Indie RPGs
315 games, last updated
Tue Jul 5 17:00 PDT 2022
This isn't a comprehensive list of Indie RPGs, just the ones I've bookmarked for my own reference, some of which you may also find useful. Some are in print, some not, some free, some not, some still works in progress. In some cases I've linked to additional resources for them. Some of these may be out of date; feel free to send updates and corrections to cdr AT telemancy.com.
Other (non-exhaustive) lists of RPGs:
We Are Here to Game Intro
2 Player RPGs
Double Ninja's ultimate big list of GM-less RPGs
Pocketmod for turning 8-page PDF into foldable booklet.
Some useful Kickstarter tips for RPGs
for those interested in crowdfunding their efforts.
Many of these games available for sale can be found at Indie Press Revolution, which sells online, at various conventions and in friendly local gaming stores worldwide.
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- Above the Earth by Bryant Durrell, 100 dice pool
- Absolute Destiny Apocalypse
- Adventurer Conqueror King
- The Adventures of Lucky Pip and the Incomparable Ithamar Conchie - using fortune cookies
- Adventures of the Space Patrol playtest v2
- Adventures on Dungeon Planet science fantasy supplement for Dungeon World
- Aethertide notes - Ryan Macklin's Cortex+ adaptation of Mage
- Afraid draft by Vincent Baker actual play
- Agon
- Always Never Now by Will Hindmarch.
- Amber Accelerated
- Amidst Endless Quiet by Ben Lehman
- Ammo
- Anathema by Jonathan Walton, example PC by neelk
- And the Beat Goes On (PDF) free high-action RPG torn from the pages of Leftover Soup
- Anima Prime steambots and megaswords
- Annalise downloads journal
- Apocalypse D&D (PDF) by Tony Dowler Praxis thread on ApocD&D
- Apocalypse Girl 24-hour RPG by Sydney Freedberg
- Apocalypse World
- Archipelago RPG
- Archipelago 3rd edition (free PDF download)
- Ascendancy - Beta 2.0 early beta about psychic cyborgs looking for identity in a city at war
- Atomic Robo
- Atomic Robo Downloads
- Back in Time for Tea: Bacchanal for children
- The Believers one page RPG by Chris Bennett AP at GPNW July '08
- Beloved by Ben Lehman
- Best Friends by Gregor Hutton
- Beyond Otaku Dreams alpha draft by Ewen Cluney
- Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures, OSR in which you can play the Village Bear
- The Big Night
- Black Lipstick: the goth RPG by Jared Sorensen
- Blades Against Darkness Beta 1.5b (PDF)
- Blades in the Dark
- Bliss Stage
old link
old preorder link
- Blossoms in Winter Yuri RPG in progress.
- Blowback by Elizabeth Shoemaker preorder
- Breaking The Ice by Emily Care
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Under the Eaves (LA 76)
- The Bureau World of Dungeons hack with different dice, for Men in Black meets Ghostbusters. The Bureau PDF
- Burning Wheel Downloads Burning Con Scenario Prep Burning Wheel Presentation by Adam Koebel
- Cannibal Contagion - A Game of Psychobilly Zombie-go-Nuts by Nathanael Cole
- Capes by Muse of Fire
- Carolina Death Crawl Carolina Death Crawl Cards
- Cat by John Wick
- carry. a game about war. by Nathan D. Paoletta
- JDCorley makes you into an awesome Changeling GM
- Chronica Feudalis Revisions
- Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine kickstarter - "warm-hearted adventure and slice of life play... a game of heroic innocents growing up against a backdrop of strange events and haunting landscapes." from the author of Nobilis and Weapons of the Gods.
- City of Brass free PDF
- Classroom Deathmatch
- Clover by Ben Lehman, Yotsuba&! inspired RPG Clover thread on S-G
- The Code by Jared Sorensen, superheroes without superpowers
- The Code II
- The Cog Wars, zero edition
- Cold City Hot War wiki
- Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries (with link for demo kit)
- Companions Apocalypse World hack by Jeremy Tidwell. The Doctor is Out.
- Costume Fairy Adventures - "magically powerful, powerfully delusional"
- Covenant demo downloads Codex wiki Guild of the Signal AP
- Coyote Won't Talk by Morgan Stinson
- Craven County Afraid Slasher hack, which turned into Geiger Counter
- Crystal Caper (PDF) Crystal Caper (B&W PDF), Meghan Dornbrock's magical girl take on Grant Howitt's Honey Heist
- Cthulhu Dark by Graham Walsley, free 1-page Chtulhu RPG.
