So if like me, you read the Quest core rulebook and found it... lacking in inspirational tables for the GM, then I really recommend checking out Lost in the Fantasy World. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/295885/Lost-in-the-Fantasy-World

The aesthetic of this game is bright yet surreal.

The worldbuilding material is 12 regions, each with two paragraphs and a d6 table of plot hooks.

Creating monsters is really simple. Each monster is just a collection of traits, which add +1 to their rolls when fictionally appropriate. These traits are also its HP -- if it gets hit, cross one off.

(PCs also have traits, which also work as HP in the same way)

Obviously if you have a cool idea for a monster, it's easy to generate a few traits.

But the game also provides a bunch of d66 tables for rolling up random monster traits.

(ditto for rolling up a PC)

e.g. "Thick Hair, Luminous, Anti-Magic Aura".

OK, I picture giant sloths who grow bioluminescent algae in their fur. The algae feed off magic. The sloths aren't malicious, but do interpret humans as predators. Conflict most likely happens when they climb down to poop.

These traits, like Fate Aspects, are simply true -- the monster doesn't have to roll to shed light. But unlike Fate Aspects, you don't have to gain/spend bennies to invoke them. I as the GM can just say "yeah, you have +1 to spot where the sloth hid because it sheds light"

Or "the sloth has +1 on its roll to dodge your melee attack because the thick furry mass is so blinding to your night-adjusted eyes".

There's also random generators for adventure ideas, in addition to the region-specific adventure seeds.

Being inspired by the 1980s D&D cartoon, one of the tables assumes the PCs are always trying to find a portal back home. But this can be reskinned to any mcguffin.

Where’s the Portal?
(2,4) The Tower of the Collector

What do they need to do?
(4,5) Recover Something

Who is the Antagonist?
(5,4) Fearful Phantasm

Who Else is Involved?
(6,6) Time Traveler

What Complicates Things?
(4,5) Betrayal by Friend

Cool, so "The Collector" (good luck finding her real name, she's very paranoid about True Names and doesn't even let people know a use name) writes to the PCs by origami crane.

She's aware of their predicament and thinks a dusty armoire in her collection might be a portal.

But! The key was stolen when she acquired the armoire, and she cannot magically open it.

This was long ago, and the thief is long-dead, now a ghost who cannot pass on due to their acquisitiveness in life. She cannot leave her tower to confront them.

The ghost is a poltergeist that frightens the baron of a keep and his retinue, scaring them away so they can nick valuables. The baron would be super-grateful if the PCs got rid of the ghost.

But this is complicated when a fricking TIME TRAVELLER turns up and claims that The Collector only wants the heroes out of the way (by sending them home), so they can muster their array of mystical gadgets to conquer the Fantasy World

and that she plans to use the armoire-portal to kidnap kids from the human world, to be her footsoldiers.

The time traveller is intangible, unable to physically affect the past, only warn it.

Who is telling the truth? Is the "time traveler" just an apparition of the ghost? Who plans to betray the heroes? Is the armoire really even a portal?

I don't know! They're just plot beats to keep in mind based on the player's actions.

So yeah. This game is a great standalone game.

The rules are extremely light, which *I* like.

If you want PCs to have powers beyond "my traits are Comic Book Geek, Budding Chef, Best friends with [another PC], Has a Tape Recorder", then a game like Quest might better suit you.

Even so, I *highly* recommend this game. Comes with a sample adventure, gives you the tools to make more. All the tools are easily portable to your RPG system of choice.

Once I move house, I am *for sure* getting this in print.

(sorry for the slightly incoherent tweeting. it's late, but i'm way too excited about this game)