Fantasy
The fantasy genre has been at the heart of tabletop roleplaying games since their inception, and continues to be the first genre that most players experience as their introduction to these games. Classic fantasy games take their players on epic quests full of magic and monsters, where they might fight heroic battles, search for lost treasures, and meet all kind of fantastical creatures. Fantasy presents a heightened world of dragons, wizards, elves, ancient artifacts, and legendary clashes of good and evil. Fantasy is the genre of the inexplicable, the miraculous, and the impossible, where the only limits are those of the human imagination. It's no wonder fantasy has been the most popular genre in tabletop roleplaying games for the last half-century; these games of imagination are all about achieving the impossible! Fantasy games allow players to become immersed in worlds even more wondrous than our own, and become the heroes of these magical stories. They can bend the world to their will with magic, take heroic action to save the world against legendary monsters and villains, and explore the perspectives of mythical creatures of all shapes and sizes.
Popular Fantasy RPGs
Old-School Essentials
Old-School Essentials is an award-winning role-playing game of fantastic adventure, monsters, and magic. Players delve into forbidden crypts and forsaken ruins, explore haunted forests and perilous mountain ranges, sail the high seas in search of lost lands, recover fabulous treasures, and unearth secrets of ancient magic.
Fablecraft
Fablecraft is a fully virtual tabletop RPG. It’s easy for GMs and players to learn, whether you've slain many dragons or are completely new to the genre. Fablecraft features its own system, gorgeous human-made art, pre-built campaigns that eliminate prep, and a growing list of homebrew tools.
DIE: The Roleplaying Game
DIE RPG is a roleplaying game based on the comic of the same name by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans – and it too has been made by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans! In DIE, you play a group of authentically flawed and desperate real-world people (Personas) who are sucked into a cursed roleplaying game and take on the form of heroes, villains and power players (Paragons). Some of you might want to get back to the real world for whatever’s waiting for you there. Some of you might want to stay in a reality where you can finally get what you want out of life. You all have to agree whether you stay or go, and dead people can’t vote. It can get pretty bloody.
Dungeon Crawl Classics
You’re no hero. You’re an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them. Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role-Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword & sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you.
Cypher System
Cypher System is a groundbreaking tabletop game engine that allows for incredible flexibility to play any type of campaign, in any genre. One can play in the system’s flagship setting “Numenera” or in the worlds of popular podcasts such as “The Magnus Archives” and “Old Gods of Appalachia”. Additional settings can include Post-apocalyptic, sci fi, fantasy, cyberpunk, horror– if you can name it the Cypher System has it! Regardless of the genre, Cypher System games feature a narrative forward play experience that emphasizes discovery, problem solving, character growth, and meaningful roleplay over defeating monsters and getting XP. Character creation is simple yet elegant, as players make a three-part sentence describing who they are going to play. The rules are simple enough for beginners to learn quickly, and sophisticated and deep enough for veterans to unleash their creativity in surprising new ways.
Legend in the Mist
Legend in the Mist is a rustic fantasy RPG based on the award-winning and groundbreaking narrative game engine of City of Mist. Spin a fireside tale of unlikely villagers setting out on a quest into a greater unknown world, rife with peril and mystery, in the vein of The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, Princess Mononoke, and many other classic fantasy stories, or create your own legendary realms with the game’s open-ended system and one-roll-to-rule-them-all easy to learn gameplay
Tales of the Valiant
Welcome to the Labyrinth, infinite worlds linked by twisting corridors of magic. Here, you find realms like Midgard, Hades, the Dreadful Domains, and homebrew creations tied together by the mysterious will of the Maze. These countless worlds rarely resemble one another on the surface, but share a unifying truth—heroes shape them. The Tales of the Valiant RPG is a Black Flag Roleplaying Game from Kobold Press. This means it keeps all the best parts of D&D 5e and adds a Kobold Press spin to the well-loved game. It combines the Creative Commons foundation of 5th Edition with new elements to create a powerful Kobold-style 5E with teeth.
Forbidden Lands
Forbidden Lands is a new take on classic fantasy roleplaying. In this sandbox survival roleplaying game, you’re not heroes sent on missions dictated by others – instead, you are raiders and rogues bent on making your own mark on a cursed world. You will discover lost tombs, fight terrible monsters, wander the wild lands, and if you live long enough, build your own stronghold to defend.
Frequently asked questions about Fantasy
Blog links about Fantasy
Fantasy Reviews and Actual Plays
Critical Role: Daggerheart Live!
Total Party Chill: This Game Is Cursed
Dimension 20: Misfits and Magic
Game Master Aabria Iyengar leads a party of magical transfer students on a wizardly adventure.