Old School Renaissance (OSR) (2000)

Nimble is a fast, tactical (and 5e compatible), TTRPG. Your game nights are too precious to waste with slow or fiddly rules! Slay the slog using the best elements from the greatest RPGs around. Nimble empowers players and GMs with more interesting choices, less waiting around, and have more fun playing epic stories Description Nimble RPG is designed to prioritize speed, tactical decision-making, and reduced administrative tracking for both players and Game Masters. The system condenses character sheets and streamlines the action economy to prevent long waiting periods between player turns. Its primary design philosophy centers on accelerating combat encounters without sacrificing strategic depth, utilizing highly lethal weapon mechanics and dynamic monster behaviors. The game is offered both as a complete standalone system and as a modular "rules hack" booklet that can be integrated directly into an ongoing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition campaign. System Overview & Key Features Fast Combat Don’t waste your time rolling to see if you can deal damage, just roll your damage dice! You deal that much damage. Attacks miss on a 1, but rolling the maximum is an EXPLODING Critical Hit! Exploding critical hits Roll the die again and add it to the total. There is no limit to how many times this damage can stack, except your luck! Instant Initiative Get RIGHT into combat with Improved Initiative rules that get players immediately into combat in a way that serves the story without breaking up the flow. Quick to prep Nimble is quick to prep and easy to run. You've got enough going on while GMing—Mechanics are all designed to be easy to manage and track at the table. You can be ready to run an adventure in as little as 5 minutes! And there's no need to for new players to read though endless pages of rules, teach new players as you play. Easy to balance Easy Encounter Creation. No matter the size of your party—whether you play in a cozy group with just 1 or 2 heroes, or a huge group of 8 or more—Encounters are easy and intuitive to build and balance for just the right level of challenge you like. Craft massive scale combat encounters, down to legendary solo encounters. Strategic Weapon System A subtly DEEP weapon system that rewards thoughtful play. No more, “I guess I’ll pick the bigger one...” Every weapon is balanced to have interesting strengths & weaknesses in combat. Additional links nimblerpg.com - Official website and rules repository

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.

Mothership is an action-packed mixture of sci-fi and horror themes, combined into a streamlined gaming system about surviving in the cold, deadly vacuum of space while everything around you is trying to kill you. All at the same time as you are fighting (or fleeing from) alien creatures who aren't there to make any new friends. Chaos. It was published by Tuesday Knight Games and released in 2024.  It is a survival horror system designed for one-shots and campaigns, inspired by classics like Alien, Event Horizon, and Pandorum. Famous for its streamlined ruleset and award-winning graphic design that prioritizes ease of use at the table. The game, at the same time simplistic and streamlined in design, will challenge the characters at all times, allowing the game to focus on the storytelling and less on having complicated rules. The system it is inspired by is Old School Renaissance Description In Mothership, players take on the roles of blue collar workers in space, such as Teamsters, Scientists, Androids, and Marines. You are not powerful or heroic soldiers; you are vulnerable humans trapped in high pressure environments with alien monsters, failing life support systems and the crushing weight of corporate greed. The game is designed to be fast-paced and unforgiving, where the primary goal is not to win, but often enough - to survive. System Overview & Key Features d100 Percentile Resolution In the core of the game system is the d100 percentile system. Roll two d10 dice and get a number from 00 to 99. Success means rolling a lower result than your character's appropriate stat or skill for the task. Rolling a double, like 11, 22, or 33, is considered a critical success if it succeeds or a critical failure if it fails. Rolling low is the target for survival. Stress and Panic As characters encounter horrors or suffer trauma, they accumulate Stress. When a character experiences a terrifying event or rolls a critical failure they must make a Panic Check. The more Stress they have, the more likely they are to suffer a catastrophic mental breakdown, ranging from a heart attack to a violent psychotic break. The Save System Instead of a long list of saving throws, characters have four primary Saves: Sanity, Fear, Body, and Armor. These are used to resist different types of potential trauma. Fear saves are rolled to keep your cool under pressure, while Sanity saves represent your ability to process alien truths without losing your mind (think lovecraftian horrors). Class Based Skills The game features four distinct classes. Marines are obviously combat focused, Teamsters are pilots and laborers, Scientists are experts in medicine and biology, and Androids are cold calculating, yet efficient machines. Each class has it's unique starting stats and specific triggers for when they gain or lose Stress, which is based on their personality. Lethal Combat and Healing Combat is extremely dangerous and often a last resort. Weapons are likely to deal potentially excessive damage when compared to a character's total healthpool. Healing will be slow and require resources that are hard to come by in the middle of the constant crisis, making every injury feel like a significant threat to the character's chances of making it out alive. Deadly Ship-to-Ship Combat The game includes a streamlined system for starship encounters. Ships have their own stats and modules that are likely to be damaged during a fight. Players must work together to manage various roles and stations, like Engineering or Piloting, to keep the ship's hull from breaching while under fire or fleeing from cosmic anomalies. Additional links tuesdayknightgames.com - Official Tuesday Knight Games website mothershiprpg.com - Official Mothership portal and digital resources

Actual Play featuring Free League's new Dragonbane TTRPG. Step into the rich history of the Misty Vale. Once the heart of a long forgotten empire, it has been a wild and untamed place for nearly a millennia, hiding secrets and treasures in its towers & crypts. Join our diverse band of adventurers—Dane, the astute human scholar; Quiverwing, the Mallard Mage; Brains, the Wolfkin Thief; Sigyn, the Elven Huntress; Karyn, the Halfling Bard; Korgan, the Halfling Fighter; and Balor, the Dwarven Smith. Together, we’ll explore the ancient secrets of a long forgotten empire, facing challenges and forging our destiny in a world where every castle, cave and crypt holds echoes of a bygone era. Get ready for an epic journey filled with laughter, suspense, and unforgettable moments in the Misty Vale! Links youtube.com - Youtube playlist theaarpgs.com - Podcast website

