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Role Playing (Games)

New Open-Source Tabletop RPG 90

Posted by Zonk from the if-wick-likes-the-thing-it-can't-be-all-bad dept.
ClintonRNixon writes "A new open-source tabletop RPG has been released, The Shadow of Yesterday. People have been putting RPGs online for free for years, and Wizards of the Coast has their Open Game License, but this is the first time a game has been written and published using only open-source tools, and is published under a Creative Commons license. To make the online version, vi and Python Docutils were used; the published game was laid out using Scribus, The Gimp, and OpenOffice."
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New Open-Source Tabletop RPG More

New Open-Source Tabletop RPG

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  • GPL Tools? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 09, 2004 @02:09PM (#11044719)

    this is the first time a game has been written and published using only open-source tools, and is published under a Creative Commons license.

    While the CC license is good, I don't understand the fuss over OpenOffice and the GIMP. Did people really care earlier about what RPGs were developed with? Were there really groups of people proclaiming "this RPG was written on a typewriter instead of with a pen"?

    The license is what matters. It allows players to modify and redistribute the game, according to the rules stated in the license. Whether or not it was typed in OpenOffice, or written on a stack of napkins, is relatively insignificant.

    • It has some value. Academically, it shows what can be done with open source tools, although that's probably not really news to the average Slashdotter. But more importantly, if you want to modify the content, you know you won't have to buy any software to do it.

      • Re:GPL Tools? (Score:2, Funny)

        by OAB_X ( 818333 )
        It has some value. Academically, it shows what can be done with open source tools

        As previously mentioned, pen and paper is the ultimate in open source. You can modify your pen without breaking the liscense, decompile it, recompile it, change it, mod it, refil it, upgrade it, and no-one will care.

        Paper is also the uultimate in open source. Its been around for a few thousand years so there is no patent on paper anymore. You can find how it works by just looking at it. Its a flat surface where people write

    • Re:GPL Tools? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Alpha27 ( 211269 ) on Thursday December 09, 2004 @02:25PM (#11044896)
      I agree the level of fuss that might be associated with the game because OSS was used in the entire development process. It's not the key point I personally look for in a RPG.

      But, that the development of the game using OSS is good for those looking for a real-world example on how someone used OSS to create and publish a piece of work.

      • That's exactly why I submitted the story. Scribus in particular is something that needs highlighting. It's a great open-source DTP publication, but I haven't seen anything of any size or, to be honest, complexity come from someone using it. The interior of this game is lush, and Scribus did a great job handling it.

    • Re:GPL Tools? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by swdunlop ( 103066 )
      I find Paranoia XP's [costik.com] development process, namely the use of a Wiki to develop the rough draft, a lot more intriguing than "We used the following word processor.."

      For free-as-in-beer games out there, Active Exploits [pigames.net] is a good diceless game, and their more traditional Impresa [pigames.net] system is good for people who are easily frightened by games that take away the dice.

      Another GM in our RPG group is currently using JAGS, [dyndns.org] which I find to be a horrible system but it seems to appeal to GURPS masochists.

      • Re:GPL Tools? (Score:2, Interesting)

        by ClintonRNixon ( 838852 ) *
        You've got a good point on the tools used. I'm still extremely excited about using Scribus, but part of that is that I am something of a ranting prophet on DIY RPG publishing. (I've been running the biggest site on the Internet for RPG creator-publishers for the last three or so years.) The tools used are more important to those people who don't already know about them. As for free-as-in-beer games, they're great. They're not truly free, though. JAGS, while not being my cup of tea, is cool. I haven't seen
        • For a different audience, your selection of tools would probably be more intriguing, but its mention in the article, here, just invites a little good natured amusement from me.

          Your daring selection of the GPL-like Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons license is commendable -- as you pointed out most of the free beer projects I pointed out above are commercial efforts which all exert some modicum of control over derived works in the style of WotC's OGL.
    • The license is what matters. It allows players to modify and redistribute the game. Whether or not it was typed in OpenOffice ... is relatively insignificant.

