How you can collect lots of pen and paper for free at the weekend

Many role-playing game rules are available for free on the weekend, including Cthulhu, Avatar and Shadowrun.

This weekend is the perfect opportunity for you if you’ve always wanted to play Pen & Paper but are having a hard time getting started. The free role play days are intended to reduce the hurdle for outsiders to the absolute minimumso you can get started with the hobby.

Basically all you need is a little motivation! Because during the free role play days, in addition to free rule versions, there is also the opportunity to simply take part in a round at various locations in Europey.

Here you can get the most important information about the free role play days 2024.

When does it start?

• Start: The free roleplay days begin on March 16, 2024.
• End: They will be over again on March 23, 2024.

However, it is also possible that the data differs depending on the location. The organizers sometimes only release the free print materials on certain days or times. So check carefully when the organizer in your area offers the role-playing games.

Which role-playing games are free?

The most important part these days are of course the free role-playing games that you can take home in a big box. It must be said that the materials are often stripped down versions of the basic rules. So you get a kind of demo rather than the whole book. However, they are still structured in such a way that you can organize a few rounds of games with them.

In the video from our colleagues at Orkenspalter you can see what all the free content looks like in reality:

Link to YouTube content

Additional materials such as dice or pen and paper are not given away. These are the free offers in the box:

• Cthulhu Quick Starter: A clear introduction to what is probably the most popular horror role-playing game ever.
• Shadowrun quick starter: One of the most popular rule systems based around a dystopian cyberpunk world with fantasy influences.
• Avatar quick starter: Rules in short form for the new Avatar Pen & Paper, which is based on the popular Nickelodeon series.
• The Almanac: An anthology for all sorts of different adventures and game aids.
• The 12 Labors of Hercules as an OSR challenge: A guide for creating challenges in old-school role-playing games.
• Mouse Knight Quick Starter: An extremely dreamy little role-playing game in which you go on an adventure as mice.
• Adventure Islands – Quick Starter and Map: You are adventurers on the high seas and explore the world in which there is also magic.
• Spherechild basic rules: This is actually a complete rule book with 300 pages and revolves around a fantasy world with a lot of sci-fi influences. Only included in every second box!
• Keys quick starter: An adventurous set of rules that allows your group to travel to completely different dimensions using keys. Only included in every fifth box!
• Four Brothers – A game aid for supers!: An auxiliary volume for the superhero role-playing game Supers!, with which you can build groups consisting of four heroes of the same type.
• The Eternal Forest – Cairn Quick Starter: An old-school adventure for the role-playing game Carin in which you explore a dark forest.
• Ogre Raid: A sweet little adventure for the whole family in which you play as an ogre and steal the largest onion in the world.
• Stahlgrimm: You investigate the disappearances of loved ones and discover the mysterious city of Steel Grimm. Is compatible with the Mörk Borg rules and regulations.
• Dwellings and whales: A storytelling game without dice in which you, as a shared apartment resident, have to hide from your landlord that you have whales in your apartment. Was designed by colleagues at OrkenspalterTV.
• Kleonida für DnD 5e: A complete setting for the latest version of Dungeon & Dragons, also written by OrkenspalterTV.
• Private Eye scenario: A new adventure for the detective role-playing game Private Eye in which a wedding dress is stolen.
• Subversion: Food is Life: An adventure for the cyberpunk role-playing game Subversion about a confusing mission.
• Pretty random zine: A random list for holiday traditions of all kinds.
• Flyer – What do you want to play?: Simply a helpful flyer that gives an overview of existing role-playing systems.
• The Nightmare Ship: A strange narrative role-playing game that simply combines the ZDF dream ship with Cthulhu monsters.
• Spacetime Technophobe – Terra’s Legacy: A clear sci-fi role-playing game with an adventure about technology smuggling.
• Troubleshooters: The Cathedral Kidnapping: An adventure for a new role-playing game that wants to tell action stories like in Franco-Belgian comics.
• Cats of Cthulhu: Here you can get character cards for the cat version of the Cthulhu role-playing game. Yes, you play as fluffy four-legged friends here.
• Splittermond: Expeditionshandel Parveos: This game aid contains a lot of information about a well-known company in the world of Splittermond.

Where is all this?

If you want to pick up a box with all of this content, you’ll need to look for an organizer near you. This year a total of 170 organizers are taking part in Europey, Luxembourg, Austria and Switzerland. A complete list would go beyond the scope. We therefore refer you to the official website, where all organizers are listed:

Pay attention to the opening times! At some locations there will also be role-playing sessions that you can also take part in. If you can’t be there, many of the free role-playing games can also be downloaded as PDFs from the website. The PDFs are available for the entire duration of the role play days.