High Fantasy
High fantasy is the genre of the truly magical. A subgenre of fantasy, high fantasy unsurprisingly puts its fantastical elements front-and-center. Its setting is usually a completely imaginary world, and often has powerful magic, a clash between good and evil, and an epic quest with grand stakes that affect the entire world. High fantasy also tends to pull from a deep well of tropes, including a venerable ancient civilization like elves, monsters like orcs and dragons, a pantheon of gods who may involve themselves in mortal affairs, and magical treasures with great power. High fantasy is so popular in tabletop roleplaying games that it's practically synonymous with the hobby itself. When many people think of roleplaying games, they think of noble heroes embarking on epic quests to gather magical power and defeat ancient evils. Fantastical worlds strewn with monsters and treasure are perhaps the most popular settings for tabletop RPGs. High fantasy makes players feel like heroes, and allows a momentary escape into a world completely different from our own, where the impossible becomes possible. It's easy to see how it's a natural fit for the imaginative play of TTRPGs.
Popular High Fantasy RPGs
Fabula Ultima
Fabula Ultima is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, or JRPGs. In Fabula Ultima, you and your friends will tell epic stories of would-be heroes and fearsome villains, set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters! This is a game about larger-than-life heroes and tragic antagonists. There is no predetermined plot, scenario, or "adventure", and the heroes' actions, motivations, and objectives will drive the story forward while the Game Master reacts to their choices and places obstacles on their path, often in the form of powerful villains with their own devious agendas, which will change time and time again as the protagonists manage (or fail) to thwart their plans.
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.
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
Frequently asked questions about High Fantasy
Blog links about High Fantasy
The 10 Best Fantasy RPGs
A top ten list of TTRPGs that will transport you to dungeons, airships, the Fire Nation, magic schools, and beyond!
Fantastic Mapping Solutions For Fantasy RPGs
Don't get caught worldbuilding without a map for your next fantasy RPG session with this handy list of software (and hardware)!
High Fantasy Reviews and Actual Plays
The One Ring: Moria
The Glass Cannon network explores Moria in Middle Earth at Gen Con 2024.
Critical Role | Vox Machina
Dungeon Master Matt Mercer leads a crew of voice actors in what would become a phenomenon: the high fantasy adventures of Vox Machina.
The Eclectics | Pathfinder 2E
Narrative Declaration's band of misfits take on the legendary Pathfinder adventure Kingmaker.