A list of Libre and Open RPGs July 16th, 2023

This page will list existing RPGs and related systems that meet our criteria of freedom and openness. Like the Licenses page, this one will have separate lists for rpgs that are open or lax, and those that are strictly copyleft. Open rpgs are those published under the CC BY license, and copyleft are those published under the CC BY-SA license.

If you know of a compatible rpg that’s not already on this list, please let us know! Open RPGs Games Using CC BY License

2400 and their SRD.
AdventureLand.
Aleph RPG – and non-facebook link.
Baba Yaga’s Dancing Hut.
Blades in the Dark – their SRD.
C22 – playing card based srd.
CAPERS.
Carta – solo rpg.
Commonsense.
CORE Micro SRD.
Crash! and Lanterns of the Dead.
Cyberrats CC BY licensed, but it’s based on LUMEN, which I have not been able to find a definitive license for. It deserves a closer look because a lot of games are based on it.
D10/0 – rules system and some games based around it.
D6 Pool Modern, “Prep Fast, Play Fast.”
Death Takes a Holiday.
Department Nine.
Devil, John Moulton, The.
DramaSystem SRD.
Dulse – author page.
Dungeon World – Their Github Project, SRD, and a web-based copy of their book.
Dungeons and Dragons SRD – this is the 5.1 SRD only. The Creative Commons one is better.
Fari RPGs – Multiple resources and rules systems, all CC BY licensed.
FATE is a great example on this list. Their open materials are easy to find, clear in their licensing, and they have a lot of free stuff to work with. Evil Hat’s approach should really be seen as the reference model that others should strive for.
FATE Polyhedral, a modified version of FATE that uses polyhedral dice.
Five by Five.
Forge Engine.
For the Queen.
Freeform Universal.
F-Sharp – simplified variant of FATE.
GAME(PDF) Generic Action Mediation System.
Ghosts.
Go Fast, Turn Left.
Gratitude – a horror game. Creator kit is here.
GUMSHOE SRD.
Gunwave.
Harmony Drive.
Heroes of Adventure.
Heroes of Exploding Kingdoms.
House of Masks.
In the Dark of a Fallen Empire.
Ironsworn – some of their materials are under a NonCommercial license only, but others are fully CC BY.
Libre Card Game.
Longshot.
Maze Rats.
Mist-Robed Gate.
MULRAH – one version appears to be CC, and the other OGL.
Myriad.
Nameless Horror.
Not-Too-Silly Stories.
One Shot.
Open Adventure git-hackable and everything.
Powers for Good.
Providence Junction LARP.
Quest
Resistance Toolbox, The
Return to Maniac Mansion.
Sad Press SRD Collection – several small games.
Science Fiction Mystery LARP.
Second String Superheroes LARP.
So1um.
So Now You’re a Time Traveler.
STaMTaR.
Sufficiently Advanced Technologies LARP.
Super Repo.
Trophy.
Tunnel Goons.
ORC – Organic Rules Components.
Unsung Tales.
Vaults of Vaarn.
World of Fire and Sand, A.
Worlds of Legacy SRD.

Copyleft RPGs Games using CC BY-SA License

100/3 RPG.
1 Page Dungeon Contest.
6D6, and license.
Adventures on Dungeon Planet – requires Dungeon World to play.
Anima Prime.
Aphelion Transit.
As the Tea Leaves Grow.
Artifact, The.
Basic Fantasy – including them because even though their current materials are ogl, they are making every effort to shift to CC BY-SA as quickly as they can in response to the WotC controversy.
Beast Hunters – Itch version, and SRD.
BOLT RPG Engine.
Brent P Newhall’s Musaeum – it doesn’t look like everything is under a libre license, but Dungeon Delvers, DD Deck, and Ability Score are all CC BY-SA.
Cairn and SRD.
Cap & Trade.
Cardenio’s Daughter.
Critical! Go Westerly – and author.
Daring Adventures.
Death of the Japanese Emperor.
Donjon.
Dreaming Crucible, The.
Dungeoncaster – SRD only, it looks like.
Eben Fantasy Essence – and their main website.
Enter the Avenger.
FAST.
Fifth World, The.
Fortune SRD.
Fortune Cookies and Nuclear War.
FUBAR – Director’s Cut.
Geasa.
Heroic Tales
Hodge – RPG system in the form of a wiki.
JAZZ.
Kalos – both a superhero comic book project and ttrpg.
Midgard.
MurderHobos.
Neon Skylines.
Phantom 52.
Primo Contatto.
Quest-ions.
RAWE – Red Ashe World Engine.
Scrabblenauts – RPG played with Scrabble pieces.
Shackled Self, The.
Shadow of Yesterday.
Shadows.
Siren RPG Beta.
Super Notecard Adventures
Synergy.
Tango.
The Simple Game System.
Tiny D10.
TSGS.
Turbo Dice.
VERS.
Uncharted Worlds.
Warrior and Wizard.
Weird World.
Witless Minion.
Wushu – also has a supplement, Wushu Open Reloaded.

Games using GPL License

BIND RPG.
HYPeR.
Osprey.
Pirate Party Flyerbook which uses their 1d6 system. If you know German, they’re looking for translators.
YAGS – Yet Another Game System, sounds something along the line of GURPS.

Public Domain RPGs

Amagi Games Archive – as much as possible, all these are public domain.
Aurora RPG Engine, CC0.
Awen.
Codename Spandex.
Enchanted Realms.
Four Color System.
Midian Dark Fantasy Core Set. – the DFCS is public domain, the rest of their content is under some weird homebrew license.
Pantheon.
Super Hero Fun.

Not RPGs but…

WTactics – a community hub for collaboratively creating card and boardgames. As of yet they don’t seem to have any RPGs, but all of their projects are under open and libre licenses, and it’s just that cool of a project. Sub-projects:
    Arcmage.
    gaia.
    saga.
    tinytactics.
    tinysquad.
    emata.

Credits

Zireael07’s list – The initial bulk of games populating this list comes from Zireael07’s Awesome ttrpg list. If you don’t care about what licenses the games are under, it’s an Awesome list to check out.
E Chris Garrison’s list – unfortunately the majority of links were broken here, but I did find a few games to add, so I’m including it.
Micro RPG Catalog.
RPG Net Open Game List.
FOSsil Bank – absolutely fantastic list(s).