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.

Last Breath is a game in which the players take the roles of the last few people on earth after a devastating plague. To survive, the characters must avoid losing their will-to-live and struggle against creeping despair. Searching for other survivors aids them in not losing all hope. Last Breath was created as part of the October 25 Ronnies, using the terms Fight and Pain. The tone is grim, the setting is modern day and realistic.

It’s the end of the world. Or it sure as hell feels like it.

You sometimes wish you knew what white-coated expert tucked away in some biological warfare lab had come up with the idea of the superplague. But it doesn’t really matter much; he’s probably dead, like the rest. Once the superplague broke out of the Level Four facility, it spread too fast for anyone to ask for a government investigation.

The Drifter’s Escape is a game of men wandering America’s highways and byways, looking for their dreams, pursued by their pain, and hounded by both the Devil and the Man.

My traveling companions are an old yellow dog with the devil?s own farts and about a dozen loose and lonesome men we picked up somewhere. There are a few old soldiers less some of their body parts, a skin and bones mountaineer with a beard down to his rotting buckskin belt, a merchant marine with a terrible cough, a dready white girl with eyes like punched-out aces of spades, and some old hoboes who just won?t die.

“Escape from Hell!” is a roleplaying game where the players portray damned souls caught in Hell. Their goal is to journey through all of the spheres of Hell in order to get to the exit at the center. Through it all, they have to deal with the constant pain of being a damned soul.

“Escape from Hell!” is a result of a 24 Hour RPG contest using the terms, ?Pain? and ?Sphere.? It presents the Christian version of Hell as the true version. This is not meant to be a religious statement of any kind but merely the basis for the setting and context of the game. In other words, just have fun and don?t take it too seriously.

He awoke in agony. Michael screamed until he was hoarse and then continued screaming for what seemed like eternity. Finally, he pushed the pain down until it felt merely like a burning spike being pounded in his head. Ending his own screaming allowed him to hear the screaming all around him. He opened his eyes and sat up to see bodies writhing on the ground in every direction.

Michael heard a shout and turned to see a girl running towards him.

?Here?s one over here!? She yelled behind her, motioning towards Michael.

He waited until she arrived and asked the question burning in his head almost as hotly as the spike. ?Where the hell am I??

The girl smiled slightly and shook her head. ?Never changes. You all ask the same question and answer it in the same breath. Welcome to Hell. Sorry, can?t explain more now. I know it hurts, but we?ve got to get moving before the demons find us.?

Michael groaned, ?What could be worse than this??

The girl sighed. ?Think about what could be better. There is a way out of here and free from the pain. Or you can stay, and the demons whip you, rend you apart, feed you to a three-headed dog, and then start thinking on how to really torture you.?

Michael stood faster than he thought possible. ?Let?s go.?

Everyday someone in your city, your town, is on the edge. You can’t always tell by looking them over, but if you look into their eyes, their souls, you can see that something inside them is in danger of breaking. Pain is a part of the human condition; no one can avoid it. But sometimes the Pain becomes overwhelming, it consumes everything that is good, blots out the sun, and threatens to swallow your entire life. Sometimes this overwhelming Pain is fresh and fiery like a fever or an open wound, other times it’s an old festering sore that is slick with the pus of curdled memories. It doesn?t matter, one day will come when the Pain is brought to a head. On that day, your ability to Fight, to stand strong in the face of your Pain, determines whether you live or die. Of course, the physical death may not come quickly, but the spiritual one will be immediate ? there will be no more Fight in you, you will be only an empty shell drowned in Pain. A Pain that will only be extinguished in death.

Today might seem like any other day, but today is the day you face your Pain. Maybe it’s a choice you made, or maybe it’s a series of rude coincidences ? either way, today you Fight or give in, break down or break through. A part of you already knows which way it’s gonna turn out; it?s been written in your eyes for a long, long time.

Centzontotochtin, the Four Hundred Rabbits, are having a party, and many of the gods will attend. It is a time for celebration and subterfuge in equal parts. The four principal gods will seek new wives and new alliances.

