SAKE (Sorcerers, Adventurers, Kings, and Economics)

Pathfinder 2nd Edition is a tactical, crunchy and highly customizable heroic fantasy roleplaying game system published by Paizo. Originally released in 2019 as the evolution of the Pathfinder system (which grew out of the D&D 3.5 system, as a reaction to the release of the simplified and more video game-like D&D 4E). The system recently received a comprehensive "Remaster" overhaul, which decoupled the game from the legacy Open Game License (OGL), moving it to the system-agnostic ORC License. The Remaster version has updated various terminology and streamlined different conflicting mechanics, the core engine of PF2E remains exactly the same as before. Description Like other d20-based fantasy games, players are an adventuring party that go on adventures, defeat enemies and uncover various mysteries while the Game Master (GM) is in charge of running the world around the characters and is in control of managing any enemies and non-player characters they might encounter. However, where D&D 5E leans heavily on "rulings over rules" and simplicity, Pathfinder 2E has shifted its focus on customization and making sure that with every system balance is maintained. Pathfinder 2E is ideal for players who are more into tactical combat, clear rules for exploration, and the ability to build unique character concepts with a reasonable amount of customization without accidentally breaking the game or worry too much about maintaining balance. The system comes with great tools for the GMs as the system provides clear guidelines and mechanics for most situations, meaning the GM rarely has to invent or interpret rules on the fly to keep the game moving. System Overview & Key Features The 3-Action Economy Pathfinder 2E is famous for their action system. Instead of pre-defined action types, the player can perform creatively distribute their actions how they see fit. Instead of always having a "move action" that the character can utilize or leave unused, the system allows a character to instead use that action as an extra attack. Or instead of attacking, the adventurer can move twice (or thrice, if using all actions). Degrees of Success Instead of approaching "1" or "20" on the d20 die as a critical result, The system considers "oversucceeding" as a critical success. Succeeding a roll by 10 or more points it is automatically a Critical Success. If you miss the DC by 10 or more, it is a Critical Failure. Because of this, every single +1 or -1 improvement feels more impactful and important. Feat-Based Character Customization There are no "useless level-ups" Every single level-up players make meaningful choices by selecting from an extensive assortment of Ancestry Feats, Class Feats, Skill Feats, and General Feats. This creates a situation, where even two characters of the same class can be played completely differently. Reliable Encounter Building The game's underlying math is rigorous and highly functional. An encounter mathematically classified as "Severe" will actually push the party to their limits. GMs can trust the system's encounter building rules completely. Keyword and Trait System Spells, weapons, and abilities have specific traits (like "Incapacitation" or "Fire"). If a rule has a trait, it consistently interacts with the rest of the game's mechanics in the exact same way, removing ambiguity. Edicts and Anathema PF2e has abandoned the traditional moral alignment system. Deities and classes are governed by Edicts (things your character must strive to do) and Anathema (things you must avoid), creating a more nuanced approach to roleplaying. Additional links paizo.com/pathfinder - Official Pathfinder website 2e.aonprd.com - Archives of Nethys (Official free rules database for PF2e)

