Even if you've never heard of TTRPG publisher Free League, you've probably at some point seen the cover of one of its games and gone "Wow, what's that?". With books like the Alien RPG, The One Ring, and Vaesen, the Swedish company has shown off incredible art direction, refined production values, and damn clever game design. It's on a serious roll lately (no pun intended), now standing as one of the most respected publishers in the business—and, for my money, one of the best to ever do it.
All of which is to say, getting 29 great Free League books for just $18/£14.20 is a deal to leap at. That's the latest TTRPG offering over at Humble Bundle, running until December 19, and even if you're sick of hearing me point out great deals over there, this one's definitely worth a look.
Though it doesn't cover every Free League game, the bundle totals $585/£460.75 worth of stuff, and includes:
- Mutant: Year Zero: A unique spin on post-apocalyptic roleplaying. Includes the spin-off games, allowing you to play as robots or genetically-engineered animals as well as mutants.
- Dragonbane: A light and modern take on old-fashioned dungeon-crawling.
- Tales from the Loop: A gorgeous game based on the visionary sci-fi art of Simon Stålenhag.
- Symbaroum: Dark, scary fantasy in a rich and detailed setting.
- Forbidden Lands: A gritty survival sandbox in the style of old school fantasy RPGs.
- Coriolis: Exploration and intrigue in a space opera setting inspired by Middle Eastern mythology.
- Twilight 2000: Gritty military action in the aftermath of World War III.
All of those come with one or more lengthy adventures ready to run—in the case of Mutant: Year Zero alone, I count five full campaigns—so even if you don't want to use the included bestiaries and GM guides to homebrew your own, you'll still have more content to throw your tabletop group into than you know what to do with.
My personal top pick of the bunch is Dragonbane. I'm gearing up at the moment to GM the excellent core set campaign, The Secret of the Dragon Emperor, and I'm really excited to get stuck in with the system. It's a brilliant alternative to D&D (I'll certainly be adding it to our big list in the new year), combining the best of gritty old school fantasy adventuring with elegant modern design, evocative art, and… talking ducks. Apparently they're a big thing in Sweden?
All the PDFs are simply added to your DriveThruRPG account—much nicer than using Humble Bundle's own download system, with the added benefit that if the books ever get updated, you can always re-download to get the latest version.
There are also smaller and cheaper bundles available, including one at $10/£7.89 for seven items and one at $1/£0.78 for 2 items, but to be honest they both contain very random selections of books without the core rules you need to actually run the games, so unfortunately they're a bit of a waste of time. If you're interested, stick to that top tier. Just remember to grab it before December 19. Happy adventuring, and I'll see you again for the next ridiculous TTRPG bundle…
