Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system Fate, Blades in the Dark, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, all of which have won multiple awards.
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.
Meguey Baker is a tabletop role-playing game designer, independent publisher and quilt historian. She and her husband Vincent Baker designed Apocalypse World, the first game in the Powered by the Apocalypse system.
Cam Banks is a game designer known for his work on the Cortex System line of roleplaying games as lead designer for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, and the Big Damn Heroes Handbook supplement to the Serenity Role Playing Game, among other titles. He is the Cortex Creative Director for Fandom Tabletop, the publishers of Cortex Prime.
Kobold Press, also known as Open Design, is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.
Blades in the Dark is a tabletop fantasy role-playing game by John Harper, set in a fictional city of Doskvol, inspired by Victorian London and Gothic fiction. The game was crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2015, raising US$179,280 from 3,925 backers.
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game produced by Magpie Games. It is set in the world of the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and takes place in five different time periods. It sees players take the roles of martial artists, technological experts, or benders – people who can manipulate one of the four classical elements – who fight for balance in the world while also working towards their own goals and struggling with inner balance, represented by opposing ideals held by a character.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a narrative-focused tabletop role-playing game that emphasizes telling "melodramatic and queer stories". The game was funded via a 2020 Kickstarter campaign and published by Evil Hat Productions in 2021. It uses a modification of the Powered by the Apocalypse game system.
Ironsworn is an indie role-playing game written and self-published by Shawn Tomkin. Its Ironlands setting is low fantasy, set in a rugged frontier. The game received the 2019 ENNIE Gold Winner Award for Best Free Game/Product. Rob Wieland for Forbes named Ironsworn one of his favorite RPG products of 2022 and one of the best fantasy tabletop role-playing games for solo play.
Lucian Kahn is an American role-playing game writer/designer and musician based in Brooklyn. His work focuses on LGBT, Jewish, and subcultural themes, typically utilizing satire and farce.
Alex Roberts is a Canadian tabletop role-playing game designer. Her games typically lack a gamemaster (GM) and include romantic themes.
Fall of Magic is a collaborative storytelling tabletop role-playing game by Ross Cowman that is played on a hand-printed canvas map. The story follows a dying magus and companions on their journey to the birthplace of magic. The players utilize the map to track game progression as they unroll it.
Wanderhome is an indie role-playing game by Jay Dragon about animal people in a pastoral setting, based upon the Belonging Outside Belonging game engine by Avery Alder. It is published by Possum Creek Games. Unlike typical tabletop role-playing games, Wanderhome does not use dice, turns, or a gamemaster, focusing instead on the characters' emotional journey. Dialogue takes the place of battles, and gameplay revolves around question prompts.
Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is an urban fantasy tabletop role-playing game with LGBTQ dating sim elements by Lucian Kahn, with art by Robin Eisenberg. The ancient Visigoths have time traveled to 1990s Los Angeles and are battling mall goths for control of the mall. The game's tone is silly and the setting has many puns. The game was inspired by 1990s movies The Craft, Empire Records, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Clueless.
Field Guide to Memory is a one-player narrative journaling indie role-playing game by Shing Yin Khor and Jeeyon Shim about a missing cryptozoologist's mentee traveling across the United States in search of information about her mentor.
The X-Card is a technique for moderating content while playing tabletop role-playing games, also known as a safety tool. Gameplay pauses when a player touches a card marked with an X, enabling the group to remove any uncomfortable material from the narrative and/or address players' mental and emotional wellbeing.
Good Society is a tabletop role-playing game based upon the Regency era novels of Jane Austen. A live action role-playing game version is also available. Good Society was created by the two-woman Australian game design team Storybrewers, consisting of lead writer Hayley Gordon and graphic designer Vee Hendro. In addition to role-playing, the game mechanics include spreading rumors and writing letters. It can be played with or without a gamemaster.
Brindlewood Bay is a murder mystery tabletop role-playing game about elderly women amateur detectives, inspired by Murder, She Wrote and H. P. Lovecraft. It was designed by Jason Cordova and was published by Gauntlet Publishing after a 2022 Kickstarter campaign raised $477,518 from 7,748 backers. Linda Codega for Gizmodo praised the game for its blend of supernatural plots with sitcom tropes. Em Friedman for Polygon named it one of the best tabletop RPGs of 2022, praising its mystery game mechanics and character creation.
The Gauntlet is a publisher/producer of tabletop role-playing games and podcasts. In addition to game books, they publish a monthly game zine called Codex to encourage experimentation in indie role-playing games and OSR. They also host over 100 online games each month and maintain public forums on gaming topics. They have won and been nominated for ENNIE Awards and funded multiple projects through successful Kickstarter campaigns.
