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.

Escape from Prince Charming is based on the traditional fairy tale. The players take on the roles of fair princesses, seeking to escape their fate and risking their lives and the lives of others to escape it. But like the fairy tale, the endings have already been written, it’s only a matter of finding which one you get. It is also the appetizer in the Full Course of Love and Death.

This RPG is the first in the Full Course of Love and Death. As an appetizer it prepares the players for the main courses to come. As such it need not be played with any special constraints for enjoyment of the full course. Instead just pick characters and begin playing. When you are done, any character, human or otherwise who died can be played in Someone to Love, the first of the main courses. Like all games in this Full Course, Escape from Prince Charming is intended for five players.

As a game designed for Iron Game Chef 26, it is necessary to discuss the allotments made for that contest. Indeed, for the theme of time, Escape from Prince Charming fulfills the three sessions of 3 hours each requirement. And it uses the following contest terms: Glass, Committee, and Ancient.

and the Celestial Committee of the Eternal Circle of Suffering

The Celestial Committee of the Eternal Circle of Suffering exists outside of time and space, sitting in judgment on the souls of those who die. The soul of Dr. Livingstone now stands before them, and his many lives, reincarnated throughout history, pass under review. In this game you will play a member of the committee, and determine the ultimate fate of Dr. Livingstone’s soul.

On the morning of April 3, 1872, golden with the glory of the tropical dawn, Dr. David Livingstone leaves this world of suffering. Kneeling at his bedside his head falls to his chest, his glasses slipping gently from his hand onto the floor of the tent as with his last breath his ancient soul departs at long last from his tortured body.

The jungle around him fades slowly, blurring into a jungle of tall skyscrapers, pinpoints of light pouring through glass looming up into the sky. The pinpoints of light become the stars behind an unfathomably massive, looming, shape, larger than a moon, spinning and lurching rebelliously through the void of space. The great wheel rotates beyond the heavens, blurring once more as the wheel of a chariot appears, skittering over the bodies of the fallen, blood spraying into the air. Grief, anger, and above all an overwhelming fear drive its riders into acts of great heroism, an arm thrusting a great spear. Hurtling through the air the world spins and blurs again, and a stone tip strikes into a great bison as a young hunter shouts with the thrill of the hunt. The shout echoes through the night until it comes from a dark alley, a young woman screams out what may be her last breath at the mercy of her jealous rival.

Dr. Livingstone reaches down, picks up his glasses, and puts them back on.

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” The familiar voice causes his consciousness to focus suddenly on another place, a place outside of time. He sees the face of Henry Stanley.

“Yes.” Dr. Livingstone reaches up to tip his hat, only to find that he is not wearing one.

The face blurs. Other faces appear around it, blurring and twisting, each new shape sending a wash of conflicting emotion over him. They sit facing him from up above behind a long and austere row of raised desks, furiously scribbling down notes as they begin the interrogation.

One of them speaks again. “Dr. Livingstone, we wish to discuss the events of January 19th, 200284. It is your third day as governor of the British colony on Mars, the life support system for the biosphere is running at 3% capacity and steadily dropping, and you are presented with a most unfortunate dilemma. Do you recall this day? Please describe to the committee what you do on this day.”

Dr. Livingstone remembers. He wishes that he did not.

In One More Hour, you play a hero, a member of a team of elite masters of their fields. Nothing is beyond your grasp, if only you have the time. But now that has all changed, death isn’t something you can escape. In no uncertain terms the team has only one hour left to live. And in that time they must decide whether to die as heroes or as real people. It is also the third main course in the Full Course of Love and Death.

One More Hour is the fourth RPG in the Full Course of Love and Death, coming between the second main course of The Marriage of Persephone and the last, That Oh So Little Death. You play the same team as you did in The Marriage of Persephone, except due to the favor you received in that game, you have been given a chance to come back and right the wrongs of your untimely death. Unfortunately, your strand has already been cut, so you have only an hour to make that difference. After One More Hour, That Oh So Little Death acts as a ending for the entire full course, but will likely involve at least one hero from the team. Like all games in this Full Course, One More Hour is intended for five players.

As a game designed for Iron Game Chef 26, it is necessary to discuss the allotments made for that contest. Indeed, for the theme of time, One More Hour fulfills 8 hours requirement, spread among any number of sessions. And it uses the following contest terms: Glass, Law, Steel, and Team.

In Heroes Die, the players create an Actor, and lead him through one of his productions. Actors are usually solo efforts – they get their own titles. Sometimes there are “cross-over” productions, where Actors work together, but these are rare. The danger in being targeted as an Aktiri is greater when you’re amongst your own kind, and while death gets great ratings, long-lived Actors with extensive track records and histories bring in more money over the long run. Each production is a calculated risk.

Background

There are worlds apart from our own, where the laws of physics play out a different tune. Many of them cannot be visited – the way things work are simply too bizarre. But some can be visited, and in these places, sometimes things are different enough that what you could do, you can only call magic. One of these places even has mankind – a place called Overworld, it looks like heroic fantasy brought to life. The industrial revolution hasn’t reached Overworld; there is no overpopulation, little pollution, vast tracts of wilderness populated with strange and wonderful beasts. “Magic” in countless variation exists on every level, the worshipped gods are still active, and there is even nonhuman sapience distressingly similar to ‘elves’. It is truly a swords and sorcery place, perhaps the inspiration somehow for the earliest fantasy stories.

