Helping to keep the hobby cheap.

Mike the Mage · May 19, 2018, 02:47:03 AM

This is a thread to congratulate the writers of games, blogs and modules that are affordable and/or free. Many folks these days have limited disposable income and I think it is great that some people in the industry are producing top quality products for free, at cost or for a modest profit and by doing so help keep the hobby affordable.

First up@ Chris Gonnerman and all thos involved in the Basic Fantasy RPG project.

PDF: Free
PDF of adventures: Free

Core rulesbook paperback 170 pages: $4.50

Thank you folks!

Spinachcat · May 19, 2018, 03:41:20 AM

MAZES & MINOTAURS...and all the supplements are free!
http://mazesandminotaurs.free.fr

It was the very first RPG published in 1972!

Omega · May 19, 2018, 05:06:20 AM

Quote from: Spinachcat;1039802MAZES & MINOTAURS

It was the very first RPG published in 1972!

That little bit is a large part of why I despise the game and the designers so thoroughly.

S'mon · May 19, 2018, 05:37:24 AM

I saw the price of Savage Worlds Deluxe at Orc's Nest is still only £6.99, definitely impressive.

DKChannelBoredom · May 19, 2018, 09:49:04 AM

Colin Chapmans rather great post-apoc system Atomic Highway is free from the Drive Through (and a softcover version is 5.99$), as is the systems mutant sourcebook, Irradiated Freaks.

EOTB · May 19, 2018, 12:42:29 PM

OSRIC is a free PDF and the books are printed at pretty much cost. Don't know too many places you can get an all-in-one offset print hard bound book of close to 400 pages with tons of original art for $26.

Shawn Driscoll · May 19, 2018, 01:06:17 PM

Keyword: PDF.

Ras Algethi · May 19, 2018, 02:55:47 PM

Hopefully not so cheap as to make it unworthy of putting out material.

Joey2k · May 19, 2018, 04:36:27 PM

Hats off to Kevin Crawford, creator of Stars Without Number, for releasing the pdf for free

Armchair Gamer · May 19, 2018, 07:30:33 PM

For Gold & Glory gives you a full 'Rules Cyclopedia' for AD&D 2nd Edition for less than $8 in B&W softcover.

Spinachcat · May 19, 2018, 07:42:03 PM

Want a really cheap RPG? Buy any RPG you want and play the hell out of it.

The ROI for a heavily played RPG quickly races toward pennies per hour. If you buy a $100 game and play 100 hours, that's a $1/hr game. Play it for 1000 hours of the next five years? That's 10 cents per hour. And that's only doing the ROI based on the game's owner. If you count player hours, then the ROI grows by leaps and bounds.

AKA, a table of 5 people play a $100 game, that's $20/hr for the first hour...and $2/hr by the 10th hour and 20 cents by the 100th hour.

Quote from: Omega;1039808That little bit is a large part of why I despise the game and the designers so thoroughly.

Chill dude, its a joke. The 1972 "origin story" never been presented seriously.

Except by me...and it's been hilarious.

M&M was all born from a "what if / alt history" article on RPG.net
https://www.rpg.net/columns/tempus/tempus14.phtml

DavetheLost · May 20, 2018, 08:34:46 AM

I would pay actual money for an edition of M&M with the "joke" edited out of it. It was funny on the first read through, then it got quite tiresome to have to read a parody of the TSR gaming hobby every time I wanted to look something up in the rules etc.

ArrozConLeche · May 20, 2018, 08:38:47 AM

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1039869For Gold & Glory gives you a full 'Rules Cyclopedia' for AD&D 2nd Edition for less than $8 in B&W softcover.

*yoinked*

Larsdangly · May 20, 2018, 10:41:17 AM

No one should ever complain about the cost of table top rpgs. There are dozens of good games with core rules that can be purchased for under 20 bucks (several of which are free), and the whole idea is supposed to be that the players create most or all of the characters, settings and adventures. Any money you spend on this hobby is optional.

Brad · May 20, 2018, 05:35:34 PM

Rules Cyclopedia is $25 for a softcover print. I don't know any other rpg book you could buy with more value than that.

Quote from: Larsdangly;1039912No one should ever complain about the cost of table top rpgs. There are dozens of good games with core rules that can be purchased for under 20 bucks (several of which are free), and the whole idea is supposed to be that the players create most or all of the characters, settings and adventures. Any money you spend on this hobby is optional.

And this is very true. I paid $12 for my Mentzer Red Box and probably wrote 400 pages of stuff the first year I started playing, no exaggeration. Every day in science class, another dungeon was created, along with some monsters, just in time to play at lunch.