The Ever-Growing List of TTRPG Resources

You might occasionally find an affiliate link in the list. These help support Hessan’s County in the maintenance of this list.


Table of Contents

Everything is listed in alphabetical order in each section


System Reference Documents & Creator Kits 

Documents that describe a system of mechanics and provide related advice that you can use to create a Tabletop Roleplaying Game

Bad Time Game SRD

Creator / Publisher: Kyle Tam of Urania Games
License: No official license, but requires Attribution
Description: A d4 pool, roll-under system. This has a mechanic where a clock ticks up with each character failure, making further roles more and more difficult. Inspired by horror thriller / slasher films where a group gets picked off one by one, as well as games like Paranoia and Fiasco.

Links:

Hessan’s County Video: https://youtu.be/rueNsoLmG6Y?si=hStgHJtpBVxBDRHa
Blogpost on the SRD: https://www.hessanscounty.com/bad-time-games-for-a-bad-time-jam/

Blades in the Dark SRD

Creator / Publisher: SRD hosted by Randy Oest of One Seven Design; Original game by John Harper
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Description:  This is an SRD version of Blades in the Dark, the game used to create all of those Forged in the Dark (FitD) games! Here are some examples! https://bladesinthedark.com/forged-dark

Links

Breathless SRD

Creator / Publisher: René-Pier Deshaies of Fari RPG
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A game that uses a small list of skills and expendable items, each assigned a die value between d12 and d4 that slowly degrades with use to increase tension and simulate exhaustion. It has templates for a number of applications and is available in English, French, Galician, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Italian.

Links

Hessan’s County Video: https://youtu.be/BTHCXszM71c?si=bPhkIvL7jXfGiVm6

Carta SRD

Creator / Publisher: Cat McDonald of Peach Garden Games
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Description: Useful as a freestanding system for solo games or a major mechanic for other games including group play. Carta has the player use cards to create a board where their character or group is exploring. Card suit and values are connected to prompts that provide journaling and potentially trigger other mechanics such as gathering needed resources or creating roleplay encounters.

Links

Hessan’s County Video: https://youtu.be/yaCgsznDLEY?si=F296rNfPhwOuxYO6

Cypher System SRD

Creator / Publisher: Monte Cook Games
License: Uses a bespoke Cypher System Open License
Description: The system that powers the MCG’s games like Numinera, The Strange, and The Old Gods of Appalachia RPG, Cypher is a simple asymmetric—as in the players do all the rolling—d20 system that blends in FATE-like mechanics through its use of descriptors to provide advantages to rolls. It also relies on an inventory of useful items called cyphers and allows the players and Game Master to bargain with the character improvement currency to modify the flow of action in-game.

Links:

Diversified SRD

Creator / Publisher: Lucky Newt Games
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A special 2d6 / 3d6 system that allows you to have a standard resolution mechanic that changes when the character is using some great but limited power or ability they have access to. Great for games where the powers and their effect are diverse, but universal among the player characters like some animal or spirit companion, magical abilities like elemental control, or certain genres of fiction centered around superhuman or alien beings.

Links: https://luckynewtgames.itch.io/diversified-srd

Hessan’s County Video: https://youtu.be/O3vv5PK2a2g

The Goblin Pulls Out a Gun

Creator / Publisher: Viditya Voleti
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A self-decribed “tech pack,” The Goblin Pulls out a Gun is a GM-less core resolution system that has the player create a pool of six-sided dice based on the players to be opposed by a pool of eight-sided dice indicating the activity’s difficulty. Pool creation accounts for narrative factors and requires the player to make strategic decisions on how to best resolve the situation.
The SRD has a lot of tips, not only on good things to potentially try in this system, but others as well!

