Not DnD

Join us for a cozy interview of mystery, psychic prediction, community, and tea. This week we’re speaking to James Kerr about The Psychic Danger Society.   The unique mechanics of the game give you a pool of “prediction dice” which you roll at the start of the session. The players choose which dice results to use when resolving issues in the game. Each die, when put forward, is spent and gone, lea...

Runecaster is a narrative TTRPG about learning magic through spectacular failure. Play as rookie mages who cast unique spells by combining runes. Magic will just as often blow up in your face as it will light your way.   Join as we speak to Wes Zebrowski on this weeks episode of Not DnD.   https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pangurbancollective/runecaster-a-narrative-ttrpg-of-magical-experimentat...

What does it take to survive the wilderness? Who does it take? A soldier, a talker, a hunter, a witch? Who lives and who starves? In the wilderness, food is the only thing that matters -- and while your stomachs go empty and wounds begin to ache,one thing remains truly certain... the World will Feast. COLD SUN is a visceral roleplaying game by Robert Cambias about scarcity, survival, and adventure...

Become one of The Cunning Folk with this rules-lite dark comedy ttrpg. Use your Magick and Luck to create a whole heap of Mischief. And seek devilish revenge on mortals on the receiving end of your ire.   The Cunning folks has its own system with a simple D6 dice pool, and interestingly features a levelling DOWN as well as levelling up mechanic. The rules encourage a ‘failing forward’ style of sto...

Join host Jessica on this week's episode of Not D&D, presented by E.N. World, as she delves into the innovative tabletop RPG 'Mapa Mundi' with creator George Francis Bickers from Three Sail Studios. Mappa Mundi is a TTRPG driven by exploration and ecology.  Players take on the role of Chroniclers, brave souls setting out from hearth and home to travel the wilds and tell the story of this world...

Join us in this week's episode of Not D&D, where Jessica hosts Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan. Fear Itself plunges ordinary people into a disturbing contemporary world of madness and violence —and inexorably draws them into confrontation with creatures of the Outer Dark, a realm of alien menace. Gareth shares insights on the unique Gumshoe system that fuels investigations, ensuring that players seamles...

Welcome to this week's episode of Not D&D, where host Jessica is joined by game designer Laurie Blake to discuss their innovative tabletop role-playing game, Why We Fight. Why We Fight is a solo+ narrative TTRPG where you play a crew of eco-punks fighting fascism to build a brighter, greener future. Using a designed-for-purpose, lightweight system (PbtA meets FATE) developed with  new school r...

It's been three years of Not DnD, the weekly podcast discussing tabletop roleplaying games. This month we are looking at Why We Fight, a solo+ narrative TTRPG where you play a crew of eco-punks fighting fascism to build a brighter, greener future. Fear Itself plunges ordinary people into a disturbing contemporary world of madness and violence —and inexorably draws them into confrontation with crea...

Been watching the second season of Squid Game recently? Despair Dilema is a Death Game that take inspiration from this and other narratives such as DanganRonpa and Zero Escape. Game designer Nora Jean Haynes shares the unique mechanics of "Despair Dilemma," a game that challenges traditional RPG narratives by having players assume the roles of narrative forces instead of characters. And how it nav...

My guilty pleasure is low budget zombie movies. I love running survival horror, and enjoy a rules light system for this sort of storytelling. Reanimated is based on the Key Powered System using 2d8, with an infection mechanic that makes every interaction with the undead a risk. The game offered a huge amount of customisation options to run the stye of survival horror you are looking to create, and...

Today we're speaking to Federico Sohns about their game Zephyr on Not DnD. The world feels dark, moody and almost lonely, but the game also provide elements of colours and connection. This is a really unique game, and I think it will be a really interesting discussion to listen to. You play one of the Windfall who are are born of, and live upon, the back of a colossal sentient content. You travel...

It's a cold dark month here in the UK, but has fleeting glimpses of spring on the horizon. I think the games I’ve chosen for February 2025 for Not DnD reflect that mood.   Not DnD  is a weekly show discussing tabletop roleplaying games. Each week EN Publishing’s  @tabletopjess  interviews the creators behind different tabletop roleplaying games that aren’t D&D!   You can watch the live recordi...

