This column originally ran in Back Alley Games Issue 17, July 2025

On a blisteringly hot Saturday in June, I had the opportunity to run a game of Dungeon Crawl Classics for a group of four strangers. Only one of them had ever played the old-school tabletop RPG before, and she had come all the way from the North Side to join us at First Aid Comics in Hyde Park. 

Though unfamiliar with each other and the game, we all had a great time rolling polyhedral dice and weaving a fantastic tale full of hijinks. This was not the start of a monthslong campaign, just an enjoyable evening of adventure made possible by Free RPG Day.

Started in 2007 and inspired by Free Comic Book Day, the annual comic book promotion event, Free RPG Day sees local retailers give away free RPG materials designed specifically for the event. 

Materials include quickstart guides filled with basic rules and brief scenarios for easy pick up and play, new adventures for existing games, and accessories such as dice and miniatures.

For publishers, the day is an opportunity to advertise their upcoming products and games. For retailers, it is a chance to attract customers and boost sales for a day. For gamers, it is an opportunity to try new games, expand their collection, get together with fellow gamers, and bond over new experiences. At least that is what it is supposed to be.

This year, out of six participating locations within a 25-mile radius of Chicago, only one was within city limits. It was not one of the major gaming retailers, Prism Games or Dice Dojo, but a humble comic book shop on the city’s South Side.

On the one hand, I was immensely proud to see the South Side carrying the torch this year. On the other, I was disappointed to see the rest of the city drop the ball on one of my favorite events of the year.

When asked for comment, a representative at Dice Dojo explained that they simply “missed the sign up deadline.” While this did calm my overblown fears that Free RPG Day was dying, it bolstered my suspicion that tabletop RPGs are just not a priority for gaming retailers. 

For these shops, trading card games and miniature wargames are the money makers. RPGs are just an afterthought.

To understand why this lack of interest bothers me, think about Free RPG Day as the Steam Next Fest of tabletop RPGs. Most of the works represented are not the most mainstream, which in the tabletop industry means that they are not produced by Wizards of the Coast for Dungeons & Dragons. 

While D&D compatible products are plentiful, they are all made by smaller third-party creators. This makes Free RPG Day one of the few times of the year that small press tabletop companies can get their products seen by a mainstream audience.

Now, like Steam Next Fest, this isn’t a perfect system for independent and solo developers. Independents who self publish cannot afford to have their products featured in Free RPG Day kits, but savvy devs can still benefit from the event. 

For example, publications like the Level 1 Anthology from 9th Level Games feature short RPGs made by solo devs every year. Also, Free RPG Day creates an opportunity for retailers to promote local game devs by setting up tables where they can show off and sell their own products as well as meet like-minded members of the community.

Free RPG Day also creates a low barrier of entry for people to try new games. Discovering new games can be a hassle, and learning new game mechanics is intimidating, especially when packaged in mammoth tomes like tabletop RPG rules tend to be. 

Free RPG Day provides simple onboarding for new players, giving quickstart rules that can be read and brought to table in an afternoon. Likewise, Steam Next Fest lets players try before they buy, getting a taste for a new game in a less overwhelming format before committing to a purchase.

For designers, both Free RPG Day and Steam Next Fest provide an opportunity to see what the rest of the industry is up to and learn new game mechanics that can be applied to their own projects. Tabletop RPGs have been evolving for over 50 years, and we are seeing more and more games that push the definition of what an RPG even is. As for video games, you don’t need me to tell you what an overwhelming number of new indie games are coming out on Steam every day.

Where the Steam Next Fest comparison breaks down is the way Free RPG Day builds community. There are countless RPGs available online that are easy to pick up, stick into a folder, and then forget about. But actually holding a book in your hands, turning the pages and admiring the art in front of you makes it easier to imagine yourself playing the game. 

And wouldn’t you know it, to get these games you have to show up to a physical space that just so happens to have room to play these kinds of games and is full of other people interested in tabletop RPGs.

At the same time that I was running Dungeon Crawl Classics at my local comic book shop, Indie City Games crossed the $30,000 threshold on their Kickstarter to fund this year’s CIGS, blowing past a stretch goal that would allow them to start looking for a permanent location for their Lair (congrats, by the way).

The hope for this space is that it will be “a dedicated community space for ICG, allowing for accessible coworking, consistent venue space, and ultimately creating common, collaborative ground.” I think this is a beautiful goal, and one that is very much needed in Chicago. 

Like tabletop roleplaying, indie video game development is a niche community, better represented in places that aren’t Chicago, like New York, LA, and Seattle.

There are so few “third spaces” for creatives to gather in Chicago. Even game stores seem to have limited space for anything that isn’t Magic: The Gathering or Warhammer 40K. It will be a breath of fresh air to have a space in Chicago where game devs can get together, play, swap ideas, and demo their games in a physical space next to physical people. 

Every day a Free RPG Day; every day a Steam Next Fest. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Anyway, bug your local game stores so they don’t forget to sign up for Free RPG Day next year, try a new game, and when the Lair is complete, show up and do not let that space go!