- The Dance and the Dawn, a fantasy fable of dance and romantic tragedy at the Islands of Ash and Ice.
- Danger Patrol beta playtest by John Harper.
- De Profundis
- Dead Weight, by John Harper. Survival. Horror. Parkour.
- Deeds and Doers by Ben Lehman. Deeds and Doers Module Guidelines
- The Deep Forest
- Delver by Nora Blake - "The world is starting to forget, and its memories are pooling into the dungeon.... Delver is a game of dungeon crawling and meaning-making."
- Diaspora Fate SF RPG
- Dictionary of Mu sorcerer supplement: review map Words of Destruction Done in Fate
- Dino-Pirates of Ninja Island free.
- Doki Doki card game of Shoujo Romantic Combat by Ben Lehman
- Dog Eat Dog, a game of colonialism and its consequences.
- Dogs in the Vineyard
- Don't Rest Your Head
- Don't Rest Your Head or DRYH
- Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, a Coming of Age Road Trip through Endless Skies and Odd Little Worlds by Daniel Solis. Do: Pilgrims of the Fling Temple at Evil Hat
- Double Cross Fate Adaptation (Google Doc)
- DoubleZero "distilled" wiki rerelease of James Bond, 007
- Dragon World 0.2, 90s comedy fantasy anime hack of Apocalypse World by Ewen Cluney
- Dream Askew Avery Alder on the Mechanics of Care
- The Dreaming Crucible, a game of adolescent pain and journeys through Faerie. downloadable play aids
- Dresden Files RPG Thaumaturgical cheatsheet DFRPG resources DFRPG News
- The Drifter's Escape by Ben Lehman, older draft
- Drones, a light-hearted after-dinnerish RPG in the style of P.G.Wodehouse.
- Dungeon World
- Dungeons of Fate
- Eclipse Phase RPG of post-apocalyptic transhuman conspiracy and horror. Solar System Map scaled to population density
- Ehdrigor
- Engine Heart (pdf) about service robots after the humans are gone.
- Exalted using Smallville Cortex+ System
- The Face of Angels
- Fae Noir
- Faith: A Heist Game
- Fate Accelerated
- Fate Core
- Feathers by Remni Permann, a slice-of-life game about dysphoric fallen angels, diceless and GMless for 3-4 players and a single session, using the Belonging Outside Belonging system from Dream Askew.
- #Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology
- Fiasco by Jason Morningstar, Coen Brothers film-style RPG
- Fingers on the Firmament: Humanity Reaches for the Stars, OGL PBTA
- Five Fires the hip-hop RPG in progress.
- A Flower for Mara by Seth Ben-Ezra - Why Mara Goes First
- 44: A Game of Automatic Fear free online version (HTML or PDF) or $8 print edition at Lulu
- Four Colors Al Fresco, pulp-style superheros in an alternate Renaissance Italy
- FreeMarket transhumanist SF RPG
- Geiger Counter draft by Jonathan Walton, see also Geiger Counter
- Ghost/Echo Ron Edwards S/Lay w/Me
- Ghost Lines free mini-AW hack by John Harper.
- Giants RPG blog by Jeff Lower of Sons of Kryos
- Girl By Moonlight playtest manual draft 8.1 - Blades in the Dark adapted for Magical Girls
- Girls with Swords by Jason Petrasko, an RPG about authority, dreams, and youth. oven thread
- Golden Sky Stories is the english translation of the heartwarming Japanese RPG Yuuyake Koyake
- Grace a small quiet freeform game about being thirteen, by Evan Silberman
- Gumshoe System Reference Document available as Open Gaming License and Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Unported License.
- Happy Birthday, Robot! Help Me Harry Dresden
- Heart of Ashes by Avery Alder (formerly Don't Rest in Shadows)
- Heart of the Rose (PDF) by Emily Care Boss
- Hero's Banner Demo
- Heroine
- High Quality Roleplaying fantasy game design by Ben Lehman
- Hi-Quality Role-Playing
- Higher Powers 4-page supers game with powers of fallen angels, draft
- High-Flying adventures of Beatrice Henrietta Bristol-Smythe, DBE, daring Aviatrix and accomplished Exploratrix, and her Gentleman Companion, who for a Modest Fee, accompanies Beatrice Henrietta Bristol- Smythe, DBE, when the Occasion warrants her an Escort, by Ben Lehman
- Hikikomori (PDF)
- HK-TK Hong Kong Psychics (like Push)
- Hollowpoint
- Honey Heist
- Hot Guys Making Out by Ben Lehman
- The Hour Beteen Dog and Wolf The Hour Beteen Dog and Wolf kickstarter
- How to Host a Dungeon
- How We Came to Live Here
- Icons wiki
- Idoru by Jared Sorensen
- In a Wicked Age
- Inspectres Tips
- The Inverse Ninja Law: The RPG
- In Which We Live and Breathe is a cyberpunk fantasy tabletop roleplaying game modelled after Shadowrun and Blades In The Dark. It explores themes of multilayered existence and finding balance between the head and the heart.
