4 of the Most Beautiful Tabletop RPGs of All Time
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- Between first learning to play a game, absorbing all the lore and looking up the occasional rule during a session, players end up spending a lot of time looking at RPG rulebooks. With that in mind, why not make them beautiful? Wheels is here with four tabletop RPGs so beautiful you might just fall in love.
1. AGON by John Harper - www.evilhat.com/home/agon/
2. Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings - timhutchings.itch.io/tyov
3. Mörk Borg by Free League Publishing - morkborg.com/
(and character creator - scvmbirther.makedatanotlore.dev/)
4. City of Mist by Son of Oak Game Studio - www.cityofmist.co/
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Hi, I work for Gamesquest and actually sent you guys the copy of Mork Borg. Was very pleasantly surprised when I was handed the invoice with Dicebreaker's name on it!!
Yet another Dicebreaker video in which Wheels makes my bank account cry 😂
Wheels' description of Mork Borg brought me so much joy. It's a unique visual experience for sure. I'd also say that Jim Henson's labyrinth: the adventure game (which you guys did a let's play of) is an absolutely gorgeous book to hold.
The Degenesis books are a visual treat. They are something I can even show my non-TTRPG friends and they can appreciate the book for the looks ( and typography) alone.
Totally agree! Amazing product. They also have some short films you can find in CZcams.
And they're free online even
Yes, they totally are. Sadly the rules aren't as solid in my opinion
Dude. These guys are always overlooking this AMAZING game and it's fucking criminal.
Symbaroum is for sure worthy of this list as it is simply gorgeous. Some of the best TRPG art I've ever seen.
This.
“Jim Henson’s Labyrinth - the Adventure Game” is a work of art! The illustrations are breath taking and the layout is the best I have seen (both efficient and gorgeous). The system is very simple but some very interresting ideas. The book is self sufficient with the rules, dm toolkit and adventure.
The combination of introducing the game before talking about the visuals works well, really enjoyed this upload. personally Aquelarre would have made my list, it is sooo immersive. I probably would have not taken on a 570 page monstrosity if it wouldn't have been for the illustrations and how they bring the setting to breathe and live. Godsmacked! A heartfelt thank you to the late Stewart Wieck for bringing the english translation to life.
I’ve really been enjoying your RPG videos. I’m new to DnD and analog RPGs in general. It’s been really wonderful to be able to sample the wide variety of worlds, play styles, themes, and designs that make the RPG world so vast. Thank you!
Agon looks beautiful, I like how you can learn history in a really clearly laid out way.
While watching the piece for Mork Borg and looking at my tattoos and Slipknot art book: "Sold!"
Awesome vid, Wheels, and amazing books! I'm looking forward to picking up AGON sometime soon as I'm a big fan of running one shots and love that mythological setting.
I think I’m gonna get that Vampire one, looks fun
I preordered it during the video because DAMN does it look gorgeous!
It is as good as they say!
I preordered a second printing copy a few weeks ago. It came with a pdf copy and, though I’m desperate to play it, I’m controlling myself because I so want to experience it with the physical book.
Actually, I got a digital copy in a bundle, then so fell in love with the look that I turned right around and bought the book. Can’t wait for it to arrive!
Just ordered it too, played with pdf for about 5 hrs the first play through, youtube some twitch streamers who explain how to setup the word document to have the most fun.
wheels is one scandal away from the BBC offering him a job hosting on Blue Peter the way he presents these one on one lists just a really nice wholesome way about it.
@@NewHeathen Luckily he lacks that Gary Glitter magic to get the job
When I started the video the first thought I had was "I'd put Mork Borg in a list like this, but I bet they don't".
When I heard the guitar riff at around 13:30, I was so happy I was wrong and I apologise for doubting you.
I do own the book and I doubt I'll ever play it but hot damn is it fun to read and just create characters.
Those are 4 lovely books.
I had a look at a hard copy of 1000 year old vampire but the shipping to the UK was more than I could justify.
Mork Borg is a piece of art but I doubt I'll play it as it isn't my sort of thing.