      Actually, "not tested on animals", "union made", or "built with OSS tools" are examples of appealing to social, ethical, or economic belief systems. Those qualities don't necessarily result in a different product at all, but as with any product, some gamers may prefer to use products built in ways they agree with or wish to bring awareness to.
      • "Actually, "not tested on animals", "union made", or "built with OSS tools" are examples of appealing to social, ethical, or economic belief systems."

        You do whatever you want to do, but I for one am NEVER, EVER going to play an RPG that wasn't THOROUGHLY tested on animals [kenzerco.com].

    • The pedigree behind this open source RPG reminds me of another type of pen and paper RPG: Purity Tests.

      "Have you ever drank so much that you puked?" (1 point)
      "... and passed out afterwards?" (3 points)
      "... and woken up next to a stranger?" (3 points)
      "... and couldn't remember her name?"(1 point)
      "... and fathered her children?"(10 points)

      etc.

      I had to level up a lot after the first time I played, I was too far behind everyone else =/

  • Common Definitions (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Thursday December 09, 2004 @02:21PM (#11044839) Journal
    I noticed they dont use Strength, Reflex, Intelligence, Stamina, etc.

    Are these terms copyrighted for RPGS? I Thought these where too generic, so why not use what the standard is..


    Athletics (Vigor)
    This is a measure of raw physicality and fitness. It is used for running, jumping, swimming, or any other strength-based task not listed as a separate ability.
    Reaction (Instinct)
    This measures the quickness of a character's body and mind. It is as much "how quick the character notices something" as "how quick the character moves." It is used in a variety of situations, from who goes first in Bringing Down the Pain, to dodging blows, to noticing danger.
    Resist (Reason)
    "Resist" is the strength of a character's will, and is used to prevent compulsion of a natural or supernatural type. This includes physical compulsion: "Resist" would be used for a character to keep his cool under torture, for example.
    Stay Up (Special)
    "Stay Up" may well be the most unique ability in the game. In one sense, it answers the question, "how much damage can this character take?" Since damage isn't solely of the physical variety in The Shadow of Yesterday, though, it is as much a measure of "how much suffering this character will take before he gives up." "Stay Up" does not have an associated pool: instead, all pools are associated with it. When a character is damaged, the associated pool for "Stay Up" is the same as the associated pool for the ability used to damage the character.
    • Are these terms copyrighted for RPGS?

      No. They are too general to be trademarks, and you can't copyright single words.

      In fact, you can't even copyright single rules. Whole games neatly put together--maybe. RPG books --yes. Single rules or names for rules? Not unless they're Exalted style "power of obscure poetry."

      • No, you cannot copyright a game. A game is just rules, and rules are a form of method (i.e. the rules are the method to play the game) which is uncopyrightable subject matter per 17 USC 102(b).

        However, an EXPRESSION of the rules MAY be copyrightable. That is, the underlying mechanic is not, but how you describe it might be. The trick here is the merger rule: if there's a substantially finite number of ways to reasonably express the rule, then no expression of it is copyrightable lest it in effect act as a
        • No, you cannot copyright a game.

          Try making an RPG that's rules-identical to Storyteller 2.0. Watch how fast you wind up in court for "violation of copyright upon trade dress" or even the very untested "game as a character" theory. You can't copyright Monopoly or Football or Roleplaying Game, but there's enough credible legal theory to aruge that an RPG is complex enough to deserve copyright protection that, at the least, you'd have to go to court to fight it.

          This is why I always found the d20 license
          • Watch how fast you wind up in court for "violation of copyright upon trade dress" or even the very untested "game as a character" theory.

            Where the hell are you getting these from?

            there's enough credible legal theory to aruge that an RPG is complex enough to deserve copyright protection that, at the least, you'd have to go to court to fight it.

            Got a cite? I'd like to see something dicussing this.

