Here Are Your Official Top 10 Most Anticipated Tabletop RPGs Of 2018

40 tabletop roleplaying games were nominated. 14,241 votes were cast by 5,446 voters. Now I can finally reveal which are the most anticipated tabletop roleplaying games for 2018! We have a colourful mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and more, with some returning franchises and some which are brand new to roleplaying!

Previous winners include 13th Age (2013), Star Wars Force & Destiny (2015), Rifts for Savage Worlds (2016), and Trudvang Chronicles (2017). Who will join their ranks this year? Read on to find out!



10. Numenera 2: Discovery and Destiny (Monte Cook Games)
Kickstarted earlier this year, this pair of books updates Monte Cook Games' wildly successful Numenera RPG from 2013. Set a billion years in the future, after civilisations have risen and fallen, these two books replace the core rulebook and add new worldbuilding tools.

9. Legend of the Five Rings 5th Edition (Fantasy Flight Games)
Announced in 2015, the fifth edition of this RPG is in open beta testing. Set in a fictional world based on feudal Japan, this game was created by Alderac Entertainment Group in the 1990s and has gone through various iterations since. The setting is also the focus of a collectible card game, and has been a Dungeons & Dragons setting. The players take on the role of samurai who act as warriors, courtiers, priests, or monks.

8. The Expanse (Green Ronin Publishing)
Based on James SA Corey's popular novel series, which spawned a successful TV show, The Expanse is a hard-sci game powered by Green Ronin's existing Adventure Game Engine (AGE) ruleset.

7. Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory (Ulisses North America)
Not Warhammer's only entry in this list, this dark, 41st-century sci-fi game allows characters to adventure in the Dark Imperium. Brutal, immersive, and beset by endless war, this game will be brought to you by Ross Watson of Rogue Trader and Deathwatch fame.

6. The Witcher Roleplaying Game (R. Talsorian Games)
The Witcher is a Polish fantasy setting created by Andrzej Sapkowski, and which has spawned novels, a TV series, multiple video games, and now a tabletop roleplaying game! The series features a mutant assassin who hunts monsters, and the RPG will be powered by the same system as Cyberpunk 2020. Originally slated for a mid-2016 release, this one seems to be running late!

5. RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (Chaosium)
This iconic game from Chaosium is the fourth, or seventh, edition of the game, depending on how you count it. Chaosium has gone with "RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha", building off the 1980 RuneQuest 2nd Edition ruleset. This iconic game was nearly as big as Dungeons & Dragons at one time.

4. Forbidden Lands: Retro Open-World Survival Fantasy RPG (Fria Ligan)
There's always a strong Scandinavian presence in these polls, probably because they produce some of the most beautiful roleplaying games in the world. This Swedish offering, from the team who brought us Tales from the Loop, and Mutant: Year Zero, lets you play raiders and rogues living in a cursed world. A gorgeous boxed set, rules for exploration and survival, and packed with art by legendary Swedish fantasy artists, this looks like a must-have.

3. Kult: Divinity Lost (Helmgast AB)
There's always a game which makes it into the list two years in a row (or, in Conan's case, three years). This year, it looks like it's Kult's turn! Another Swedish showing, and equally beautiful-looking, this horror game describes our world, trapped in an illusion, filled with nightmares, demons, and worse. This is a new edition of a game which launched 25 years ago!

2. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Fourth Edition (Cubicle 7)
Warhammer features twice in this list, which is a testament to the love that fans have for the iconic, venerable brand. Now set for release mid-2018, the system draws heavily on 1E and 2E. This grim world of perilous adventure launches with the core rules and a boxed starter set, and will also be accompanied by updated versions of classic campaigns like The Enemy Within.

1. Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition (White Wolf)
White Wolf is revisiting Vampire: The Masquerade with a bang! Announced earlier this year, the 5th edition is being spearheaded by veteran RPG designer Kenneth Hite. V:tM burst onto the scene back in 1991, and allowed players to adopt the role of vampires in a gothic, modern world, and went on to give us the entire World of Darkness setting, which featured companion games starring werewolves, mages, and more. And now, in 2018, it's coming back, and is officially the most anticipated tabletop roleplaying of the year!

