Indie RPGs for Tabletop Season Three

I’m in official pre-production mode for Tabletop Season Three, so I’ve been looking at tons of games (seriously, thank you for all the suggestions), and playing as many of them as I can with my friends, or on my iPad (Suburbia on iPad is pretty much perfect, if you were wondering).Idea that I’m putting here, so I don’t forget: include information about tablet versions of games that we play on the show, if tablet versions exist.I’m also beginning to look at indie RPGs, because we had such a great time playing Fiasco. So far, candidates include:

  • A Penny For My Thoughts
  • Monsterhearts
  • Durance
  • The Quiet Year
  • Carolina Death Crawl
  • Microscope
  • Dread

I don’t know if we’ll be able to make any of these work (Dread has player elimination, for example), but I just love GM-less storytelling games, and I think Tabletop is the perfect place to show them off, because most of the people who come to play with us are inherently good storytellers.I’m interested to hear your thoughts on Indie RPGs that fit with this bunch, and also if you’d like to watch us play some of these. Keep in mind that we’d be able to, at most, split it into two episodes, which means we’d have to play a satisfying session in about four hours.

As before, please leave your suggestion here, so it’s easy for me to find. Also, publishers and writers: please don’t use this as an invitation to mount a campaign to get me to play your game.

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272 thoughts on “Indie RPGs for Tabletop Season Three”

  2. OK, because I’m completely unable to contain myself… I also should plug Swords Without Masters – it’s one of my favorite story games. If you can get Stras Anisimov to gm for you, even better 😀

    1. I soooo want to see a game of Shab Al-Hiri Roach. The premise is awesome. University intelligentsia that are willing to swallow a cthulhoid mythos roach in order to gain tenure. How can that not go wrong in so many delicious ways.

      Mouse Guard would also be fantastic. Every actual play I have ever heard of Mouse Guard just sells the game.

  4. Indie rpgs are all well and good but how about traditional rpgs that requires GMs? I have no interest in any of the rpgs mentioned so if you are just going for indie rpgs and GM-less ones more specifically, I guess I’m not your demographics

  5. I’ll put in another vote for FATE (either Core or Fate Accelerated, which is much lighter on the rules). One setting that looks really fun and interesting for Fate Core is the Secrets of Cats.

  6. I totally forgot this when I suggested a game last time and I feel like an idiot, but it works here as well – how about a tabletop wargame where you build little combat mechs out of Legos and have them fight? Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack – http://mobileframezero.com/mfz/

    It has a pretty unique combat system starting with the opening bid, going onto the Doomsday Clock (THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK!!!), and the use of Legos (or your choice of building bricks or other materials, it doesn’t discriminate) in all things – terrain, measuring devices, and you can even make your dice from it if you want (I don’t suggest the dice, it needs quite a few d6s of various colors).

    The rules are free to download, or purchase a hardcopy of, from their website as they had a very successful Kickstarter. And they just had another Kickstarter for a space combat game in the same universe (also called Mobile Frame Zero, this one Intercept Orbit instead of Rapid Attack), which the rules aren’t finalized yet, but when they are, would make a good follow up game for the next season of TableTop.

    Resources:
    Flickr group with thousands (no, really) of examples – https://www.flickr.com/groups/438009@N25/pool
    A couple of .pdfs on the MF0 forums containing a bunch of build instructions – http://mobileframehangar.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5125
    A place to buy basic frames (and other bits) instead of gathering your own Lego bits up to build an army – http://mobilefra.me/

  10. Many of those are good choices. Perhaps look up Hell 4 Leather. Super easy, GM-less, and evocative. Also- Vesna Thaw. You draw robots in that one!

  11. I’d love to see you guys play Dogs in the Vineyard, but I think that needs a GM. So, instead, how about Shock: Social Science Fiction. No GM, and speed of play depends on how complicated you make the shocks and issues in the game.

    1. Just realized some explanation of Shock: Social Science Fiction is probably in order– here’s the website: http://glyphpress.com/shock/

      Shock lets you create stories in the mode of a literary SF novel or movie. You pick one or more “shocks”, which are socially disruptive elements, like new technologies or alien invasions, etc. Then you pick several issues–every thing from “social justice” to “law & order” to gender politics… any social issue that might be affected by the shock. Then, each player takes responsibility for different issues and you create a story around them. Really interesting game; highly recommended.

  12. Atomic Robo RPG is a fun one – it’s not GM-less, but it starts up very quickly and is great for a one shot.

    Microscope is an awesome game all around – you should do that one no matter what.

  13. You should look into the new RPG by wyrd. Through the breach. Interesting world and is seems to be more storytelling than battle. It uses a card system instead of dice.

  15. Dungeon World would also be a lot of fun. Still has a GM role (but so does Monsterhearts) and it’s great for D&D esque adventuring. Really just about any Powered by the Apocalypse game would be pretty great.

