Negative Space: role-playing games
- About Gaming
- Elder archive of information about role-playing games from before the web, and the web’s infancy.
- Advanced Role-Playing Mechanics
- A freeware post-holocaust game.
- The Adventure Guide’s Handbook
- Weave fantasy stories around characters that you and your friends create. As a Gods & Monsters Adventure Guide you will present a fantastic world to your players’ characters: all of its great cities, lost ruins, deep forests, and horrendous creatures.
- Anarcha Australis
- A freeware post-holocaust game… set in Australia.
- The Biblyon Broadsheet
- Like adventurers of old you will delve into forgotten tombs where creatures of myth stalk the darkness. You will search uncharted wilderness for lost knowledge and hidden treasure. Where the hand-scrawled sign warns “beyond here lie dragons,” your stories begin.
- Biblyon the Great
- This zine is dedicated to articles about the fantasy role-playing game Gods & Monsters, and other random musings.
- The Brand X Hero’s Guide
- The rest of the rules tell you how to create a superhero, what your numbers mean, and the rest of that shit. This book gives you some pointers on how to play the damn game. Consider this a primer on the physics, sociology, and politics of a world with super heroes. This is a world where anything can happen, and, sooner or later, everything does.
- Bubble Gum Crisis/Shadowrun Conversions
- Character conversions for Shadowrun.
- The Cellphone Problem in horror roleplaying
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Modern technology makes isolation, both physical and informational, much more difficult. Game masters in modern games need to recognize that isolation is too much like a railroad, and prepare adventures accordingly.
- Character Oriented Role-Playing Engine
- Fantasy game focusing on characters?
- Childish things: the decline of toys and the fall of man
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The old admonishment to put away childish things misses, in a very important sense, a critical point: we can never put away childish things. The way we interact with toys as children is how we interact with life as adults. If your toys have not taught you to sift evidence, weigh risks, and make decisions, the world becomes a very frightening place.
- Combat Monster
- A freeware generic game. Well, generic in the sense that you can beat people up in any genre. This one’s pulling your funny bone, folks, and then beating you over the head with it. Enjoy!
- Cran Fantasy Shell
- a freeware fantasy game
- Death or Glory
- A freeware fantasy game.
- Die Roller
- Gods & Monsters uses d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and d100. What is a d4? a d20? What is a d100? What do these dice look like, and how do you read them?
- Dissecting the Magic System
- When changing the way that magic works in the game, remember that how it works is part of the trade-off of playing a sorceror vs. playing other character classes.
- Do You Believe in the Ways of Magic?
- Varying magic according to the culture that uses it.
- Dramatic License (146.1 KB)
- Cinematic role-playing, either as cinematic adventures or cartoons. Available as a rich text file for use in any modern word processor.
- Esoteric examples of magic
- Examples of odd systems of magic in the World of Highland.
- Excalibur
- Hard to go wrong for the price, and this is the best retelling of the Arthurian saga that I’ve seen on screen. It also includes some early parts by Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and Gabriel Byrne.
- Fading Notes for the World of Highland
- The World of Highland, consisting mostly of modifications for AD&D and DragonQuest.
- Fantasy gaming texts
- Free fantasy games, supplements, and other fantasy game info.
- Final Game Junky: The Spineless
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I don’t look at the spineless games as much because they don’t have spine: I can’t just glance over them and see their names. But these are the backbone adventures of any good D&D-style campaign.
- Frank RPG
- a shareware fantasy game
- Futuristic gaming texts
- Games set in the near or far future, and information for campaigns set in the future.
- Game Junky
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The gaming shelf meme: James Maliszewski wants to see our junk.
- Game Junky II: The Hall Closet
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I keep the box sets and gaming props in the hall closet, mainly because I don’t open them as often and they just don’t fit on a shelf without falling open.
- Game Junky III: The Office
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I keep my most referenced works either on the bookshelf behind my desk, or in the ancient black briefcase I carry to games.
- Gaming Companies & Retailers
- Web sites for role-playing game manufacturers, game aid companies, and resellers.
- Gaming Humor
- Humorous, satirical, and comedic texts regarding role-playing games.
- Gaming Law
- Role-Playing, About Gaming, Role-Playing Defense, Gaming Law
- Generic Easy Miniatures
- “GEM is a generic miniature wargaming ‘engine’. There is a point system which (hopefully) gives balanced battles. Stats are customizable for whatever style of battle one wants. Play is designed on the fast and furious style, but also with rolling handfuls of dice. If you've ever been bogged down in rolling and rolling with no resolution in sight, GEM is probably for you.”
- Generic role-playing game texts
- Generic role-playing games, and supplements for any game.
- Ghostbusters
- This is a very funny movie, and a very nice DVD. Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray, and later Ernie Hudson kick ghost ass as New York City has supernatural troubles of “biblical proportions”.
- Greatly Abbreviated Mechanics, Etc.
