• Tell gory stories of escape and mayhem!
• Build a tower of dice to survive!
• Describe horrible violence and earn some extra dice!

Hell for Leather is the zero-prep storytelling game of explosive death and murder. There’s no GM, no lengthy setup, and it plays out in under 4 hours. If it were a food, it’d be a pizza delivery…

Using a tower of dice, tell the story of contestants on the world’s most dangerous gameshow. It’s grim, explosive and spattered with blood.

Warning: Contains sexy gore.

Hell for Leather, the game where Murder = Extra Dice!

At least one person wants you dead…

The only people you almost trust are people who don’t necessarily trust you…

but you’ve got skills and talents that might just get you through…

…might just let you get some revenge…

…and might let you achieve your destiny.

An easy to learn game for 3 to 6 lowlifes; requiring a few six sided dice, some scraps of paper and no preparation time.

To keep the file size down I’ve stripped out the public domain art and used basic fonts and layout (bit dull, sorry). Given that the adventure runs to 20 pages the game has blown out to 58 but remains easy to play.

On that topic – only the players need to roll the dice, the GM can focus on planning and running the game.

I hope you enjoy this latest version.

Welcome to Truth, Inc. – a game of drama. Yes, drama. What does that mean you ask? Its a game about what happens when all hell breaks loose and shit hits the fan and, well you get the picture. Truth, Inc. is the center of the game, a large sprawling company in the distant future that has grown a little too powerful for its o w n good. In order to play you’ll need to keep in mind three tenets, each a concept critical to the game.
These are: Its the goddamn future, These are cool motherfuckers, and The question shits on everyone. GODDAMN

During the game, players control a character and a corporation. The characters are looking to survive and make a little headway in the post-modern world. The corporations want to wipe out Keeton and assume sole control of the hearts, minds, and bodies of every person on the planet.

Prepare to enter a world of hostile takeovers, subterfuge, high technology, and complete paranoia. Everyone is watching.

It’s a new fantasy role playing game that stands beside the others by being entirely class-free, magic focused (but optional), and based on Blackjack-style “draws” for conflict resolution (combat or obstacle bypassing).

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is the core rulebook, made more for reference than actual gameplay, a successor Gameplay Guide will be released in the “complete” rulebook, which will include guides to running games and also a sample adventure (and play-by-play of it).

Your character has never fit in. This means two things. Your character is always in trouble. And your character is significant to the world he lives in. People notice your character, for good or ill.

Travellers of the Wasteland is a nostalgia game. It seeks to emulate the author’s first fantasy game world, which was inspired by the Fighting Fantasy and Basic D&D games.

To play, you will need: pencils, paper, some dice (the ordinary six-sided kind), a few friends, a fair amount of imagination, and of course this game.

It’s a low fantasy game set in the first years of the XX century, with bits of steampunk.

My game, BATTLES ONE, is a game of the imagination. But it’s not the imagination that runs the game. The game is played with 2 people that gather together for the fight of their lives. With these rules you merely battle it out to the finish. Who cares about the imagination, all I want to do is fight. All I want to do is roll dice and my stupid imagination keeps getting in the way, because, let’s face it, we all don’t imagine the same things.

If you ever wanted a game that had everything, this is not the game for you. The rules, while somewhat extensive, is either for the foolhardy or the brave at heart. It is an all-out slug-fest of the fittest. BATTLES ONE is a fast paced, two player, head to head, fight to the death, dice game. Prepare yourself, BATTLES ONE has come.

Characters are defined by their Traits, which are ranked on a competence ladder between one and ten. The core of the system is a roll of two six-sided dice, with the players adding the value of their Trait to the roll to generate the highest possible total. During the game, the players will accumulate Coins, which can be used as metagame influence to give their characters a variety of advantages and also to improve their Traits.

The core rules are augmented by a variety of extras that add extra functionality to the game. You can add extras to create rules for complex duels, ship to ship combat in space or the high seas, or the creeping threat of madness. Extras can also modify the core of the game, adding more player interaction, cinematic flair, or hack-and-slash style.

Our intent is to make a game that can fade into the background as much as possible so that you can enjoy playing your characters and their interactions with the worlds that inspire you.

In ‘A Strange Charm’, players adopt Roles in the story – Victory, Defeat, Love or Shadow – instead of specific characters. As the Scholar, an exiled Traveller, adopts different agendas he is controlled by different players. The humans and aliens he encounters are likewise run by different players as their role in the story changes.

The GM is not required to roll dice during play (unless he or she really wants to), the outcome of any event or encounter is based purely on the success or failure of the player’s skill roll.

Since the first edition, the magic system has changed (but version 1.0 magic is still compatible), character advancement is presented in a slightly different way and most things just make a little more sense.

There is no world background or fantasy races – that’s up to you. The system can easily be ported to other genres.

TunnelQuest or TQ for short is a brief set of Fantasy Role-Playing rules designed by Paul Elliot (of Zenobia fame) and developed extensively by Mike Hill (Tunnels & Trolls Sixth Edition). Paul’s game was originally designed to provide a simple but compelling set of rules that he could use with his family.

Although the game concepts and mechanics really are simple, it would be helpful if at least one player is familiar with role-playing games in general and such venerable classics as Tunnels & Trolls and of course, Dungeons & Dragons in particular.

To play this game and most role-playing games, you will need some dice; TQ only uses the readily available six-side dice. For ease of reference, dice rolls are indicated by the abbreviation: ‘xd6′ where ‘x’ denotes the number of dice to be rolled. For example, a roll of 3-dice would be indicated by the code 3d6.

S&S is easy to learn, quick to play and adaptable to almost any fantasy setting with a minimum of fuss. House rules are encouraged.

S&S is presented as both an 18-page pdf rulebook and a 4-page “pocketmod” version for play anythime or place.

The One Roll Engine is used with permission from Greg Stolze and Arc Dream Publishing.

You start fresh out the joint with $40 bucks and a pack of smokes to your name, from there you must get your hands on $100,000 in 90 days in to be in on a deal that will change your life. How low you stoop and what lines you cross are down to you. Rob banks, collect debts, burgle houses, kidnap drug dealers and other low lives for ransom – you as the players decide. But everything you do in Dog Town has consequences, step on the wrong guy’s toes and your criminal might wind up stinking out the trunk of his Cadillac, make sloppy dumb ass moves and you’ll get busted by the Five O and sent upstate where you belong. Dog Town is a game where killers meet you with smiles and a handshake, where everyone is working an angle, and where the cops protect and serve their own interests.

A stripped and streamlined rule set for Dog Town the roleplaying game of crime, money and violence This book is to be used in conjunction with the other books in the series for setting information and flavour. The intention is to remove most of the crunch of character creation in the Core Rule book and to provide a more free wheeling rules lite version using the tenGINE (a system that combines familiar aspects of Bust and the Split System) that can be quickly picked up and played, but can still be integrated with the Core Rule book and Stray Bullets when more depth and detail is wanted.

This is a game for single player where you becomes the unfortunate hero that need to defeat the sorcerer that wants to destroy the world with his 21 turn spell!

In Chronicles of the Drenai you will play a character struggling to be a better person in a world that is cold, cruel and capricious. This is a game of desperate last stands, painful sacrifices for loyalty and honor, and overcoming your weaknesses to become worthy of legend.

The game is very rules-lite, with a system based on rolling d20′s vs. a weakness, or Passion, of your character in the spirit of Gemmell’s tales. For example, in combat you don’t test Strength or Dexterity, but roll against your character’s Fear (possibly with modifiers if you’re facing something really formidable). Freeform Traits may add bonus dice to your roll. You only need to beat the target number with one of your dice to succeed.

This PDF contains the basic rules for creating characters and running a game, plus brief descriptions of the Drenai world and its nations. This is a fan work made in homage to David Gemmell, and in no way meant to challenge the copyrights of the Gemmell estate.

Desperate last stands. Agonizing choices between two or more evils. Searing encounters with the worst in man. The fate of millions resting on a grim and scarred antihero. Valor and sacrifice in a dark, uncaring world, with only faith in a nebulous and rarely evident Source to guide your way. This is the world of David Gemmell’s gritty, pulse-pounding, dark yet uplifting series of heroic fantasy novels revolving around the unlikely heroes of the Drenai people. In this game, you will walk in the same troubled paths as Waylander and Druss, rising from an unknown or troubled past and into the halls of legend as you fight to save the Drenai.

About this Game
The Monster Faire Card Game is (at present) a free PDF game that may be distributed freely
and played by anyone, provided no one (other than the creator) makes any profit from it.

Beastly Vale
The town of Beastly Vale lies in a forested valley. It is a simple rural woodland town that
never has anything interesting or important happen to it – or so they say. For there are plenty
of dark and scary stories told around town about the Mad Scientists who live in manors outside
of town, and nobody likes to be caught outside after nightfall.

Mad Scientists
A number of Mad Scientists live near Beastly Vale, experimenting in their manors and not
keeping healthy hours. Strange lights are seen at night, and paths leading from the manors to
the local graveyard are kept in suspiciously good repair. Oh, whatever could they be up to?

The Monster Faire
Being in correspondence with each other, as members of the New Prometheus Society, the
Mad Scientists have decided to hold a Monster Faire. They are going to compete in creating
hideous new life! Whoever’s monster is the last one standing wins. If their monster is
especially fearsome, they may even win the Promethean Scholarship.

Turn-based combat, Techniques/Skills, and other copycat efforts could be grafted on, but that would take MULRAH over my self-imposed one page limit!

MULRAH v0.4 (aka “Microlite11″)
MULRAH v0.4 (aka “Microlite11″) was the first version to be based on Microlite20, essentially turning it into a point-buy system. Although it hasn’t been playtested, it’s basically the same as Microlite20, so it should work fine.

MULRAH v0.8
MULRAH is a two-page variation of the Microlite20 role-playing game that incorporates various modern innovations into an SRD-compatible system. This game is ideal for introducing players to indie games by way of a rule set that should be familiar to anyone who has played the world’s most popular fantasy RPG.

Based on Steffan O’Sullivan’s Fudge RPG, David Bruns’ Micro Fudge,
Timothy Dedeaux’ DIP-Styx and Edge of the Century.
Psionic powers based on Empire Galactique by François Nedelec,
range table taken from MegaTraveller published by GDW

Mythic is slightly different from other role-playing games in that the focus of the game is on the play, not the creation, of heroes. Mythic is, as its name suggests, based heavily on the sorts of heroes found in, well, myths. Gilgamesh, Achilles, Odysseus, Heracles, Beowulf, Siegfried, Arthur; the characters you create in Mythic may not be as famous as these, but their deeds will be no less heroic.