            Most folk who try making indie RPGs are not wealthy enough to hire a lawyer to fight off a lawsuit. They h
            • Got a cite? I'd like to see something dicussing this.

              I wish I did. Most of the conversation happened on the OGF-L listsev, which as long since degerated into an impotent group with no meaningful discussion and no archives. :(

              • Well, fortunately I've got Lexis at hand, and its treasure trove of law review articles to do quick and dirty legal research for me.

                Didn't have anything even vaguely on point.

                And between 102(b), and Feist (killing the sweat of the brow theory) I just don't see how the argument can be made.

                Rules: not copyrightable because they're methods.

                A compilation of rules into a cohesive game is still just one big method; it's not going to be a copyrightable compilation.

                An expression of a rule in any form: maybe co
                • Look up the arguments for "copyrightability of software" if you have Lexis. You won't find the same ones I listed, but you'll find what would probably be referenced by the plantiff's attorney to stop a "duplicate and sell" RPG.

                  It's really an academic exercise, though. Anyone with the artistic ability to re-create a whole RPG system without infringing on the clear copyrights RPGs do have (layout, expression, et al) has the artistic ability to just make an RPG distinct enough to stand on its own. And is p
                  • copyrightability of software

                    I know about software copyrightability: it barely squeeks in, it's so close to the wrong side of the idea-expression dichotomy.

                    Games are pretty close in terms of their mechanics. Storylines for scenarios that take place in a game, or artwork depicting the characters in a game and so forth are all easily copyrightable, just as they'd be in a program.

                    However, what I'm interested in is the functional portion of the work, since that's what's key for people that want to make compa

    • Re:Common Definitions (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Golias ( 176380 ) on Thursday December 09, 2004 @03:32PM (#11045724)
      What a shame. There is nothing more broken in all of RPG's than the combat damage system, and this system follows in the same tradition.

      D&D used it, because the creators borrowed the concepts of "armor class" and "hit points" from a naval-combat simulation tabletop game. Not much thought was put in to it... like most of the original Chainmail and D&D rules, it was all about keeping things simple for experienced war-gamers.

      The vast majority of RPG's have borrowed the concept, as have most combat and RPG computer games. I like to call it the "Big Red Bar" system of damage. You fight like nothing is wrong with you as you continue to take generalized "damage" from combat, until a wound to your big toe takes away those last couple "points", and then you drop dead.

      It was understandable in 1978, but there's no reason for it in this day and age. In my RPG group, everybody has a laptop. Why not come up with a combat system where the computers calculate for you just how much harder it is to swing a sword with a deep shoulder laceration (or a bruised hamstring, or a slight concussion, etc.)

      For that matter, on-line RPGs and combat games should be doing this already.

      Armor does not evade blows, it distributes impact to mitigate potentially lethal damage. Yet even the latest computer RPG's, such as World of Warcraft, use armor as a means of calculating a "to hit" target number. There's no reason it has to be this way.

      A few maverick games out there have come up with some very novel solutions. The fact that this one does not is further evidence that the Open Source community rarely, if ever, really innovates. Linux is a UNIX-alike. StarOffice is an MS-Office-alike. KDE is a Windows-alike.... and this game is an Open Source D&D-alike. (Except D&D is already Open Sourced now, so nobody really needed it.)

      • Re:Common Definitions (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Golias ( 176380 )
        The fact that this one does not is further evidence that the Open Source community rarely, if ever, really innovates.

        Oh... I should point out that emacs is the exception which proves the rule. That program is a shining example of totally insane creativity unleashed.

        I'm more of a vi user myself, but props where credit is due...
        • I'm not really sure that emacs is a first, though. Or that it's all that brilliant. In fact I sincerely wish that no one had put together something like that until perl, because right now we could all be using a perl-based environment along the same lines :) (Imagine the insanity!) Seriously though, I'm pretty sure emacs was not the first scriptable user environment with an editor.
      • Armor does not evade blows, it distributes impact to mitigate potentially lethal damage. Yet even the latest computer RPG's, such as World of Warcraft, use armor as a means of calculating a "to hit" target number. There's no reason it has to be this way.