Links: https://vidityavoleti.itch.io/goblin-pulls-out-gun

Hessan’s County Video: https://youtu.be/jGqDnRhPPbY?si=4ZkBmjNVMPSTcicN

Hints and Hijinks

Creator / Publisher: Pandion Games
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: Intended for solo or “solo+” play, goal of Hints and Hijinx is to provide a structure that players can be familiar with to go on a myriad of mystery adventures. A solution to the mystery develops as your character finds clues at a series of locations they can explore and solve problems at. A final die role tells you if you were right or wrong…

Links: https://pandiongames.itch.io/hintsandhijinx

Hessan’s County Video: https://youtu.be/IFyUiOEyuWU?si=fZfMBnneWAIFkQ4Z

Initiated SRD

Creator / Publisher: Loreshaper Games
License: No formal licence, but consider it “CC-BY 4.0 compatible”
Description: Advertises itself as a “hyper-streamlined” d100 system, this system uses the single role to determine not only success, but also the margin of success. The closer you roll to the Target Number the better, so long as you stay under it. Has a simple character and versatile structure, while still allowing for character advancement. Could also be easily layered upon to fit certain themes.

Links: https://loreshapergames.itch.io/initiated-srd

Lumen (1.0)

Creator / Publisher: Spencer Campbell of Gila RPGs
License: No formal license, but requires Attribution
Description: Spencer is creating a LUMEN 2.0 that is structured quite differently, so please note that this is describing the original version.

A d6 pool-based system that uses a small number of approaches rather than abilities or skills and special abilities powered by a limited, but collected resource. Utilizes classes or playbooks. Intended to create power-fantasy games, particularly inspired by the action & looter-shooter or hero dungeon crawl genres.

Links: https://gilarpgs.itch.io/lumen

Mark of the Odd

Creator / Publisher: Chris McDowall of Bastionland Press
License: Self-licenced (Free use of SRD text with Attribution)
Description: Originally developed for Into the Odd, this OSR-focused system described in this SRD has been used to create a wide number of games. It shares a great deal of structure with early editions of D&D, but simplifies many things with its roll-unders d20  system. If you have not played a MOTO game, you might have encountered one of its descendants or games based on them: Electric Bastionland, Mausritter, ECO MOFOS, and Cairn.

Links

Mausritter SRD

Creator / Publisher: Losing Games (Isaac Williams)
License: The Mausritter SRD is under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), but materials intended to be used with or expanding on the existing Mausritter game fall under the Mausritter Third-party Licence.
Description: Based on the rules-light anthropomorphic fantasy adventure TTRPG Mausritter, this game expanded and modified the original Into the Odd (see Mark of the Odd). It is useful for creating a world where little people face down big dangers and where exploration is one of the key pillars of the game.

Links: URL page; can be downloaded there in Markdown:  https://mausritter.com/srd 

Nuts & Bolts SRD

Creator / Publisher: Mitchell Daily
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A system that uses pools of d8s that describes itself as “lightweight […] with minor crunch where all actions come at a cost and where consequences have narrative and mechanical weight.” Based on the system used in Mitchell’s game No Nut November.

Links: https://mitchelldaily.itch.io/nutsandbolts

Princess with a Cursed SRD

Creator / Publisher: Anna Anthropy with illustrations by Rayne Klar
License: Not specific, though it requires an attribution statement and imposes a clause against people who using the system who could be identified as being “fascists, terfs, and Nazis.” Presumably this means that Anna also does not want people to use the system to depict or promote white supremacy, authoritarianism, ethno-nationalism, and anti-transgender ideology.
Description: A one-page system reference document designed to make solo tarot games in the veign of Anna’s Princess with the Cursed Sword.

Links: https://w.itch.io/cursed-sword

Push

Creator / Publisher: Cezar Capacle
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A GM-less system with a blackjack or betting resolution mechanic. It is built around 1d6 with an optional +1d6 roll where the player is targeting a ‘goldilocks’ zone for a full success. Includes additional resources like rolling tables to facilitate GM-less play. It is available in various formats in English, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.

Links

Wretched and Alone SRD

Creator / Publisher: Matt Sanders (Sealed Library) with consultation with Chris Bissette
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Description: Based on the game The Wretched by Chris Bissette, this SRD has spawned a whole series of mostly solo journaling games “about struggling in the face of insurmountable odds to survive, or to achieve something important.” It comes with a logo for users to mark their game as well. Here is a list showing a small selection of games based on the SRD: https://itch.io/c/862577/wretched-alone-games

Links: https://sealedlibrary.itch.io/wretched-alone-srd 

 五德 (Wu De) – The Five Powers

Creator / Publisher: WuDeRPG (Ralf Mayenberger)
License: No formal licence, but requires Attribution
Description: Built around an elemental dice system where each face of the is assigned a classical Chinese element (the wǔxíng), WuDe has you roll opposed dice pools. 1-3 dice for the Player and 1-3 dice for the opposition or the world. The elements rolled then eliminate one another based on the Cycle of Overcoming (xiāngkè) and the pools with the most remaining dice typically succeeds. An interesting system that fits certain thematic systems very well and gives ideas for other adaptations.

