It seems I don't hear too much about 1KM1KT, one of the coolest gaming sites out there.  You've got this group of folks there who just create these unprententious, cool, free RPGs.  Some of them are really, really short and silly (like StickGuy The RPG), and some are like A+ Fantasy, which are more developed, complete systems.  Yeah, free RPGs are always going to be somewhat hit-and-miss, but throw in games like Hi/Lo Heroes and Enchanted Tales, and you've got games that will appeal to all different sorts of tastes and playstyles.  Yet you hear surprisingly little about it...  :confused:

I browsed through it a few months ago.  Some decent stuff but a low signal to noise ratio.  Many of the games looked either unplayable, like no one (including the author) had playtested it, or like it's appeal would end after an hour.

But there are some good ideas so it's worth a look when someone has time.  Some are suitable for a change of pace one shot.  The files are on my home pc or I'd give a listing on the ones I liked.

Free games have never attracted that much attention in general. Sadly they have a low-noise to signal ratio to begin with, add in the fact that most gamers are looking for systems of a specific style and the chances of a game attracting notice is almost nill.

There are exceptions.

JAGS has done very well as I understand it. Runebear certainly made at least a little splash as did Quest. All these however are large bodies of work and are quite exceptional.

But none are typically at the forefront of people's interest.

I'm afraid books in hand will always outweigh a Free PDF on the net. At least until (and if) the book rpg market dies. Even then I think most would look at PDFs with a price first- the assumption is always on the side of cost = quality be that assumption irrational or not.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstIt seems I don't hear too much about 1KM1KT, one of the coolest gaming sites out there.  You've got this group of folks there who just create these unprententious, cool, free RPGs.  Some of them are really, really short and silly (like StickGuy The RPG), and some like A+ Fantasy, which are more developed, complete systems.  Yeah, free RPGs are always going to be somewhat hit-and-miss, but throw in games like Hi/Lo Heroes and Enchanted Tales, and you've got games that will appeal to all different sorts of tastes and playstyles.  Yet you hear surprisingly little about it...  :confused:

I read that site every now and then. There are some good games, but I find myself having to read through several of them to find one that is interesting.

Here's another handy link that gives listings of free games, including free versions of published games:

http://www.homebrew.net/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.FreeRPGs

FATE, Unisystem's Witchcraft, and  Ars Magica 4th ed. are all well worth the price.

Quote from: gleichmanJAGS has done very well as I understand it.

Well, we have one indie-award, a bunch of second-places ... and a Spectrum 13 award (for JAGS Wonderland's cover!). I consider that very cool. JAGS Revised will be out in a few weeks if I can keep plugging away at it--and our downloads and activity is great.

I mean, I get enough satisfaction from doing it. The money from POD sales isn't all that high--but it's cool enough.

I certainly don't think most people out there have heard of us--but it's still satisfying enough to keep me working on it

-Marco

Thanks for posting 1KM1KT Zach.  I had never heard of it.

You're welcome--I've found some neat stuff over there.  It's definitely worth checking now and again.