Hey folks! Earlier today I went perusing on RPGNow for some of their free RPG offerings. It's a fun task and it helps broaden my horizons while also allowing me to pluck some ideas for future campaigns, be they baddies or encounters or what have you. Much respect to the many authors out there on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG, you guys and gals rock! (On a semi-related side-note, I am making the assumption that these two different sites are owned by the same people... The layout for one is strikingly similar. Correct me if I'm wrong!)
It feels like Halloween going about and getting free goodies. I ended up downloading quite a few things and so here I am going to talk about them:
One of the first things that struck me as awesome was the Dungeon Without A Master: Mechanical Mayhem by Svalin Games. The product itself is free and as it sounds, a randomly generated dungeon filled with random traps and baddies that can be ran without a DM for 4e. Each monster listed in the book has its own tactics and acts in a certain manner. It's pretty simplistic in that regards, but at the same time it seems like fun. Here is the premise from the RPGNow page:
- Dungeon Without a Master: Mechanical Mayhem provides a means to run a random dungeon with random encounters without even needing a GM! The Mechanical Mayhem mansion is a dungeon run by an evil wizard who has a passion for creating constructs and other mechanical contraptions. It is populated with mechanical warriors, constructs, biomechanical hybrid creatures and rust monsters come to feast on all the scrap that gets produced. The owner of the dungeon has replaced his body with a mechanical frame in a ritual similar to becoming a lich and spends his days running a factory which produces constructs purely for his amusement. The dungeon is designed for level 8 characters and tips for making a mechanically themed party are included.
To me this seems like a blast for an off-session game. Missing a few players? Smack this bad boy together and have some fun. Seriously, how can you say no to terms like "Robo-Lich" or "Biomechanical Kobold"??? And best of all, it's free! I will say there are a few downsides, the warehouse/dungeon/whatever is not mapped out and that will have to be something that you as the players (or as DM) decide on your own.
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Another one of the freebies I snagged was Silent7 Seven Game's Garnering the Cult's Favor. It's a fairly simple low-level skill challenge for 4e that can easily transition into combat on a failure. Great to plug into any game and it looks like a lot of fun. This could easily be read and played as a "Theater of the Mind" scenario. Here is the blurb from the author:
For as long as anyone can remember, a dark cult has plagued the land. Its members gather at night in carnivals of flesh; they perform dark rituals and carnal acts in orgies of necrosis and blood. They have been tolerated.
Recently, a faction of the cult has splintered off. This splintered faction has begun unfiltered killing throughout the city. In order to learn the origin of the splinter faction, the PCs must infiltrate them.
This is a free skill challenge for a group of level 6 players characters. They must pretend to aid as the splinter faction slaughters a group of the original cultists; they must make it look like they're helping to gain the cult faction's favor without getting any blood on their own hands.
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Among other products, I ended up snagging the free The One Ring: Words of the Wise for The One Ring game system by Cubicle 7 Entertainment. (As if the title didn't give that away!) While I've never actually played The One Ring LoTR system, it definitely served to pique my interest in it. I will have to check it out at a future time, but from what I've read of the review it looks like good times.
- When the land of the Woodmen is threatened, the company must carry the words of the wise in a quest for aid. Success depends upon their actions as much as message they deliver, and there is even more at stake than they realise.
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In keeping with exploring other systems and mining them for ideas, I checked out The Road to Azamar, a Cinema6 RPG system game published by Wicked North Games. The concept of the adventure itself is pretty simple, some adventurers have become lost and you are hired to track them down. The adventure is split into 3 scenes: being hired, the investigation, and rescuing the hostages. It's a fairly short adventure, but I see no reason why this couldn't be easily translated into a number of D&D editions. Here is the blurb:
- The Road to Azamar - Work together to fulfill the first step of a greater conspiracy as your characters help to sculpt the destiny of a world.Azamar is a massive gaming world full of adventure, danger, and magic! Take a look at the original Core Rules and Players Guide book as the quintessential entrance into an expansive world fraught with turmoil. Change the tide of the world, choosing to save or conquer it, today!
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Lastly for this blog post, I found the free retro-clone Dungeon Raiders by Brent P. Newhall. Dugeon Raiders is a simplified love letter to the OD&D realm that plays fast and furiously while retaining the iconic treasures of editions gone by. The rules themselves are simple and compose a 10 page pdf and can be learned in a quick 10 minute read through. If you are itching for some OD&D-inspired fun but don't have time to mess with Swords & Wizardry or OSRIC, be sure to check out Dungeon Raiders. Here is the publisher's blurb:
- Yet another retroclone, Dungeon Raiders simplifies Original D&D and early D&D into one straightforward fantasy RPG system. Included are stats, rules, and spells for characters up to level 3, and it'll probably take you a while to get there, thanks to the lists of monsters and treasure for your party to encounter.
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Before we conclude this blog post, I want to extend a thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review and critique Legend4ry D&D. Your insights have been helpful and I look forward to making some tweaks and releasing an edited version within the next week or so.
For those of you who have not done so, feel free to check out the free download of the pdf of the Legend4ry D&D Basic Rules here. I'd love feedback if you have any!
Until next time,
-blob
You can follow me on Twitter @Sorcerer_Blob or via the hashtag #legend4ry.
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