Thank you to everyone who entered my 7-Day RPG Contest! In this post, I will list all of the entries and provide the poll for you all to vote on the winner. The winner wins $1000!
I encourage you to read as many of these as you can. Some are just a page long; others are over 200 pages! Most are in PDF format, but you'll see some RTF, .txt, and others here. And please do comment on and discuss these entries - I'm sure the authors will thank you for it!
Right-click and save these files to download them.
The voting booth will remain open for one week from the time I hit "Submit" on this post. Contestants are welcome to campaign for and encourage votes; however, any contestant found encouraging anybody to cast more than one vote for an entry will be disqualified (you can, however, vote for up to three entries).
[h=3]How Do I Vote?[/h]
You can vote for up to THREE entries. Voting totals will remain hidden until the voting period is complete.
[h=1]What should I judge on?[/h]
Your voting criteria are your own. You can base your vote on anything you wish - but here are some suggestions for your consideration:
[h=3]Single Page Game System[/h]
By JamesonCourage. The Single Page Game System is good for any game where you follow genre logic, and are okay filling in the blanks with your own narrative. [Download]
[h=3]Simple Percent System[/h]
By NancyButtpeach. Designed to foster role-playing and immersion, with some interesting mechanical progression. [Download]
[h=3]Success[/h]
By Kirt Dankmyer. Success is a role-playing game designed for more "cinematic" genres, from Golden Age superheroics and pulp to certain kinds of children's literature. Any genre where the protagonists are extremely competent or extremely lucky is a good match for Success. [Download; this is a .txt file which you will need to rename as a .html file]
[h=3]Strangers of Fiction[/h]
By Kevin Ohannessian. Everyone's lives are filled with stories: books and comics we read, films and TV shows we watch, the various games we play. All of these stories and characters create a collective culture, a multitude of genres and archetypes and tropes.
Many of the great writers mix genres--Neil Gaiman's American Gods or Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, for example. Well what if you can play in a world, not unlike the fore-mentioned League, where many fictional figures come together. It could be Victorian London; it could be a moonbase in the future; it could be New York in the 60s. And what if your characters can shift this world of fiction, affect the stories there, the there there? This is the premise of Strangers. [Download; plus character sheet and introductory session]
[h=3]Men of Power[/h]
By Murph Murphy. In the land filled with FIGHT men, COOL men and BAD men, some FIGHT men, and COOL men rise to FIGHT and BE COOL against the onslaught on the BAD men. [Download]
[h=3]Godsrealm[/h]
By Anubis Dread. "Godsrealm is a game in which the players take the role of a pantheon of gods working to create a world together. It is loosely based off of a forum game, by which I mean the concept is: mechanically is is pretty stark in its differences." [Download]
[h=3]The Dark Isles[/h]
By aglashier. You play an adventurer in a dark world of swords and sorcery. [Download]
[h=3]Sol Invictus - a Sci-Fi RPG[/h]
By Stephen James Jones. "This is Sol Invictus, a Sci-Fi RPG which I wrote in the 1990s and did nothing with, so here goes. It has some vague similarities to the movie, Avatar. Unique Selling Point: This is the only RPG in which the PCs are given a 5kt tactical nuke as part of their starting equipment (on their Hydra Shuttle), and permission to use it..." [Download]
[h=3]The Heights of Etherian[/h]
By Josh Demers. Battle rival Templars! Sweep the fair maiden into your arms and sail away laughing at your foiled foes! Capture ghosts and ... burn their tormented spirits ... to power your ghostship ... using their agonized screams as weapons?
The Heights of Etherian is a game of swashbuckling, dark magic, and darker science, set in the decadent city of Etherian. Join the Temple of Man to overcome the Ghostwrights. Attend the Academy of Cold Fire and revel in your mastery over the spiritual energies of magic. Many paths to take, many stories to tell! [Download]
[h=3]Hand of Fate[/h]
By Vyvyan Basterd. It is a multi-genre storyteller game that uses the Tarot deck for character creation, plot development and conflict resolution. The event was a supernatural horror mystery set during the Siege of Leningrad. [Download]
[h=3]Tournament Grounds[/h]
By Malcolm Northwinter. It's D&D meets Sci-Fi meets Modern meets anything you can muster up from your old character sheets! Finally, put them to use. Welcome to Tournament Grounds! This is not a simple tournament. This is not a tournament for heroes who wish to spend their days talking to kings and dealing with the affairs of state. This tournament is about power, about grind. It’s about killing as many of your enemies as you can before you run out of lives. If you squeeze every last bit of potential from your abilities, you might survive this tournament. [Download]
[h=3]The Token System[/h]
By Cameron Morgan. At its heart, any role-playing game is about creating a collaborative narrative among all of the players. In order to produce the tension necessary to drive the game, most emphasize uncertainty by adding a random element to the mechanics.
There are other ways to produce this tension, however.
This game is not random. In this game, the narrative tension is derived from resource-management and strategy—a constant give-and-take between the players and the game-manager.