Though set in a fantasy world, Mythic strives to maintain a fair level of historical accuracy. Also, Mythic is set up to conduct play beyond the simple level of hack n slash dungeon delving often expected from fantasy rpgs. Characters are expected to be part of the game world, not some nameless killing machine.

City of Rain, City of Darkness is a free, simple RPG setting designed to work with any roleplaying system. It is available for free under a Creative Commons license.

I had never seen anything like it. I was brought up on the Star Wars movies and one of my favourite shows was Star Trek – it was all very bright and full of adventure. There were heroes and baddies and cute bleeping robots.

Then darkness. The universe was suddenly a dangerous and scary place to be.
This game has been designed with the science fiction horror genre in mind, films such as Alien, Aliens and Event Horizon, even films with the atmosphere of Blade Runner or Outland. It is also influenced by survival horror games like Dead Space.

This document is simply a playtest version and so is incomplete. Please feel free to send comments and constructive criticism to farsightgames@yahoo.co.uk with the subject header THOSE DARK PLACES. The rules will need refining and editing, that much is for sure, and any help or ideas are appreciated.

This is my first shot at writing a full rpg.

I do not own Pikmin or any of it’s trademarks.
Pikmin and all of it’s trademarks are property of nintendo.

The Planet of the Pikmin…

Ever since Captain Olimar discovered this plant-filled planet, explorers from Hocotate have come by the dozens in search of treasure, creatures, and knowledge. Some suceed; Others are killed by the indigenous wildlife. All of them, however, are aided by the Pikmin, the small plant creatures that first helped Captain Olimar. Since Olimar left the planet for the second time, several new species of Pikmin have been discovered. Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, White, Green, Orange, and the elusive Bulbmin will all help you on your adventure. So strap yourself into your ship, cross your fingers, and blast off!

Pikmin Rpg is a role playing game based off of the popular Pikmin videogame series.

To play this game you need:

At least one 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, 1d20.

Paper

Pencil

Imagination! =)

Requires: four players, one small bag, ten read beads, ten white beads. Optional: five candles. Session Length: Typically one to three hours. Number of Sessions: Varies.

This is a single or up to 3 player pen and paper RPG. This is a playable demo version that contains a random dungeon generator,random treasure tables and Character generation including 3 races and 4 classes. You will also be able to wield 2 weapons simultaneously or a weapon and shield.All that is required is as follows: dice-1d6,1d8,1d10 and 1d20. Players-1 to 3, pen and paper. Thats it – Have fun.

I’ve now dug it out, added some more notes and done a bit of fleshing out, and I’m presenting it to the RPG community to see what they think. It was desgined as a simple and fast game, but I also wanted a sense of advancement in the characters so I added a basic experience and career system. It was based around generic fantasy. Have a look, see what you think, and get back to me if you think it’s worth delving into some more. With the vast amount of fantasy-based RPGs out there, some of which are trying to recapture the ‘golden age’ of dungeon-bash RPGs, I felt it wasn’t worth adding yet another one to the long growing list

Did you ever wonder why superheroes wear their underwear on the outside? Are they in too much of a hurry to dress properly? Or maybe they’re confident enough to be flashy? The truth is that their underwear is the secret of their power. A mysterious individual, known only as Keeton, has discovered how to make what he calls Magic Pants. They give the wearer powers beyond what normal people could achieve otherwise. He has also learned how to make masks, capes, and shoes, but every super hero needs Magic Pants. He gives these items to a select few willing to take up the fight against evil and those who try to tear down society. In this game, you are one of those lucky few.

In Tunnel Wars, you play as either a dwarf or a goblin on opposite sides of the decades long Copper War.

It isn’t a serious game by any measure of the word “serious,” and this was a first attempt at a 24 hour RPG, but it’s probably playable.

A game about goblins and dwarves running around in magic pants made of copper fighting a war
No, really, that’s actually what the game is about

First, a disclaimer. There are no penguins in this game. Or at least, we have run many sessions of it in multiple tournaments, and there are yet to be any penguins.

The source of the name was as follows: we were going to a tournament in Wellington called KapCon. We needed a name for this new system we’d come up with, and we were stumped. Eventually one or other of us came up with “The Penguin Harlequinade” because there are penguins in Dunedin (where we’re from) and not in Wellington; and because the system was designed as a Commedia Dell’Arte system and the Commedia was called a Harlequinade in England.

If you really want to play a game with penguins in it, look out for The Penguin Masquerade, a forthcoming game which we have yet to write. Its premise is simple – you’re a penguin, just keep it under your hat…

Enjoy them during college, your coffee break, when you can’t sleep on the phone, while you’re on the bus, or just when there’s nothing on TV.

This is arguably a playable game, but it doesn’t look very good. There is much missing from this first draft: graphics, fit & finish, a fleshed-out sample adventure, and a Narrator’s section.

The world of Appliance Adventures is very similar to our own world, advanced fifteen years into the future. Science has made great strides in the field of simulated intelligence. True artificial intelligence beyond the level of simple animals has evaded researchers to this point, but futurists and pundits (ever a reliable source) think that it is right around the corner.

The game is a cyberpunk-styled RPG where the players take on the roles of the gnomes the descendents in culture if not genetics of those people who moved into the superstructure of the domes. This is a world that is entirely off the grid. They have to scavenge for everything from food to water and in some domes even for air.

Geodesic Gnomes is a full RPG – setting, character creation rules, physical, social and political conflict resolution mechanics, a unique equipment system, character sheet and even a multiple scene adventure to play through for your first game to get into the setting and game.

Since the day the world ended, maybe the multiverse hasn’t finished with you. Some of you claim to know, but who’s to say, really? Whatever the case, as the cold closed in, each of you reached out, from some resource you never knew you had, for any way to go on. Your world died, but you coursed elsewhere, scattered around a happy and unsuspecting new variant with different lives and different names. Over the years, you found each other, those who wanted to be found, and another thing: a purpose.

Players take the roles of refugees from a destroyed universe – not destroyed by accident: they’ve come to realise that the consumption of their world and countless others fueled the establishment of a far distant utopia, a place of endless spring and the best of good fortune. What the players choose to do in this green January, if they ever find it, is up to them.

You must escape the orphanage, your home with the other children for as long as you can remember before this doom finds you.

But what is this doom? What exactly is coming for you? Is it fire, darkness, a murderous Mr Keaton? It is up to you to decide, and the worse it is the more cookies you’ll get.

Dr. Reginald Keeton, the CEO of TeddyBears, Inc. took three popular things and combined them into a marketing frenzy unlike anything anyone had seen before. Reality TV, Blood Sport, the cute wasted husks of the Teddy Bears of his empty stores and created entertainment that took the world by storm.

Dr. Keeton was as astute and powerful if misguided student of the occult and used his talents in dark magics to invest the empty husks with lost souls he pulled from the depths of Hell. This act of desperation led to many of the bears to be home to some of the most vile and twisted souls ever seen by humanity. However, this worked to his advantage…for a time. The bears were bloodthirsty killers and performed exactly as he directed.

Children and their misguided parents lined up to watch their favorite stuffed animals slash and tear each other apart, ripping the enchanted fluff from their guts, all while the audience screamed in sheer joy. The show became a massive hit and things were great for many months and TeddyBears, Inc. saw huge profit margins and Keeton was hailed as a master businessman. He named his creations ScareBears.

Then the trouble began. The souls became restless and unhappy in their condition. Frankly, they were a little pissed they had been trapped in puny little furry bodies, can you really blame them? People began disappearing from the set of the TV show, the telltale sign of a little fluff left at the scene of the crimes was a dead giveaway as to who was at fault. Initially Keeton did all he could to cover the problem and continue his show. Quickly the bears out smarted him and began plotting.

Recently, a few bears failed to appear for their performance. Their cages were checked but found empty. The ScareBears have been released upon the world. Keeton nervously now watches his back.

Enter the world of

Teddy Bear Blood Sport!

I gave Dyson my best “up-yours” glare and blew a smoke ring where his face should’ve been. Dyson was a featureless ball who usually floated at about shoulder height (on me, anyway). He appeared to be made of glass, but God knows what my mentor had crafted him out of. Glass wasn’t bulletproof, and I’d seen Dyson
take a .38 slug at point blank and show not so much as a scratch. His color slowly shifted to match my mood, which meant that right now he was deep, non-reflective black. “Not likely,” I responded, “If guns and knives can’t kill me, I don’t think bad habits will.” I shifted in my seat in a vain attempt to restore some feeling to my nether parts. “How much longer is this gonna take, Dyson? I have other appointments to
keep.”

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, boss,” Dyson said jauntily, “I scan that the mark will enter the building in 11.023 seconds.” I turned my gaze to the door just in time to see two figures fade out of the night shadows. I blinked the darkness out of my eyes to see them clearly. It was a girl and a boy, both Latino teens. She was a bit chunky but firm, cute if you like chubby girls, with a jiggle to her middle that suggested baby weight. He was tall and wiry with multiple piercings and the half-mohawk haircut that all the wannabe hardboys were wearing in these parts. No doubt about it, this was the mark and the expected companion. The boy jimmied the lock with the ease of long practice and pushed the girl through the door, then he slipped in behind her.

“About time,” I grumbled as I tossed my half-smoked cigarette into the Shadow. I opened the car door as the church door clicked shut, unfolded my six-foot-three height from the cramped confines of the Firebird and crossed the street in what I hoped was a confident swagger. Dyson bobbed along beside me in silence, all business now that it was go-time. I stopped at the door and eyed my familiar. Dyson gave an electronic sigh and willed the sounds inside to percolate through the wood and into my ears.

