Supernatural
The supernatural genre deals with the clash of fantastical elements, like mythological monsters, ghosts, cryptids, aliens, and magic, with our mundane world. It explores the far edges of possibility where these supernatural elements meaningfully affect real life. These elements are usually secret, with only a select few "in the know" about the truth; but sometimes open, with normal people coexisting with the fantastic. In both cases, the conflict between the natural and the supernatural forms the central tension of the genre. Supernatural RPGs put players at the center of this tension, often as characters who exist in the gaps between the two worlds. Supernatural player characters might be a monster, alien, or angel themselves, or perhaps descended from one. They might be an otherwise normal human who's learned the truth. Or they might have been personally wronged by the supernatural and out for revenge. It's often their job to investigate supernatural phenomena that science can't explain, solve any problems, including hunting the entity responsible, all while keeping the peace and quiet of the mundane world safe from the knowledge and potential horror of things that go bump in the night. Many supernatural games are monster hunting games or paranormal investigation games set in a world of modern fantasy.
Popular Supernatural RPGs
Pirate Borg
A scurvy-ridden, rules light, art heavy tabletop RPG. Inspired by history, fantasy, horror and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won’t save you from the hordes of skeletons, the Kraken, or even your own crew. Find a ship. Recruit some crew. Raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer your weasley black guts out. Get a bigger ship. Kill some things. Upgrade your ship. Sneak into a fort. Raid a port. Acquire treasure. Bury said treasure. Become infamous. Search for someone else’s treasure. Flee in terror from unfathomable creatures from the deep. Drink all of the rum. Die on the high seas. Roll a new character and do it all again.
Hunter: The Reckoning
A Storytelling Game of Desperate Measures. You saw what you shouldn’t have, the veil pulled back from the secret world and the monsters who prowl it. You chronicled the tragedies they wrought, these monsters, and the victims upon whom they preyed. You grasped the extent of their influence and witnessed the corruption of the organizations formed to keep them in check. And you vowed to do something about it. Tonight, you act. It’s time for a Reckoning.
Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
Vampire: The Masquerade presents a more dramatic, contemplative world than most tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). While the average TTRPG experience is a Dungeons & Dragons inspired one (fighting monsters and getting treasure), Vampire is about simply surviving and keeping a piece of yourself intact. Players in Vampire become the titular mythological figure in a version of our modern world. And while near-immortality and superpowers seems cool, they come at the cost of existing in a secret society where hunters and other clans are out to get you. And there’s also the whole hungering for blood thing. In a typical Vampire game, holding onto humanity is just as tough as fending off foes.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a roleplaying game for telling queer stories with friends. If you love angsty disaster lesbians with swords, you have come to the right place. A sword duel can end in kissing, a witch can gain her power by helping others find love, and an entire campaign can be built around wandering matchmakers flying from system to system.
Candela Obscura
Candela Obscura is a tabletop roleplaying game, or TTRPG, about a circle of paranormal investigators who analyze occult phenomena in the turn-of-the-nineteenth century industrial fantasy city of Newfaire. In this game of monstrous gaslamp horror, players create intrepid characters who solve mysteries and defeat monsters with their various skills and specialties. They might play a smooth-talking Face with a knack for mesmerism, a soldiering Muscle bearing scars from the Great War, an ingenious Scholar of magick from the university, the sly Slink of a private detective or a Weird spirit medium. This crew, called the Circle, will take on jobs to set right the problems caused by supernatural phenomena. One player, the Lightkeeper or Game Master (GM), takes on the role of the world those players inhabit. They’ll play as the eponymous Lightkeeper, a character who dispenses assignments and information from the occult organization Candela Obscura. They’ll also play the environment, the city, and of course, the mysterious and even malevolent forces the Circle is called to confront.
City of Mist
Here's the lowdown: City of Mist is set in a modern city where legends are real people. Heroes, tricksters, and monsters are reborn inside ordinary people, regular Joes and Janes, who gain supernatural powers connected to their legendary alter-egos. Someone is running the show in this City, and it's up to you to find out who. Hit the streets. Collect the clues. Face small-time villains and demi-gods in epic showdowns. Solve not just the case, but also your own personal mystery and the secrets at the core of this very City. This is your City: gritty, corrupt, and rife with magic and mystery.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition
Gaia is dying. The ices melt, while the seas swell. The heat rises, while the forests wither. Extinction threatens millions, in favor of the few. The Garou — warlike shapeshifters torn between Rage and spirit, between Wolf and Man, and champions of the earth-mother — have failed. The Apocalypse is here. Yet, a new generation of Garou now call upon their Rage to confront the forces of destruction, avarice, and greed ravaging the earth-mother. With tooth and claw the Garou will wrest her from the brink of death — or follow her enemies to the grave. Will you answer their howl? What legends will the Garou sing of you? When will you Rage? In Werewolf: The Apocalypse, you play as the Garou, a creature of flesh and spirit, blessed and cursed with primal rage. Born to fight and die in a desperate war to protect Gaia — the very living earth — you engage in an unequal battle against the greed and power-hunger of human civilization that has trapped the world in a choking web of technology and corruption.
Monster of the Week
Monster of the Week (MotW) is a tabletop roleplaying game, or TTRPG, about a group of monster hunters taking on the terrors that prey on humanity. Inspired by media like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, and Supernatural, players create characters based on archetypes. They might take on the Chosen, a hero with a grand destiny; the Divine, an angel or holy warrior here to protect humanity; the Monstrous, fighting against their own evil nature; the Professional “man-in-black”; and many more! One player, the Keeper or Game Master (GM), takes on the role of the world those characters inhabit. They’ll create the mysteries the hunters must investigate, the environments they’ll explore, and the victims, meddling authorities, and of course, monsters they’ll face.