My current favourite beautiful RPG is Heart:The City Beneath by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor of Rowan Rook and Decard. The art is beautiful and the layout is just so. Especially looking forward to the very limited Heartsblood edition I will be getting when it is ready, the proof copy they shared pics of is just perfect.
The 2nd edition of Thousand Year Old Vampire can be pre-ordered from Leisure Games in the UK.
All great recommendations! I really love Amy content you guys do in TTRPGs and it really makes me want start playing them, but I don't have a group or a GM. I think it'll be me who ends up getting a group to play with and GMing the session. I'd love a video on a GM starter guide with some RPG recommendations which are easy to start at.
Shadows of Esteren deserves a look. The core rules are done through in world perspectives other than the rules at the back of the book. The art and layout is breathtaking.
Aside from a couple you mentioned, I've also enjoyed the looks of Kult 4e, The One Ring hardback, and Dark Heresy 2e.
Plus some of the throwbacks to classics, like Zweihander. Since it reminds me of an old favorite, Warhammer FRP 1e's style.
Kult: Divinity Lost is great!
I really love the design of Good Society's rulebook. It presents the system cleanly and evokes the themes & tone of a Jane Austen story throughout. I was also very impressed by the Alien RPG's design which gave a kind of dark, grimy industrial working class future look before you even added the acid-blooded monsters to it.
I'd listen to Wheels read the phone book; hearing him chat about beautiful game books is happiness overload!
Fmom me I'll throw 3 true gems:
- QUEST
- SPIRE: The City Must Fall
- HEART: The City Beneath
All have a cohesive art made by one artist respectively and are a easy and a pure pleasure to play.
Similar to the LANCER rpg, a lot of great consistent artwork. Shame that they're a but lesser known.
@@ethankly12 Yeah Lancer is great but the Mecha always is a bit niche. Shame.
Came here to name those as well.
Agon is loads of fun on top of being beautiful. And I would submit the Lancer rpg book by Massif press as an addition to this list; for a mud-and-laser game, it's a thing of beauty.
A bit of a smackdown on OSR....hey, some of us love what's going on in that part of the world...and for those that don't know about it, it is worth checking out to see if it is for you. There are some OSR books very much competitive in beauty with those mentioned here - Maze of the Blue Medusa, The Midderlands, and Hot Springs Island come immediately to mind as great books in all the ways mentioned of those here. These are settings books for OSR games (which also have some nice looking books) Check them out too!
Yeah, bit harsh to be honest. I don't think OSR should be so quickly dismissed as "stuffy." I really dig the OSR movement for helping preserve older rulesets, and making them easier to access, both in readability and in price. It's important for any genre of game, especially RPGs, to be able to access its history. Plus, OSR seems to really encourage trying different systems or making/hacking one. I feel like a lot of people get stuck with one system, and that's a real shame when there's so much out there.
Also, a lot of OSR games end up being being cheap or free, so there's little risk in trying it out. I think that might be part of why people stick with only one system, since books can get expensive.
Honestly not harsh enough, the video isn't about the OSR.
That scene has a lot of problems and a caution against it is fairer than a recommendation for it.
Also, Maze of the Blue Medusa is co-written by infamous abuser, Zak S. Hard pass.
@@ThePuretide that's a fair point, I'm not saying it's all sunshine and roses in the realm of osr either. I was saying it was harsh for dismissing it on the count of the genre of osr being old, not it having it's own controversies and bad actors. That can and will happen in any community and needs to be dealt with swiftly and accordingly. People like Zak S. can go fuck themselves and the horse they rode in on, they don't need to be in any community, let alone the tabletop/ttrpg community.
I'd like to throw into the mix the wonderful works of Andy Hopp and his Low Life setting for Savage Worlds: it's a quirky post apocalyptic setting in which players can play cockroaches or animated snack cakes and so much more, but the special thing about it is: not only did Andy create and write the setting, every single illustration was also done by him. One of my all time favourites.
I love the edits on Dicebreaker videos, they're super tongue and cheek buut fucking awesome!
Thousand Year Old Vampire is both visually stunning and absolutely heart breakingly beautiful to play. I've never had so much fun chronicling the life of a sad sack immortal.
Mörk Borg, for you poor non-swedes out there, translates to dark castle or dark fortress.