  16. Inspectres is a solid choice. It’s got a Ghostbusters feel, encourages comedy, and it has a rule seemingly custom designed for Tabletop: Confessionals. This is when a player “turns to the camera” and adds something new to the situation that the GM and the rest of the group hasn’t anticipated.

  17. I’m not sure if it qualifies as Indie since the developers partnered with Catalyst Games, but the Valiant Universe RPG could be fun.
    It’s very accessible to people new to Tabletop RPGs with straightforward rules. It’s a super-hero themed world, and players get to design their characters as sidekicks, super-heroes, or legends, including making up all of their own super powers (and what stats those super powers have).

    Instead of a GM, you have a “lead narrator.” Players take turns being the lead narrator, usually switching off each main scene. The LN roleplays/controls all of the NPCs for that scene; their character is still in play, but takes actions at the end of each round and can’t act on out-of-character knowledge.

    My only negative impression came from the pre-generated female characters, which were pretty misogynistic. (That may be a hang-over from Valiant’s comic book origins; I haven’t read the comics.)

  19. +1 Quiet Year. Excellent for the show, games usually go for around 2 hours or so depending on deck size. Can easily get enough content for a whole episode out of it, and a good one at that.

  20. I’ve always wanted to see how A Penny for My Thoughts plays. Also, Dread is great for a one-shot; have played it at cons many times. There are established ways to keep an expelled player in the game (though I’ve never seen them used, because the tower never really falls). One great rule for a zombie game, and I don’t know if this is official or houserule, is that you can sacrifice your character to guarantee success by knocking the tower over on purpose. I.E., Daddy finds his kids. They are in the house, but it is surrounded by zombies. Almost zero chance of fighting your way in to save them, even less to get out. What are you going to do? well, down goes the tower for the most epic sacrifice ever, and the player narrates his own character’s heroic death. That’s great gaming.

  22. So many great games mentioned. I’ll +1 a few of them.

    Lady Blackbird (John Harper) — it’s free to download and is inspired by many indie games
    My Life with Master (Paul Czege) — it’s one of the oddest and emotionally charged games out there, with an endgame
    Vesna Thaw (Nathan Paoletta) — you share-draw characters and then fight each other in a post-nuclear Russian world
    Psi*Run (Meguey Baker) — fugitive psychics with amnesia — ALWAYS a crowd pleaser at conventions
    The Quiet Year (Avery Mcdaldno) — the map making story game of many games
    Kingdom (Ben Robbins) — If you like Microscope you might like Kingdom — in fact, Kingdom is one of my favorite games

  23. As a kickstarter backer, I’d really would like to see you do Story War.

    As supporting documentation, I refer you to Hank Green demoing the beta version:

  24. The Quiet Year is a lot of fun if you have a good group, and the drawing component would be visually cool. Dread would be great on-camera, and short sessions are totally doable. Microscope is interesting, but you’ll definitely want the setup to take place before the episode(s); a worthwhile session might take too long. If I had to vote for one, I’d say Dread, with The Quiet Year in a very close second.

  25. You should check out Jim Pinto’s GM Zero and Protocol games over on DriveThruRPG. Tons of player agency, etc. Right up your alley.

  26. Check out Swords Without Master — http://dig1000holes.wordpress.com/swords-without-master-2/

    It’s a sword and sorcery style RPG, but has some REALLY interesting story game mechanics. Very different from traditional D&D style RPGs, even if the worlds it creates can be similar to those. Really cool, very easy to pick up. Highly, highly, highly recommended!

    I’d love to see you tackle The Quiet Year, Dogs in the Vineyard, and any Apocalypse World-powered game. Monsterhearts is great, but also see if you can get Jason Morningstar to send you NIGHT WITCHES, his new amazing AW-powered game about World War II Russian woman fighter pilots. Best new game I’ve played in a while!

  28. I know there’s player elimination, but damn, Dread would have such good visual suspense, so long as Anne doesn’t bash the table. Monsterhearts would be amazing, too. Microscope would be odd, considering it’s really a world-building exercise. Perhaps you could use it to create a world for a subsequent RPG.

    1. Also, if you could swing it with a total of 6 players, try out ‘The Climb’, by Morningstar. Not so much happening at the table, but there would be three “tents”. I played it, and it’s really intense and dramatic till the end.

  29. Feng Shui by Robin Laws. Feng Shui 2 is actually coming out soon, after like a 12 year hiatus from the first. any game where one of your powers is, when a bad guy with a machine gun fires at you, you run up the stream of bullets and kick him in the face, is a tabletop contender in my book. wh shu kung fu for the win

  33. Just because it would be cool (even more cool if you could get designer Kenneth Hite on the show to run it). Nights Black Agents. Just listen to a couple of episodes of Ken and Robin talk about stuff to see why this game would be amazing. Kenneth Hire is one of the most interesting people you could ever hope to talk to and he has a story of plot for every occasion.