Mum Chums  is a slice-of-life game where each player portrays someone who cares for a young child, nominally set in Britain. Play begins as their kids start primary school. A GMless game exploring the relationships between people who raise children,  coming soon to Kickstarter . https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/floaker/mum-chums  

Bitter Chalice  is a Soulslike fantasy TTRPG about insatiable hunger in a blighted land. It's inspired by video games like Hollow Knight, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Elden Ring (but without the repetitive and frustrating deaths). Bitter Chalice is structured to be a different experience to traditional TTRPGs: think of it as one huge, highly curated game campaign that comes with its own rules. Find...

Here's a cosy solo TTRPG for those looking to escape the darkness of the season. ION Heart is a Lo-Fi Solo Mech TTRPG. Discover planets, solar systems and cultures of your own making in the peaceful galaxy of the Astral Union. Create a pilot and their mech best friend and sail the stars with. Your job as a pilot is to bond with your mech as you explore together and find a home for you both in the...

Happy New Year! Here's the games we will be looking at in January 2025: Ion Heart Bitter Chalice Mum Chums More information and links to the live streams can be found here: https://www.enworld.org/threads/new-year-plans-for-not-dnd.709468/ Not DnD  is a weekly show discussing tabletop roleplaying games. Each week EN Publishing’s  @tabletopjess  interviews the creators behind different tabletop rol...

I knew BIND would be a good fit for Not D&D, as it is an acronym for BIND Is Not D&D! The game uses a 2D6 system at its core, and introduces new rules as needed for the module you are playing. BIND is a community driven grunge-fantasy TTRPG which is based around free and open source software. BIND is a has a ‘Print It Yourself’ format instead of traditional publishing. Done this way to mak...

Deepspace RPG, the new card-based sci-fi RPG. The card based combat is inspired by deck building board games.  The game is currently in development by Ethan from Flaming River Studios, and available to download for free. Download the game: https://flamingriverstudios.itch.io/deepspace-rpg  Link Tree:  https://linktr.ee/flamingriver  Playtest: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d1ALFM2sQo88I6hLQRbVCv...

Be Seeing You is a roleplaying game about independence, control, freedom and compliance. Influenced by fiction in the vein of The Prisoner, Stalker, and Utopia, and real struggles against mass surveillance, the Hostile Environment, and the alienating effects of capitalism. The game is for three to five players and needs no GM. There are also additional play modes for solo player, and a two player...

Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Edition is built around the GUMSHOE system, which is perfect for a game of investigation and horror. You take on the roles of stalwart investigators - detectives, journalists, scientists, ordinary people - as they uncover clues and unravel cryptic mysteries that lead inexorably towards the terrifying cosmic horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos described in the works of writer H. P. L...

Not DnD  is a weekly show discussing tabletop roleplaying games. Each week EN Publishing’s  @tabletopjess  interviews the creators behind different tabletop roleplaying games that aren’t D&D! Here's the games we will be looking at in December 2024. You can read more on EN World at https://www.enworld.org/threads/ttrpgs-that-are-not-dnd-for-december.708253/  

PSYCHODUNGEON is a fantasy workplace action drama, played using No Dice and No Masters. It's a tabletop roleplaying game set in a world of mobile phones and magic spells, mass transit and malevolent demons, the supernatural intermingled with the everyday. In Glyndain, when a persons trauma hits a breaking point, their troubles manifest physically as a psychodungeon full of monstrous nightmares. Pl...

Aegean is a tabletop role-playing game about a group of mythic heroes building a new, free city on the shores of the Aegean Sea. There are neighbouring cities to trade or war with, monsters to kill, gods to appease, deceptions, negotiations and bloody skirmishes. With a core resolution mechanic of a D10 dice pool, the game also balances Risk, Glory and Hubris as game mechanics which impact your ch...

Play the Fools, incite Calamity. Dive into a world of tarot & androids, of neon dreams & data divine. Will you deny these jealous gods? A Fool’s Errand is a tarot-fueled science fantasy tabletop roleplaying game set in a vibrant post-calamity world of Androids, Humans, and those in between. Kickstarter Link (now fully funded!): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/strautmaskreplica/a-fools...

The Bludgeon TTRPG System is a crunchy, tactical RPG with flexible mechanics. The game is made by a team of Indian designers and artists and is currently in development and being play tested.   The games core design centres around power sources the characters have (whether Martial, Chakra, Primal, Arcane or Divine), and a scaling system where power and experience does not mean bigger numbers. Inst...