Do not be deceived; this game is not a mere test of wits, nor an exercise in rules-mastery. It is a fast-moving game, which can be approached with any level of caution and forethought, or none at all. No matter the approach, it will be fun, for it is, at its heart, a collaborative narrative-building game. [Download]
[h=3]Quad System[/h]
By Thomas Box all. The Quad system is a generic system that can be used in any setting from Fantasy to Science Fiction. The core is the Quadrant system that divides a character up into four areas (physical, mental, social, and magical). [Download]
[h=3]Daughters of Lear[/h]
By darkcyril. Daughters of Lear is the storytelling roleplaying game in the tradition of games like Fiasco. Drawing on the timeless themes and traditions of playwrights like Shakespeare, Daughters of Lear puts you and your friends in the roles of the principle actors of your very own play, utilizing a simple dice system to keep things fair and balanced as well as expendable resources to heighten the drama and give your character an edge in reaching his own goals in the scenario you've chosen. [Download]
[h=3]New Worlds[/h]
By Domini Writing. You've got a group of non-gamer friends together who are willing to play a role playing game. But they're not too excited about wizards and dragons, and until you showed them, they didn't even know there were dice that had more than 6 sides. "New Worlds" is the game for you.
Create a world together with characters anyone can imagine. Take turns narrating the adventure. Collect rewards each time you pick up the dice.
You don't need to study a massive rule book to call yourself a role player. You don't need to own a bucketful of dice to enter a world of heroes and drama. You just need New Worlds. [Download; plus character sheet]
[h=3]The Hope[/h]
By Adrián Gómez. This game, The Hope, is inspired by some old movies, as Labyrinth, with David Bowie, or The Neverending Story. (oh, and the PC game Limbo!)
In modern times, Hope is disappearing from the world, and Fear is winning their eternal struggle. Only those who still retain their innocence and a pure heart will be able to change this. [Download]
[h=3]Theosis[/h]
By Stephen Rowse. Each and every child is taught the story the Prophet King. He is the glorious leader who defeated the gods and freed us from enslavement.
All learn that it is only through his magic, the Church, and the Questioners that we are kept safe.
These are lies.
The Church is the whip of a tyrant masquerading as a shield of reason. The past has been rewritten by the victors, but the future is yours to decide.
Theosis is a new ‘science fiction masquerading as fantasy’ roleplaying game system and setting created from scratch in the last week by Stephen Rowe aka Deadclown. [Download]
[h=3]PIN (Play It Now) RPG[/h]
By Daniel Eugene Schorr. Pin (Play It Now) Role Playing Game is designed as a framework for building your own adventures and telling stories through your imagination.
Players imagine their characters. Narrator’s imagine the world and setting. Together they create the possibilities for endless stories. Pin has no fixed setting or genre, it can be used to play games of another imagined. [Download]
[h=3]Aftermath[/h]
By Jeff Nitzburg. A quick, gritty post-apocalyptic RPG. [Download; plus combat basics; plus character sheet]
[h=3]Asylum[/h]
By The Warden. Asylum is a roleplaying game of violence and survival. It's just you and nearly 300 other convicts trapped on a deserted island with a ticket for someone to go home. Except there's only room for one and there are no rules on how you can get that ticket. It's called the Contest and it pits convict against convict in a blood spewing frenzy. Ironically enough, you must work with other convicts to stay alive as long as possible, pushing through to the many zones of the island they call Asylum.
This RPG provides a storytelling system whereby players roll Fate/Fudge dice to determine the number of times players and the Director can describe the next part of the story. Players can use reactions to narrate their way out of trouble with the Director plotting against these convicts as there can only be one standing when the Contest ends... right? [Download]
[h=3]The Empire of the Raven[/h]
By kitsune9. The Old World is in a new age of prosperity and exploration. Gold is flowing out of the Shieldwall Mountains, many colonists are flocking on the ships leaving for the New World, and fleets of merchant profiteers, backed by their powerful noble patrons are embarked on many quests to recover the lost treasures and gold of the Dark Continent.
Yet not all is well.
The Theocracy of Zadene has split from the Church and there is talk of a fourth holy war between the Empire and the Theocracy. Those merchant fleets that do manage to return usually bring back stark raving madmen who saw the many Vile Horrors hidden away in the dark infested jungles of the Dark Continent. There are reports of entire colonies who have met horrific fates by some unknown horror in the New World.
The Empress, who has lived for over 800 years, demands answers and wants results. Those who please her are rewarded with titles and riches. Those who fail are sent to the obliettes deep below the Royal Palace where they will rot to contemplate their failure.
The world of Raventerra is a world of magic, exploration, and where a fast swordarm and a faster dragonshot will get results. It is also a world of terrible horror as the former Angel of Death, now known as The Grim seeks to corrupt all under its sway. [Download]
[h=3]Monsters & Ruins[/h]
By Jeremy Reaban. "This is my entry, Monsters & Ruins. It's basically yet another retro clone, one I had been working on.
I was a very enthusiastic fan of 3rd edition when it came out and that enthusiasm lasted several years, waning slightly before finally burning out. When the 5th Edition was announced, I was drawn back to the game, but quickly seduced instead by the old school Renaissance movement and its variety of retro clones. I realized I was just happiest with the older editions. And yet, I missed many of the features of third edition.
