Top Ten RPGs 2023

I’m back! And once again, I’m doing a non-review of my favorite RPG products of the year.

I don’t review RPG products, but I can certainly tell you what I loved and make recommendations. I love playing games and talking about the games I love is big source of joy to me.

This is simply my impressions and responses to products that have come out throughout the year that I felt were some of the best I had the chance to experience (either through reading, playing or other methods.) There are of course, dozens more games and while these games were the ones that spoke to me, they won’t speak to everyone (nor will all games speak to me!)

Consider these recommendations, but there are so many great RPGs out there. It was hard to choose the “best of” and I certainly can’t play and read everything. There are many more I wish I could mention. And I barely play and read a fraction of the games that came out, so if you have recommendations or your own list, fire it at me!

I also never put my games on this list. (That feels wrong to me.) I will also note, I work with a lot of people on this list and will continue to do so, but that association is derived from myself enjoying their work and efforts, not them bribing me for good placement on this list (I doubt they see enough of a bump from this to bother bribing me, and I buy all my own games anyways. I never get comped for this list other than affiliate links below.) I have not worked on any games on this list, aside from maybe providing feedback to colleagues and friends (even then, I don’t think I have, but I’m gonna hedge my bets.)

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If this year had an RPG theme for Alan, it is nostalgia and aging (it’s interesting to see my old posts and see how my tastes have changed, circled back, and changed again). Lots of games that draw on old gaming memories for me made the list this year. Also, I’m crunched for time, so I’m not sourcing pictures of covers like I normally do. Sorry.

But there is a lot of fantastic creativity out there, and I owe it to the creatives who make the games I love to talk about them. So lets go.

*Note: This year each link to DTRPG is an affiliate link, so I might make a small percentage of applicable sales if you click through.

10. Old Gods of Appalachia

I love this game. From the Cypher system design that sings, to the art, layout, and setting lore, the whole product is just a really immersive piece of gaming ephemera. It drips and oozes with that classic “cosmic horror” but different vibe, in a way I really like and that really works at getting my creative GM side going mentally when I read it.

9. OSR (Outcast Silver Raiders)

Lots of fun, really pretty, with some slick rules ideas that add some oomph to the classic adventure game genre. The Mythic North setting is a hexcrawl dream, with lots of details, interesting encounters, plot hooks, factions and more. There’s a lot to recommend here, and as I’ve been running it lately for my home group, I’ve found more and more to like about it.

And it is really pretty to look at. The stark art and hand drawn blackletter headings really make the content sing.

8. Across a Thousand Dead Worlds

From my buddy Alex T. at Blackoath, ATDW is a masterclass in sci-fi alien…economic-crawl…horror…stuff? It’s really hard to pin down. It’s got a bit of action horror, a bit of economic horror, a lot of tables, and a lot of interesting survival horror elements.

It’s chockful of gorgeous art, cool layout, and really interesting lore and writing. There’s a lot to learn from this game, even if you don’t play it. But you should play it. There’s a lot of cool ideas and procedures in this. No one makes crunchy solo-procedure driven games quite like Alex and Blackoath.

7. Crimefighting Luchadores

(I did a little lore contribution for the upcoming expansion of this game, fyi.)

Wrestling? Check. Lucha? Check. Zine? Check. Great art? Check. I mean, it has it all! Who doesn’t wanna be a (maybe) superpowered lucha, fighting aliens, monsters, criminals, and more. It’s fun, it’s punchy, it’s DIY, and it’s passionate about a niche topic in a way that really illustrates what makes RPGs so special.

You should check this one out.

6. Paranoia: Perfect Edition

Lots of nostalgic love for Paranoia, and the new perfect edition manages to thread the needle between “modern update”, “nostalgia-driven” and “high-production quality”. While I still yearn for quality reprints of older books, the modern Paranoia game has really come into its own as a punchy, satirical, and farcical take on both roleplaying games, itself, pop culture, and more.

I’m glad to see Paranoia still going strong and I am even more glad to be getting high-quality content. I have fond memories of playing Paranoia at a mall food court in college (yes, I’m getting old), and the laughs and fun we have.

5. Imperium Maledictum

I ran a lot of Dark Heresy back in the day, and while I ran Wrath and Glory a bit, without my crunchy percentiles, it just never quite felt like a 40k RPG to me. 40k rpgs are about chumps who die to a single lucky autopistol shot, where attempting to use a psychic power carries more risk than reward, and everything just…sucks and you can’t change it. W&G never quite had that for me.

But IM does. There’s clear improvements over the Dark Heresy progenitors (the patron system is great as are the expanded campaign options), while still hewing to the updates C7 made in the WFRP 4e gameline. I really like this one and we’ve already been running it.

4. The Music of the Sphere’s is Chaos

I don’t even know where to start here. The dungeon is really cool. The presentation is nice. DCC is always a fever-dream of evocative ideas, art, content, and themes all smushed into a weird ball of…stuff.

And this 100th adventure they have really sells that. It’s packed to the gills with weird-fantasy shenanigans, unique locales and enemies, and it comes in a high quality box.

I mean, seriously. The dungeon idea alone is really cool.

3. Faculty

Galen Pejeau and I work together on art stuff sometimes and I was glad to get Faculty, where he can craft a game to his own unique art. It’s punchy and focused, gorgeously illustrated, and Galen leans his artistic eye to creating a version of layout that also serves as a game mechanic in a way I haven’t quite seen before, but feels similar to the older Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (with dice on the bottom of pages).

Completely worth your time.

2. The Silt Verses

Folk horror near the water? An evocative setting? All by the team that put together Brindlewood Bay (a game I have a lot of fun with)? I’m pretty into this. The rules are a robust hack of pbta design, the game has really great narrative and setting information, as well as art. It’s well crafted, smoothly integrates the audio drama/podcast into ttrpg space and is a great example of how other media can become RPGs.

1. Black Sword Hack

I mean, yeah. This game is everything I like. Moorcockian fantasy? Yes please. Gorgeous Goran art? Yes, please. Nice layout, cool tools, and strong writing? I mean, yeah. This is spot on. It’s beautiful. It’s compact. It’s an underserved niche of fantasy (though it seems to be gaining ground) and there’s a lot to learn about smart game design and focus on this one. It’s absolutely my game of the year and one of the best solo gaming experiences I’ve had recently.