interesting games

these are some ttrpgs ive played or read that seem interesting. "interesting" doesn't necessarily mean "good," "fun," or "i liked it," it just means "interesting" (and sometimes "inspired me"). i likely have pdf copies of these, so if you want to take a look for yourself all you gotta do is ask!

Lancer

Lancer is a game about tactical mech fights. It's got some other stuff—incomprehensible extradimensional machine-slaves, a Forged in the Dark-style playbook system (in the Karrakin Trade Baronies supplement), and incoherent politics—but the real draw is the mech combat. The balancing is tight, the player customization is expansive, prep is easy, and it's genuinely a joy to GM. The setting is also rife with opportunity, especially if you twist the trite liberal moralisms on their head (you can read more about my thoughts on Lancer's politics here).

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy (Beta)

Genuinely one of the most interesting games I've seen and it's only in beta. Eureka is a game about solving mysteries. Not like Call of Cthulhu, which pretends to be a game about solving mysteries but is really about getting in boring fights—Eureka actually has mechanical support for mysteries that are fun to deal with and don't bring the game to a halt if the players can't read the GMs mind. It also has great character creation that rewards players for creating weird and neurotic characters, and in turn drives interesting narratives.

ICON

Most Trusted Advisors

Death Bed

Silk & Dagger

Eidolon 2e

Trespasser

Walking Dead: The TTRPG

Draw Steel

Coyote & Crow

Gubat Banwa

Blades in the Dark

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition

FFG Star Wars

MYFAROG and FATAL

I'm really only mentioning these here because they're, uhh, notable, I guess, for their infamy. MYFAROG is a fantasy game by neo-nazi, pagan revivalist, convicted murderer, and black metalist Varg Vikernes where racism is real. FATAL