Free League Publishing (Swedish: Fria Ligan) is a game studio and publisher based in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, formed in 2011. The company designs and publishes

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants d ...

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

s, and books based on licensed properties and independent works. Their games include '' Alien: The Roleplaying Game, Vaesen,'' and ''

Mörk Borg ''Mörk Borg'' (Swedish: literally ''Dark Castle'', officially translated ''Dark Fort''), stylised ''MÖRK BORG'', is an apocalyptic fantasy role-playing game published by Fria Ligan in 2020 that features dark themes inspired by heavy metal m ...

''.

History

After the Swedish publisher Järnringen closed in 2011, founder Järnringen got in touch with some role-playing game enthusiasts to ask if they wanted to take over development of the role-playing game ''Svavelvinter'', which led to the formation of Free League Publishing. The publisher has had a series of successful crowdfunding campaigns. Between 2015 and 2022, their

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaigns managed to gather 100 million SEK (10 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

) in total funding.

Major releases

Games

* '' Alien: The Roleplaying Game'' (Gold ENNIE for Best Game 2020) * '' Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game'' based on the film and its spinoffs. (It won Gold ENNIE for Best Cartography and Organization & Design 2023) * ''

The One Ring Roleplaying Game ''The One Ring Roleplaying Game'' is a tabletop role-playing game set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, set at the time between '' The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Designed by Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, the game was initi ...

'' second edition, (Gold ENNIE for Best Art, Interior 2022) set in

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the Setting (narrative), setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Midgard, Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf'' ...

setting. It was created by ''

War of the Ring ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually developed into ...

'' designer

Francesco Nepitello Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is one of the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation) ...

and ''The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying'', the game's 5th Edition OGL sister line. * '' Twilight: 2000'', a sandbox

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

survival game set in an alternate history in which the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

never collapsed and the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

between the two superpowers went hot. * '' Vaesen'', a Nordic horror roleplaying game based on the works by

Johan Egerkrans Johan Egerkrans (born 1978) is a Swedish illustrator and author. Egerkrans has described himself as interested in mythology and animals from a young age. His first book as writer and illustrator, ''Nordiska Väsen'', was published in 2013, and de ...

(Gold ENNIE for Best Art, Interior 2021) and its supplement '' Mythic Britain & Ireland'' (Gold ENNIE for Best Art, Interior and Best Setting 2023). * ''

'', a stylized

grimdark Grimdark is a subgenre of speculative fiction with a tone, style, or setting that is particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent. The term is inspired by the tagline of the tabletop strategy game ''Warhammer 40,000'': "In the grim darkness of t ...

fantasy RPG (Silver ENNIE for Best Game 2020.) * '' Tales from the Loop'', a TTRPG set in an alternative 1980s and based on the work of visual artist

Simon Stålenhag Simon Stålenhag (born 20 January 1984) is a Swedish artist, musician, and designer specialising in retro-futuristic digital art. His work primarily focuses on nostalgic Swedish and American countryside environments, with retro sci-fi elements. ...

. A sequel, ''Things from the Flood'', takes place in the 1990s. * ''The Electric State'', a TTRPG set in an alternative California of the 1990s and also based on the work of visual artist

. * '' Forbidden Lands'', a sandbox fantasy survival RPG (winner of four ENNIE Awards 2019) * '' Mutant: Year Zero'', a post-apocalyptic RPG. (Silver ENNIE for Best Rules 2015) * ''Coriolis – The Third Horizon'', a space-set RPG. (ENNIE Judge's Spotlight Award 2017.) * ''Symbaroum'', a gritty fantasy RPG. * ''

Drakar och Demoner ''Drakar och Demoner'' (Swedish language, Swedish for ''Dragons and Demons'', in Sweden commonly referred to by the abbreviation "DoD") is a Swedish fantasy role-playing game first published in 1982 by the game publishing company Äventyrsspel ...

'', an RPG released in updated form as ''Dragonbane'' in English. * ''The Walking Dead Universe Roleplaying Game'', based on

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

's '' The Walking Dead'' television series. * ''Crusader Kings'', a board game based on the '' Crusader Kings'' strategy computer game.

Other awards

In addition to winning ENNIE Awards for multiple games, Free League Publishing won the Publisher of the Year award in 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024.

Other publications

Free League has also published the art books ''Tales from the Loop,'' ''Things from the Flood'', and ''The Electric State'' by

, as well as the illustrated edition of the

Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Lovecraft ...

story "

The Call of Cthulhu "The Call of Cthulhu" is a cosmic horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in February 1928. The story is a founding document of the Cthul ...

" by French artist François Baranger.

External links

Official website (English)

References

{{Reflist ENnies winners Indie role-playing game publishing companies