        Actually, if you mouse over your Armor rating in WoW, its purpose is to mitigate damage. It will tell you that fighting a mob of your own level, your armor will block 15.3% of the damage (for example).

        The to-hit stat for WoW is (IIRC) Agility.

        • I'm very pleased to stand corrected in this case.

          -Aud, level 17 Warlock, Silverhand server
        • To Hit is based off your weapon skill, compared to the defensive skill of the defender, and is supposed to be about 95% for a single weapon wielder engaging a target of equivalent skill; dual wielders experience a much diminished 75% accuracy as a penalty in the same situation.

          There are, of course, a tremendous number of mitigating factors. The dodge ability is pretty widely distributed through the classes, and the parry and block abilities also provide other ways to fail. These are compared against your

      • You're wrong on the open source D&D-alike comment: the damage system in this game does not pretend to bear even the most fleeting resemblance to blood-and-flesh damage. It's a meter of how close you are to being eliminated from the story.

        I know a game that does do what you're looking for, though. You should check out The Riddle of Steel [theriddleofsteel.net], which has a damage system almost exactly like what you describe.

      • Re:Common Definitions (Score:3, Insightful)

        by msuzio ( 3104 )
        I think no one does it because that approach isn't fun or interesting. Plenty of games have tried other approaches, of varying complexities. I've never liked any of them.

        I do like location-based damage systems, and I do think wounds to certain locations should result in certain penalties, but I'd prefer to keep it very simple.

        Top Secret SI was a good compromise system... you had 10 locations (2 arms, 2 legs, head, 2 chest, 1 abdomen, 2 hands) and equal hit points in each. Loss of all points in the 4 cr
      • The fact that this one does not is further evidence that the Open Source community rarely, if ever, really innovates.

        Bravo! and how quite unlike the Microsoft model:

        • WinXP based on Win2K
        • Win2K derived from WinNT + Win98
        • Win98 based on Win95
        • Win95 based on Win3.1
        • Win3.1 based on [various older Windows]
        • [various older Windows] gui shell on top of MSDOS
        • MSDOS derived from CPM
        • CPM is a microcomputer shell based on Bourne Shell
        • Bourne shell ripped from UNIX(tm)

        wow. That's a lot of innovation there, buddy

        • That's a bit of a BS comparison. There's a very real difference between "new features added to an earlier version" and "new features added to imitate another platform". Not to defend MS wholeheartedly, but they have had some good ideas. New versions of MS products are not just iterative development of old stuff, but actually add new features.

          Some of the features turn out to be crap, of course. The Office Assistant and MS Bob were/are horrible and unuseable - but at the time they were developed, there w
        • Pardon me, did I say anything about Microsoft being innovative? Ever? In my life?

          So... what was your point?
      • You want something like ICE's Rolemaster(you mentioned laptops and intense calculations/table lookups), one of the old FASA RPGs, or even.. I guess... some of the White Wolf stuff.

      • Re:Common Definitions (Score:5, Insightful)

        by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Thursday December 09, 2004 @04:41PM (#11046373) Homepage
        the Open Source community rarely, if ever, really innovates. Linux is a UNIX-alike. StarOffice is an MS-Office-alike. KDE is a Windows-alike...

        UNIX is a MULTICS-alike. MS-Office includes a Wordperfect-alike and a 123-alike. Windows is a MacOS-alike.

        It's turtles all the way down. Anybody who thinks any of the market players are "innovators" is a naive fool. It's all about imitation and incremental improvement, no matter if you're from FLOSS or otherwise.

        • | 123-alike

          I think the Visicalc people would like a word with you...

          | Wordperfect-alike

          Anyone know what was the first word processor?

          • I think the Visicalc people would like a word with you...

            I didn't say that 123 was the first spreadsheet program. I said that Excel was Microsoft's answer to 123. That is simply common knowledge.

            Anyone know what was the first word processor?

