Can you recommend any Tabletop Games with a mood similar to Among the Beautiful Creatures? Because it matches the sort of mood (Solemnly Dreamlike) that a both a friend and myself would love to play a game in but we'd love to have some other options to try out for capturing that sort of mood mechanics-wise (Disclaimer neither of us really know what we like mechanically as we've never played a tabletop game before)
Ooh, that’s a tough one. Among the Beautiful Creatures (warning: direct PDF link) is very nearly unique in its Jim-Henson-does-Fritz-Leiber aesthetic. That said, there are a few other games I’m aware of that are at least vaguely in the same ballpark:
In a Wicked Age has a few novel tricks to its nuts and bolts mechanics, but where it truly stands out is the setup phase. Rather than using pre-made scenarios, the group draws a hand of playing cards and looks up the results on a set of special tables called “oracles”. This provides a selection of elements and motifs that the players and the GM use to collaboratively brainstorm the scenario they’re about to play.
Itras By is a Norwegian urban fantasy game set in a pastiche of the metropolises of continental Western Europe circa 1920. More surreal than solemn, the basic conceit is that, while the city centre is relatively stable, reality becomes progressively more unhinged the further one strays toward the outskirts, eventually breaking down into psychedelia. Player characters are, of course, those who have reason to stray.
In Noumenon, player characters awaken, amnesiac, in the bodies of enormous insects, and explore a sprawling, seemingly inescapable mansion outside time and space in search of enlightenment. Mechanical highlights include communal hit points and the use of dominoes as a core resolution mechanic.
Valley of Eternity is a game in the classic swords and sorcery mould, focusing on gritty adventure in a harsh, unforgiving wilderness. Players take on the roles of outcast warrior-philosophers, sworn to defend the very communities that shun them, both through strength of arms and with the aid of esoteric mental disciplines that allow them to craft cunning illusions, manipulate objects from afar, or even imprison enemies within their own minds. Also, all playable characters are penguins.
Wisher, Theurgist, Fatalist (warning: direct PDF link) sends players on a journey through a world that does not, properly speaking, exist, and it’s their responsibility to bring it into being. A unconventional fusion of a tabletop RPG and a nomic, it includes formal procedures for players declaring setting details, inventing new game mechanics on the spot, and even deposing the GM and taking her place! An in-depth discussion of its mechanics can be found here.
