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/

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

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

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 AM

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

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