            As I said in my earlier comment, it doesn't matter. It's turtles all the way down. The "first" word processor would have been an incremental improvement from something else. There's no such thing as "first". It's an arbitrary line drawn in the sand when so

            • Actually, Visicalc was a "first".

              There is some innovation, just not very much.

              • Actually, Visicalc was a "first".

                The first commercial success for the Apple II, perhaps. The first spreadsheet? No. The first electronic spreadsheet? No.

                Remember what I said about incremental improvement? Dan Bricklin himself says that he saw Visicalc as an incremental improvement to a Texas Instruments calculator.

                The idea for the electronic spreadsheet came to me while I was a student at the Harvard Business School, working on my MBA degree, in the spring of 1978. Sitting in Aldrich Hall, room

                • Visicalc was much more useful then either a calculator or the paper spreadsheet, I think of it as something new and innovative. Obviously YMMV.

                  I wasn't aware of the Fortran stuff in the 60's, very interesting.

            • Except for the fact that most open-source projects are not conceived as "incremental improvements" to existing software.

              They are free-as-in-speech mimics of existing software, which endeavor to behave as much as possible like the original.

              GIMP does not aspire to be the world's best image editor. It aspires to be "just about as good" as Adobe Photoshop (which is the world's best image editor) while also being free.

              Linux these days has a few advantages over some versions of *nix, but the project still beg

      • Re:Common Definitions (Score:3, Informative)

        by zephiros ( 214088 )
        Actually, the game uses a reductionist damage system, which only consists of three levels (normal, bloodied, broken). The ill-named "stay up" stat is apparently used to determine whether or not a particular activity causes a character to transition from one damage state to the next.

        While it's not as sophisticated as, say, the old Cyberpunk 2020 damage system, it certainly isn't a "Big Red Bar" system.
      • Part of the reason that this hasn't happened is the sheer amount of math and dice-rolls involved in a more complex combat system. This means that the only way the game stays fun (although rolling 4d6 + 5d10 + 3d20 + 2d12 to resolve a single hit might be fun) is to use a laptop. However, laptops aren't dice, part of the appeal of the tabletop RPG is that it's a pencil-and-paper game. Basically what I'm saying is -- Thou shalt not part a gamer and his/her dice!

      • Re:Common Definitions (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Tyreth ( 523822 )
        A couple of thoughts...
        The rules are there for fun and simplicty, not realism. It would be dull, but realistic, if you had to balance a healthy diet for your character. Hit points and AC are merely convenient measurements that don't subtract enough from realism to take away believability. Besides, our group has always viewed HP as something more like your ability to avoid the final blow. 100HP means you can dance and dart around blows that would have landed on a normal person. The Star Wars d20 system
      • You've not played Runequest then.

        To-hit was a measure of attacker's skill (with chance to parry based on opponent's shield, dodge, etc skill). Damage was based on rolled number, minus armour value. It still didn't take into account tye of damage - eg a spear point against mail (compared with a sword slash, the mail doesnt; pretect against the spear nearly as well)

        Unfortunately, one of the criticisms levelled at RQ was that characters would die (or run around amputated) far too often.

        The other game I know

  • Misleading? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Kleedrac2 ( 257408 ) <kleedrac@nOspaM.hotmail.com> on Thursday December 09, 2004 @02:39PM (#11045048) Homepage
    I understand OSS. I try to understand the FSF. But open-rpg's? Why do we need this? It's not like if your group comes up with a pamphlet of home-brew rules for D&D WotC is going to break into your parents basement and arrest you! The Open Gaming license is great, don't get me wrong I like the CC license as well, but Open Gaming is good enough for me. Also, when I read the article and it talks about the open gaming license I thought this RPG was d20, why it's not I don't understand.

    Kleedrac
    • It's not like if your group comes up with a pamphlet of home-brew rules for D&D WotC is going to break into your parents basement and arrest you!

