I get daily emails of new or interesting products from Drive Thru RPG every day. Tonight, another free RPG.
Fatebenders RPG. I know nothing about it, and that's not really the point of this post.
It seems to me that there are way too many RPG's available that are free as PDF's.
Don't get me wrong, I still buy commercial books. Hell, I'm getting the original Rifts RPG 30th Anniversary in hardcover this week as a birthday gift, and my twin is getting Castles & Crusades PHB, MM, and DM Guide in exchange. I also think he got off easy when it comes to cost of one $50 book, but C&C trio of books is about $160.
So, let's forget that wallet drain and go back to free RPGs.
Which ones do you like?
I'm a big fan of these:
1. Pocket Fantasy, especially with the optional classes to bring it up to 14 classes.
2. Basic Fantasy. It's not the game so much. In fact, what I like are all of the additional bits like more classes. BF using just the main book seems a bit too little for me.
3. Olde Swords Reign. Almost nobody talks about this one, but I love the simple design. Its best feature is the customization of the four stock classes. With the customization, you don't need anything else.
4. Mini-six:Bare Bones. This is the best set of D6 Star Wars style rules out there. Almost. The magic system needs some TLC, but that isn't hard to house rule. Just let the GM set difficulty numbers vs effect size rather than use the fixed numbers from the book.
5. True-D6. Ok, I'm cheating. The game is technically a dollar for the text only version. It's not free, but a dollar isn't a large barrier to overcome. I like it because it cleverly squeezes a lot of gameplay out of just 1D6. There even is a fancier version with art called True -D6 Printable Edition, but is $6. I also love it because the rules are reworked to be my favorite Samurai and Ninja game called Kogarashi.
What free games should I look for next?
Fortunately, I'm free from DriveThru. My life is simplified.
Classic Traveller Facsimile Edition is a free PDF on DriveThru.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/355200/classic-traveller-facsimile-edition
Cepheus Engine FTL and Quantum versions are freebies.
Wushu: Blackbelt Edition is PWYW.
Quote from: jeff37923 on September 24, 2024, 05:58:52 AMClassic Traveller Facsimile Edition is a free PDF on DriveThru.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/355200/classic-traveller-facsimile-edition
It's only books 1,2,3, nuts! I'm missing several of the books and I was hoping to be able to complete my collection on the cheap
Star Frontiers is still free as has been for a very long time:
https://www.starfrontiers.com/ (https://www.starfrontiers.com/)
Edit: I notice that wizards pulled this long time arrangement. Was there for.. 20-25 years. something like that. So... eh, never was a big fan of the game.
I just write my own, then not only is the game free, all the setting books are, too.
Still costs me money to print my own stuff Kyle! ha But sure.
Dragon Warriors is a weird one. It's PWYW on Drivethru RPG.
I actually found you could print it as a hardcover and have it shipped to me for only $17.
Dragon Warriors (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/90926/dragon-warriors)
It's an interesting game. It was one of the early RPGs, and this one was written in England.
Two features of the game that stand out are weapons. They do fixed damage, but you roll for armor penetration check after a successful hit. A weapon can have 5 damage, and 1D8 to penetrate armor.
The other oddity is the game is human only. I'm sure a game that old has supplements to add elves and such, but that isn't in the core book.
It also includes its own game world with a map.
Quote from: Kuroth on September 25, 2024, 03:17:30 AMStill costs me money to print my own stuff Kyle! ha But sure.
This is yet another argument for relatively light rules. As well, a good chunk of every system is description of the use and effects of skills, magic and so on, and lots of writeups of examples of skill use, combat etc. But if you wrote it, you don't need all that, you just make rulings at the game table. As an example, the Conflict game's actual rules - attribute and skill list, wounding matrix etc - make up perhaps 4-5 pages of the digest-sized book. But the book as a whole is 48 pages. 10% skeleton, 90% flesh. Now, when someone else is expected to run or play the game, they need the other 90% that's flesh - but if you write the game, you only need the 10% that's the skeleton.
