Roundup of Free Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Tabletop roleplaying games is the hobby that's "not dead yet," not as long as there's a pimply over-movie'd nerd who thinks they might do better at telling a story than Lucasberg or Whedon, and wants tospring such a story on their nerd friends. Tabletop RPG lets them do it since 1974, with Dungeons & Dragons. The Game-Master (GM, dungeon master, DM, referee...) presents a situation in a fictional universe. The other players each control one character set in that story, who respond to what happens and tell theGM what their characters want to do. The GM explains what happens next, and so on. The players don't know what's going to happen next, and the game-master may see his careful script altered by player actions in unpredictable ways. Play proceeds conversationally with the help of figures, maps andreference to dice-rolls, to the thrilling climax. But, oh, if the villain escaped in that handily placed yet uncatchable ice-luge, the players must come back again another night for the sequel... Role-playing games did get translated into computer games many are already familiar with. However, in "tabletop" RPG-style the GM can improvise on a moment's notice and add thrilling new situations. They can tailor the game to the players' preferences, which is not possible in a pre-programmed, mass-marketed computer game. Players may be more combat-oriented; they may like the role-playing segments; they might like storytelling and building an enormous story-arc heavy in political intrigue. Tabletop RPGs can cater to all of that. Players must learn about the basic dice-rolling rules. Many varieties of game-rules systems have been developed over the decades, but don't let the diversity bother you. The GM must learn the rules of theirchosen game *better*, and also read information about the game setting, notes on how to design an adventure "script" to use, how to run a game and how to maintain interest during a game session. You can even play tabletop RPGs by teleconference! I'm crazy for Roll20, a free teleconference system thathelps connect you to players for a certain game, and play with a shared tabletop and movable tokens. http://www.roll20.net Here are some free games for you to download and get started: --STAR FRONTIERS (1982): I'm mentioning my favourite first. A science-fiction game with fast-moving combat rules integrating personal-weapon, vehicle and aerial combat all at once. Excellent guidelines for beginners. "Alpha Dawn" is the core rulebook. You will need to find two ten-sided dice. http://www.starfrontiersman.com/remastered.php

--DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (1974): A new edition of Dungeons & Dragons is coming out, and the basic bare-bones rules are available as a FREE download. Other materials are going to be offered for free download. You may be better off buying the beginner box which is out (July 15, 2014) for $20 as it has the necessary components (maps, dice) and explanations of the rules. The full rules will come out as hardcover books in titles which have been familiar for almost 40 years: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual.Now this is where people first had to deal with the different polyhedral dice: 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 20-sided. Ideally, each player should have their own set, one of each, but two of the 10-sided (for making "per cent" rolls). http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/basicrules --PATHFINDER (2008): This is set in fantasy-fiction, developed as an off-shoot of one edition of Dungeons & Dragons and now challenges the popularity of D&D. The complete game rules are actually posted for free reference (minus the artwork and illustrative examples). To learn it you might be better off buying the Pathfinder Beginner Box, unless you're a good reader. You will need several dice of different shapes (polyhedral dice). http://paizo.com/prd/ --HACKMASTER: This started as a kind of parody of fantasy-fiction games, but a system was developed in its own right. There is a "basic" version available for free, with more rules available in the pay-books. Download for free from this page. Needs polyhedral dice. http://www.kenzerco.com/product_info.php?cPath=25_94&products_id=862 --FATE Core System (2013): This system de-emphasizes numbers and stats in favour of descriptive traits ("aspects") for your characters, which are used to determine if you gain advantages or setbacks during the story situation. Character traits, skills, equipment, background history and local conditions are all handled as "aspects". A game-master has to consider every interesting factor that will apply and must "think on their feet." Only interesting things are considered: actions which are routine for a character are handled promptly without a roll. The rules can be adapted to any genre. The books have beautiful inked fantasy illustrations. I like the intelligent gorilla with the bionic arm especially! This system uses Fate Dice (formerly called Fudge Dice) which are like 6-sided dice with 2 +'s, 2 -'s and 2 blank faces, or you can use regular dice (a 1 or 2 means -, a 3 or 4 means blank, and a 5 or 6 means +).

