A storytelling game is a game where multiple players collaborate on telling a story. Some games primarily feature spoken storytelling, while others primarily feature collaborative writing. In some storytelling games, such as many tabletop role-playing games, each player represents one or more characters in the developing story. Others involve more third-person narrative.
An indie role-playing game is a role-playing game published by individuals or small press publishers, in contrast to games published by large corporations. Indie tabletop role-playing game designers participate in various game distribution networks, development communities, and gaming conventions, both in person and online. Indie game designer committees grant annual awards for excellence.
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.
Monster of the Week (MOTW) is an urban fantasy-horror tabletop role-playing game developed by Michael Sands. It was first published in 2012, and a revised edition was published by Evil Hat Productions in 2015, who have since published the game and its supplemental materials. The game was inspired by villain of the week television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and The X-Files.
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 and published at the start of 2017.
Second Inquisition is a tabletop role-playing game supplement released on March 16, 2022, by Renegade Game Studios, for use with the game Vampire: The Masquerade, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. It describes globally connected groups of vampire hunters in the game's setting, and how to create antagonists belonging to them for game campaigns.
City of Mist is an urban fantasy neo-noir detective tabletop role-playing game (RPG) designed by Amít Moshe and published by Son of Oak Game Studio. The game is set in a modern-day metropolis where ordinary people of all walks of life become modern-day reincarnations of myths, legends, and fairy tales, gaining magical powers and abilities.
Demiplane is a company that creates digital toolsets for playing tabletop role-playing games which can be used as an aid to playing in person or remotely online. The Demiplane platform's main services are game matchmaking, game hosting and licensed content via the Nexus digital toolset. Nexus provides access to digital rulebooks, adventures, and other supplements; it also provides digital tools like a character builder and character sheets. The platform was launched in 2020; early access to Nexus launched in 2021. In June 2024, the company was acquired by the virtual tabletop (VTT) company Roll20.
Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer for tabletop role-playing games and board games. Chan and Sen-Foong Lim created Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (2021). Chan has written for over twenty tabletop games, including the official Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (2021), Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, and the third edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill (2022).
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. His games include Visigoths vs. Mall Goths,If I Were a Lich, Man, and Dead Friend: A Game of Necromancy, and his music includes Schmekel.
Alex Roberts is a Canadian tabletop role-playing game designer. Her games typically lack a gamemaster (GM) and include romantic themes. Her games include For the Queen and Star Crossed.
Mörk Borg is a tabletop role-playing game inspired by heavy metal music, created by Swedish game designers Pelle Nilsson and Johan Nohr and published by Free League Publishing in February 2020. The game features dark themes, frequent character death, and a doom metal playlist. The title means "dark fort" in Swedish.
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.
Darrington Press is the tabletop game imprint for Critical Role Productions which launched in October 2020. It is led by Ivan Van Norman with Matthew Mercer as the creative advisor. The publishing label primarily produces board and card games along with role-playing games. It won two ENNIE Awards in 2022 – "Fan Award for Best Publisher" and "Best Setting Gold Award" for Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.
Fabula Ultima is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game inspired by Japanese role-playing video games such as the Final Fantasy series. It was designed by Emanuele Galletto, illustrated by Catthy Trinh and Moryo, and published by Need Games in 2023. The game won 2023 ENNIE Awards for Best Game and Product of the Year.
Coyote & Crow is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game by Connor Alexander. The game was designed by a team of Native Americans from more than a dozen tribes. The game is set in an alternate future of the Americas, where thanks to a natural disaster, colonization never happened. Coyote & Crow's setting is the metropolis Cahokia, which is based on the Mississippi River. Coyote & Crow's first expansion book, Ahu Tiiko, focuses on a murder mystery in a forest village.
Sharang Biswas is an Indian American designer/writer of tabletop role-playing games and interactive media, a writer of speculative fiction, an adjunct professor of game studies at NYU Game Center, and a freelance games journalist. His work focuses on LGBTQ and science fiction and fantasy themes. Biswas has won multiple awards for his game writing work as both a solo designer and a collaborator: one IndieCade award, four ENNIE Awards, and two Indie Game Developer Network awards. He was an Artist in Residence at the Museum of the Moving Image.
Masks: A New Generation is a tabletop role-playing game about teenage superheroes, designed by Brendan Conway and published by Magpie Games in 2017 after raising $107,328 on Kickstarter. It uses the Powered by the Apocalypse framework. Masks won an ENNIE Award and an Indie Game Developer Network award.
Sleepaway is a horror indie role-playing game by Jay Dragon about teenage counselors at a summer camp trying to protect misfit campers from a monster called the Lindworm that takes on the form of its victims. It has themes of trauma, LGBTQ community support, and non-binary gender exploration. Sleepaway was inspired by slasher films and the Belonging Outside Belonging game system by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum.
Quest is a rules-light, fantasy tabletop role-playing game designed to welcome beginners to the hobby. It was created in 2019 by T.C. Sottek, executive editor at The Verge. It was published by Sottek's indie publishing company, the Adventure Guild, after a Kickstarter campaign raised $153,614. Quest was nominated for the 2020 ENnie Awards in four categories. Since 2022, the digital edition of Quest has been available for free. Other creators are allowed to make and sell products based on Quest.
