The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying 5E (2023)

Dragonbane is a classic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published by Free League Publishing in 2023. It is a modern English translation and reimagining of Drakar och Demoner, Scandinavia's first and longest-running TTRPG, originally released in 1982. The game carries over four decades of Swedish gaming heritage into a sleek, accessible package designed around the philosophy of "mirth and mayhem": fast-paced adventures with minimal prep, where danger is real, luck matters, and even a humble merchant can become a legend. Unlike many modern fantasy RPGs, Dragonbane deliberately avoids the power-escalation treadmill of level-based systems. Characters are capable but mortal from session one, and the game works equally well for a single one-shot evening or a sprawling long-term campaign. It was a strong contender for TTRPG of the year on release, praised widely as one of the most accessible entry points into tabletop fantasy roleplaying. Description In Dragonbane, players take on the role of adventurers in the Misty Vale, a hidden mountain valley, ancient and full of ruins from fallen kingdoms, only recently cleared of orc and goblin occupation. The world is shaped by the eternal cosmic struggle between two great powers: the Dragons and the Demons, rival godlike forces whose conflict bleeds into mortal life. Players choose from six playable Kins: Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, the duck-like Mallards, and the feral Wolfkin and one of ten Professions (Fighter, Mage, Hunter, Thief, Artisan, Merchant, Mariner, Scholar, and others), each providing a distinct set of skills and heroic abilities. One player takes the role of the Game Master (GM), who builds the world, voices NPCs, and runs the dangers the adventurers face. The tone balances genuine peril and dark fantasy with moments of levity and absurdity.

Vagabond // Pulp Fantasy RPG is a d20-based OSR fantasy game designed by Taron "Indestructoboy" Pounds - an ENnie Award-winning designer previously known for third-party D&D 5e class content - and published through his own studio, Land of the Blind. It funded its development on Kickstarter in 2023, with a print run funded via Gamefound in 2024, and fans have taken to calling it "the Pathfinder of the OSR": an attempt to bring modern character-build depth to old-school-inspired dungeon crawling without losing the rulings-over-rules, low-prep philosophy that defines games like Knave, Cairn, and Into the Odd, several of which are explicitly credited as influences. Description Playing Vagabond means playing pulp-flavored fantasy adventurers - the kind of setting where a Goblin Gunslinger might delve a mummy's tomb alongside a Dwarf Witch hunting Excalibur - built specifically to keep GM prep and mental overhead low while still giving players a genuinely deep character-building toolkit. It's explicitly compatible with B/X-derived monsters, classic TSR modules, and Old School Essentials adventures, so existing OSR content drops in with little to no conversion. All rolls are player-facing, meaning players roll rather than the GM rolling against them, and creature stat blocks include a built-in "Action Gambit" describing exactly what a monster does in combat, aiming to strip improvised tactical decisions away from the GM entirely.

Ishanekon: World Shapers is the (probably) biggest free Indie TTRPG with over 2,500 character options. It has been mainly developed by Jan Luyken, aka Blaze Reason, with the aim of creating a game that can compete (if not surpass) the current biggest games on the market while remaining affordable for anyone. With its easily adaptable rules and wide range of options, from beginner-friendly to highly complex, it is designed to satisfy the needs of almost any story and play style. Description From epic fantasy and sci-fi to mundane humans facing everything from common threats to cosmic horror, Ishanekons: World Shapers’ modular design lets you easily adjust the rules to help you experience your stories. This game is designed with the idea that you bring the flavor, and the mechanics help you bring it to life. The 10 Archetypes with over 200 Sub-Archetypes, 1000+ Abilities, 600+ Talents, 300+ items and upgrades, and more allow you to build anything from a simple cat to a city-destroying kaiju. Role and complexity filters let you find what you need quickly while helping you avoid those features that might be too overwhelming for your liking.

enCounter is a free, open-source encounter and initiative manager designed for tabletop RPG game masters. It provides a dedicated DM Console for preparing and running encounters, along with a separate Player Display that can be shown on a second monitor, television, or gaming-table screen. Game masters can track initiative, rounds, hit points, combat status, conditions, resources, hidden enemies, and other encounter information while controlling exactly what players can see. enCounter also supports reusable character and creature libraries, Saved Encounters, Scene and Combat presentation modes, visual countdown timers, encounter backgrounds, portraits, and local Soundscapes with music, ambience, and prepared sound cues. The Player Display can switch between STAND BY, Scene, and Combat modes, allowing it to be used before and during combat. During initiative, the active visible combatant is automatically centered for players, while the DM Console can follow the current turn without interrupting other encounter edits. enCounter supports multiple tabletop RPG system profiles as well as generic TTRPG play. It runs locally on the user's computer, supports Windows and Linux portable releases, and includes local backup, export, and import tools. The project is currently in Alpha and is actively being developed based on real tabletop use and community feedback. enCounter is released under the MIT License and is available free of charge.

Venture Forth is set in the fictional lands of Elbor. Original to the show, this world is filled with history, heroes and villains, and all the adventure you would expect from a high fantasy setting. Using the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition as a guide to the story, Venture Forth chronicles the tales of a group of adventurers called The Agents of Repair as they make their way across these lands. Our story hinges themes of good and evil, faith in higher powers, and the morality of conflict; all while keeping the story exciting and accessible to all audiences. Links ventureforthdnd.com - Official website youtube.com - Youtube channel twitch.tv - Twitch channel patreon.com - Patreon page discord.gg - Discord server

We're a news source for TTRPG content published 2-3 times a week, complete with news articles, interviews, and more. It's "An inside look at the scene shakers, content makers and upstarts in the tabletop gaming industry Links ttrpginsider.news - Website