D&D Beyond

Demiplane

Discord

Owlbear Rodeo

Physical Battlemap

Roll20

“Roleplay Heavy” games place the focus on the story, the characters, and the world they live within, and tend to lean hard into the various roleplaying elements of the game. These games will frequently find the party talking with NPCs, exploring the personal elements of their backstories, or even having emotional moments around the camp fire. 

Roleplay Heavy

“Combat Heavy” games emphasize the combat mechanics within their systems over roleplay or puzzle solving. There are frequent and longer battles with enemies and a greater emphasis on tactical game play.

Combat Heavy

A “Dungeon Crawl” is a scenario where players navigate a dungeon or labyrinth-like environment for the entirety of the adventure. It emphasizes battling monsters, collecting loot, and avoiding traps to survive to the end!

Dungeon Crawl

“Theater of the Mind” uses little to no visuals for scene settings and combat. Instead, the narrative imagery comes from the Game Master’s descriptions and character action and movement comes from Players’ descriptions. 

Theater of the Mind

“Rule of Cool” emphasizes creative story beats over sticking to a system’s rules as written. Players have the ability to push the limits of the rules or even break core rule mechanics at times if the Game Master thinks it is interesting, fun, or cool enough.

Rule of Cool (RoC)

Organized Play uses a standardized ruleset for character creation, leveling, and rewards. Every character plays by the same rules. Its strength is flexibility: bring your character to any table and jump right in. With tight rule adherence, every game feels consistent, fair, and ready for adventure.

Organized Play

“Roleplay Lite” games typically include some story and character interactions but keep the emphasis on other gameplay elements like exploration or combat. While these games can still feature character-driven moments, they tend to favor quicker scenes with less focus on extensive backstories or dramatic roleplay.

Roleplay Lite

“Combat Lite” games typically focus less on combat encounters and more on roleplay, storytelling, and exploration. Combat tends to be shorter, less frequent, resolved in a more narrative style, or absent altogether, while keeping the story as the primary focus.

Combat Lite

“Puzzle / Mystery Focused” games are traditionally built around uncovering secrets, solving strange occurrences, and using clever thinking to move through the story. Players may investigate clues, crack riddles, or unravel a deeper story hidden beneath the surface.

Puzzle / Mystery Focused

“Realm Building” games focus on the development, expansion, and management of something bigger than a single party, where the characters may find themselves in charge of a kingdom, faction, settlement, or organization. Over the course of gameplay, players might manage resources, make decisions that shape nations, or even guide large-scale conflicts as part of the ongoing story.

Temperate Houndsman

My preferences