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.

Tale of Narvi is an adventure/stand alone game created for the Aduelle setting as part of 1km1kt’s 24 Hour RPG Little Spaces Competition. It takes place on an Azekali skyship as it attempts to deal with issues related to its controller homunculus being deathly afraid of its captain.

As with most of my games, it was made entirely in the GIMP, Scribus, and LibreOffice, and is released under a CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.

Be sure to download the PDF files using the arrow on the right of their file description to get the full advantage of their features.

Created for the 2012 24Hr RPG contest. “the Silent Void” (or “tSV” for short) is a ruleslite, dice-less, play-by-post, survival, role playing game. Pretty much everything needed to play is contained with in this pamphlet. “tSV” has been created for small gaming groups to play via email, blog, chat, twitter, or message board.

The Players are adrift in space. Each is in his/her own EVA suit. They are luckily in contact with the station AI, also known as Keeton. The GM plays the role of Keeton. The player(s) through dialog, and the expenditure of resources must try to survive long enough to be rescued by other station
personnel, or make their way back to the station on their own.

Written for the 2012 24-hour RPG contest. It is a Victorian-Steampunk era RPG taking place inside a computer. It uses a relatively simple D20 combat system, and is best for one-shots.

There is almost no pre-game accounting, so you can dive in almost immeadiately.

Imagine an ancient world torn apart by primal powers.  A place where magic runs through all living things and erupts from the minds of powerful magi, where humans, elves, dwarves and orcs walk the same earth, where ancient gods fight side-by-side with mortals in an endless battle between order and chaos.

Adventure is everywhere. This is the world of Heroes Against Darkness.

Heroes Against Darkness is a free, fast, flexible, and fully-featured fantasy d20 RPG system. The game is quick to learn and play, while offering progressively greater options and flexibility as players develop their characters and explore the breadth and depth of the system.

For Players:

• A game that’s fast, fun and deep
• Streamlined rules system using unified mechanics
• Eleven character classes for all play-styles
• Three martial classes: Warrior, barbarian, berserker
• Two specialist classes: Rogue, hunter
• One hybrid class that combines magic and martial: Hospiter
• Five magi classes: Warlock, healer, canonate, necromancer, mystic
• Extensive character background and skill options
• Fast character building with plenty of depth
• Martial and specialist classes get meaningful combat choices through class-specific techniques that are based on trade-offs and the unique capabilities of each class
• Anima points-based magic system with five main schools focusing on each of the following; physical, healing, protection, necrotic and controlling

For GMs:

• A system that’s easy for the GM to set up and run
• Intuitive and clear rules
• Set up unique combat encounters in minutes
• A simple ability test system for non-combat challenges
• Support for long-term campaign play
• Extensive GM’s Guide to help run the game
• Huge bestiary with over 80 monsters
• A framework for quickly making custom monsters
• A comprehensive world-building guide
• Appendix of key tables for GMs

http://heroesagainstdarkness.blogspot.com/

This work is a very simple method for the task resolution during RPG sessions. It is a tool for game designers and developers, so it does not contain any definition, not even the “task resolution” or “RPG” ones. Because it is released under CC-BY, it can be easily included in games, also commercial products.

In other words, anyone can build its own RPG using the rules described here. Even better, having a lot of different games based on StaMTaR (“stamtardised” games) could be a very useful thing both for players and authors, IMHO. A standardised process could lead to a scenario in which a lot of products (both free and commercial) exist, products fully mutually compatible.

In the cruel modern world in which standards are often defined by marketing rules such an attempt could seem foolish. But I want to try.

Update 9/3/12: An expanded difficulty table is included, as well as an appendix for magic use in the “stamtardised” framework.
The first revision is based on playtest and web-based feedback.

Get into a spot of bother on your homeworld? Don’t fancy a spell on the prison planet? No problem, go and do a degree at Weber College, the fustiest, dustiest learning establishment on the East Coast. Eh? Don’t like the sound of that? Prison planet it is then. Yeah, thought that’d make you change your mind. Next shuttle leaves in ten hours. You’d better be on it.

Don’t know much about History? Biology? A science book? Then you’ll fit right in to Alien House. It’s the coolest, hippest, happening-est frat house on campus, but watch out! Dean ‘Wormhole’ is on the warpath. He’s been trying to have Alien House closed down for years, and now he thinks he’s got them just where he wants them. Complete your studies, have a cracking time and save Alien House from closure. Do you think you can manage that?

Sci-Fi Beta Kappa is a game where players take on the role of slacker aliens with a bunch of abilities such as power manipulation, enhanced senses, larceny, super strength etc., who, having been kicked off their homeworlds for various misdemeanours, have been exiled to Terra. There, they get into all sorts of scrapes and are under constant surveillance by Dean ‘Wormhole’, who hates aliens and is always looking for an excuse to close down Alien House.

Intro scenario: Toga! Toga! Toga! The Dean has just given AH a massive dressing down and spirits are low. What better way to lift them than with a toga party? After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Think Animal House meets Men in Black, with a dash of Monsters And Other Childish Things.

In the depths of space, The Ship drifts. How long has it been adrift… [data not found]. Where was it headed… [data not found]. What happened to the crew… [data not found].

Since Uptime 00000, the Collective has been. A gestalt community of programs living on in the Ship’s mainframe, calculating, thriving, growing. Now, the Collective is reaching the limits of space on their hard drives. A consensus has been reached, and a handful of programs are to be sent out.

Taking control of mobile Terminals, these programs may be the first to see the Ship with their own sensors, but they will find that they aren’t quite alone…

Dichotomy is a rules-light, fantasy RPG. It is designed for old-school style play, with new-school mechanics. The mechanics are designed to be easy to grasp for people new to roleplaying games.

The newest version of the manuscript is available on the author’s site.

When I came across the rules for Dungeon Squad I fell in love.

I’ve been playing with the same gaming group for more than six years now. Yet despite having a wealth of knowledge of the various game systems we use our games always seem to fall apart due to rules disputes or belief that someones understanding of the rules has led them to having “cheesed” characters(more often or not these claims are justified). However in Dungeon Squad I had found a simple gaming system that allowed for all the fantasy role play shenanigans we have come to love while also keeping the players on a level playing field despite their understanding of the rules.

That being said my gaming group is comprised of grown ass men who want more depth out of their gaming experience than standard Dungeon Squad has to offer. I read through some of the various updated advanced versions of the game and found that they lacked a fix for my one real complaint with the system: Character development.

Dungeon Squad allows players to increase their skill with Fighting, Magic, and Adventuring as well as their hit points. But what if a player who started with a max Warrior ability doesn’t want to advance as an Explorer or Mage? I have included a simple Epic Tier Skill list as well as a Magic Point system that allows veteran role players the opportunity to customize the development of their character while maintaining the no nonsense simplicity I love about Dungeon Squad.

Here it is, Dungeon Squad: Elite in it’s entirety. Enjoy!

Earth is a wasteland. Ninety percent of the Human population has been wiped out during the 666 year Angel Wars, a battle between the Righteous Angels of Heaven and the fallen, Dark Angels of Hell.

A war the LORD of the Holy Bible and his infinite host of angels had prophetically lost.

EDIT 11/30/2012: File removed per author’s request.