The best pronunciation guide I can think of for the Ö in mörk would be the "ea" in the word "early".
e.t.a. I realized that the "u" in "murder" would be even closer.
Similar to German, the umlaut is a pronounced as if there is an 'e' following it, so it sounds closer to the English word 'murk' - a synonym for dark. Important because the Norwegian black/symphonic metal band Dimmu Borgir also means Dark Castle/Fortress, with a different word for darkness. Language is fun!
Dammit, Wheels...now I have to buy all the City of Mist books and run a campaign. Thanks a LOT.
I bought the PDF of Thousand Year Old Vampire after watching this video and I'm really enjoying it. Just need to resist dropping $40 on the super pretty print book now.
One whose aesthetic I've really like the look of is Overlight, super colourful and well worth a look
Great video you have gained a new suscriber!
I was interested in Mork Borg and now i'm even more interested, the book of rumours guy is talking about a kickstarter for Mork Borg soon and I'm definitely getting it then.
1000 year old vampire looks fantastic too, definitely picking up a copy of that soon
Symbaroum and Kult: Divinity Lost are also worth mentioning
Mouseguard by Luke Crane with Burning Wheel engine is also a work of art
wonderful video :D
Every entry here looks well worth my time.
I discovered Thousand Year Old Vampire thanks to this video and I wanted to thank you for it. I wouldn't consider it one of the most beautiful RPGs of all time though, but it is certainly a wonderful experience.
Any and all books from Monte Cook Games! Love those... love the ones you choose.
It took me a bit to notice, but 1000 year old vampire’s spine actually glows in the dark!
One of the best looking books in my collection (that also includes Agon and City of the Mist), is Unbound by Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor. The book has a great feel and the full page artwork by Adrian Stone is phenomenal; both in scale and execution.
That "1,000 Year Old Vampire" looks awesome.
Interestingly Rowan Rook and Decard are doing a kickstarter for a reprinting of Unbound due this month.
For me, the lettering in Thousand Year Old Vampire holds it back.
This video is so beautiful I could cry 😭
The video is up almost 9 month and noone mentioned Fall of Magic??? How??? It's not only the most gorgeous RPG I have ever seen it is also one of the best RPGs I ever played.
Hmm, the description of City of Mist and the images remind me a lot of the Dresden Files RPG books.
I was so giddy when I saw that Agon was on the list because I was a Kickstarter backer and was absolutely FLOORED when I got my physical copy, it's so damn beautiful!!
I've always enjoyed Hollow Earth Expedition's art, it's very exciting to me.
Oh hey, I backed Agon. It's on our to-play list
Nobilis, first edition. God, I wish I knew where my copy was. Absolutely beautiful, unbelievably rare. The second edition was also its own kind of pretty, but there's something about the little pink book that was magical.
Ray Winninger's Underground. Another hard one to find. A fantastic sendup of the grim 'n' gritty nerd culture favorites of the late 80s and early to mid 90s, whether comics, movies or, yes, RPGs. I never played the damn thing, so maybe the system was shit, but I read it cover to cover more than once.
Shame missed shadows of esteren and fateforge from studio agate. Beautifully done
I second fateforge. They are hands down the most beautiful and impressive 5e books. And yes that includes products made by WotC
You should also include Skyrealms of Jorune in the list of most beautifully illustrated RPGs of all time.
I can not agree more with your assessment of City of Mist. Flipping through those books is a love letter to the noir fiction genre and classic comic books. I would also highly recommend Star Trek Adventures and Tales from the Loop both published by Modiphius. Star Trek Adventures is printed on shiny paper and harkens very much to the classic displays that are synonymous with Trek. Tales from the Loop on the other hand takes the stark landscapes of Sweden and nostalgia for the 80's and throws in seamless worn out scifi in a bleak beauty that just.... They're both just so pretty. *chef's kiss*
I want that 1000 year vampire so much...
These look awesome.
I picked up AGON for use with Endeavour (not sure how that will do for solo play) and I must agree, it is a gorgeous book. A feast for the eyes. Even the cover is unlike any other game I've seen.