So I came up with house rules for a specific retro clone to try to bridge the gap. And the more house rules I wrote, the more I realized it was essentially becoming its own game. Unfortunately, by this time all the good names were taken, so I went with Monsters & Ruins." [Download]
[h=3]Peasants... in a World of Monsters[/h]
By Aaron Infante-Levy. As the name suggests, players take on the role of peasants facing a supernatural monster against which they have no hope of defeating. If they’re clever, however, they might survive the monster or escape to warn real adventurers. "Peasants…in a World of Monsters" is a scenario-based RPG, meaning that the core rules are quite simple and complexity is introduced via scenarios. "Peasants…in a World of Monsters" is also an old school RPG in the sense that player ingenuity is far more important than character skill or rules expertise. After all, peasants do not wield magic swords or cast great spells. It can be used standalone or as a tie-in with your gaming group's favorite fantasy RPG, and works best for one-shot games. [Download]
[h=3]Dragon-Slayers of the Rio Grande[/h]
By Erick Johnson. A Tex-Mex game of old west monster-huntin’. It’s a Western game with a focus on dragon-slaying. There are three types of enemies: banditos, chupacabras, and dragons. Stats include important things like Grit, Justice, Fanciness, and Killing. [Download]
[h=3]Body Horror RPG[/h]
By Warren Davidson. The Body Horror RPG is a mature themed, intimate game of survival horror with players fighting hideous and painful bodily transformations whilst being subjected to declining humanity, sanity and emotional trauma. It’s a grim setting where the protagonists may not survive (at least in the sense of remaining human) and emphasises what it is to be human. Can the Players fight monstrous desires and cling on to what humanity they have left? Will they find a cure to their condition or at least punish those responsible? What will they become? [Download]
[h=3]Divine Right[/h]
By Andrew J Lucas. Divine Right is a role playing game using the open gaming license, in which the players assume the role of typical adventures but with a twist. The world of Divine Right has been devastated by the final battle between good and evil and as you might expect it has not gone well for the world as a whole. Call it the apocalypse or ragnarok it makes little difference. The world has suffered greatly and the various pantheons of good and evil clashed with such violence that both were destroyed. A new world is struggling to emerge from the ruins of the old, but this world is bereft of gods, good, evil or indifferent. [Download; plus checksheet]
[h=3]LINK[/h]
By Luigi Castellani. By the end of the 27th century, the Golden age seemed to have come back: poverty and strife had been banished long ago and the potential for infinite growth and expansion was at hand. In this moment of glory disaster struck: the Matter Transfer Matrix that connected all the worlds suddenly stopped functioning and FTL communication across the galaxy ceased. Without apparent reason the Earth Unity of Sentients collapsed in one day.
LINK is a rotating artificial habitat built by the EUS to act as a nexus in the galaxy-wide MTM.
LINK is a transhumanist role-playing game. [Download]
[h=3]DoC RPG (The Deck of Cards RPG)[/h]
By Chris Field. This game is designed to be a framework for simple storytelling and roleplaying. It uses ordinary decks of playing cards to create characters and resolve encounters, with a narrative driven by players and a(n optional) storyteller. The mechanics are simple, with plenty of scope for future complication, some of which I have had the time to write up under Optional Rules. You can play it as a solo challenge, a cooperative story or a competitive adventure game. Most of all, it's about having some low-cost creative fun! [Download]
[h=3]PET: Pet Extra Terestrial[/h]
By D. Surin. In this family friendly d6 system you play as an Animalia, an alien from another galaxy that is stranded on Earth masquerading a pet. This is a very open end game with varying objectives, super powers for pets, and other goodies! [Download]
[h=3]Context RPG[/h]
By JMBeraldo. The Context RPG system focus on allowing players and narrators to craft fun adventures and stories without creating too many constraints.
The system replaces tons of numbers that predefine what a character is capable of doing to a set of player-made descriptions that both give characters a story and context, and work as source for imagining how to handle conflicts and challenges.
It can be used to any kind of setting and any kind of RPG style, be it a gritty dungeon delve or a court intrigue in the 25th century. [Download]
[h=3]Chaos Lord[/h]
By Tobias Loc. Chaos Lord is a minimalist-rpg where the players take the role of Demons of Elder Chaos possessing a cabal of sorcerers. From one to eight players can take part in a harrowing metaphysical adventure. Will they rip the universe to bloody shreds and dance upon its burning corpse or will they succumb to the weakness of their new flesh and begin to feel the sickness that mortal men calls compassion?
Featuring:
A simple, quick, and brutal combat system.
An Exploding Dice mechanic that lets an outmatched combatant turn the tables on a more skilled adversary (at least once in a while).
Three Magick Systems.
An advancement system where acts of wanton destruction, ruin, and death are rewarded. Killing a few kings and emperors only gets you so far. To advance quickly you must engineer the decline of empires and reduce once enlightened civilizations to barbarism.
Lots of supernatural mayhem and carnage! [Download]
[h=3]Doctors & Nurses[/h]
By Mike Eagling. “Doctors & Nurses” is a tabletop role-playing game of diagnosis and treatment inspired by television medical dramas. Players assume the roles of medical practitioners in a busy metropolitan teaching hospital. Each game episode the Player Characters are set challenges by the Games Master in the form of patients who must be diagnosed and treated.
