Delta Green (2016)

Vampire: The Masquerade (5th Edition) is published by Renegade Games Studios and was released in 2018. It is a TTRPG-scene classic for vampire-themed games. Set in an alternative, but modern, world, called "World of Darkness". The players will step into the shoes of recently turned vampires, now thrust into the dark underworld of the vampire society. It is a storytelling game focusing on personal and political horror. Description The players, now part of "The Masquerade" have to keep their new identity a secret from the human population, while at the same time engaging with various vampire clans and factions. Managing the new reality, both in terms of new societal norms and requirements, and their vampiric hunger, will set the players on a different "adventure" altogether. System Overview & Key Features Storyteller System (d10 Dice Pool) The system utilizes the Storyteller engine, which uses pools of ten-sided dice (d10). To resolve actions, the player adds the character's Attribute and Skill scores together to determine the total number of dice rolled. Any die showing a 6 or higher counts as a success. Rolling multiple 10s yields a critical success. Disciplines Player characters have access to supernatural abilities known as Disciplines. These include categorized powers such as enhanced physical speed, cognitive manipulation, and physical mutation. Activating these abilities frequently requires a "Rouse Check," a dice roll that carries a probability of increasing the character's Hunger level. Touchstones and Humanity Characters possess a Humanity rating that measures their ethical degradation. To maintain this rating, characters link themselves to "Touchstones," which are specific human non-player characters representing the vampire's surviving mortal values. If a Touchstone is damaged or killed, the player character risks a permanent reduction to their Humanity score. Blood Potency A statistic called Blood Potency dictates the strength of a vampire's abilities. Higher Blood Potency provides numerical advantages to Discipline rolls and healing rates. However, it also imposes dietary restrictions; characters with high Blood Potency cannot reduce their Hunger by consuming animal blood or preserved human blood, requiring them to feed directly from live humans. Additional links renegadegamestudios.com - Official Renegade Game Studios website worldofdarkness.com - Official World of Darkness portal

Monster of the Week (MOTW) is an urban fantasy-horror tabletop role-playing game developed by Michael Sands. It was first published in 2012, and a revised edition was published by Evil Hat Productions in 2015. The entire theme of the game is heavily inspired by TV shows like Buffy, Supernatural, X-Files, Fringe and many others. The system it directly evolved from is Apocalypse World (2010) Description Players in the MOTW system take on the role of monster hunters. Capable of dealing with most creatures that might get in their way. Using skills to solve mysteries, track monsters and eventually defeat them.  System Overview & Key Features Powered by the Apocalypse Engine (2d6) Players roll two six-sided dice (2d6) when performing actions, adding relevant character modifiers to the result. Rolling a 10 or higher is considered a success. 7-9 is a partial success, which will also carry some added consequences. Getting a 6 or lower means failure - you have not succeeded in whatever you attempted and dire consequences are soon to follow. Basic and Playbook Moves Game mechanics are categorized into discrete actions called "Moves." Basic Moves are universally available to all characters and cover common actions such as "Investigate a Mystery," "Kick Some Ass," or "Act Under Pressure." Playbook Moves are exclusive, specialized abilities granted by a character's chosen Playbook, allowing them to manipulate the narrative or game mechanics in unique ways. Finite Luck Points Each character possesses a limited track of Luck points. A player may permanently expend a point of Luck to retroactively alter a dice roll to a 12 (a complete success) or to entirely negate a single instance of sustained damage. Luck is a resource the players have to keep an eye on. Using too much can get you out of trouble, but if you don't have it when you need it most - trouble awaits. Harm and Exploiting Weaknesses Physical trauma is tracked using a short monitor called "Harm." Player characters and adversaries possess low thresholds for sustaining Harm, making direct combat inherently dangerous. To successfully defeat a primary antagonist, players are mechanically required to investigate and utilize the creature's specific weakness, as standard physical attacks are often insufficient to achieve a permanent victory. The Mystery Countdown To structure a gameplay session, the Keeper utilizes a tool called the Countdown. This is a chronological timeline detailing the sequence of events that will occur if the player characters fail to intervene. The Countdown is divided into escalating phases, ending with a catastrophic event. It serves to govern the pacing of the investigation and provide a sense of urgency. Additional links evilhat.com - Official Evil Hat Productions website genericgames.co.nz - Official home of Michael Sands and the original game files