“I don’t know about this, Raphael,” the girl whined, “Isn’t there some other way?” I could hear her clothes rustle as she fidgeted and a squeaking sound that was probably one of her hands twisting a ring on the other. Various thumps and bumps told me that Raphael was moving things around. I needed more information than my ears alone could provide. I signaled Dyson to oblige, and he extended my other senses into the church. My projected vision revealed desolate absence. The pews and pulpit were long gone, probably broken up for firewood, and any curtains or hangings that had once adorned the walls had long since been
converted to blankets. Such is the way of the world after civilization collapses, yet the locals retained enough piety that the stained glass windows were unbroken. Jesus remained on the wall, staring forlornly at the empty space where the sanctuary used to be. I knew how he felt. The girl stood next to her boyfriend while he knelt on the floor surrounded by boxes. He was unloading ritual paraphernalia and carefully arranging it according to some formula. A ring of candles surrounded a thin sleeping mat that lay where a more suspicious girl would’ve thought a sacrificial altar might go. One box remained unopened as he worked. I didn’t see them carry any of this stuff inside, so Raphael must have stashed it here ahead of time. The
room stank of mildew, but over that I noticed an aroma of peaches from the girl’s hair. I couldn’t tell if it was homemade or pre-Burn, but it was distractingly pleasant. I grabbed my attention by the scruff of its neck and pointed it back to the business at hand.

In JiTP, each player will take on the role of one of ten versions of a man called Joe. These versions all come from different times and possibilities. One might be Joe when he was 12 years old, dealing with a school bully. Another might be a 20-something college student with a lecherous boyfriend.

Joe is a pretty obsessive person, so it’s unsurprising that all of his variants are as well. Each of them is obsessed with a particular decision that he has to make, but has avoided making thus far.

All of the Joes in the game have come into contact with a person they know only as Keeton. From one innocuous conversation, they have each gained the ability to meet other possible Joes and influence them and their decisions. Unsurprisingly, after gaining this ability, most of the Joes choose to wander through time and space visiting and watching other versions of themselves rather than dealing with the decision they were avoiding in the first place.

The Joes embodied by the players are different, though. They’ve all become stuck, fixated on one, specific variant that they’ve found in their travels. They’ve dubbed him “Joe Prime.”

Joe Prime is just like every other Joe: he’s obsessive and he’s avoiding an important decision. Unlike the player-characters, however, Joe Prime has not met Keeton.

Joe Prime’s decision has become incredibly important to the stuck Joes. They each want his dilemma to be resolved in a different way, for different reasons. Maybe his problem resonates with their own, or maybe he’s come to represent something about themselves that they hate. Regardless of why, they’ve each decided to marshal their influence amongst the variants and push Joe’s situation towards their chosen conclusion.

But the Joes are risking more than they know. Interacting with variant versions of themselves can begin to take a toll on their sense of self. In the end, they may have to decide which is more important: the safety of themselves and their variants, or the success of their self-imposed mission.

And what of Keeton? What does he want? Why did he give this peculiar power to Joe?

Only time will tell.

Hi. My name is Joe. I’m pretty normal. Nothing interesting about me, really. I’m [twenty / twelve / thirty-five]. I live here in the city. I’ve been here most of my life. What else can I say?

I guess the most interesting thing about me is what happened a few weeks ago. I ran into this [guy in class / kid at the playground / man on the bus] and we somehow struck up a conversation. I’m not quite sure how it happened.

I’ll admit I was distracted. You see, I’ve been a little obsessed lately. I was kind of avoiding this decision I had to make about [my boyfriend / this bully at school / my future career] and I’ll admit Keeton showed up at just the right time to pull me out of my head.

Oh did I mention that? He said that was his name.

Anyway, we talked for a long time. About decisions, ironically enough. About how they can affect you and everyone around you. About how we seem to come to these points in our lives – these moments of decision that can change everything for us. Those moments we go back to late at night, and wonder how things might have been different.

Keeton asked me a lot of questions about things I might have done differently in my life.

I haven’t seen him since. I went home with my head spinning.

The next morning, I knew something had changed. I felt different, though I’ve never been able to put it into words. The first time I traveled, though, I understood what Keeton had done. It was the day I met myself. One of myselves. Whatever the word would be.

I met a Joe that [had never gone to college / lost his mom when he was little / had joined the army], and while it was weird, we had a nice conversation about the other Joes that might be out there.

Since then, I’ve met a lot of me, as I’ve learned how to wander through time and possibility. But there’s one Joe in particular I’ve become…well, I guess I’ve become obsessed with him. I … well, I guess we call him Joe Prime.

See I’m not the only one who’s obsessed with this Joe. There’s this [geeky twelve-year-old kid / old-sad-man-me / gay version of me] that I’ve seen around, and he seems interested in Joe Prime, too. I’ve gone up and down Prime’s time-line and seen him lurking everywhere in the background.

And I’ve seen how the other Joes are obsessed, too. Obsessed with the decision that Joe Prime is facing. You see, I want him to [stand up for himself / get away from the mess he's in / admit the truth to himself] but I don’t think the others want that.

So we’re kind of at a stalemate. Every time I try doing something directly to Joe Prime, one of the others shows up and messes everything thing up.

But I’ve got a plan.

I’ve got some other Joes on my side. [Blue-collar Joe / That sad other kid Joe / Army Joe] and I have been talking and I think I’ve got some pull with him. He’s agreed to go out for me and do a couple things along Joe Prime’s time-line. Try and convince him that our way is the best. Then, once he’s made the right decision, I think I can finally go back and [tell off my cheating ass of a so-called boyfriend / tell my parents about what's really been going on at school / leave my job and find my true calling].

And then everything’ll be great. Right?

See. I told you. I’m pretty normal.

Hundedämmerung is something different in the world of role-playing games. Most games allow players to portray beings of greater than human power wielding forces that ordinary people barely understand. This game allows you to play… a dog. Not just any dog, but a dog that has been lifted to human levels of intelligence, albeit the lower end of the scale, and endowed with minor telepathic powers that serve as
speech. In this game you will fight for the survival of your pack or the safety of “your” humans. And always, in the background, there looms the specter of a cat that is many cats – the undead, the undying, the (probably) evil Ozymandias. In Hundedämmerung you have no spells, you wield no magical or high-tech weapons and your psionic abilities aren’t much good for combat. What you have are your wits backed by natural canine ability. Use them right and evil will be your chew toy. Mess up and Ozymandias will use you as a scratching post. Welcome to the doghouse, sucker.

2499: We return home.
The colonies of Mars, born in hope, grew up in pain, despair and hard decisions. Some thought that the nations of Earth had learned their lessons and put aside the bombs forever. As it turned out, “forever” meant just long enough for them to build the Busway and send our forefathers down it – their smartest and brightest, their pride, their best hope – before everything that the Two Thousand knew collapsed at their heels into genocidal fire.

We survived, some of us. We dug into this lye-bitter dust and took from it air to breathe and water to drink, for those who hadn’t choked on CO2 and gone to graves scraped in the red slag while we toiled. We broke down the ships that could have taken us home, to build tools, to make the tools, to build the cities that could lift us again into the heavens.

In 2499, Director Keeton’s calculations have convinced the Martian nations that we’re ready to turn again to
whatever is left of the Earth, as Earth once looked outwards to this worn-down old globe where we stand today. With a stretch, we can reach the Busway and load onto the old shuttlers a few suitcases’ worth of cameras, radars and clever processors to go in our stead.

We may not get much. The probes might get killed in high orbit by vampiric satellite-hunters, flying junk that
we have no way to detect or track, sleeting radiation in the overloaded Van Allen belts, or our own carelessness with orbital mechanics. It’s been almost four hundred years, after all, since people tried this sort of thing.

The landers might not live a minute in the acid rain clouds, the war-dusts and the automated missile defences in the atmosphere, or the absolute unknowns that rove the bombed-out ground.

We’ve learned, on Mars, the value of sacrifice. We’ll send them anyway, for whatever we can get in the descent and the first 24 hours. After that, every hour is a gift. We’ll just have to play it by ear.

Gamba Robo! It’s a celebration of those glorious old robot shows that let the imagination run wild. Blazing swords and projectile weapons that looked like animals flashed across the screen to the amazement of many a yound child. Sure, they were written for companies that wanted to sell toys, but they were AWESOME! This is your chance to project yourself into their world as a daring hero or to create your own “show” as the narrator and throw all kinds of havoc at the poor unsuspecting Do-Gooders.

The mechanic is very simplistic and both play and character-creation are left mostly to the whim of the Narrator. This is an extremely rules-lite game designed to capture the feeling of those fantastic classic super-robot shows.

Chain fists, drill arms and tomahawks made of lightning were a regular feature of the 1970’s giant robot shows. The robots had names like Daitarn, Voltes V and Mazinger Z. They had personality and charisma of their own. Those towering heroes were shunned by the next generations in favor of more “realistic” mecha that emphasized the vehicular nature of the machines. Blazing swords were replaced by machine guns and guided missiles. We were no longer watching super heroes. We were watching wars. As fabulous and sophisticated as the new mecha shows are, some of us will always long for the super robots of days gone by. Nothing thrills like a huge, laser-edged disk hurling from a giant arm to cut right through the
shoulder of some immense monstrosity because our hero screamed, “SPINNN… SAUCER!”

This is a mostly-finished alpha version of what will hopefully be a more in-depth system/setting.

Based on 2d6+mods resolution, fixed damage.

The year is 1844. Following their successful defense against Mexican forces, the Republic of Texas faced a new foe. Quick to take advantage of their weakened position, French forces moved in by sea, seeking to regain a foothold in North America. Their forces were more disciplined, more determined, and better equipped than the forces of the Mexican Army, and soon France was calling Texas a French Territory. The United States of America, while wary of their new neighbors, had no cause for war, and left the Republic to their own devices. No Texan was comfortable living under French Rule, however, and the native tribes were divided, some siding with the French and others preferring the devil they knew to this new invader.

Texans began to fight back. Not all at once, but slowly and surely, the movement began. Gunmen, drifters, and bandits from nearby territories heard of the profit to be made fighting off the French Occupancy.

In this swirl of native warriors, French soldiery, and Texan roughnecks, any enterprising man (or woman) can make their mark. Will you?

This game was originally written during the summer of 1980. Back then, only “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back” had been released. “Return of the Jedi” was still in storyboards. Only a couple books had been written, and there was Marvel Comics’ Star Wars series trying to fill in some of the gaps between the movies. That was about it, as far as information on the Star Wars universe was concerned. When I decided to write a role-playing game based on the movies, there was a whole lot of stuff I had to guess at and as more movies and books were released, a lot of it turned out to be wrong. I’ve tried to incorporate as much of that as I could without disturbing the flow of the game. Some of my wrong guesses, such as the availability of Force training, the history of the Clone Wars and where Stormtroopers come from, I’ve left in because I think they result in a more rounded game. I’ve also kept the setting in a hypothetical era between the end of the clone wars and the destruction of the Jedi. A nascent rebellion is just beginning to make itself
felt, but isn’t big enough yet to be a problem to the Empire. This way we can have Stormtroopers AND Jedi together. And the limitations of my clever little ‘Droid system have been blown completely out of the water.
I’ve ignored the specialized combat ‘Droids of the Clone Wars and concentrated on the general service ‘Droid hulls with which Adventurers will have most contact and use. I’ve expanded the Force powers a bit, and
there are always more Aliens to add. And until George Lucas Himself tells me otherwise (in person, of course), I’m going to insist that Yoda was from Dagobah.

