A full deep dive into the world of scoundrels, ghosts, and neon-noir criminal empires Some roleplaying games ask you to save the world.Blades in the Dark asks you to rob it. This isn’t your average fantasy game. There are no heroes here. No dungeons to clear or dragons to slay. There are only gangs, scores, and shadows—and you, caught somewhere in between survival and ambition. Published by Evil Hat Productions, Blades in the Dark is a game that changed how we think about TTRPG pacing, narrative ownership, and the dynamics of risk and reward. Whether you’re a veteran GM, a […]
Archives
Fiasco: The Best Game for Disasters You Want to Happen
Chaos, Crime, and Catastrophe in a Box Sometimes, the dice aren’t about saving kingdoms, slaying dragons, or surviving a dungeon crawl. Sometimes… they’re about watching a plan go terribly wrong, your friends betray you in a Denny’s parking lot, and your dreams fall apart in the most hilarious way possible. Welcome to Fiasco—the award-winning, storytelling-forward game of cinematic calamity. This isn’t a classic fantasy roleplaying game. It’s not a strategy board game. It’s something stranger, looser, and often way more memorable. It’s the story of regular people with powerful ambition and poor impulse control—and the beautiful, broken mess they make. […]
Tools of Power: Why D&D’s Spellbook Cards – Magic Items Set Might Be Your GM’s Best Friend
Organize your loot, inspire your players, and bring magic items to life—one card at a time. In any Dungeons & Dragons campaign, few moments are as memorable as discovering a powerful magic item. The ancient longsword sealed in stone.The mysterious ring that pulses when danger nears.The bag of beans that… wait, why is the inn on fire? Magic items are more than just stat boosts or loot. They’re story hooks, personality markers, and player motivators rolled into one shiny treasure chest. But let’s be honest—managing all that arcane wonder across notebooks, rulebooks, and hastily scribbled index cards? That’s where things […]
How to Make XP Rewards Feel Meaningful
Balancing Progression, Storytelling, and Milestone Systems in a Way Players Actually Care About We all remember the thrill of leveling up. The table claps. Dice are rolled. A new feat is unlocked. Maybe your fighter finally gets that sweet Extra Attack, or your wizard earns access to Fireball and immediately begins plotting war crimes against enemy formations. And yet, for many tables today, XP feels… hollow. Why? In classic dungeon-crawlers, experience points were oxygen: you killed monsters, counted coins, and raced for that next ding. It was a treadmill—and players loved it. But modern TTRPG campaigns—especially those heavy on story, […]
The Best Way to Teach a Board Game (Without Losing the Room)
Tips for Explaining Complex Rules and Keeping Your Group Engaged—Even During the Tutorial You open the box. Gorgeous components, sleek board layout, cards brimming with possibility. You know this game is going to be amazing. Then you open the rulebook—and suddenly you’re reading an arcane incantation designed to summon confusion instead of strategy. Now it’s your job to teach five friends the rules… and not watch them mentally exit the room five minutes in. Teaching board games is a sacred art. It’s the arcane ritual that determines whether your game night launches like a rocket or crashes into a swamp […]
Roleplaying Alignment in Games That Don’t Use It
How to Incorporate Moral Nuance and Character Growth in Systems Without a Strict Alignment Grid In classic tabletop roleplaying games, alignment used to be everything. Were you a righteous Paladin of Lawful Good, smiting evil with moral clarity? Or a Chaotic Neutral wild card, lovingly unpredictable and always three steps from “it’s what my character would do”? Alignment—especially in legacy systems like early Dungeons & Dragons—offered a convenient way to categorize morality. Nine-point grids. Cosmic charts. Arguments over whether lying to a bandit violated your Neutral Good oath. But what happens when you play a system that doesn’t use alignment? […]
10 Unwritten Rules of a Great TTRPG Player
Etiquette, Empathy, and Subtle Tricks for Being the MVP of Any Party Tabletop roleplaying games—D&D, Pathfinder, FATE, Vampire, whatever your flavor—is a peculiar kind of magic. You take a handful of strangers (or friends you sometimes want to throw dice at), give them character sheets, pour in some world-building, sprinkle in snacks and caffeine, and then ask them to collaboratively tell a story with emotions, math, and murder. Beautiful chaos. But in that chaos, certain players rise above. They’re not always the loudest, or the ones with the flashiest backstories or the biggest damage output. No, the truly great TTRPG […]
Building Memorable Villains: From Stat Block to Saga
A Deep Dive Into Creating Villains That Matter to Players In every epic tale—whether it’s told through dice rolls, dramatic monologues, or frantic combat rounds—there’s one presence that defines the journey as much as the heroes themselves: the villain. From the Lich-Kings of high fantasy to the conniving guildmasters of low-magic intrigue, a truly memorable villain is more than a stat block or a generic monologue. They are a narrative keystone, a mechanical challenge, and—if you do it right—a moral mirror. Today on RPGInquisitor, we’re digging deep into the art of villain design. Whether you’re running D&D, Pathfinder, or an […]
Build-A-Fae Toolkit: The Ultimate Resource for Enchanting TTRPG Mischief
There’s something ancient—and a little dangerous—about the Fae.
They don’t just dwell in forests or dreams. They dwell in rules. In riddles. In the idea that for every gift, there is a price. And in many TTRPG settings, incorporating the Fae means flirting with narrative chaos, unpredictable magic, and character-rich worldbuilding.
Pathfinder Class Compendium: A Deep Dive into Every Core Class in Pathfinder 2e
Pathfinder isn’t just another fantasy RPG—it’s a system forged in the fires of player creativity and mechanical depth. Whether you’re sneaking through shadowed alleys, shaping the battlefield with elemental might, or healing comrades with divine grace, every Pathfinder class comes with rich lore, versatile mechanics, and deep customization options.