The Best Tabletop RPGs Of 2023

1994’s Planescape campaign setting was a refreshing change of pace back in the day, providing a link that connected the various worlds of the D&D multiverse – an early take on the multiverse concept for anyone keeping score. Planescape found increased popularity thanks to the stellar Planescape: Torment video game in 1999. This year’s return to the classic D&D locale does justice to those earlier iterations but isn’t afraid to strike off in new directions.

Released as a three-book set (along with some other goodies), Adventures in the Multiverse introduces several new features to your 5th edition game, including an exploration of the fantastical city called Sigil, as well as a wealth of new creatures and characters that fit the weird destinations of this cross-dimensional meeting place. There’s also a healthy selection of new player options.

However, the included adventure steals the show, catapulting players through an array of outlandish destinations, and pushing forward character death as a way to explore transformation and character development in ways that feel fresh and rewarding to longtime D&D enthusiasts. 

This new English edition is an evolution and adaptation of Scandinavia’s earliest big role-playing game, entitled Drakar och Demoner. The game self-describes as focusing on “mirth and mayhem,” and our playtests find that description apt. Adventures are often quick one-shots filled with extreme danger and a high likelihood of death, but encounters lend themselves to surprising moments and sudden turns of fate. Simultaneously, the game has a whimsical and uproarious nature – typified by a player race of duck-like mallards – that keeps the tone light and fun-loving.

Dragonbane is easy to pick up and start playing quickly, thanks to a skill-focused d20 rules system that is as simple as rolling under your overall skill value at a task. And rather than a sprawling world, the game focuses on a single fully fleshed-out valley and the conflict at play there so that you can be confident in a rewarding campaign with little to no prep. Add in art by the highly talented Johan Egerkrans, which helps bring the game world to visual life, and this is an easy win for an all-around great new RPG to bring to your table.

Modiphius often uses the flexibility of its 2d20 role-playing system to adapt popular properties like Star Trek, Fallout, or Conan, each with unique modifications to fit the theme. Dreams & Machines is an original property, but with its vibe of a post-apocalyptic world of mechs and lost technology, the publisher is offering a beautifully realized setting with a lot of potential for growth and exploration.

While the setting is intriguing, the approachable implementation of rules wins the highest praise. Dreams & Machines is deep without being complicated and offers plenty of choices without feeling overwhelming, making it an excellent choice for playgroups of mixed experience levels. While other games can boast those same traits, few also offer such an original backdrop to discover as you dive in together to play.

Explicitly built as a way to emulate video game JRPGs in a tabletop format, Fabula Ultima manages to be a vibrant and nuanced experience on its own merits, even as its art and rules ably call to mind video game franchises like Final Fantasy and Xenoblade Chronicles.

Instead of providing a static game world to adventure in, Fabula Ultima actually has the gaming group establish that world as play begins, but in a way that is guided by pillar concepts that are central to the JRPG concept, like “A World in Peril” and “Ancient Ruins and Harsh Lands.” Player characters rarely die, but when they do, they can sacrifice themselves to accomplish a nearly impossible task. Central villains are given lots of opportunities for their development, including a mechanic through which they evolve into a new form, rejecting redemption to become an even greater threat.