Tabletop Role-Playing
Pen-and-paper role-playing systems and live-action variants — Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, LARP and everything between.
16 sports in tabletop role-playing.
Call of Cthulhu
Lovecraftian horror tabletop RPG. First published 1981 by Sandy Petersen (Chaosium). Set in 1920s New England (traditional) exploring H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Percentile (d100) system + SANITY mechanic where investigators lose mental stability confronting cosmic horror. 7th Edition 2014 current. Longest continuously published RPG after D&D.
Cyberpunk RED
Cyberpunk tabletop RPG by Mike Pondsmith. Published 2020 R. Talsorian Games. Bridging setting between Cyberpunk 2020 (1990s) + Cyberpunk 2077 (video game, 2020). Set in 2045 Night City after the '4th Corporate War' + 'Time of the Red' devastation. Players are cyberpunks doing gigs. Directly tied to CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 game (2020).
Dungeons & Dragons
Foundational tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) — a Dungeon Master narrates adventures for 3-7 players, who create characters and roll polyhedral dice (d4/d6/d8/d10/d12/d20) to resolve actions in a shared fantasy world.
Fantasy LARP
Foam-swords-and-cloaks fantasy role-play in woods and fields — thousands attend the biggest festivals worldwide.
Fate
Narrative-focused RPG — descriptive 'aspects' drive characters and scenes, resolved with four-sided Fate dice.
GURPS
Universal generic RPG system — one rule set, hundreds of setting sourcebooks from Old West to Traveller SF.
Historical LARP
Live-action role-play grounded in real historical periods — Vikings, medieval knights, WWII, Cold War, Wild West.
Live-Action Role-Playing
Role-play in person — dress the part, act it out, and resolve conflicts with rock-paper-scissors, latex swords or nerf guns.
Pathfinder
High-fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Published 2009 by Paizo (spun from D&D 3.5 when Wizards released 4th Edition). PF2 released 2019. Setting: Golarion. #2 tabletop RPG globally after D&D. Adventure Paths (long campaign modules) hallmark. Popular for player customization + tactical rules depth.
RuneQuest
Percentile RPG set in the mythic world of Glorantha — Bronze Age gods, magic and rune-marked heroes.
Savage Worlds
Universal RPG built around fast, pulp-action combat — 'Fast! Furious! Fun!' with polyhedral trait dice.
Shadowrun
Cyberpunk-fantasy hybrid tabletop RPG. First published 1989 by FASA. Setting: 2050s dystopian world where MAGIC returned + CYBERPUNK MEGA-CORPS dominate + ELVES/DWARVES/ORKS/TROLLS live alongside humans. Players are 'runners' doing corporate espionage. 6th Edition (2019) current. Complex D6 dice pool system; influential cyberpunk RPG.
Traveller
The original science-fiction RPG — 2d6-driven interstellar adventure, and characters can die in generation.
Vampire LARP
Live-action version of Vampire: The Masquerade — costumed vampires in atmospheric venues, resolved by rock-paper-scissors.
Vampire: The Masquerade
Gothic-horror personal-horror tabletop RPG. First published 1991 by Mark Rein·Hagen (White Wolf). Players are recently-embraced VAMPIRES navigating politics of hidden vampire society (Camarilla, Anarchs, Sabbat, Independent clans). 5th Edition (V5) 2018 current. Iconic 1990s counterculture RPG; core of World of Darkness setting.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Grim-dark fantasy RPG set in the Warhammer world — start as a Ratcatcher and be lucky to live to see level 5.