Free RPG Day 2025 Offerings

Free RPG Day 2025 happens on Saturday, June 21. This is your chance to get some free roleplaying games. What is available and what should you try to add to your collection? As Darryl Mott did, let’s look at some of the most promising games and adventures coming to your friendly local game store (FLGS).

WHAT IS FREE RPG DAY?​

Let me quote my 2023 summary of this gamer holiday:

“The event is what the name implies: Free tabletop roleplaying quickstarts, adventures, maps, and dice given to fans at participating friendly local game stores (FLGS). On Saturday, June 21, you’ll be able to get an RPG, a die, or some other bit of gaming, and likely join in on a gaming session. These items are either free to attendees, free to fans that play select games at the store on that date, or free with purchase; the specifics are up to the participating location.”

This year, Free RPG Day overlaps during the same timeframe as Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio (June 18 to 22) and Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta, Georgia (June 20 to 22), two gaming centric conventions. This tabletop roleplaying game holiday is made possible by Gaming Days LLC and paid for by your local gaming store. If you’re curious about prior year offerings, I covered them here: 2019, 2020 (and an interview), 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

WHAT’S ON OFFER FOR FREE RPG DAY 2025?​

This year there are over 35 free offerings to choose from, which is more than I have words for. As such, I’ll pick out a few highlights to add to your collection.

• 3 Adventure Bundle: Grim Hollow, Arora, Aetherial Expanse from Ghostfire Gaming. Check out several adventures for Ghostfire Gaming’s various 5e settings. These let you sample the feel of their settings ranging from grimdark fantasy to post-apocalypse to sci-fantasy, each using 3rd level characters. Solve murders, recover stolen property, or compete in a race, you’ll find a variety of adventures this Free RPG Day.
• The Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine Quickstart from Chaosium. Are you new to Basic Roleplaying (d100 system), the engine used for Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, and more? If so, this quickstart provides condensed rules to get you into one of the longest serving engines in tabletop roleplaying. If you can’t attend Free RPG Day, Chaosium provides the PDF of the Basic Roleplaying Quickstart Edition for free at DriveThruRPG.
• The Expanse: Transport Union Edition – Quickstart from Green Ronin. Sticking with IPs that might excite new players contemplating roleplaying: The Expanse. This offering is a quickstart with condensed rules as well as characters and an adventure. You’ll get to experience the AGE System, a ruleset with fun bonus actions that make play a blast. For those that are not near a participating FLGS, try out these free demos at DriveThruRPG: The Expanse RPG Quickstart and The Expanse Transport Union Edition Quickstart
• Dragonbane: The Magistrate’s Gambit from Free League Publishing. This two-hour adventure includes 7 pregen characters for a tournament with puzzles, battles, and treasures. If you want more Dragonbane quickstarts, check out these free options at DriveThruRPG: Dragonbane Quickstart – Riddermound and Dragonbane Quickstart – The Sinking Tower. If you’re already a fan of Dragonbane, Free League is running a Kickstarter with more magic and a city to add to your adventures.
• Legend in the Mist and :Otherscape from Son of Oak Game Studio. Let’s kick this list off with the most anticipated TTRPG of 2025, Son of Oak’s Legend in the Mist (LitM) and :Otherscape (:OS). LitM is a rustic fantasy RPG, one that focuses on character and story. :OS is a cyberpunk RPG about freedom fighters rebelling and more. These games push the boundaries of what a Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) can be. Revamping the playbook idea of a character sheet, your character is an evolving series of descriptors (tags) used as details for your character’s actions. Role, personality, skills, items, all of these things have simple 1 to 3 word descriptions that act as modifiers to your dice rolls. If you want to see what is possible with a PbtA RPG, check out these quickstarts at your friendly local game store (FLGS). If you can’t attend, check out these freebies at DriveThruRPG: Legend in the Mist Demo and :Otherscape Free Demo Game.
• Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game from Marvel Comics. New players that never roleplayed likely have heard of Dungeons & Dragons. Those potentials might be intrigued by the idea of playing a Marvel superhero. Acting as a gateway into the Marvel gaming system, this adventure involves a birthday celebration for Tony Stark (Iron Man) as a group of Asgardians crash the party. In case you can’t attend, check out the Marvel RPG page for an introductory adventure.
• Pathfinder Adventure: The Scourge of Sheerleaf and Starfinder Adventure: Battle for Nova Rush from Paizo. Both of these adventures use the Second Editions of their respective games. Pathfinder Adventure: The Scourge of Sheerleaf is a short adventure for 10th level dragonblood characters fighting dragons. Starfinder Adventure: Battle for Nova Rush is designed for 1st level characters in which you’ll play as iconic Starfinder heroes: Chk Chk the mystic, Dae the solarian, Iseph the operative, and Navasi the envoy. If you want to try out a higher level PF2e adventure or fight space pirates in SF2e, these adventures can be found at your FLGS.
• ROOT RPG: Laurel’s Canopy from Magpie Games. This quickstart adventure gets you the rules you’ll need to play a political conspiracy in the forest. Using the Powered by the Apocalypse system, you’ll play as anthropomorphic creatures trying to resolve a conspiracy before disaster strikes. If you want to sample the game in advance, you can get the previous 4 ROOT RPG quickstarts for free at DriveThruRPG.
• Scry Scry, My Little Eye from Loke Battle Mats. Every year, I feel that Loke Battle Mats provides an exceptional Free RPG Day product with a great 5e adventure, tokens, pregens, and, because it’s Loke Battle Mats, a fantastic encounter map. This quest includes random encounter tables to keep the encounters exciting as the characters compete for the pleasure of an audience. If this offering is like prior years, if you are a GM looking for an all-in-one adventure for Free RPG Day, this gets my recommendation.
• Thunder Road: Vendetta RPG Zero Prep Adventure and Level 1- The free RPG Day indie RPG Anthology Volume 6 from 9th Level Games. Thunder Road: Vendetta RPG Zero Prep Adventure is an adventure that explains the polymorph ruleset and how it relates to this post-apocalyptic game of road warriors. Level 1 is an anthology of unique, original RPGs, perfect for gamers looking for something out of the box for their gaming table. If you’re looking for some of the best short form Level 1 RPGs over the past half decade, check out the 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 offerings for free at DriveThruRPG.
• The Well of Shadows from Kobold Press. This 5e/Tales of the Valiant (TotV) adventure includes a quickstart guide to TotV, an adventure map, and pregens. If you want to try out Kobold Press’ TotV, this booklet provides an overview of their 5e-like system to determine if this system is right for your gaming table. If you’re a fan of Tales of the Valiant, check out the TotV Player’s Handbook 2 Kickstarter.

