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29 August 2023: Official launch of 4E-compatible, fully open-licensed Orcus tabletop RPG

After over two years of development, today the Orcus Hero’s Handbook and Orcus Game Master’s Guide have been released on GitHub and DriveThruRPG as free downloads and print-on-demand from Lulu.com.

(Skip the announcement and go to the downloads)

Orcus is wholly compatible with the fourth edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game and consists entirely of open content.

Players can combine classes, kits and feats to cover a wide range of character concepts – and thanks to the power system and tactical combat, swashbucklers, tacticians, knights and beastmasters can hold their own alongside demonologists, enchanters, elemental duelists and divinely-inspired priests.

  • Print-on-demand copies of the books are available at-cost.
  • The game features original and third party content, rather than paraphrasing content from 4E, but it is entirely interoperable with official 4E content.
  • Flexible character creation is a priority, with the class, kit and feat subsystems interlocking to allow for a wide range of characters right out of the box. Martial arts, psychic powers, demanding incantations, poisons with out-of-combat functionality and familiars are all included.
  • The novel “threats” system makes setting up tactical encounters easy, with a readily available list of level-appropriate terrain features, traps and events for each terrain type. Just add the monsters!

Orcus by the numbers:

  • 221 monsters
  • 24 ancestries
  • 9 classes and 25 kits
  • 20 prestige paths and 6 epic paths
  • 80 skilled practices and magical rituals
  • 138 feats
  • 848 powers, including advanced maneuvers and poisons usable by any character

Project lead Chris Sakkas says:

“Orcus would not have been possible without the Open Game License and the community of sharing and collaboration that it cultivated.

“Orcus has entirely new classes, ancestries, monsters and powers, as well as many others based on Open Game Content from dozens of creators across several game lines.

“Our hope is that Orcus will make it easier to publish sourcebooks and adventures compatible with 4E, as well as serving as the foundation for other clones and games.”

The books

Orcus Heroes' Handbook

Download the Orcus Heroes' Handbook PDF or buy a print copy on Lulu.

Orcus Game Master's Guide

Download the Orcus Game Master's Guide PDF or buy a print copy on Lulu.

Orcus SRD

  • [Rulebook](Orcus Rulebook - current.md) (PDF)
  • [Player Options](Orcus Player Options - current.md) (ancestries, feats, deities) (PDF)
  • [Classes and Powers](Orcus Classes and Powers - current.md) (classes, kits, disciplines, powers) (PDF)
  • [Monsters](Orcus Monsters - current.md) (templates, monster traits, monsters, threats, traps, afflictions and terrain) (PDF)
  • [Advanced Options](Orcus Advanced Options - current.md) (advanced options, species, combat maneuvers, magic items, backgrounds, arts, extended challenges, bonds) (PDF))
  • Character sheet (XLSX)
  • [Open Game License](Orcus - Open Game License.md) (PDF) and [Artwork Credits](Orcus - Artworks.md) (PDF)

Other content

Campaign resources

  • [Fires in the Crypt](Fires in the Crypt.md) (PDF) - first level adventure
  • Ancestral Voices (PDF only) - second level adventure
  • [The False Necromancer](The False Necromancer.md) (PDF) - second level adventure
  • [Death and Chaos](Death and Chaos.md) (PDF) - third level adventure

Experiments

  • [House Rules](Orcus House Rules.md)
  • [3-by-4 Sublime Classes](3-by-4 Sublime Classes.md) (PDF)
  • Tiles (PDF only)
  • Monster sheet (PDF only)
  • Warrior

Older versions

  • [Pre-gens](Example Orcus Characters.md) (PDF) - five first-level characters

Related games

  • [Petit 4](Petit 4.md) (PDF)

Background

Dedicated to the hobbyists, designers, developers and publishers who have released their work under the Open Game License.

Orcus is a work in progress. All feedback is welcome.

Compatible with Fourth Edition

How to contribute

Join the discussion on RPGnet (most active), The Piazza, EN World or GiantITP.

Here's some of the things that would help Orcus grow:

  • People contributing homebrew material - either stuff they've already written for other games or stuff that they write especially for Orcus.
  • Experienced players going through monsters, powers, etc., and tweaking the balance, even removing and replacing underwhelming powers.
  • An En5ider-style ongoing crowdfunding campaign, creating new material every month that would get added back in to the Orcus database.
  • An Orcus character generator, perhaps using PCGen.
  • An Orcus online reference database.