Nathan Patrick Lane

Combining the relationship drama of Monsterhearts with the cinematic conflicts of Masks: A New Generation, Thirsty Sword Lesbians is built for flirtatious, sensational, and chaotic action. The focus on queer melodrama will allow your game to play out in any setting you can imagine while still keeping clear themes of fighting oppression, exploring your feelings, and bonding with unlikely companions. If you're looking for a queer-friendly PbtA system with subversive themes and lots of flexibility, quench your thirst with some lesbian swords!

Savage Worlds is a system I like to call "the action movie simulator". If you want a game that plays out like an action movie, then Savage Worlds provides a solid mechanical structure while leaving enough wiggle room for any off-the-wall ideas your players have. The exploding dice mean that every action always has a chance but never a guarantee, keeping players on the edge of their seat with every roll. Optional subsystems handle everything from chase scenes to skill challenges to mass battles. If you want a fast, furious, and fun system that's offers meaningful mechanics but remains light and flexible enough to adapt to your story and players, then it may be time to get Savage!

A simple but effective Stranger Things simulator that emphasizes creative collaboration between players and GMs. The town creation questionnaire is a highlight in this book - I regularly make use of it whenever I'm setting a game in a small town. Although the straightforward (if somewhat swingy) mechanics and narrative-first system make it easy for new players to pick up, the lack of character advancement may put a damper on long term campaigns. If you like small town mystery/horror and are trying to break away from d20 systems, give this one a try.

As someone who's a big fan of City of Mist who backed this game on Kickstarter, I think Legend of the Mist is a brilliant successor to the classic urban fantasy noir. After running the Tinderbox Demo several times, I am in love with this game's streamlined mechanics and rustic fantasy atmosphere, and eagerly await the game's full release. It streamlines the prior system to remove extraneous core moves and simplify them into a robust core resolution mechanic. This removes some of the newbie traps from City of Mist, like explaining the difference between Go Toe To Toe vs Hit With All You've Got, or having moves like Convince or Sneak Around being more situational variants of Take The Risk. This system keeps the narrative-first versatility of City of Mist but smooths and polishes it into something beautiful. I love the atmosphere that this game evokes, moving away from sword and sorcery pulps and focusing more on high fantasy epics in the style of Lord of the Rings or Princess Mononoke. This is not for games about collecting gold or slaying monsters to get XP. It's not about starting as a peasant and eventually becoming a god - progression isn't as linear as that. This is a game where Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf can be in the same party and all have interesting things to do without overshadowing each other. If you want a fantasy game that's less about five foot squares and spell slots and more about character arcs and heartfelt storytelling, Legend of Mist is the game for you.

A friendly and welcoming GM, Zach incorporates player ideas into his worldbuilding and storytelling and creates a space where players are eager to share their ideas. The idea of level 0 peasant campaign may not sound exciting, but Zach's vivid descriptions and roleplaying brought the world to life and made even small things feel big.