- Invulnerable superhero RPG by Joshua Kubli. Invulnerable preview
- It's Complicated 2007/11 PDF
- Journeying West by Ben Lehman
- Joy Divison by Mark Vallianatos, near-future RPG of technological horror
- Juiced Rider Mecha pilots with fading memories
- Just Heroes PDF, Apocalypse World hack for golden age superheroes.
- Kagematsu draft Torrid Samurai Romance Romance and Privilege
- Kaleidoscope Jackson Tegu hacks Microscope to make ridiculous art-haus films with some friends and index cards.
- Katanas and Trenchcoats free RPG by Ryan Macklin.
- Kayfabe: The Inside Wrestling Game
- Kazekami Kyoko Kills Kublai Khan by Jon Walton example
- Kelly Link the RPG thread on story-games.
- Knife & Candle, a Game for Delicious Friends, by John Harper, Vincent Baker, and Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat, based on Echo Bazaar
- Lacuna part 1 The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City (second attempt)
- Lady Blackbird PDF by John Harper,
- Lasers and Feelings (PDF): The Doubleclicks Tribute RPG, by John Harper
- Leap of Faith is a free RPG with a scenario Volcano Island.
- Legend Roleplaying Game
- Letter and Spirit by Daniel Sos is a free game about lawyers based on Lasers and Feelings
- Lords of Gossamer and Shadow by Jason Durall, based on Eric Wujick's Diceless Roleplaying System
- Love & Justice, free magical girl hack of Lasers and Feelings by Senda Linaugh
- Love in the Time of Seið
- Magical Burst (2nd draft), a dark magical girl game inspired by anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, "like if Sorcerer and Don't Rest Your Head got a civil union and adopted a beautiful baby girl from Japan."
- Maid RPG
- MARS: The RPG of Planetary Romance
- Mars Colony Green Corruption, Yellow Terrorism ashcan play report
- Masks teen superhero RPG
- Matchmaker by Vincent Baker
- Max Must Die by John Harper
- Microlite D20 Core Rules
- Minions, Inc free RPG adapted from Apocalypse World.
- Misspent Youth Master Mines: In Snow Crash's future, Danny Ocean's crew-Goonies-sized-play craps to take down Big Brother. Its a sci-fi game about 12 to 17 year olds in a future about ten years from now. 4 page preview (PDF)
- Mercator - the Roman Traveller RPG includes 60-page pdf
- Monsters and Other Childish Things by Benjamin Baugh, 12 Monsters of Christmas
- Monsterhearts
- Montsegur 1244
- Moomin's World translated from Swedish Moomin World character sheet
- Mortal Coil Wiki Fudge Mortal Coil
- The Mountain Witch by Timothy Kleinert
- Mouse Guard
- MSG
- The Mustang, by John Harper
- My Daughter, The Queen of France (PDF) by Daniel Wood. MDtQoF Cozycon 2011 thread
- My Life with Master Manifesto on Mastery in a serious setting
- My Supernatural Romance
- Mythender by Ryan Macklin. Building a Mythender Adventure Awesome fanmade Mythender cover Mythender SRD
- Nemesis One-Roll Engine (ORE) horror
- Neverwhere RPG
- Nicotine Girls by Paul Czege Tips on Running Nicotine Girls
- Night Witches Night Witch Handouts Night Witches FAQ
- Nighttime Animals Save the World playtest version by Vincent Baker
- Night's Black Agents Night's Black Agents Character Booklet Gumshoe 101 for Players and GMs
- No Place Like Home Alpha - Blades in the Dark hack inspired by Twin Peaks, Stranger Things, Oxenfree, Silent Hill
- Nobilis
- Norwegian Style Book Handout Downloads with 17 games: Forgotten Memories, Fuck Youth, Gun Smoke, In The Belly Of The Whale, It Wasn't Me!, Itra's City, New Voices In Art, Pervo, Retrospect, Stoke-Birmingham 0-0, Storyboard, The Father, The New Middle Ages, The Trouble With Demons, Until We Sink, Wanderer, Zombie Porn
- Noteboard - not a game, but useful. 15 by 35 inch foldable erasable whiteboard blank on one side and with square/hex grid on other. Noteboard review
- Ocean draft by Jake Richmond, amnesia survivor horror RPG
- OMFG aka Gossip Girl: The Unauthorized RPG.
