Popular Franchises As Tabletop RPGs

    This list represents the work of various people from around the world who wanted to find a way to make lesser-known systems more accessible to newcomers as well as keep alive the history of licensed roleplaying games. It's for those who are searching for a system that meshes well with ideas they already have but don't know where to begin. It's for those who ask, "what system is best for ______" but the replies never come. I've compiled the original PDF down into a more readable and less bloated Excel sheet which has been converted back to PDF to share here. Links have been updated and the focus is on usability. Suggestions are welcome, but please make sure your suggestion isn't already listed-- you might be surprised at the scope of this project!

Please see the attached file and consider it public domain to copy, share, save, and print. To avoid any confusion, please suggest changes here in this thread. Any modifications to the document should have the header significantly altered so as to not create any confusion with the original document.

There's a Touhou Project ttrpg
https://chireikiden.tumblr.com/narratograph

Nice-- never seen this one before. Next version will include it.

Quote from: yosemitemike on February 01, 2025, 06:01:24 PMThere's a Touhou Project ttrpg
https://chireikiden.tumblr.com/narratograph

Issue is you have to play as a smallish selection of canon characters, I'd say this is better https://archive.org/details/touhou-project-magnificent-youkai-of-neofantasia, also glad to see that fan made Nasuverse one get some love, I helped with the secondary PDFs (they were originally text documents) and I'm going to run it as my first game. Also glad to find another Digimon RPG, all I'd seen was an uber rules light one https://archive.org/details/digidice-1.0/Didigice%20-%20Digidestined%20Character%20Sheet%20fillable/ or an old WOD hack https://archive.org/details/digimon-tamers-in-the-world-of-digital-darkness (Yes this is my IA account if the description for the Fate books didn't make it obvious lol), the link on the site is dead, you have to join the Discord for the Digimon RPG btw.

Quote from: Witch Hunter Siegfried on February 12, 2025, 12:36:18 AMIssue is you have to play as a smallish selection of canon characters, I'd say this is better https://archive.org/details/touhou-project-magnificent-youkai-of-neofantasia,

I didn't know that one even existed.

Quote from: yosemitemike on February 12, 2025, 01:10:06 AM

Quote from: Witch Hunter Siegfried on February 12, 2025, 12:36:18 AMIssue is you have to play as a smallish selection of canon characters, I'd say this is better https://archive.org/details/touhou-project-magnificent-youkai-of-neofantasia,

I didn't know that one even existed.

Forgot exactly how I found it, but funny thing the art on this version (which is the most recent) on a few of the pages was corrupted, so had to fix it myself lol by copying it over from the slightly older one (Which was a bit easier to find. Not sure how old the game is or where it was originally hosted either, to my knowledge this is the final revision.

Awesome! I'll explore this and a new version of the list should happen by the first of March. Thanks for the input.

I love archival stories like yours. Once I helped preserve an old, obscure system by convincing a stranger to scan me the only known original character sheet still intact, spending hours carefully erasing (digitally) all the blemishes, stats and pencil marks, and giving him a clean copy back as a PDF. He was floored and I was just thankful to have the original character sheet for use.

Not a system but here's a D&D 3X hack for Disgaea https://archive.org/details/roleplaying-in-the-disgaeaverse
Here's a few more for Touhou:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/101ttpNOmt9N5B9Dz11ZolkA9sFKfkIAxWUWYeVoPfcc/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.iz64syuft5bf
https://archive.org/details/touhou-tale-of-phantasmal-land/Touhou%20Tale%20of%20Phantasmal%20Land%20Character%20Sheet/
Also MERP, the old LOTR RPG should be here too.

EDIT: The Fate RPG (The Unauthorized RPG) Could also be for Tsukihime (Which is what the cover art on the main book is from) and/or Garden of Sinners/Kara no Kyoukai it's 2 sister series.

[{quote author=D-ko link=msg=1302048 date=1739346993]
Awesome! I'll explore this and a new version of the list should happen by the first of March. Thanks for the input.

I love archival stories like yours. Once I helped preserve an old, obscure system by convincing a stranger to scan me the only known original character sheet still intact, spending hours carefully erasing (digitally) all the blemishes, stats and pencil marks, and giving him a clean copy back as a PDF. He was floored and I was just thankful to have the original character sheet for use.
[/quote]

Aye it was weird, as the slightly older version was the one that was easier to find too (0.9.2.1 vs this one which is 0.9.5.4) had an (assuredly 3rd party) google drive upload, Funniest one was uploading another fan made Fate RPG I found at the same time as the Nasuverse one which I threw up on IA and TTS as I like to do and a week later the site that hosted it died off, it's on my IA but frankly I don't like it as the class systems make it impossible to make certain characters (like Kirei or Shiki (either of them lol)) hence not linking it lol. The Fate Nasuverse one I wanted to put on TTS hence making the PDFs and given the creator is a mutual of mine on another site, I sent him the stuff and he liked it hence it being on the website, Took me forever but IMO it was worth it, especially as I'm going to run it.

There is an OSR Berserk game floating around on the internet. I can't find a link but I think I have the pdf somewhere. I could maybe upload it to Archive.org or something. I'll let you know if I can.

