• Ben Lehman is experimenting with a “Pay-What-You-Like” model for Polaris and Bliss Stage http://bit.ly/hgmNg #rpg
• The Walking Dead just keeps getting better and better. It is very inspiring for roleplaying games. Apocalypse World maybe? #rpg
• 40,024! Caught up! Finally some exciting stuff is happening. I think this scene should’ve started 30,000 words ago, but oh well #nanowrimo
• RT @fredhicks “Bandwidth II http://www.deadlyfredly.com/2010/11/bandwidth-ii/” Awesome superheroes idea: radio broadcast super powers #rpg
• Ever wanted to make a Fiasco playset? Here are the fonts to make yours match the published game: http://bit.ly/dQwrgn #rpg

I think we’ve stumbled across RPG rules before that we really wished worked differently. And everyone loves free stuff, right? Playtesting RPGs is a great way to get a nearly complete game or supplement for free. It also allows you to provide feedback directly to the creators of the game so that they can consider the problems you find.

That’s the great thing too, it’s not just typos and calculation errors you can report on, it’s how powers and abilities work, how a certain rule plays out in game, how things are balanced, and so on. Right now there are some great free playtest PDFs you can get your hands on, letting you try things out early and help shape the way the final products work. Let’s take a look.

In fantasy games, taverns are often full of patrons drinking and playing cards. It strains our suspension of disbelief when we hear them draw the King of Hearts or play a game of Spades or Blackjack.

While it would be nice to have a fully developed deck quite different than our standard 52-card deck, it would not be compatible with most of the games we know, so we would also have to come up with new games. Some have the time (or money) for that, but most of us don’t.

Instead, a simple re-skinning let us draw the Empress of Arrows or play a game of Shields or Black Knight, adding a little bit of fantasy flair while still keeping the real-world cards and allowing us to play the games we know.

Today I’m happy to announce the launch of Fever Dreams, the new game publishing arm of Pyres of Vam. Nobody here at the Pyres is a professional game designer, and we like making up fluff more than crunch. Nevertheless, we’ve got some ideas and thanks to the miracle of the Intertubes, we can publish stuff for free!

You might also be interested in reading...

• IAYC: Fantasy Newspaper (Free Download)
• ZILLA! – Free ‘Classic Character Pack’
• ZILLA! – My Free RPG Day Offering
• Link Hoard: Free RPG Round-up
• Monsterhearts Actual Play – Edgegate, Part 1