Seeing GamerNation LLC is running a Kickstarter to update Everyone is John, I figured now was the time to take a look at all the other great free RPGs out there. So without further ado:
Everyone is John
I’m sure we’ve all tried this one by now, but if you haven’t, here is the basic rundown:
Everyone is John. Yes, that’s about it. You’re all various voices and personalities inside John competing for control and trying to get John to perform various actions, ranging from the absurdly difficult to the rather easy. The more difficult or dangerous your task is, the more points “your personality” earns. And it’s all about earning those points.
There’s only really one die needed, and the “core rules” are a single page. Some tokens to keep track of points and so that you can all bid on the actions (as it has bidding mechanic to gain control of John) keeps the amount of paperwork needed to an absolute minimum.
I will say though, that I’ve never seen John escape from any scenario. I think that maybe next time, my own goal for playing him should simply be to keep him alive for a single day of his life. 😛 (Oh, and incidentally, I expect people will be playing this at GamerNationCon, and I really hope they add the “Everyone is Chris” scenario to the Kickstarter 😛 )
Lasers & Feelings
Another one of the lightweight games out there, this brings back the campiest and silliest parts of Sci-fi. (For some reason when playing it, I cannot help but imagine Captain Kirk). The premise is simple. You have 2 stats that are tied to each other, Lasers & Feelings. If you have high in one, you have low in another. You have a role and a type. That all ties together to fill in the randomly created mission. Everything else is improvised so that no one knows what will happen at the start of the game. It makes for a fun ride, but it can be a little frustrating at times, when people try to turn their stats into strong character points, rather than just having fun with the system.
Love & Justice
I’m not going to give this much of a description. I just wanted to include it, as it’s a “Magical Girls” hack of Lasers & Feelings. And the artwork that’s included is adorable. 🙂
Atomic Highway
Did you ever want to play a Mad Max style game? Then this is the one for you. Considering that the game is free, the core book is HUGE – we’re talking 131 pages, and the game itself is really well put together. The vehicle rules flow well, and the game itself is engaging. While it’s not exactly a narrative dice style system, it has a strong focus on making the individual scenes engaging and “action-movie style.” Meaning you’ll see lots of bullets, lots of guns, lots of explosions and lots of crazy maneuvers.
That said–if you’re looking for a rules-heavy system, stay away. It plays hard and fast, going with “rule of cool” most of the time. But if you and your group are just out for some automotive mayhem and fun, this is for you. (A personal confession here, I have very strongly considered making 2 different hacks for this system. One for a “Death Race”/Carmageddon style game (which wouldn’t take much if I’m honest), and one for a Top Gear/Grand Tour style game. I think it has the potential to be customizable enough to relive the TV adventures of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May).
Mythender
Did you ever want to be Kratos? Do you think God of War is the epitome of games, and do you get near-carnal pleasure from ripping apart gods? Well, here’s the game for you. It’s story driven, and you need to add a lot of elaboration to make the game work, but more than that, it’s violent. And it does not pull punches on profanity, so it’s not a game I can recommend if you have a group that has an issue with that. If they can get through the God of War games though, then I don’t think it’ll be a problem.
Your role in this game is to End gods. You and your fellows are godslayers. You work to bring them all down together, without succumbing to the temptation of becoming a god yourself. Should you do that though, then you can expect that your group will turn on you, and try to rip YOU apart as well.
Kim Frandsen
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