Pathfinder is a heroic fantasy roleplaying game system with a high amount of character customization and progression, published by Paizo in 2009. It was developed as a response to Wizards of the Coast transitioning the D&D genre to D&D 4th Edition, which was seen as a strong deviation from the math-heavy norm from 3.5E. Pathfinder was built using the Open Game License (OGL) to revise and expand upon the beloved 3.5 ruleset.  The system it directly evolved from is Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition The second edition of the game was released in 2019 as Pathfinder 2nd Edition Description Pathfinder 1e is well known for its "crunch". It relies heavily on strict rules, mechanical variation and math. The system is perfect for players who prefer heavy character optimization and customization, focus on tactical combat encounters and a strong ruleset for almost any situation. Pathfinder is proud of it's complexity and very much focuses on it. Boasting a massive library of  spells, classes, and feats, allows the players to build very mechanically different and unique characters. It is also renowned for its "Adventure Paths": epic, six-part published campaigns that take characters from level 1 to roughly level 20. System Overview & Key Features The d20 System & Action Economy Like 3.5E, the core engine runs on a d20 roll plus modifiers. On every turn the characters have a set structure to perform their actions. Mechanically separated into Standard, Move and Swift actions. Archetypes & Deep Customization Instead of relying on complicated "Prestige Classes," Pathfinder 1e popularized "Archetypes." These allow players to swap out base class features for heavily themed alternatives right from level 1. This enables the players an extensive levels of customization when combining with the thousands of available feats to further personalise their unique character concept. Base Attack Bonus (BAB) Martial prowess is measured by a Base Attack Bonus. As this number grows, martial classes can eventually achieve "iterative attacks," allowing them to attack with their weapons multiple times per their turns, although penalties apply for repeated attempts. Combat Maneuver Mechanics (CMB/CMD) The system introduced two systems to simplify actions like tripping, grappling or disarming your opponents: Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense. This created a single, reliable formula to use when performing maneuvers against an enemy. Skill Ranks Instead of a single "Proficiency Bonus" like in modern games, players are given a pool of Skill Points at every level (determined by their class and Intelligence score) to manually distribute across a massive list of skills, allowing for highly granular non-combat abilities. Lethality and "Crunch" As characters level up, the numbers grow exponentially. This means, that by reaching higher levels of encounters, characters and their opponents are dealing huge amounts of damage, alongside with various magical buffs and spells that could instantly kill a character. Planning and tracking situational modifiers and buffs becomes vital for survival. Additional links pathfinderwiki.com - Pathfinder Wiki  aonprd.com - Archives of Nethys (Official free rules database for PF1e)

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (D&D 5E) is a heroic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published by Wizards of the Coast. Released in 2014, it is the edition that brought D&D from a niche hobby into mainstream pop culture - showing up in TV shows, podcasts, and actual-play streams, and introducing millions of new players to the hobby for the first time. 5E was designed after a massive public playtest ("D&D Next") with the explicit goal of being approachable to newcomers while still satisfying veteran players. The Basic Rules are free, and a game can start with nothing more than those rules, some friends, and a set of dice (or a digital dice roller app). In 2024 the core rules received a significant revision, now commonly referred to as Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E (2024). Both versions are fully compatible and most groups mix material freely. The system it directly evolved from is Dungeons & Dragons 4E (2008) Description In D&D 5E, players create fantasy adventurers (a half-orc barbarian, an elven wizard, a tiefling rogue) and one player takes on the role of the Dungeon Master (DM). The DM builds and describes the world, voices the non-player characters (NPCs), controls the monsters, and acts as both the lead storyteller and the rules referee. There is no board. The game is a conversation: the DM describes a scene, the players say what their characters do, and the dice decide what happens when the outcome is uncertain. A typical session runs three to four hours with a group of three to six players plus the DM. The game describes itself as resting on "Three Pillars": Combat, Exploration, and Social Interaction. A single session might include all three, from tracking a monster through the wilderness and negotiating with a shady merchant to fighting a troll at the entrance to a cave. Combat is the most mechanically detailed of the three and tends to take up the largest share of table time, though groups are free to lean as hard into roleplaying or exploration as they like. The default assumption is a high-fantasy world filled with magic, monsters, and ancient ruins. The flagship published setting is the Forgotten Realms, but Wizards of the Coast has released adventures across a range of worlds, and many DMs create their own. The game does not ship a single canon story. Every table's story is different, shaped by what the players do. 5E is designed to be approachable. The core philosophy is "rulings over rules," meaning that when something comes up that the rules do not explicitly cover, the DM is encouraged to make a quick call and keep the game moving rather than stopping to look things up. The rules reward creativity and improvisation, and the system explicitly expects that no one at the table has memorized the entire rulebook. That said, the DM carries most of the preparation work between sessions: building encounters, preparing maps, and keeping the story moving. Players can show up with nothing but their character sheet and a set of dice.