My original intention was to produce a fully featured, functional and playable game that would fit in about 100 manuscript pages, resulting in a 40 page magazine-sized book that could sell for about $5-$6 US. I also hated having to use all those weird shaped dice that cost way too much money. I wanted my game system to use 6-sided dice exclusively. This was way before West End Games got the role-playing license and made their d6 only system.

After my game was pretty much done, I started hawking it to different game publishers, and tried getting permission to do so from Lucasfilm and Kenner (the holder of the game & toy rights at the time). Neither would talk to me until I got permission from the other. As I continued to push, I got a “friendly” little cease-and-desist order (Included at the end of the book) that scared the bejeebeez out of me. So I ceased
and desisted. Until now.

I hope you enjoy playing this game as much as I did in designing it.

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” – who watches these powerful unlicensed vigilantes and cleans up after their rampages?

You, of course, as an agent of the Headquarters for Enforcement & Registration of Observed Supernatural.

Of G-men and Supermen is a 24 hour game I wrote for the 1km11kt.net contest, on the topic “Power Squid”. It casts the players as government agents keeping tabs on the rising population of super-powered individuals in 1958 America.

As one of the contest judges, I can’t win, but as an activity done for fun – I think it came out well.

The game is based on a standard deck of 54 (including jokers) playing cards.

The G-man in the window sighed, adjusted his hat, and lit another cigarette. As the menthol feeling filled my lungs, I realized that it wasn’t a window, but a mirror. Damn. When did I get so old? It seems like just yesterday that I was a kid enjoying his comic books and now I’ve got gray temples and a conservative tie. When did this happen?

Oh yeah – when those comic books came to life.

A lot of people are willing to call them heroes, and that is not wholly wrong. “Comics” do pluck falling airliners out of the sky, and stop ice ray wielding whack jobs.

But we have taken to calling them “Squids”. Because they’ve got tentacles that reach into everything, making our life pretty complicated. After all, they’re vigilantes, who refuse to reveal their identities, and become involved in the law with no certification or training. Their authority issues from the fact they can break what seem to be basic laws of physics, much as the Reds rule by the barrel of a gun.

What does it mean to have faith in god when you see miracle workers every day?

If a so-called hero wanted to level an entire city, what could we do to stop them?

Well, our organization for one. We might not succeed, but out agents would try their hardest anyway. To do any less would be un-American.

Everyday we get our orders from Mr. Keeton. Everyday he seems ten years older. It can’t be easy to direct an agency like this when his twin brother is one of the people we watch extra closely.

I have to wonder who is the hero in this amazing tale. Is “Normal” Keeton ultimately the white knight charging down chaos and disorder? Or are these people to be taken at face value, and Keeton himself the villain?

It is also a game about bugpeople! In this fantasy roleplaying game, you take on the role of a human being in an odd fantasy society where everyone has traits derived from some insect or another. Characters have the power of hormonal and pheromonal supernatural abilities to help them achieve their goals & whatever their goals may be is up to the one writing the story!

This RPG was written through a thunderstorm, on the fleeting battery of a laptop during a blackout (in google documents that refused to save because the internet was out) and I like to think that makes it special. Enjoy!

Bug-People?
This game assumes that the character you’re playing is basically a human with some insect traits, rather than an actual insect or an “anthro” insect walking around on two legs.

This is done to simplify the game’s rules – while you can probably accept that a human with insect wings and clawed feet can stand on two legs, see like humans do, smell, taste and so forth, it is probably much more of a stretch to believe a bulky rhino beetle can do so, whimsical as that might be. It is also much easier for a Game Master to apply his common sense and logic in a game of humans with bug traits, than it is in a game of talking bugs. Rather than complicating its rules, the game assumes you’re playing bug-people. So you’re not really playing a butterfly – you’re playing a human being with butterfly wings and antennae.

These Bug-People (referred to from here on out as just Insects) wear clothes, have two eyes, stand on two legs, and have mouths, talk, and act like humans would, even living in a fantasy style society. How you visualize your character, however, is up to you, and the society your insects live in is up to your Game Master’s story. There is a section below that talks about such concerns, primarily to Game Masters.

Insect Society has many types of Insects and 4 Castes: Warrior, Servitor, Scout, Noble. All insects can be a member of any Caste, with some prerequisites. All Insects have two special powers, pheromones and hormones. These act as the magic of the game. Hormones are focused on helping or healing a creature, and Pheromones harm or influence a creature. Some creatures learn more of these powers, or are focused more on them, depending on their Caste.

Badass Presidents is a game of playing American Presidents who are sufficiently badass. The world has been destroyed, overrun by mutants, evil deities, and horrors from beyond the stars. As an American President, what can you do but dust off your knuckleduster and get ready to kick some ass.

Badass Presidents is a role-playing game, and additionally, one designed in 24 hours as a part of a contest. Therefore, the reader is cautioned in that when reading the content that you are about to behold, keep in mind that you got what you paid for. If you paid money for this document, you should find who sold it to you, and beat the crap out of them for making an idiot out of you.

Taking A Turn
In Awesome! the character’s action always succeeds–that’s what it means to be awesome. The only thing in question is just how much awesome you can cram into one turn. The player describes the awesome action that the character takes, including (if appropriate) what happens to any non-player characters as a result. The other players (excluding the Director) may, if they wish, vote whether the action is Awesome! or Lame! They need not wait until the action is over, but they may not vote on the same action twice. “Red punches the thug so hard he lands in the rolling chair and rolls back all the way across the room where the chair tips him out the window and he falls into the dumpster below.” “Agent X jumps onto the back of the shark and using his spear-gun as a spur, rides the shark like a surf-board all the way back to the beach.”

Bring reality into your game, and perhaps game into your reality.

Players: 3 or more
System: Rough Consensus
Need: Pencils, drinking glass, and a large piece of white paper

Written as part of The 1KM1KT / Free RPG Blog 24 Hour RPG Competition.

The document is supposed to be printed as an A5 booklet, therefor the blank pages.

Welcome, oh Seeker of the Dead
This game is about relationships – dysfunctional relationships. We will each bring one problematic relationship from our lives into the game, and in game it will be transformed into a fictional relationship to a spirit.

We will perhaps be able to resolve the issues of the relationships by contacting the spirits at a séance. Hopefully reliving the past and speaking to the dead will help us resolve our issues with the once living. Time will tell.

Before we begin let me first summarize the game we’re about to play. Then I’ll go into more detail about how you do specific parts of the game, and finally we’ll have time for an example and some
advice.

For a thousand generations, the hundred tribes of the Hamster Republic lived in peace among themselves and with their neighbours. The Syrians lived alone as was their way, and the Dwarfs lived in small villages as was theirs, and popularly-elected Rulers supervised the happiness of all the tribes. All were content with their lives, living off the land.

Then came the Mekaton. They were autonomous machines from elsewhere, and the hamsters had never seen anything like them. They built massive installations and labyrinthine cities, and mined the earth for minerals to build more like them.

At first, the hamsters tried living peacefully alongside the Mekaton. There was plenty of room for everyone. Ruler Titus even adopted some Mekaton customs. But then, the land started to become poisoned and the waters polluted. The Mekaton were deaf to the hamsters’ complaints. The hamsters grew restless, but wherever their unrest boiled over to violence,
the force guns of the Mekaton made short work of their opponents.

And you don’t like the way the Directors look.

It’s time to find the Producer and get some answers.

It’s the ‘50s. Oddly, you can’t quite remember the year. You’re a pretty ordinary person, maybe just a tad better than the average joe, with a pretty exciting life. You’re a jungle explorer, a gangbuster, a private detective, a heroic scientist.

There’s just one problem: you swear you’ve seen this all in a movie.

You can’t quite put your finger on it, but reality just doesn’t seem to add up anymore. Maybe it’s the gaps in your memory; you don’t feel like you have a real past. Maybe it’s the way you suddenly “remember” someone you feel you’ve just
met. Maybe it’s the occasional moments of lost time. Or maybe it’s the way you can sometimes predict what’s about to happen, because it seems to be part of the “plot formula”.

There’s also more eerie evidence. The feeling you’re being watched. The way everything seems to be connected. The way the universe seems to conspire against you any time you try to “break the plot”. And those strangers in the shadows…

Whatever it is, you’re going to get to the bottom of it. And you know Keeton hasthe answers…

In addition to being the name of the game, Dulse is also a character – one who is literally central. The events that inform play, and the other three characters, revolve around Dulse.

Across five life-changing events, you and your friends will explore the sacrifices and betrayals of four people who’ve known each other their entire lives, and who have deep-seated needs that they can’t fill alone. Along the way you’ll make hard choices between competing ideals, and have more choices
made for you. In the end, you will face an uncertain future guided only by a shared past.

IDEALS
Relationships in a game of Dulse are informed by, and changed by, a set of conflicting ideals.

The default conflict is between love and honor, but others are certainly possible and encouraged – this, more than anything, colors the game. Players will make decisions at the end of each event that are directly related to their appreciation of, and observations about, these ideals. In the context of the game, these two ideals are mutually exclusive.

Before play, place two sets of tokens somewhere easily accessible – in bowls, on the table, or whatever is practical. These should be divided into two easily-identifiable groups of twenty – use different colored beads or coins or playing cards. Each set represents one ideal – love or honor.

A much more professional looking edition of Superliga. More content! More balance! More columns! A sample campaign! What more could you ask for? More books! Ha! They’re coming soon :)

Superliga is a d20 pen and paper RPG system which is intended to encompass a variety of character concepts. The primary aim of Superliga is to provide players with a wide range of abilities for the personalisation of their characters, while allowing the the flexibility to create their own adventures. Overseer (Overseer is the word I use for “Dungeon Master” to distinguish it from D&D. I will probably revert to “DM” or “GM” because it’s easier to type in a hurry)

The cosmology of Superliga is a mournful salute to every games master ever who’s described the setting of their campaign as a film noir only to be asked if the player can make a drow ranger. Superliga takes place in the twisted psyche of that particular player’s mind – tiny splinters of the material plane float through some dark void where gigantic whales lurk. On some splinters, knights battle valiantly against dragons. On others, walking tanks fire missile salvos against psychic assassins. On the most numerous splinters, the same knights are bemusedly locked in combat with equally confused robots. All it takes to traverse from one splinter to the next is a little imagination, and of course a couple of skill points spent in the Planar school of magic.

