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TTRPG Guide

An apples-to-apples comparison chart for tabletop RPGs.

Criteria

RPGs should only be included if they are:

  • Not defunct: still actively sold and promoted
  • Popular: some online community for the game has at least 1,000 members (exceptions on a case-by-case basis, BDFL style)

FAQ

Why did you choose these data points? They don't capture what makes (GAME) unique.

It's impossible to fully capture...

It's impossible to fully capture the spirit of a game in a single row of a table. Your favorite RPG has probably been sold short; so has mine. Still, a quick-and-dirty, point-by-point comparison is useful for people who want a broad view of tabletop RPGs or are trying to pick their next roleplaying system. If you want complete, in-depth analysis, you'll have to go to the source books (or maybe Wikipedia).

If you want to make things better, consider tagging your favorite RPG, filing an issue, or making a pull request to this repository.

Why is (GAME) listed as (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH) crunch? It's actually (LOWER/HIGHER).

Crunch can be subjective. For each game...

Crunch can be subjective. For each game, rather than making the judgment call on my own, I found forum and social media threads on the topic and did my best to gather some kind of consensus. Sometimes there's a lot of dissent among the player base and that's okay! But whenever someone said "yes, the system has a lot of rules, but you can play without most of them," I ignored that. The only fair way to compare systems is the way they were designed (RAW).

It's still possible I screwed something up. If you have in-depth experience with two of the RPGs on the list and believe they're misrepresented relative to each other, file an issue and let me know.

Why are (GAME) and (GAME) listed under the same system? They're nothing alike.

This is a guide to tabletop systems, not games...

This is a guide to tabletop systems, not games. Granted, there's significant diversity within some systems, especially loosely-defined ones like PbtA. But in my opinion, it's still useful information to group PbtA games together, and doing so helps keep the project manageable.

(TRAIT) is subjective. It depends on the GM.

Everything depends on the GM...

Everything depends on the GM. If I included house rules and homebrew, every cell in the table would just say "it depends." I think we can all agree that's not useful.

What's the difference between a Permissive and Limited license?

"✅ Permissive license" means you can create...

"✅ Permissive license" means you can create your own settings or adventures for the game and sell them, royalty-free, without the publisher's permission. Licenses are subject to change and misinterpretation, so always consult the publisher's website for the full license agreement.

"⛓️ Limited license" means a license exists, but it doesn't allow you to do the above. This covers a range of licensing from "No derivative works allowed" (which may include an aggressive legal strategy to prevent anyone from making new content) to a non-commercial Creative Commons license.

"❌ No license found" means there doesn't seem to be a license document readily available online. If you're aware of one, please file an issue and help us add it.

To add

The following are crowdsourced suggestions. If you've played any of them, please help me add them to the list.

  • Ordem Paranormal (r/OrdemParanormalRPG - 74,100 members) - Portuguese speaker needed
  • Tormenta (r/Tormenta - 36,600 members) - Portuguese speaker needed
  • The Dark Eye (r/DSA_RPG - 7,700 members) - German speaker needed
  • The One Ring (r/oneringrpg - 2,300 members)
  • Twilight 2000 (r/Twilight2000 - 1,900 members)
  • Adventure Game Engine + Dragon Age RPG (r/FantasyAGE - 1,800 members)
  • Black Hack (r/TheBlackHack - 1,600 members)
  • Fiasco (r/Fiasco - 1,600 members)
  • Microscope (r/MicroscopeRPG - 1,500 members)
  • Cairn (r/cairnrpg - 1,400 members)
  • Fragged Empire (r/FraggedEmpire - 1,300 members)
  • Dragonbane (r/DragonbaneRPG - 1,200 members)
  • Spire (r/SpireRPG - 1,200 members)
  • Four Against Darkness (r/FourAgainstDarkness - 1,200 members)
  • Earthdawn (r/earthdawn - 1,100 members)
  • Ten Candles (r/TenCandles - 1,000 members)

Intentionally not included

The following games have been determined to not meet the criteria for inclusion.

Notation:

  • DEF = defunct; no longer published or supported
  • POP = not popular enough / needs evidence of popularity

Games:

  • Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS) - POP
  • Alice is Missing - POP
  • Arcane Codex - POP
  • Breathless - POP
  • Basic Fantasy (BFRPG) - POP
  • Degenesis - DEF
  • Dream Apart/Dream Askew - POP
  • Engel - DEF
  • HeXXen 1733 - POP
  • Knave - POP
  • Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP) - POP
  • Midgard - POP
  • OSRIC - POP
  • Splittermond - POP
  • The Quiet Year - POP
  • Tinyd6 - POP

Contributing

To expand or edit the list of RPGs, file an issue or make a pull request to data.json.

PR Guidelines

Any new entries should be added to the end of the list.

Wishlist

Column ideas:

  • Compatible VTTs