Paranoia XP Tabletop RPG 'Goes Gold'

Costik writes "Paranoia XP, the new version of the cult tabletop RPG which first debuted in 1984, and in which a 'well-meaning but deranged Computer desperately protects the citizens of Alpha Complex, a vast underground city, from all sorts of real and imagined enemies', is done, and will appear at Gencon Indy later this month. The interesting aspect is that it was designed 'in public,' using a weblog, an online forum, and a Wiki, with enthusiastic support from the community. Fans of the game wrote text, debated rules, proofread, ran statistical analyses, and even wrote a computer simulator to test the game's paper-and-pencil rules. Allen, the game's designer, says 'We borrowed the tools and methods of open-source software development for a paper game, and it worked brilliantly.'"

Open-source RPG?

[Airwall]

Apologies if this sounds like pimping...
Obviously we're smaller and don't have the fan following of Paranoia, but a bunch of us are making a Free (capital F) tabletop RPG called Sacred Steel [sacredsteel.org]. The first public milestone release is being playtested now. Approx 40,000 words over 100 pages, nicely layed out, with artwork.

Open source paper+pencil system

[numLocked]

It seems to me the logical extension of this would be to build an actual open source engine based on a pencil+paper system, like perhaps GERPS. Creating the actual game could be left completely to fans, and the engine could be modified at will. A commercial model could be developed based on selling the engine along with popular fan-made extensions. If one could generate enough buzz for such a project, an entire game engine could conceivably be built for no cost and the contributers could split any profits that were incidentally made.

Re:Where can I download it then?

[bugbread]

People do fun stuff for free all the time. If someone else makes money off it, it doesn't make it any less fun or any less free.

Re:Where can I download it then?

[PhilHibbs]

When Greg Stafford [everything2.com] formed Issaries Inc. [everything2.com] to publish a new Gloranthan RPG [heroquest-rpg.com], he didn't have any cash to do it with. So, he asked the fans to join the GTA, the Glorantha Trading Association [everything2.com], at varying levels of contribution starting at a hundred bucks. For that, you get a T-Shirt, access to a few online tidbits, one free book when it's published, and a free drink at any GTA party you can make it to (I've been to four so far at RPG conventions). No way is this monetarily worth it, but without our contributions, the game would never have been published.

In short: I want to see glossy supplements on the shelves of my FLGS [everything2.com]. So do the contributors to Paranoia XP.

Which is why I love it! :)

[PhoenixOne]

I can't speak for you (I don't know you) but the majority of people I've talked to who hate Paranoia are people who take RPGs way to seriously. They memorize things like 'rules' and offen do things like correct the GM ("What do you mean I don't hit him? I rolled a 12, the monster is a class-2 slime based creaper. I have a sword of +2 vs. plant which in the third edition rules gives me +4 on slime...")

Paranoia is D&Ds evil twin. You play it to have fun. Your characters are more disposible then your bic-lighter. If they player shows any knowledge of the rules, they are killed. Basically, it is pure hell for "type-A" RPG players (which is why I love it!)