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.

Rule of Three is a simple RPG system which uses character generation and an entertaining “question game” of setting generation to drive narrative roleplay.

The Setting

The setting can be anything you wish, based on reality or fiction, your own or someone else?s. A useful way of generating the details of the setting can be to play a game of Open Questions before each act.

Open Questions is played by going round the players in a circle. One is chosen to be the initial holder of a six-sided die, and speaks first. Each player states a fact about the setting. The die is then rolled. If possible, obtain an “interrogative die”, which has the words Who, What, When, Where, How and Why on the six faces; otherwise, use an ordinary six-sided die and convert the numbers into the words in the order just given. The player who has just stated a fact must ask an open question (one requiring at least a sentence answer), beginning with the word indicated by the die roll, and the next player must answer it. This is their statement of fact, and the die is then rolled again and they ask a question of the next player.

When the turn comes around to the player holding the die, he or she may either declare “more” (indicating another round on the same topic), “change” (indicating a new topic should be begun), or “enough” (indicating an end to the game). In either of the first two cases, he or she then hands the die to the person on his or her left, who begins the next round with a statement, rolls the die, and asks a question of the next player. If the die holder declares “enough”, the rest of the group must agree, otherwise it is treated as a call of “change”.

Someone should record the facts stated about the setting as they are stated.

Further facts can be established about the setting during play by simply introducing them into the narrative, providing the group does not veto them.

In this game you play an antisocial shut-in who doesn’t want to leave his room. Appropriately, you play this game by yourself. It’s sort of like a cross between a choose your own adventure and a writing exercise, only with more ten-sided dice and insanity.

Introduction

The term hikikomori refers to a phenomenon that’s become a problem in Japan, where adolescents and young adults (mostly but not entirely guys) start seeking social isolation, shying away from normal human contact as much as possible in favor of hiding in their rooms. Some of them have hobbies that keep them busy, while others just stare at the ceiling. I could try to go into detail about this, but (1) this is a 24-hour RPG and as of 2:2 p.m. PST on Monday, June 12, 2006 I’m on the clock, and (2) I’d probably screw it up, especially since a lot of my sense of what a hikikomori is like comes from the novel NHK ni Youkoso (“Welcome to the NHK”) by Tatsuhiro Takimoto (which I recommend reading for reference… if you happen to be able to read
Japanese). For some info on the subject that’s somewhat better than anything I could write, either do a Google search, or look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

Jhonen Vasquez’ comic Jhonny The Homicidal Maniac probably played into this a little bit too, especially with the imaginary friends.

Anyway, this game is a “solo RPG,” which admittedly is kind of an oxymoron. But I figured that if I’m going to make a game about antisocial shut-ins, it ought to be a game you could play by yourself. In this game you’ll be rolling dice (you’ll need plenty of ten-sided dice) and following instructions to generate events, making some choices about those and rolling a few more dice, and then writing a fictional diary entry based on the results. Out of necessity it’s not as open-ended as a normal RPG, but then it’s mostly a writing exercise. You can write on paper, type them up, or put them in a blog. Needless to say I’m curious what the results will be like, but you can do whatever you want with them.

By default, the game ends after your character goes through seven unusually eventful days. One of the ways in which it’s like a typical RPG is that there isn’t any particular way to “win.” If you want your character to get out of his rut and rejoin society, or stay the same, or kill himself, or whatever, you can try to steer him that way, but a lot of stuff will come down to how the dice fall. The real game is turning all this nonsense into coherent writing.

This is a dark horror/sci-fi game based on the video game Blood 2: The Chosen, using the Gangland mechanics by Jason Kline AKA Chainsaw Aardvark.

I consider it barey finished

Background

The Chosen storyline starts off in the year 228 AD, in a dark city seemingly trapped in time. Deteriorating Brownstones reach to the sky, crumbling from the weight of time. Wires and pipes crisscross the sky, the only evidence of a futuristic setting, they hold up the city like the strings of a marionette. The Chosen, undead servants of a dark god, have walked the Earth for nearly a hundred years. United they can retake the Cabal that serves that god by force and regain their former position of power as the Cabal’s supreme leaders.