Vaesen
In dark forests, beyond the mountains, by black lakes in hidden groves. At your doorstep. In the shadows, something stirs. Strange beings. Twisted creatures, lurking at the edge of vision. Watching. Waiting. Unseen by most, but not by you. You see them for what they really are. Vaesen. Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark. They know to fear it.
Brindlewood Bay
Brindlewood Bay is a tabletop roleplaying game that combines Murder, She Wrote with H.P. Lovecraft. In it, you play a group of elderly women, members of the local Murder Mavens Mystery Book Club, who help the authorities solve murder cases in a picturesque New England Town. Over the course of their investigations, they become aware of a dark occult conspiracy that connects the cases, and will eventually have to face that conspiracy in order to save their community. The game is low-prep and easy to play no matter your experience with tabletop roleplaying games.
Delta Green
Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green opposes the forces of darkness with honor but without glory. Delta Green agents fight to save humanity from unnatural horrors—often at a shattering personal cost. In Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game, the players are those agents. They fight to keep terrors from beyond space and time from infecting the world and claiming human lives and sanity. The Handler is the game moderator who creates and interprets their world, presents the unnatural horror that they investigate, and describes the awful aftermath of their sacrifices.
Kids on Bikes
Kids on Bikes is a Collaborative Storytelling RPG set in small towns with big adventure! In Kids on Bikes, you take on the roles of everyday people grappling with strange, terrifying, and very, very powerful forces that they cannot defeat, control, or even fully understand. Kids on Bikes even allows you to create a communally controlled Powered Character to add another dimension of gameplay to your games! Jump right into the action quick and create your own band of rag-tag mystery solvers today!
Kids on Brooms
Kids on Brooms is a collaborative role-playing game about taking on the life of a witch or wizard at a magical school you all attend- a place full of mystery, danger, and thrilling adventure. From dealing with strict professors to facing down mythical beasts, players will get the opportunity to ride brooms, brew potions, and cast powerful magic as they uncover the incredible secrets their school and its inhabitants hold. Built using the ENnie Award-Winning Kids on Bikes framework, it is a rules-light, narrative-first storytelling game perfect for new players and gaming veterans alike!
Monsterhearts 2
By the time they hit adolescence, most people have gotten over their fear of the dark. They spend their midnight hour on gushy phone calls, diary ramblings, and wet dreams. They fall asleep peacefully, assured that the shadows hold no monsters. But the shadows do hold monsters. You know because you’re one of them. Wickedness dwells within your heart, hunger courses through your veins. High school weighs on you and teen drama puts you on edge, but you have power. What do you do next? Monsterhearts 2 lets you and your friends create stories about sexy monsters, teenage angst, personal horror, and secret love triangles. When you play, you explore the terror and confusion of having a body that is changing without your permission.
Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu is a horror TTRPG that has 3-5 investigators go from normal, everyday people to firsthand combatants of the horrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Fans of Locke and Key, Lovecraft Country, and Stranger Things, will love Call of Cthulhu. Everything from the space-traveling Byakhee, to the towering monstrosities known as the Great Race of Yith can be encountered in the tales the Keeper spins. Whether it is reality-bending gods or violent cultists enacting dark rituals; no matter the case: it’s up to the Investigators to stop these horrors and come out of it alive... If they are lucky.
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.
Tales From the Loop
Roleplaying in the ’80s That Never Was: In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator. The facility was complete in 1969, located deep below the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop. In this roleplaying game, you play teenagers in the late 1980s, solving Mysteries connected to the Loop. Choose between character Types such as the Bookworm, the Troublemaker, the Popular Kid and the Weirdo. Everyday Life is full of nagging parents, never-ending homework and classmates bullying and being bullied. Explore the secrets of the Loop in two main game settings – one based on the Swedish Mälaren Islands, the other on Boulder City, Nevada. The Mysteries let the characters encounter the strange machines and weird creatures that have come to haunt the countryside after the Loop was built. The kids get to escape their everyday problems and be part of something meaningful and magical – but also dangerous.
Power Rangers Roleplaying Game
Become a Power Ranger and protect Angel Grove and the Earth against the evil forces of Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, Master Vile, and more in the epic world of Power Rangers! Whether you interrupt Rita’s monster attacks in her attempt of world domination or defeat the forces of the Machine Empire from invading Earth, there is no limit to the heroic stories you will tell. In the Power Rangers Roleplaying Game, create your ultimate Power Ranger persona by combining personal traits, childhood influences, and your chosen Ranger color to make a hero worthy of the Power!
Frequently asked questions about Supernatural
Blog links about Supernatural
Best Places to Find a Group for Monster of the Week
A quick list to get you started on the hunt for your next mystery-solving, monster-slaying crew!
8 Horror RPGS That Range From Eldritch To Supernatural To Sci-Fi
This list of scary games to play with your friends is a great way to get started on your first horror RPG!
Supernatural Reviews and Actual Plays
Total Party Chill Plays Monster of the Week
San Francisco-based group Total Party Chill plays a Monster of the Week game inspired by local folklore.
Quinns Quest Reviews Delta Green & Impossible Landscapes
Quintin Smith reviews paranormal investigation game Delta Green and one of its greatest supernatural adventures.
New York by Night
The official Vampire: The Masquerade actual play follows a coterie of New York vampires.