Free RPG Day is June 20, 2009
Want to try a new roleplaying game but don’t want to bring a stack of 300-page hardcovers or 3-volume slipcased editions to the table? Check out Free RPG Day at participating hobby stores on Saturday, June 20, and pick up new rules, adventures and accessories for the price of…well, nothing.
Inspired by Free Comic Book Day and organized by Impressions Advertising and Marketing, Free RPG Day is an attempt to bring more customers into friendly local game stores by gaming giveaways. These giveaways aren’t overstock from discontinued gaming lines or failed publishers, either: all the giveaways are original material created and released exclusively for this event by Wizards of the Coast, Paizo Publishing, White Wolf, Fantasy Flight Games, Mongoose, and others.
This is the third edition of Free RPG Day, and the offerings promise to cover all the gaming bases, from game rules (Castles & Crusades, Dragon Warriors, Geist, and Hero’s Bane) to adventures (Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight, Exile Game Studios) to monster books and accessories (Paizo, Goodman Games) to software (Lone Wolf Development) right down to dice (Chessex and Q-Workshop).
Most of the giveaway books are slim volumes (16-32 pages or so) of gaming goodness, highlighting the best of the system or setting. Even if I don’t end up playing the game, the books are a great source of inspiration, or just fun to share with the kids. The Dungeon Tiles from Wizards of the Coast are great floor plans for princess dungeons or Justice League rescue scenarios, and anything with ghosts, goblins or dragons is great material for making up stories.
I’ve chased down most of the books from the first two years of the event, and I’ve my checklist and map ready for this edition. I’ll post a follow-up review of everything I’ve found.
For a complete list of products and participating stores, see the official Free RPG Day site.