http://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-downloads/ (the 300-page FATE Core System rules are free, or pay-what-you-want. Fate Accelerated is a shorter "quick-start" book.) --SPIRIT OF 77 (2015): This is a brand-new game covering the funkadelic 1970s. Be a bad Soul Brother, a Good Ol' Boy or a Kung-Fu Mama. Click "Free Download" for "Cruise Ship of the Damned" which is a quickstart .pdf. It is complete with everything you need to play for an evening: condensed rules good even for people new to RPGs, instructions for Game Masters, 7 pre-generated characters (get a photocopier) and an adventure set on a cruise ship similar to a certain television series. http://spiritof77game.com/ --DIASPORA (2010): Some Canadian guys made a hard science-fiction RPG based on an earlier version of the FATE rules. They organize it in the form of "mini-games", modules to cover starship combat, "social combat" (interpersonal dealings and drama), "platoon combat" (*cough* ALIENS *cough*), and planet generation. The book isn't free but pretty much all the rules are, in the form of a publicly displayed System Reference Document. http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/diaspora-srd.html --DRAGON AGE: A new, up-and-coming fantasy game which is sold in 2 boxed sets, but you can get the Starter rules for free. Uses 3 6-sided dice; one must be of a different colour. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/92882/Dragon-Age-RPG-Quick-Start-Guide It was demonstrated on Wil Wheaton's "Tabletop" show, in two 35-minute episodes. This also gives you an idea of the whole tabletop role-playing deal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-61i3R5y9Y --TRAVELLER STARTER EDITION (1977): [EDIT: no longer available for free.] This is the earliest(well, okay, 2nd earliest) science-fiction RPG that came out in 1977. Design star maps, planets, characters with detailed past careers, and spaceships. This version of the original edition came out in the early 80's in 3 booklets reorganized from the original. The game system mutated into several more editions afterwards but "Classic Traveller" is still playable right from the basic books. Uses only regular six-sided dice.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/80190/CT-ST-Starter-Traveller To perfect this game, you can note the errata collected over the years (Starter Traveller is on p. 12): http://dmckinne.winterwar.org/pdfs/ConsolidatedCTErrata.pdf --SHADOWRUN Fifth-Edition Quick-start Rules: Quick-starts are a short taste of the game with just enough information for a night or two of adventure, after which you might buy the full rulebook. This is set in a world of "cyberpunk" science-fiction (high-tech, low morals). To add to the technological setting, a wave of magical energy has re-emerged after 5,000 years, turning some humans into elves, dwarves and orcs, and ancient, long-forgotten magical spells suddenly work again! Uses regular six-sided dice. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/116662/Shadowrun-Fifth-Edition-Quick-Start-Rules (you must sign up on DriveThruStuff to access files) --CALL OF CTHULHU Quick-Start Rules: An elegant game set in the 1920's where intrepid characters have discovered other-worldly horrors from just beyond our visible Earth. Can they fight these eldritch monstrosities while keeping their Sanity intact? (Oh, yes, it's a character statistic that canrapidly deplete!) It uses polyhedral dice. (You must sign up on DriveThruStuff to access files.) http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/101292/Call-of-Cthulhu-Quick-Start-Rules (6th-edition) http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/128304/Call-of-Cthulhu-7th-Edition-QuickStart-Rules (7th-edition) --GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System): This is a "generic" rules system by Steve JacksonGames, whose basic rules could be applied to many types of fantasy or science-fiction settings. You can get GURPS Lite free as an introduction to the game. It uses only six-sided dice. http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/details.html --BASIC ROLEPLAYING (BRP): This was another generic rules system by Chaosium Inc. used for Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest and other games. Quickstart is available for free. Characters don't "level up" because they have no fixed character types, but have an extensive list of skills, and test whether they can succeed at something with a per-cent roll for easy-to-understand odds of success. Individual

skills slowly improve the way the player wants. It has many good, short adventures in different settings. It uses polyhedral dice, but especially two ten-sided dice. http://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-quickstart-pdf/ --D6 SYSTEM: This was yet another generic rules system used by West End Games for licensed games for STAR WARS (original edition), GHOSTBUSTERS and MEN IN BLACK. The licenses have expired so the rules can't be specifically tied to these settings. It uses only six-sided dice, hence the name. Get a large assortment of books in different genres free: http://www.polgarusgames.com/download-page --SAVAGE WORLDS (Pinnacle Games): One current RPG is a "pulp fiction" game of 1930's and 1940's adventure that has been greatly expanded with supplements into other genres. Download the "Test Drive" for an introduction. http://www.peginc.com/freebies/SWcore/TD06.pdf --DWARFSTAR GAMES: In the 1980's, Dwarfstar Games printed two cute "pick-a-paragraph" adventure games which resembled classic "if you want to do this, turn to paragraph #..." type of books, but they have a character sheet and do dice-rolls so they are part-way between a paragraph-adventure book and a full RPG. They were called Barbarian Prince (fantasy) and Star Smuggler (sci-fi). You candownload the complete books and maps here. They used two six-sided dice. http://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/ds_barbarianprince.html http://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/ds_starsmuggler.html --STARS WITHOUT NUMBER science-fiction RPG: Free edition. Uses polyhedral dice. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition --ICAR (science-fiction): A free science-fiction game from Britain with a WEIRD far-future setting. Requires at least two 10-sided dice (d10's).

http://www.icar.co.uk/ --AND MUCH MORE: You've read this far so you're clearly interested. A lot of amateur game-authors have gotten into the act, and you can explore a lot of free amateur and small-press stuff at the Free RPG Blog: http://www.thefreerpgblog.com/ Here is another guy's list of free RPGs: https://rpgrunkleplaysgames.wordpress.com/free-rpgs/ -----If you want to actually spend a little money, starter-sets for Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Star Wars(in 3 flavours: Edge of the Empire (rogues), Age of Rebellion (rebel forces), and Force and Destiny (the Jedi)) and Shadowrun are available, chock-full of dice, maps and figures (or game tokens) to get you started. Of these, Pathfinder seems to be the best value for the money. Great for younger players! http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_starterset?x=dnd/products/dndacc/starterset (Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set) http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/products/beginnerbox (Pathfinder Beginner Box) https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-beginner-game/ (Star Wars: Edge of the Empire) https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-age-of-rebellion-beginner-game/ (Star Wars: Age of Rebellion) https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-force-and-destiny-beginner-game/ (Star Wars: Force and Destiny) http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/products-page/getting-started/4405-2/ (Shadowrun)