Links

Year Zero Engine Standard Reference Document

Creator / Publisher: Free League Publishing
License: Originally licensed under OGL, YZE now uses a Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License. 
Description: This system is used for most of Free League’s games such as Forbidden Lands, Mutant Year Zero, Coriolos, Alien, and Vaesen. This SRD includes both the d6 dice pool and “step dice” (scaling polyhedral dice) variations that have appeared in these various games. It focuses on the characters pushing their limits to survive in harsh worlds.

Links: PDF version and licensing information can be found on this page: https://freeleaguepublishing.com/community-content/free-tabletop-licenses/


Licensable Generic TTRPG Engines Or Games

Documents that describe a system of mechanics and provide related advice that you can use to create a Tabletop Roleplaying Game

Basic RolePlaying Universal Game Engine

Creator / Publisher: Chaosium
License: ORC Licence (allows personal and commercial use)
Description: Basic RolePlaying UGE is the 2023 edition of this skill-based d100 system that has powered games like Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, Stormbringer, Ringworld, and most recently Age of Vikings just to name a few built on or adapted to this engine. Unlike the classic Basic Roleplaying materials released in the 2000s, this version reflects a lot of those tweaks, templates, and bolt-on modifications that Chaosiums have developed since BRP first hit the scene in the 1980s and the entire text—minus trademarked terms, or course—is covered under the ORC licence for personal and commercial use.

Links

Hessan’s County Video: 

FATE system (FATE Core; FATE Accelerated; FATE Condensed)

Creator / Publisher: Evil Hat Productions
License: All three can be used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) or the OGL 1.0 license, of the creator’s choice. 
Description: A system built around using pools of 4 FUDGE dice (i.e. d6’s with two faces each of Plus, Minus, or Neutral). Aspects from the character, situation, or the environment can be called upon to further influence the results by spending a limited currency of FATE points. FATE Core and FATE Condensed build characters are built from several aspects, a list of skills, and Stunts that modify skills. FATE Accelerated omits skills in favor of a list of 6 approaches based on how the character acts vs. what they do.
It is available in German, Italian, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Czech officially, though there are likely other translations available out there.

Links: https://fate-srd.com/

Forthright Open Roleplay

Creator / Publisher: Room 209 Gaming
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A ENnie nominated system in 2018, this generic RPG system is described as a fast, medium-crunch system that shares similarities in certain mechanics to Powered by the Apocalypse but using a d20, GURPS with less math, and FATE’s narrative elements but with more mechanical variation in characters. For example, Characters are made up of three aspects, a Fighting Stance, Persona, an Skillset that dictate how they interact in combat, with other characters, and with the environment. This gives them more structure than you have in a FATE game, but still allowing for the unique aspects of a character to mesh when genre-mashing like magic or superheroes in a modern spy thriller or A Connecticut Yankee in King Authur’s Court game.

There are non-licenced versions of both the core system and the toolkit (called the Forthright Toolbox), so be sure you are using the CC version if you are making a game based on this system.

Links:


Mechanics & MOSAIC Strict Pieces

Not full games or systems, but still useful subsystems or individual mechanics that have been released for others to use.

Blossoms of Power

Creator / Publisher: Hessan Yongdi of Hessan’s County
License: No formal license, but please provide Attribution
Description: A MOSAIC Strict tool that uses a Venn Diagram-like structure to create powers or spells by combining words or concepts in pairs

Links: https://hessan-yongdi.itch.io/blossoms-of-power

Dodeca SRD

Creator / Publisher: titanomachyRPG (Lex Kim Bobrow)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: An interesting d12-based mechanic for creating mixed probability rolling tables This mechanic was built around use in journaling, solo, and GM-less games. I am including it here despite “SRD” in the name because it would be used most effectively when combined with other elements.

