[Free RPG Day 2026] An Afternoon Outing

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?
The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is the quick-start for the Dungeons & Kittens RPG, published by EDGE Studio.

The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is a thirty-two page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?

The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing includes the scenario, ‘An Afternoon Outing’, a short scenario which can be played through in one session.

What else do you need to play?
The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing needs three six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing includes five pre-generated Player Kittens. These are presented on bright and breezy character sheets which include an explanation of the basic rules, the background for each Player Kitten, and explanations for their spells.

How is a Player Kitten defined?

A Player-Kitten in Dungeons & Kittens has three abilities—Strong, Smart, and Cute—and one or more skills. These include ‘Draw & Paint’, ‘Hiss & Growl’ (brawling and intimidation), ‘Read Sky & Stars’, ‘Scratch!’ (for melee combat) and ‘Shake Your Booty’ (for athletics and acrobatics). A Player-Kitten either has a skill or he does not, and if he does, it gives Advantage on a roll. He will also have a Character Trait, a descriptor that can work as an advantage or disadvantage. He can carry up to five ‘Purr-ecious’ items in his backpack and can use ‘Meowgic’ and thus can cast spells.

How do the mechanics work?

When a player wants his Kitten to undertake an action, the Storyteller—as the Game Master is known in Dungeons & Kittens—selects the appropriate ability and the player rolls three six-sided dice. Each die result that is equal to or less than the ability counts as a Success. An Easy action requires one Success, a Medium action requires two Successes, a Difficult action requires three Successes, and a Legendary action requires four Successes. If the player rolls a number of Successes equal to the difficulty of the action, his Kitten succeeds. Fewer Successes than the difficulty and the player has a choice of simply failing to succeed without consequences, whereas no Success and the action is definitely a failure. If a player rolls three of the same number, his Kitten gains an edge, whether the roll was a success or failure. If a Kitten has Advantage, his player rolls four dice, but only two dice if he is at Disadvantage. A player can re-roll one or more dice with the right ‘Purr-ecious’ items.

Each Player Kitten has a Trait, such as Brave or Curious. It can be used in two ways, once ach session. One is to grant Advantage, the other, when it gets a Kitten into a dangerous situation, his player can give a Furr-endship point to another player. A Furr-endship point can be spent on one of two ways. First, to ensure that a single dice roll succeeds. Second, with a big hug and purring in their ear, to give one Heart—the equivalent of Hit Points in Dungeons & Kittens—to another Player Kitten. To regain spent Furr-endship points, a Player Kitten must spend time with his fellow Player Kittens away from adventuring and doing other things.

How do catfights work?

Combat or ‘Catfights’ in Dungeons & Kittens consist of two types. In a ‘Fang Catfight’, a Player Kitten attempts to intimidate, frighten, or convince another rather than hurt them, whereas in a ‘Claw Fight’, the aim is to hurt them. When a Player Kitten enters a ‘Claw Fight’, the stress causes him to lose a Furr-endship point due to the stress! Without a Furr-endship point, a Player Kitten cannot fight. In general, the Player Kittens act before anyone else, but if a Player Kitten takes an aggressive action, the Storyteller chooses who acts nest. If a Kitten takes a non-aggressive or helpful action, his player decides who acts next. Possible actions include Help to give Advantage to another Kitten; Hinder to give Disadvantage; Attack to reduce an enemy’s Heart points, whether in a ‘Fang Catfight’ or a ‘Claw Fight’; and Interact and Move. 

At any point, anyone caught in a Catfight can surrender and that is always respected. However, an opponent must surrender if his Heart points are reduced to zero in a ‘Fang Catfight’, but in a ‘Claw Fight’, he may seriously injured.

How does Meowgic work?

Every Player Kitten knows some Meowgic, has a spellbook, and can cast spells. To have his Kitten cast a spell, a player rolls dice against the Ability given for the spell. For example, the spell Slipper Patrol, requires a single Success against the Strong Ability and with a success, the caster and his fellow kittens can walk and run without hurting their legs or paws.

What do you play?

Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing provides plenty of support for its scenario, ‘An Afternoon Outing’. This includes a description of the background, that it is post-apocalyptic setting in which mankind has long since disappeared, leaving some animals with the gift of speech and imagination, the ability to anticipate and predict, and the capacity to invent. It is set in and around the Kingdom of Cats, ruled by the insatiably large and lazy King Walter from his tower in Cat Tree City. King Walter’s most unfair law is the ‘Exile of Kittens’. This exiles young kittens from the kingdom on the pretence of an initiation quest, supposedly to return to King Walter with a great treasure in hand. King Walter supposedly draws the names of the young kittens to be exiled at random, but everyone knows this is a lie. The Player Kittens are the latest to have their names drawn by King Walter.

In addition, Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing provides advice on being a Storyteller and being a good player. These are both well written sections and easy to grasp, but unlike almost any other quick-start, they need to be read by all of the players. This is because in Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing, more than one player will take a turn being the Storyteller. However, the scenario is short and it only includes two points when the it instructs the current Storyteller to handover the scenario to another player and at each point, the new Storyteller has to go and read the advice on being a Storyteller and then prepare the next scene. It is a nice idea, but does not quite work. There are five Player Characters and only three opportunities to be the Storyteller, so not everyone is going to get a go. Plus, there is going to be delay in play as the new Storyteller prepares to run the next scene. Not so much of a problem for the experienced Game Master, but for anyone new, they are being put on the spot.

The ‘An Afternoon Outing’ scenario is a flashback to an event early in the Player Kittens’ exile and consists of two scenes in which problems have to be solved with a confrontation in the third. In the opening scene, one of the Player Kittens falls into the pool of water around which they are all playing. The idea here is that the player of the Kitten who falls into the water is actually the first Storyteller, which gets around the problem of that player and his Kitten not having as much agency since his Kitten has fallen into the water. It also means that running it with a single Storyteller sets up a scene one player can do anything because his Kitten has fallen into the pool and is drowning. Effectively, ‘An Afternoon Outing’ is built around a good idea, but limits who can participate in it, and if the Storyteller wants to run the scenario because it limits the opportunity for everyone to have a go at being Storyteller, it introduces the problem of a lack of agency.

In spite of this problematic set-up, ‘An Afternoon Outing’ is well written with lots of advice for running each of its three scenes, whether that is making suggestions as what the Player Kittens might do in all three scenarios and how the NPCs that arrive might act in the third scene. Where the Player Kittens have to solve problems in the first two scenes, in the third scene, they confront minions of King Walter and ultimately decide the fate of the item that caused the situation in the first place. The advice is also good in that it has lots of questions that the Storyteller can ask her players and the situations are nicely detailed. The tone is also friendly and positive, making it suitable to be run for younger players.

Is there anything missing?
No. Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is complete as is. 

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is easy to grasp and prepare.

Is it worth it?
No. Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is really a likeable quick-start, easy to learn and teach, and suitable for younger players. Even the included scenario is a good introduction to Dungeons & Kittens, but unfortunately, the design structure does not deliver its core concept to every player, and in adhering to its design structure, it makes it challenging for it to be run as a standard scenario.

The Dungeons & Kittens Quick Start: An Afternoon Outing is available from EDGE Studio.