It’s time for our annual unofficial celebration of Free RPG Day! If you missed our earlier post highlighting what items will be available this year, you can learn everything you need to know at the official Free RPG Day website. So once you’re finished supporting your local gaming store, be sure to check these out:
Wizards of the Coast has released the basic rules for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition online for free, along with the basic Dungeon Master guide, Starter Characters and some character sheets! One review also reveals an awesome dungeon map. Similarly, here’s a neat freebie from Jared Von Hindman.
Don’t have anyone nearby interesting in gaming? Fear not, as Roll20 lets you run an entire gaming session online for free with people all over the internet. It’s run entirely in your browser, but Syrinscape will require a download to use the free trial (and snag some free Soundsets). Said program acts as a soundboard you can use to enhance your gaming experience.
Erang has some free gaming tracks available for download, along with an illustrated source book of sorts for a mythical kingdom.
In addition to their steampunk albums, Abney Park also has their own RPG called Airship Pirates. To promote said game, they are offering free downloads of things like character sheets and the Printable deck plans for an airship.
Pinnacle Entertainment Group has a bunch of free goodies, including the “Test Drive” rules for Savage Worlds while Vajra Enterprises has a “Lite Version” of Tibet: The RPG.
S. John Ross is a big deal in the world of tabletop gaming, so you can imagine why his website having a free stuff section is a big deal. But in addition to that and his list of RPG plot ideas are his downloads for Uresia: Grave of Heaven. Said game has recently been retooled as a setting for use with any RPG system!
Wikipedia has a ton of links to free adventures (and the compendium) for 7th Sea. This pirate themed game has some Lovecraftian elements…
Google Books is a game master’s best kept secret, as most people have no idea free previews of various gaming books are available there. They’re even less likely to suspect Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies has a free adventure in it, complete with stats! Although the preview doesn’t show all of it, it’s pretty easy for you to fill in the blanks. The guidebook for Neiyar: Land of Heaven and the Abyss offers up stats for creatures like the Clockwork Beetle, Chardara Bird, Chovoo, Corpse-Eater Lily and Fleshcutter Ant (among others) that are perfect for d20 jungle adventures.
The High Adventure Role Playing Lite rules are available for free downloading, as are “Nutshell” rules for Complete Omniversal Role Playing System and various books for Open D6. Exile Games also has a lot of free downloads, including ones for Hollow Earth Expedition!
In need of some old-looking photographs and newspaper clippings for your next Call of Cthulhu campaign? Then Wanokoto Labs and the California Digital Newspaper Collection should be right up you alley!
If that isn’t enough free stuff for you, check out 1KM1KT’s list of free RPGs. The administrator of this particular site also dispenses some great advice over at the Free RPG Blog.
UPDATE: Although the above Erang freebies are sadly now gone, you can find some replacements in 2016’s “Free RPG Day Is Here!”
Happy Free RPG Day!
As always, Gravedigger’s Local 16 is not to be held responsible for anything that may occur (be it good or bad) as a result of downloading from any links given here. Attempt at your own discretion. We make no guarantees about the future availability of the material listed above, so get them while you can. Blah blah blah…