Overseer Studio is a modern, desktop based "Digital GM Screen" designed to solve the problem of browser tab bloat and fragmented software during tabletop sessions. Developed by Tom (the creator behind Astral TableTop and dddice), it is an offline first application that allows Game Masters to consolidate all their digital tools—including VTTs, PDFs, and web browsers—into a single, infinitely customizable workspace. It is currently moving through its Early Access phase in mid 2026, positioning itself as the ultimate organizational layer for the modern "hybrid" or online GM. Description Overseer Studio is not a Virtual Tabletop; rather, it is a "tool for your tools." It provides a modular canvas where a GM can embed windows for D&D Beyond, Spotify, Obsidian, and Roll20 side by side. By using a system of "tiles," GMs can create custom layouts that fit their specific workflow, switching between different "screens" with keyboard shortcuts. Because it is a local desktop application that requires no subscription or internet connection to run, it offers a level of stability and privacy that cloud based alternatives cannot match. System Overview & Key Features Infinite Modular Canvas The core of Overseer is an infinite workspace where you can place "tiles." These tiles can contain anything from a simple notepad or a PDF viewer to a fully functional web browser. You can resize, group, and tab these tiles together to create the perfect command center for your specific campaign. VTT and Tool Embedding Overseer is designed to play well with others. You can natively embed Foundry VTT, Roll20, or Owlbear Rodeo directly into your screen. This allows you to manage your map and tokens in one tile while keeping your campaign notes and creature stat blocks visible in another, eliminating the need to Alt-Tab between programs. Offline First Architecture The application runs entirely on your hardware (Windows, macOS, or Linux). This ensures that your game is never interrupted by server outages or slow internet speeds. Your data remains on your machine, giving you total ownership over your preparation materials. Pop-out Player Sharing While the software is for the GM, you can "pop out" any tile—such as a map, a piece of concept art, or a video—into a separate window. This window can then be shared via Discord or Zoom, or cast to a physical TV for in-person groups, allowing you to control exactly what the players see. Extensible Plugin SDK For power users, Overseer features a robust SDK. Extensions are built using standard web technologies (HTML/JS), allowing the community to create custom dice rollers, soundboards, or automation tools that can "talk" to each other across different tiles within the session. One Time Purchase Model In a market dominated by monthly fees, Overseer Studio is a "buy once, own forever" product. There are no account requirements or hidden subscriptions, and all future updates are included in the initial purchase price, making it a highly cost effective solution for long term GMs. Additional links overseer.studio - Official Overseer Studio website discord.gg - Official Discord for beta testing and development updates

Stars Without Number is a sandbox science fiction tabletop role-playing game designed by Kevin Crawford and published by Sine Nomine Publishing. Originally released in 2010, followed by an extensively expanded and restructured Revised Edition in 2017, the game is a prominent fixture of the Old School Renaissance (OSR) movement. It is structurally engineered to merge the lightweight tactical framework of early fantasy role-playing systems with exhaustive, modular sci-fi sandbox generation toolkits. Description Stars Without Number takes place in the year 3200, centuries after the tragic collapse of the Second Terran Mandate. The human galaxy was once interconnected by instantaneous jump gates and protected by a core of psychic navigators, until an evolutionary psychic catastrophe known as "The Scream" drove every psychic in existence instantly insane or dead. The sudden collapse of interstellar transit triggered a multi-century dark age of isolation known as the Silence. In the modern setting, fractured sectors of space are finally rediscovering faster-than-light spike drives and exploring a fragmented universe. Players navigate this dangerous frontier as spacers, scavengers, mercenaries, or rogue psychics, operating in a cosmos characterized by corporate espionage, lost pre-collapse technology, and shifting planetary regimes. Links sinenomine-pub.com - Official homepage for Sine Nomine Publishing and Kevin Crawford's developer catalog drivethrurpg.com - Revised Edition (Free Version) on Drive Thru RPG

Hero's Rise is a digital companion tool and cross-system rules engine currently in development for  (TTRPG) Game Masters. Designed to solve the mechanical issues of running campaigns that borrow from multiple game systems simultaneously, the tool acts as an automated translator and calculator for tabletop mechanics. Instead of Game Masters spending weeks manually rewriting rules to make different games compatible, Hero's Rise automatically translates elements like feats, spells, status conditions, and action economies between systems such as Pathfinder and D&D. The tool ensures that hybrid games remain balanced without stalling gameplay. Hero's Rise is in pre-production and managed by a small team, with an early access launch targeted for late 2026 or early 2027.