itch.io

The best action-adventure exploration TTRPG I've played thus far. The rules for rolling skills are simple, but effective and are very easy to learn and look for if you need a reminder. They also have actual guidelines for how to use DC for different challenges, thank god. Combat is also interesting and fast paced, with tactical actions and maneuvers giving players interesting ways to respond to other character's actions and ways to hinder their opponents that don't just boil down to "I hit them with even bigger punch" or "I put a status effect on them with magic."

The best part though has to be character customization. Its very easy to make a wide variety of characters with the different bonds, edges, spells, and psionic talents at each character's disposal. You can make some really weird characters out there, from sentient shapeshifting gloop, to a reverse weredog, to fucking Skeletor, there's rules for all that and those are just the bonds. And with the XP being a point buy system, you can pivot your character to do something entirely different if you want to so long as you have the points for it. Even making NPCs has been surprisingly fun, though I wish there were a few more guidelines for making custom NPCs.

The rulebook still has some editing work to be done, but I can't really complain about it since I'm one of the editors so really that's on me to fix. I mostly just bring it up for the sake of letting others know going in.

Still a draft and still has some stuff I would need to work on, but is technically playable. Will add updates as needed.

I first heard about Eureka after asking a friend which system I should run an horror-mystery adventure idea I had in my head on and they recommended me this. I decided "why not, I'll just take a quick peek" and then spent the rest of the day just reading almost all of the 600 pages of the rulebook there was at the time. I was hooked and ever since then this system has taken up most of the space in my brain. The rules are relatively simple and straightforward while also allowing the players to try out all kinds of different strategies and ideas, and has rules for almost any method the players may use to try and solve the mystery, so the GM doesn't have to come up with a new mechanic on the spot. The game actively prompts the players to really explore the environment their investigators are in and pick up on small details, and rewards being as thorough as possible when investigating. The investigation point and Eureka mechanics also give the player an incentive to keep rolling and not feel discouraged even if they've been failing a lot of their rolls. It also encourages only rolling for something to happen if the outcome is uncertain, so a GM doesn't have to worry about a character getting a critical success and just instantly breaking the story by doing the impossible. Character creation gives a lot of options and opportunities for many unique investigators in the game, and no two characters will look exactly alike. It also encourages players keeping secrets about their characters from the rest of the party and explicitly says in the rules that investigators conflicting with or even fighting each other should not be a reflection of real world grievances or emotions, nor should it be a reason to be upset at each other outside of the game. This means that there's a potential for a lot of interesting investigation party drama or even betrayal, since the goal of this TTRPG is for the players out of game to work together to create interesting story and have fun doing it.

My favorite part of this system though has to be the supernatural rules and monsters. A lot of urban fantasy stories and TTRPG rules for things like vampires, werewolves, or other monsters don't usually land for me, as they never quite capture the intimidating and powerful presence these monsters should have. This system is not the case with that though, as it gives an interesting perspective on both the folklore and emotional core that inspired these stories in the first place, but also on how monsters or supernatural beings would live in and interact with the modern world. Most of the time urban fantasy either makes the supernatural victims of an unjust human society, bloodthirsty and irredeemably evil, or disconnected or above humanity and human society in general. Eureka chooses none of the above angles, all the monsters in here are just as much people and have just as much of a right to live as any mundane human AND a terrifying and powerful force that hurts and kills people for their own needs. Neither of these things are mutually exclusive, and it makes you question the assumptions you might have about people that take up more time and resources to stay alive and comfortable in real life. It also gives supernatural powers a lot of interesting weaknesses and conditions to work around, and simply the act of playing a monster and not getting caught by the other players or investigators is a puzzle and challenge in and of itself. At the same time it is also possible to have an interesting and fun time playing this game without the supernatural rules being used at all, which just gives you more options for stories you can tell.

I recently ran the introduction one-shot adventure and me and my players had a really fun time with it! If you're looking for a system to run a mystery game, is the system I would recommend.