Warrior Rogue and Mage is a free RPG available from Stargazer Games at RPG Now. The authors write:
Warrior, Rogue & Mage is a simple, lightweight roleplaying game that allows a group of players and a game master to experience epic adventures in a fantasy world filled with wondrous magic. This book contains the complete game rules, including character creation, combat, magic, equipment and monsters, as well as a complete fantasy setting, the Fallen Imperium of Vaneria.
No Classes
Although WR&M uses three basic fantasy RPG classes in its name, it doesn’t make use of classes. Players are encouraged to create their characters freely without having to fit them into archetypal roles. Warrior, Rogue and Mage are actually the character’s basic attributes, which measure their capabilities in combat, stealth and academics respectively.
Danger Patrol is a pulp-style RPG with a very interesting dice mechanic that I think would be great for skirmish style wargames. With the mechanism, players voluntarily make things more difficult for themselves in order to gain reward points when they succeed against overwhelming odds.
Lady Blackbird is a steampunk adventure module for 2-6 people. It contains a starting situation, setting, pregen characters, and quick-play rules perfect for a no-prep game of 1-6 sessions or more. It looks to me like there might also be a good miniatures scenario in this one.
Dark Dungeons is a clone of the old school D&D game. There’s been a real renaissance in the retro style RPGs, and its one I welcome after all those years of angst ridden vampires and new-style gaming.
The Microlite 74 RPG system is a slimmed down, old school fantasy RPG:
Microlite74, like its parent game, Microlite20, is a trimmed-down, sub-miniature version of the Primary Fantasy SRD rules that has been designed to be quick and easy to play. The goal of Microlite74, however, is to recreate the style and feel of that very first (“0e”) fantasy roleplaying game published back in 1974. If you are at all familiar with any game based on the 3.5 edition of the Primary Fantasy SRD, you will find Microlite74 easy to play and easy to run as a GM, but with an extra helping of “old school” flavor.
While Microlite74 is designed as an introduction to “old school” play for players more familiar with modern rules systems based on the Primary Fantasy SRD, it is a rules-lite OGL based game system that old school grognards – especially those who cut their gamer teeth on “0e” – should find equally enjoyable. It is also easy to modify with your own house rules or rules drawn from your favorite edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
The free Basic Fantasy RPG is yet another attempt to recreate the feel of the classic RPGs that so many of us grew up on. The author writes:
The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a rules-light game system based on the d20 SRD v3.5, but heavily rewritten with inspiration from early RPG game systems. It is suitable for those who are fans of “old-school” game mechanics, and it’s simple enough for children in perhaps second or third grade to play, yet still having enough depth for adults as well.
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
For pictures, visit the gallery.
Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