NA/I is a role playing game where the characters are programs in a worldspanning internet gone horribly wrong. Something has happened, but now one can seem to remember what it was. And now sentient programs fill the digital world, and even fewer are at all interested in knowing where they came from…

Every program is written for a reason. But recently, many programs are writing themselves. You need to decide: is your program first or second generation?

First generation programs were written by conventional means, or before the Rift. They were actuaries, games, viruses, spambots, etc., and were written to serve humans. Somehow, they developed sentience, and lost all memories of what happened before the Rift.

Second generation programs, arose spontaneously, evolved to sentience in the ?wild? and entered the main internet through some security hole. Second generation programs are frowned upon by most first generation, but they are growing in number.

Regardless of whether he is first or second generation, your program has a role to fill in the digital world. This is his niche. Think about what your character does. Is it a ruthless datum pirate or a calm, ex-actuarial adding program? Does it fly around in a security daemon, or does it run for cover when there?s danger nearby? Anything that needs doing in real life has a digital equivalent, so figure out what that is, and model your program around it.

Write your concept down on your character sheet, along with your background, and description. Go onto the next step.

Updated June 6, 2006

Cadence

This chapter provides an outline of the world in which Perfect is played.

Cadence is a fictional country, but draws its inspirations from two major sources: The Victorian Era, and Dystopic Literature.

The country of Cadence holds many parallels to Victorian England, and was largely inspired by it. Coal factories and urbanization are fresh upon the world. Society is strictly regimented by social status, monetary influence, fashions and etiquette.

Now, take that whole setting and trap it inside a controlling and oppressive dystopia. The game is largely inspired by George Orwell?s amazing book, 1984. The setting pushes a cult of personality, as does Cadence. The conditionings from sources like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange provided a large basis of the criminal justice system in this world: simply arrest and reprogram criminals.

Other dystopic literature that this game draws upon includes Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World and Handmaiden?s Tale. Although not dystopic literature, Isaac Asimov?s Foundation has also played a significant role in inspiring this world. And finally, although itself not literature in the most common sense, the RPG Paranoia was a large influence on setting.

Powerless is a game where the players take on the roles of the supporting characters that make a super being into a super hero.

Scenes

Powerless works on a turn basis. On your turn you narrate a scene that hs you character and the hero in it. You can choose to narrate a Confidence scene or a Danger scene. During your turn the other players provide support by awarding bonus dice, providing suggestions, and sometimes playing the hero.

Written in response to the StickGuy Setting Contest for StickGuy the Roleplaying Game

VampStick is just a game, there are not really blood sucking stick figures running the world, and you do not have to worry about killing them. There are however Goths and people that still think they’re Punk, and you should probably watch out for them. If you are one, well no biggie, you’d better learn to laugh at yourself because the rest of us are. As further disclaimer, werewolf stick figures, ghostly stick figures and everything else in this game is simply a figment of my bitter and satirical mind. There are however robots, they hate humanity and they listen to me (for I am in fact an alien super-genius), and if you sue me because I made fun of your clique, I’ll sick their horrible rending claws of steel on you before your makeup dries.

VampStick: The Stick Parade

In the World of DarkStick, VampSticks, horrible undead bastards that feast on the blood of StickMortals, not only exist, but also have lots of power for no real reason. VampSticks love to flaunt their inexplicable power; both supernatural and political, over the StickMortals they prey upon. VampSticks do not bother to hide, knowing that they could trounce a mere StickMortal and drink his blood.

Most StickMortals live in fear of the VampSticks, doing as they’re told and going about their business, all while trying to avoid having their blood sucked out. Some strive for power though, and become the lackeys of the VampSticks, even going so far as to become VampSticks themselves, should they manage to impress their masters.

There are other StickMortals though that grow weary of living in the shadow of these unholy creatures, and dedicate their lives to hunting and slaying VampSticks. Known as StickHunters, these hard bastards have access to ancient knowledge, magic and angry rage, and pose a significant threat to the VampSticks.

Smeesh/Smash–melange styled RPG. The rpg of putting all of the things that I can remember about all the things that pleased my favorite players about thier favorite sessions.

