Fantasy RPGs went Shareware

In the last year or two, just about all the top fantasy RPGs became free. With a five dollar set of dice, a pencil, and some paper you can try them all.  I included Fate, Savage Worlds, and GURPS.  Despite being generic systems, they are very often used for fantasy games.

There are a few notable exceptions:  The One Ring RPG is not free, for instance.  And there are a few popular fantasy RPGs that offer limited free rules (OpenQuest, D&D Basic) or a quickstart that doesn't include character creation rules (Savage Worlds, 4th edition D&D).

Without further ado, here are your free fantasy RPGs!

The full game and most of the best supplements for Pathfinder are entirely free.  I find it astounding that Paizo continues to release their main line books into their SRD.  Ultimate Campaign was added to the SRD recently, five years after the original Pathfinder rules went into an SRD.  Even more amazing is that Pathfinder's fans keep buying these books!  That's dedication.  Hat tip to the Pathfinder community! (Disclaimer: I play Pathfinder, so there's a little bias there).

• http://paizo.com/prd/
• http://www.d20pfsrd.com

Pathfinder 2nd edition's playtest is free

• http://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest 

3.5 edition D&D is entirely free.

• http://www.d20srd.org

13th Age is entirely free.

• http://www.13thagesrd.com

Dungeon World is entirely free.

• http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com

Fate is entirely free.  The first link is to the full Fate Core PDF, which is "Pay What You Want" (which can be free if you're broke).

• http://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-downloads/
• http://fate-srd.com
• http://slyflourish.com/dungeons_of_fate.html

ICON from Abbadon Press (makers of Lancer) is currently entirely free:

• https://massif-press.itch.io/icon

There are a ton of other free and PWYW fantasy RPGs on itch.io, as well.  Check it out!

OSRIC is entirely free.

• http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/

Lamentations of the Flame Princess is entirely free (with no art).

• http://www.lotfp.com/RPG/

I cut my teeth on Rules Cyclopedia D&D, so the fact that Dark Dungeons is free makes me happy!

• (updated 2/28/19) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/177410/Dark-Dungeons 

Indie RPG Unsung is free (any setting, as long as it involves unethical behavior)

• http://www.rpgnow.com/product/19670/Unsung-Deluxe-Download?term=unsung+&it=1

West End Games' d6 system is free.  The fantasy book is free, as is the space book.  You may recall this is the old Star Wars RPG's system.

• (updated 2/28/19) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/155290/Micropend6-RPG?cPath=1371_5045 

Mythender is free.

• http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/110779/Mythender-Roleplaying-Game&affiliate_id=104153

Ars Magica 4th edition is free (now that 5th is out).

• http://www.atlas-games.com/arm4/

Brutal RPG is entirely free.

• http://www.brutalrpg.com/Frames.asp

Dungeonslayers is free.

• http://shop.chroniclecity.co.uk/epages/es146440.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=%2FShops%2Fes146440%2FCategories%2FDungeonslayers

Donjon is free.

• (updated and fixed link 2/28/19) https://rpggeek.com/filepage/45072/donjon-creative-commons-full-text-pdf

Rule of Cool's Legend RPG is free (this is not the RuneQuest fork that used to be called Legends, but a great 3.5 fork you should at least read).

• http://www.ruleofcool.com/get-the-game/

CJ Carella's Witchcraft is free.

• http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/692/CJ-Carrellas-WitchCraft?term=witchc&it=1

Talislanta is also free.  All of it!

• http://talislanta.com/?page_id=5

Labyrinth Lord?  Free.

• (updated 2/28/19) http://goblinoidgames.com/index.php/downloads/

Swords and Wizardry?  $50.  Just kidding.  Totally free.

• (updated 2/28/19) https://froggodgames.com/frogs/product/swords-wizardry-complete-rulebook/ 

Warrior, Rogue & Mage is free.

