by Inkwan

Most of them considering the lengths. One I started was Deep Carbon Observatory. Got 1 session in.

That's why I bought into Trophy Gold, which allows for MUCH faster dungeon crawls etc, but the mechanics are too shallow for my friends. Played 1 session using Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Got through several rooms in one 2 hour session before TPK. The 5e D&D fans did not enjoy it.

It's much faster to name campaigns I haven't given up on...

- Dolmenwood
- Terraforming Mars
- Nights Black Agents
- Uncanny Echoes
- Mutant Year 0 original campaign
- and several OSR

by Aeroling

An item RPG: Cartograph: Atlas Edition has been added to the geeklist Origins 2026 Virtual Flea Market-Mark it "sold" you got this!

by sdonohue

Announcing the 2026 RPG Geek 24-Hour RPG Contest!

It's May 24th (your timezone may vary). You know what that means? Of course you do. You read the title of this post.

It's that time of year: time for a 24-hour RPG contest! As in previous years, we'll follow the traditional format (details below if you've not heard of this sort of thing before). For those that enjoy creative constraints or thematic challenges, there is an optional random theme generator. Also this year we have an occupation chart that you can use to prime ideas.

There will be fabulous prizes for the four best entries, as voted for by the users! All entries will be added to the RPG Geek database, preserved for all time!

Pass the word around the site. Go forth and spread the word of 24 hour RPGs, that we may have many interesting entries.

What's it all about?
The challenge is to design and produce a complete role-playing game in a single continuous 24 hour block of time. This is a strict time limit. As soon as you start, you have exactly 24 hours to do your work, and at the end of that time it's done and you should submit it.

There must be no advance preparation work. All of the work (designing a system, a setting, creating fiction, artwork, typesetting) must be done within the 24 hour block of time.

It must be original work. Don't use anything you've worked on previously. And definitely don't use anyone else's work (which means you'll have to think up of your own system).

It must be all your own work. You must not get any help (whether that be design, editing, production, or artwork) from someone else. The sole exceptions to this are:
that you can use public domain / Creative Commons art for your document
that you can include a small amount of public domain / Creative Commons text for mood setting only (any quoted text must be properly attributed, and must not be a substantial portion of the entry's text)
and that you may include this logo if you so desire (click on the image for higher resolutions):



By entering the contest, you consent to having your work loaded onto RPG Geek as a downloadable file. The preferred file format is PDF, but if you have other more creative ideas then that's probably fine too. If you can't create PDFs, send your document as is to sdonohue and he'll convert it for you.

Optional Random Theme and Occupation Generators

Many people find it more interesting to work under an additional thematic constraint; often this helps spark creativity, or to give you direction in which to initialize your thinking.

The tables below are optional. Use them as you like. You may want to roll once on each, or to pick from one and roll on another. Perhaps you might roll multiple times on a table, or not at all. You may indeed roll and decide you don't like what you get and discard it or re-roll. It's all up to you.

I've deliberately kept the entries rather vague so that they may be interpreted in multiple different ways. For example Craftsmen / Illumination / 19th Century may inspire you to write about steampunk inventors in the Wild West, Victorian wizards seeking arcane knowledge through esoteric means, or samurai achieving illumination through swordplay in the Tokugawa shogunate.

d20
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20Focus
Animals
Artists
Businessmen
Children
Craftsmen
Criminals
Families
Leaders
Objects
Outcasts
Places
Rulers
Scholars
Servants
Soldiers
Strangers
The Dead
The Religious
Travellers
VisionariesTheme
Absolution
Apotheosis
Desire
Despair
Disaster
Duty
Faith
Glory
Greed
Hate
Honour
Hope
Illumination
Loss
Love
Madness
Power
Revenge
Terror
WrathPeriod
Weird
Fantastic
Mythic
Stone Age
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Classical
5th - 10th Century
11th - 13th Century
14th - 15th Century
16th - 17th Century
18th Century
19th Century
1st half of 20th Century
2nd half of 20th Century
Present
Near Future
Far Future
Extreme Future
Time-Travelling

Occupation Chart!

d28
1
2
3
4
5
6
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9
10
11
12
13
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28Occupation
Soldier
Cook
Programmer
Assistant director of history museum
Professor
Wizard
Alchemist
Archaeologist
Urban planner
Marketer
Epidemiologist
Business analyst
Retirement systems counselor
Civil servant/bureaucrat
Engineer
Wood products scientist
Artist
IT security
Librarian
Printer
Assistant to the CEO
Substitute Teacher
Buyer
Merchant
Game designer
Quality Assurance Technician
Technical writer
Data manager

Why would I subject myself to this?

It's fun! It's an interesting challenge, and you're constrained to the same limits as everyone else. The time limit also ensures that you don't have to spend too much of your time on the project if you have a busy lifestyle.