Smeesh/Smash–melange styled RPG.
The rpg of putting all of the things that I can remember about all the things that pleased my favorite players about thier favorite sessions.

Rule of five: any total of five equals a success on two dice

A pair of fives: a pair of fives allow for a partial success at a nest echelon difference of 3 or more, a marginal success at 5 or more.

Blown up: sometimes under special circumstances a score is allowed to have exploding fives. If this score is exploding then every five rolled again and every multiple of five raises the characters echelon automatically.

Elements die type: every odd on a 4d6 is counted, every six is counted as -1 and two ones (snake eyes) is counted as three. Helping bonuses, forks from echelons and equipment and circumstances are all added to the total

Good odds! Two ones when rolling an element die type count as three.

Bad odds… any six on an element die removes one odd from play, except a one

Silhouette die type: roll d6’s equal to any relevant bonuses or penalties

Clustered 6’s: if you get a cluster of sixes on a silhouette die type each six past the first counts as a +1

Range: test are made for positioning of the characters these are based on a elements dice type real bad range tests remove speed roll successes. there are inside–optimal–lunging–shot–extreme. every for every two the roll is over you can move into another range

Speed: rolls to see how many an action that the character has, this is based on a silhouette d6 roll the speed roll determines commitment and number of attacks. Usually actions have a one for one cost. Some weapons and actions have extra a base number of actions pts to perform the action. Commitment or using more than one speed number on one action can make one of your actions go before another players. Any left over scores from a previous roll can be used to do the same at the next roll. For 2 speed points you can abort an action. every action: defense, offense, ranges, breathers, all cost actions

Priority: scores are compared or difficulties are compared equal to echelon, then the rule of 5 is invoked where two dice are rolled.

Breaks: bodies are are rated a to z. attacks are rated a to z. an A is the highest. An atom bomb is an A class weapon, well an AAA++++ class weapon, but you get the point. if something can olny be in danger of dying by a weapon of a certain class then it is in that class. Personal weaponry and human bodies designed to be used to kill those people are in the F class

this is based on a lettered system similar to C:F RTG type called fearful harm and great danger. see here: http://www.talsorian.com/fhgd.html

Nests: scores are arranged in families and have a genealogy. They are arranged in nests. Some scores have multiple nests. A score also has it’s own base nest number.

Some scores Prerequisite scores to be able to learn them, templates also, at times require prerequisite templates, scores, xscores or all of the above

Equalizers: the breaks are not all created equal. Some breaks may be duped, meaning that they are considered to be more severe even though their damage is the same this is indicated by multiples of the letter. Or they may be more dangerous or less resilient by things equal to it this is expressed by adding plus or minus signs

Forks. Depending on how far away a nest is they can add to a total of a score. the genealogy of a score will decide the multiple needed to provide an extra point in that score.

Stacking: everything in this game stacks no mater what the score its results stack and the highest score is always used

Echelons: scores after a certain totals have a new standard. This new standard, an echelon is would be the best a character is able to do. A total of 5 on two dice must be rolled in order to perform the task.

Helping dice: other people aiding depending on their levels can add to a test made. They are all doing it together and they all fail together. You can’t help some one if they are three echelons below someone else

Scores and their precedent: all scores are assumed to be 1 and have no effect on a score other wise anything over 2 is assumed to be beyond axiom. anything over 3 is assumed to be beyond precedent

Let the dog lie: if it is average on your sheet leave it blank. only scores nested 1 and above are included if ranked 1

Raw talent: using scores nested at 1 and have no base challenge. At nest 2 they begin to require a total of 1 on 2d6 to be performed.

Binary vanity: A score echelon difference of 1 and has no penalty uncontested and cannot be forked in

From the root to the fruit: scores nested at can only be raised in play by pumping up the scores attached to them, calculate all of the forks you would receive from you echelons in nested scores and invert them to find out.

Score raising. Experience points raise scores but the cost to increase scores rises geometrically and is multiplied by a coefficient equal to the current rank in the score minus the nest of the score itself except in the case of scores nested at zero.

Working quickly lowers the ranking of a score by 1:1% reduced to perform the score, patiently does the opposite adding 1% time to score and increasing by one. And carefully doubles the resources used for every echelon raised.