Links

Hessan’s County Video: https://youtu.be/4UW6leUQ7Ps

Iron Core

Creator / Publisher: Bruno of Opal Breeze Games
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A 3d6 resolution mechanic with a twist based around the Iron Triangle of Project Management. When you roll your 3 dice, you assign them to how well you do something, how fast you do something, and how efficiently you do something. The quality of your success or failure is determined by if you meet the needs of your situation.

Links: https://opalbreezegames.itch.io/iron-core


Inspirations

Copyrighted games and systems that have still inspired me over the years. You can still ‘borrow’ mechanical elements from them as mechanics are not currently copyrightable under most currently accepted copyright laws, but you can’t use their language or reference their resources to describe your system.

None have been added to this section at this time


Public Domain or Licensable Assets & Advice

Graphic & Art assets, fonts, layout tools, advice, and other materials that would be useful for someone creating, editing, or marketing a game.

Public Domain & Licencible Resources

공유마당 (Gongyu Madang, The Sharing Courtyard) 

Creator / Publisher: 한국저작권위원회 (Hanguk Jeojaggwon Wiwonhoe, Korea Copyright Commission)
License: Mixed Creative Commons and Public Domain (see description)
Description: A Korean-language database of Creative Commons licensable resources, including images, video clips, music, sound effects, educational resources, and more. Many are CC0, or CC-BY, though some require non-commercial licenses (CC-BY-NC). 

Links: https://gongu.copyright.or.kr/gongu/main/main.do

DieselShot Stock Art Packs

Creator / Publisher: Patrice Long (SpiderQueenLong); hosted by DieselShot
License: See Quote below

Purchasing this pack grants permanent, unlimited non-exclusive use commercial + personal rights for the individual or organization which paid for it. You must include attribution to the artist as Patrice Long somewhere in the work. License void if found to be used in or with generative AI works or as part of a product designed to promote real world hatred.

Description: A series of stock art packs available for purchase that cover a variety of topics. All of these are black and white illustrations only. Specific packs are linked below, but they can all be found on the DieselShot itch store page.

Click here to see the full list of art packs as of July 30, 2025

Historic & Fantasy Weapon Mega Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/historic-fantasy-weapon-mega-stock-art-pack
Adventuring Equipment Stock Art Pack: dieselshot.itch.io/adventuring-equipment-stock-art-pack
Dark Fantasy Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/dark-fantasy-stock-art
Adventuring Equipment Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/adventuring-equipment-stock-art-pack
Generic Fantasy Stockart Megapack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/generic-fantasy-stockart-megapack
Fantasy Portrat and Bust Stockart Megapack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/fantasy-portrait-bust-stockart-megapack
Fantasy Beastfolk Stockart Megapack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/fantasy-beastfolk-stockart-megapack
Fantasy Locations & Structures Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/landscapes-structures-stock-art-pack-no-1-location-spot
Cyberpunk: Corporanauts Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/cyberpunk-corporanauts-stock-art-pack
Cyberpunk Character Stockart Megapack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/cyberpunk-character-stockart-megapack
Dungeons & Caverns Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/dungeons-caverns-stock-art-pack
Forest Animals Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/forest-animals-stock-art-pack
Monsters Stock Art Pack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/monster-stock-art-pack
Dinosaur Stock Art MegaPack: https://dieselshot.itch.io/dinosaur-stock-art-megapack

Paper Texture Backgrounds Asset Pack

Creator / Publisher: Emily Entner (Odds & Ents)
License: Available for commercial and non-commercial uses, editable, but not resellable (stock art rules)
Description: Stock art of 13 different paper textures, perfect for backgrounds for a digital document.

Links: https://oddsandents.itch.io/paper-texture-pack

Public Work (P.W)

Creator / Publisher: COSMOS
License: Public Domain (CC0 or Creative Commons Zero)
Description: An search engine that looks you through a database of public domain images, mostly scans of historical illustrations, paintings, and prints collected by the MET, New York Library, The Public Domain Review, and other public institutions. Images are displayed in an interesting spread style that you can easily scroll through. A couple other nice things about this engine is that each image is easily downloadable with a single click and each entry has an infocard that has its name, artist (if known), related keywords, and a link to the origin point of the image that often contains additional context about the illustration or work of art.

