Free RPGs

Welcome to the RPG section of 1KM1KT. Here you’ll find member submissions of tabletop pen and paper role-playing games. All of the RPGs available in this section are free for download and are generally in .pdf format. If you’re interested in submitting your own RPG for publication, please visit our submissions page for details or send it to us using our contact form.

Submitted for the 24 Hour Modus Operandi Challenge: The Wars of the Worlds between Earth and Mars is coming, and you’re the first Martian spies. Put the filthy bipeds in their place and find every weakness in the human scum.

This great War lies decades in the future. Perhaps the awful horrors of the Heat Ray and Black Smoke will never come to pass. And it’s up to you.

For you are the spies sent by Mars to pave the way for invasion. Martian scouts have cast themselves psychically cross the void of space, inhabiting random people in a small geographical area ? the centre of Victorian London. In their short time on Earth, the Martian interlopers must evaluate humanity’s possible defenses against Martian weapons and tactics.

This is a game for three players. Together, the group will play a hive of Martians sent to spy on Earth.

The basis of this game is that every player is a Scientist in a experiment tampering with life itself. This experiment is that each scientist in the group has a small force of artificial beings (Cyborgs) in a test area, a synthetic maze of steel with many rooms and living areas. the ultimate test of survival, the scientists must lead their cyborgs to being able to survive, and ultimatly open the exit door that leads to the next “zone”. The maze itself consists of 1 Zones, each with a door that leads to a giant cargo elevator that can lift a scientists cyborgs to the next zone. All of the higher zones contain past experiments that lost control due to lesser scientists getting too cocky or getting themselves killed.

Control:

Whenever your cyborgs think, they start to slowly realize that they are being controlled, eventually they may rise up and kill their scientist. you can make them respect you by certain actions defined by the GM. Generally, whenever you help them in a certain way they like you more. When they have weapons, they think even more, and realize your more mortal then they are. basically, don’t be the weakest link. prove that your worth it as their leader.

Pets:

Eventually you will learn domestication, and be able to create animal cyborgs. these will help you in various ways, basically, they are “Familiars” that help you in certain respects. for instance, a small bird-cyborg would be helpful for grabbing that piece of paper on the other side of that big hole…. The player and GM must work together to create them, they must be fair to everybody yet be special. you can only have one type of pet at a time, but they can be created as long as you have the parts. be very realistic on parts, and realize that they are not immortal by any means.

Endgame:

what DOES lie on the zone after the last zone? nobody actually knows. One would expect thats the end of it all, but who knows? it is suggested the GM puts a very interesting storyline hook at the end, like a dramatic boss fight or something. it’s all the GM

You play as a version of yourself, pretty much. you start the process with 3 creation points. first off you pick a body type,then you pick some features. then you purchase some skills, maybe get some points by giving your character disadvantages. Please be semi realistic on what you start with as skills (because I doubt a highschooler would be a skilled gunfighter/hacker/ninja/marine). and be sure to put in some sort of backstory.

THE START OF IT ALL

This game requires 2+ players, one of them is the DeathMaster(DM). More players makes the game alot more interesting. This game will require ALOT of NPCs.However, it is NOT needed to make a individual sheet for every one of them. as the DM can wing it for what they can do. but if you feel like it, fine, create a shitload of character sheets. The character system was designed mainly to support alot of characters. That and these are highschool students, not heros.

Everything you think you know is a lie.

There’s a larger, deadlier place lurking behind the file cabinets, closet doors and televisions we’ve built to shut it out. There are lovely, dangerous things waiting for you, if you would only step off the edge and into their arms.

Nightmares, dwellers at the crossroads, succubi, vampires and a million other creatures are hungry. You know; you’re becoming one of them.

Welcome to Abeo.

Set in a modern world very much like ours, this pen-and-paper RPG blurs the line between the hunter and the hunted as characters not only run from or battle the creatures of the night, but slowly become them as they cultivate and warp madness into power.

Step into the world on the other side of sanity, meeting creatures out of your darkest nightmares and most private dreams.

Grasp and twist your mind, choosing from over a hundred Pathos & powers that allow you to create change in the world by driving yourself further into passionate delirium. Unbound by the laws of the sane world, soar through city skies, destroy your enemies, or travel across continents in a step.

