The Best RPGs We Played In 2023
In spite of it all, and there’s a lot of all to be in spite of, 2023 was a pretty good year for roleplaying games. Here are our favorites.
As the year comes to a close and the last few days to fulfill those empty promises you made 362 days ago quickly run out, it’s time to look back on the things we did do instead of learning a new language, reading all those books, and “become frog” whatever that means. Mostly that means looking back at the new RPGs that either came out this year or that we played for the first time this year.
Because in spite of it all, 2023 was still a good year for RPGs. Maybe not so much the industry as a whole, since it was a rollercoaster of a year as tremors made their way through the continental shelf of D&D, in whose shadow the rest of the industry labors, but for the RPGs themselves? Fantastically inventive, creative stuff.
The Wildsea
First up, The Wildsea from Mythworks, an RPG I hadn’t heard of until a friend recommended it to me after trying it at Gen Con. And what a ride it is. The Wildsea is a uniquely post-post-apocalyptic game. Three hundred years ago, the empires of the world were drowned in vegetation. A “wave of fast-growing greenery” known as the Verdancy covers the known world.
Players take on the role of Wildsailors, swashbuckling adventurers who set out in chainsaw ships to cut their way across the verdant sea, ahem, in a world that’s as rich and vibrant as the artwork around it.
There is nothing that will prepare you for how wild this world is. Everything from the aesthetic to the mechanics feels perfectly tuned to its premise. It’s a world built from the ground up for play.
Fabula Ultima
Billed as the TTJRPG, Fabula Ultima is a game inspired by the JRPGs we grew up with. Your Final Fantasies, Chrono Triggers, Tales of Arise, and the like all have their influences here. If you have been entranced by anime like Freiren: Beyond Journey’s End (and if you haven’t, go watch it right now, there’s still time), this may well be the game for you.
It’s a fantastic system that walks you through creating your own setting alongside the characters that you’ll be playing. And like many JRPGs, instead of being locked into a single class, you mix and match different jobs to create your own ultimate expression of either power or hope or whatever else fuels you.
There’s a reason this game won Best Game at the Ennies this year. And you’d do well to give it a shot.
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game
This was one of the biggest games of the year. Magpie Games worked with Nickelodeon and the Avatar team to create an RPG that contains the full spectrum of the world of Avatar. From the modern days of Republic City in The Legend of Korra to the days of the Fire Nation’s war of conquest in The Last Airbender and beyond. The earliest days of the Four Nations and the days of Avatar Kyoshi—this RPG explores every little nook and cranny like good fans do.
And then it gives you the opportunity to play however you want. Using the Powered-by-the-Apocalypse framework, the RPG lets you create your own hero. Whether you bend elements or technology or are just very skilled, there are plenty of options. What really stands out, though, is the mix of character internal conflict, reflected by a track that wavers between two opposites, and martial arts/bending action.
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is a must for any fan of Avatar.
Slugblaster: Kickflip Over a Quantum Centipede
This was a game made specifically for me. Equal parts sci-fi adventure, coming-of-age story, skateboarding game, and A Goofy Movie homage; this is an RPG that evokes the spirit of Saturday in all the best ways. In Slugblaster: Kickflip over a Quantum Centipede, you play as a crew of teenage hoverboarders with access to interdimensional travel who just want to get away from their problems and film cool hoverboard tricks so they can go viral and be popular.
It’s a Forged-in-the-Dark game, which means it’s as focused on your crew of misfits and friends as it is on individual characters. And there’s a lot of crunch to play around with. I cannot recommend this one hard enough.
D&D 5E: Planescape
Look, WotC has been through a wringer of their own making. But while the leadership might be charting a course to step on more rakes than Sideshow Bob, many of the developers have been hard at work trying to create adventures full of fun and fantasy. And Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse pulls this off. It revisits a setting that had been long untouched; the last time it was really in the spotlight was Planescape: Torment.
But this year, the campaign setting box set gave it fresh life. The new setting book might have lacked some of the bite of the original setting (it’s criminal that they don’t mention the word “berk” anywhere), it has the wonder down pat. And the adventure accompanying it, while it has its problems, is still the sort of chaotic hodge-podge of random D&D stuff that every good Planescape adventure should be.
What were your favorite games of 2023?
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