.

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SHIVER has easy to learn rules which make it fast to play and keep you immersed in your chaos and dark magic filled stories. SHIVER uses symbolic dice to keep players immersed in the story as well as providing a visual role playing aid that does away with pesky arithmetic. Character creation is quick and easy with a simple skill point and ability system that links to the game’s dice. The game is perfect for a one shot or short story between main campaigns. It can also be used to form longer narratives tying one-shot stories together using rules for sequels.

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SHIVER is inspired by many great bits of pop culture which we really wanted to play on the table including: Stranger Things, Dracula, Jurassic Park, Aliens, Evil Dead, Friday 13th, Hellboy, League of Extrordinary Gentlemen, Gothic stories, Hellraiser, Indiana Jones, IT, Stephen King and his works, Fallout, HP Lovecraft, The Thing, and many more…

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SHIVER can also be purchased as a PDF here at DriveThru RPG

The Parable Games website can be visited RIGHT HERE

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Orbital Blues
(From SoulMuppet Games)

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This is the rock and roll future of yesteryear that never was—and nobody wanted. It is an intergalactic age of cowboys, outlaws and bandits playing on an interstellar stage. It is a time of hyper-capitalism and a cut-throat gig economy. Unreliable trash-heaps carry scrappy underdogs to their next gig, and corporation freighters lumber across the horizon laden with an empire’s bounty.

These are the music-fuelled, moon-age daydreams of a rebel space age.

These are your ORBITAL BLUES.

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ORBITAL BLUES is a lo-fi space western roleplaying game from SoulMuppet Publishing, written by Sam Sleney & Zachary Cox. A roleplaying love-letter to off-beat sci-fi, vintage music, and cooperative old-school styled roleplay, Orbital Blues allows you to play out rules-light tabletop adventures in the style of your favourite space westerns.

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Stepping into the shoes of Interstellar Outlaws, players band together to form Crews, and navigate a hard-going, gig-economy living on the fringes of a space-faring society.

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Developed on the critically acclaimed rules-lite system of Best Left Buried, Orbital Blues uses a simple D6 based system with 3 basic stats – MUSCLE, GRIT, and SAVVY – to handle rolls and uncertainty – putting the narrative and relationships of the player characters at the heart of play without the baggage of hefty mechanics, classes or roles.

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Orbital Blues can also be purchased RIGHT HERE

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Dune: Adventures in the Imperium
(From Modiphius)

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The Dune: Adventures in the Imperium roleplaying game takes you into a far future beyond anything you have imagined where fear is the mind killer so be sure to keep your wits about you. The Imperium is a place of deadly duels, feudal politics and mysterious abilities, noble Houses politic constantly for power, influence and vengeance in a universe where a blade can change the fortunes of millions. Build your House, carve your place in the universe or rebuild an ancient lineage and fight for the Imperial throne.

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Take your characters on a journey through the storied worlds of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece, inhabit elite agents working for noble Houses where Mentats, Swordmasters, Spies, Bene Gesserit Sisters, Devious Advisors, or even desert Fremen join together to follow your banner.  

Whoever you choose to be, remember that those that control the spice control the universe.

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The Dune: Adventures in the Imperium core rulebook contains:

Everything you need to create your own stories of intrigue and adventure on the sands of Arrakis as agents of a powerful noble House.

A brand new version of the 2D20 System adapted specially for the Dune

An extensive look at the Imperium, its society, factions, history, technology, culture, faith and more.

Guidelines for novice and experienced gamemasters on how to run Dune-themed adventures and campaigns of intrigue and adventure for the elite agents of a noble House.

Rules for creating a noble House of your own, from House Minor to Major House, detailing its holdings, areas of expertise and agenda.

Systems for architect play, where you become the puppet masters, moving agents to your designs to serve your House.

An introductory adventure designed to quickly get you and your fellow players involved in the byzantine plots of the Imperium on Arrakis.

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Dune: Adventures in the Imperium can also be purchased as a PDF here at DriveThru RPG

The Modiphius website can be visited RIGHT HERE

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8 Replies to “Forget D&D? – 7 Table Top Roleplaying Game Alternatives!”

  1. TBH while enjoying Regency Cthulhu I did find slightly disappointing. But still a solid addition to the Call of Cthulhu stable.

  2. But why leave D&D and weaken the community when it’s all the fault of those money grabbing slime at Wizards???!!! I still have my books and materials so will be sticking with it!

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