• http://www.stargazergames.eu/games/warrior-rogue-mage/

Something Went Wrong is a fantasy RPG about adventurers failing their quest dramatically.  It has a free version:

• http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/105211/Something-Went-Wrong--Free-Version

Basic Fantasy, another OSR game (but without OSR rules) is free.

• http://basicfantasy.org/

Heroes Against Darkness, a D&D 4e "heartbreaker" -- or perhaps an indie 4.5e -- is free, too.

• http://heroesagainstdarkness.blogspot.com/p/heroes-against-darkness-downloads.html?m=1 (2/28/19 This link has dead links on it.  But see below!)
• Use this link for a google drive of the books https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3r2XOOeBBawa0lhdDFYTF9Eejg

These games are free, in a limited form.  
There are character creation rules and monsters, so you can run a whole campaign with the limited rules, so I consider them free.

5th edition D&D Basic is free.  It's stripped down, but free.

• http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/basicrules
• http://www.5esrd.com/

• The module the characters play in the movie Of Dice and Men is also free, and is compatible with 5th edition D&D:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/vezwk90mezczu1q/Tomb_of_the_Lich_King-MODULE-OfDiceAndMen.pdf?dl=0

Hackmaster Basic (up to level 5) is free.

• http://www.kenzerco.com/product_info.php?cPath=25_94&products_id=862

GURPS Lite is free.  It's a stripped down ruleset, but free!

• http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG31-0004

HARP Lite is free.  Like D&D Basic, it's a simpler version.

• http://files.meetup.com/489087/3000L_HarpLite.pdf

Runequest is... free?  
The history of this game's ownership and development is sad, but on the plus side, it did result in several current free versions!

Runequest 6th Edition Essentials is "Pay What You Want."  So it can be free, if you're broke.

• http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/130816/RuneQuest-Essentials

Runequest 4th Edition SRD is free, but not ideal.

• http://www.enworld.org/forum/showwiki.php?title=Runequest:Runequest-System-Reference-Document

OpenQuest 2 Basic PDF is free.  (Stripped down rules for RuneQuest sounds like a good idea anyway)

• http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/127007/OpenQuest-2-Basic-Edition

Ray Turney's Fire & Sword, another RuneQuest "fork" version is also free.

• http://www.orion-forever.com/firesword/

Renaissance Black Powder d100 RPG is also free.

• http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/97426/Renaissance--D100-black-powder-SRD?manufacturers_id=4595

The Age of Shadow is also free.  How many free RuneQuest heirs are there?

• http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/93513/The-Age-of-Shadow-Roleplaying-Game

So go try them all!

By the way, as some of these games are played on a 1" grid...  printable 1" grid paper is ALSO free.

• http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/

These popular games are sort of free.
There aren't enough rules to run a full campaign, but you can use the free rules to run a short adventure.  I don't really consider these to be "free" since they're too limited to be a full game, but since 4e D&D is now out of date and Savage Worlds is not primarily a fantasy RPG, I can still say most of the popular fantasy RPGs in print today are free.

4th edition D&D is not entirely free. The Quickstart rules are free but do not have character creation rules.  You can also pick up Keep on the Shadowfell for free, but personally I don't recommend that module.  Go get something from the fourthcore google drive and run it with the starter set pregens instead!

• http://www.dndclassics.com/product/110213/DD-RPG-Starter-Set-Quickstart-4e?filters=0_0_44703
• Fourthcore modules (including Crucible of the Gods) are free!  https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B49tzQLrohHaUU9qYS1HV2cwOWs&usp=drive_web

Savage Worlds Test Drive is free, but like the 4e quickstart, it doesn't have everything you need to play a full campaign.  I believe it has pregens instead of character creation rules and options.

• http://www.peginc.com/freebies/SWcore/TD06.pdf

Here are some other resources on the web to direct you to free RPG lists. 

My list is specifically free fantasy RPGs.  These lists should help you find more, if you're looking for SF or modern fantasy, or anything else!

• http://www.1km1kt.net/cat/rpg
• http://sillyhatbooks.com/about/games/
• https://sites.google.com/site/rpgfreelist/