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.

Mages line up with Warriors to produce an array of power no mortal can resist. The sighs of the dying echo in the the still waters of the radiant dawn, making it impossible to discern the spawn from creation. Rogues, Mystics and Druids align the cosmos with their insufferable strengths. Wizards, Warlocks and Witches hold the powers of mysticism and magic in their beating and sweaty palms, ready to unleash their power upon the world. Hold on to your seat, BATTLES: Win or lose 2008 is about to take this puny world by storm and you are going to witness it first-hand, as the unstoppable Guardian or the heady Supreme Commander. Fear not, though, as you plummet through this world of heated battle your only companion is your best friend, as well as your worst enemy.

The game is called BATTLES: Win or lose and it’s basically an amalgamation of a trading card game and a role-playing game. The object of the game is to beat your opponent Mobs to a pulp. A Mob is a character card that is used to keep track of information including Hit Points, Abilities and Spells. Each Mob is unique and individual, with a separate card for each Mob. There are 28 different Mobs, each with their own unique Abilities and/or Spells.

The game is played with dice. You roll to attack, to cast a spell, to use abilities, to ‘roll up’ a Mob, and to see who goes first. Almost any action your Mob can do, you roll for. Have you ever played a role-playing game and all you wanted to do was roll dice? Have you ever just wanted to have an all out slugfest with your characters? Have you ever played a trading card game and wished there was an easier way to keep track of hit points or counters? BATTLES: WOL uses techniques from both genres to give the power to the player, while maintaining the nostalgic feeling you get when you play your most powerful card.

I hope that you find this game interesting and intriguing. The possibilities are endless and the strategies infinite. I have plans to amend this game with rules for multiple players, monsters, comic book heroes, space battles and campaign rules for the avid role-player.

BATTLES: WOL is a two-player game that challenges Players to use instinct and intuition to defeat their Opponent. This game can be played with just cards, pencil, dice and this booklet. Each card has on it two sides. One side is a stencil of the Battles Logo. This side has information regarding the Title of the Mob (A Mob is the Character Card you play with) and Level Points. On the other side is the individual Mob template, where the scores are taken. These scores include ATT (Attack) DEF (Defense) DMG (Damage) HP (Hit Points) LP (Level Points) etc. Throughout the course of a game, Mobs will lose and gain HP, lose and gain Level Points and use the information in this booklet to adjust Mob Ability, Spells, Attributes and HP.

Players duel with Mobs on a playing field. The playing field is divided into 5 sections for each Player: the Portal, the Umbra, the Stage, the Rank Slot, and the Mausoleum. As the game progresses, Mobs are moved around the playing field as indicated by their Action and/or description. At the beginning of every game, all cards are placed faceup in the Portal. The Portal is located on the right-hand side of the Player. The Umbra is located on the left-hand side of the Player. The Stage is located in front and to the center of the Player, closest to his or her Opponent. The Rank slot is where you place your Rank Card, which is located directly in front of the Player, between the Portal and the Umbra. The Mausoleum is where you place a Mob after it has been defeated.

People and things live their lives out without ever knowing what lies around the next corner. Well in the world of Angles, Corners and Intersections, strange things come and crawl out of the hidden places in reality to maim, mutilate, torture and consume innocents. Your characters are normal people, caught up in an abnormal struggle for survival. Set in the current modern world, only the few players know there are things beyond the easy sight of Man, and because they know about it are hunted and hunt the self-same creatures.

Welcome to Anakron, Ohio. The future is bleak. Rising from the ashes of the first nuclear world war, Anakron became the first metropolis of the postnuclear era. Were it not for the Regulators, the city would have fallen to chaos years ago. While a select few live in prosperity and security, the majority of Anakron’s citizens, the Dregs, live in squalor and violence. Even worse, the city is infested with the living dead, the Zombies, who have somehow found a second life due to the radiation of the nuclear-devastated wastelands which surround Anakron. Determined to overrun and lay siege to the city, the Zombies are thought to be controlled by an elder group of intelligent undead, the Skeletals, endowed with strange radioactive abilities. It is even rumored that some Zombies are evolving into a tougher breed of living dead known as Ghouls…

You are the captain of a squadron of Regs, Regulators that regularly patrol the city to keep order, eliminate Dreg criminals, and destroy Zombie invaders. You and the six Regulators under your command will patrol the city to fulfill your sworn duties to maintain law and order within Anakron. All dangerousDregs must be brought to justice; All Zombies must be destroyed on sight. You have your orders.

To play this game, you need the four books which make up the game: the Rule Book, the Reg Book, the Dreg Book, and the Zombie Book. You will also need two six-sided dice, a pencil, and some paper; Miniatures may be used to accentuate gameplay. This game is normally played solo, but other players may take the roles of whichever squad members you allow them to, except for Regulator Captain, which will be your role. If you are not playing with other players, you will take the role of all members of your Regulator squad.