The rules presented herein provide a framework for “simulating” the tasks of physicians and the effects ofmedical conditions. The objective of the game is to use this framework to tell dramatic stories. [Download]
[h=3]Reality Warp[/h]
By Joshua John Kitz. Reality Warp is a narrative role-playing game about people with unnatural abilities. Often it involves secret government organizations and their opposition, either by rival organizations or rebellions. These rebels may just be trying to live in peace. Reality Warp owes its inspiration to a host of sources including films like Push, Jumper,
Chronicle and The Matrix, as well as comic books like Mind MGMT. [Download]
[h=3]Cliffhanger[/h]
By Orion Rubic. Cliffhanger is a short advanced role-playing game system. Each player creates and controls a character and all together participates in a story created by the Show Runner (SR). It’s an advanced game system as it offers a few open ended rules that require a lot of improvisation and refers common RPG concepts that may prove difficult or unfamiliar for more inexperienced players. [Download]
[h=3]Eight-Sided Quest[/h]
By Erik Evjen. Eight-Sided Quest RPG is a retro-clone system that uses d8s for all things involving dice-rolling. Saving Throws, Attack Rolls, anything and everything uses d8s.
This is a proof of concept demonstration, however the system would be compatible with most RPG supplements. [Download; plus title page]
[h=3]Girls, Gore & Gold[/h]
By Mothshade. Girls, Gore & Gold is a lighthearted dungeon romp game where the heroes are often driven to compete against each other to achieve individual goals. Players and Gamemaster both will be flinging spare "Bump & Grind" dice to enhance die rolls or knock them down a peg. The attached PDF covers essentially the Player's Guide for this game. [Download]
[h=3]Eternal Harmonies[/h]
By Kexizzoc. A hacked D&D 3.5/4e, stripped down to the bones and rebuilt as a tongue-in-cheek fantasy game in a world where magic is music and adventuring parties are 4-man bands. Sort of a cross between the new Gamma World and the video game Rock Band. [Download]
[h=3]A Familiar Story[/h]
By MrMyth. A fast-paced and easy to learn Role-Playing Game about playing as one of the unsung heroes of the adventuring world – a Wizard's familiar, one of those rare and wondrous creatures who somehow end up doing all the dirty work for their boss, when they aren't simply being forgotten and ignored. [Download]
[h=3]Spectra[/h]
By Bungo Underhill. The world of Spectra is in turmoil. For time immemorial the tribes, races and nations have feuded fought and warred over lands, resources and ideals. But the peoples of Spectra and the factions in these conflicts have always lived, strived, fought, worshipped and died by attuning themselves to the Colours – the fundamental strands of existence; harnessing their powers, embodying their virtues and vices and shaping the world around them into the colours images.
But now a shadow is being cast across the previously vibrant world of Spectra. In remote area’s shadows linger and scholars speculate that the lands and its inhabitants are being stripped of their connection to the colours. Reports of restless dead are becoming more frequent and harder to dismiss as the fancies of drunks and dreamers and a number of brave, foolish or reckless adventurers, would be heroes and fortune seekers have set off to discover this darkness’ cause, drive back its influence or work out how to harness and exploit this new power. [Download]
[h=3]Zombie Attack![/h]
By ashockney. In the game zombie attack, your characters will attack, defend, or avoid a zombie infestation. Zombie attack is a solitaire RPG for one player, focused on innovation and simplicity in design. To play Zombie Attack requires pen, paper, and 3d6 (six sided dice). [Download]
[h=3]Seven Days[/h]
By Jeremy Forbing. A Super-Heroic OGL Mash-Up RPG About Braver New Worlds.
The Crisis can’t be avoided.
Your world will end. A new one will take its place.
The greatest heroes of the doomed universe placed their faith in you.
You’ve left the Earth that is ending, in order to prepare the Earth that is to come.
If you can sow the seeds of wonder you’ve brought to this more mundane realm, your
mentors’ legacy will live on; the golden age of superhuman heroes can dawn anew.
But if you fail, the bright and colorful glories of your dying home will be forgotten forever, lost amid the grayness of this duller world.
The forces of evil got here first. They want a world without heroes, a world they can rule from the shadows. They’ve got a head-start on reshaping the new universe in their image,
and they’ll do everything in their power to stop you. And that power is considerable.
But so is yours.
Your Earth’s mightiest champions made you their successors for a reason.
You have seven days to make a new world.
Are you up to it? [Download]
[h=3]Follow the Leader[/h]
FOLLOW THE LEADER is a dungeon exploring game about envy, temptations and horrible acts of desperation. Each scenario is played out as a one-shot session in about 4 hours of play. The players portray troubled and desperate henchmen that accompany their „Heroic Leader“ through a short dungeon. The gamemaster tests the henchmen’s inabilities and, as their desperation slowly increases, tempts them to follow risky courses of action. Betrayal, thievery and backstabbing ensue and whoever survives the mayhem may win the game. [Download; plus character sheet]
[h=1]Disqualified Entries[/h]
At the time of posting, I have been unable to read all of the entries. This means that it is possible that entries may still be disqualified - if you do spot an obvious use of someone else's IP, please let me know! From the original list, I disqualified three entries; however, they are still worth checking out!
I encourage you to read as many of these as you can. Some are just a page long; others are over 200 pages! Most are in PDF format, but you'll see some RTF, .txt, and others here. And please do comment on and discuss these entries - I'm sure the authors will thank you for it!
Right-click and save these files to download them.
The voting booth will remain open for one week from the time I hit "Submit" on this post. Contestants are welcome to campaign for and encourage votes; however, any contestant found encouraging anybody to cast more than one vote for an entry will be disqualified (you can, however, vote for up to three entries).