A fully functional bestiary and inventory is not a major aim of this edition, but some concessions to Overseers who believe they’re too important to come up with their own statistics for a short sword in their imaginary fantasy land will be made. After all, I need to keep my own notes on my imaginary fantasy land somewhere, so putting it in my own personal rulebook makes sense.

Enter the world of Normality – how long can you stay sane? What IS sane, when the world is mad? Is madness supposed to be an excuse for those things you did?

Normality began life as a fairly standard post-cyberpunk post-apocalyptic science fiction game. However, that version of the game only exists as a hand-written copy buried in some back corner of a room in a shared house somewhere in New Zealand. What happened next is what matters.

The two authors began on a two-year journey of rage and frustration at the state of the world, and the reactions of those around them to their concerns. We became filled with hatred toward the roleplayers we encountered at local games and conventions, and so we set out to hurt them. To make them cry. We very nearly succeeded.

Emerging from the wreckage we had wrought, we revisited the loosely-bound stack of papers we had used to bludgeon people into submission, and found that (despite what we had thought) there were strong veins of sense concealed in the babble – that with patience, patterns emerged.

We carefully reassembled the hand-typed pages (often pieces of scrap paper – with other text on the opposite side) in what seemed the most logical order. We then edited the book by hand, with marker pens.

From this was born Normality – the world’s first Dada/ergodic roleplaying game.

USE YOUR LIGHT BUT AWFUL CHAINS

The best way to use the book is to consider it as a) a product of the setting it attempts to describe, warped by the twisted nature of the world that produced it or b) the way an actor considers a mask – looking for the shards of meaning that will tie the whole thing together. Certainly, read it all (at least twice) before you dismiss it as mere rambling. Take the introduction seriously. We did.

To make a character, copy the headings we used on our sheets (“Name” “Hit” “Historia” “Good thing/Bad thing” and “Stuff”) then fill them in using the first sentences you see every time you open a book from your bookshelf at random. Look carefully at the resultant sheet, and you will see quite clearly the kind of character you have just created.

There are pre-generated character sheets about halfway through (you’ll know them because they have names on them) as well as a guide for the structure of an adventure. Whether you make use of these is up to you.

Peace,
Hugh Dingwall and Vishãla Jekic

The Premise
Haven takes place in the star system of Tau, containing many fantastic places and inhabited by several sentient species, and surrounded by an impenetrable barrier field. Several lifetimes worth of adventure await in Tau, but the ultimate mystery is this: who cut out the system from the rest of the galaxy – and why?

Midgard is a roleplaying game, where you take on the role of a legendary Viking hero and complete your own epic quests. I am specifying this as a mythic-historic setting—that is one in which you try to stick closely to the history or the period, but assume that all the gods, myths and monsters that the Viking people believed are actually true.

I also think it’s important to point out that Midgard is really only a roleplaying system rather than a setting. As its an historical setting what would be the point me spending hours rewriting Wikipedia’s Norse myth and Viking history pages for you, you can do that for yourself, or just make it up from what you’ve learnt from the films, comic books and other popular culture avenues open to you. There’s always someone who knows more about a given period of history than you so I’m not going to put myself on the spot,, and anyway I’m not sure whether I think it’s that important: if you’re all having fun, who cares about historical accuracy.

At the end of the day, I hope I have managed to capture the flavour of films like the Thirteenth Warrior that were the inspiration for this game in my systems. If you don’t like them, fair enough—you’ve not paid anything for it so you shouldn’t feel cheated. I’m also pretty open to constructive
criticism, so if you have any thing useful to add then let me know and if I get a chance to do something about it I might update the doc with your ideas. Just pop over to whatever blog or forum site you got this from and post your thoughts. If I spot it (and I’m sad enough to regularly check these
places) I’ll reply and discuss your idea.

Once upon a time, fire was at the cutting edge of technology. Those who had it were almost gods to those who didn’t. They were warm in the winter. They could live farther north and higher in the mountains. They could flush out game. They were sick less often and lived longer. Those who could actually make fire were gods among gods, creating the light and warmth and power it gave with their own two hands and some very particular stones.

Of course, we know now that fire isn’t magic. It might be “magical” to some people, beautiful and dangerous, flickering and dancing with a life of its own, but it is comprehensible to those who use it. Eventually, as more people used it and understood it, although its beauty and danger remained, it was not seen as magic. It was a tool — one of the first pieces of technology.

Explore the post-atomic wastelands of the alternate Earth of 1952 in ‘The 13th Year’, an original tabletop roleplaying game for the SKETCH system. Struggle against the odds to get home, try to start a new life or simply survive in the 13th year of the Second Great War.

With full rules, background and adventure ideas this 21-page PDF uses the SKETCH system, an extremely simple game that uses a single six-sided die for every aspect of the game.

The Second Great War didn’t end quite as well as the Allies would have wanted.
In June 1944 the Allies assaulted fortress Europe with everything they had on land, on sea and in the air. The Axis were on the back foot and the war intensified.

Within a year the Allies had pushed into Berlin and the war raged street by street. The Japanese were being pushed back in the Pacific theatre and the end of the carnage and sorrow seemed close at hand. Each foot of progress was paid for in blood on all sides.

We were once told that Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany and the most hated man in Europe – possibly the world – was found dead by Russian forces, after committing suicide and then having his body set alight in a ditch. They were right in one thing, a body was found.
But it wasn’t Hitler.

Hitler had faked his death and escaped with the help of his Gestapo and SS, fleeing into Austria and then into a secret hiding place in the mountains of Switzerland. Hitler, unbalanced and near insanity, had a last part to play in the war. Unbeknownst to the Allies his scientists had developed a fully operational atomic bomb.

THE 13TH YEAR 3
They had developed the weapon a full year previously, and had even had time to produce dozens of these catastrophic weapons, and the modified V2 rockets to deliver them to far-off targets. Knowing the war was going against him and his Axis he had even secretly shipped some of these weapons to the Pacific to be placed into the hands of his Japanese allies. He wasn’t insane enough to use the weapons straight away. What was the use in ruling a world that had been burned to a cinder? His plan was to hold the world to ransom, threaten it with annihilation into submission.
But then he changed his mind.

Go to www.farsightgames.com for more details of the SKETCH system.

He answered that he would have taken the advice of a friend and make the entire system revolve around a single six sided die.

I decided to take that as a challange!

The result is K U B O S, a low fantasy Role Playing Game of Action, Adventure and Six-Sided Heroics. I hope you enjoy it.

This is a solitaire Role Playing Game and should be easily played and completed.

Inquisition was created by Neuicon and Sean Daniels. We hope you enjoy the game and remember that as an Inquisitor, you must purge the unclean!

Descending the Underground Base
At the very start of the game, you enter the main doorway and head into the base; you should note that the LOC statistic starts at one and will increase as you further your path down to the very core of the base, where an unholy evil awaits your arrival.

Every turn, roll a six-sided die and consult the Random Encounter Generator; every four turns, raise your LOC by one as it is assumed that every four turns, you descend a stairway or use an elevator to drop deeper into the base and come across new foes.

When combating enemies roll a six-sided die and score equal to or greater than their “TH” attribute (to hit) to kill them; if you fail, you take one point of damage and roll again until you kill the enemy. Each failure results in one point of damage. When coming across Health Packs and XP gains, simply add them in the correct location of your character sheet; these scores can grow without end, so get scoring.

The Kingdom of Blim, under the Not Too Bad Leadership of King Harold the Adequate, is no longer in need of Adventurers as the Kingdom has more than its fair share and has been satisfactorily protected from monsters of all sorts for quite some time.

With 80 percent of those listing their primary occupation as Adventurer reporting an average annual income of well below the poverty line, the Kingdom strongly recommends would-be Adventurers to instead seek employment in food services, blacksmithing, farming, or crafts.

You’re not going to listen to that, are you?

Yeah, yeah. You’ve heard it all. Your parents tried to convince you to take over the family hog farm, your girlfriend begged you to take that job her uncle got you at the tailor’s, but you were snagged by the seductive call of the Adventurer.

You want the wealth, the fame, the wenches. You want to be the rock star that the elite 10 percent of the Adventurers in Blim are.

So, even though you’ve never so much as thrown a rock at a goblin, you’ve traded in your meager savings for some basic equipment, joined up in a party of like-minded fellows, and have officially opened for business. Now, only if there was someone who needed saving!

Taverns & Drakes is a light-hearted riff on tradition fantasy poking fun at adventurer culture, classes, and fantasy races. It uses a simple system utilizing a single d20 for resolution with an emphasis on fast and fun play. Although intended to use for one-shot games, the setting and system are robust enough to handle long-term campaigns.

• Email the author at crayonsamurai@yahoo.com

Adventurer

Think it has a nice ring to it? Well so does most of the 16-24 age bracket in the Kingdom of Blim. In a recent census, 45 percent of that age bracket listed “Adventurer” as their primary occupation. Of those, 80 percent listed their annual income as five gold pieces or less, well below the Kingdom’s poverty line.

Adventuring is a cutthroat business. With the elite of the profession holding a monopoly on dragon slaying and saving the Kingdom, the entry level adventurers are left fighting annoying but rarely dangerous goblins, searching for the buried treasure of the local miser’s mason jars filled with copper, or defending a village against the occasional drake, the dragon’s smaller and ornerier but generally less dangerous cousin. Occasionally, when times are tough and their pockets are empty, adventurers resort to creating problems in order to save villages from them.

Adventurers group together in parties to increase their chance of making a decent living and of survival in case they run up against an angry troll or drake. The party is usually a diverse group who bond together over the common goal of making money and gaining fame. The top 10 percent of adventurers are revered in the Kingdom of Blim as celebrities and often receive free equipment, food, lodging, wenches and other perks for their service to the Kingdom. Most adventurers strive to make it to this upper echelon.

