Welcome to the 'To Be King' main page. Below you'll find the latest file links to play the game followed by the history of the game and archive links to previous web pages I've posted about the game.

To Be King v5.5.0 - This is the intial release and full package of 'To Be King', which includes the base module, 2 map files and the rulebook in HTML format. Create an empty directory on your computer and unzip this package into that directory. Read the 'README_1st.txt'.

This is an 'unofficial' release as I still have some things to do before I advertise an official release but it is the same version of the full package that I will release officially so go ahead and download it and have fun. The game is completely free with no advertising and no registration required.

Vassal Engine v3.7.16+ - In order to play 'To Be King', you will need to download and install the Vassal Game Engine. This link will take you to the Vassal Home page where the lastest version of the engine may be downloaded. You may use v3.7.16 or higher to play 'To Be King'. This is a multi-platform engine that will run in any operating system (Windows, Linux, MacOS, etc.) and it's completely free with no ads.

Additional Map Files
Map 03 (v5.5.0)
Map 04 (v5.5.0)
Map 05 (v5.5.0)
Map 06 (v5.5.0)
Map 07 (v5.5.0)
Map 08 (v5.5.0) (*new* December 17, 2025)
Map 09 (v5.5.0) (*new* December 20, 2025)

Dr Nostromo's Chatter Box - This is the official forum for To Be King: bug reports, upcoming fixes and announcements, game questions and general discussion, game scheduling, etc. Also, chat areas for a variety of subjects.

'To Be King' is a fantasy adventure role-playing board game similar to D&D but without the need for a Dungeon Master simply because of the infinite combinations of events that can occur during the course of a campaign. Since no two games are even remotely alike, except for the set goals you must accomplish, the game is vastly replayable. It accomodates up to 6 online players and may take several game sessions to complete a campaign making it a grand adventure. You can generally estimate a single campaign will take roughly 4 to 5 hours per person ...just like a D&D adventure.

  

People ask me, "Have you really been working on this for 30 years"? Yes, I've been working on this for over 30 years. Way back in the 80's and early 90's, some friends and I were heavily into Dungeons & Dragons with me usually being Dungeon Master. We also became somewhat obsessed with a game called "Talisman". Between the two, I started making a variation of that type of game. Since then, however 'To Be King' has grown through several variations and revisions, growing, mutating and taking on a life of its own becoming a beast that would not be appeased.

  

I've had a fully operational version of it for the last few years and my buddies and I have had some grand campaigns lasting 3 to 5 games sessions. So, why haven't I distributed it publicly? Well, I'm not an artist. The game has 2000+ graphics and, since I've always intended to distribute the game freely once it was complete, I didn't see the point in spending thousands of dollars hiring a bunch of artist to make game graphics ...especially considering that, over time, I've already spent about $2000 on it. Because of this, all the graphics used in the game have been downloaded from the web. This is fine for private use but without the rights to any of this artwork, I didn't want to be passing around copies without permission.

  

So, what's changed? A.I. art generators! I've been using them to make completely original graphics for the game and they are stunning ...usually. Sometimes, they get odd like creating a 5-legged unicorn. But, for the most part, they're wonderful and I'm delighted that I have a copy that I can share with everyone with completely original graphics and royalty free clip art.

  

So, with that in mind, here's my gift to the fantasy adventure role-playing community and I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I've enjoyed making it.

This is simply a list of pages that I had previously published about the game if you feel like browsing through them. Keep in mind some of the pages are old and may refer to obsolete versions of the game but I felt compeled to keep these around for historical purposes.