[h=3]How Do I Vote?[/h]
You can vote for up to THREE entries. Voting totals will remain hidden until the voting period is complete.
[h=1]What should I judge on?[/h]
Your voting criteria are your own. You can base your vote on anything you wish - but here are some suggestions for your consideration:
- Is it an RPG?
- Would you buy it?
- Is it complete?
- Does it feel fresh or original?
- Is it well-presented?
- Do you want to play it?
[h=3]Single Page Game System[/h]
By JamesonCourage. The Single Page Game System is good for any game where you follow genre logic, and are okay filling in the blanks with your own narrative. [Download]
[h=3]Simple Percent System[/h]
By NancyButtpeach. Designed to foster role-playing and immersion, with some interesting mechanical progression. [Download]
[h=3]Success[/h]
By Kirt Dankmyer. Success is a role-playing game designed for more "cinematic" genres, from Golden Age superheroics and pulp to certain kinds of children's literature. Any genre where the protagonists are extremely competent or extremely lucky is a good match for Success. [Download; this is a .txt file which you will need to rename as a .html file]
[h=3]Strangers of Fiction[/h]
By Kevin Ohannessian. Everyone's lives are filled with stories: books and comics we read, films and TV shows we watch, the various games we play. All of these stories and characters create a collective culture, a multitude of genres and archetypes and tropes.
Many of the great writers mix genres--Neil Gaiman's American Gods or Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, for example. Well what if you can play in a world, not unlike the fore-mentioned League, where many fictional figures come together. It could be Victorian London; it could be a moonbase in the future; it could be New York in the 60s. And what if your characters can shift this world of fiction, affect the stories there, the there there? This is the premise of Strangers. [Download; plus character sheet and introductory session]
[h=3]Men of Power[/h]
By Murph Murphy. In the land filled with FIGHT men, COOL men and BAD men, some FIGHT men, and COOL men rise to FIGHT and BE COOL against the onslaught on the BAD men. [Download]
[h=3]Godsrealm[/h]
By Anubis Dread. "Godsrealm is a game in which the players take the role of a pantheon of gods working to create a world together. It is loosely based off of a forum game, by which I mean the concept is: mechanically is is pretty stark in its differences." [Download]
[h=3]The Dark Isles[/h]
By aglashier. You play an adventurer in a dark world of swords and sorcery. [Download]
[h=3]Sol Invictus - a Sci-Fi RPG[/h]
By Stephen James Jones. "This is Sol Invictus, a Sci-Fi RPG which I wrote in the 1990s and did nothing with, so here goes. It has some vague similarities to the movie, Avatar. Unique Selling Point: This is the only RPG in which the PCs are given a 5kt tactical nuke as part of their starting equipment (on their Hydra Shuttle), and permission to use it..." [Download]
[h=3]The Heights of Etherian[/h]
By Josh Demers. Battle rival Templars! Sweep the fair maiden into your arms and sail away laughing at your foiled foes! Capture ghosts and ... burn their tormented spirits ... to power your ghostship ... using their agonized screams as weapons?
The Heights of Etherian is a game of swashbuckling, dark magic, and darker science, set in the decadent city of Etherian. Join the Temple of Man to overcome the Ghostwrights. Attend the Academy of Cold Fire and revel in your mastery over the spiritual energies of magic. Many paths to take, many stories to tell! [Download]
[h=3]Hand of Fate[/h]
By Vyvyan Basterd. It is a multi-genre storyteller game that uses the Tarot deck for character creation, plot development and conflict resolution. The event was a supernatural horror mystery set during the Siege of Leningrad. [Download]
[h=3]Tournament Grounds[/h]
By Malcolm Northwinter. It's D&D meets Sci-Fi meets Modern meets anything you can muster up from your old character sheets! Finally, put them to use. Welcome to Tournament Grounds! This is not a simple tournament. This is not a tournament for heroes who wish to spend their days talking to kings and dealing with the affairs of state. This tournament is about power, about grind. It’s about killing as many of your enemies as you can before you run out of lives. If you squeeze every last bit of potential from your abilities, you might survive this tournament. [Download]
[h=3]The Token System[/h]
By Cameron Morgan. At its heart, any role-playing game is about creating a collaborative narrative among all of the players. In order to produce the tension necessary to drive the game, most emphasize uncertainty by adding a random element to the mechanics.
There are other ways to produce this tension, however.
This game is not random. In this game, the narrative tension is derived from resource-management and strategy—a constant give-and-take between the players and the game-manager.
Do not be deceived; this game is not a mere test of wits, nor an exercise in rules-mastery. It is a fast-moving game, which can be approached with any level of caution and forethought, or none at all. No matter the approach, it will be fun, for it is, at its heart, a collaborative narrative-building game. [Download]
[h=3]Quad System[/h]
By Thomas Box all. The Quad system is a generic system that can be used in any setting from Fantasy to Science Fiction. The core is the Quadrant system that divides a character up into four areas (physical, mental, social, and magical). [Download]
[h=3]Daughters of Lear[/h]
By darkcyril. Daughters of Lear is the storytelling roleplaying game in the tradition of games like Fiasco. Drawing on the timeless themes and traditions of playwrights like Shakespeare, Daughters of Lear puts you and your friends in the roles of the principle actors of your very own play, utilizing a simple dice system to keep things fair and balanced as well as expendable resources to heighten the drama and give your character an edge in reaching his own goals in the scenario you've chosen. [Download]
[h=3]New Worlds[/h]
By Domini Writing. You've got a group of non-gamer friends together who are willing to play a role playing game. But they're not too excited about wizards and dragons, and until you showed them, they didn't even know there were dice that had more than 6 sides. "New Worlds" is the game for you.