Abeo Lite includes a fully functional version of the game with everything you need to play. You can pickup a full version from Insomnium Games complete with artwork and an index.

Introduction

The World of Fear and Wonder

The lever, the winch and the wheel are not the beginning and the end of the mechanisms of creation; they are only the simplest solution. Society, industry and interaction are poorly suited to deal with a world where cause and effect are not laws, but suggestions. In Abeo, this stranger, more fluid world is the truer one. There are no rules when the dreams we have with our eyes closed are just as real as the ones we share with them open. We are encouraged to forget the fey lands of our most private hopes and fears, paying attention instead to the monsters that lurk in alleyways, crackhouses, congress and corporate boardrooms. There are rules for dealing with these horrors, and though we groan under their weight, we can bear their finite power.

Unfortunately, there are monsters other than the mundane ones, and it doesn’t take much to see them. Today, a woman was found gruesomely murdered in a room locked from the inside. Last week a man burst into flame in an enclosed office. There is no conspiracy to hide these facts from the average man on the street; he does enough of the job himself. Human torches and phantom murders just don’t fit into the supremely defined cosmos of his belief.

Belief in the absence of proof is faith. Belief in direct contradiction to proof is dangerous. In Abeo, you play one of those remarkable people who have taken a mad step, removing themselves from the danger of ignorance and placing themselves squarely in danger of knowing entirely too much.

Reason defines the Phenomenal world, but emotion taps into the Noumenal world and breaks it. Love does indeed conquer all, but so does hate. And fear. Fervor does more than motivate, it directly affects the world, removing the veils of apathy and illusion; fueling the ghost in the machine of causality. The vehement see that the world operates by the rules of irony, poetry, and passion as much, if not more than it does by those of gravity, electromagnetism, and the nuclear forces. It is only through a lateral shift in perception that characters are able to do what they had previously thought impossible. One must become insane to become free; to walk on water, you have to jump out of your boat.

Characters in Abeo find themselves shuttling between a banal but safe world defined by its objectivity and predictability, and a beautiful but deadly one bound only by Passion. Faced with both Phenomenal and Noumenal challenges continuously, these individuals often find themselves sliding into a particular kind of adaptive madness?a madness that

simultaneously grants the character the power he needs to survive and drives him farther away from the relationships and identity that he spent his life forming. These characters are called Liminal in Abeo, and an endless number of other names within the world the game defines. Those few who know enough to call them anything may understand them to be sorcerers, angels, monsters, demons or simply family members slipping away, bit by impossible bit.

Abeo is a game. While not real, it contains many of the elements of the world as we know it. Or perhaps more accurately, as we think we know it. No longer able to content themselves with sitcoms, political speeches, and student loan bills, they find themselves thrust into a world where their every adversary is capable of breaking all the rules. Maybe, if he survives, he will learn how to break them, too.

Drunken bear Fighter is a one-page RPG that focuses around the dangerous underworld of Moscow where drunken bears terrorise the helpless citizens. Formed to combat the menace of ursine alcoholics, the Russian Drunken Bear Fighting Organisation (or RDBFO, pronounced ‘Rudbeefo’) sends specially trained agents out into the field to pacify the streets of Russia.

Comes with full character creation rules, adventure ideas, stats for four types of drunken bear, and the stat ‘Drunken Bear Knowledge’

Adventure Ideas

• Drunken Bears are causing trouble in a local bar! Two regular bears and an advanced bear are drinking too much vodka and causing trouble.
• A powerful Kingpin is moving in his armoured van from one city to another. You must strike when he is weakened and wipe him out.
• Drunken Bears are swarming out of the sewers! Why on earth is that? Find out.
• Interrupt a deal between the DBs and the Russian Mafia.
• Raid a DB stronghold filled with Ninja bears.

Advent: Magicka Rising

Advent: Magicka Rising (later referred to as just Advent) is in essence Pokemon with swords, magic and the ability to beat monsters into a bloody pulp, should they prove to be disobedient. For a long time (since I was around eight) the idea of running around with a team of monsters that answer to your beck and call was one that appealed to me greatly, as it would to any little boy, and Pokemon gave me just that. When I began to become interested in pen and paper rpgs the desire to convert the Pokemon game into such a thing arose within me and now, after five years, I am actually starting to put pen to paper (of finger to key, as it were.)

