Free RPG Day

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Free RPG Day is an annual promotional event by the Tabletop role-playing game industry. [1] The event rules are fairly simple: participating publishers provide special free copies of games to participating game stores; the game store agrees to provide one free game to any person who requests a free game on Free RPG Day. [2]

Contents

History

Shannon Appelcline discussed the comic book Crisis in Raimiton (2004), which was "an 'Adventure Guide to D&D' that Wizards gave away on Free Comic Book Day '04. It told the story of gamers playing D&D , and then the story of the characters they created. Wizards' interest in the free giveaway foreshadowed the industry's interest in a free giveaway day of their own: Free RPG Day." [3] : 91  Appelcline noted that for Impressions Advertising & Marketing, their "most successful advertising program is one that continues today: Free RPG Day. Beginning in 2007, Impressions has every year coordinated the give-away of original RPG products in game stores across the country, resulting in considerable buzz and interest in those products — which is exactly what Impressions, an advertising and marketing company, was looking for." [4] : 65 

Inspired by Free Comic Book Day, Free RPG Day was started in 2007. [5] The free RPG event was coordinated worldwide by Impressions, a game distributor, from 2007 to 2013. [6]

Appelcline noted that "Goodman Games' last stand against the dying d20 market was Free RPG Day 2007. Where most companies were offering up a single product of variable quality, Goodman contributed three different books to Free RPG Day, each one of them a top-quality production." [4] : 90  Paizo Publishing previewed the new GameMastery Modules series with D0: Hollow's Last Hope (2007), which first appeared on June 23, 2007, as part of the initial Free RPG Day. [4] : 218  Flying Buffalo assembled quick-start editions for Tunnels & Trolls for the 2007, 2008, and 2011 Free RPG Days. [3] : 132  Margaret Weis Productions released the Castlemourn Cortex System Quickstart for the 2008 Free RPG Day but then shut down the game line. [7] : 349  Green Ronin previewed their first new role-playing game, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying (2009), at Free RPG Day 2008. [4] : 36  Troll Lord Games presented a "quick start" version of Castles & Crusades at each Free RPG Day from 2007-2011 to draw in new players, and Troll Lord also previewed their science fiction role-playing game StarSIEGE: Event Horizon at Free RPG Day 2008. [4] : 50  Pinnacle Entertainment Group presented The Wild Hunt (2011) as a "Savage Worlds Test Drive" at the Free RPG Day 2011. [7] : 292 

Shannon Appelcline outlined that Columbia Games published two adventures for Free RPG Days, Field of Daisies in 2008 and Dead Weight in 2010, but noted that "the latter product was more a teaser than anything. Stores only received one copy of the adventure when they purchased a box of Free RPG Day products; Columbia has since started selling the rest of the print run — and even admonished websites that reviewed Dead Weight as a 'free' release. More recently they produced a map of Hârn (2012) for Free RPG Day 2012." [8] : 240–241 

Germany's first event was February 2, 2013; it included 9 games. The German version of Free RPG Day is called Gratisrollenspieltag, also known as Gratis Rollenspieltag. [9]

Participation

The industry participants include the publishers of the participating games, the event organizer which coordinates delivery of the free product to the stores, and the brick-and-mortar store owners who agree to provide the free games to end users/gamers. Some publishers produce quick start adventures geared toward players unfamiliar with the game system or new to tabletop role-playing games in general. The games are distributed worldwide through participating stores.

