In my previous post, I posted mini-reviews about roleplaying games that I’ve played that are not DnD, but that are mostly fantasy. This post is part two of that post, and lists RPGs I’ve played that are mostly not fantasy, at least not in the traditional medieval fantasy sense. Most of them are still full of fantasy elements or are straight up urban fantasy though.

  • Brindlewood Bay: This is a cozy Miss Marple inspired adventure in which you play a group of old ladies solving murder mysteries. What’s different about this compared to other adventures is that there is not definitive solution – you build your own according to the clues that you collected. It was super fun to play this, I played about 4 or 5 sessions consisting of 2 or 3 different adventures. I’d always be up for trying more, and it’s one of my favorite because it’s so unique and different.
  • Cats of Catthulhu: This one I actually didn’t play, I was the cat herder (GM). I spent quite some time researching RPGs where players can be a cat until I found this one, and I think it’s a perfect blend of rules-lite, fun and silly adventures, and a bit of Cthuhlhuian vibes mixed into it. I usually run this at the roleplaying event that I organize. I hope perhaps one day I will get to play it as well and experience what it’s like to RP as a cat doing cat things.
  • Esper Genesis (5e): This is basically a re-skin of DnD in sci-fi (or more accurately science fantasy). I played a mini-campaign that was a series of mission for about 8-10 sessions or so. It’s altogether quite fun, but some things are more complex than DnD 5e, and the character that I played wasn’t so well suited for roleplaying (quiet, brooding characters rarely are, that’s a lession I learned). I’d always try again with a different character for a one-shot.
  • Fallout RPG: I played a one-shot at the roleplaying event that I organize, and hence my experience was overshadowed by my own brain being too busy with lots of organizer-related things at the event. I tried my best to focus though, but this is where I realized that I’m actually better off hosting games at the event than playing myself. I don’t really remember that much about the system and the story, unfortunately.
  • Mothership: A deadly, rules-light and very streamlined horror sci-fi game, this really gives Alien vibes. I played an adventure over 3 or 4 sessions that literally took it’s title from an Alien movie (Another Bug Hunt), and another standalone one-shot. Despite it’s obvious inspiration, it was different enough to be suspenseful and scary and solving the mysteries of this mini-campaign was really fun (and intense). It’s meant to be an intense horror game, and I really enjoyed playing it. I’d always be up for playing this again with different characters and parties, as there is a lot to discover.
  • Numenéra: This is the only system in which I actually played a medium-length campaign of a total of 10 session (aside from DnD). The system is a bit more on the complex side, and has great advancement options, but I did struggle a lot with some of the rules, since I never could remember how Effort and Edge work in this game. The setting is one of its stronger suits, it’s a fascinating science-fantasy world which has gone through multiple apocalypses and reverted back to a more primitive state, but there are lots of ‘ancient’ artifacts. It’s a bit reminiscent of Horizon, but still very different. I really enjoyed the discovery aspect and the character building of it, but I do think that especially in this adventure there was a bit too much “weird for the sake of being weird”. I would still like to play it again one day though.
  • Pirate Borg: A variation of Mörk Borg, but instead of “metal”, it’s pirate themed. I played a mini-campaign of about 3-5 sessions of this, and it was really fun and awesome. It wasn’t quite as lethal as original Mörk Borg, so our characters stuck with us a lot longer, even though some of them did perish and we used that for maximum amusement. I think Pirate Borg is probably the best RPG I’ve played for really fun and adventurous one-shots or few-shots and I’d always want to play it again. Definintely a favorite.
  • Shadowrun: The first RPG I ever played, and probably one of the ones I liked the least – it might have been the circumstances though, because I played this a long, long time before I got into DnD and RPGs, and in German. The GM didn’t do a particularly good job because it was all mechanics and no roleplaying, and generally I found the system too complex with all that sci-fi, real world and virtual world stuff. Just not really my preferred setting (I like sci-fi, but this wasn’t the kind of sci-fi I like).
  • Troika!: What Mörk Borg is for metal, Troika! is for Terry Pratchett. It’s a fairly fun and ridiculous setting, meant for absolutely silly one-shots. The system is so rules-lite that I barely remember it, but the adventure we played was quite fun and quite ridiculous (about a fake moon landing, and I was a knight with a horse). Good for silly one-shots, and I’d be open to play it again.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade: Another game that I played at the event I organize, hence my experience was not ideal. But this one was actually a lot of fun, I remember my pre-made character gave me a lot of opportunity to roleplay. I don’t really remember much about the mechanics of the systems and the story though, so I’d want to play it again someday to really evaluate it. I was always super interested in this since I used to love playing the video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption.

This list will likely grow, and perhaps in a year or two I’ll have to make another post like this. Systems I’d really like to try include The One Ring, Vaesen, Eat the Reich, Honey Heist, Pathfinder 2e, Blades in the Dark, ALIEN and Mythic Bastionland. Finger’s crossed for more awesome adventures!