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This submission is generated automatically each Saturday at 00:00 UTC.

Lately after a nightmarish time in world of darkness(a truly horror story with realy weirdo gm) my group and I have been itching to get back into fantasy, but not the epic, high fantasy kind. We've already played a lot of that. What we want now is something with a different vibe—something more grounded, heavier in atmosphere. Think Elden Ring or early Dragon Age

Daggerheart immediately caught my eye because it seems to encourage running games in any kind of setting without much friction. That kind of open design really appeals to me. The only thing holding me back is the lack of a Foundry module, which is a pretty big deal for how we play.

That’s what got me thinking about Pathfinder 2e again. I’ve run Abomination Vaults for my group, and we’ve played about halfway through both Season of Ghosts and Age of Ashes. So far, all of our experience with the system has been deeply tied to Golarion. And while I really like how PF2e plays, it often feels like it’s built for Golarion specifically. A lot of the ancestries, mechanics, and narrative hooks are rooted in that world.

So here’s my question: how well does PF2e work when you take it out of Golarion and drop it into your own setting? Does it adapt easily, or do you constantly feel like you’re wrestling with lore and mechanics that assume you’re still in the Inner Sea?

Anyone here successfully run PF2e in a completely custom world? How flexible did it really feel?

As usual, there are some free RPGs offered online just for today. These are the ones that I found :

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On itchio, some bundles:

https://itch.io/s/155368/blackwell-games-free-rpg-day (Oh!!! Apothecaria (with expansions), For Small Creatures Such As We, Delve and more. Actually only up till 23.00 UTC so less than 8 hours left when I posted. EDIT 2: Ended).

https://itch.io/b/3091/free-rpg-weekend-2025 (download only, but will be linked to your account if you pay $1 or more. Different creators)

https://itch.io/s/155360/pandion-free-rpg-day (Banda's Grove is maybe the most well-known of these 9 titles by Pandion Games)

https://itch.io/s/155364/symbolic-citys-big-last-minute-free-rpg-day-sale (9 titles by Symbolic City)

https://itch.io/s/155349/free-rpg-day-2025 (13 games by StarshineScribbles)

https://itch.io/s/155285/worldbuilding-tables-decks-for-solo-players (9 titles by Grim Sour Games)

https://itch.io/s/155359/free-rpg-day-get-them-freebies (3 titles by The Cargo Bay)

https://itch.io/s/155354/free-rpg-day (4 titles by Rathayibacter)

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Still on itchio:

https://hatchlingdm.itch.io/cryptid-creeks

https://perplexingruins.itch.io/gnome (I am not sure if it is free just for today or longer but the author has changed it to free today)

https://pinayu.itch.io/helan (solo RPG HELAN by Pinayu)

https://zargogames.itch.io/vitaloid-base-zero

https://christianamauger.itch.io/you-are-in-a-tavern

https://napel.itch.io/foul-play

https://andreriveraart.itch.io/glyph

https://empyrealrpg.itch.io/banniere-liberte-livret-decouverte (only in French)

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On DrivethruRPG:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/263549/gishes-goblins

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Please, post if you find something.

EDIT 1:

itchio bundles:

https://itch.io/s/155373/free-rpg-day (Kernel and its expansion by Avagarde)

https://itch.io/s/155366/free-rpg-day (3 titles by efarrisgames)

https://itch.io/s/155376/free-rpg-day-sale (5 titles by ChromaGlitch)

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Title on itchio:

https://wendigoworkshop.itch.io/last-hope-ttrpg

EDIT 2:

Title on itchio:

https://chronicled-fox.itch.io/rillem

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On DrivethruRPG:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/526253/free-indie-rpg-collection-bundle (bundle by different creators)

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/522849/free-rpg-day-2025-nightfell-a-feast-of-death-encounters-and-pre-generated-character-sheets

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/527078/free-rpg-day-modern-mythology-quickstart

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/526848/sprawl-goons-upgraded-cyberpunk-roleplaying-free-rpg-day

A lot of GMs use the technique of making a fictional situation more complex before hitting the players with hard consequences. It breaks borders between systems really, a lot of different styles of rpg end up employing this when it gets down to gameplay.

But not all of them provide a framework for implementing this kind of approach. Experienced GMs can improvise effectively, but even as experienced GMs sometimes we'd like a cookbook to take the stress off. And for newer GMs especially, this advice is really important. Some games come with it baked in or hardcoded, like PbtA's moves, but I wanted something a bit more general and less mechanical.

So I've taken the 'escalation dictionary' page from my rpg Void Above and written it into an article on my substack (freely available). It's got 5 broad ways you can escalate a situation and takes less than 5 minutes to read. Plus you can grab the snapshot of the page from the book if you want the pretty version!

I appreciate this won't be for all folks on this sub, but if you're the kind of GM who uses this approach or is looking to expand into it I hope it's a helpful resource.

As the title says, I am looking for a game similar to Traveller but set in a fantasy setting as my players are not the greatest sci-fi fans.

I have done a bit of research and have of course found a few systems: Forbidden Lands, Worlds without Number, Blades in the Dark to a certain degree. None of those are perfect for what we want, so I ask you if I might have missed something.