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Other Offerings​

In addition, there are a number of other offerings, including:

• A Great Offering from Obojima. A 5eadventure for levels 2 to 4.
• Arkham Horror: Comets of Kingsport from Edge Studio. A 32-page quickstart adventure for Arkham Horror RPG.
• Arzium Roleplaying Game from Red Raven Games. This quickstart provides basic rules for Arzium as well as pregens and a starting adventure.
• Deck of Worlds from Story Engine Deck. Want to randomize an adventure or an encounter? This 35-card sample deck let’s you create scenarios with a few card pulls and some connective logic.
• Dungeon QRAWL / I Fought the Dragon from Free RPG Day (plus stickers). This QR code/phone-based experience lets you participate in a choose your own adventure style quest.
• THE DYING LIGHT OF CASTLE WHITEROCK from Goodman Games. This is a Dungeon Crawl Classics or 5e adventure (both stat blocks are displayed) for 1st and 2nd level characters set near the ruins of Castle Whiterock.
• Exalted Funeral DOUBLE FEATURE! A flipbook quickstart rules, adventures, and pre-gens for Land of Eem and Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme.
• Nightfell: A Feast of Death from Mana Project Studio. This is an original adventure for Nightfell by Marco Fossati.
• Nobi Nobi Quickstart Booster from Don't Panic Games. A TTRPG quickstart that uses 24 cards.
• PIAGA 1348: Quickdeath from Need Games. During the Black Death there are zombies. You’re soldiers fighting back. This quickstart gives you the rules for a GM round robin RPG.
• Quickstart Guide Collection from Modiphius Entertainment. Sample Fallout 2D20 RPG, Dreams and Machine, and Star Trek Adventures Second Edition. If you have not tried the second edition of Star Trek Adventures, I recommend giving that iteration a try.
• SHIFT from Hit Point Press. Introducing a new, multi-genre RPG system via this basic rules and sci-fi pregens quickstart.
• Shock and Mayhem from Renegade Game Studios. A crossover adventure for the G.I. JOE and Transformers Roleplaying Games.
• Titanskeep: Where the Zal River Flows (An Introductory Adventure) from Hexed and Norse Foundry. This adventure introduces this system neutral setting by Ed Greenwood, Alison Huang, Keith Baker, Lauren Nelson, Skid Maher, Jay Foster, and more.
• Too Many Bones Alternate Nom Tyrant Battle Card from Chip Theory Games. Card for your Nom Tyrant Battle Card games.
• Wires in the Woods – Quickstart from Critical Kit. “A solo/duet role-playing game about exploration and discovery where you will come to see familiar objects through unfamiliar eyes.” Check out Wires In the Woods Quick Start for free at DriveThruRPG.

Physical Items​

There are a few physical items this year including a dice, pin, and miniature:

• Baldur’s Gate: The Emperor Exclusive miniature from WizKids.
• Dispel Dice x FRPG Day Deep Sea D20.
• Emergency D20! scratch-off card from Foam Brain Games.
• Hank the Ranger Pin – Free RPG Day 2025 Pin! from Sirius Dice. Hank the Ranger from the Dungeons & Dragons animated series as a pin.

GO GET SOME GAME!​

Armed with this list, consider looking up some of the Free RPG Day 2025 events planned for Saturday, June 21. Discover if your friendly local game store is participating here.

Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, Kobold Press Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, Kobold Press, and Amazon. DISCLAIMER: I have freelanced for Ghostfire Gaming, I was not involved in these adventures.

 

[darjr]

I’m running games all
Day Saturday!