These are free or shareware role-playing games. These are not computer games, but are games played with paper-and-pencil, like the infamous Dungeons & Dragons. All of these games are available for perusing simply by downloading them.
- Advanced Role-Playing Mechanics
- A freeware post-holocaust game.
- Anarcha Australis
- A freeware post-holocaust game… set in Australia.
- The Biblyon Broadsheet
- Like adventurers of old you will delve into forgotten tombs where creatures of myth stalk the darkness. You will search uncharted wilderness for lost knowledge and hidden treasure. Where the hand-scrawled sign warns “beyond here lie dragons,” your stories begin.
- Character Oriented Role-Playing Engine
- Fantasy game focusing on characters?
- Combat Monster
- A freeware generic game. Well, generic in the sense that you can beat people up in any genre. This one’s pulling your funny bone, folks, and then beating you over the head with it. Enjoy!
- Cran Fantasy Shell
- a freeware fantasy game
- Death or Glory
- A freeware fantasy game.
- Dramatic License (146.1 KB)
- Cinematic role-playing, either as cinematic adventures or cartoons. Available as a rich text file for use in any modern word processor.
- Frank RPG
- a shareware fantasy game
- Generic Easy Miniatures
- “GEM is a generic miniature wargaming ‘engine’. There is a point system which (hopefully) gives balanced battles. Stats are customizable for whatever style of battle one wants. Play is designed on the fast and furious style, but also with rolling handfuls of dice. If you've ever been bogged down in rolling and rolling with no resolution in sight, GEM is probably for you.”
- Greatly Abbreviated Mechanics, Etc.
- “The idea of GAME is to provide an ultra-compact, flexible system that can be fit onto a single 8.5" x 11" piece of paper, front and back. GAME serves only as the barest guideline for roleplaying and leaves all details to the GM’s judgement, and is meant to ease on-the-fly additions.”
- Harlequinade
- “The Ideal World is a paranoid place where the everyday is not as it appears… or is it? Superficially, the Ideal World is our own. The technology is familiar technology. The streets are the familiar streets. The inhabitants are, mostly, the faceless people we ignore every day. Lurking within this familiar facade is the joke. All you have to do is scratch the surface. Face it, nobody lives for ever. So enjoy yourself.”
- Hazon
- a possibly freeware fantasy game
- Hero World
- A very specific (and short) game where the superheroes are humans, elves, and mercurians. And galaga creatures.
- Men & Supermen
- Men & Supermen is a superhero role-playing game designed for a wide variety of characters, both of powers and power levels.
- Monsters & Mazes
- “The game of dark underground labyrinths and those who abode in them. Where only the brave and the mighty will escape with marvelous gems and everprecious gold… WARNING: THIS GAME CONTAINS MATH!
- OPIGS
- a freeware generic game, but “you had to be there”. Fits on a single sheet. Of paper.
- Realms of Adventure (153.6 KB)
- “This game is set in the medieval era, with castles, magic, and fantastic creatures. You can play a knight, a wizard, a rogue, a crusading priest, or any other character you chose… Looks like those barbarians kicked ass here.”
- Ringwielder
- A shareware fantasy/science fiction game. “The Orion was built using the principles of Psycho-Manipulative Energy. During its launch a terrible accident occurred. All animal and plant life was mutated, and the inhabitants were turned into characters from literature and imagination. They awaken with their old memories erased and new ones in their place, facing a starship defense system that is definitely not friendly.”
- Robot Wars
- A freeware diceless Mecha miniatures game. “The year, 2024, There are no more armies. Disputes are settled by large scale robotic wars. These are unmanned robots built by a neutral company in Switzerland.”
- The Roll-Playing Game of Big Dumb Fighters
- A freeware fantasy game. “This game has been designed with gamers in mind, and we know what you want—sex and violence.”
- The Shell Roleplaying System
- “This is the skeleton of a FRPG system.”
- Simple Laid-Back Universal Game
- A freeware generic game. Very freeform, probably an ancestral relation to FUDGE.
- Skill Oriented Universal Playing System (84.3 KB)
- A freeware fantasy/science fiction game “based totally on skills”.