There are also PRIZES for the top four winning entries, as voted for by you, the users of this site. The initial prize fund is 500 from my own earnings which will be split amongst the winners thusly:
200 for first place
150 for second place
100 for third place
50 for fourth place
All tips to this post will be added to the prize fund, with the prizes remaining in proportion (so 40% of the collected pot will go to the first placed winner, 30% to the second placed winner, 20% to the third placed winner, and 10% to the fourth placed winner).

Check the first reply to this post for the latest update on the prize fund.

Further, all entrants will receive the perk of being added to the database as RPG designers and producers, with all that entails (including the option to wear a "GAME DESIGNER" badge!)

I will also pass on to the relevant entrants all gained for adding the game information to the database (typically 7 in total for the RPG and item submission, 1 for a new designer, and 1 each for relevant images).

If we get someone to help Steve with the microbadge, then all entrants (and Steve for running the contest) will further receive an exclusive microbadge. This is available solely through this particular contest. Any future contests run here will have their own unique microbadges. Collect the set! (Anyone want to take on Microbadge creation?)

Timescales

The contest is open for entries through to Monday, July 6th, 2026. Send your completed entry by e-mail to Steve at sdonohue@wintercamp.com. We'll put them up on RPGG after they're submitted.

All entries received before the end of July 6 will be valid for entry into the contest, regardless of whether they have been fully completed or not (we appreciate that 24 hours is a very short space of time to create a full RPG). That gives you six full weekends to find the time.

When the entry period has closed, I'll create database objects for all the entries and ask the designers to upload their files to the appropriate entry for other users to access. If any designer has not uploaded their file within a couple of days, I'll upload it myself (so that the voting doesn't get delayed) but will delete my upload if the designer eventually does get around to uploading it themselves.

Then when they've all been checked and sorted, the entries will be announced to everyone and I'll set up a poll for voting. The poll will use a single transferable vote system (which, briefly, means that you rank the entries in order of preference which makes choosing a top three more representative).

Voting will be open for roughly three weeks, after which the results will be announced and the prizes distributed! Party on!

After the contest, you may decide that you want to take your work, polish it up, and make it into something greater. Go ahead! We'd love this contest to inspire you to design.

Eligibility for Entry
All registered users of the site are eligible to enter the contest, unless they are running the contest (so that's everyone except me then).

If you're not a user yet, but you'd like to enter, then sign up for an account! It's free and we don't ask any awkward questions! We're very friendly to new users, whether this is your first time here or you've been lurking for years.

Please: only one entry per person. If you're mad enough to make more than one, let me know which you would like to be considered for the competition.

For details of previous competitions, and all of the entries that were created, see:
2025 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2024 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2023 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2022 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2021 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2020 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2019 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2018 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2017 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2016 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2015 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2014 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2013 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs / 2013 RPG Geek 48 Hour RPGs
2012 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs
2011 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs / 2011 RPG Geek 48 Hour RPGs
2010 RPG Geek 24 Hour RPGs

Good luck. And may The Force be with you.

by Squirrel_Trades

mslatkin wrote:

Wish someone would offer a copy of Knarr, Diatoms, Hansa Teutonica Big Box and or the El Grande Big Box.

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/371538/origins-2026-wante...

by Inkwan

ctimmins wrote:

I would love to, and I'm enamored of the idea. But... I'm hopeless when it comes to doing it.

Ditto, with the exception of a southern hillbilly or a typical southerner.. .part of my roots...and a poor French accent from 4 years of class

by Aeroling

An item RPG: Fabled Lands Gamebooks has been added to the geeklist Origins 2026 Virtual Flea Market-Mark it "sold" you got this!

by wmreed

Qui Gon Jim wrote:

I have a bunch of 5x7 cases. Any recommendations on how to scale these to fit those cases?

My printer allows me to scale the size. I think I scaled to 110% to get a 5x7. I just experimented a few times to find the right scale. I should have written it down somewhere. lol.

The other nice thing about 5x7 cases is that you can have 4 stacks of standard cards in them. This is how I transport my sleeved Race for the Galaxy base game set, including the victory point tokens.

by mserf42

An item RPG Item: Fate Core System has been added to the geeklist Your RPG Thrift Store/Bargain Finds for 2026

by TomTomThePipersSon

We had a situation where a kidnapping was happening and a wizard was drawing a teleportation circle while the combat with his henchmen was happening, so it was clear that time was very much of the essence. The team managed to deal with the spellcaster just before he made his getaway with his victim.

by mslatkin

Wish someone would offer a copy of Knarr, Diatoms, Hansa Teutonica Big Box and or the El Grande Big Box.

by adamw

I have just received my 6th Star (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟) - so shiny! My sincere thanks to everyone. BGG is far and away my favorite site on the 'net. I've been here for over 20 years and hope for 20 more!

by agramore

David Bate, good luck with the heat! I hope you have fun at UKGE and find some good stuff!