- On Mighty Thews
- On the Ecology of the Mud Dragon by Ben Lehman
- One Can Have Her - film noir RPG
- One Shot A Roleplaying Game of Sacrifice and Vengeance
- 1000 Kings wiki Rise of the Empty-Heart Vegetables
- Friendright: You always know what your friends are up to.
- Guestright: You are welcome in any land, as long as you obey its laws.
- Fateright: Your visit will always be interesting, even if you run away from things of interest.
- Ordinary Angels film web site buy at filmbaby
- Otherkind by Vincent Baker
- Our Mundane Supernatural Life
- Our Radios are Dying (PDF)
- OVA RPG - Open Versatile Anime roleplaying OVA Revised Edition Preview OVA Kickstarter May 8-June 17, 2013
- Part-Time Gods
- A Penny for My Thoughts by Paul Tevis Prisoner adaptation
- Perfect, Unrevised by Joe Mcdaldno
- Polaris
- Princess World Short Story Edition ages 9+
- Propalinal People
- Psi*Run Mutant*Run: adapted for Days of Future Past X*Men DoFP PDF
- Prime Time Adventures PTA Pitch generators Running Primetime Adventures at Conventions
- The Princes' Kingdom Wiki
- Pulse Brazilian storytelling game released in English 2014
- Project Donut
- Puppetland by John Tynes (free) | 'The more said about Puppetland, the better, especially if what's said includes the word "eeeegh."' -- Ken Hite
- SR Games including Pure Shoujo
- The Quiet Year
- The Quiet Days - Quiet Year hack about high school
- Radiant (PDF)
- Raspberry Heaven 0.3 - slice of life anime/manga 0.2
- Red Box Hack
- The Regiment, WW II themeed game design project by John Harper and Paul Riddle
- Reign
- Remember Tomorrow by Gregor Hutton
- Replicant or Lesbian v4 (PDF) by Johnstone Metzger 2018-05-10
- Ribbon Drive by Joe Mcdaldno. A game about road trips, mix tapes and letting go.
- Announcement thread Radion Accelerator Drive for Firefly
- Rock N Roll Dreams based on DitV
- Rookvale by Avery Alder.
- Ruralpunk forged in the dark small town cyberpunk
- The Rustbelt: Tales of Tenacity, Depravity, and Hope
- Ryuutama: Natural Fantasy RPG
- Sagas of the Icelanders
- Schauermarchen
- Scott Pilgrim: The Flippin' Sweet Game
- Serpent's Tooth
- Seven Leagues
- 7th Sea Production Schedule
- Sex & Violence by Jared Sorensen
- The Shab-al-Hiri Roach by Jason Morningstar (older link)
- The Shadow of Yesterday Main Rulebook by Clinton Nixon
- Shadowfist - Apocalyse World hack version of Feng Shui
- Shinobigami: Modern Ninja Battle RPG Shinobigami G+ Community Shinobigami Kickstarter 2015/11/7-12/15
- Shock: social science fiction
- Silver and White by Jackson Tegu
- The Silver Dragon's Tear AW hack simplified to run for children Silver Dragon's Tear (PDF)
- Six Bullets for Vengeance
- Sixth World (PDF) Shadowrun using Dungeon World hack (free 68pp PDF)
- SKEW by Ben Lehman.
- Slime Story - "teenagers hunt cute monsters for spending money"
- Snakes on a Plane: the RPG
- Solipsist
- Sorcerer
- Spione
- Spirit of 77 Cruise Ship of the Damned free download Spirit of 77 - a Funky 1970's RPG Kickstarter
- Spirit of the Century Pulp RPG OGL SRD, faterpg SotC OGL SRD
- The Sprawl v0.2 beta cyberpunk RPG powered by Apocalypse World engine, by Hamish Cameron
- Stalker RPG
- Star Moon and Cross by Lee Short
- Stars Without Numbers SWN character sheets by John Harper (PDF), who called it "possibly the best sandbox-gaming RPG ever made"
- Steal Away Jordan by Julia Bond Ellingboe, about survivors and heroes who beat the odds
- Stitch by Iain McAllister (in development) - A time travel game played against the clock.