The Kingdom of Blim is a huge nation, encompassing vast plains, rocky mountains, rivers, swamps, and a lengthy coastline. If there’s a topographical feature you can think, it’s present in the Kingdom of Blim. The Kingdom is ruled by is 44th monarch, King Harold the Adequate. Under his reign, life in Blim isn’t too bad. Most people do okay, dutifully pay their taxes, go to work, and have a day or two off a week to spend with the kids or go fishing. Long ago, Blim was a dangerous place with lots of dragons spewing forth all types of deadly breaths, vampires, krakens, and other dangerous beasts.

The sheer amount of monsters required brave men and women to take the mantle of Adventurer and make the fledgling Kingdom safe for its people. As time went on, more and more people heeded the call. Eventually, most of the beasts were slain or driven away, but Adventuring remained a lucrative field for the few who could make a name for themselves because of the prestige and love lavished on them by the people.

Adventuring has been a largely poor career choice for some time now, but the lure of fame and riches still draws large numbers of men and women, mostly young ones but some old folks seek to get the glory they never had in their youth or need a new career after being laid off from the flour mill.

As a new Adventurer, you need to establish a name for yourself and make money… by any means you have available. Your party can help you out, but don’t forget that they’re in it for themselves as well. And you distinctly remember your party’s Bard badmouthing you outside the tavern the other night after that run in with those goblin punks…

As a badass Noble, you use your social position to scheme your way to power while trying to overcome your madness.

As a badass Sorcerer, you use blood to summon vile demons to do your bidding while trying to hide your deformity and maintain control.

Krone is a sword and sorcery game centered on a corrupt and decaying city in the middle of a poisonous swampland. Players have a choice of three classes – a raging Barbarian, scheming Noble, or corrupt Sorcerer.

Krone provides just enough of a setting to run with and a very simple system that focuses on speed of play and encouraging slaughter and mayhem. This is a perfect game to run on short notice when you don’t have enough players show up for your regular session.

• Email the author at crayonsamurai@yahoo.com

There’s this decadent Sword and Sorcery type city called Krone that’s situated in the middle of a vast swampland. It used to be the crown of civilization until something happened to the fertile plains surrounding it, turning the land into a subtly poisonous swamplands. Now the crops do strange things to people as does most of the drinking water found in Krone.

It has gradually begun to weaken the people’s minds, making them just a little off-balanced, and weakening their bodies just a little bit, making them a little more susceptible to disease.

But sometimes people are born with hideous deformities. They are either slain outright or abandoned/escape to the swamps. People don’t go into these swamps. There are demons living in
their murky waters and rumors are that sorcerers live out there as well, enslaving the foul demons to do their bidding. Rumors even say that the sorcerers are none other than the mutants themselves.

Several corrupt, decadent houses of nobility rule Krone in an uneasy alliance.

To the north the twisted swamps give way to purer lands and barbarians rove the steppes. They occasionally make trips to Krone in order to obtain weapons and medicines. The steppes are a barren land and resources are scarce.

But only the finest warriors are sent because of the dangers present not only in the swamps but the decaying city itself.

Your parents left you, left you to fend for yourself in the harsh world. Destined for a life of destitution and despair, you had little hope for survival.

The Emperor Rescued You

His servants found you and recognized the faintest sliver of greatness you held. They rescued you, gave you a new home and a new family.

All He Asks for in Return is Loyalty

Trained to be a warrior, to uphold the glory of the Empire. Your discipline is unmatched. Your skills unquestionable. Your word is law, backed by the Emperor himself. All he asks for in return is your unquestioning loyalty. All he asks for in return is that you serve him as a Sovereign.

Sovereign is a low-fantasy game centered on the themes of duty, loyalty, and power. Players take on the roles of Sovereigns. Orphans rescued by the known world’s greatest power, the Empire, Sovereigns are warriors beyond match. They are entrusted with the most dangerous duty in the world, protecting the people from evil and corrupt sorcery, as well as carrying out the will of the Emperor.

Sovereign uses a system that puts the focus and discipline of these warriors at the forefront and contains a setting with a rich backstory. Players should not read the Gamemaster’s Guide as this has the potential to spoil some of the more interesting setting elements.

• The Sovereign Gamemasters Guide contains optional rules for sorcery, advice on running Sovereign, and a complete adventure.
• Email the author at crayonsamurai@yahoo.com

Welcome to Sovereign

Sovereign is a low-fantasy setting where you and your fellow players take the roles of warriors without match, sworn by oaths of loyalty and a debt that can never be repaid to a hereditary emperor who rules over a vast empire. Adopted into the Emperor’s family, these warriors are granted the title “Sovereign.” From that point forward they dedicate their lives to endless training and service. Chief among their duties is protecting the Empire and its people against foul sorcerers, people born with
the ability to contact the forbidden realm of the spirit and enslave shades, the spirits of the dead, in order to gain great but unnatural power.

Due to a lifetime of intense training and discipline, Sovereigns have unparalleled martial abilities. Due to the backing of the Emperor, they have authority over all except the Emperor himself. Their authority and abilities, however, are tempered by a sacred oath and by responsibilities and debts they can never fully repay.

As a Sovereign, you are one of the known world’s most powerful weapons. You are the first and best line of defense for the greatest nation in existence and, as a result, for the entire world. Only you stand a chance against the evils of sorcery, a chance to defend the people’s right to live their lives.

Do you posses the strength to serve the Empire and fulfill your obligations?

Introduction
The Sword of Martin is a pen and paper roleplaying game that has, as an understood setting, the world that Brian Jacques depicts in his world-famous Redwall series. This rulebook assumes that the reader has at least cursory knowledge of both the Redwall series and roleplaying games. To properly play this game, the players (of which there should at least be two) at least one of each of the following die: d4, d6, d8, d10, and d10

Before players begin making their characters, they should now what they aim to create. This could be as simple as “Otter warrior-wanderer” or more detailed like “former family beast displaced by band of vermin”. By knowing more about your character’s past, they can become more than a collection of numbers, but legendary and fun characters to be talked about for years to come.

The original ideas were spawned by Paul Elliot (of Zenobia fame; if you’ve never heard of it, Google it!) and further developed by myself.

The system favours a quick and easy style of play with limited bookkeeping for the GM – a single dice roll for combat determines whether the character hits or gets hit – no rolling for the GM!

NPCs can be described with a single number or detailed with unique abilities – examples are of both styles are included in the text.

This is a low-power low-fantasy game which uses small numbers and only 2 six-sided dice. Paul originally conceived the game to appeal to his young children but my players range from 21 to 48.

Enjoy

Mike Hill

The Basics

When the result of a character’s action is in doubt, the Game Master (GM) asks for a dice roll to determine the outcome. The player rolls 2-dice and must get equal to or greater than the Difficulty umber. In a fight the Target Number is the Rating of the Foe. Most tasks can be rated in this way (climb portcullis might be 6). A Difficulty Number of 8 would be a typical challenge; 10 or more would be difficult and 13 or more would be formidable for starting characters, at any rate.

In many circumstances, the character may possess a Skill applicable to the situation; in which case, the player may add the Skill level to the dice roll. The character’s Experience Level is usually added to the roll but only if the GM feels the task warrants it, given the character’s calling.

Example: Yuon the Barbarian is hunting small game with a bow and arrow. Yuon has Archery at +1 and the GM allows his player to add the character’s Level (+2, for a total of +3), as the activity seems like the sort of thing Barbarians get up to. Later, Yuon attempts to use his Repair Skill (+2) to fix the hem on Maid Morron’s court gown. Yuon does not get to add his Level in this particularly un-Barbarian-like activity!

[1.2] Introduction or This is YOUR life!

Stan sat there on the couch, while the Yuggya invaded his home, but it was okay, America’s Funniest Retards was on the TV. The Yuggya moved carefully their blind eyes useless, reaching out with their mind’s eye, looking for the spark of recognition, of horror, of gibbering denials. Stan was watching the multichannel, 600 hundred channels in one. Stan didn’t even have to click any more. The floors creaked under the Yuggya feet as they turned toward the door, their man form crammed with alien thoughts.

Their prey had evaded them somehow. Confused they left.

Stan sat there, watching the daily-night show for a little while more , before falling asleep in front of the television. The Infomericals lured him to sleep with the hypnotic lure of a weird flute. Asleep and on the verge of dream space, Stan stopped. Perhaps Apathy was the only way!

Welcome to Apathy:The Calling a Role Playing Game. In this game you play regular folk dealing with the mythos in the only way they can in the modern age, with apathy. As one of the select few for unknown reasons you can hear Dread Cthulhu as he dreams, calling you to commit unspeakable acts. Fortunately you’ve long been accustomed to ignoring inconvenient realities. You fight back with the inertia and apathy, that has defined you as a generation of slackers, miscreants, good for nothings, baby busters and losers.

Apathy, the Role Playing game is a game about the lost generation, everyday life and cthulhu.

There was only ever the void and the universes. The nearly empty spaces between universes and the universes themselves had existed together always. Once, the universes were restricted to the smallest area of space (a point) until the “Big Bang.” The universes had been created out of the seven elements that the Creator itself was made of and had made the angels out of before humanity existed. There are seven orders of angels, just as there are seven different kinds of angels. And, there were seven different reasons for them to go to war among themselves as well.

The angels were very surprised when they noticed the Creator creating something new. These human beings were endowed with a smaller spark of creation than were the angels; and, at first, they were ignored. But, that was not for long. Human beings have all seven Elements present in their forms, but one is always more prevalent than the other six. Some human beings can even focus the power of their spark to create miraculous feats. This game is mostly about them.

This is a game about resource management, strategy, outwitting the GM, and telling a cool story to justify all the stuff you want to do with game mechanics.

OR

This is a game about adventurous types out looking to recover lost artifacts, mighty weapons of power, and ancient relics. The default setting of the game is a soft sci-fi post-apocalyptic world where high-tech items may still exist in ruined cities, forgotten bomb shelters, hidden compounds, or remote and inhospitable wilderness regions. You can also send people looking for treasure in the pulp age, or on distant worlds, or in a fantasy realm if you like. Most of the setting stuff is just window dressing that will affect how things are described but not how the game mechanics work.

The game is written for a group of 3-6 people, one to GM. Someday I will add rules for one-on one play. You will need pencils, paper, ten-sided dice (at least 3, maybe 3 per player), and some kind of chips or beads or markers in four distinct colors. (You could use several decks of playing cards, treating each suit as a color.)

The rules are the same as in the original Dungeon Squad except as listed.

Character Generation

Assign d4, d8 and d12 to Warrior, Wizard and Explorer as normal. Each character also begins with 15 Hit Points.

