If you have always wanted to try a tabletop RPG but D&D felt like homework, the 2026 Origins Awards just pointed at your next step. Land of Eem, a colourful, easygoing fantasy RPG its creators pitch as "The Lord of the Rings meets The Muppets", has won Roleplaying Game of the Year.
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Set up your group for freeCreated by Ben Costa and James Parks, Land of Eem is set in the world of Costa's Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo graphic novels, a whimsical land of plucky misfits, monsters and discovery. It is built to be easy to learn and quick to run, exactly what you want for a table of first-timers. The Deluxe Box Set, published by Exalted Funeral, packs in three hardback books (the core rules, the Mucklands campaign setting and a bestiary), a big foldout hexcrawl map, a GM screen, custom dice and a handful of little Land of Eem meeples. It had already won three 2025 ENNIE Awards before this Origins nod.
An Origins Game of the Year is the kind of seal that gets a game onto shop shelves and into starter recommendations, and Land of Eem is on sale in the UK. Light, funny systems like this are perfect for a one-shot, so if you have a group that is curious about role-playing but wary of the big rulebooks, round them up and give it a go.
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Find events near youSources: Tabletop Sentinel | Exalted Funeral | Dungeonland
