Best Campaign TTRPGs

Mutant: Year Zero is a post-apocalyptic survival RPG using the Year Zero Engine’s push-your-luck dice pools and strict resource management. Classless, low-prep play focuses on scavenging the Zone, building your Ark, and tough choices under pressure. Ideal for gritty campaigns with exploration and base-building.

Outbreak: Undead (2e) is a survival-horror tabletop RPG focused on realism, resource scarcity, and tough choices. Classless and modular, it supports gritty campaigns about planning, panicking, and pushing through the worst days. Ideal for fans of grounded, rules-forward apocalypse play.

The One Ring (Second Edition) is a Tolkien fantasy RPG built around journeys, weariness, and hope in the twilight of the Third Age. Classless and exploration‑driven, it emphasizes travel challenges, shadow risk, and fellowship phases over build minutiae. Ideal for story‑led campaigns and grounded heroic play.

Ironsworn: Starforged is a rules‑lite sci‑fi survival RPG built for solo, co‑op, or guided play. Oracle‑driven expeditions, progress tracks, and supply pressure make every route choice matter. Low‑prep and fiction‑first, it’s ideal for gritty voyages, derelict salvage, and vow‑driven campaigns.

Dead Reign is a post-apocalyptic horror RPG about surviving the zombie outbreak. Using a familiar d%/d20 Palladium chassis, it delivers fast, lethal fights, tense scavenging, and hard choices. Class-based, medium-prep, it focuses on teamwork, scarcity, and moral dilemmas. Ideal for campaign play and gritty one-shots.