If you are using miniatures figures and battle maps from other RPGs, each figure moves 30 feet (six spaces) per turn. Spells, bows and other ranged attacks have a maximum distance of 100 feet (20 spaces). You can even account for cover and difficult terrain, if you want to make this simple game more complex.

“Stuff Dice”
In DSYAV, you assign your “Stuff Dice” (the d6 and d10) to special abilities from the list below. These include and replace the Swords, Bows, Armor and Magic Spells information listed in the normal rules.

If the GM allows it, you can use the “expensive gear” +1 rank rule to represent skills or magic items that aren’t special abilities found below. Remember, you can only carry four items of equipment with a dice value, including special abilities in the form of a piece of equipment.

Each character also begins with a small weapon (a staff or dagger or punch) doing d4 damage, which does not count against the equipment you can carry. Characters start with 10 gold pieces, most often spent on an Adventurer’s Kit, since weapons and armor are included in the special ability lists.

Beltaine is a game about the Faeries and creatures of Celtic myth living in the modern world. It’s being put together quickly as a part of the 24 hour RPG project, and will hopefully serve as a springboard for a cyberpunk-and-Fae game I hope to write later.

The faerie courts are dangerous places, socially and physically, and it is easy to fall from favor. The safest thing to do when one does so is to go into exile on Earth. Some, like the Fomorians, live in permanent exile on Earth, either in hiding or disguised as humans. Fae on Earth often interbreed with humans, and their half-faerie children typically remain behind.

The edge of the century draws near, as does the life of the great Queen Victoria. In America, the Native tribes have been decimated, and the frontier declared closed. England is beginning to lose her Empire, though for the moment it is safe. In the cities, women shout for the right to vote, workers strike for a living wage, and anarchists gather in secret with Das Capital in one hand and a bomb in another.

In Europe, ethnic unrest and a complex web of alliances will soon burn the continent in a war many men think will be good. They say that Europe has gone soft and weak and needs a war to make it strong again.

And underneath the calm, stoic Victorian facade, madness coils and twists, waiting to erupt. Secret societies meet, calling on spirits of the dead and ancient gods. Curses lay upon families, waiting to drag them down into madness, or worse.

Central Resolution Mechanic inspired by “dukereg” on the “Opportunity Pool” thread at http://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-384462.html

2008 Game Chef winner!

Six players switch in and out tag-team style to play three predefined characters in a complex, randomized web of intrigue and sorcery.

2. OVERVIEW:

In a far off land where mighty sorcerers dwell, the God-King Castor rules from a castle where the spirit realm and physical realm touch, allowing for powerful magics to happen and for a person’s spirit form to take control of one’s body. On the eve of Castor’s wedding to the foreign princess Inanna, a mysterious peasant woman named Thalia comes knocking on the palace door…

Each of six players play Aspects (either the “real world” or “spirit world” form) of one of three predefined player characters (PCs). Each player can take control of the PC under specific conditions.

Each player has a randomized goal, which will likely conflict with the other PCs and possibly conflict with the player of the other aspect of their PC. There are three decks of goals (one for each character) with three goals in each deck. Each goal is identified with a symbolic image: a hand with a Key in it (representing Secrets and Magic), a hand wrapped in a Necklace (representing Greed and Power), or a hand holding a drop of Blood (representing Violence and Revenge).

Beyond the initial setup phase of the game, characters have almost complete freedom to act. They are only constrained by their imaginations and the other players. When two characters oppose one another, the players use the conflict rules, which are tremendously simple and flexible. One player (called the Objector) sets two possible outcomes that could happen to the opposed characters. The other player in the conflict (called the Actor) then applies one of these outcomes to their character and one to the Objector’s character.

Two cards called Boons grant special privileges to their holders. The Boon of Beginnings allows the holder to frame scenes. The Boon of Endings allows the holder to call for the end of a scene. Either Boon can be used to activate a character’s sorcerous abilities. In a conflict, these magical powers can be used to reject the stakes set by an Objector and set new stakes. After any use of a Boon, the user gives the Boon away to some other player (which other player depends on how the Boon is used).

“Whats the catch?” Asks your friend Jose. “The police will probably respond within minutes so we need to strike fast” As you conceal your pistol and open the door. Jose and you pull down your masks and draw guns; A guard prepares to fire but Jose fires first, nailing the guard in the skull. “THIS IS A F’IN ROBBERY!” Screams Jose.

In The Californian Job, you and a few friends pose as Bank Robbers, with the GM controlling NPC’s and the police. Your duty is to roleplay one day, the day of your bank robbery. The game is not designed to be used in campaigns; but as a role playing exercise.

This game runs on the original Dungeon Squad System and brings the Warhammer 40,000 Universe to life as your party tries to survive the mass combat of the 41st Millennium.

In this First Edition, you can play as Imperial Guard, Space Marines or the people who inhabit Home Worlds across the vast stars. Note that while Imperial Guard and Space Marines may fight in huge battles, Home World characters fight in gang warfare or live the lives of regular inhabitants of one of four worlds: Imperial World, Hive World, Feral World and Void Born.

This game is sure to bring an exciting world of fun and entertainment; now, it’s up to you to take your weapon and head out. Are you ready?

Introduction
This is a Role Playing Game set in the futuristic nightmare of Warhammer 40,000 and this game comes off the hinges of the wonderful creation by Jason Morningstar, Dungeon Squad. Creators Neuicon and Sean Daniels have delved into the world of 40,000 when they were introduced to Dark Heresy (the official Role Playing Game of Warhammer 40,000), and quickly fell in love with it. Neuicon, having played Dungeon Squad, opted for something simple and fun to get those interested in Warhammer 40,000 into
gameplay using an exciting system, designed to entertain you and keep you on the edge of your seat!

This game comes off the release of Starcraft: Tactical Miniatures Combat, where you command skirmish-sized squads into battle against your foes! The fun of that game has helped in the inspiration to continue releasing new, fun and awesome games available to everyone!

This is the question being faced by the Terribly Beautiful, former prostitutes who find themselves facing a slow death at the hands of the disease known as the Pale. Is there still hope to be found when life is slipping away?

TO TOUCH IMMORTALITY

It is the dream of humanity to escape death. No one lives forever, but we hope that our lives mattered, that we will be remembered by the next generation. We have a lifetime to create that legacy. All too often most of that lifetime gets squandered. We come to realize the importance of our
legacy only when it is almost too late.

Seduction

They are the most desirable and seductive women in the city, the women of the night. Men are willing to travel into the most disreputable of neighbourhoods to meet them, offer money and gifts for but a few hours of their time or even less. They ply the oldest profession, selling their bodies into others’ fantasies.

Dying Together

For the streetwalkers of the red-light district known as the Kaz, death takes its time. The disease known as the Pale stakes its claim by transforming its victims into visions of beauty, alabaster skin and elegantly thin. But beware, for death is a jealous lover, who lays claim to any who might make love to those already ill, and so they become known as the Terribly Beautiful. Shunned by society, they find each other and face the remaining days of their lives.

The World

It is a world not unlike that which we live in today, with countries that war and trade. It is a city not unlike those found in many parts of the world today, with cultures that clash and blend. They are streets not unlike those that we walk in our cities every day, filled with people who have dreams both pursued and dashed.

The city sits on the water, industry and docks to the east, a thin strip of old docks leading to luxury shorefront property to the west, a downtown of skyscrapers and suburbs beyond. Nestled between them all, surrounded by stone walls, is a neighbourhood, the oldest in the city. It is called the Kaz.

The Kaz

“Ruined buildings, ruined lives…”

Once the beautiful, prideful, majestic centre of the city, the neighbourhood called the Kaz has been brought low by age. Grassy expanses were covered over by scabs of concrete, cheap apartments grow where flowers once bloomed, and treets that once wove gracefully around estates now snarl with traffic. Only a few of the buildings remain, protected by heritage laws, but impossibly expensive to maintain. They have fallen, one by one, to the ravages of time, becoming urban legend, the source of stories of ghosts, secrets and other mysteries that refuse to die.

For all the things that have changed, it is debauchery that remains a part of the Kaz. In times past a carelessly parted blind would reveal the parties of the rich, sumptuous, opulent attire carefully put on and carelessly thrown off. Today the sliver of light through a night window is reveals attire as carelessly thrown aside as ever. The Kaz has become a red-light district, a neighbourhood where prostitution is tolerated.

Around all this are the walls. Once they stood to protect the rich from would-be invaders. Indeed, they still do protect the rich, but now they do so by protecting the rich outside from having to see what the crowning glory of the city has become.

Warriors, Wizards & Wanderers is a complete fantasy RPG in 6 pages, including everything you need for some old school gaming action. It is intended as a beer & pretzel game but it can be easily expanded for a more serious kind of play.

The game is very rules-light and minimalist by design. You can learn how to play and create your first character in less than 10 minutes. The rules assume you’re familiar with tabletop role-playing games and with common fantasy tropes and conventions. No default setting is provided but the GM can use his favorite fantasy kitchen sink or any other existing fantasy setting instead.

To play you need good old six-sided dice (d6), at least one twenty-sided die (d20), pens, paper and some friends. Drinks and something to eat can be useful too, as well as a table and some kind of chair for everyone. And now, have fun!

II The Basiics
When your character needs to do something difficult like solving a riddle or avoiding a cunning trap, you make a Challenge roll to see if the character succeeds: roll a d20 and add the relevant Trait modifier (such as Might for breaking down a door). If the result equals or exceeds the Difficulty of the Challenge roll, the character is successful. In the following rules, this will be noted as a Challenge roll. The Difficulty is set by the GM and is usually between 10 and 20.

Opposed rolls are used only in case of a conflict between characters. Each involved character make a Challenge roll with a Difficulty equal to the result of his opponent. That means the character with the highest total is the winner of the contest.

A Note from the Author
This title borrows heavily from the Star Wars line of games (both revised and Saga editions) from Wizards of the Coast, and from West End games. It also uses the crystals, emitters, lenses, and energy cells from the Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords with little change in their effects. Most similarities between those products and this game are not coincidental, and are, in fact, intended. I thank the creators of those products profusely, and gives them full credit for their work.

The core of the Five by Five game system is the 5×5 dice roll. Players roll two d5′s and multiply the results. This basic mechanic gives an average unskilled person around a 30% chance of success and ranks of skill tend to improve this chance in roughly 10% increments.

The combat rules include examples for weapons and armor both archaic and modern, an open ended damage mechanic for the possibility of spectacular critical hits, and rules are included for unique traits like super powers or magical abilities.