  34. Another idea, apologies if it has already been brought up: what about an episode of games to play with younger children (younger than 10 maybe?) that the whole family would enjoy? My children were playing Catan at age 7, but I’m sure there are tons more out there. A few might even fit into one episode. I don’t have any great suggestions though. Fantastic show, and wonderful work!

  35. Dread’s player elimination isn’t always actually eliminating the player, it just means that the sorts of things they would do pulls on can’t succeed.

    Given that a lot of these aren’t GMless, I’d throw Mouseguard, Monster of the Week, and Dungeon World into the mix. (I love Monster Hearts, but it is probably the most sex-move oriented of the Apocalypse World games, which might not work super well for table top, unless you did it as an after dark episode. DW is Apocalypse World D&D, and Monster of the Week is Apocalypse World for shows like Supernatural and Buffy.

    Mouseguard is having a new print run and has one of the coolest resolution systems ever.

    Ooh! If you want lots of dice and to be totally metal, Mythender is the game about being super badasses who are killing Gods.

  36. Do you only ever play new games, or would you ever break out an older game that’s been around for awhile? I would think that maybe there’s got to be a game out there that parents played as a kid and would want to play with their own kids, just for the nostalgia factor.

  37. Risus seems interesting not complex nor time consuming when it comes to character creation from what I read about it they say its the spur of the moment type rpg design for comic relief

  38. I was also going to suggest games you can play with kids.

    In particular, I think Mermaid Adventures or Camp Myth (both by Third Eye Games) would be excellent choices. They’ve both been nominated for ENnie Awards in the past, and Mermaid Adventures especially seems to have huge appeal with kids.

    And as a final silly suggestion, Land of Og would be an amazing game to watch you play on air. ’cause cave men with limited vocabularies would make for great television.

  39. I had fun with Joe Prince’s “Eternal Contenders” when I was on a GMless game bash a couple of years ago. It’s a pretty fast game about fantasy gladiators putting everything on the line and fighting for their hopes and dreams.

  41. Something that I think would fit your group of story tellers is the Spark RPG by Genesis of Legend.

    As the situation at hand develops each player take opportunities to lead the story or the dissension, and the other players can choose to add in as their own character or fill in an “extra” on the spot. The key thing is that to progress you have to help each other deal with their key conflicts to progress. It’s hard for me to explain in a short note, but the few times I’ve played it’s been an amazing afternoon 3-4 hours. I’m sure it can be tailored to specific play times.

    I think the thing that stayed with me the most after my first chance to play test the game was that this was a game that completely changed the way I thought about RPGs and Storytelling. How everyone at the table was really crafting the story, rather than one ST and several players.

    I hope you get the chance to look it over & be very pleased if it does make the cut as I’d love to see others enjoy that sudden change in perspective.

  43. I am not sure if this would fit the bill very well but I love “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen”. It’s sort of a light RPG where everyone has to tell a story that was set up by the previous person. I think it would be pretty fun to see what some of your guests could come up with

  46. I’ve been hearing good things about Mice and Mystics. I asked recently about setup time, and it sounds pretty fast (compared to other similar games like the D&D board games). Games are 60-90 minutes, so maybe a tad long, but it’s a co-op game. Might be more board game then roleplaying, though.

    http://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/mice-and-mystics

    Also, does it have to be GM-less? I’ve been very interested in both Mouse Guard and Numenera. Numenera is probably too much for the show, but Mouse Guard may not be?

    http://www.mouseguard.net
    http://www.numenera.com/

  47. I usually feel a bit award playing story telling games but one game that I really enjoyed is Project Ninja Panda Taco.

    A GMless game where everyone plays a Mastermind tying to take over the world. In turns you also compete in the game as a Nemesis against other Masterminds and as a Minion who is willing and able to help for the best reward offered of course.

    You can come up with all sorts of silly ideas and devices, so you don’t have to be an experienced player know what to do. A perfect starter story telling RPG game 🙂

    It originated from this Kickstarter
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962662760/project-ninja-panda-taco

  48. The new game from FFP ‘shadows of brimstone’ looks like it gonna be an great GM-less dungeon crawl in a box set in the old west with some cthuluesque stuff for good measure

  49. Hi there – love following the Tabletop – it introduces so many new and splendid games, which is handy as I’m just starting up a board-game group in my home town. I’d really like to see ‘Mansions of Madness’ in action… thanks 🙂

  50. You have an excellent list of candidates already! I’ll throw in some further suggestions, for details you might check out RPGGeek: Love in the time of Seid (by M. Holter and J. Morningstar), GM-less oneshot RPG; Chronicles of Skin (by S. Hickey), a game of scribbling and storytelling a clash of two cultures; Dog Eat Dog (by Liam Burke), an RPG about imperialism and assimilation; Valley of Eternity (by J. Pettersson), in which you play tragic penguin heroes; Montsegur 1244 (by F. Jensen), a GM-less RPG about burning for your beliefs; Western City (by J. Dünne), a GM-less RPG about, well, a Western City.

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