Create a world together with characters anyone can imagine. Take turns narrating the adventure. Collect rewards each time you pick up the dice.
You don't need to study a massive rule book to call yourself a role player. You don't need to own a bucketful of dice to enter a world of heroes and drama. You just need New Worlds. [Download; plus character sheet]
[h=3]The Hope[/h]
By Adrián Gómez. This game, The Hope, is inspired by some old movies, as Labyrinth, with David Bowie, or The Neverending Story. (oh, and the PC game Limbo!)
In modern times, Hope is disappearing from the world, and Fear is winning their eternal struggle. Only those who still retain their innocence and a pure heart will be able to change this. [Download]
[h=3]Theosis[/h]
By Stephen Rowse. Each and every child is taught the story the Prophet King. He is the glorious leader who defeated the gods and freed us from enslavement.
All learn that it is only through his magic, the Church, and the Questioners that we are kept safe.
These are lies.
The Church is the whip of a tyrant masquerading as a shield of reason. The past has been rewritten by the victors, but the future is yours to decide.
Theosis is a new ‘science fiction masquerading as fantasy’ roleplaying game system and setting created from scratch in the last week by Stephen Rowe aka Deadclown. [Download]
[h=3]PIN (Play It Now) RPG[/h]
By Daniel Eugene Schorr. Pin (Play It Now) Role Playing Game is designed as a framework for building your own adventures and telling stories through your imagination.
Players imagine their characters. Narrator’s imagine the world and setting. Together they create the possibilities for endless stories. Pin has no fixed setting or genre, it can be used to play games of another imagined. [Download]
[h=3]Aftermath[/h]
By Jeff Nitzburg. A quick, gritty post-apocalyptic RPG. [Download; plus combat basics; plus character sheet]
[h=3]Asylum[/h]
By The Warden. Asylum is a roleplaying game of violence and survival. It's just you and nearly 300 other convicts trapped on a deserted island with a ticket for someone to go home. Except there's only room for one and there are no rules on how you can get that ticket. It's called the Contest and it pits convict against convict in a blood spewing frenzy. Ironically enough, you must work with other convicts to stay alive as long as possible, pushing through to the many zones of the island they call Asylum.
This RPG provides a storytelling system whereby players roll Fate/Fudge dice to determine the number of times players and the Director can describe the next part of the story. Players can use reactions to narrate their way out of trouble with the Director plotting against these convicts as there can only be one standing when the Contest ends... right? [Download]
[h=3]The Empire of the Raven[/h]
By kitsune9. The Old World is in a new age of prosperity and exploration. Gold is flowing out of the Shieldwall Mountains, many colonists are flocking on the ships leaving for the New World, and fleets of merchant profiteers, backed by their powerful noble patrons are embarked on many quests to recover the lost treasures and gold of the Dark Continent.
Yet not all is well.
The Theocracy of Zadene has split from the Church and there is talk of a fourth holy war between the Empire and the Theocracy. Those merchant fleets that do manage to return usually bring back stark raving madmen who saw the many Vile Horrors hidden away in the dark infested jungles of the Dark Continent. There are reports of entire colonies who have met horrific fates by some unknown horror in the New World.
The Empress, who has lived for over 800 years, demands answers and wants results. Those who please her are rewarded with titles and riches. Those who fail are sent to the obliettes deep below the Royal Palace where they will rot to contemplate their failure.
The world of Raventerra is a world of magic, exploration, and where a fast swordarm and a faster dragonshot will get results. It is also a world of terrible horror as the former Angel of Death, now known as The Grim seeks to corrupt all under its sway. [Download]
[h=3]Monsters & Ruins[/h]
By Jeremy Reaban. "This is my entry, Monsters & Ruins. It's basically yet another retro clone, one I had been working on.
I was a very enthusiastic fan of 3rd edition when it came out and that enthusiasm lasted several years, waning slightly before finally burning out. When the 5th Edition was announced, I was drawn back to the game, but quickly seduced instead by the old school Renaissance movement and its variety of retro clones. I realized I was just happiest with the older editions. And yet, I missed many of the features of third edition.