      Put them on the net or otherwise try to share them, and you can expect a C&D right quick when they find you. TSR and now WotC have been dicks about such things for at least the past 15 years.

      As for the so-called "Open Gaming License," that's WotC's way of trying to coax competetors to use their crappy new system, supposedly "for the good of the commun
      • If you read the OGL carefully, you'll quickly realize that's a load of balls. Take special care to read the section on "product identity" which includes such things as creating fscking characters.

        Product Identity means that you or WotC or White Wolf can seperate character from stat-block. You can make all the stat-blocks you want for all of the characers you want, and use WotC's system (pure or highly tweaked) to add all the stat-blocks you want.

        You just can't write "Elminster on Slashdot" or "Geminidom
        • In theory, that's true. In FACT though, their SRDs are utterly worthless unless you go out and buy a PHB (or whatever the hell they're called now). They're not contributing fsckall to "the community," just their own coffers.

          Not that I have a problem with that. They're a business and businesses are out to make money. Big Duh. But it's right up there with MS "shared source" crap, and bullshit must be called.
          • Not so at all.

            Without so much as a phone call between the publisher and WotC, all of the following have become D&D-compatible RPGs:
            • Babylon 5
            • WarCraft
            • Everquest
            • Conan
            • Lone Wolf
            • Slayers
            • Traveller
            • Trinity (A failed product line from White Wolf!)
            • Judge Dredd
            • Stargate SG-1

            Not to mention all of the new-RPGs that have a market they never would have reached without the OGL and the SRD:

            • Engel
            • Mutants & Masterminds
            • Dawnforge
            • Grim Tales
            • Arcana Unearthed
            • Darwin's World
            • Testament
            • Spycraft

            .
            The OGL does exactly what Ryan Dancy

            • Comparing the OGL to MS's "Shared Source" program is as petty and wrongheaded as complaining that Apple's shoveling bullshit by not forcing Mach to become GPL.

              I'm just going to have to stare at you blankly, since the last Apple I used was a IIe and I have no idea WTF "Mach" is. As to "petty and wrongheaded," I'm talking as one trying to put together a game, not play one. I looked at the SRD to try and save myself the pain and agony of working out a dice system, and saw way too many restrictions in WotC's
              • I'm just going to have to stare at you blankly, since the last Apple I used was a IIe and I have no idea WTF "Mach" is.

                And you're on slashdot?

                Mach is the BSD layer that OS X runs on, licensed using the BSD license.

                Contact me off-list or go to www.theFGA.com for a better way to use the OGL. WotC's FAQs are for people who create supplements and don't want to bother with a lawyer; they're far more restrictive than the actual OGL istself, in large part due to the d20STL.
                • And you're on slashdot?

                  Yeah, Apple is on my "disabled topics" lists, since I don't use em and don't care much about them (too expensive, mostly).

                  I'm at www.theFGA.com now. Looks interesting, I'll read up on it. Thanks for the link.
  • Since this is opensource, I'd like to customize my characters to begin the adventure at level 99 with all stats maxed out.

    • Since this is opensource, I'll start my character at level 0.01 and have buggy abilities. Oh, but watch out! It'll take The Evil Overlord (MS) down once I power up with all my custom-coded utilities^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpowers.

      Oh, and I'll go to the Source Forge to get my weapons of See++, have a Python handy for quick bytes, and dazzle you with my Ruby of OSS.

      Finally, I'll let other people use my character, and before you know it, I'll have a full-color anti-aliased avatar with more forks than a german resta

  • IANAL, but I thought there was some debate if a game can be patented or copyrighted at all? Can anyone with a clue clarify?
    • Sure it can, how else do you think TSR could go around suing everyone and their mother back in the day. It also works to explain the insane variety of rules systems, what with all of the dice, you have an endless array of systems you could make up. Random Guy: I came up with a new system that uses eight sided dice, whenever you roll an eight you get to roll again, and when you roll a one, it's a 'mess up'. Other RG: Isn't that the story teller system? RG: no, it's different, I use an eight sided die.
    • I discussed game copyrightability here [slashdot.org]. Basically it varies from none to total depending on what part of the game and the materials connected to the game we're talking about. There's also a copyright office circular on their website.

