It’s time for year-end roundups around the Internet. Here in the Warrens, we put our heads together and came up with a list of our favorites in 2024.
Of course, we should mention that the Tales of the Valiant roleplaying game came out this year. That’s our own lauded 5E game. We also released a Game Master’s Guide for it which is receiving great reviews, and Campaign Builder: Castles & Crowns delivered from last year’s Kickstarter campaign.
But we toot our own horn all the time. Who else did we like in 2024?
Aetherial Expanse by Ghostfire Gaming
This all-in-one setting book is everything a person needs to run a 5E seafaring campaign in this unique, magical sea. It focuses on high fantasy swashbuckling, yet still has plenty of “crunch” for those wanting nitty-gritty seafaring rules. The naval combat is particularly robust, and there’s even a fun new subsystem for advancing your character through seafaring, whether you’re the captain, master gunner, boatswain, or even cook of the ship. The book also has plenty of new 5E-compatible subclasses for naval-minded PCs (my personal favorite is the team-focused Battle Commander fighter).
The book gives excellent guidance on the types of campaigns best suited for the setting, and the setting is self-contained enough that you can plop it into any campaign world—including the Labyrinth! Similar to the Labyrinth, the Expanse is a sort of hub of other worlds and could work well as another way for people to wander into the greater Labyrinth. Their Hungering faction in particular feels like a good counter faction or sibling faction of the Labyrinth’s Dreamers.
All those super fun things aside, my favorite part of the book is the appendix on card and dice games—complete with rules on how to play them! No swashbuckling story is complete without someone playing cards or rolling dice, and seeing these in-world games (that you can even play!) is such a fun treat.
—Meagan Maricle, senior developer
The Weird by Monte Cook Games
My recommendation is The Weird by Monte Cook Games. This book is 256 pages of random tables arranged into categories such as “Weird Magic Item Drawbacks (Fantasy)”, “Weird Music (Any Genre)” or “Weird Modern Vehicles”. The Weird covers virtually every subject in TTRPGs, providing flavorful and unexpected results of your d100 rolls. I have bookmarks on “Weird Magic Items (Fantasy)” and “Weird Treasures (Any Genre)”, and I use them almost every game.
Need examples? Using my two faves and a result of 45 on the dice, you get an arrow that heals instead of harms, and a fortune cookie holding the combination of an ancient vault’s lock. Pick up The Weird, you won’t be sorry.
—Brian Suskind, designer
Shadowdark by The Arcane Library
Though the system technically rolled out at tail end of 2023, a best-of list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Shadowdark RPG, designed by
Kelsey Dionne. Shadowdark is a fast-paced, rules-lite RPG that rolls up all the familiar elements of the sword and sorcery genre with the deadly charm of OSR style
adventures.
To top it off, the game is full of interesting mechanics that feel familiar-yet-fresh, and clever game design choices at every turn. A burning torch mechanic that actually encourages speedy player decisions in real time? Heck yes.
This game has become my group’s go-to option when we have players who can’t make our long-form campaign sessions, when we want a fun one-shot to mix things up, or whenever we’re in the mood for some good old fashioned story-light hack n’ slash. I highly recommend picking up Shadowdark to add into your game night rotation—or even just to read and draw some truly thematic inspiration. And check out the impressive list of game awards it swept this year!
—Celeste Conowitch, senior designer
Call of Cthulhu: Arkham by Chaosium
I am a fantasy d20 RPG kind of guy. The vast majority of my gaming time is spent on D&D, Tales of the Valiant, and for a good 10 years, Pathfinder 1E. However, when I get a hankering for something different, Call of Cthulhu scratches that itch for me!
This year, Chaosium released Arkham, a gorgeous (just check out that cover!) and definitive guide to Call of Cthulhu’s signature setting. It has close to three hundred locations across nine neighborhoods, a history of both Arkham and the infamous Miskatonic University, gossip and rumors to use as scenario seeds, and tons of fully-detailed NPCs with their own secrets. The book also contains two Arkham city map posters (one for players, and one with hidden information for the Keeper), and a very cool poster-sized copy of the front page of the Arkham Advertiser.
Oh, and the interior art is lush and absolutely amazing!
—Marc Radle, art director
Shadow of the Weird Wizard by Schwalb Entertainment
I really like unusual mechanics, but also mechanics that work. That’s a tough address to find in gametown.
Rob Schwalb, the overworked mastermind behind Shadow of the Weird Wizard, previously had a big hand in 4th edition D&D, 5th edition D&D, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and a bunch of other things I’ve forgotten about.
About a decade ago, Rob took all of that expertise and poured it into a game called Shadow of the Demon Lord, a grim, heavy metal, horror-fantasy game about operating in a fantasy world on the edge of catastrophe. You’re probably not going to save the world. You might not even save your own life. But you can’t just do nothing. Pretty fun, huh?
Well, after years of talking about it, this year, Rob released his heroic fantasy take in Shadow of the Weird Wizard. A world-shatteringly powerful wizard died or vacated or something, and now all his weird creations and magical concoctions don’t have anyone minding the door. You and your friends should do something about that.
A game system that already ran very nicely got somehow even more tuned, and is now more PG-rated. It feels sort of like 5E, but runs off in new directions you didn’t know were on the map. That tough address? This is the house when you get there.
—Jeff Quick, senior editor
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