In the future, we have found Overworld (and gave it the name), and we know how to get there. Unfortunately, it cannot be colonized – if people stays too long, they finds themselves being pulled back ‘home’ to their original dimension, passing through hundreds of uninhabitable ones along the way. It is an unpleasant, painful experience nobody has survived. So what do we do with this place? Why do we care?

The Studio has an answer – entertainment. Bloody entertainment. “Actors” trained like secret agents in the languages and cultures of Overworld, are thrown across the dimensional void and given tasks called Adventures, Adventures which in turn are broadcast back through special cybernetic brain implants – all five senses recorded for the consumers to experience later, or for the right price, immediately. Actors are drilled in using weapons and magic – swords and sorcery.

The viewers get to feel the visceral thrill of adventuring – of having sorcery flow through their veins, of slicing someone with cold steel, perhaps even of dying. The producers get huge profits, sculpt huge storylines, and keep their position at the top. Actors get paid very well, and get the lion’s share of the fame, but in return risk their lives constantly – many Actors don’t get past their first few productions, dying unceremoniously in some foolhardy producer stunt or another.

As for the people of Overworld? Well, their lives are made more interesting, but not always in a good way. Stable governments and peace don’t make for good ratings – Actors, following producer orders, have done more to keep the political situation of Overworld chaotic than its natives ever have. Furthermore, in the early days, before they learned better, Actors were sloppy – now, the people of Overworld tell tales of the mysterious Aktiri, and keep an eye out for their activities. Not a few natives have fallen in Aktiri pogroms, much more than actual Actors. Either way, it’s great for ratings.

Take the roles as contenders in a great competition. As part of this you are given a formidable task: In a simulation, build the perfekt world togeter with your contenders! The prize for the winner: Become an important piece in shaping the future of our world.

The Cabberian global research facilities is seeking personnel for an important research experiment. As you are probably aware we recently solved the world’s energy problems once and for all by finding the final key to unlimited energy absorbing. The possibilities this opens is as you can probably imagine completely wast. We are thereby reluctant to release this power use to the public before having mapped the possible consequences of this. Our conclusions is at this stage that as the society is today, total chaos and probable destruction of all humanity would have been a likely result. As this is rather unfortunate we have collected the permission from all the worlds governments to research in ways to change the whole order of the world so that mankind may safely benefit from this new groundbreaking discovery.

We are for the time being working on the ancient theory that the best system of government would have been the one made by a committee that after they were done was killed, and reincarnated as something completely random. Thereby having to live in the system they created in their former life. This have by obvious reasons not been possible to arrange at any earlier opportunity, but now it seem like giving a rather fair simulation of this could be possible. There is however quite a bit more research necessary before actually carrying out a project of this dimensions are possible.

This is where you come in; We need a handful of test subject to test out a very simple version of a model we have developed. And worry not, you will not be killed, or harmed in any other way. There is no qualifications at all, except the ability to communicate in English. We want an as broad audience as possible in order to minimize the chance that anything or anyone is forgotten. We have two kind of positions:

• You are going to create an entire world, together with laws governing how this world is working. One of you will also get the task of overseeing that everything works after the intentions of the second stage of the project. This assignment goes over only two days two weeks apart.
• You are going to live in the (hopefully) perfect world created by the first group. This is a one day assignment, but requires a bit preparation time. You will be given the laws and a short description of the world one week before having to enter, and are expected to have a understanding of these.

As a part of this test we also run a competition. One of those who are chosen to participate have the chance to win the grand price of continuing to work with us on how to shape the future of all humans, and is reserved a place in the final committee that eventually will constitute the new order.
(Part of a global advertisement program)

Psykhotherapy: The Dark Mind is a storytelling game of insane horror for three to eight players. Each player is a patient in an asylum, and are taking part in a group therapy where they are trying to find a way to “cure” one of their fellow patients

March 7. 1968
Dearest Sarah.

I know that I haven’t been myself lately, and I humbly apologize any harm that I might have caused you. I need serius help for my problems. I can’t manage on my own! I am afraid, very afraid. Please forgive me. My feelings towards you are pure, but so is my fear of losing you. I can’t keep myself from thinking that I’m not worthy of you and that you’ll find another man, a better person than I am.

So I beg you, give me some time. I will once again become the man I used to be. I need you. I love you. I just.. Don’t know what I would do without you.

I am going to the clinic just like you proposed. I have already made an appointment with Doctor Reich. He promised that his new form of therapy would help me to gain control of myself again. I don’t know how long it will take, but I promise that when I’m ready, this whole thing will be left behind.

-Your loving husband,
John

You’ve got tired, worn-out stories. You’re surronded with them. The same-old, same-old. But, you and your fellow committee members will learn how to Play Right! with those old ideas and make them as new, vibrant and cool as a newly-minted game!