      Game rules can be patented -- but only if they meet the requirements for patentability, which is pretty rare. The only game rule I ever heard of being patented was something to do with Magic cards. Most rules though are so non-novel or obvious that it's not an issue, and anyway

  • Rulebooks (Score:3, Interesting)

    by secolactico ( 519805 ) on Thursday December 09, 2004 @03:33PM (#11045738) Journal
    I've never played a tabletop rpg. Not exactly for lack of oportunity, but because it doesn't really attract me.

    I love RPG rulebooks and guidebooks. I've read some shadowrun, vampire the masquerade and d&d books. I like background stories, the kind that set the ambiance for the game (I guess). I like looking at the maps. I don't actually care if some super duper villain dwells in a dungeon and needs to be killed, but I'm interested in the the kind of society that gave birth to the incident. The politics between noblemen and guilds. The rise of a mega corporation whose chairman managed to acquire power that rivals those of a small nation, etc.

    What does this have to do with this story? I read a bit of it and tought "meh... average at best". But the license will allow people to extend the story and make it available to the public at large without fear of repercusion. Or maybe make a scenery using Never Winter Nights of some other engine. Or maybe release short novels or whatever.

    • Re:Rulebooks (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Golias ( 176380 ) on Thursday December 09, 2004 @03:48PM (#11045888)
      Most people who play a lot of RPGs don't care much about any of the things you are looking for in an entertaining "world sourcebook" to read.

      Tabletop RPG folk like to creat their own worlds, their own histories, and their own mythologies, and then let the games take place in those worlds. Any setting info is simply used as a guideline for the tone which is supposed to be represented. (Or a template... I wish I had a dollar for every time I pulled out the old "Keep of the Borderlands" map that came free with the old D&D box-set because I quickly needed a generic military outpost in one of my campaigns.)

      The only exceptions I can think of are the famous "Ravenloft" scenario book from AD&D, and the entire Paranoia & Acute Paranoia line. Both of those were such fantastic works that almost any game master who thumbed through them immediately wanted to take their players through them, right out of the box, with minimal changes. (I'm sure there are others, but those seem to be pretty universal stand-outs.)
    • How does that seperate it from the OGL? There are plenty of generic fantasy worlds out there and this doesn't really seem like anything that great outside of the concept.
    • RPGs are meant to be played -- I've seen some really dry text "come alive" when it's actually used. And I've seen wonderful writing, background, and rules wasted in poor gaming sessions.

      What you're doing is watching football (soccer for us Americans), and not understanding why the players don't just pick up the ball.
  • How is this amalgam of other gaming systems even noteworthy? Seriously, in the text of the 'core rules' he makes this explicit: "This is definitely the game with the most blatant theft I've written."

    Granted that it's a small community, and what one group does influences another (to some extent), but what is the virtue of this sytem? It's a nice effort, but it doesn't bring anything new to the table, or that interesting.

    • I'd rather respond to this via e-mail, because I don't want to come off like a shill, but since I can't:

      I've been designing for a long time. Every game is a group of good ideas that a designer got from other games and put his own unique twist on. The difference is that I say so up-front. It's not really an amalgam, as much a bibliography of influences.

      As for "new to the table," I'm not going to try and sell the game. If you want to know why it's not the suck, feel free to read this post on an RPG forum:

  • How long before some smart teenager figures out how to hack the game and get himself to level 350,000 (out of 100)?
    • I think its safe to say either you didn't rtfa, or you misunderstood it wildly. Either way, you completely
      missed the point here. There is nothing to 'hack', this is an old school RPG, a la Dungeons and Dragons.

  • Article fails to mention: (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Pxtl ( 151020 ) on Thursday December 09, 2004 @04:43PM (#11046395) Homepage
    Is it good?
    .
    .
    .
    or is it whack?

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