# RPG a Day 2026 - 07: Mercy tags: #thoughts #thoughts/RPGaDay/2026 ![[RPG a Day 2026 (illo).jpg]] Mercy is an interesting question in the context of TRPGs. What is merciful? Is it the reduction of pain and suffering? For whom? For the player or for the characters in the story? What is required for mercy? Doesn't it require someone to have a position of advantage and power over another and choose not to exercise it? We're told that stories about power and dominance are toxic masculinity, and we should avoid those. Even their depiction is somehow offensive, horrific, and triggering. I disdain that entire line of thought for obvious and multitudinous reasons. The first angle is more interesting. To whom are we being merciful, and is it interesting? In some places, there has been talk that one of the aspects of modern tabletop RPG design is a weakening of the threat. The lethality and the danger of the story have been reduced, the sharp edges sanded away, replaced with a bland beige "coziness."[^1] But is that actually true? Let's look at some of the games that have been called out as being primarily for theater kids and consider their themes. **[[Vampire - the Masquerade|Vampire: the Masquerade]]**: The quintessentially theater kid game, which inherently circles around ideas of power and dominance, sexual submission, rape, untrammeled aggression, and ambition. While some of those themes have mechanically been smoothed off and simplified over the years, at its core, it's still the same story, really. (Incidentally, the main advertising for **Vampire: the Masquerade** is exactly the list of things that would be culled out as trigger-warning-worthy.) **[[Blades in the Dark]]**, an extremely modern RPG, takes as its thematic center the fact that all of the protagonists are criminals, whether they be petty or grand. The mission-based architecture of play centers around whether or not they are successful at pulling off the next big score, which very well may be assassinating the head of law enforcement, providing security while the local brothel takes in questionable new flesh shipped in from the docks, or establishing a new demon-worshipping cult amongst the aristocracy. Okay, that's two. You know what? Let's go surf a little data because nothing says not talking out your ass like data. --- **Top 10 Tabletop Roleplaying Games** [^2] *Based on Fall 2025 ICv2 Hobby Market Checks and Public Crowdfunding Data* **Note on Financial Data:** Exact retail sales numbers and earnings are kept strictly confidential by major tabletop publishers. Rankings reflect relative sales volume at hobby retailers and distributors. Financial figures are provided where public crowdfunding (Kickstarter) data is available. General market rankings are tracked via [ICv2's Hobby Market Reports](https://icv2.com/articles/markets/c/8/roleplaying-games). | Rank | Game Title | Publisher | Financial & Market Data | Key Sources | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | **1** | Dungeons & Dragons | Wizards of the Coast | Exact sales proprietary. Consistently maintains the dominant majority market share in the tabletop RPG space. | [ICv2 Market Reports](https://icv2.com/articles/markets/c/8/roleplaying-games) | | **2** | Cosmere RPG | Brotherwise Games | Raised **$15,149,874** via Kickstarter (55,106 backers), holding the all-time record for the most-funded tabletop RPG on the platform. | [Cosmere Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brotherwise/the-stormlight-archive-rpg) | | **3** | Starfinder | Paizo | Exact retail sales proprietary. Propelled to the top tier by the highly anticipated release of its Second Edition. | [ICv2 Market Reports](https://icv2.com/articles/markets/c/8/roleplaying-games) | | **4** | The Crooked Moon | Legends of Avantris | Raised **$4,020,234** via Kickstarter (21,793 backers) before transitioning into a major retail release. | [Crooked Moon Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/the-crooked-moon-folk-horror-in-5e) | | **5** | Daggerheart | Darrington Press | Exact core game retail sales proprietary, heavily driven by Critical Role's audience. A supplemental Kickstarter for class packs alone raised over **$317,000**. | [Darrington Press](https://darringtonpress.com/daggerheart/) | | **6** | Pathfinder | Paizo | Exact sales proprietary. Remains a consistent, evergreen top-seller in the traditional fantasy market. | [ICv2 Market Reports](https://icv2.com/articles/markets/c/8/roleplaying-games) | | **7** | Vampire: The Masquerade | Renegade Game Studios | Exact sales proprietary. Maintains strong, stable retail orders as the flagship World of Darkness title. | [ICv2 Market Reports](https://icv2.com/articles/markets/c/8/roleplaying-games) | | **8** | Alien RPG | Free League Publishing | Exact sales proprietary. Retail presence sustained by updated core sets and cinematic scenario expansions. | [ICv2 Market Reports](https://icv2.com/articles/markets/c/8/roleplaying-games) | | **9** | Cyberpunk Red | R. Talsorian Games | Exact sales proprietary. Continues to see consistent retail velocity supported by the broader video game and anime franchise. | [ICv2 Market Reports](https://icv2.com/articles/markets/c/8/roleplaying-games) | | **10** | Mörk Borg | Free League / Stockholm Kartell | Original Kickstarter raised roughly **$45,000 USD** (489,252 SEK), but has since sold heavily at retail, spawning multiple six-figure supplemental crowdfunding campaigns. | [Mörk Borg Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jnohr/mork-borg) | --- What does this tell us? Well, the 800kg gorilla in the room hasn't changed, but I think we all know that **[[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D]]** has given up a lot of its edge over the decades and become a much cozier game by design and intent. The current designers and writers can't be trusted with sharp objects, and they assume that their audience can't either. It's fair to say that in **[Cosmere](https://www.cosmererpg.com)**, suffering is everywhere. Trauma is a source of power. Strict promises drive terrible actions. The gods are but broken shards of a greater unification that failed and drove mankind hither and yon in their endless petty bickering. The primary setting is constantly scoured by magical hurricanes, so it's a bit of survival horror in the midst of everything else. Generally, it's an unmerciful world across the board.