An expanding annotated list of oft-played titles:
- D13 RPG (Lester Smith Games): Yes, one of mine. Not intentionally atop the list. Blame the alphabet.
- Expedition (Fabricatio): An app driven, “pick-a-path” style, cooperative game with a wonderful combat system. The app has a countdown timer each turn; delay too long and the enemies hit back harder. And a hand of random maneuver cards to choose from each turn keeps the action dynamic, instead of the typical RPG’s bland “Roll to hit. Now roll for damage.”
- GameMaster’s Apprentice (Larcenous Designs): This is my favorite GM-less oracle. Each card has a wealth of prompts to spur the imagination: beyond Yes/No responses, it also gives scene suggestions, sensory details, NPC characteristics, random dice rolls, and more.
- Lichdom (Feral Wizard, solo game): A dice and tarot driven solo about the ruinous path to hellish immortality. Sort of like any of those evil wizards found in Howard’s Conan tales.
- Set a Watch (Rock Manor Games): To call this cooperative game a “tower defense” style doesn’t really do it justice. Yes, it’s fantasy characters defending against a line of monsters each turn. But the central concept of a campfire that someone has to tend makes it unique. The brightness of that fire determines how far down the line you can see and plan for. Different locations each turn can help or hurt the fire, and the range of abilities of each character and the monsters makes strategic and tactical decisions dynamic.