The Regulator Squad will consist of a Regulator Captain, a Regulator Officer, a Regulator Medic, a Regulator Shotgunner, a Regulator Sharpshooter, a Regulator Riot Control, and a Regulator Assault Unit. Each Regulator has their own unique skills and equipment. All Regulators work together as a tight, effective paramilitary unit under direct control of the Regulator Captain.

Master of Orion is a game of interstellar intrigue and combat. Players will contend against the conquering Antarans, ravaging Harvesters and vicious space monsters for fame and fortune — and sometimes for their very survival! The Master of Orion rpg includes material from all three Master of Orion games.

HISTORY

Long ago, in a past so distant that beings who have themselves passed into legend remembered it only as myth, there was a civilization called Center One. Center One was a nexus of commerce and culture whose denizens commanded technologies that would seem magical to the peoples of today.

At some point in this shadowy past the primary star of the Center One system became unstable, and some scientists predicted that it would go nova. The society’s leaders scoffed at this and branded anyone who subscribed to the “nova theory” as delusional or dissident. Those who wished to flee the system were encouraged to do so. FTL travel wasn’t possible at that time except by one means. The Center One system boasted a stable wormhole that provided the only way into or out of the system using STL drives. Hundreds of ships left Center One through the wormhole to become the Traveler Tribes. Fewer than 2 Tribes would survive to become the ancestors of today’s peoples. Those who stayed behind died when Center One’s star did indeed go nova ? and the disruption of the space-time continuum that followed that explosion made FTL travel impossible for centuries to come.

The surviving Tribes prospered (or failed to) largely due to their choices of where to settle. Two Tribes in particular made excellent choices. One group settled in the Orion star system because of the abundance of habitable and mineral rich planets there. A second group was just as fortunate in finding the equally rich Antares system. When the hyperspace disruptions from the Center One nova finally calmed down it was the Orions and Antarans who first ventured out into the larger galaxy to contact their lost kin. This head start allowed these two races to dominate their respectiveregions of space.

With their empires established the Antarans and Orions both started to develop their genetic sciences. The idea of unlocking the secrets of evolution appealed to the inquisitive Orions, while the Antarans saw genetics as a means to create super-soldiers. The Orions’ announcement of their discoveries lead to the first Orion-Antaran war. The Elder Races fought each other ? with the help of minor races on each side ? for over 4 years. The war ended when Orion scientists found a way to “fold” space around the Antaran homeworld so as to isolate the planet from the rest of the galaxy. Whether or not the spatial disruption that followed was the Orions’ fault has never been determined. What is know is that space-time was once again altered so that FTL travel was impossible, and most other civilizations blamed the Orions. The Long Night lasted for over 15 millennia ? plenty of time for knowledge to be lost and empires to collapse.

When the Orion Sector finally awoke from the Long Night the various races expanded into space once again. The inevitable conflicts over territory blossomed into the Orion Civil War. The Human race proved to be the dominant force in this conflict. Through a combination of shrewd diplomacy and military might the Humans founded the Orion Senate with themselves at the head. The Orion Civil War ended with the establishment of the Pax Humanica. The galaxy remained at peace for nearly 1, years.

Meanwhile, the Antarans had not been idle within their bubble of nonspace. They had developed their technology and their space fleet to terrifying capacities with no fear of outside interference. Mastery of dimensional science finally allowed the Antarans to escape their prison, which they left intact as a kind of fortress ? the Antarans reasoned that getting in would be just as hard as getting out. Scouts rediscovered the former Antaran Empire’s subject races and reunited them under the new Antaran Hegemony. The Hegemony then began a slow build-up of military power in preparation to conquer the rest of the galaxy.

The Pax Humanica ended when other races tired of Human rule. The Orion Senate fractured, and a second Orion Civil War broke out. This time the Orion Sector races succeeded only in weakening each other enough that the Antarans could move in and dominate them all. The Antarans declared themselves the new Orions ? the original race had disappeared during the Long Night ? and established the New Orion Senate. The six races that openly opposed the Antarans ? the Alkari, Bulrathi, Darloks, Elerians, Gnolams and Mrrshan ? were ruthlessly put down by the Antaran fleets. After this example the other races settled down and pretended to be content with their new roles as Antaran subjects.

The modern day has brought many changes to the Orion Sector. The peoples of the Antaran Hegemony, once unknown to the Orion peoples, are now common sights on Orion worlds. The mysterious Ethereans no longer hide on the gas giant worlds that other races dismiss as uninhabitable. Worst of all, the Antarans’ early genetic experiments have borne fruit in the form of the Harvesters ? living weapons who have become intelligent beings. The people of the Orion Sector now struggle to survive in the face of extinction at the hands of the Antarans, attacks by space monsters and consumption by the Harvesters. Any hope that remains is in the hands of brave adventurers who can discover the lost secrets of the Orions or some clue to the continued existence of the Orions themselves, who may not be extinct. After all, if the Antarans could remain safe in another dimension, the creators of dimensional science could do the same. In spite of the dangers ranged against them, those who unlock the secrets of the galaxy still have a chance to make themselves masters of Orion!

