Recent community posts
Next Horizon
If you like fantasy tabletop games but wish they were a little less "use accounting to murder orcs" and a little more "gallavant across the countryside then take a nap," then Next Horizon might be for you.
- Rules-Light — learn the game in minutes, zero at-the-table bookkeeping unless you volunteer for optional extras
- Low-Stakes — No hit points, no lists of debilitating conditions to track, no assumption of routine danger
- Cozy — Characters advance by doing what interests them and by taking days off
If this sounds like your kind of game, then check it out HERE.
Help Shape the Game With Your Feedback!
The Alpha Duo roleplaying engine was released earlier this year, and offered a genre-neutral foundation for all your traditional roleplaying needs. Now begins the journey toward making tailored, fleshed-out games in various genres that you can just pick up and play—starting with fantasy!
Since this uses an established core system, you don't have to worry about it being unplayable. This early beta version is about finding out which fantasy-specific customizations should be included (and which ones shouldn't) and helping Alpha Duo Fantasy be the best game it can be in the future.
Rules-Light and Flexible
The Alpha Duo system which serves as the foundation for this game is lightweight and elegant, boiling down traditional roleplaying to its base elements to make it approachable. It also includes modular optional mechanics that let you increase complexity on the fly if desired, so it can support a wide range of tastes.
If that sounds like fun, then check it out HERE for free!
If you've played D&D or other tabletop RPGs, then you probably know that sooner or later, a chase scene will happen.
You probably also know that many such RPGs are kind of pants at bringing those chase scenes to life.
That's where After Them! comes in. This quick-and-easy supplement can be slapped onto whatever traditional RPG you happen to be playing, and suddenly chase scenes are fun and exciting!
Check it out HERE.
From bestselling D&D designer Jacob S Kellogg—creator of 5E's premier supplements for elemental spells and INT-based martial characters—comes the first installment of a monthly grab-bag of affordable player options: The Aether Vault.
This is the public release of the June 2020 edition, which patrons have already had for a month. That means patrons are getting the next version tomorrow (July 1st), so if you want to stay up to date, consider becoming a patron!
Alpha Duo Roleplaying: Basic Rules gives you all the tools you need to roleplay in multiple genres—in less than 10 pages!
This short, no-nonsense document lays out enough rules to support your beloved roleplaying adventures from any genre using a single, unified system that you can learn in one sitting. Use it for space pirates, classic fantasy, cyberpunk, or any other genre; if it's a story of adventure for a handful of protagonists, Alpha Duo has you covered!
Why choose Alpha Duo Roleplaying: Basic Rules over other systems?
- Handles adventure stories in any genre
- Easy to learn, but still robust and flexible
- Doesn't assume combat as the primary form of conflict
- Less accounting and bookkeeping than mainstream titles
- Choose your own complexity level—even in the middle of gameplay!
- It's free!
So download the file, grab some dice, and start your own customized adventure with your friends!
COMING SOON: Keep an eye out for Alpha Duo: Fantasy, an expansion of the Basic Rules tailored specifically for fantasy roleplaying, with a custom skill list, guidelines for magic, beautiful illustrations, and more!
Need to kill some time while you're stuck at home by yourself?
Do you have access to a stopwatch and a deck of cards?
Sneak into a dungeon full of monsters, steal treasure from the vaults, then sneak back out again with your loot.
Get it free (name your price) HERE.
Hello! This one is for all the tabletop (non-digital) roleplayers out there.
People act like Dungeons & Dragons is some kind of all-purpose fantasy roleplaying engine, when really it's a niche game that focuses HEAVILY on the combat and resource management aspects of fantasy adventure. The only reason people treat it like anything else is because it's the biggest (i.e., most well-funded) tabletop RPG on the market.
In other words, the sheer mass of D&D's presence warps perception around it so that tons of fans mistakenly think it's some kind of flexible, style-neutral fantasy baseline instead of the hyper-specific niche game it is. Meanwhile, those of us who see it for what it is are left wondering what an ACTUAL flexible fantasy engine could be like.
That's what I'm creating with Aether of Adhara's rules. Later there will be a whole stand-alone game with its own setting and themes and such, but for now, the mechanics—which are easier to learn, easier to play, and less focused on combat than D&D's mechanics—are ready for playtesting.
This short document isn't fancy, but it contains everything you need to try out a different ruleset for your fantasy roleplaying. Don't worry about a huge commitment to learning a new system; the entirety of the mechanics are presented in just under 7 pages, or if you're good at extrapolating you could get by with just the 1-page intro. That's how different from D&D this is—you can learn the system, make characters, and do some actual gameplay all in a single session.
So if you're a tabletop roleplayer who wants your fantasy stories to be about something other than hours of murder-math, give this playtest packet a try, and let me know how things went at your table!
Hi everybody!
I'm new to the forums here, so hopefully I do this right: I've just released an early WIP version of a tabletop fantasy RPG called Aether of Adhara. You can get it for FREE here: LINK
This is a non-d20-based roleplaying game set in a world that's only recently been gifted with magic. Aether exists all around you and in the very air you breathe, able to be used freely in many ways. However, the rich have privatized magic use with expensive academies and unnecessary wands, and established a culture that sees "freehand" magic as a form of dangerous extremism. It's your job to tear it all down.
The game is not finished. The current document is basically just the premise and the core mechanics—a proof of concept and a starting point for feedback and further development. That's why it's free! Snag it and let me know what you want to see more or less of in the next iteration. Download it HERE.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you!
As it turns out, becoming a legendary hero isn't a glamorous process!
Welcome to Dungeon Grind, where simply adventuring in the dungeon isn't enough for success: you've got to recruit allies, do odd jobs for cash, talk up your accomplishments in the tavern, and manage limited time and stamina while doing it. Will you reach fame and glory before your rivals, or will you be worn down by the daily grind of being an anonymous adventurer?
Dungeon Grind is a tabletop game that's inspired by classic fantasy roleplaying but meant to be played in a single session. The game can be played solo or in competition with friends.
***This is an early beta version of the game.*** That's why it's only a couple bucks. Nevertheless, the game is completely playable, so give it a shot!
I welcome any feedback that you would like taken into consideration for future revisions. Also, if you're a freelancer who could help with production, feel free to give me a holler on Twitter: @JacobSKellogg