As you say Kyle. I was just being flip about paying for printing. Also, I prefer the player to be free from referencing the 'book' for their character, which furthers this. So, yes, a write up of tables and lists. I don't need to write how I intend to use those table and lists, if there is no need for publishing or similar use.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on September 25, 2024, 08:33:20 AMDragon Warriors is a weird one. It's PWYW on Drivethru RPG.
I actually found you could print it as a hardcover and have it shipped to me for only $17.
Dragon Warriors (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/90926/dragon-warriors)
It's an interesting game. It was one of the early RPGs, and this one was written in England.
Two features of the game that stand out are weapons. They do fixed damage, but you roll for armor penetration check after a successful hit. A weapon can have 5 damage, and 1D8 to penetrate armor.
The other oddity is the game is human only. I'm sure a game that old has supplements to add elves and such, but that isn't in the core book.
It also includes its own game world with a map.
Given the time it was written, format it was originally released and where, I would expect the game to be similar to Fighting Fantasy in many ways. If you like it, buy. Perfectly fine I am sure.
Quote from: Kuroth on September 26, 2024, 05:58:29 AMQuote from: weirdguy564 on September 25, 2024, 08:33:20 AMDragon Warriors is a weird one. It's PWYW on Drivethru RPG.
I actually found you could print it as a hardcover and have it shipped to me for only $17.
Dragon Warriors (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/90926/dragon-warriors)
It's an interesting game. It was one of the early RPGs, and this one was written in England.
Two features of the game that stand out are weapons. They do fixed damage, but you roll for armor penetration check after a successful hit. A weapon can have 5 damage, and 1D8 to penetrate armor.
The other oddity is the game is human only. I'm sure a game that old has supplements to add elves and such, but that isn't in the core book.
It also includes its own game world with a map.
Given the time it was written, format it was originally released and where, I would expect the game to be similar to Fighting Fantasy in many ways. If you like it, buy. Perfectly fine I am sure.
I've run Dragon Warriors. The core system is absolutely brilliant, though the class design is hit-or-miss and it's generally a little too married to its native setting. If it had gotten a proper second edition that could have been a contender for the greatest fantasy RPG ever made. If it was published under an open license it would be the basis I'd choose for making my own games.
I've been using F.O.R.G.E and have had some pretty positive results. https://zap-forge.itch.io/forge
It started as a KNAVE clone, but has evolved into a more general OSR game with simple, fairly complete rules set with a nice set of GM and Solo tools. It very easy to modify and you can run pretty any published module or setting in it without too much work.
I've seen that the author also has plans for rules for Cyberpunk (next), Post Apocalypse, and Space Opera moving forward.
My go-to Freebie RPGs:
MAZES & MINOTAURS
Easily my fav OSR game - it's Greek Hollywood D&D and plays so awesome at the table. There's a truckload of free supplements, including an Advanced M&M and a Viking version. I've run several campaigns and many, many con games and it's never failed to be a great time. Refreshingly different from my OD&D adventures.
http://mazesandminotaurs.free.fr/
WARRIOR, ROGUE & MAGE
It's GURPS Fantasy done better with lots of free supplements. I need to run an extended campaign, but I've run many convention one-shots and it scratches that GURPS itch as its highly customizable - both PCs and the system itself.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/82643/warrior-rogue-mage
Cairn v1. Derived from 'into the odd', it's simple free and has a fair amount of support on itch.io.
I don't follow you how pocket fantasy is great , but Basic Fantasy is meh? The whole of the Basic Fantasy ecosystem, rules, add-ons, modules, etc are all free pdfs. Thousands of pages worth.
And if you want a printed copy they are super cheap on Amazon.
And if $5 is cheap enough I would add "White Box" by Charlie Mason, also on Amazon. It's swords and wizardry white box, reorganized.
Quote from: orbitalair on October 01, 2024, 10:34:17 AMCairn v1. Derived from 'into the odd', it's simple free and has a fair amount of support on itch.io.