So I came up with house rules for a specific retro clone to try to bridge the gap. And the more house rules I wrote, the more I realized it was essentially becoming its own game. Unfortunately, by this time all the good names were taken, so I went with Monsters & Ruins." [Download]
[h=3]Peasants... in a World of Monsters[/h]
By Aaron Infante-Levy. As the name suggests, players take on the role of peasants facing a supernatural monster against which they have no hope of defeating. If they’re clever, however, they might survive the monster or escape to warn real adventurers. "Peasants…in a World of Monsters" is a scenario-based RPG, meaning that the core rules are quite simple and complexity is introduced via scenarios. "Peasants…in a World of Monsters" is also an old school RPG in the sense that player ingenuity is far more important than character skill or rules expertise. After all, peasants do not wield magic swords or cast great spells. It can be used standalone or as a tie-in with your gaming group's favorite fantasy RPG, and works best for one-shot games. [Download]
[h=3]Dragon-Slayers of the Rio Grande[/h]
By Erick Johnson. A Tex-Mex game of old west monster-huntin’. It’s a Western game with a focus on dragon-slaying. There are three types of enemies: banditos, chupacabras, and dragons. Stats include important things like Grit, Justice, Fanciness, and Killing. [Download]
[h=3]Body Horror RPG[/h]
By Warren Davidson. The Body Horror RPG is a mature themed, intimate game of survival horror with players fighting hideous and painful bodily transformations whilst being subjected to declining humanity, sanity and emotional trauma. It’s a grim setting where the protagonists may not survive (at least in the sense of remaining human) and emphasises what it is to be human. Can the Players fight monstrous desires and cling on to what humanity they have left? Will they find a cure to their condition or at least punish those responsible? What will they become? [Download]
[h=3]Divine Right[/h]
By Andrew J Lucas. Divine Right is a role playing game using the open gaming license, in which the players assume the role of typical adventures but with a twist. The world of Divine Right has been devastated by the final battle between good and evil and as you might expect it has not gone well for the world as a whole. Call it the apocalypse or ragnarok it makes little difference. The world has suffered greatly and the various pantheons of good and evil clashed with such violence that both were destroyed. A new world is struggling to emerge from the ruins of the old, but this world is bereft of gods, good, evil or indifferent. [Download; plus checksheet]
[h=3]LINK[/h]
By Luigi Castellani. By the end of the 27th century, the Golden age seemed to have come back: poverty and strife had been banished long ago and the potential for infinite growth and expansion was at hand. In this moment of glory disaster struck: the Matter Transfer Matrix that connected all the worlds suddenly stopped functioning and FTL communication across the galaxy ceased. Without apparent reason the Earth Unity of Sentients collapsed in one day.
LINK is a rotating artificial habitat built by the EUS to act as a nexus in the galaxy-wide MTM.
LINK is a transhumanist role-playing game. [Download]
[h=3]DoC RPG (The Deck of Cards RPG)[/h]
By Chris Field. This game is designed to be a framework for simple storytelling and roleplaying. It uses ordinary decks of playing cards to create characters and resolve encounters, with a narrative driven by players and a(n optional) storyteller. The mechanics are simple, with plenty of scope for future complication, some of which I have had the time to write up under Optional Rules. You can play it as a solo challenge, a cooperative story or a competitive adventure game. Most of all, it's about having some low-cost creative fun! [Download]
[h=3]PET: Pet Extra Terestrial[/h]
By D. Surin. In this family friendly d6 system you play as an Animalia, an alien from another galaxy that is stranded on Earth masquerading a pet. This is a very open end game with varying objectives, super powers for pets, and other goodies! [Download]
[h=3]Context RPG[/h]
By JMBeraldo. The Context RPG system focus on allowing players and narrators to craft fun adventures and stories without creating too many constraints.
The system replaces tons of numbers that predefine what a character is capable of doing to a set of player-made descriptions that both give characters a story and context, and work as source for imagining how to handle conflicts and challenges.
It can be used to any kind of setting and any kind of RPG style, be it a gritty dungeon delve or a court intrigue in the 25th century. [Download]
[h=3]Chaos Lord[/h]
By Tobias Loc. Chaos Lord is a minimalist-rpg where the players take the role of Demons of Elder Chaos possessing a cabal of sorcerers. From one to eight players can take part in a harrowing metaphysical adventure. Will they rip the universe to bloody shreds and dance upon its burning corpse or will they succumb to the weakness of their new flesh and begin to feel the sickness that mortal men calls compassion?
Featuring:
A simple, quick, and brutal combat system.
An Exploding Dice mechanic that lets an outmatched combatant turn the tables on a more skilled adversary (at least once in a while).
Three Magick Systems.
An advancement system where acts of wanton destruction, ruin, and death are rewarded. Killing a few kings and emperors only gets you so far. To advance quickly you must engineer the decline of empires and reduce once enlightened civilizations to barbarism.
Lots of supernatural mayhem and carnage! [Download]
[h=3]Doctors & Nurses[/h]
By Mike Eagling. “Doctors & Nurses” is a tabletop role-playing game of diagnosis and treatment inspired by television medical dramas. Players assume the roles of medical practitioners in a busy metropolitan teaching hospital. Each game episode the Player Characters are set challenges by the Games Master in the form of patients who must be diagnosed and treated.
The rules presented herein provide a framework for “simulating” the tasks of physicians and the effects ofmedical conditions. The objective of the game is to use this framework to tell dramatic stories. [Download]
[h=3]Reality Warp[/h]
By Joshua John Kitz. Reality Warp is a narrative role-playing game about people with unnatural abilities. Often it involves secret government organizations and their opposition, either by rival organizations or rebellions. These rebels may just be trying to live in peace. Reality Warp owes its inspiration to a host of sources including films like Push, Jumper,
Chronicle and The Matrix, as well as comic books like Mind MGMT. [Download]
[h=3]Cliffhanger[/h]
By Orion Rubic. Cliffhanger is a short advanced role-playing game system. Each player creates and controls a character and all together participates in a story created by the Show Runner (SR). It’s an advanced game system as it offers a few open ended rules that require a lot of improvisation and refers common RPG concepts that may prove difficult or unfamiliar for more inexperienced players. [Download]
[h=3]Eight-Sided Quest[/h]
By Erik Evjen. Eight-Sided Quest RPG is a retro-clone system that uses d8s for all things involving dice-rolling. Saving Throws, Attack Rolls, anything and everything uses d8s.