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[Jennifer Fuss]

Will I'd also want to know why VtM5 would be better/worth getting compared to V20

The rules will get an overhaul to reflect and include more modern design elements.
The V20 has been a rather very conservative, sensible adaption and consolidation of the previous editions. Which is why there was some discussion when White Wolf decided to declare the V20 an edition in its own right.
In regards to the V5 they did introduce the will to implement a mechanic to track hungriness opposing to bloodpool, implemented Vice/Virtue and composure, work with compulsion and tweaked the mechanics with stuff like critical successes and messy successes.

The setting will be overhauled and brought into the year 2018.
It will be described in a fashion that should be accessible to beginners and hence start out with the 7 clans from first edition and later on more clans to be added.
There will be advancements to the metaplot like a second (secular) inquisition happening as well as modes of play that try to consider the challenge of modern possibilities to spy on people using tech.

 

[Phototoxin]

The rules will get an overhaul to reflect and include more modern design elements.
..
In regards to the V5 they did introduce the will to implement a mechanic to track hungriness opposing to bloodpool, implemented Vice/Virtue and composure, work with compulsion and tweaked the mechanics with stuff like critical successes and messy successes.

.

Sounds good! I like V20 but requiem had tidier mechanics so hopefully they will keep the setting/clans of the original but as you say modernise some of the mechanics and elements.

Hopefully it will inject new blood (ho ho!) into the fanbase. I'm glad they're keeping the vice/virtues it was one of my favourite mechanics from requiem.

 

[Jennifer Fuss]

If you like to take a look at the current Alpha state of the game, they do got them available at their new WorldofDarkness.com V5 page for free.
You might as well get the V5 Alpha from DriveThruRPG.com for free.

 

[EonTrinity]

I found this years poll very interesting. I made several selections, and not one made the top ten lis!. I am not sure what that says about my rpg tastes. I am wondering if I am moving in a different direction than most of the rpg fan base these days.

Still, I found it quite stunning.

ET

 

[Morrus]

I found this years poll very interesting. I made several selections, and not one made the top ten lis!. I am not sure what that says about my rpg tastes. I am wondering if I am moving in a different direction than most of the rpg fan base these days.

Still, I found it quite stunning.

It’s just the top 10. The ones you chose are still being released.

 

[Ja Zirebiec]

im really looking forward the witcher and vampire: the masquerade!

 

[Charles Titus]

Nod

 

[Aldarc]

Necro: Never saw the results. Guess I was busy during the holiday season. Pleasantly surprised that Numenera 2 made it into the Top 10. Not surprised that Invisible Sun didn't make it, since it is a premium niche product.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Just looking at some of thse titles, as they have been released or about to be released, I'd say that:

- Vampire: The Masquerade (5th edition) had it's issues during development, but absolutely rocks in it's final release version. I love the back-to-basics approach and the rule systems are both innovative and really slick in practice. I know some will argue about previous editions, but for me this is the best edition of Vampire (and most thematically focussed) since the 2nd edition of 1992. Looks gorgeous too.

- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition - like Vampire seems to want to emulate the 1st edition more than any other version of the game. The system isn't as simple as 2nd edition, but it's all done in good faith and should please most long time fans. Again, the presentation is top notch and I'm looking forward to my physical copy.

- Kult has given it's backers their final PDF copies, with the printed book a few weeks away and the general release after that. The rules (based on Apocalypse World) are easy to use, and it's physically going to look stunning (as with the others) but the subject matter (and the illustrations) is as dark as it gets. If you thought that Vampire was too adult, best not try Kult…

Anybody else got any feedback on games they like from the top 10? I could do a couple more, but I'd like to hear what others think?

 

[Anselyn]

Forbidden Lands is out to backers as PDFs. It looks good. It has the most entertaining description of a species [kin in Forbidden Lands] that I've seen.

HALFLING
Everyone is happy and tubby in your family. They sing humorous songs in the inns, and drink and smoke, but when darkness falls they vomit in the flowerbeds and go home to beat their children. Your crazy aunt is locked up, and no one wants to acknowledge your even more twisted relatives even though everybody knows they are out there in the woods. You clean the flowerbeds and oil the wooden facade of your burrow so the neighbors will see it and be forced to go out as well, and everyone smiles and nods, even though they hate and slander each other as soon as the opportunity arises. You can’t stand it anymore. You’re going out into the world and never coming back again. You want blood on your knife and gold in your purse, to eat dangerously spicy food and see streets that no one cares to sweep, in villages where no one grins without reason.

I guess this might be related to the Swedish view of the English ... (?)