I don't follow you how pocket fantasy is great , but Basic Fantasy is meh? The whole of the Basic Fantasy ecosystem, rules, add-ons, modules, etc are all free pdfs. Thousands of pages worth.
And if you want a printed copy they are super cheap on Amazon.
And if $5 is cheap enough I would add "White Box" by Charlie Mason, also on Amazon. It's swords and wizardry white box, reorganized.
I like Pocket Fantasy over Basic Fantasy for a couple different reasons.
1. Pocket Fantasy is an opposed roll system, while Basic Fantasy is a roll vs a static Armor Class number. I grew up on Palladium's RPG's which use an opposed roll (Strike vs Parry, or Strike vs Dodge). It "feels" better to us to have opposed rolls. It also keeps players engaged when it's not their turn.
2. Pocket Fantasy is super rules lite, but still is a full featured game. That impressed me, so it ranks high for that.
3. Non-Vancian magic. I am always going to prefer games with non-Vancian magic. Quite a lot, actually. Pocket Fantasy also never neuters the magicians. They get 1-2 spells per fight, every fight. More if they turn in re-roll tokens for extra spells. In Vancian magic, when you're out of spells, you're better off putting on a chain mail shirt and a short sword you keep in your backpack.
4. Classes. Both games only come with the typical four classes. BF adds more, but they're scattered across different PDFs. PF has more as well, 14 in fact, but has them all concentrated on one PDF
Basic Fantasy: is more or less what got me into the OSR, I'm always going to give it a mention as it's a great introduction and a very good B/X system. in my imagined dream world, I'd have a book structured like OSE, but with the rules of Basic Fantasy.
Anyway for running Open-table stuff, Basic Fantasy is amazing since everything is free.
Maze Rats: Easily one of the most solid condensing and abstraction of the OSR D&D style, it's not quite compatible, but that's more an issue of translating stats more than anything.
The great thing about Maze Rats is the amount of tables, really useful tables, for loot, books, just random details or things you'd need.
Anything by Kevin Crawford: He has an extremely generous free version of almost all his major products, such as Worlds Without Number, and Stars without Number, and I do mean generous, the free versions are 85% of the paid version, and these books are huge coming in at 400 pages, so everything you need and would want is most likely in the free version.
Footnote: Now that I think about it, Basic Fantasy is Creative Commons work (another plus) someone could totally reformat it like OSE and publish that for free. not a bad idea.
I'd probably go with anything by Crawford if I can.
Is Better than Any Man still free?
Amazing scenario in sXVII Holy Roman Empire.
Quote from: fbnaulin on December 10, 2024, 05:16:21 PMIs Better than Any Man still free?
Amazing scenario in sXVII Holy Roman Empire.
It is. Well, technically it's pay-what-you-want.
Drive-Thru Link (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/116452/better-than-any-man)
Quote from: Socratic-DM on October 03, 2024, 11:47:44 AMAnything by Kevin Crawford: He has an extremely generous free version of almost all his major products, such as Worlds Without Number, and Stars without Number, and I do mean generous, the free versions are 85% of the paid version, and these books are huge coming in at 400 pages, so everything you need and would want is most likely in the free version.
He's been releasing free versions of all his stuff, basically top tier without the bling.
I do like Basic Fantasy.
I think it is still great Old School introduction.
It being free is super cool.
There is so much free stuff, which I do appreciate.
Unfortunately the deluge makes it difficult to separate wheat from chaff
Quote from: jeff37923 on September 24, 2024, 05:58:52 AMClassic Traveller Facsimile Edition is a free PDF on DriveThru.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/355200/classic-traveller-facsimile-edition
Don't know if Classic Traveller is still free there, but the Mongoose Traveller Starter Pack is free at the link below.
https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/products/starterpack?srsltid=AfmBOorePQNmo-JCzPVAa7T0s0ZPJEXD5EXTS2JOZyupxotfbXpSTHcx
And I will add another vote for Basic Fantasy. It is pretty good in my estimation.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on September 23, 2024, 08:22:51 PMI get daily emails of new or interesting products from Drive Thru RPG every day. Tonight, another free RPG.
