Free RPG Day 2015

I have a confession to make.  I don’t really care about Free Comic Book Day.  I love the concept, give away a ton of swag to get people in the door, and it works.   But could it work for something else?  That’s the question that created Free RPG Day.

For those who may not know, RPG stands for Role Playing Game.  RPG’s are a genre of games, where the players take on the role of a character in the game.  Often you can create and customize your character to suite your own play style.  While the genre can apply equally to both video games and tabletop games, Free RPG Day focuses on the tabletop side.

Arguably the most famous RPG is Dungeons & Dragons, a franchise that have spawned numerous rewrites of the rules, TV shows, movies, books, and of course many a conservative right winger’s disapproving sermon.  But, there is much more to the modern RPG then just that.  Horror, comedy, pulp fiction, ancient mythology, comic book super heroes, a broad spectrum of sci-fi, and yes even some traditional fantasy, were all represented in this years bundle of goodies offered on Free RPG Day.

I think my favourite offering this year was You Iz Kobolds?! which contained quick start rules, and an introductory adventure for Kobolds Ate My Baby! by 9th Level Games. KAMB is a “beer and pretzels” RPG based on the absurd premise that you are one of the lowest forms of creatures in traditional RPG gaming, and that these creatures might survive long enough to have their own adventures.  They, of course, die.  A lot.  But that’s half the fun of this particular game.

Another popular item this year was the spiritual descendant of Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder.  Piazo Games brought out a 4th level adventure, the third part of what I hope will be a continuing saga, We Be Goblins Free.  Following it’s predecessors We Be Goblins, and We Be Goblins Too, the players take on the roles of 4 goblin “heroes”.  In my Friendly Local Gaming Store, we ran the first We Be Goblins adventure, and had a blast.  Piazo also included a goblin character card set for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and provided the beautiful (?) goblin art on this years poster.  Free RPG Day loves goblins.

The oddest offering came from Steve Jackson Games, in the form of The Official Munchkin Free RPG Day Bookmark of Roleplaying Freedom.  A bookmark playable in any version of the RPG inspired game Munchkin, and it’s sequels.

One game I have yet to experience, despite it’s rules-light premise, and it’s presence over multiple years in Free RPG Day is Catalyst Games’ Cosmic Patrol.  A pulpy scifi game (picture 1930’s rockets and ray guns type scifi) that doesn’t require a game master to lead things, the role instead being passed around through the playing group.  Someday I will play this game.

The only other game I played this year was Shadowrun, also by Catalyst Games. Shadowrun is probably best described as as a cyberpunk world where magic and technology intertwine.  Once again we played a previous year’s adventure, but that didn’t make it any less fun. it was a bit chaotic, but that had more to do with the group, then the game.  I would gladly play this one again.  As a bonus, the Shadowrun QuickStart Rules come as a flip book, with QuickStart Rules for Battletech on the reverse.

Next year, when Free RPG Day 2016 rolls around,  grab your dice, and head to your Friendly Local Game Store, and ask them if they will be joining the fun.