- Swordhawk Rules (125.9 KB)
- Fantasy gaming in the Dungeons and Dragons tradition.
- System One Generic Role Playing System
- “The plan is for a GM to be able to quickly set up a fully detailed universe of mutant gerbils travelling the spaceways with cybernetic limbs and casting magic spells at everyone.”
- To Challenge Tomorrow
- A shareware space game. Zipped.
- Whimsical Orange Road: The Role-Playing Game (93.6 KB)
- A freeware anime game, based on Kimagure Orange Road. “This is a roll-playing game. It requires a Game Master, some 10 sided dice, paper, pencils, and junk food.”
More Information
- 1940: England Invaded
- Inspired by diverse works such as “The Eagle has Landed” and old British sitcom “Dad’s Army”, this RPG, created as part of a 24-hour challenge, takes you into an alternate history where England was invaded in 1940.
- 1KM1KT
- Lots of interesting free games. The name stands for “one thousand monkeys, one thousand typewriters,” and it appears they’re working on it.
- Alternate Realities
- A generic, object-oriented approach to game design.
- ARPLE
- The All-Purpose Role-Playing Logistics Engine. “ARPLE is not a gaming revolution. ARPLE is a good place to start with newer gamers and a return to a simpler age for most older roleplayers, back when roleplaying was just a bit of fun on friday night.” Good goals if nothing else.
- Babewatch the RPG
- “Babewatch is the sun, sea, sand and sex role-playing game of beach babes and lifesaving hunks. Keep your tongue in your cheek, a tin in your hand and escape for a while to sunnier climes.”
- Barbarians of Lemuria
- “Half a million years ago, on the lost continent of Lemuria in the Pacific, the first civilizations arose from the red murk of barbarism. For thousands of years the first men had struggled heroically to overcome the Dragon Kings—a cruel reptilian race which had ruled the Earth during the Age of Reptiles, but at last The Thousand Year War was done and the Dragon Kings were destroyed or driven from the land.”
- Battles: Win or Lose
- “The object of the game is to beat your opponent Mobs to a pulp. Players duel with Mobs on a playing field. The playing field is divided into 5 sections for each Player: the Portal, the Umbra, the Stage, the Rank Slot, and the Mausoleum.”
- The Blue Room
- Includes “Risus”, a complete beer and pretzels “RPG Lite”. Lots of GURPs and Autoduel also.
- CARPS: Customizable Abstract Roleplaying System
- A “universal, light-rules RPG”.
- Caverns & Chameleons
- “Because all the funky young dudes are playing it.” This is a pretty funny spoof on the original D&D. If you ever looked at the prostitutes & pimps subtable of AD&D and wanted to play a Slovenly Trull, this is the game for you.
- Contes de Fees: Le Jeu
- If you ever wanted to read “what is an rpg” in French, you can do so here. I see that they also have discovered that the pre-Raphaelites produced some amazing role-playing art. Beyond that I’m afraid that my French is too far gone to read what this is all about. Translate from French
- Coron’s Sources of Free RPGs
- Another listing of net RPGs, organized by genre.
- The Cursed RPG
- “The world of the Cursed is the same as our world, the streets are the same, the stores are the same, it’s the characters that are different. The characters were normal once, then they received ‘the gift.’ The gift is the ability to sense beyond the normal into the realm of the supernatural. Some can see the world of spirits, others escaped the other world, while some spent years learning control and alter the natural laws. ”
- Dark Dreams
- “Dark Fantasy” role-playing. Nice presentation, and comes with its own definition of “dark”. The main game is “Transcendence”, a medieval game based on Nova.
- Dark Spell
- A fantasy game with magic and combat.
- deadEarth
- A Nietszche-inspired RPG. “A short time from now the world as you know it will change. The Earth will die in a bath of post apocalyptic radiation. Years later, the most vile of all viruses, humans, will crawl out from the cracks they have survived in, and will wage war once again.” Registration required?
- Doom: The Next Chapter
- A free RPG set in the Doom universe.