- A Storm Eternal 0.3 work in progress by Sage LaTorra
- Strands of Fate toolkit for Fate 3.0
- Sufficiently Advanced 2nd Edition thread with links to quickstart PDF
- Summerland Free Lulu download clarifying rules (PDF)
- Survivor: Relay - Zombie survivor horror game for play over Twitter or SMS.
- Sweet Agatha by Kevin Allen Jr
- A Taste for Murder by Graham Walmsley. How to play British
- Tähti - Finnish RPG "where you play the member of a Maoist mutant girl band in the Finland of 2017. The action of the game revolves around dating, school, parents, rehearsals, fans, gigs, managers, celebrity and so on."
- TechNoir RPG by Jeremy Keller. Technoir Push Hack by Ryan Macklin.
- Teen Justice Force notes adapting Afraid for teen supers with snazzy character sheets
- Tenra Bansho Zero translated to English.
- Thirsty Sword Lesbians by April Kit Walsh
- 13th Age System Reference Document
- Thirty by John Wick
- Thou Art But a Warrior
- Three Sixteen: Carnage Amongst the Stars (3:16)
- Tianxia: Blood Silk & Jade Running Demo Games of Tianxia
- Time & Temp
- Tokyo Rain
- Tonight We Slay a Dragon, or Die in the Attempt, free 2-page PDF
- Tooth and Claw RPG
- Torchbearer by Burning Wheel
- Torg Eternity character sheets
- Toward One by Vincent Baker
- Tramp Stamp - A Game of F---up Tatoo Artists
- Transantiago by Jonathan Walton: bodhisattvas on the subway at the end of the world
- Trashkin free 1-page RPG by Grant Howitt
- Traveller World - SF Adventure powered by the Apocalypse
- Trial & Terror: Supernatural Victims Unit
- Trollbabe
- Turn playtest doc, slice-of-life RPG about shapeshifters in a small rural town, by Brie Sheldon
- Two Guys with Swords, Rob Donoghue's free hack of Leverage. More Guys with Swords
- Under the bed
- Under My Skin by Emily Care Boss
- Underground where we do not belong (PDF) v0.3 3-page free game
- Undying Beta 3.1 and Undying Beta 3.5 Playbooks - diceless vampire RPG of predation and intrigue, based on Apocalypse World Undying thread at Story-Games
- Unknown Armies Unknown Armies 2e fillable character sheet (PDF)
- Unsung - Morality under fire
- Until We Sink
- Uresia: Grave of Heaven
- The Valedictorian's Death by Paul Czege, using a yearbook.
- Vesperteen thread by Jon Walton, another thread
- Verge by Adam Dray, Recharged Reprogrammed (obsolete)
- What Will I Do When You're Gone? #sadmechjam GMless RPG by Takuma Okada. "Choose from different types of mechs, and play out the tensions between pilots who know that some mechs are easier to die in than others."
- Wicked Ones is Ben Nielson's in-development Forged in the Dark game of monsters building dungeons, raiding the overworld, and slaying adventurers. Heavily inspired by Dungeon Keeper.
- Wisher, Theurgist, Fatalist (and Weaver of their Fates) (WTF) by Jenna Katerin Moran 2018 (PDF) description on reddit
- World of Dungeons: Turbo Breakers (PDF)
- World Wide Wrestling powered by the Apocalypse, alpha playtest 1.2 by Nathan D. Paoletta.
- Wild Talents
- Wildlings by John Harper D&D for Kids thread on story-games
- Witch Girls Adventures
- A World of Dew - Samurai Noir World of Dew Reference Sheet
- World of Dungeons was a bonus in the Dungeon World kickstarter. World of Dungeons thread on Story-Games World of Dungeons Resource Compendium (on Google Docs)
- World of Mutants
- World of Shadows
- World of Superspies AW hack 80% done
- World of Usagi Yojimbo
- World of Wanderers (PDF) World of Wanderers thread on Story Games
- Worlds in Peril Supers hack of Dungeon World, in Beta
- World's Edge
- Wuthering Heights RPG
- XXXXtreme Street Luge
old link
- you must break up with your werewolf boyfriend by caitlynn belle (Google docs)
- Yuuyake Koyake - see Golden Sky Stories
- Zodiac Starforce RPG 24-page PDF at Gumroad $5