Of course the happy-go-lucky game play style of Pokemon seemed a little too shallow and far too light hearted for anything I would want to play. So Advent game along, pokemon’s evil twin.

The game, in creation, became something more than this, even still, and I hope that players and Storytellers will use it to create epic tales.

So now Advent is a game for players who want to play in a world and Empire dealing with two types of invasion, enemy armies from the North and unnatural monsters spawning from the Ether. Can you conquer both? Or would you rather learn to live with them? Both routes are possible to a player, it’s up to you to decide.

All you need to play Advent is this manual (though others may help as only 18 monsters are included in this book) some pens and paper, friends and a set of polyhedral dice (D4,D6,D8,D1,D12 & D2).

This supplement to Advent will introduce new rules and expand on the ones already found in the core rule book. None of these rules should be used with out the approval of your Storyteller before you begin playing with them.

The Dark Arts supplement

This supplement is aimed for games which will involve PCs or NPCs using unsavoury means to their goals or training Dark Odic monsters. You will not find anything useful for character’s of pure heart, unless you wish to know your enemy.

The Geography of the Empire.

The Tyris Empire is made up of five once independent realms. These were systematically conquered by the Empire and are now all within its dominion. Because the lands have been controlled by the Empire for so long the peoples are largely mixed and racial heritage is no longer a big deal. However all realms serve as a homeland for one or more races, except for the middle plains, the heart of the empire, which acts as a melting pot for a multitude of races.

The following pages contain a description of each of the five realms, including the general geography, the capital of each realm and other places of interest.

Karsill (The Great Plains)

Karsill is more often referred to as the Middle Realm or the Great Plains. Indeed its official name is only truly used in ceremonies and scholars books, having lost a true need for a separate name since the Empire began.

The Great Plains is situated in the middle of the four other realms and is made mainly of flat grassland, with a few small hills and copses of trees dotted across its landscape. Due to its flat nature you can stand in the Tower of the Six Lords, in the capital city of Tyrin, and see into the surrounding realms, even past the south and into the Ocean of Souls, with only a few cities to obscure your view. Across the lands herders let their animals roam, though now many hire monster catchers to guard themselves and their animals. To the south, before the Oran river splits into its many deltas and travels into the Orc and Goblin tribal lands, the rivers fertile banks are the home of Karsill’s main corn and wheat fields. Along the river there are many small watermills which also have docking stations for the supply barges, at these points the grain is ground down before moving onto the capital.

The Oran river itself runs from the northern mountains and down through the middle of the realm. The river has a slow current and works as a water highway between the south and the north of the Empire. It passes through the city of Tyrin, which was built on the three banks as the river splits at this point into the Oran and Latchla rivers. The Oran continues due south whilst the Latchla veers of to the west, worming its way through the small hills of the Gnomish heartlands and into the estuary each feeds the Border Sea. There are a few other, small rivers, that come from the north, some running into the Oran, others travelling east and west.

The middle realm’s weather is often characterised as boring. Indeed it is incredibly temperate, meaning it’s climate is not too different from the warm south or the cold north to make it uncomfortable to its denizens. During the season of growth Karsill experience heavy, slightly warm, showers for days at a time as the warm southern winds push clouds from the heated Ocean of Souls. During the peak of this season, the Storm of the Founder occurs. Always happening within the week of the solstice, the great storm lasts for one day and one night only, beginning at dawn one day and ending at dawn the next. It is said that this is a symbol from the Founder for the people of Karsill to begin storing food, to prepare for the coming season of recedence.

During the recedence rain is scarce even though the sky is dark. The land becomes cold and frigid and without the warm air, clouds are not pushed high enough to break. Because of this the clouds break over the mountains to the north, causing the rivers of the realms to enlarge and spill their banks. The mass flooding that occurs does much damage to nearby cities, but the people consider it necessary as it makes the land fertile for the coming season of growth.

Places of interest in Karsill.

Tyrin

The Empire’s capitol city is home to all the races of the lands, although it’s permanent inhabitants are mainly human and gnomes, are great deal of traffic comes from the orcs, elves and dracoth. Set just south of the centre of the Karsill in the crux of the Oran and Latchla rivers, the city is divided into three main parts, with a small island at the centre.