The 1st annual Free RPG Day (June 23, 2007)

The first annual event in 2007 featured quick start adventures from 16 different publishers: [10]

The 2nd annual Free RPG Day (June 21, 2008)

This event took place on June 21, 2008. [11] The second annual event featured:

The 3rd annual Free RPG Day (June 20, 2009)

Games included in the third Free RPG Day event were:

  1. Generic map set "The Ice Temple" (PDF)
  2. Arcana Evolved / Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 Edition); Lands of the Diamond Throne setting: magical items supplement "Items Evolved: Rituals" (PDF)
  3. Arcana Evolved: bestiary supplement "Mythical Monstrosities" (PDF)
  4. Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition); Feudal Lords setting: 9th level adventure "Oracle of Orcas" (PDF)

The 4th annual Free RPG Day (June 19, 2010)

This event took place on June 19, 2010. [15]

The 5th annual Free RPG Day (June 18, 2011)

The 6th annual Free RPG Day (June 16, 2012)

Games included in the sixth Free RPG Day event were: [16]

The 7th annual Free RPG Day (June 15, 2013)

This event took place on June 15, 2013. [17]

The 8th annual Free RPG Day (June 21, 2014)

This event took place on June 21, 2014. [18] Games included in the 8th annual event were: [19]

The 9th annual Free RPG Day (June 20, 2015)

This event took place on June 20, 2015. [20] Products included in the 9th annual event were: [20] [21]

The 10th annual Free RPG Day (June 18, 2016)

This event took place on June 18, 2016. [22] Products included in the 10th annual event were: [23]

The 11th annual Free RPG Day (June 17, 2017)

This event took place on June 17, 2017, products included in the 11th annual event were:

The 12th annual Free RPG Day (June 16, 2018)

This event took place on June 16, 2018, products included in the 11th annual event were:

The 13th annual Free RPG Day (June 15, 2019)

This event took place on June 15, 2019, products included in the 13th annual event were: [24]

The 14th annual Free RPG Day (2020)

This event took place on July 25, 2020, products included in the 14th annual event were: [25]

The 15th annual Free RPG Day (2021)

This event took place on October 16, 2021, products included in the 15th annual event were: [26]

The 16th annual Free RPG Day (2022)

This event took place on June 25, 2022 (in North America) and July 23, 2022 (everywhere else), products included in the 16th annual event were: [27]

The 17th annual Free RPG Day (2023)

This event took place on June 24, 2023, products included in the 17th annual event were: [28]

The 18th annual Free RPG Day (2024)

This event will take place on June 22, 2024, products announced for the 18th annual event are: [29]

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References

  1. ↑ Walters, Ashleigh (15 June 2013). "Free RPG Day: Video gamers enjoy 'Free Role Playing Game Day'". WPTV News Channel 5. Scripps Media Inc. Scripps TV Station Group. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Callahan, Timothy (17 June 2013). "When Worlds Collide: Celebrating Free RPG Day" (Column). Comic Book Resources. Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  3. 1 2 Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '70s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN   978-1-61317-075-5.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '00s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN   978-1-61317-087-8.
  5. ↑ Fletcher, NaShanta (14 June 2013). "Get ready for Free RPG Day!". Chicago Now. CTMG Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Martin Ralya (2007-02-04). "Free RPG Day: Free Comic Day for Gamers". Treasure Tables. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  7. 1 2 Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '90s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN   978-1-61317-084-7.
  8. ↑ Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '80s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN   978-1-61317-081-6.
  9. ↑ "Gratisrollenspieltag 13". RPG Geek. BoardGameGeek, LLC. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  10. ↑ "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2007". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  11. ↑ "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2008". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  12. ↑ "Series Listing, Free RPG Day". RPG.net. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  13. ↑ Massawyrm (2008-06-20). "AICN Tabletop: FREE RPG DAY IS TOMORROW! And Massawyrm shares his picks of the litter!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  14. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2009: PDF Adjunct". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  15. ↑ "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2010". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  16. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2012 Listing - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  17. ↑ "Series Listing, Free RPG Day 2013". RPG.net. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  18. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2014 this Saturday! | RPGG News". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  19. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2014 Listing - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  20. 1 2 "Free RPG Day 2015 | Series | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  21. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2015 Listing - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  22. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2016 | Series | BoardGameGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  23. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2016 Listing - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  24. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2019 | Series | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  25. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2020 | Series | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  26. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2021 | Series | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  27. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2022 | Series | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  28. ↑ "Free RPG Day 2023 | Series | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  29. ↑ "Free RPG Day is June 22, 2024!". Free RPG Day. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
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