[^3] **[Starfinder](https://paizo.com/starfinder)** is just sci-fi **D&D**-adjacent and split off from the philosophy of 3 and 3.5, descended through Pathfinder, which is also on this list. It is largely considered to be considerably less forgiving than 5th edition. Though **Starfinder** does have a reputation for being lighter and softer than hardcore survival nightmare sci-fi. Don't worry, we'll get there. When it comes to SF, maybe I would accept that it's a game with some of the edges filed off. A bit more merciful in its way. Now, **[The Crooked Moon](https://avantris.com/collections/the-crooked-moon?srsltid=AfmBOooHywKGmFomUa5IT2-C5_CdVdLUR6Vvx-w9MKjuG_aZ1ubJMpwk)** is pretty much out of nowhere for me. I never heard of it before this moment. So, let's go take a look over at the website. Oh, it's a supplement for fifth edition D&D, so it's fairly clear why I wouldn't have any dog in that hunt. What's it about? Folk horror. Deliberately horrific, taking inspiration from grim folklore, legendary horror films, and classic Halloween aesthetics. While the art kind of looks like 2026's clearly digital painterly slop, the concept is good. This does not look to be a thing that will be particular in its gentleness. It is, however, for fifth edition **D&D**, so it still could, but they have a *Warrior of the Pestilent Haze Monk* that spreads virulent plague with a touch, and that's a PC class. So I'm going to put this down into the not particularly merciful column. What about **[Daggerheart](https://www.daggerheart.com)**? Well, that's Critical Role's audience, and it is pretty soft-touch. We aren't talking the hardcore of the hardcore. Frankly, this would be a fine opportunity to point and laugh at theater kids if theater kids weren't actually overplaying Vampire, getting laid, wearing a lot of black, and getting into blood sports. We will accept that this is an example of RPGs that have been sanded down so that people who aren't allowed to play with sharp knives can play with it. **[Pathfinder](https://paizo.com/pathfinder)** we've touched on before, and it's worth noting that for my taste, it's a bit softened. Honestly, I think from the bulk of the OSR's position, it's more softened than *they* would like. I'm not even sure if they consider it part of their oeuvre anymore. Worth thinking about, that. It's not hardcore Blood and Thunder, but we'll put it somewhere in the middle of that. **Vampire** we've talked about. No need to go into that any further. They have a new edition coming out, so that's pushing a lot of the current narrative. At some point I should probably write something at length about the new system that's in Alpha. By the time I get around to it, they'll have come out with another one, undoubtedly. Then there's **[[Alien - The Roleplaying Game|Alien: The Roleplaying Game]]**. For all that it's a licensed property, it is no kind of merciful master. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's a game about panic and terror and making bad decisions and getting caught out, being chased by things in the dark you can't actually see. Fighting against them will be at best gaining a few minutes and some flickering light so that you can see your death coming at you. The antithesis of cozy and probably not shockingly, well regarded by me. **[[Cyberpunk (RPG)|Cyberpunk Red]]** is a dystopian future in which the corporations essentially run everyday life. The protagonists are literally criminals living on the edge who are trying to scratch to live day to day. They are physically replacing their flesh with machinery, just as they're replacing parts of their soul with the cold calculation of day-to-day survival. Not a very merciful world. As long as we're not using **[Friday Night Firefight](https://cyberpunk2077-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Friday_Night_Firefight)** for the combat mechanics, everything's golden.[^4] Finally, we're dragged back around to **[[Mork Borg|Mörk Borg]]**, which has a surprisingly outsized footprint in the hobby; pretty much all of its spawn revel in unmerciful suffering and torment and death as much as it does. Whether it be living a violent pirate's life or swinging from a gibbet after stealing a crust of bread in fantasy, or any number of horrible outcomes, not to mention the eye-searing visuals. It's merciless just to read the text, and that's before we get to the game itself. Let's wrap this up because it's gone a bit longer than I expected. Just looking into the data itself is distracting. You know how it goes. Even I have been feeling as though published material has seen a softening in recent years. Partly, this has been driven by the fact that **D&D** itself has stopped being a game about adventurous danger-dealing nutjobs and started being about deferring to whatever the latest girlboss of the scenario is. There's also been a movement in indie games in general, which is my usual stomping grounds, to take on gentler subjects, shall we say. But the truth is, the stuff that actually sells, the stuff that makes money, the stuff that people actually want to play, all have some pretty hard edges on them. They represent games that people want to keep putting their heads into: dangerous mental spaces that provide pleasure through the mechanism of being interesting and *threatening*. This is a much more upbeat ending than I was expecting to have here. It turns out that the people who want to put up padding on the walls and rubber rounding on the edges really are the minority, and they don't speak with their wallets. If they do, they don't speak loudly enough because the stuff that's moving wants to kill you. Mercy is an overrated quality; it's fair to say by looking at what is actually selling that perhaps there's hope. The strong provide a mercy, not because they are more powerful and can choose to spare the weak, but because the weak aspire to have the opportunity to grant mercy. More positive than my usual, but I'll take it. [^1]: Anyone who's been following me for any amount of time knows that I hate the cozy game genre with the entirety of my black heart, and it's well earned. [^2]: One of the great things about having access to the internet and systems to do research is that you can create references to actually find out what you want to know with sources embedded. You can judge the quality or usefulness of those sources, but unlike many people and many outlets, I'm going to give you the chance to figure it out for yourself and argue. I'm cool with that. [^3]: Also, not a game in my collection purely because I'm just not that into Sanderson's setting, which probably comes as a deep shock. It sounds like exactly the sort of thing I would like, and I probably would, but I need more science fiction than fantasy. It's a thing. [^4]: By that I mean covered in blood and viscera, because **Friday Night Firefight** tended to have people shoot their party members with .22 as a means of signaling, like a tap on the shoulder.