These are the things I’d love in a system:

• Big sandbox in which the players are free to do what they like
• Combat system that is not super crunchy and can go quickly
• Focus not just on combat and dangerous exploration, but also trade and some personal/political roleplaying
• at least some published adventures/campaigns to take inspiration from

I know this might be a long shot, but thanks for any recommendations!

I've become fascinated by the CoC 7e ttrpg after years of playing exclusively D&D 5e, I've even begun writing and publishing modules for it. Here is my latest, an Arkham-based Ritual Horror Module called "The Withering Rhyme"

I wrote this campaign frame for Daggerheart, Divine Heroes of Modern-Day Earth, heavily inspired by Godbound. I hope at least one person might like it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vw4-EKpOZJ9rIxjGvy_h7yCY4pEao-gBY-3rLMdkvzE/edit

The Pitch

Just a few days ago, creatures and curios from all over the core realms were abruptly deposited into modern-day Earth. Those creatures who were not already of great power were spontaneously elevated into such, alongside over a hundred earthly humans. People, corporations, and governments alike scramble to keep pace with this sudden development. Many of these otherworldly creatures, whether of extraterrestrial or local origin, are now causing trouble, often through civilization-warping or world-breaking rituals.

Your characters, on the other hand, are heroes. They are ready to protect and embetter the planet in a more thoughtful and compassionate manner. Your characters likely do not know it at the beginning, but the Hallows Above shine their light upon them, and them in particular. In time (start of tier 3), they will begin an apotheosis into the ranks of divinity, though they may not fully understand such until their dreams reveal greater truths (start of tier 4).

• Tone and Feel: Epic, Serious, Geopolitical, Cautionary, Heroic, Hopeful, Optimistic

• Themes: Strangers in a Familiar Land, Extremism in the Pursuit of Utopia, Greed and Lust for Power, Beings of Cosmic Evil and Their Cultists, Wrath of Nature, Vast-Scale Rituals in Need of Stopping

• Inspiration: The Godbound tabletop RPG is far and away the single greatest inspiration here, given its themes of saving and reshaping the realm. Secondary inspiration comes from the tabletop RPG adventure series Zeitgeist, and the video game Honkai: Star Rail's Amphoreus storyline, both of which are about saving and reworking the world; the latter involves characters who ascend to divinity, and even the former can potentially bring in themes of deific apotheosis.

dragon's dogma is vibes-wise mostly standard fantasy, and the aspects of it I'd want captured in an rpg are:

• emphasis on exploration and careful planning for journeys through a dense living region where being caught out in the dark without supplies can be deadly, but also one with roads that have friendly traveling merchants, guards, and villagers, not just total wild frontier or grimdark wasteland

• cinematic bossfights that require investigation and preparation beforehand and that involve creative problem-solving in the moment, having to "beat" aspects of the monster rather than a bloated health pool (stabbing the eye of a cyclops, cutting heads off of a chimera, grabbing and weighing down the wings of a griffon, so on). Big monsters should FEEL big, many dragon's dogma bosses require climbing to reach weak points. This is the big thing I've yet to really find a system capture well.

• varied characters who can't do everything individually and rely on clever teamwork and mixing your strengths and weaknesses in novel ways. Something that really makes you feel like an adventuring party, not just a grab bag of heroes

My go-to assumption would be something OSR/NSR, maybe a knave or cairn type game, or a PbtA game like fellowship 2e. I thought Dragonbane maybe as well, but it feels a bit too rules over rulings for this. I know there's been a few other threads on this here but they're all a year or more old and none really gave satisfactory answers and leaned more towards crunchy heroic fantasy that isn't quite the vibe

Huge Freeform Universal 2e fan, and feel it could be a total gamechanger for setting agnostic games for those that enjoy narrative styles of roleplay with Genesys/FitD types of non-binary dice interpretations from rolls.

It seems like the game company Peril Planet has released other successful indie games based on Freeform Universal, such as Neon City Overdrive and Star Scoundrels (taking a page from Savage Worlds with their "Companion" books or Kevin Crawford's "Without Number" series).

But what happened to the final release of the 2e version, which made such wonderful expansions of the original game? Is it still in Beta after all this time? Is there any plan for a full 2e formal release? I'd pay for this in a heartbeat.

Passionate FU 2e fan seeking updates from the community :-)

I ran Chance Dudinack’s Black Wyrm of Brandonsford using Dolmenwood, and my players—most of them used to 5e—were shocked at how satisfying it felt to play with nearly no powers.

No epic spells. No optimized builds. Just a rope, a bottle of wine and a dragon that needed killing.

In this post, I talk about why stripped-down character sheets lead to richer play, and how not having a button to press makes you look at the game world differently.

👉https://bocoloid.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-freedom-of-having-less-osr-lessons.html

Curious to hear what others think—have you had a similar “less is more” moment in your games?

Hey guys! My gang investigators are just about finished with Masks of Nyarlethotep, and I'm investigating what to do for my next long-term campaign. We've been going for 2 and a bit years and I'm just keen to find out what we should do next.

Any system and game, I'm always searching for new stuff.

Looking for something that isn't too dark, I was eyeing off impossible landscapes for DG, but DG is just a little too real for our group.

Looking for something not too fantasy focused if possible .

Thanks!

I know Delta Green and Brindlewood bay are the most commonly recommended games for mystery and crime settings, but I’d like to know how people got on with purely mundane settings.

Any anecdotes?