If you?re reading this, you?re within the reach of the 21st century American cultural sphere. Which probably means that, like me, you?re swamped with media: movies, the Internet, TV, books, newspapers, comics, magazines, games bombard us constantly. Some offer food for thought, insightful commentary, soul-elevating pathos, or spiritlifting humor. But those are few and far between. Most simply steal hours of our lives away, leaving us emptier than when we began.

Isn?t it about time to reclaim some meaning from those lost hours?

This game will show you how to do that in exactly ten hours, one hour at a time. To play, you?ll need a number of glass beads in multiple colors, a pack of index cards, and a bunch of standard, six-sided dice. Gather a group of committee members together to reinvigorate a story. Call your meeting to order. Pick a story you?re all more-or-less familiar with. It could be from folklore, the newspaper, a movie or anything else. All that matters is that it excites the imaginations of everyone in the committee. Talk briefly about what was wrong?what you didn?t like.

Ancient Dreams, Glass Towers is a team game where four players and a GM re-enact the war between Humans and Dragonlords in the prehistory of The Fifth Hour to determine how history will remember them. It’s up to you to decide who will be the hero and who will be the villain!

Ancient Dreams, Glass Towers is broken down into 3 Phases. In the first Phase, Character Generation, players decide their role in their game. Character Generation takes 1 minutes.

There is one GM, plus one General and one Sorceror for each side. This makes four players (Dragonlord General, Dragonlord Sorceror, Human General, Human Sorceror) and one GM.

In the second Phase, War, the Human and the Dragonlord sides fight a series of five battles, each lasting 1 hours, or one day, at a different Glass Tower. Each battle takes 2 minutes, with each hour of battle lasting two minutes.

In the third and final Phase, Committee, the score for each side (Human and Dragonlord) is calculated and it is determined how history will officially remember them. The committee phase lasts 1 minutes.

This game is a dystopian vision with a mutable setting wherein the characters have 8 hours to live. In that time, they must discover why, where, how, who, and what. The game uses a simple time-based mechanic and uses clocks to mark progress and lividity of the characters. When the clock strikes zero, time is up.

The game begins with the premise that the characters have 8 hours to live. Before character generation and play begins, the game master (GM) must decide certain factors about the setting and surroundings of gameplay. These factors are called: timeline, government, and technology level. For each choice, there are three options, allowing the GM to craft the world to the purposes he has in mind for the game. Choose one option for each category and give the players a brief description of the cosmetic and social impact of your decision so that players have some idea what to expect from their gameplay world.

• Timeline: Present Day, Tomorrow (near-future), Day After Tomorrow (distant future)
• Government: Oppressive and Present, Oppressive and Absent, Republic and Absent
• Technology Level: Anachronistic, Present Day, Futuristic

As an example, if one were to choose Tomorrow, Oppressive and Present, and Present Day, (which I will use throughout the text as the ?default? setting) the result would likely be an Orwellian future reminiscent of 1984 (making the technology Present Day fits the text more accurately for 26 than the original Futuristic option that would have been chosen from the point-of-view of Orwell at the time of writing the novel).

Therefore, as the GM, I describe my world as similar to 1984, but with more urban sprawl and crumbling decay. The government is considered ever-present, but this is achieved more through the use of secret police and informants than functioning technological oversight. At birth, each person is fitted with a time-keeping device that shows the remaining time left to live (set to a default of 5 years, plus some amount of time due to social impact of occupation, party membership, et cetera). At :, time is up, life is over.

Last night, the characters went to sleep with plenty of life remaining. Today, they awoke to see they had 8 hours left to live. This is the beginning of the game.

The Dynasty is a roleplaying game about the ruling family of an empire. This game is a storytelling game and a competitive game at the same time.

The game plays in three sessions, each of them three hours long. Each session is featuring a critical era of a ruler’s domination, possibly ending with the fall of that ruler and coronation of another member of the family. Players will control the members of this family. Their goal will be to take hold of the power over their country.

Story

At the beginning of actual play every player has the chance of narrating a Story. Players who want to use this possibility apply for a Story.

Players will then bid Authority points for the control over narration. Whoever won the bid must subtract the winning bid from his Authority score, but gets the control over narration for the time of the Story. That?s the only benefit from winning the bid, so be careful when bidding high values.

Narrating a Story can only be profitable if the narrator?s character is involved in many Battles during the Story! Winning Battles is the only way to recover the Authority points the player spent on becoming a narrator. As a bonus, taking part in Battles is the only way a player can be the winner of the campaign.

There are some rules about narrating a Story:

• The Story must be formed in a way that ensures all player characters are involved. Leaving out a player character from a Story puts the player at a disadvantage and is therefore not acceptable.
• Player characters are still always controlled by the appropriate player.
• Conflicts between characters can?t be narrated. These events are Battles and have their own rules.
• The Story can?t by-pass the profit of a Battle. Never.
• The Story can?t take away control of the country from the ruling player character.

A Story can?t last longer than one hour. If the narrator wants to continue narrating, he has to bid for the control again. He can also continue if no one wants to bid for narration.