It all began with the forging of the Elf-Games.
Three were given to the dungeon-crawlers; immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven, to the simulationists, great modellers and craftsmen of complicated d100 systems. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire powergaming. Within these Elf-Games was bound the strength and the will to have a pretty good Friday.
But they were all of them deceived, for another Elf-Game was made.
One Elf-Game to Rule Them All.
Which Elf-Game is best? It’s a matter best left to madmen, so, naturally, we felt obliged to weigh in. Here are five microreviews for the top five dungeoneering OSR games we’ve been playing lately. Who will win? What should you play? You’ll have to read to find out!
I’ve played in and run all five of these (excepting one!), so this is pretty close to an educated opinion, at least relative to the normal, endless discourse on this topic.
OSE
Pros: Goes with everything! There’s a ton of preexisting material for OSE, because it’s literally just a cleaned-up version of BX.
Because of this, it also has a historical/cultural value. See how the ancients roleplayed, in the long forgotten mists of the mid-20th Century! Experience what it’s like to have 2hp and a THAC0 table!
Cons: You could ignore some 50+ years of innovation in TTRPGs, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I’ve written before about how unimpressed I am with OSE. If you want the detailed version, check that link. As a Player, the character options left me bored, either because they were scarce or overpowered. As a DM, combat was a drag, and there are fewer interesting mechanics to toy with than I would like.
Link: here
Shadowdark
Pros: Simple! Great for new players, recovering 5e players, and kids. The torch mechanics are great for creating fun moments (and they’re creatively inspiring). There’s a great community that’s constantly producing cool new content.
Cons: My only gripe is that the system’s lethality is not quite as advertised. Once you hit first or second level, Shadowdark is not really much more dangerous than 5e. This is counterbalanced by how deadly the gauntlet system for level 0s is. This gives you the flavour of high-danger without the substance.
Is this good or bad? YMMV.
Link: here
Lamentations of the Flame Princess
Pros: Amazing design. Character options are much better thought out than OSE (powerful fighters, usable skill systems for rogues, no fireball). Great production design on the players’ book, including some of the best RPG art direction I think I’ve yet seen. Some very fine books have been written with LotFP in mind.
Cons: You’ve heard of Edgelords? This is that edge. These are those lords.
James Raggi’s written a really great explanation of why LotFP leans so heavily into the Grindhouse/Exploitation/Gore-Horror stuff. If you’d like to read it, I believe it’s in the foreword of Vagina’s are Magic.
I see his point. His success speaks for itself. Clearly, he has a point. Still, I can’t say I love it. There’s a bunch of Sex-Assault-flavoured stuff baked right into the game (most notably the Summon spell). Many modules dip into humour that doesn’t land with me. None of this is necessarily a deal-breaker; a good GM can just elide whatever doesn’t fit their sensibility. But it does mean that whenever I recommend this game, I feel obliged to add a little asterisk. It’s just not the kind of thing I’m going to hand to my nineteen-year-old female cousins when I’m trying to get them into roleplaying.
Add to that the fact that the community is, shall we say, divided these days. It’s hard to feel enthusiastic about recommending it to people. The GM’s book is out of print. A lot of the system’s best stuff is being sold at collector’s prices, rather than mass market prices. That said, I love Lamentations, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing it. I wouldn’t recommend it, but I would recommend* it.
Link: here
Dolmenwood
*A caveat here: I’ve only played one session of Dolmenwood, and I haven’t GM’d it yet. Compared to the others, I have almost no experience with it.
Pros: Like Lamentations, but wish all that nasty poo and blood were replaced with fairies and goatmen? Good news! The fine people at Necrotic Gnome have filed off the serial numbers, added some new character options, and appended it to a capsule-game style hexcrawl.
And what character options they are! Honestly, in terms of getting you excited about your character, there’s nothing else like Dolmenwood in the OSR space. Check out the player options here!
Check in on this blog in two months. By then, we’ll have some more miles on the hexcrawl/adventures for the system.
Cons: So, all those juicy character options? They do come with a small downside. Character creation is a little longer than you want for a game where you may be walking around with 3hp. It’s a delicate balance between lethality and character complexity. I’m not sure Dolmenwood nails it. I think an ideal elf-game system would probably have you adding a lot of this complexity as your character levels, rather than front-loading it onto a squishy level one.
Link: here
Knave
Pros: Simple! Easy to pick up, maybe even easier than Shadowdark. Evocative character options, mostly based on a d100 careers table. Great GM support. The mix of slot inventory/health makes characters and choices feel really well defined. Magic is simple, without being vague.
Cons: Relics could be fleshed out more. It’s less compatible with BX modules than most of this list. Skip the first edition; the second makes it look half-baked in comparison.
Link: here
The Winning Elf-Game
As president of the TTRPG internet, I must convey this honour upon Knave 2e!
It’s just fun! It works so well, there are great GM tools for making those rulings-not-rules decisions, and it’s flexible! Ultimately, I measure most elf-games by a simple metric: how easy is this to take apart and put back together? By that rubric, Knave beats everything else. Check it out if you haven’t. Or hell, check out all of these games. They all have their great points, and they have something to teach any GM willing to take them on.
Hey, did you know I’m super biased? Why, you ask? Because I wrote the best Knave 2e module, of course. If you’re more of an LotFP-type, check this Sumo Wrestler class I wrote. Consider yourself a Shadowdarkling? I’ve got some great magic swords for crawlers, send them along to your GM. Like Dolmenwood? We occasionally do a little fae-whimsy here.
But seriously, try Seven Sealed Spirits with Knave 2e. If you think there are better Knave modules out there, tell me in the comments so I can explain to you why you’re wrong.
One final thought: I think the one true Elf-Game is yet to be written. Someday, a chosen one wil come, delivering the perfect TTRPG from the heavens. But who? Who will deliver (to) us?
Will it be you?
Written as part of the OSR Blog Carnival in April 2026.