The southernmost bank holds the dock and merchant quarters of the city, the area punctuated by its ‘vibrant’ activities, loud noises and foul smell (unless of course a vessel carrying elven perfume has just come into port.) These docks are the centre of commerce for all the realms, buyers and sellers loading and unloading vessels, only to have the goods move five metres before a stall is set up. The docks themselves are built upon a floating platform, that touches the earth during the season of growth, but during the floods of the recedence float, leaving the boats and stalls unharmed. Further up the river, closer to the crux, more expensive shops (with actual buildings!) can be found. All though not all the stores sell savoury wares, most keep up appearances, if only to appease the guard.

The eastern bank is taken up mostly by housing. The streets on this bank are covered in squalor and muck. The people who live on this side of the river are poor and dying souls. The rent is cheap here but affords no luxury and only the desperate find themselves on this side of the bank. It is a sad fact, however, that over 8% of the cities population make their residence there.

The western bank is the wealthy and entertainment quarter. There are many manors on the east bank and the marbled streets are walked upon by laughing elves and stern, noble, dracoth. This is the city at its finest, with the Grand Library and Imperial Arena it truly is the heart of the Empires culture. Here a man, or woman, can make their residence for a year and never be forced to see the same piece of entertainment twice, if they went out every evening. Indeed the city boasts some twenty theatres and concert halls of which eighteen are on the west bank (The Stray Dogs theatre is on the east and the Caracas auditorium is on the south bank.)

Finally the centre isle is home to the Tower of the Six Lords, where the original six warlords met to survey their realm. All though the Tower is open to the public, who wish to view the expanse of the empire, the top most floor has been converted to the Emperors private chambers. However twice a year the whole tower is closed down as the Emperor and his four chancellors (one for each realm other than Karsill) meet to discuss matters of the Empire. The tower itself is a remarkable building, all though only made of grey faced stone the tower was built to stand the test of time. It extends nearly to the heavens, a whole thirty floors, each floor alternating balconies that face north and south or east and west.

Each of the islands is wide enough to take half a day to walk around, except for the middle which only has ten metres of spare land around the towers base.

All of the quarters have levies built to stop the street flooding during the recedence.

The Founder’s Hammer.

The Empire states that the middle plains are the middle of the whole world. They base this on a single piece of evidence. The Founder’s Hammer. The Founder’s Hammer is a huge monolith, larger than the biggest dragon, that stands at the exact centre of Karsill. This monolith is covered in deep red runes, that are embedded a quarter of a foot within it’s surface. Although none have fully been able to translate the language of the runes, a series of mines in the north seem to have similar runes, found by the elven archaeologist Mio. Half way up the monolith there is a large circular hole, many believe that this hole once housed the shaft of the hammer and thusly that the hammer was used in the creation of the world. According to common lore, the Founder, happy with his work on the world, returned to were he first pounded out the flat plains from the ether and laid down his hammer.

Karden’s Fort.

On the eastern border the Fort of Karden sits on a small hill, the first of the eastern foothills and marks the originally boundary between the two lands. Since the empire expanded over the east the fort has fallen into disuse and disrepair. Indeed none have visited it for many years and stories are abound about some great Oni who lives there, feeding of the despair of those who fought and died in the surrounding lands.

The North Wall.

After the Empire had pushed back the Trollish advances they built a large wall whish spanned from the eastern foothills through to the western woods, with an outpost once every half days ride. The old towers are once again being manned, as this is the Empire back up line, should they lose the northern mountains.

The Ashen wall.

Morshan walked to the edge of the western forest, the elven realm, and order the chopping down and burning of trees in a line across the border, ten trees deep. Once this had been finished he shouted into the Forest telling the elves that any who cross that line would be dead within a minute, to this end he had a row of archers constantly positioned ready to fire at any elves who dared pass. As Morshan rode back to the capital all the archers were slaughtered, littered among their bodies many elves with multiple arrow wounds each. The land was stained with ash and blood and a dark row runs the barrier between the two lands, even to this day.

A fun game about the funny old game of football.

Written in 24-hours to satisfy the needs of the Conpulsion charity auction bidders, UGTH is a hard-tackling game of diving and scoring. Whoooooof! He really hit that one.

