Free RPG Day

Free RPG Day is an annual promotional event by the Tabletop role-playing game industry. [1] The event rules are fairly simple: participating publishers provide special free copies of games to participating game stores; the game store agrees to provide one free game to any person who requests a free game on Free RPG Day. [2]

History

Shannon Appelcline discussed Kenzer & Company's comics "Crisis in Raimiton (2004), an "Adventure Guide to D&D" that Wizards gave away on Free Comic Book Day '04. It told the story of gamers playing D&D, and then the story of the characters they created. Wizards' interest in the free giveaway foreshadowed the industry's interest in a free giveaway day of their own: Free RPG Day."[3]: 91  Appelcline noted that Impressions Advertising & Marketing's "most successful advertising program is one that continues today: Free RPG Day. Beginning in 2007, Impressions has every year coordinated the give-away of original RPG products in game stores across the country, resulting in considerable buzz and interest in those products — which is exactly what Impressions, an advertising and marketing company, was looking for.[4]: 65 

Inspired by Free Comic Book Day, Free RPG Day was started in 2007. [5] The free RPG event was coordinated worldwide by Impressions, a game distributor, from 2007 to 2013.[6]

Appelcline noted that "Goodman Games' last stand against the dying d20 market was Free RPG Day 2007. Where most companies were offering up a single product of variable quality, Goodman contributed three different books to Free RPG Day, each one of them a top-quality production."[4]: 90  Paizo Publishing previewed the new GameMastery Modules series with D0: Hollow's Last Hope (2007), which showed up on June 23, 2007, at the first Free RPG Day.[4]: 218  Flying Buffalo put together quick-start editions (2007, 2008, 2011) of Tunnels & Trolls for three of the Free RPG Days.[3]: 132  Margaret Weis Productions put out the Castlemourn Cortex System Quickstart (2008) for the second Free RPG Day before closing down the line.[7]: 349  Green Ronin's first new RPG, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying (2009), had been previewed the previous year at Free RPG Day 2008.[4]: 36  From 2007-2011, Troll Lord Games issued a Castles & Crusades "quick start" at each Free RPG Day, to bring new players; science fiction game StarSIEGE: Event Horizon (2008) was also previewed at Free RPG Day 2008.[4]: 50  Pinnacle Entertainment Group offered The Wild Hunt (2011) as a "Savage Worlds Test Drive" for Free RPG Day 2011.[7]: 292 

Shannon Appelcline outlined that Columbia Games "produced adventures for two of the Free RPG Days: Field of Daisies (2008) and Dead Weight (2010). However, the latter product was more a teaser than anything. Stores only received one copy of the adventure when they purchased a box of Free RPG Day products; Columbia has since started selling the rest of the print run — and even admonished websites that reviewed Dead Weight as a "free" release. More recently they produced a map of Hârn (2012) for Free RPG Day 2012."[8]: 240–241 

Germany's first event was February 2, 2013; it included 9 games. The German version of Free RPG Day is called Gratisrollenspieltag, also known as Gratis Rollenspieltag.[9]

Participation

The industry participants include the publishers of the participating games, the event organizer which coordinates delivery of the free product to the stores, and the brick-and-mortar store owners who agree to provide the free games to end users/gamers. Some publishers produce quick start adventures geared toward players unfamiliar with the game system or new to tabletop role-playing games in general. The games are distributed worldwide through participating stores.


The 1st annual Free RPG Day (June 23, 2007)

The first annual event in 2007 featured quick start adventures from 16 different publishers:[10]

The 2nd annual Free RPG Day (June 21, 2008)

This event took place on June 21, 2008.[11] The second annual event featured:

The 3rd annual Free RPG Day (June 20, 2009)

Games included in the third Free RPG Day event were:

  1. Generic map set "The Ice Temple" (PDF)
  2. Arcana Evolved / Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 Edition); Lands of the Diamond Throne setting: magical items supplement "Items Evolved: Rituals" (PDF)
  3. Arcana Evolved: bestiary supplement "Mythical Monstrosities" (PDF)
  4. Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition); Feudal Lords setting: 9th level adventure "Oracle of Orcas" (PDF)

The 4th annual Free RPG Day (June 19, 2010)

This event took place on June 19, 2010.[15]

The 5th annual Free RPG Day (June 18, 2011)

The 6th annual Free RPG Day (June 16, 2012)

Games included in the sixth Free RPG Day event were:[16]

The 7th annual Free RPG Day (June 15, 2013)

This event took place on June 15, 2013.[17]

The 8th annual Free RPG Day (June 21, 2014)

This event took place on June 21, 2014.[18] Games included in the 8th annual event were:[19]

  • Catalyst Game Labs BattleTech: A Time of War (1st Edition) / Shadowrun (5th Edition) Quick-Start Rules Flipbook (Battletech: A Time of War adventure "Character Assassination" on one side, Shadowrun adventure "Spoiled Rotten" on the other side)
  • Cosmic Patrol Roleplaying Game Quick-Start Rules and adventure "The Continuance Contingency"
  • Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure "The Doom Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children"
  • Castles & Crusades adventure "A Druid's Lament"
  • The Godsfall RPG Demo
  • Goodman Games Free RPG Day 2014 Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure "Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box" and Maximum XCrawl adventure "Dungeon Detonation"
  • Mage: The Ascension Introductory Quickstart Rules and Adventure Hooks
  • 13th Age adventure "Make Your Own Luck" - Prequel to Eyes of the Stone Thief campaign
  • Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure "Risen from the Sands"
  • Time Travel Dinosaur: Mesozoic Mayhem
  • Valiant Universe RPG Quick Start Rules: Experience the Harbinger Wars

The 9th annual Free RPG Day (June 20, 2015)

This event took place on June 20, 2015.[20] Products included in the 9th annual event were:[20][21]

References
  1. Walters, Ashleigh (15 June 2013). "Free RPG Day: Video gamers enjoy 'Free Role Playing Game Day'". WPTV News Channel 5. Scripps Media Inc. Scripps TV Station Group. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  2. Callahan, Timothy (17 June 2013). "When Worlds Collide: Celebrating Free RPG Day" (Column). Comic Book Resources. Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  3. Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-075-5.
  4. Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '00s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-087-8.
  5. Fletcher, NaShanta (14 June 2013). "Get ready for Free RPG Day!". Chicago Now. CTMG Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  6. Martin Ralya (2007-02-04). "Free RPG Day: Free Comic Day for Gamers". Treasure Tables. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  7. Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '90s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-084-7.
  8. Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '80s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-081-6.
  9. "Gratisrollenspieltag 13". RPG Geek. BoardGameGeek, LLC. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  10. "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2007". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  11. "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2008". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  12. "Series Listing, Free RPG Day". RPG.net. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  13. Massawyrm (2008-06-20). "AICN Tabletop: FREE RPG DAY IS TOMORROW! And Massawyrm shares his picks of the litter!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  14. "Free RPG Day 2009: PDF Adjunct". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  15. "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2010". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  16. "Free RPG Day 2012 Listing - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  17. "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2013". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  18. "Free RPG Day 2014 this Saturday! | RPGG News". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  19. "Free RPG Day 2014 Listing - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  20. "Free RPG Day 2015 | Series | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  21. "Free RPG Day 2015 Listing - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
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