- “The idea of GAME is to provide an ultra-compact, flexible system that can be fit onto a single 8.5" x 11" piece of paper, front and back. GAME serves only as the barest guideline for roleplaying and leaves all details to the GM’s judgement, and is meant to ease on-the-fly additions.”
- Harlequinade
- “The Ideal World is a paranoid place where the everyday is not as it appears… or is it? Superficially, the Ideal World is our own. The technology is familiar technology. The streets are the familiar streets. The inhabitants are, mostly, the faceless people we ignore every day. Lurking within this familiar facade is the joke. All you have to do is scratch the surface. Face it, nobody lives for ever. So enjoy yourself.”
- Hazon
- a possibly freeware fantasy game
- Hero World
- A very specific (and short) game where the superheroes are humans, elves, and mercurians. And galaga creatures.
- Highland Games
- Highland Games, for the best gaming links, including free and shareware role-playing games, the Men & Supermen superhero RPG, and the original home of the NAGEE for Shadowrun.
- Highlander
- A great movie, with a good commentary, and poor video quality. Recent price drop makes it a worthwhile purchase.
- Horror gaming texts
- Free horror games, and some World of Darkness and Call of Cthulhu stuff.
- International Gaming
- Web sites for gaming clubs, or about gaming, outside of the United States. I know, horribly provincial of me.
- James Vassilakos List of Gaming Web Sites
- Many years ago, Jim Vassilakos compiled several useful things for the role-playing newsgroups. One of them was this list of cool RPG-related web sites. Rather than throw it out, I’m keeping it here for its historical value.
- Knee deep in monster frogs: A Judges Guild history
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Bill Owen, one of the early members/employees of Judges Guild, has created an amazing color collection of old Judges Guild artifacts: maps, designs, and more from the early days of JG.
- Men & Supermen
- Men & Supermen is a superhero role-playing game designed for a wide variety of characters, both of powers and power levels.
- Men & Supermen Character Sheet
- This character sheet is also a character gallery. Go to it cold and it will create the basis for a random character—including cool-sounding superhero name. Are you ready to meet THE SOUL THUNDER?
- Men & Supermen Rules
- All of the rules for Men & Supermen are here, from character generation (make what you want or roll completely randomly) to the game rules.
- Men & Supermen Starter Kit
- This is what’s left of the starter kit: PDF versions of the character sheet, character creation outline, character creation worksheet, editor’s screen, and editor’s record sheet.
- Monsters & Mazes
- “The game of dark underground labyrinths and those who abode in them. Where only the brave and the mighty will escape with marvelous gems and everprecious gold… WARNING: THIS GAME CONTAINS MATH!
- Mythus text archive
- Texts for the Mythus role-playing game.
- MYTHUS-L 1994 Compendium of all 1994 messages (947.5 KB)
- Archive of Mythus-L from 1994.
- Mythus-L Archives Home Page
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Archives for the Dangerous Journeys: Mythus® game system Mythus-L mailing list.
- Mythus-L Logs
- Archives of discussions from the Mythus-L mailing list.
- Net Games
- Complete free or shareware tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games.
- Open gaming
- Open gaming has a lot of benefits for gamers, and there’s a lot of discussion about it on the web.
- OPIGS
- a freeware generic game, but “you had to be there”. Fits on a single sheet. Of paper.
- Real Life Gaming Resources
- Things on the net that were not designed for gaming, but can be used for gaming, such as museum displays of magic in antiquity, or images of urban ruins.
- Realms of Adventure (153.6 KB)
- “This game is set in the medieval era, with castles, magic, and fantastic creatures. You can play a knight, a wizard, a rogue, a crusading priest, or any other character you chose… Looks like those barbarians kicked ass here.”
- Ringwielder
- A shareware fantasy/science fiction game. “The Orion was built using the principles of Psycho-Manipulative Energy. During its launch a terrible accident occurred. All animal and plant life was mutated, and the inhabitants were turned into characters from literature and imagination. They awaken with their old memories erased and new ones in their place, facing a starship defense system that is definitely not friendly.”
- The Road Warrior
- With the “original gore restored”, you just can’t miss! I’m not sure what gore was added back in, however, as it was pretty gory to begin with and I haven’t seen it for quite a while.
- Robot Wars
- A freeware diceless Mecha miniatures game. “The year, 2024, There are no more armies. Disputes are settled by large scale robotic wars. These are unmanned robots built by a neutral company in Switzerland.”
- Role-Playing Defense
- Information about anti-gaming organizations and people, as well as a little about the benefits of gaming.
- Role-Playing Defense text archive
- Elder role-playing game research, legal information, and rants.
- Role-Playing Discussion Groups
- Gaming clubs, mailing lists, and newsgroups.
- Role-Playing Game Additions
- Links to add-ons, modules, and supplements for a wide variety of role-playing games.
- Role-Playing Meeting Grounds
- Places to go and meet other gamers, on-line and off-line.
- Role-playing reviews
- Reviews related to role-playing games, with a focus on Gods & Monsters, and a bit of superhero gaming.