The Skinny

Like any other day in space…

A bunch of happy-go-lucky Alien Hominids are joyriding through earth’s atmosphere. When – the FBI notice and respond by shooting down the UFO! After crashing to Earth, the UFO is transported away by sneaky FBI agents. They’ll soon return in full force to capture the Hominids too!

Things are gonna get rough.

You’re the Alien Hominids in a battle for your extra-terrestrial freedom!

Getting Pwned

Running out of PWNAGE is not good for anyone! Every MOOK has a single point of PWNAGE, so they get taken out if they lose it. BOSSES are more robust, with PWNAGE equal to the ZONE plus LEVEL, with a further +1 if they are a black card, +1 if a queen or +2 if a king. When a BOSS runs out of PWNAGE they are defeated and will probably explode!

When an AH runs out of PWNAGE, they have been pwned! The AH is KO’d. This traumatic event causes the AH to develop a derangement. The KO’d AH must miss the next round as he recovers, but then gets to restore his PWNAGE to it’s max. The GM scores a LEVEL up for his AH every time he KO’s someone else’s AH. A KO’d hominid also loses one power up (-1 GUN, -1 BLADE or -5 GRENADES).

Doing Cool Stuff

The best way for an injured AH to get back up to speed is by doing cool stuff! If an AH pulls off a cool stunt or amuses the other players then he may regain a point of PWNAGE, but not more than his max PWNAGE silly. An AH already at max PWNAGE who does 2 something really cool can be dealt a special bonus card which they can add into any hand, before cards are revealed. An AH may not have more than one cached card at a time.

Quiz & Dragons RPG is a roleplaying game based on the Capcom trivia arcade game of the same name. In order to play Quiz & Dragons RPG, you will need one to four players, one six-sided die for each player, and any trivia game that has cards with trivia questions and categories printed on them (the game Trivial Pursuit will be used as a generic standard for these rules). A timer such as a stopwatch or hourglass is also needed to play. Quarters and pennies may be used as tokens in the RPG, or a pen and paper can be used to keep track of the various game components.

Intro

Capconia was a peaceful kingdom. Thanks to the power of the ?Seed Of Wisdom?, the citizens were able to lead their lives in quiet happiness.

The Wisdom Seed: In the hands of the just man it could be used to insure peace. However, a man with evil in his heart could use its power to bring down a curtain of darkness on the world.

One day the evil warlock ?Gordian? invaded Capconia with a host of his foulest monsters and seized the Wisdom Seed. After using the seed to endow his monsters with evil wisdom, the warlock Gordian launched his assault on the good people of the land. The monsters forced the citizens to answer very difficult questions. Those who could not answer correctly were promptly eaten.

The sage king, Hatena VI, selected the four wisest and bravest in the land and ordered them to recover the Wisdom Seed.

You, the brave? the chosen?

You must use your wisdom and strength to save our world!

The Creature Of Murky County RPG is a simple solo game wherein all rules of gameplay are included in a single character sheet. In the game, the player takes the role of an investigator of the paranormal who has come to the mysterious Murky County in search of the shaggy creature of legend that is said to call the swamplands of Murky Creek it’s home. Loosely based on the Boggy Creek movies, the game involves searching the various locations of Murky County in hopes of discovering enough clues along the way to garner the skill, knowledge, and courage necessary to defeat the creature of Murky County if and when it should ever be encountered.

The Creature’s Den: Roll a die. If the die roll is 1 or 6, the Creature is encountered. If the Creature is encountered, a Conflict ensues. When a Conflict occurs, roll a die and add the Character’s Physical to the amount rolled. If the result is less than 11, the Character is Wounded; If the result is more than 11, the Creature is Beaten. Next, roll a die and add the Character’s Mental to the amount rolled. If the result is less than 11, the Character is Traumatized; If the result is more than 11, the Creature is Outsmarted. Finally, roll a die and add the Character’s Spiritual to the amount rolled. If the result is less than 11, the Character is Horrified; If the result is more than 11, the Creature is Dominated. If the result of the die roll plus the Character’s Physical, Mental, or Spiritual is ever equal to 11 in a Conflict, the Conflict ends as soon as a result of 11 occurs. If the Character is Wounded, Traumatized, and Horrified in the Conflict (all three), the game ends in defeat. If the Creature is Beaten, Outsmarted, and Dominated in the Conflict (all three), the game ends in victory. Otherwise, the Conflict ends. The Character will remain Wounded, Traumatized, or Horrified after the Conflict until denoted otherwise; The Creature will not remain Beaten, Outsmarted, or Dominated after the Conflict. If the Character is Wounded again while still Wounded, Traumatized again while still Traumatized, or Horrified again while still Horrified, the game ends in defeat.