There's also Sacrifice: An Incense and Iron RPG (https://blackoathgames.com/store/sacrifice-an-incense-iron-rpg), which is very directly a Berserk RPG under another name.

Speaking of which, there's also Syma: Incense and Iron Dungeoncrawling which I have heard described as a bit of an unofficial adaptation of Dark Souls, and the official Dark Souls RPG Books that came out for 5th edition. There's also the Eldritch Hunt Kickstarter,  which is an unofficial adaptation of Bloodborne.

There's the Elfquest RPG, which Chaosium is bringing back for nostalgia bucks (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chaosium/elfquest-classic)

There are many, many RPG adaptations of Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar/Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser/Swords series (which also goes by many names). TSR did a version of it back in the day (They also did a Conan RPG), but more recently Savage Worlds (https://peginc.com/savage-settings/lankhmar/) and Dungeon Crawl Classics have had versions (https://goodman-games.com/store/product/dungeon-crawl-classics-lankhmar-boxed-set/?srsltid=AfmBOorRtLNHvompfQQDDHlgcPfAD_g_HGtv8lfDcGpxTwl6QKzdjNQN).

Savage Worlds has settings for all kinds of stuff, but the one I noticed is missing from your list is Solomon Kane. Unfortunately, they seem to have scrubbed the old book from their website now that they're kickstarting a new one (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/the-savage-world-of-solomon-kane-rpg).

I'd add Punkapocalyptic (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/304311/punkapocalyptic-the-rpg) to the Fallout, Borderlands and/or Mad Max adaptation lists. At a stretch, you could maybe use it to run Trigun.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

Quote from: D-ko on February 01, 2025, 03:01:51 PMThis list represents the work of various people from around the world who wanted to find a way to make lesser-known systems more accessible to newcomers as well as keep alive the history of licensed roleplaying games. It's for those who are searching for a system that meshes well with ideas they already have but don't know where to begin. It's for those who ask, "what system is best for ______" but the replies never come. I've compiled the original PDF down into a more readable and less bloated Excel sheet which has been converted back to PDF to share here. Links have been updated and the focus is on usability. Suggestions are welcome, but please make sure your suggestion isn't already listed-- you might be surprised at the scope of this project!

D-ko, can you share the Excel original or perhaps make it available as a Google Sheets page?

It seems like it would be most useful long-term if it was in a format that people could add to.

Some of these are novelties, but Wendys: Feast of Legends is a very solid game system.  This is not a knock at other novelty franchises.

Quote from: ForgottenF on February 12, 2025, 10:49:14 AMThere is an OSR Berserk game floating around on the internet. I can't find a link but I think I have the pdf somewhere. I could maybe upload it to Archive.org or something. I'll let you know if I can.

There's also Sacrifice: An Incense and Iron RPG (https://blackoathgames.com/store/sacrifice-an-incense-iron-rpg), which is very directly a Berserk RPG under another name.

Speaking of which, there's also Syma: Incense and Iron Dungeoncrawling which I have heard described as a bit of an unofficial adaptation of Dark Souls, and the official Dark Souls RPG Books that came out for 5th edition. There's also the Eldritch Hunt Kickstarter,  which is an unofficial adaptation of Bloodborne.

There's the Elfquest RPG, which Chaosium is bringing back for nostalgia bucks (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chaosium/elfquest-classic)

There are many, many RPG adaptations of Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar/Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser/Swords series (which also goes by many names). TSR did a version of it back in the day (They also did a Conan RPG), but more recently Savage Worlds (https://peginc.com/savage-settings/lankhmar/) and Dungeon Crawl Classics have had versions (https://goodman-games.com/store/product/dungeon-crawl-classics-lankhmar-boxed-set/?srsltid=AfmBOorRtLNHvompfQQDDHlgcPfAD_g_HGtv8lfDcGpxTwl6QKzdjNQN).

Savage Worlds has settings for all kinds of stuff, but the one I noticed is missing from your list is Solomon Kane. Unfortunately, they seem to have scrubbed the old book from their website now that they're kickstarting a new one (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/the-savage-world-of-solomon-kane-rpg).

I'd add Punkapocalyptic (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/304311/punkapocalyptic-the-rpg) to the Fallout, Borderlands and/or Mad Max adaptation lists. At a stretch, you could maybe use it to run Trigun.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

I was thinking Berserk would work very well as OSR so not shocked systems for it exist in that format.

Some very intriguing suggestions that I'll sort through soon. I'll be brief tonight because my area has a huge winter storm hitting tomorrow that we're all prepping for, but it'll probably leave me with plenty of free time the next few days.

Jhkim, I'm perfectly willing to provide you the raw Excel file. I don't think this website allows attaching such a file but perhaps I could rename it as a PDF and then drop it here. Name your method of delivery and I'll send it over the weekend. Unfortunately, I've seen that with a live spreadsheet, while perfectly sensible, it also brings with it a sense of apathy and lack of urgency, progress or excitement, not to mention vandalism. Prove me wrong and I'll gladly shift over to that but I just haven't seen it work.

Jhkim, holy shit... you run this site? I feel like I owe you something. What a masterful list you have there.

https://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/encyclopedia/