Links: https://public.work/ 

Smithsonian Open Access

Creator / Publisher: The Smithsonian Institution
License: Public Domain (CC0 or Creative Commons Zero)
Description: Contains more than 5.1 million 2D and 3D digital items across the Smithsonian’s museums, research centers, libraries and the archives and National Zoological Park.

Links: https://www.si.edu/openaccess

Templates and Generators

Layout.EXE

Creator / Publisher: Kegan
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: An Affinity Publisher layout template that Kegan used to publish In Extremis. Pages are formatted in a digest size (8.5 x 5.5 in.)

Links: https://wizardthieffighter.itch.io/standardcat-template-pack

One Page TTRPG Zine Template

Creator / Publisher: Star West (Hedgiespresso)
License: CC0 or Creative Commons Zero
Description: Template and direction sheets to turn your one-page zine into an 8-page printable microzine!

Links: https://hedgiespresso.itch.io/one-page-zine-template

Papers on Demand

Creator / Publisher: CoMiGo Games
License: N/A
Description: A HTML5-based tool used to create grids, dots and, lined paper for writing/drawing to your specifications and then download the generated document as a PNG file.

Links: https://comigo.itch.io/papers

Standardcat

Creator / Publisher: Wizardthieffighter
License: Unlicensed* (The art and text inside is copyrighted, but the template intended for free use)
Description: A set of 24-page documents (PDF, afpub, and aftemplate formats) to act as a layout template for your own written creations. Pages are in a 8.5 x 5.5 in. (digest size) and A5 format.

Links: https://wizardthieffighter.itch.io/standardcat-template-pack

Typefaces, Fonts, and Icons

Dice (typeface)

Creator / Publisher: Drillmation Systems
License: GNU General Public License v2 license
Description: A typeface (font family) that is designed to replicate the appearance of text used in the Mario Party games, ideal for anyone who wants to give their document a 90’s-2000’s Nintendo vibe. Supports many languages that use the roman alphabet and the Japanese kana systems. 

Links: https://drillimation.itch.io/dice-font

Dicer (typeface)

Creator / Publisher: Speak the Sky
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Description: A typeface made up of glyphs that represent dice, domino faces, cards, and many other game-related symbols or icons that you can include in your text!

Links: https://speakthesky.itch.io/typeface-dicier

Fantasy Icons by CoMiGo

Creator / Publisher: CoMiGo Games
License: CC0 or Creative Commons Zero
Description: A collection of hand-drawn style icons. Available in black or white PNG or black SVG files

Links: https://comigo.itch.io/fantasy-icons-ink

FONTS by Hinokodo (typeface)

Creator / Publisher: Hinokodo
License: Personal and Commercial use allowed, attribution requested
Description: A collection of stylized or decorative fonts created by Hinokodo. Cryptaglyphs is based off of Korean hangeul and is ideal for mysterious languages to fantasy games. The QR-code-like Aloragliphs and pixelated lettering of Cyberglyphs would add an interesting feel to scifi or cyberpunk settings.

Links: https://hinokodo.itch.io/fonts

Human Made (icons / logos)

Creator / Publisher: Hinokodo
License: No limits on use beside a prohibition on repackage for resale, though Hinokodo requests you share the link so others can find the pack
Description: A pack containing two sets of logos that can be used to mark digitally or physically published products. One is designed to indicate that the product is “human made,” or does not contain any elements developed by an AI. The other indicates that the product is carbon-neutral. The text elements of the logos are in English, Portuguese, Polish, and Bulgarian.

Links: https://hinokodo.itch.io/human-made

Hairic Lilred also has created a pixilated version of the Human Made logo that can be found here: https://hairic.itch.io/human-made-pixel-edition

Polymath (typeface)

Creator / Publisher: Hedgemaze Press (Jesse Ross)
License: SIL Open Font License v1.1
Description: A clean, simple typeface for displaying numbers on polyhedral dice for typing in your game text. Good for when you don’t need the more diverse, but also complex Dicer typeface. Has a white die and colored die version, as well as two different versions of the d12.

Links: https://hedgemazepress.itch.io/polymath-dice-font