I’ve just recently gotten back into gaming, have picked up a bunch of 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D books (ahh the memories), and gotten caught up on the whole PDF publishing phenomenon, Pathfinder, HackMaster – haven’t played for 15 years so there really was a lot to catch up on. And I’m excited!

As far as the industry has come, though, it seems awfully fragmented. While D&D seems to be kicking along (I’ve not played 3/3.5/4E – took a brief look and didn’t like the feel and the direction it was taking) there are heaps of competitors (which is great) and a whole heap of content publishers (which is even better) but from my limited exposure so far it seems like most publishers are releasing either 4E or Pathfinder content?

We still seem to be severely limited by the system’s licensing.

What I have in mind is the following: a Creative Commons licensed project (Attribution Share Alike in my opinion – allow commercial derivatives as long as they are licensed the same and attribute the core project); an open and flexible system allowing modular replacement of rules – e.g. a skills point system OR a proficiency system OR any other solution for this part of the rules; all rules stored in a version control system like subversion or git; automated export and markup to PDF based on which subset of the rules you want to play; …

As far as genre goes, I can’t help but continue the abstraction – something generic like GURPS that can be used for fantasy, scifi, modern, horror, historical etc. campaigns. Generic rules, generic terminology. Keep the rules separate from the content – publishers could come up with campaign settings, classes etc. specific to their world, while making use of the open rule system and not having to re-invent the wheel. I figure this should “change the rules” – instead of us buying dozens of rulebooks which become “obsolete” the next time a monopoly publisher wants to kickstart another decade of revenue… instead our money could go to the creative talents coming up with actual content – campaign settings, races and classes, adventures etc.

People could even publish commercial derivatives of the core rules, e.g. branded with their terminology and intertwined with classes, races, spells, their contributed and preferred rules, artwork etc. while still participating and supporting the open rules project.

A truly open system – where anyone can contribute, modify or improve any rule they see fit. The best ideas would rise to the top – there could be tens of different solutions for “skills”, the same for character generation, combat etc. but the most elegent, simplistic (and FUN!) rules will become popular and our collective efforts could go towards further improving them or consolidating the many options down to 2 or 3 main options (while allowing anyone to choose otherwise or come up with their own solution – which may become the most popular solution at some stage in the future).

When it comes time for a GM or group to choose which rules they’ll be playing by, a simple web interface could allow them to select the rules options that they want and then generate a marked up PDF document for them to download or print out, containing the latest version checked out from the rules repository e.g. “v1.2.3(XYDFWDF)” (the letters perhaps indicating which rule subsets they selected).

Comments?

I’d love to hear from anyone interested in discussing this further by email and maybe contributing to a project proposal doc which we could publish far and wide to attract as many like minded people (even commercial publishers) to get involved for a truly open rule system.

Cheers,
niall@iinet.net.au

@Scott Martin – Thanks so much for this article, and drawing attention to CC gaming!

@Gregory – I’ll take a look! I’m not as flexible in trying out new gaming systems as I’d like to be. The group I game with is also fairly reluctant to change gears, but if I find something I like, I might be able to drag them along with me.

More recently, I’ve considered setting the game in a pseudo-Roman setting, drawing upon Roma Imperious (Hinterwelt)for source material. I think REIGN would be excellent for roleplaying the intrigue and conflicts (internal/external) that would be experienced by the members of a large and prominent noble family in Rome or another nearby town.

@Scott Martin – I notice the WuShu link above is set up as a Wiki, and their print to PDF function is broken. I hate reading Wikis There’s a lot of hoops to jump through to get a look otherwise, as their print to PDF code is broken. Had to join the Yahoo Group to get a PDF I can read offline.

I know you run FATE a lot, and I’ve had issues with their extended resolution system. My issues are mainly that (unless you run SotC) the suggestions as to how to resolve extended challenges are pretty vague and without true direction. I found myself lost and eventually gave up on the game. It looks tempting, but unfinished and incomplete.

If someone were to approach me about licensing the system for commercial use, I’d be happy to discuss terms with them. I’m not sure what I’d do if I found out someone had violated the license without my permission; it would depend on the circumstances, but I’d probably start with a friendly e-mail.

Generally, if a creator releases something under a CC or GPL-style license, I’d assume that they’d encourage folks to take advantage of the license. Personally, I’d be overjoyed if someone picked LORE for a project like Matt discussed, and by picking the CC license that I did, I’ve already given the world permission to do that.

@carandol – Yup, lots of OGL out there. I always wondered how the OGL Babylon 5 game was…

@Knight of Roses – That’s the same boat for me. FATE is closer to where my groups and I play, but tSoY would make for a great change of pace. And it’s very flavorful.

@BryanB – Interesting. Reign looked good, but we haven’t played so I don’t know how the system really would appeal. Are you thinking of it as a future game to run?

@steamcrow – Thanks for putting in so much effort– Agyris is a nicely detailed and original world. I’ll have to visit it with characters someday soon.

@Scaredy Squirrel – JAGS sounds interesting, but it also sounds like a system I’d rather play before I try to run it. Do you play at cons?

@steamcrow – As a Fudge fan thank you for the work you have done on Agyris. I hope to see more Fudge based settings like yours continue to pop up on the Net.

In fact, only the JAGS-2 version of the rule is released under the GNU. It’ a “light” version of the complete JAGS Revised ruleset.

JAGS is a rule and mechanics heavy RPG that uses a 4d6-4 roll under resolution (it sounds more complicated then it is). Combat is deadly and detailed, using a kind of thick system to determine what you can do in a round. Lots of possible actions and damage complications… If you enjoy a heavy system once in a while, check it out. You can see that they like GURPS, but that they just didn’t want to clone it.

The complete JAGS Revised system is still free, but not open like JAGS-2. Also, check out the settings (Wonderland, Has Not and C-13), they’re great!

Thanks!

Anyway, I continue to be a big fan of the ‘Stew.