- Draft RPG
- An open game released under the open content license. Point costs for character generation, and an assumption that magic is rare. Basically fantasy-oriented, although the system itself doesn’t have a world-setting. Available as a PDF file.
- Dragonfly
- “A cross between cockfighting seizure monster anime children’s series like Pokemon and science fiction military bug hunts such as Starship Troopers.”
- DragonSpawn
- Fantasy RPG-looks quite well supported, if nothing else! High fantasy: meet dragons, strange creatures, and wondrous magic.
- Dragonwizards RPG
- “An independant system with pencil, paper, dice and cards. Played with d20, d10, d6, players role-play, dungeons, dragons, wizards, and fantasy situations with monster cards, game cards, weapon cards, and playing cards.” Watch out for those dusty fecal streets.
- Earth of the Fourth Sun
- Looks to have some interesting ideas, including cinematic combat and customized magic. Written by a pharmacist. I want to see the drug rules! The first rulebook is very nicely presented; I have no idea what the game is actually about, however.
- Exemplar
- Space opera with swords, rifles, and shiny body armor. “Chrome are holy colors because they exemplify purity and imitation of one’s surroundings.”
- Forgotten Futures
- A shareware space fantasy game, based on the forgotten scientific romances of the last two centuries.
- Four Colors
- A four-color (that’s Golden Age to you non-comics geeks) superhero game. Bad art, but it comes with some good recommendations. Available as HTML and PDF.
- The Free RPG Blog
- “A blog dedicated to free pencil and paper materials across the web.” Still pretty new, but it looks like it’s going to have some nice reviews.
- The Free RPG Compendium
- A nice short collection of links to free role-playing games.
- Free RPG Database
- An ambitious site, it set out to provide information for the creation and promotion of role-playing games around the world. But that was long ago, and now there are few who remember.
- Free RPGs on the Web
- This is by far the best listing of downloadable role-playing games on the web. Judging from the descriptions of my two games, the author has actually read every game to write the description. Well organized.
- FreeRPG Webring
- A web ring for authors of free role-playing games.
- Fresco
- A light universal game for use at the beach.
- Galactic Frontier
- A rough draft of a futuristic role-playing game.
- Game Scribes Webring
- A web ring for RPG writers. Kinda cool, actually.
- Grey Ghost Press
- Grey Ghost’s flagship game is FUDGE, a freeware generic ruleset.
- Guide to Adventure
- A freeware “universal” rpg. Currently fantasy, but “Alien Dawn” has been released for science fiction near-future gaming.
- Guildhall Press
- Includes “B-Movie: The Game of Schlock”, “Guilds of Strinrath”, and possibly a new version of Tunnels and Trolls, co-produced with Flying Buffalo! A demo version of their “B-Movie” game is on-line.
- Heavy Ordnance
- A freeware game of weapons, school, and hell. “All of your teachers are possessed by brain-hungry demons. Good thing mom packed a lunch, you’re going to need it.” I want to know when he’s going to sell the movie rights?
- Highlander for D&D
- A Highlander RPG using Dungeons & Dragons’ D20 game system. Also some D20 Gothic Earth and a “Demon Earth” D20 game.
- Holyquest (paperback)
- “Holyquest is a fantasy role-playing game from a Judeo-Christian perspective. It incorporates some unique character classes, and some unique rules in order to reflect a Judeo-Christian world view.” Based on FUDGE. A free download or a 47-page book from Lulu.com. (James W. Aubuchon)
- Infinite Horizons
- Home of Infinite Horizons, a generic gaming system, with add-ons for fantasy, horror, cyberpunk, and space opera.
- Into the Shadows
- “The characters are agents of good, confronting the supernatural evil that lurks in the shadows of our world. They can happen across this evil accidentally, work as an independent team, or as members of a larger organization.”
- Legends of Middle Earth
- A role-playing game set in the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien. You’ll have to have read the books because this doesn’t include setting material for obvious reasons.
- The Madness
- Some downloadable games such as The Window and The Stage. The most interesting-looking one, Children of Fire, can only be read on-line.