UVG needs to be on this list. UltraViolet Grasslands.
but ya, MORK BORG is flipping crazy amazing
I just ordered the Thousand Year Old Vampire book...
Let's hope it'll be €45 well spent, cause that could pretty much buy a second copy of Robinson Crusoe!
Nobilis and Everway stand out as games I would offer up to as possible contenders. Nobilis was very much designed as a coffee-table book and was gorgeous in it's presentation and artwork if a bit bonkers in it's execution.
Everyway just had a seriously lovely feel to it that speaks of a consistence of artwork and style and is inherently a visual experiene as an RPG.
MÖRK BORG! 🤘
Was curious as to whether or not The Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City, by Luka Rejec, was considered. It's extremely new and currently takes a lot of patience to get a hold of, but it seems quite visually and technically impressive.
Nobilis: The Game of Sovereign Powers. Absolutely stunning, great to play, and the entire book is designed to look like it's carved from alabaster. Just wish it was still in print! Feel free to give it a look and give it some love.
Whenever you make a video like this I just buy all of them
I'm obsessed with Morkborg. I own the pdf but I CRAVE the physical version.
As a bookbinder I have Strong Opinions on the design of RPG books as physical objects, but I'll spare you them. Some games with cool visual design-
In Case of An Emergency, which dice breaker have covered before. The layout is all over the place, to the detriment of rules reference, but the art is all really well done with a cohesive retro-but-creepy aesthetic that really channels Control well. Also the front cover is just a really nice piece of art that was obviously designed as a book cover rather than just taking a dorm poster and wrapping it around a book (I'm looking at you, 5e PHB).
Blades in the Dark. Needs no introduction, John Harper is an infuriatingly-talented renaissance man. My favourite RPG book ever. I rebound mine as a victorian springback ledger binding, but kept the black colour scheme.
Mothership. It's an OSR game (I share Wheels' skepticism), but not a terrible one, and one with some really fucking cool art and visual design. In your face, stark, unsettling sci fi horror art shares space with text and tables perfectly typeset to evoke retro, gritty sci fi like Alien, or maybe Dead Space. Skirts the line between "actual game" and "art project", but I'm glad I own it.
Ironsworn. A solo or co-op RPG I'm surprised the team havent covered yet. A great example of how you can do a lot with a budget of basically nothing if you choose your battles. The text is cleanly presented in a readable font, well laid out for reference. Chapter breaks and important pages use black and white photos, rather than conventional art, to good effect. The game is suppose to be low-fantasy and gritty, so using photos rather than art works here. The supplement, Delve, really ups the game. Pity about the quality of the POD though.
Freed From the Yoke. This is a spinoff of UFO Press' Legacy: Life Among The Ruins; players play powerful factions in an Eastern European-ish fantasy kingdom that recently overthrew an oppressive occupier and now need to figure out what to do next. The layout and type setting are great (I found one of my favourite typefaces here), evoking medieval eastern Europe while still being readable (something a lot of "medieval" looking books fail at), and with sparingly used but high quality art done in the style of slavic folk art, with similarly styled borders. Basically the whole thing looks like the brightly painted peasant houses from The Witcher 3, but as a book.
The Forbiddenlands box set still has to be one of the most gorgeous things I've bought. I mean the books are literally leather bound!
Vaesen as well
I've gotten two games for myself and one game for a friend based off of this video
Late to the party here, but wanted to note "Nobilis" - it's a game! It's a coffee-table book! It's very pretty to look at.
I am admittedly knew to books outside of D&D, but I very much like the look of Lancer. Additional qualifier: I was already a huge fan of the artist/designer's webcomic, Kill Six Billion Demons.
In Nomine has a great visual aesthetic. Trudvang as well
I would also add *The Burning Wheel* to this list. Awesome game, and an awesome and beautiful book.
Just bought 🗡Ag🔆n 🏹
Отличное видео! Так держать.
What?! How can you miss Degenesis(!) and Symbaroum? Thousand Year Old Vampire I agree totally on. City of Mist not so much.
"Heart" & "Spire". I don't like the way they show of the rules but the books have awesome illustrations within.