Ronnies Note

Xochitlcozamalotl uses “cosmos” and “sphere” and does not include “fight” or “pain”. Sphere refers to the overlapping influence and authority of the four player character gods – each represents an elemental sphere. Cosmos refers to cosmos bipinnatus, Mexican aster, a daisy-like flower that grows in absurd abundance in the Valley of Mexico.

A formalistic-narrativistic exercise in urban violence in the tradition of Fight Club. Three or more players, one longish session. Storytelling and tactical elements, resembles Under the Bed and Breaking the Ice, to name a couple of examples of similar stuff.

This is a Ronnies game for the October contest. Rules are: make a 24h game Ron Edwards wants to play, and win some respect and dough. Except, you have to use two and only two of four terms: fight, pain, cosmos, sphere. Should be obvious which ones this game’s using. Hey, nobody said that it has to be innovative.

And yeah, I wanted to name the game My Fight Club Game , but didn’t have the balls.

A live-action roleplaying game about circus freaks, fighting and f**king.

When I lived in San Francisco, I played a live-action roleplaying game. It was often exciting, sometimes boring and always frustrating.

Dirty Fucking Freaks is provoked by that game. Although I won’t name the system, there were parts I loved and parts I hated. I’ll refer to it, imaginatively, as The Game.

This introduction explains what I liked about The Game and what I didn’t. Skip it if you want. (But it mentions teenagers in fishnet stockings).

This is my first attempt at a 24-hour RPG. The idea was to create a simple superhero RPG where the artistic ability of the players replaced the random rolling of dice for character creation and combat. If I had more time I would include artwork, advice on how to draw people, and probably add rules for movement. Next time I do this I will not do it on a workday. Hope you have fun with this. systems.

This game assumes players are all familiar with superheroes, role playing games and role playing terms, but just in case here is one definition that needs to be made clear. ?Player? is one of the human beings playing the game. ?Character,? or ?Hero,? is the creation of a player. If the Hero gets beaten up, the Hero can be fine in the next scene. If a player gets hurt, they might take a long time to heal. If anyone has trouble telling the difference between the player and the Hero, I suggest they switch to a less demanding game, like Checkers maybe.

To play this game you need the following:

It’s not long, there are no pictures, it’s not polished. But who has time for all of that. It’s in TXT, but you don’t have time to download a PDF anyways. Spazz is a game that was written in 68 minutes. I wanted to make it in an hour, but the Pressure got to me. No more time to describe. Got things to do.

12:56pm -1:57pm (4:12 with spell check) Sept 25th 25
Spazz:

Spazz is set in a world like our own. Exactly like our own. There is no time. None at all. You can’t relax. You have work to do. People are depending on you. If you mess up then the whole thing is over. Pressure and Strife keep getting in your way. You have Limitations, but you have Ambitions too. And thru it all there is always some one yelling at you. some one who keeps throwing things in your way, some one who controls everything you do. Everything’s a Struggle, and your the Victim.

—————Items needed———————–
Paper
Pens
at least two clocks and /or stop watchs where you can measure seconds
Ten minutes
Two or more people

—————-Atmosphere————————
Here are some ideas to set the mood for a Spazz game:
Get 25 ticking clocks.
Get Strobe lights.
Drink Triple caffeinated coffee
Play Traditional Japanese music played at triple speed, backwards, on repeat.
Get into a life or death situation.
Play in a cramped room or closet.
Have everyone write an RPG in one hour while playing.

————————–Terms——————–
-Yeller: The person who tells you what to do, what other games would call a ‘GM’ or ‘Game Master’.
-Limitations: The piece of paper that tells you what your character can do, what other games would call a ‘Character Sheet’.
-Strife: The thing that stops you from doing what you want. what other games might call a ‘check’.
-Pressure: The amount of time you have to do something, what other games might call a ’round’.
-Struggle: The events that happen that keep you from achieving your goals; what other games might call a ‘Story’
-Ambition: The thing you are trying to do; what other games would call a ‘goal.’
-Qualification: The thing you can do. What other games might call a ‘skill’

————————-Roles———————-
-Yeller: The person that tells you everything that is happening to the victim.
-Victim: the person who is trying to get something done

———————–The Pressure———————————
The Pressure is the amount of time you have in order to do something. The Pressure is counted in seconds.

