The Greatest Pen and Paper RPGs

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Updated April 16, 2024 786.6K views 185 items
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1.0M votes
71.4K voters
282 reranks
Voting Rules
Pen and paper RPGs only, no card or board games.

The greatest pen and paper RPGs (or role-playing games) don't require any kind of fancy technology. No, these RPGs are much more like traditional board games. When in doubt, go for the classics, like RuneQuest, Traveller and the perennially popular Dungeons & Dragons. This list includes a lot of favorites, but it isn't complete, so feel free to add the pen and paper/tabletop RPGs that you love playing the most, too. Vote up the best, vote down the worst and rerank this list any way you want.

If you're looking for something new to play, why not give some of these great, table top RPGs a whirl? It's no accident that RPGs like 'Call of Cthulhu' have been around for a long, long time. Despite the emergence of some incredibly impressive RPG video games, these tabletop RPGs keep us coming back for more. Tabletop RPGs force us to communicate with each other, rather than being glued to a computer or TV screen for hours on end.

Enjoy this list of great table-talk role-playing games, and don't forget to vote for the best tabletop RPG below!
Most divisive: Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Over 71.4K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Greatest Pen and Paper RPGs