Wheels is such a good writer, and I kind of like that he's put to side any attempt to make the discussion seem off the cuff. Accentuate the positives, I suppose.
I would love to see an an investigation of beautiful ttrpgs that aren’t available for purchase, too...
Three more rpgs to add to my collection.
Have you seen Nobilis 2nd edition? What's you opinion on the book?
Definitely not the best layed out book of all time, but the art, font and style of Steve Jackson's In Nomine books will always be my favorite RPG to act as a display on my coffee table
While Mörk Börg is certainly striking with its no-holds-barred approach to design, oftentimes its ability to convey information suffers as a result. Like you say at 5:10, it is a rulebook after all...
I’d add wanderhome into this list now that the Kickstarter is finished up!
Does anyone know what that beautiful piano at the beginning of the video was from?
I don't understand how Degenesis hasn't even mentioned here. It is really superbe and outshadows by far some of the mentioned rpgs in the video. And as commented by other people it's (and will be) free digitally.
Dicebreaker should get a few currency units for all the things I order after watching the channel.
There's a few other very pretty books I'd add to this list. Probably the topmost is Nobilis 2nd edition, by Jenna Moran (then writing as Rebecca Borgstrom). While the 3rd edition is a wonderful game, the Great White Book is a beautiful coffee-table object that is still a pretty decent game in its own right. And while not *beautiful* in the same way, in terms of being artful I have to say good old HoL:Human Occupied Landfill is a book you will not mistake for any other RPG book... ever.
I definitely want to get City of Mist and Thousand Year Old Vampire, I just need to find enough human souls to sacrifice so I can get my hands on physical copies. Plus shipping, obvs
Also A4/US letter is too big for a rulebook that's meant to be used at the table, thank you for coming to my TED talk.
I recommend Forbidden Lands and Coriolis The Third Horizon as two very beautiful RPGs.
*watches video, immediately places all books in Amazon cart*
Hello, what is the music on the 5:57 ? Very Nice video thank :)
l've always enjoyed looking at the Amber Diceless rule book. The game itself is hit or miss and confusing to run. The rule book is beautiful though.
Vaesen is totally my choice!
So not counting Mork Borg (Which the narrator clearly has some issues with), it's all about narrative ttrpgs. Personally I've found narrative rpgs to be really lacking and often cause more drama and arguments than I care for. I prefer my ttrpgs to have more solid, in depth and clearly laid out game mechanics at their foundation before you start moving upward and outward with adding role-play and world depth and immersion. Don't get me wrong I don't want kludgy mechanics that bog down the fun by any means, but solid, clear mechanics and in depth game mechanics have always been a boon to tabletop rpgs.
Also while art is important, I also really find good layout, clear fonts and type to be more important. (looking at you The Design Mechanism and your tiny font bad lay out Mythras which makes their book eye fatiguing and basically un-readable). A great example of a beautiful book which nice layout, good fonts and type would be the RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha core book by Chaosim. Really surprised that book wasn't mention though I guess I shouldn't be since it's not a narrative rpg like the PbtA rpgs or Fate based rpgs. Oh and I'm surprised that none of Monte Cook Games books made the cut, those are truly beautiful books and the layout is quite good and makes the books easy to read. (shrugs) Anyhow I guess I'm just out of touch anymore with ttrpg players/gms. :(
I could've sworn this was "the most recent rpg books of all time"... Kidding aside, these would all make contenders for such a list, but they do happen to be fairly recent, all of them.
Is that a Year Walk t-shirt, Wheels?
Check out Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok as well for both beautiful and innovative rpg!
List videos on youtube - Can't stand them
Well made list videos about RPGs on CZcams - Guess I'm watching this forever now
I really want more of the visuals shown, especially when we're told how nice a character sheet is and only see a glimpse of half a page where the design elements are not really visible.
A pretty RPG but not the greatest game is Nobilis. The artwork makes it feel very much like one of those coffee table art books. The game is a dice less game where you are the god of a certain word and how you leverage that combined with some stat comparison gets you through the game.
Feels a lot more like classic improv than most RPGs.
lol Dnd 5e PHB is a no go.. some curious art direction decisions in they one
Invisble Sun... it is enough forever ^^