- Mega Miniatures USA
- While they appear to specialize in miniatures, they also have a free space wargame, Salvage Crew: Star Mogul. “You are a Star Mogul and the owner of a newly formed Salvage Crew. The outer rim is a treasure trove of lost or abandoned property. Your mission is to stake your claim by force if necessary to these forgotten riches.”
- Memento Mori Theatrics
- Games such as “Gigantocorp”, “octane”, and “ars mechanica”. These things look pretty good, I’d recommend checking them out.
- Mortal Konquest
- Kule adventures after the sky skreams.
- NC System
- A freeware fantasy game designed to be plugged into an existing AD&D game as needed.
- Nuelow
- A generic something game involving Fairies, Lust, and Horndogs. Sex and role-playing!
- Origins
- A Dune-like role-playing game and campaign world.
- Pirates of Dark Water
- A fantasy RPG designed to recreate the environment of the Pirates of Dark Water show. It uses few numbers and only one to three six-siders; it was designed for simple play to introduce children to gaming.
- PowerGame
- A freeware superhero game. Includes a Portuguese version.
- Quasar Role-Playing Game
- A free role-playing game without weirdness or the occult. What do you play, parents and businessmen? No, that’s too weird also. Hard science fiction.
- Quest
- Fantasy role-playing with high levels of technology.
- Ragnarok Games Ysgarth Minirules
- A “lite” version of a commercial game.
- René le Jeu de Rôle Romantique
- A free role-playing game based on the works of François-René de Chateaubriand and Victor Hugo. “It’s about playing sad young people living a boring life in French 19th century, and includes rules for psionic powers, backstab, vampires and correct French grammar.” What if the Bronte sisters wrote a role-playing game? Roll for rage and despair. Translate from French
- Runebearer: Adventures in the World of Bostonia
- A world of magic and fantasy thousands of years after the destruction of modern civilization. Includes detailed rules in PDF format. Their “dirty fighting” table includes the old “dirt in the eyes” maneuver as well as headbutt and playing possum. Point-cost character generation. Lots of tables.
- Starfarer
- “Starfarer is a generalized system of game mechanics intended for futuristic SF/space adventure settings. Examples of SF backgrounds that one might play using the Starfarer system include those seen in SF novels such as C.J. Cherryh's Chanur books, Larry Niven's Known Space books, Niven and Pournelle's Mote in God's Eye.”
- StickGuy the Role Playing Game
- Beer and pretzels comedy RPG. “Copy the plot from some cheesy cable TV show, and go to it.” Uses d4’s because “no one else uses them and they feel lonely.”
- Stray Bullet
- “An action-filled roleplaying game in the technothriller genre.” Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, Harold Coyle, Richard Herman Jnr, Steve Pieczneik, and Patrick Robinson “are all good examples of technothriller authors.”
- Stuperpowers
- “The First Class Role-Playing Game for Third-Rate Heroes.” You can read the basic rules on-line or order the book from them.
- System DL
- “System DL is a completely diceless role-playing system which still plays like the old diced games everyone’s used to. After all, if, as Einstein once said, God doesn't play dice with the Universe, then why should you?” Includes a freeware version.
- Tales from the Wood
- “A role-playing game in which the players in the game take the roles of creatures which can typically be found in and around the British woodland ; creatures such as Mouse, Rabbit, Vole, Squirrel and Hedgehog.”
- TimeLords
- Freeware Dr. Who.
- Uncle Bear Games
- Collection of old gaming stuff, including a few games and spam.
- Universal
- Besides some links to free role-playing games, they have their own “Universal” ruleset, and an abridged version the original D&D rules on-line.
- Vanguard Free Roleplaying
- A “hard science fiction” rpg, available in PDF format only. Also, a separate system for spaceship design and combat.
- Wasteland Games
- Once a gaming company, “based in Northern Ireland”, they published a bunch of games, including a “hong-kong action” style rpg, and “A horror game where the characters are lunatics trapped in their own subjective realities”. When they went out of business, they posted each of the games on-line. Very good form.
- Zenobia
- Some of the external links are starting to die, but this is a pretty cool “fantasy vision of the ancient Near East during the darkest days of the Roman Empire, circa 260 AD”