Canada by Night is a live-play podcast where professional improvisers play Vampire the Masquerade! Sent to rescue his best friend’s kidnapped mother, detective-turned-vampire Everett Fry accidentally ends up the sheriff of New Haven: an experimental town that’s finding out if vampires and humans can co-exist. Stuck leading a ragtag group of officers - the Brujah bounty hunter Val, the Gangrel news reporter Evangeline, and the Tremere blood-witch Doris - can Everett keep New Haven running? Or will the sheriff’s department fail and see the town destroyed by its enemies or liquidated by the vampire council of Canada?! Links spotify.com  - Spotify feed youtube.com  - Youtube playlist (only episodes starting with 3.57) dumbdumbdice.com  - Dumb-Dumbs & Dice website

Oh boy. This is going to be a lot of things to talk about. We have been busy and productive. But, as is tradition - here is an update on the updates we have added - We have Group manager, post listings updates, library redesign, timezone filtering, game applications and some more. So here we go. Group manager We'll start with the biggest new feature on Groupfinder. The Group manager. This has been something we have been working on since the start of the year and now finally got around to releasing it.  /images/general-media/1786708533_fHKbu2AS.png What it is, is the logical next step from Groupfinder's core function. Once you find a group, you can move everything to the manager and keep track of your players, your documents, notes, maps, images, links, polls, timefinder polls and session notes. As an integrated part of the platform it will help you keep everything organized and in one place. You can read more about the manager on this info page we created.  But to break it down simply, here is a list of all the base functionalities: /images/manager-info/group-overview.png Manager dashboard As a group owner/GM, you can create a manager group within moments - Enter the game's name, add some illustrative images and the group is created. On the dashboard you can start adding images, organizing documents and inviting your players. Asset management All documents most likely should not be visible to all members. You can set different view and edit permissions for each category. For example, create a separate category for "The Goblin Boys" and let only your goblin players see the contents. You can share forbidden goblin knowledge with only them. Or create a category, that everyone can see for your worldbuilding lore bits. The map of the world, the overall history of the campaign or an illustration of the tavernkeeper that already hates your PCs. We cannot describe all the possibilities and approaches, as we imagine you will all find a different way to interact and organize your games. And more power to you - this is your group manager, we only provide the framework. Player folders To keep specific assets private, you can find a folder on the right side of every member. This is a folder that only the group owner and that specific user can see - no external prying eyes allowed. Timefinder Scheduling is the biggest boss of tabletop gaming? Pretty much. While we cannot create a tool that completely solves it - we have timefinder - a scheduling poll system to settle on the next date that works for everyone. Session notes Players forgetting what happened last time, only to be reminded moments before the session starts that they are about to fight the BBEG? Write a session note after the last game and make it easier for your players to remember what happened last time and what the current direction is. Session notes can also be useful when trying to go back in time to know where the downward spiral of your campaign began. In addition players can leave session feedback. Things they liked and things they didn't. This will help any GM improve by focusing more on aspects the players enjoyed and cut back or rethink parts that didn't really jive with them. Polls, questionnaires and safety tools Group manager has interactive assets for you to use to settle on a specific question, understand the players' preferences and make sure everyone is enjoying the game, by having everyone fill a safety tool questionnaire. You never know if you don't ask. And there is more to discover. You will get the best idea of what and how the manager works by just tinkering and trying it out on your own. You can switch over to (and from) the manager by interacting with the finder/manager button in the menu. /images/general-media/1786709626_5gGr5AH5.png Post listings update We updated both the player and games listings pages. With added subcategories to quickly filter and find specific types of posts, you should find it easier to only find what you are looking for. /images/general-media/1786709750_LLT1IETF.png With this update, Groupfinder is now welcoming all West Marches games, when before we were rather hesitant about groups with no fixed amount of seats. Library redesign The library has slowly grown into one of our core elements. And the library, while practical, was due some attention. And boy - it definitely got some. With this update, the entries have a more logical layout. The tabletop community has tons of interesting games, projects and creators. We are all about empowering and helping you spread the word. /images/general-media/1786710068_3ifxmq5c.png If we created an entry for you in the past - be sure to visit your page and claim it. Once we approve your claim, you will have access to editing and improving it. And if one of your favourite creators, projects or game systems is in the library, be sure to pop over and click that "Recommend" button - this will help them a lot, as they will become more visible in the library. Timezone filtering Timezones and filtering by time and day were a thing many of you had asked for throughout many months. While we understood the need for such filtering options, we couldn't pin down exactly HOW the filtering should work. Well, now we did - now you can either look games by selecting your timezone (and the deviation) or by selecting specific weekdays and expected game starting times. /images/general-media/1786710633_01LM4ygV.pngYou should be able to use the filters to find games that work with your schedule. Game applications Want your potential players to fill out an application, to make sure they are a good fit for your game? You can build a game application that users can fill out. If they seem like a good match - get in touch with them and invite them to the group you created via group manager (See how this all ties together nicely?). /images/general-media/1786710844_lwLsPRj0.png And many other smaller updates This update log is long enough as it is - but there are many other smaller updates and improvements to discover and utilize. But hopefully we are steering Groupfinder in the right direction to make it even better for everyone to use and eventually start playing. If you have any feedback or critique - we welcome it all. Either use the Contact us button, or join our Discord server and we can chat there. The team is there ready to listen and help. Be sure to try out our new Group manager and share your feedback and ideas with us. Till next time.