———————-Starting a Struggle—————————
Wait ten seconds, then everyone yells “not it” the person who yells “not it” first is the Yeller. Everyone else is the victim.
can’t agree who was first? start over.

———————-Limitation Creation—————————
Pressure to create Limitations: 45
-Each Victim gets a piece of paper. Is it crumpled up? If yes, the victim better find another sheet of paper quick.
-Each Victim gets a pen. If the Victim only brought a pencil, they had better find a pen quick.
-Each Victim writes the Victim’s name on the paper. Did the Victim put the Character’s name in the upper left hand
corner? If so crumple the paper up and start again.
-Each Victim makes a list of things the Victim is good at. Are there less then 5 skills? If so crumple the Character up and start again. These are the victim’s Qualifications.
-Each Victim puts a number next to each Qualification. Do any of the numbers come to more then 5? If so crumple the sheet up and start over.
-Add all the numbers on all of the Victims’s limitations. Does the total number come to more then 32? If yes then crumple the Character up and then start over.
-Show the Yeller the Victims Limitations. Does it make sense? If not start over.
-Did you complete the Task in the Pressure? No? Start over.

———————–The Struggle——————————–
Pressure: 6
The Victim calls out an Ambition. Then the Victim starts to explain what he would do to get to achieve the Ambition. The Yeller may tell the Victim what situations the Victim would encounter if they did the things the Victim describes. If any of these things would stop a Victim from obtaining their goal a Strife has started (see below). Continue this process until the Ambition is achieved. If the Pressure is over, so is the game. I’d say start over but no one should have time for more then a ten minute game.

————————–Strife————————————
To resolve a Strife follow these steps:
1) The victim tells the Yeller what qualifications that are on the Victim’s Limitations that would help the Victim over come the Strife. If the Yeller agrees with the Victim then proceed to step two, if not then the Victim has ten seconds to explain why the Qualification would help. If the Yeller still doesn’t agree then start step one over. If the Victim has no Qualifications that would help, then you must put an X on the Victims Limitations and proceed to Step 6.
2)Yeller yells out a term and a number. This number should be less ten four.
3) The Number next to the Qualification is now the Pressure.
4)The Victim then call out a number of words that are related to word called out by the Yeller equal to the number the Yeller yelled.
5) Did more seconds pass by then the Pressure? If so put an X on the Victims.
6) Are there more then 3 X’s on the Limitations? If yes, the game is over, start over.
7) Continue on with the Struggle where you left off.

——————–The Ambition———————————–
Did the victim achieve the Ambition? If yes, good for them, they have completed a menial and pointless task. Want a reward? No time. You have millions of other tasks to do. Have you go t a stable relationship? no? Get a girlfriend. Is it time for work? Yes? Go to work. Got a job? No? get one. Going to school? Do your homework. Have you done your taxes? Do them. Come one, get going! I don’t have enough time to tell you what to do with the rest of your life. Go away!… OK you can add a total of three to your Qualification, and if everyone agrees you can use the limitations next time you play the game. Like you have time to play the game again. The Pressure is on!

Cloaks and Daggers is role-playing game where the characters take the roles of spies in a spy organization. The players are let loose in a large GR (game runner) made world where they go do anything they want. If the players are at a loss about what to do, then the GR gives them an “involving event” to get things going again.

The players give their characters an “advantage” which is like a class in other role-playing games. They pick from the categories like talent, trait, and possession and then give themselves powers with it. i.e. a 5% chance to make someone believe them.

Combat is handled like this. Characters declare their action, which have a time to complete in seconds. The GR counts off each second and finished actions happen at the end of the seconds. They can pick from a list of actions or use their own. Combat is not intended to be a major part of this game.

A section on spy equipment and tactics is provided to give the players some sense of what they could do as spies. Without it, they would not know what to do more than a normal person off the street would.

I hope you enjoy this role-playing game as much as I have enjoyed making it