Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University. This week, Thorne offers up his thoughts on the upcoming Free RPG Day and reveals the contents of the retailer kit for this event.
Free RPG Day takes place this year on June 27, 2026 (see “Free RPG Day 2026 Kit“). It has moved from the third Saturday in June again to avoid conflicting with the Magic: The Gathering Marvel Super Heroes prerelease weekend, which most stores will appreciate. However, the new Yu-Gi-Oh! set, Chaos Origins, still has its Premiere event that weekend.
With so many TCGs hitting the market, it’s hard to find a weekend anymore when some new product isn’t released. Still, since Free RPG Day is typically one of our best sales days of the year, I will gladly support it and this year looks to be the biggest one ever in terms of the variety of product releases, with the kit weighing in at around 53 pounds. Gaming Days, the sponsor of Free RPG Day, said that they had sold out of kits earlier than ever with about half the stores ordering three kits.
Here’s a list of everything that should be in each store’s kit (contents may vary for kits going to stores in Canada and the United Kingdom/Europe):
- Level 1 by 9th Level Games
- QRAWL by 9th Level Games / Paizo
- The Crooked House Quickstart by Avantris Entertainment
- The Cosmere RPG: Law and Obligation by Brotherwise Games
- Wizard Riders by Catalyst Game Labs
- The Age of Vikings Quickstart by Chaosium
- Creature Curation Presents #1 by Creature Curation
- Daggerheart: The Dying Spire by Darrington Press
- Dice by Dispel Dice
- Arkham Horror: Three Days to the Big Easy by Edge Studio
- Zombicide: Plaguebearer RPG by Edge Studio
- Dungeons & Kittens: An Afternoon Outing by Edge Studio
- Everyday Heroes: All Bets Are Off! by Evil Genius
- Dolmenwood Quick-Start by Exalted Funeral
- Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying Quickstart by Free League Publishing
- Free RPG Day 20th Anniversary Pencil by FRPG Day
- DCC + 5E: Pretenders to the Rat King’s Throne by Goodman Games
- Creed: Shadow Stalker (5E) by Knight Vision Creative
- Runes of the World Tree Quickstart by Kobold Press
- Pirate Borg: Terror in Tortuga by Limithron LLC
- Dungeon Beneath the Brightspire by Loke Battlemats
- Root/Avatar games by Magpie Games
- Marvel Multiverse RPG: The Secret Wars Expansion Preview by Marvel
- Kaguya Protocol by MythWorks
- Pathfinder Free RPG Day Adventure: Things Go to Hell by Paizo, Inc.
- Starfinder Free RPG Day Adventure: Rescue on Raxil by Paizo, Inc.
- Fossilized Violence by R. Talsorian Games
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Tradition of Destruction by Renegade Game Studios
- No Place Like Homebrew by Roll and Play Press
- D&D Post-It: End of Session by Sirius Dice
- Legend in the Mist: Demo Game 2026 – Rite Of The Oathbreakers and Legend in the Mist: Comic Book Solo Adventure – Find The Rime Thistle by Son of Oak Game Studio
- Story Engine: Lore Masters Deck by The Story Engine
- Old School Essentials – From Here to There by Third Kingdom Games
- Home: House of Broken Promises by Wet Ink Games
- D&D Exclusive Miniatures by Wizkids
Unfortunately, since several items on the list trickled in at the last minute, no packing list was enclosed with the kit; nor was a list of the publisher specials included. I’m happy to see another QRAWL, sponsored by Paizo (featuring the Pathfinder RPG). In a first, Free RPG Day is partnering with Doctors Without Borders (see “Partnership with Doctors Without Borders“) in that hopes stores and Free RPG Day participants will join with Gaming Days to support and donate to the organization.
Comments? Send them to castleperilousgames@gmail.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Source: ICV2