Combat resolution uses standard 6 sided dice and is simple enough that each player can control multiple heroes or villains. Characters can advance during play improving existing powers and adding new ones allowing for an ongoing gaming campaign with the same characters lasting as long as the players desire.

For players in a game of super powered heroes, what one element about their characters is the most important? It’s the POWERS!

POWERS-BRAWL
Powers-Brawl is a combat oriented miniatures game based on the battles of super powered comic book heroes and villains. Players can create characters and battle head to head or one player can take the role of the Referee shaping the story in an imaginary game world where the other players work cooperatively to defeat evil.

In a 2-player head to head brawl, each player can control up to 3 characters a piece. In a game controlled by a referee, any number of players will possess 1 character each and will compete against collections of villains controlled by the referee.

Characters are comprised of Values and Powers.

Values serve as a template for all characters and come in two forms: Action Values and Opposition Values. Action Values modify die rolls when you attempt to do something. Opposition Values represent how difficult it is to do something. Values can become temporarily damaged during combat but base values do not vary from one player character to another.

Powers vary for every character. They will continue to grow and evolve through play making the character more versatile and effective each time you play.

Story:
Yesterday, you were just an innocent wandering merchant with a stock of wine. Today you’re a prisoner in the heart of the local overlord’s sprawling palace complex at the mercy of his henchmen. They have the wine and you have one day to get out before they use you as bait in a game of “tease the ogre.” Luckily, they left the slackest guards in charge of your cell. They’d rather play cards than watch you closely. A loud argument over a good hand was your chance to get the keys off the floor,
where they landed after the table got turned over. Now the guards are being summoned to the commandant’s office for discipline. You make your way out of the dungeon and start looking for the exit. Before you exit the last door, you have time to grab some weapons off the wall.

The Pitch: In the future…memory is currency. The players take the role of Dream Merchants who trade in forbidden and special memories in a world where strong emotions are punished. Will these memories hold the key to save their souls? Or will they end up like the rest of the Fallen; drained of their memories and forced to live in squalor?

“I remember now. The night of true passion and understanding, until our worlds came crashing down. The Judgment say that to feel too much is a sin. But the feelings inside of me cannot simply be turned off. I remember too much. It courses through me like steam through a vent, powering my brain and awakening my soul. I can’t let it go…I won’t let it go!!”

“Citizen, welcome to the Contentment Center. You have been selected for a MemWipe because of your troubled thoughts. We are here to guide you.”

“But I don’t want to be wiped. I need to remember!”

“No, citizen. None of us need to remember. What we need is to be Contented. That is what we…”

“…No!! Those are my memories…our memories! Please stop!!!”

“There…now isn’t that better? Feel the MemDrain moving through your veins. It’s already freeing your pain. Let it go…let it go…let it go…Okay, he’s out. Drain the last two weeks. That should do it. Is the girl ready yet?”

About Dark Spell
Dark Spell is a dice-less, cooperative fantasy role-playing game. By dice-less, I mean that the game involves no randomizers. By cooperative, I mean that authority over the game is decentralized. Every player will share some of the responsibilities of a traditional GM, including framing scenes and playing multiple roles.

Playing Dark Spell is hard to play if everyone isn’t on the same page. Everybody has a lot of authority to change and introduce new elements into the game setting. Everybody is assumed to be at the game to have fun, build an interesting story, and challenge one another. The players may frequently be sporting and competitive, and the characters under their control will often be in direct opposition, but everyone’s at the game table for he same overarching purpose.

Differences in vision and other issues are bound to come up now and again. At the first opportune moment (say, between scenes, or during a pause in the action) take a brief pause in the game to deal with them out of game. Everyone doesn’t have to want the game to go in the same direction, but everyone must respect the vision of the other players. Make compromises.

The inspiration behind Dark Spell is the excellent story hour on ENWorld, “The Tales of Wyre,” by the
poster SepulchraveII. A game of Dark Spell should feature powerful characters conflicting over big issues. There should be might, magic, and drama. The main characters should have strong goals and strong convictions, and change the world as they pursue their course. Read the ENWorld thread if you need a bit of inspiration.

Dark Spell is not an immersive game. Players will be frequently called upon to operate at the meta-game level, and will need to portray multiple separate characters. Even though there may be many things that an individual does not know, there are no secrets between players in a game of Dark Spell. Don’t hide things from the other players. Try to keep your out-of-game knowledge separate from the in-game knowledge of each of your characters. Don’t be afraid to state actions for characters that land them in trouble. Trouble creates tension, excitement, and drama. These are good things. Want these things. Want trouble.

Read. Enjoy.

Go Play!

Excalibur is a fantasy RPG where players take the role of heroes in the world of Albion, fighting against (or for) the darkness. From knights in shining armor to arcanists unleashing magical devastation, players can assume the role of any hero. Excalibur is based on the Adventurer RPG by Joe Pruitt. It should be played by a group of about four (4) people and one GM (Game Master).

Description

I finally remembered to submit this to 1km1kt. It has been a long time. Be on the lookout for the expansion set… coming soon.

DESIGNER’S NOTE
Game Masters; feel free to exercise your creative freedom within the world of Excalibur. If not for Mr. Pruitt’s permission to allow me to use his creation (Adventurer RPG), Excalibur may have never been created. So, from one RPG player to another, I wish you good luck on your adventures into Albion. May your minds bring you into the uncharted areas of your imagination!

-B.G. Selidio Tan

It is also intended to be playable whilst on a journey. Players take it in turns to describe the story with a dice based bidding mechanism to control conflict resolution.

You can play A Funny Thing Happened as a stand alone game or as a filler for your ongoing campaign to explain what acutally happened in the 2 week long trip that your GM glossed over in a sentence.

Introduction
This game is the culmination to two ideas having a head on
collision in my brain. Thankfully no one was injured but the
resulting fusion of ideas is what you hold in you hands. To
understand the concept it’s easier to explain each of the core
ideas in turn.

The first idea : Travelling in a Game
At certain points in any narrative the protagonists will be at point A and the next major piece of the plot will take part at point B.

At which point you may hear the immortal lines ‘The journey was uneventful’. These words have always felt wrong to me, no journey is ever truly uneventful, something will happen. The traveller will if nothing else have some time to think, maybe read a book.

A better phrase is ‘Nothing important to the plot happens’ but this then reveals the man behind the curtain and unsuspends the disbelief. Of course you could reach for the handy dandy ‘Random Encounter Tables’ but this again is just a fancy way of saying ‘Nothing important to the plot happens’.
Or you could play it out, tell the story of the journey. But whilst this story is real it is, as I may have entioned, not important to the plot. So the telling of it is less vital. It doesn’t require everyone of a regular play group to be there. Or character sheets, or books and it could even be done without the GM. Everyone knows that nothing major will happen, no one will dice, no one will get any new super power (Feat whatever). But maybe some of the characters will get to actually talk and some role-playing might happen.

The second idea : Gaming while travelling
The second idea occurred because at the same time as having the first idea I was thinking about the 7 hours train journey I had ahead. This got me thinking, as I was thinking about travelling and gaming, that it would be nice to have a storytelling game that would be easy to play while travelling. Or in other situations where all the regular paraphernalia of gaming might not be easily used. For instance in a drinking establishment.

With this thought in mind I had a constraint for my journey telling game. It should require as little as possible, finally coming down to the concept of each player needing only a pocket full of dice. Any dice, from the lowly four sider to the twenty sided dice of power. It’s all good.

The Usual Suspects
A scary ass game by Robbie Cousineau
Its midnight. Theodore lay on your bed as you hear creaks and groans throughout the mansion. He hears a knock on his door. Theodore stands up and answers the door. He gasps as a a loud shot is heard and blood splatters across his bed.

That Morning. The police investigated your fathers mansion fully and found no murder weapon. Only a pure silver bullet casing. Your fathers will read as following: In order for you to inherit the family fortune and position, you and four friends must stay the night in your fathers mansion.
Determined to get your payday and office. You collect your friends and walk up the creaky steps of Bloodfang mansion…

Introduction

You play as James Bloodfang. Your father was brutally murdered last night, devils night. Your lawyer has said that in order to inherit a dime, your father decided you had to stay a night in the mansion. You have been told that your allowed to bring four friends. Explore the mansion and avoid whatever ended up killing your father. One player is the killer, whose goal is to murder everybody by setting and activating the many traps placed around the mansion.

Ghosts haunt, Plants talk, Skeletons….break dance? Prepare to be scared so bad you won’t even be able to say a good thing about it!

(This game requires 5 people and a GM)

Immortalis’ is a game set in the current day, but it is a world very different from our own. Colonies and space stations dot the Solar System and the first steps to other stars are about to be taken. You play an Immortal, either part of the public face of the Council of Immortals or hidden amongst the masses. Either way, you work to guide humanity and stop the insidious influence of the Dark Summoners. Dark Summoners are people who can summon entities from the Rift and use them to control mortals like puppets.

Immortals have been around since the dawn of man. In ancient times they were the heroes of myth. However, during Roman times a Council was formed and Immortals decided to let normal mortals define the shape of the world to come. Immortals retreated from sight.

The plan worked well for 2000 years. In secret Immortals worked to limit the damage done by the Dark Summoners. However, the numbers of Dark Summoners grew until the conflict engulfed the world in war in the late 19th century. Secrecy was no longer possible and after the victory of the Immortals and their mortal allies, the Council of Immortals decided to take on a guiding role in the world. It was a Golden Time of art and science and it took humanity into space.

The game uses a fairly simple set of rules and you’ll need up to 5d6 for each player and the GM.

INTRODUCTION
In case you had already guessed ‘Immortalis’ is the latin word for immortal and that is what the player characters are.

First of all you should probably be an experienced GM or player. I will not be explaining about what roleplaying is, define many common roleplaying terms or include a lot of the other things you find written at the start of many rpgs. Consequently, you should probably already know that stuff and have done it all before.

These rules may be copied or printed freely, so long as I’m given credit. However, they may not be sold or used for profit by anyone but me.

WHAT DO YOU NEED?
You’ll need up to 5d6 for the GM and each player. I’ve also included a character sheet at the end.

THE SETTING
This game is set in an alternate version of the current day. There are colonies on several moons and planets in the Solar System and fusion-powered ships ply the space lanes between. Some believe that the first step between the stars has been taken. We first ventured into space in the 1905, ten years after the Great War.