Fatebenders RPG. I know nothing about it, and that's not really the point of this post.
It seems to me that there are way too many RPG's available that are free as PDF's.
Don't get me wrong, I still buy commercial books. Hell, I'm getting the original Rifts RPG 30th Anniversary in hardcover this week as a birthday gift, and my twin is getting Castles & Crusades PHB, MM, and DM Guide in exchange. I also think he got off easy when it comes to cost of one $50 book, but C&C trio of books is about $160.
So, let's forget that wallet drain and go back to free RPGs.
Which ones do you like?
I'm a big fan of these:
1. Pocket Fantasy, especially with the optional classes to bring it up to 14 classes.
2. Basic Fantasy. It's not the game so much. In fact, what I like are all of the additional bits like more classes. BF using just the main book seems a bit too little for me.
3. Olde Swords Reign. Almost nobody talks about this one, but I love the simple design. Its best feature is the customization of the four stock classes. With the customization, you don't need anything else.
4. Mini-six:Bare Bones. This is the best set of D6 Star Wars style rules out there. Almost. The magic system needs some TLC, but that isn't hard to house rule. Just let the GM set difficulty numbers vs effect size rather than use the fixed numbers from the book.
5. True-D6. Ok, I'm cheating. The game is technically a dollar for the text only version. It's not free, but a dollar isn't a large barrier to overcome. I like it because it cleverly squeezes a lot of gameplay out of just 1D6. There even is a fancier version with art called True -D6 Printable Edition, but is $6. I also love it because the rules are reworked to be my favorite Samurai and Ninja game called Kogarashi.
What free games should I look for next?
had some great experiences with grant howitt's one page rpgs, just one shots mind you, but fun ones nontheless. also Cat and Schauermärchen by jon wich are pretty nice
For free B/X style play, if you don't want WWN, I really like Heroes of Adventure (https://nameless-designer.itch.io/heroes-of-adventure)
It adds and mixes stuff from several systems, well laid out, AI art is okay, 3 books and some adventures. Not one and done, the creator updates it and the GM tools are good.
Technically, the no art version of LotFP Rules And Magic is free, so it takes the cake any day of the week.
I was actively on DrivethruRPG ages ago and being flooded by free games became so overwhelming. Everybody is putting out games like there's no tomorrow and most of the stuff is just useless imho, while even the interesting stuff is still overwhelming that even if I wanted to use it there's no time. So I just decided to stick with some system favorites and unsubscribe from all the DTRPG nonsense and make life easier.
I only play free RPGs, basically...
BFRPG is the one I use most often.
There are free versions of LotFP, OSE, LL, OSRIC, WWN, LFG, Dungeon World, even D&D 2024 (and clones or SRDs of almost every version of D&D, excluding maybe 4e).
I hope I can make an updated and free version of my own in 2025.
There's also the Microlite D20 games. Stripped down versions of B/X, AD&D, 3E, 5E, PF, etc. All free:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/9500/retroroleplaying?affiliate_id=196921
Basic Fantasy is probably the best free product I've seen. It's community driven and supportive. Plus it's supplementary material is really, really good.
What about «Mausritter»? It's pwyw and full of content.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on September 23, 2024, 08:22:51 PM3. Olde Swords Reign. Almost nobody talks about this one, but I love the simple design. Its best feature is the customization of the four stock classes. With the customization, you don't need anything else.
I am just having reading of this recently and am agreeing of it seems very customizable. I may have trying it out in a one-shot session soon after the new year.
I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but F.O.R.G.E. just released the anniversary edition. It's still basically the same game, but has removed the AI art, updated some tables and rules, added Paragon rules for solo play, hyperlinked the entire document, and it is still FREE.
https://zap-forge.itch.io/forge