Released in 2014 by Chaosium, Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition is the latest version of the cult-classic cosmic eldritch horror role-playing system originally launched in 1981. The story is based off of the  literary works of H.P. Lovecraft and lovecraftian works. Instead of setting the players up as heroes, the characters are regular investigators who are exploring cults, forbidden knowledge and various eldritch-cosmic entitites and threats. Description Occupations in the game for the characters include academics, reporters, and private investigators. The gameplay loop revolves around uncovering information, analyzing clues, and evading dangers. As the supernatural elements in the game are considered more powerful than the investigators, they have are not expected to actually confront most of the threats head on. Instead they usually have to resort to avoiding or escaping any situation that may arise. Combat is lethal and usually leads to characters getting permanently killed or pushed to insanity (which eventually is the same).  System Overview & Key Features Percentile Framework (d100) Every action is resolved by rolling two ten-sided (d10) dice to get a result from 1 to 100. If you roll is equal to or under your skill rating, the action is deemed a success. This approach simplifies the mechanical process of the game, as there are no complex tables to keep track of and compare to decypher whether it is a success or failure. Pushed Rolls If a character fails a skill check, they may attempt to "push" the roll, allowing for a second attempt. This requires the player to come up with a new, more desperate approach to performing the task. If this subsequent pushed roll also fails, the Keeper describes a severe and immediate negative consequence. Sanity and Madness A core mechanic of the system is the tracking of mental stability. Investigators lose points from their Sanity gauge when exposed to anomalous creatures or disturbing truths. Drops in Sanity result in the character experiencing temporary or permanent forms of madness, which can manifest as new phobias, delusions, or a temporary loss of player agency over the character. Bonus and Penalty Dice To account for situational advantages or disadvantages, the game employs a system of bonus and penalty dice. If a character possesses a distinct advantage when performing a task, an extra d10 is rolled and taking the higher result. A disadvantage means rolling an extra d10 and taking the lower result. Combat Lethality Physical altercations are inherently dangerous by design. Investigators possess limited hit points, and the damage output of both conventional firearms and anomalous entities is high. Recovery mechanics are slow, simulating realistic healing times. This structural lethality serves to discourage combat and incentivize stealth and investigation. Expendable Luck Players can spend points from their character's Luck pool to retroactively lower a dice roll. The points are subtracted on a one-to-one basis until the dice result qualifies as a success. This ensures that the Luck pool is a limited resource which should be used and utilized in the most critical situations. Additional links chaosium.com - Official publisher website and digital storefront drivethrurpg.com - Digital repository for official scenarios and sourcebooks

This podcast is about tabletop role-playing games around the world. In every episode, I interview RPG enthusiasts and professionals from a non-English speaking country about what games they play, what unique RPGs exist in their country, and how new people get into the hobby. Interviewees include regular gamers, club organizers, game shop owners, creators of actual play videos, RPG authors, and gaming studios.  While some places are known for their large role-playing scene and have a lot of local RPG systems, other regions of the world have smaller scenes and might not even have a single RPG in the local language. Every regular episode ends with a teaser for the next country – an excerpt from an actual play recording in that country’s language. The aim of this podcast is to broaden our horizon and find out about RPGs from all over the world. Enjoy! Links letscast.fm - Feed and show notes spotify.com - Spotify feed podcasts.apple.com - Apple Podcasts feed

GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System) is a tabletop role-playing game designed by Steve Jackson and published by Steve Jackson Games. Initially released in 1986, with its current Fourth Edition published in 2004, it provides a universal ruleset built to accommodate any conceivable genre, setting, or power level. The system is recognized for its high degree of modularity and its strict reliance on point-based character creation rather than traditional classes or experience levels. Description In GURPS, players construct characters by allocating a predetermined pool of Character Points. These points are spent to acquire core attributes, specific skills, and advantages. Players can also elect to take disadvantages, such as physical limitations, phobias, or social stigmas, to gain additional points during the creation process. The game functions primarily as a mechanical toolkit rather than a fixed set of rules. Game Masters are instructed to select only the specific mechanics, combat modules, and magic systems from the core rulebooks and supplemental materials that fit the intended tone and setting of their campaign. System Overview & Key Features 3d6 Task Resolution The system exclusively uses a pool of three six-sided dice (3d6) for action resolution. To succeed at a task, a player must roll a total equal to or lower than their character's modified skill or attribute target number. The use of three dice generates a bell curve probability distribution, which makes average outcomes statistically common and extreme successes or failures mathematically rare. Point-Buy Character Creation Character generation is entirely point-based. The Game Master assigns a starting total of Character Points (CP) to dictate the overall power level of the campaign. Every element of a character, including the four basic attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Health), specialized skills, wealth, and social status, is purchased using these points. Universal Modularity GURPS is structurally designed for adaptation. The core rulebooks provide the foundational mechanics, while hundreds of supplemental books offer optional, granular rules for specific settings, such as cybernetics, realistic martial arts, space travel, or varied magic systems. The ruleset is intended to be heavily customized and scaled in complexity by the Game Master. Tactical Combat and Damage Resistance Combat encounters operate on one-second turns, creating a highly detailed and tactical framework. The system incorporates rules for hit locations, weapon reach, bleeding, and shock penalties. In combat, armor functions as Damage Resistance (DR); it directly subtracts from the numerical damage inflicted by an attack rather than making the target more difficult to hit. Skill Defaults When a character attempts an action for which they do not possess the specific trained skill, the system utilizes a "default" mechanic. The player may roll against a closely related skill or a foundational attribute, applying a predetermined numerical penalty. This mechanic simulates a character attempting an unfamiliar task using their general knowledge or raw physical capabilities. Additional links sjgames.com/gurps - Official Steve Jackson Games publisher website and digital storefront gurps.fandom.com - Extensive fan-curated wiki for rules, settings, and sourcebook references

The Unexpectables is a Dungeons & Dragons live stream hosted by the 101 club. It airs every Wednesday at 7 PM Pacific Time (Vancouver, Canada) on Twitch.  The campaign follows the travels and tribulations of Task the Kobold Ranger, Greckles the Kenku Rogue, Panic the Tiefling Bard, and Borky the Orc Barbarian, as they traverse the dangerous and mysterious lands of Alivast, and the Capital City that hosts a bungle of characters, magic and villains. Links youtube.com - Youtube channel twitch.tv - Twitch channel spotify.com - Spotify feed theunexpectables.fandom.com - The Unexpectables wiki youtube.com - Old video archive