I have been thinking about creating an pen and paper RPG for quite a while, and it has finally come down to creating a hybrid of something like BESM/Ricochet, Fate and D&D. I like aspects from all of these games, but none of them do what I want (it should be noted that Fate comes close, and it really is a matter of building mechanics from the other games on top of it). So, now that I’ve decided on a game to develop for/with Nexia, I am looking around on the net to see what people have done, and what they are talking about. I’ve found some cool stuff, so here comes the linkdump:

• Sarah Darkmagic – Very cool person talking about their D&D experiences. I wish I made the effort to log like them. I am sure it would come in handy later.
  • Good, Bad, or Indifferent – About alignment in D&D, suggests Fate-style aspect system
  • Running Red Box for the Crew: Part One – About running the new Red Box, a simplified D&D 4e
• lore.interi – Where I talk about gaming these days
  • What do you like about D&D? – Trying to pinpoint exactly what it is I like about D&D
  • D&D Essentials – Our discussion on the Red Box
• Fate RPG – Just check it out
  • Spirit of Steam & Sorcery – A cool setting I want to study more, considering it for Steam Mage.
  • Fate Conversion For D&D 4e – Not being developed anymore, but cool to see what others were doing.
  • Fate Community SRD – Sweet!
  • Legends of Anglerre – Fate-based fantasy game.

Now, let’s see if I can get my thoughts together on alignment…

D&D 4th Edition is very modular. This makes it idea to create a website that puts together various components to output the character sheet data. In fact, that is exactly what the Character Builder does, in XML even! It is too easy to create a Drupal (with Feeds) site to slurp up character sheets and output it in an easy to read format that can then be adjusted for whatever device.

So, there is the theory, and really, this is what I do with RSS and Atom all the time, so I have the practice as well. The issue is the legality of creating databases of modular game mechanic components. Is it okay? Could I get sued?

The U.S. Copyright Office has something to say about it (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html):

Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, or the method or methods for playing it. Nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles. Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form.

Material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game or the pictorial matter appearing on the gameboard or container may be registrable.

I kinda get it, and of course I am going to be looking into this more. I don’t want to just do D&D though. How about Tri-Stat, Fudge or Ricochet? Those are all systems that I enjoy, and all I see is a content type waiting to be “featured” and ready for deployment for a gaming group’s website.

What I feel like I need to do is create a gaming system that I really like, and release the whole damn thing under a CC license. I would even go further and make it BY-SA, just to make sure it could grow in the domain where it belongs, the player base. I believe that it could be just as commercially viable as any system out there, but with the additional piece of mind that the rules, and the form of expression in which I choose to share them, are being set out there specifically to be used by others.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about Ricochet in particular, and tonight I did some research (really, just searches on Wise Turtle’s forums) concerning the licensing for that system. There are some fast and loose guidelines on their site, but the creator, Clay Gardner, claims he just put them up to have something. I suppose they are reasonable; I don’t know much about small press or royalties. What I do know is that Ricochet has a fast and straightforward dice rolling mechanic, and that I wish there was some sort of system document I could refer to when creating a custom campaign setting.

If Ricochet had such a document, or if OVA was stripped of its flavor and just included the rules, then we could work with that. I will have to get in touch with Clay to see if something along those lines is of interest, but I don’t know if he is in a position to make a decision divorced from the commercial choices he is making for OVA (he has kept a really interesting development blog for the OVA Revised Edition, check it out).

So, now this is out of my head. My ultimate goal, of course, is to release Nexia as a campaign setting with a default system and conversion rules for other systems. I would love to go through the process of creating a book, but if it were a wiki, character database and a bunch of apps, I would be just as happy.

Actually, I would be happier. ^_^

Even though it is three months in, I am going to spend this year building out the background details for Nexia, my fictional fantasy world. If tonight was any indication, I can have a substantial, encyclopedic timeline created, and then I can just drop my existing characters and stories in where I think they belong.

This really works out for me, since I end up obsessing over the details when I am writing. I am learning this, now that I am DMing a D&D game. It is all I can do to not go ballistic on that world, but I really don’t care about Wizards‘ scenarios. I want to make my own, from scratch.

As I flesh out particular years, I will post them here. My method is insanely cool, but I am going to keep it internal for now. I will say this, when I start writing I have no idea where or when the thing I am writing will be. But it fits perfectly, and what I need right now is something that is both creative and enjoyable (currently my work and hobbies engage me in one or the other way).