We’re in the midst of a gaming revolution and tabletop RPGs are evolving and growing all the time. It’s hard to keep up with all the games we want to try. Here’s a list of TTRPG games on our list to play in 2023 including Blade Runner, Index Card RPG, Heart: The City Beneath, Dune, Cy_Borg, and A Fantastic Desire for Adventure.
Blade Runner RPG
You are a blade runner in the year 2037 in Free League’s RPG based on the popular films. This is a detective themed tabletop role playing experience where you solve crimes and hunt down replicants. Like Tales from the Loop and Alien RPG, Blade Runner uses a modified version of the Year Zero Engine for game mechanics. We’re excited to dive into this theme as we love detective games like Sherlock Holmes and Chronicles of Crime. This could be our kind of RPG experience.
A neon noir wonderland that will take your breath away, one way or another. An evocative world of conflicts and contrasts that dares to ask the hard questions and investigate the power of empathy, the poison of fear, and the burden of being human during inhumane times. Read more about Blade Runner RPG at Free League Publishing.
Index Card RPG
The one tabletop RPG that I keep hearing about more than any other recently is Index Card RPG (ICRPG). I have a son that I’ve been teaching to play tabletop games and friends often mention this title as a great gateway system for kids. With stripped down mechanics and a fun system of using cards as physical spaces (as opposed to tactical grids), ICRPG speeds up the game to keep things moving. Great for new gamers and those who don’t want to spend a lot of time on crunchy battle math.
Created by game designer Hankerin Ferinale, ICRPG is a tabletop role-playing game that has slowly built a dedicated following of DIY RPG enthusiasts. The game uses index cards as a central aspect of its gameplay and emphasizes simplicity, creativity, and improvisation. The recently released Master Edition of the game combines ICRPG’s various worlds, streamlined D20 rules, and comprehensive GM advice all in one high-quality hardcover book. The edition includes five complete worlds, a massive collection of D100 loot tables and monster creation tables, and a critically acclaimed GM section. With its focus on DIY thinking and a do-it-yourself attitude, Index Card RPG has become a unique and beloved part of the tabletop RPG community.
For more convincing, watch the above video from Runehammer that explains the simplicity of this system (and the creative fun with index cards). Read more about Index Card RPG at Modiphius.
ICRPG Hard Suit
If I’m being honest, the setting and rules for Hard Suit are half the reason I got interested in Index Card RPG. Hard Suit is an expansion to Index Card RPG that brings mech suits and hex combat to the RPG. I love the theme and also the simplified version of Battletech.
Long ago, the orbital cities fell. The Everlasting reached for the stars and found only destruction. Millennia later, the world of Atria is a lonely wilderness, but technology refuses to sleep. You awaken onto thsi strange world with no memory, only a vague sense of purpose. Those who don’t burn, join the rebellion. Somewhere between fantasy and science fiction is the vast, forested world of HARD SUIT.
Old Gods of Appalachia
Based on a popular podcast of the same name, Old Gods of Appalachia is a dark journey into the eastern mountains where evil lurks. This RPG looks like it’s dripping with theme and it has three seasons of podcast lore to pull from. The kickstarter pulled in $2M so the final delivery is looking positive for a March 28, 2023 launch.
Long before anything human roamed the Earth, the Appalachians towered tall and menacing. The mountains’ might was made a prison and tomb for beings of immeasurable malice and incomprehensible madness. A place to hold them; to keep them, perhaps forever, from dimming the light above. But time shows no mercy, not even to mountains, and now they lay bare and worn like an old man’s spine. The walls of the prison grow thin, and those that have slumbered soundlessly for millennia begin to stir.
A Fantastic Desire for Adventure
First on our list is A Fantastic Desire for Adventure from Tim Hutchings, creator of Thousand Year Old Vampire. Created in zine format, this RPG for three players offers a unique mechanic of color-separating gels where each player can read something different in the book depending on which gel they are holding. Hutchings calls the game, “An autobiographical role playing game for three players which follows a young Tim Hutchings through a teenage night of heat lightning, punk rock music and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.”
You can read more about A Fantastic Desire for Adventure on Tim Hutchings’ website. You can download a PDF of the game for free at itch.to. And you can hear Tim talk about the game at a NONFiction Now panel here.
Heart: The City Beneath
Heart: The City Beneath is a game that stares with you into the darkness. As the first page of the RPG states, “Heart is a game of wonder, horror, tragedy and humanity in the face of inhumanity. Each player character is fundamentally doomed, as most of the high-level abilities kill the user when triggered.” Based on the game Spire: The City Must Fall by Rowan, Rook, and Decard, Heart takes place underneath the Spire where lots of strange things are going on. The game features the gorgeous artwork of Felix Miall and was written by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor. Read more at Rowan, Rook, and Decard.
Cy_Borg
Cy_Borg is a tabletop RPG asked on the Mork Borg ruleset and written by Christian Sahlen. The game is set in a hostile cyberpunk world scarred by ecological disasters, mysterious infections, and warring corporations. The game features streamlined rules and worldbuilding, as well as eye-catching and unique art by Johan Nohr. The visual presentation of the book sets the tone for the game’s brutal and flashy world.
Dune: Adventures in the Imperium
Frank Herbert’s Dune universe seems like a perfect setting for science fiction tabletop role playing, if also a polarizing one. The series of books is thick with atmosphere and lore, much of it mentioned in short bursts that encourage the reader to fill in the blanks. It seems like a game that would also work best with fans who are familiar with the work and eager to expand their own ideas of what may be happening in that realm. Modiphius seems to understand these sentiments and have created a role playing system that captures the atmosphere and intrigue that runs through the Dune books and films. You will move between worlds with your created faction, plotting for control amongst the great houses. We look forward to getting Dune: Adventures in the Imperium to the table very soon. Read more at Modiphius.
Things From the Flood
If you enjoyed Tales From The Loop, this game expands the universe and brings a darker, more adult theme as our protagonists enter the 1990s. The stakes are higher in this game as characters can be scarred or die during their adventures. The game includes two updated settings from the Tales From The Loop’s universe: the Mälaren Islands in Sweden and Boulder City, Nevada in the USA. Things From The Flood includes four scenarios in a campaign called Prophets of Pandora. We enjoyed playing as kids in the 1980s but sometimes craved a bit more emotional depth from our adventures. As a result we’re excited to dig into the delicious sci fi weirdness of Things From The Flood sometime soon.
Kids on Bikes Second Edition
Kids on bike is another Tabletop RPG that we are excited for. We never got a chance to be kids on bikes the first time around so we’re excited for this repress. Inspired by Stephen King books and Stranger Things episodes, this TTRPG allows you to play kids on their own adventure. The second edition of Kids on Bikes will have some slight rule changes for clarification and ease of play, it will still work with all supplements and expansions. Read more at the Kids on Bikes Kickstarter page.