1-1, we’re in the final minute of extra time.
Penalties await these two teams.
McNicol goes to take the corner, this is it, it’s now or never for Scotland.
Even the goalkeeper is up for the corner. The ball swings in…
GOALLLLLLL
The ‘keeper has scored. I don’t believe it. Scotland have won the World Cup with the last kick of the game.
Ron Robertson, the Scotland number 1 has won it!
Amazing!

You assume the role of a Mage who has extraordinary control over one of the four Elements. To create a character, roll 4d4 five times and apply the numbers to the fiveattributes going down the list. To determine which Element you have control over, take the highest attribute number (ignore Defense) and that is what Element you control. To assign ranks to skills, go down the list rolling 1d4+1d8. To succeed in casting a spell, you need to make a knowledge check by rolling 1d8 and adding the appropriate Elemental knowledge ranks. To maintain a spell, you need to make a Concentrate check in the manner described as above. The target number to roll over is always 1. Spells cost energy. You start the game with 1 energy. To regain spent energy, you need to rest. To gain more energy, upon gaining a level roll 1d8 and add the result to your existing total energy allowed. You start the game with 17 (your level+2d8). To successfully hit in combat, roll 1d8 to try to roll under the target?s Defense score. If the score is a 1, you automatically hit the target.

Tired of Corrupt Politicians, a Bungling Bureaucracy, and a bunch of people you wouldn’t trust to cut the grass, making important decisions for you and your community?! Parliamentary! is a game wherein the players take the role of legislators and take control of the governmental process. Compete against or Conspire with your friends to “Make A Better World” or at least get rich while pretending too. Make deals with corporations and get kick-backs and “incentives” from lobbyists. Protect the environment for future generations. Even root out the Pinko Commie Subversives in your society!

Parliamentary! is centered around the legislative process with an emphasis on the traditional rules of order. You can make motions for new laws to support your politics and platforms, shoot down your opposites in open debate, and vote on these exciting issues. The fun doesn’t stop there however, you can expand into the world of governmental cover-ups, society building, and waging your own personal wars.

This game comes with:

The Lucky Number System- An exciting and different set of gaming mechanics to be used with Parliamentary! or whatever you wish to slap it on. It is based on a median limit rather than a terminal limit (rolling in the middle is good).

Parliamentary! A Game of Politics- The basic framework with all the information you need to build your own world of intrigue, backstabbing, stomping on the little guy, improper behavior, and other various power broker entertainments.

Lame Duck- An introductory world/scenario which centers around “Da Holla”, which uses the basics of the game. The players take the role of various farm and wild animal representatives in the local Congress of Animals.

“Parliamentary! A Game of Politics is also a great and non-invasive way to learn about legislative process as well as “Robert’s Rules’ of Order”, not to mention rooting out Pinko Commie Subversives?”

-T.C. Ayers pretending to be McCarthy

Article I. By-Laws – Wherein the Chairperson is named and the elements of Theme Setting, Goals, and the Mode of Play are delineated to fashion the game to meet your troupes’ vision.

Section I. Naming the Chair – The position of Chairperson is analogous to Game Master in a standard role-playing game and as such may not require an active determination. The position of Chair may be nominated or assumed by an individual. Limits of term may be imposed on the Chair. The limit may be extended or shortened by consensus. The duties of the Chairperson include, but are not limited to, overall record keeping, facilitating game play, and being the final word in the game. The duties and responsibilities are further delineated in Article IV.

Section II. Theme – This is the overall flavor of the game. The Theme, as determined by the troupe, can vary a great deal. Possible ideas include focusing on humor, philosophical or moral issues, conspiracy theories, or even Machiavellian plots.

Having launched Undead, a successful game, the software engineers take vacation in Alaska. They travel up the Kvichak River in winter to Lake Iliamna. On the lake, they set up camp and search for the Iliamna monster, nessy of the north. Unknown to the engineers, the code in Undead has opened a tunnel to the spirit world. There is no going back.

This short two page game is Bryan Hansel’s entry for the Undead Software Engineers in Alaska Challenge. In addition to using Undead Software Engineers, it also uses the Iliamna lake monster and the Denaina Athabascan language.

And everything is resolved via the Hand Game, a traditional native game from the area the game is set. What more do you need in a game?