- Role-playing text archive
- Elder game info archive from before the web, and the web’s infancy.
- Role-Playing Web Sites
- Web sites for table-top, paper and pencil role-playing games. Includes links for game enhancements, free and shareware games, game companies and retailers, and real-life gaming resources.
- The Roll-Playing Game of Big Dumb Fighters
- A freeware fantasy game. “This game has been designed with gamers in mind, and we know what you want—sex and violence.”
- The Seven Samurai
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Probably the most influential samurai film, starring Toshirô Mifune and directed by Akira Kurosawa. It inspired more than just samurai: “The Magnificent Seven” was “Seven Samurai” remade into one of the most influential westerns.
- The Shell Roleplaying System
- “This is the skeleton of a FRPG system.”
- Simple Laid-Back Universal Game
- A freeware generic game. Very freeform, probably an ancestral relation to FUDGE.
- Skill Oriented Universal Playing System (84.3 KB)
- A freeware fantasy/science fiction game “based totally on skills”.
- The Snowman
- When Professor Leslie Jo Hutchinson runs to the heroes for assistance, her story sounds crazy: a mad snowman threatening to cover the world in ice? But what’s that storm spreading down from the arctic?
- Solving mysteries in role-playing games
- Solving mysteries in role-playing games requires that the players take part and do more than just look, they need to theorize. And the game master needs to be flexible about clues.
- Superhero gaming texts
- Some Champions stuff, some DC Heroes stuff, and a little bit of Villains & Vigilantes.
- Swordhawk Rules (125.9 KB)
- Fantasy gaming in the Dungeons and Dragons tradition.
- System One Generic Role Playing System
- “The plan is for a GM to be able to quickly set up a fully detailed universe of mutant gerbils travelling the spaceways with cybernetic limbs and casting magic spells at everyone.”
- A Taste of Jasmine
- Adventure in the mountains of West Virginia, protecting a strange teen-age girl and her supposedly dead father from even stranger menaces.
- To Challenge Tomorrow
- A shareware space game. Zipped.
- TSR Legal Debate
- A compilation of the debate concerning the rights of fans of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying Game System to distribute fan-authored, AD&D-related works free of charge vs. TSR’s rights to safeguard its trademarks and copyrights by controlling all such distribution.
- What is role-playing?
- Role-playing is getting together with friends to write a story. It’s joining around a campfire or a dining room to spin some tall tales. Role-playing is being creative and having fun with friends.
- Whimsical Orange Road: The Role-Playing Game (93.6 KB)
- A freeware anime game, based on Kimagure Orange Road. “This is a roll-playing game. It requires a Game Master, some 10 sided dice, paper, pencils, and junk food.”
- The World of Highland Guidebook
- Highland provides a context for Gods & Monsters adventures. Highland is designed for the rural adventurer, where characters begin in small villages or remote areas and move in towards civilization as they learn more and more about their world’s past. It was designed as a version of the standard fantasy world imprinted on the American old west.
More Information
- Champions Character Write-ups
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Over three hundred Hero characters, including original creations and many from established fictional worlds. You can't hardly go wrong on this site if you're playing Champions. Originally by Jack Wilson.
- John H. Kim’s Role-Playing Game Page
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A very comprehensive listing of all role-playing games ever available, free, published, out-of-print. Also, intelligent musings on game design and role-playing theory. A very useful site.
- Part 1: Copyrightability of RPG Stat Blocks
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“WotC has a history of taking advantage of gamers’ ignorance of contract and intellectual property law and lack of wealth when making similar demands, thus harming the gaming community and industry, so it’s time those issues are addressed.”
- Part 2: Copyrightability of RPG Abilities and Spells
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“The threshold question in this post is whether an ability or spell description is copyrightable. They are, but only those parts that are artistic in nature… Much like stat blocks, spell descriptions often aren’t copyrightable, but in all cases certainly have elements within them that aren’t copyrightable.”
- Playing at the World
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“An author investigating the history of wargames and role-playing games.”
- Playing at the World• (paperback)
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“Explore the conceptual origins of wargames and role-playing games in this unprecedented history of simulating the real and the impossible. From a vast survey of primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World distills the story of how gamers first decided fictional battles with boards and dice, and how they moved from simulating wars to simulating people. The invention of role-playing games serves as a touchstone for exploring the ways that the literary concept of character, the lure of fantastic adventure and the principles of gaming combined into the signature cultural…•” (Jon Peterson)
- Steve Jackson Games
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Includes the GURPS FAQ among a multitude of other SJG gaming info pages. Look for far more than GURPS stuff on these pages. Look too deep and you might never come back. “When you gaze into the warehouse, the warehouse gazes back.”
- The Forge
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“This site is dedicated to the promotion, creation, and review of independent role-playing games. What is an independent role-playing game? Our main criterion is that the game is owned by its author, or creator-owned.” Don’t miss the article links arrayed across the top of the forums.
