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FEAR RPG is a free and complete pencil-and-paper fantasy roleplaying game.

Last updated on 5 January 2013.

Download the rulebook (6^th edition) for free here!

Rulebook (5^th edition) available in print on www.lulu.com

Check out the review of FEAR at thefreerpgblog.blogspot.com

Why?

Some roleplaying games are so simplistic that any realism is lost. Ever played a game where:

• only thieves can pick locks?
• rapiers do the same type of damage as clubs?
• each combatant makes one attack every ten seconds, and can only wear one type of armour?

Other roleplaying games are so complex that they become unplayable. Ever played a game where:

• each character has hundreds of different skills?
• keeping track of damage in combat requires a qualification in accountancy?
• you have to buy twenty rulebooks to get a decent set of rules?

FEAR RPG was born out of frustration with these types of roleplaying games, and has been designed from scratch to be realistic yet flexible. The rules can be adapted to any fantasy world you care to use. Hopefully there’s enough depth to satisfy experienced roleplayers, and enough explanation to get novices started too. Sadly, I’m not an artist so there are no pretty pictures to break up the text and tables. If anyone has fantasy artwork they don’t mind me using, please contact me!

What do you get?

FEAR RPG provides:

• 12 classic fantasy PC races;
• 100+ detailed monster descriptions;
• 250+ spells in 12 schools of magic;
• a simple and flexible skill development system;
• a realistic second-by-second combat system.

FEAR RPG can be adapted to virtually any fantasy world invented. Just add dice (1d20s) and imagination…

Authorship and Contact Information

FEAR RPG was created by Paul Jeffcoat, with suggestions from Dale Broadbent, James Lowe and Chris Murtagh.

It has been published on the internet to get feedback from other roleplayers. If you have any comments or suggestions, please email them to:

Last Rule Update

5 January 2013 – Sixth Edition!

Big changes, chiefly the scrapping of Power Points and the Magic stat.

Changes by chapter:

• Character Generation
• Increased personalisation by allowing 30 points to be spent on DRMs in character generation, not 18.
• Scrapped night vision. Revised which races have infravision and its range.
• Revised penalties for Swimming skill for Dwarfs (and Dragon-Newts).
• LURPs now regained at the end of each scene in the GM's campaign. Maximum number adjusted.
• Actions
• Renamed scholar language grade to student.
• Removed an error in the difficulty factor table in the Actions chapter.
• Combat
• Reduced speeds of many one-handed melee weapons - majority are now 3 seconds. This because simultaneous one-handed attacks were unbalanced, e.g. a dagger could be attacking every second whilst a mace in the other hand was attacking every 5 seconds.
• Clarified that a weapon's duration is not just the time to swing it but also the time for recovery between attacks, repositioning the feet, overcoming the weapon's inertia, etc.
• Scrapped metal shields - wooden ones would be far more practical.
• Magic
• Scrapped POPs and the MA stat.
• Instead of losing POPs when a spell is cast - if a spell-casting roll is failed, the caster loses the ability to cast any magic spell for a number of seconds equal to the spell's level, assuming the level is <=10. If the spell's level is between 11 and 15, spell-casting ability is lost for this many minutes. If spell levels is >=16, spell-casting ability is lost for this many hours.
• If a spell-casting roll is fumbled, in addition to the loss of spell-casting ability, the spell is lost from the caster's memory. The player puts a cross by it in pencil on the character sheet. Once the character regains his spell-casting ability, he must spend the requisite number of hours to re-memorise this spell before he can cast it again. This means that the concept of incomprehensible spells can be scrapped too.
• New Restoration spell added to Wizardry to restore loss of spell-casting ability.
• Ghost Drain and Leech Power spells scrapped from Necromancy. Added Detect Undead spell, and Bind Spirit for making Greater Skeletons.
• New Wake Trees spell in Hedge Mage discipline. Made Intersection a lower level spell to encourage encounters with intersections in the game.
• New Alter Ego spell in Mind discipline.
• Clarified that bolts, balls and cones require an attack roll to aim after the spell-casting roll. Added that an optional skill could be developed for aiming them by characters with low SC.
• Raised default spell-casting time to 5 seconds. And prayers to 10 seconds.
• FERPs have gone. Instead have loss of prayer use, like for spell-casting failures.
• Changed Green Fingers gift from Goddess of Plants.
• GM
• Simplified rules for advanced character generation.
• Bestiary
• Revised regenerating vulnerability class so the GM doesn't need to record when a creature receives an injury.
• The ability of undead to drain POPs has gone - victims instead lose spell-casting ability.
• Goods and Services
• Increased the range of habitats that each herb grows in.
• Added a new herb to restore lost spell-casting ability following undead attacks.
• Treasure
• Made healing potions more likely to be generated on the random Potions table.
• New Restoration potion added to restore loss of spell-casting ability.

Previous updates are listed on the Rules page.