Any good FREE systems?

[DrEvilmonki]

My brother and some freinds have asked me to do a campaign (haven't played anything in about 20 or so years).

I am looking at a fantasy - historic sort of system and was wondering if there is anything (good) out there that I wont have to pay huge amounts of money for.

 

[airhead]

Thanks to the Open Gaming Licence (OGL), there are lots of options.

D&D 3.0
D&D 3.5

d20 Modern
d20 Anime​

http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd.html

Pathfinder
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/Home

No books required unless you want to add splat books.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Thanks airhead, I will check those out.

 

[airhead]

Avatars of War - not really role playing, but arena style combat.
I think the rules are a free .pdf download and the arena as well. I've got one printed out and glued onto 2 sheets of foamcore.

I keep thinking of going all out on it.. Walls, seating, entrance gates, etc. But time is the killer right now.

 

[Temperance]

I'd be a bad employee if I didn't mention D&D 4e downloads; here are the basic 4th edition rules and a couple of starting adventures:

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/TryDnD.aspx

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Thanks for that. I am writing the campaign myself though. Never played D&D so can anyone tell me how much the alignment system and character class systems impact on the game? Can you ignore them easily or are they integral to the system?

 

[devoncodain]

Well the character class impacts the game alot it is how you aquire more skills and how many hit points you get each level. The alignment however I have never really had any use for it really doesn't play a big part in my opinion.

 

[funnymouth]

alignment is not all that important...or it can be crucial. thats the great thing about D20 - its so flexible that you can mould the basic system to virtually anything. want to downplay classes? use the generic classes (super basic: spellcaster, expert warrior) from "unearthed arcana." i use variant rules quite a bit. as far as classes go though, i have never had them be a hinderance at all. there are so many options that anything you want to do, you can. also, as DM, feel free to implement any kooky or bizzare rules you want, as long as the players buy in to it.

its a great system, once you try it, you'll be hooked.

 

[Eryops]

There is a big "OSR" movement going on (OSR = 'Old School Revival' or 'Old School Renaissance' depending on who you ask). These are basically OD&D (Original Dungeons and Dragons) clones (well, OSRIC is a 1e D&D clone), and the best part is that the rules are free!

OD&D:
Swords & Wizardry
Labyrinth Lord

1e D&D:
OSRIC