This is a proof of concept demonstration, however the system would be compatible with most RPG supplements. [Download; plus title page]
[h=3]Girls, Gore & Gold[/h]
By Mothshade. Girls, Gore & Gold is a lighthearted dungeon romp game where the heroes are often driven to compete against each other to achieve individual goals. Players and Gamemaster both will be flinging spare "Bump & Grind" dice to enhance die rolls or knock them down a peg. The attached PDF covers essentially the Player's Guide for this game. [Download]
[h=3]Eternal Harmonies[/h]
By Kexizzoc. A hacked D&D 3.5/4e, stripped down to the bones and rebuilt as a tongue-in-cheek fantasy game in a world where magic is music and adventuring parties are 4-man bands. Sort of a cross between the new Gamma World and the video game Rock Band. [Download]
[h=3]A Familiar Story[/h]
By MrMyth. A fast-paced and easy to learn Role-Playing Game about playing as one of the unsung heroes of the adventuring world – a Wizard's familiar, one of those rare and wondrous creatures who somehow end up doing all the dirty work for their boss, when they aren't simply being forgotten and ignored. [Download]
[h=3]Spectra[/h]
By Bungo Underhill. The world of Spectra is in turmoil. For time immemorial the tribes, races and nations have feuded fought and warred over lands, resources and ideals. But the peoples of Spectra and the factions in these conflicts have always lived, strived, fought, worshipped and died by attuning themselves to the Colours – the fundamental strands of existence; harnessing their powers, embodying their virtues and vices and shaping the world around them into the colours images.
But now a shadow is being cast across the previously vibrant world of Spectra. In remote area’s shadows linger and scholars speculate that the lands and its inhabitants are being stripped of their connection to the colours. Reports of restless dead are becoming more frequent and harder to dismiss as the fancies of drunks and dreamers and a number of brave, foolish or reckless adventurers, would be heroes and fortune seekers have set off to discover this darkness’ cause, drive back its influence or work out how to harness and exploit this new power. [Download]
[h=3]Zombie Attack![/h]
By ashockney. In the game zombie attack, your characters will attack, defend, or avoid a zombie infestation. Zombie attack is a solitaire RPG for one player, focused on innovation and simplicity in design. To play Zombie Attack requires pen, paper, and 3d6 (six sided dice). [Download]
[h=3]Seven Days[/h]
By Jeremy Forbing. A Super-Heroic OGL Mash-Up RPG About Braver New Worlds.
The Crisis can’t be avoided.
Your world will end. A new one will take its place.
The greatest heroes of the doomed universe placed their faith in you.
You’ve left the Earth that is ending, in order to prepare the Earth that is to come.
If you can sow the seeds of wonder you’ve brought to this more mundane realm, your
mentors’ legacy will live on; the golden age of superhuman heroes can dawn anew.
But if you fail, the bright and colorful glories of your dying home will be forgotten forever, lost amid the grayness of this duller world.
The forces of evil got here first. They want a world without heroes, a world they can rule from the shadows. They’ve got a head-start on reshaping the new universe in their image,
and they’ll do everything in their power to stop you. And that power is considerable.
But so is yours.
Your Earth’s mightiest champions made you their successors for a reason.
You have seven days to make a new world.
Are you up to it? [Download]
[h=3]Follow the Leader[/h]
FOLLOW THE LEADER is a dungeon exploring game about envy, temptations and horrible acts of desperation. Each scenario is played out as a one-shot session in about 4 hours of play. The players portray troubled and desperate henchmen that accompany their „Heroic Leader“ through a short dungeon. The gamemaster tests the henchmen’s inabilities and, as their desperation slowly increases, tempts them to follow risky courses of action. Betrayal, thievery and backstabbing ensue and whoever survives the mayhem may win the game. [Download; plus character sheet]
[h=1]Disqualified Entries[/h]
At the time of posting, I have been unable to read all of the entries. This means that it is possible that entries may still be disqualified - if you do spot an obvious use of someone else's IP, please let me know! From the original list, I disqualified three entries; however, they are still worth checking out!
- MERP House Rules (unfortunately MERP is not an open source system, and Tolkien's Middle Earth needs expensive licenses and agreements to use!)
- The Sound of Aliens (interesting concept; but The Sound of Music and Aliens are both third-party IP)
- Down and Out in Gadding-Thoth (unfortunately the entry was a link to a Drop Box, not attached to the post)
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). It was an interesting exercise to do because it gives an idea of some considerations to make when under such a tight deadline, what to include, what not to include. I wanted to also write up backgrounds and more professions (such as the Aberrant Witch) and detail the client states of the Empire. Of course, the weapon and armor system would be nice to be expanded and a character sheet nicely done would be great. A sample adventure would be great too as I have a couple ideas for those, but am hoping the GM gets some ideas from the Campaign Setting and Secrets chapters.