So I am sitting around with some new friends. They are non-gamers. They are normal type folks who have heard about the “evils” of D&D, and they really don’t know anything about gaming. They do know that I love gaming and talk about it often. So, they asked me to run a game for them. Suddenly I was daunted! How do you run a role-playing game for someone new without overwhelming them with the detail? Have you ever tried showing the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Players Handbook to a completely uninitiated player? It’s scary.

I thought, “I can do this. We’ll just start playing and I will introduce them to rules as we go along.” To make sure things were kept simple, I jotted down a few notes on a piece of spiral bound notebook paper and we started to play. I created the game on the fly incorporating a number of concepts borrowed from other games (mine or others) and we played. As we played I would explain how things worked and introduce concepts. I kept the number of different concepts small and the game play simple. The end result was excellent and fun was had by all. More than I was expecting, as the friends insisted that I come back the next day to play again.

The next day at work I set about typing up the “rules” I had introduced to my new players. I worked at clarifying and cleaning up a few inconsistencies as I put the rules to paper. The collection of rules were small and manageable enough that I was pretty sure I could get them all on one page, and I set about formatting them identically to the HEX solo-RPG that I had done, putting character sheet and rules all together in one place.

The result is “RPG” the one-page fantasy role-playing game, and I am very happy with it. It is proving to be very functional in play-testing and I believe it to be an ideal way to introduce the uninitiated to the world of Fantasy Role-Playing.

For my players I went ahead and created the characters for them and just started them playing. I explained rules as they came up and just allowed everything to “happen” while we played. It was excellent.

Combat

Roll Initiative (1d6+ Precognition) This determines who goes first.

On your turn, Move up to your Speed and then attack, or move 2x your Speed.

To Attack roll 2d6+ Rage for Swords or other close combat weapons if you are next to an enemy.

Roll 2d6+ Grace for Bows or other ranged combat weapons if you are not next to any enemies.

If you did not move or attack you can cast a spell. Roll 2d6+ Precognition to Cast a Spell.

If your 2d6 roll plus your Aspect equals 8 or more, you succeed.

Damage is based on the Weapon or Spell. Damage is reduced by the Defense of the Target.

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR for short) is a dancing game that, well, has really been a revolution. It has brought to the fray the idea that video games and fitness don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Play is facilitated by dance mats, giant controllers that the player stands on. Combinations of directions and buttons appear on the screen in time to the music. When they reach the top of the screen, players need to step on the corresponding spots of their dance mat. Greater accuracy means a higher score.

Example Tournament: The Tournament of Souls In times long gone, the Tournament of Souls was a series of combatative duels, but it has evolved with the times: Now, participants play matches of DDR. The purpose of this competition? To crown one participant champion and gift them with great prizes. Those who fail to reach this lofty summit forfeit their souls to the tournament supervisor, the Master of Souls, unless they can beat him personally in a match.

Characters usually take part in the Tournament willingly, though only when confident in their abilities. However, Master of Souls relies on the souls he earns through the tournament to elongate its existence and youth. If no new particpants are willing to take part for a long period of time, he may be forced to take participants against their will. The Tournament of Souls is thus a good event for very skilled PCs, but is also an option for new PCs.

You have to lead the lemming population through fire and water, through danger and risk.” – said the Fire to the Lion, the Fox and the Rabbit. Then all the three animals chose one mighty hero of the lemmings to be their characters. Then they began to reimagine the journey of the long lost species.

The Kingdom of the Animals

Some animals from the Kingdom of Animals travel far far away to claim the fire that is possessed only by the humans and the gods of the humans. As they arrive at the fire they don’t know what to do to catch it, and meanwhile it reminds them of their old brothers, the lemmings. The lemmings are a dead species that once lived in peace in the wilderness, but it wasn’t enough for them, they longed for success and happiness without the striving and struggle they had to do in their short lives. They had stories passed on from parents to children about a mythical city of happiness and peace. They didn’t know where it is except for the cryptic hints of their legends. But they put great trust in their own powers and had proud leaders and strong heroes, hence they departed for a better world and got on the road. They had a long and difficult journey but at the end they didn’t find the city they longed for, but they found death and not only death, but extinction. And the fire told them stories about the long journey of the lemmings to buy time before they claim it, and the animals all took up roles of famous lemming heroes. The players’ characters are the animals and the GM plays the fire. The characters are also roleplaying: the fire is the GM and the animals are the players. Hence the players of this game has to play the roles of animals that are playing lemmings. They try to play the lemming heroes faithfully and not let their characteristics in the way.