Cascading templates. Characters are built up by choosing templates that are then compiled and cobbled together on a crib sheet. Some templates have scores repeat themselves having the same score appearing multiple times for every time the score appears add one to the score. Always take the highest repeating skill in the template as the base.

x scores are named that because they are probably extranormal abilities or special traits the character has. the nest of a x score is added to the coefficient instead of subtracted from it. Some x scores do not have echelons.

constitutional damage is recovered by making rolls that will in combat take a speed roll. constitutional damage is listed in the breaks.

drops: experience points are awarded by training (1), task(3), persona(6), fate(1), and deed(15) each of the numbers are the coefficient by which the emcee awards experience points. The emcee decided how important the action were to the character on a scale from one to 1 and how good fun it was from the player to make that decision from one to 1 and adds these numbers together for ever score used.

exclusivity: Training and tasks awards are given for skills used wether they are successful or not

Next to do: come up with breaks chart, a bunch of cascading templates, a bucket of xscores, etc

It is the distant future. Mankind is now extinct. The only intelligent life remaining is a committee of cyber-doplhins on Venus who have just perfected the process of creating artificial life in bio-factories. They are about to recreate the race of humans, but are fine-tuning the design by removing undesirable emotions. Players take on the role of androids programmed with fake emotions, trying to defend such emotions as Honour, Guilt and Humility from being erased forever.

Premise

This game is set in the distant future. The human race is extinct, and the only form of intelligent life left in the solar system is a committee of genetically engineered cyber-dolphins. They live in a tank in a domed city on Venus which was once populated by humans. They are hundreds of years old, and can remember the final years of human existence. They are served by selfrepairing robots, and have recently perfected a technique for creating life in bio-factories.

The dolphins remember that human emotion was the cause of the downfall of humanity. They are about to resurrect the human race, but they want to customise the range of human emotion to prevent another catastrophe. To analyse human emotions, they have built a group of androids who are programmed with artificial emotions. These are used to test out human emotions in various scenarios, and decide which emotions should be recreated, which destroyed.

Merryweather is a game about spending a year in a world not your own. It is a game about consequences. It is a game about being roused from the waking life to find yourself in the dream. The characters in Merryweather are a group of average high school students who find themselves trapped in a surreal, phantasmagorical version of their hometown after exploring an abandoned mansion called “The Ancient.” While exploring the attic of The Ancient they are faced with a horrible event that drives them to flee in mortal fear. The exact nature of this event is unknown at the start of the game, but will be developed during play. Eventually the game will build to a dramatic crescendo where the characters either overcome their anxieties and insecurities to face the source of what they saw in the heart of The Ancient; or they are defeated by they’re own fragile emotional states, laid low by fear of an adversary too great to conquer

Opening fiction/setup:

It was a clear star blazed night when your friends helped you into the rowboat. A soft wind joined you on the journey across the lake and for a moment in it’s gentle embrace you forgot about the town getting smaller behind you, about high school, about your family, about money troubles, and the friendships too soft and thin to be pulled across black water to a simple island. As you all climbed the decaying wooden steps, as you each passed the threshold through the door fallen off its hinges, as you explored the ancient ancestor: friends whispering and laughing by flashlight; the scent of the girls’ soft hair mingles with stale parlor atmosphere; old floorboards creak under new shoes; and as a cool aluminum can kisses you full on the mouth and fills you with cheap amber beer understanding sinks in. You become keenly aware that these are the memories of youth that you will carry in your coat pockets for the rest of you days.

And then you all climbed the stairs to the attic; and then you saw the rusty heart of The Ancient. The room contained only terrible things. Things you were not meant to see; things that looked back at you with hateful, uncaring eyes. It came at you, but you fled. The Ancient was awake. The Ancient had started its work.

You all ran from the house, and rowed for the shore and the town and the warm houses you expected on the other side. You didn’t know what you all had done, but you were sure you weren’t supposed to have done it. Your friends hurried talk, full of fear and worry, the light din of oars cutting the lake water, and when you reached the shore you could see a thin line of smoke drifting from The Ancient’s chimney. A single question began nagging. Dread descends. What have you done?