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There is no copyright possible on game mechanics, so you can pretty much write your own completely D&D compatible game, with the rules taken straight from D&D (but rephrased, of course, because the actual phrases are copyrighted).

Which, incidentally, has been done for 1st/2nd Edition and, to some degree, with 3rd/3.5th edition.

That's why my group uses Pathfinder, a fork of third edition D&D that is still supported and thriving. And all your third edition supplements are compatible.

I agree about the take free and add value thing up to a point. As an example in the publishing industry, Paizo does just that with Pathfinder (maybe others, I only do the Pathfinder stuff). The System Reference Documents are totally free and online in clear text and extremely searchable, really a much better format for rules than dead tree versions. The SRD are valuable in and of themselves but there is even more valuable when more people use them. In this case the freeness adds value. Paizo then sells the other stuff like print version, modules, adventures, special guides, even figurines and what not. Their stuff is really good. Also the smaller bits are easier buy because they are generally cheaper.

I seems to me that Flat World was shooting for the same type thing. Maybe it failed because it could not get schools and professors on board. I did very little if any extra reading for core/non-major related classes in college; if it wasn't on the syllabus I never even found out about it. Maybe Flat World's quality was mediocre. My point is that there might be other reasons they failed, no just the fact that "freemium" is flawed. If they are in fact working on something with EdX, they might be addressing the issue of expanding the base so that their original business can work.

... are playing Pathfinder now.

If Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition is published under the Open Game License, then it'll be worth a look.
Otherwise, I won't waste my time or money.

With Pathfinder they seem to have really reduced the fast leveling of 3rd/3.5. Not only do they offer different XP scales based on how fast you want the leveling to be but, from my limited experience so far, it seems as though the XP for individual encounters is generally lower than it was before. I've only played in a handful of Pathfinder sessions since I just recently joined a group that's playing it, but we're running it with the "long" leveling chart and having been in 4 4-hour sessions of a lot of hack-and-slash dungeon diving the whole party is only level 2.

The skills and feats are pretty much the same system as 3/3.5 though. If you want to check it out without visiting the local bookstore, buying it, or torrenting the books then you can check out the Pathfinder Reference Document over at Paizo's website. It's the entire set of rule books in easily searchable form, fully updated with any errata that's been added due to discussions on their forums, and is pretty much all you would need to actually run a game under the Pathfinder ruleset if you're not looking to play in the official setting. Pathfinder Reference Document

The big problem with Wizards of the Coast is that it's being run by marketing specialists who don't game. They're hugely out of touch with their target market, and the result has been a crappy product that few people want to buy.

Meanwhile, Paizo -- the company that makes Pathfinder -- has taken the pulse of the d20 gaming community. The company is run by gaming geeks. Virtually everyone there plays for fun, even the CEO. Paizo makes most of its money off adventures, not rules -- their subscription-based monthly adventure modules are their primary revenue stream. All of the actual rule mechanics are available free online under an open license, and if you want pretty illustrations to go with them, the PDFs are reasonably cheap.

At Paizo, the adventure comes first, and the rules are just a framework. WotC puts the rules first, and the adventure second. Even this WotC play test strikes me mostly as the WotC marketing droids aping Paizo. Which just demonstrates their cluelessness even further.

http://paizo.com/planetStories

Take a look at the Pathfinder Society. It's *mostly* focused on the US, but there are games in other countries.

Other than that, try looking in gaming forums. I'm partial to the Pathfinder stuff, and they have very active forums where you can likely find a game in your area.

Last but not least, you could bite the bullet, become a GM, and recruit some players. There are even "beginners box" type products for exactly this situation. Then you'd have a game.

While the PDF is not free, the core content is freely available on the Internet as a "Reference Document" under the terms of the Open Game License. Paizo hosts all of the details from most of their books themselves (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/), but there are many other websites that reproduce and compile details from different sources, including third party content (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ is one).

Under the terms of the license, all of the core rules can be re-packaged and sold in your own game. Only the proper names unique to the Pathfinder setting (characters, deities, etc) are copyrighted and cannot be used.

http://paizo.com/beginnerbox
I think some table-top roleplaying games would be the perfect solution.
The only problem I foresee is an abnormally high rogue-to-paladin ratio.

Try Pathfinder, it's basically what 4th should have been.
The classes maintain their flavor while gaining options.
They streamlined what needed it (NOTE streamlined what was needed. NOT made stupidly dumb everything)
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG
95%+ compatible with 3.5
    I've been playing since 1982 and pathfinder is the best version of AD&D I've seen yet, not perfect, but it's never been perfect.
      AD&D has a cycle to it, version, add on rules till it gets to be a mess to track them, then new version, lather rinse repeat. But it's still a lot of fun.

Mycroft

A reinterpretation of D&D 3.0/3.5 - I don't recall if it is the exact same OGL that D20 originally used. But it is a mostly open-gaming license. The Pathfinder Bestiary is currently #4 (bestseller) in Roleplaying Games on Amazon (#4,490 in Books). The Core Rulebook was in the Top 5 for quite a while as well - but Paizo underestimated demand and it sold out the first print run in August within the first couple weeks.

4E is a load of dog shit.

I've been through three and a half versions of (A)D&D, three versions of Shadowrun, two and a half versions of GURPS (if you count 3+CI+CII as "3.5"), and loved them; edition specific warts and all.

I bought the D&D 4E Core Set, expecting good things and was very disappointed. I have never, EVER seen a role-playing game get bent over and screwed in the ass like WOTC did with D&D 4E.

I decided to go with Pathfinder RPG instead and now run a Pathfinder game every other Saturday. The PDF for the Core Rulebook (PHB + DMG) is only $10... check it out.

4E is a load of dog shit.

I've been through three and a half versions of (A)D&D, three versions of Shadowrun, two and a half versions of GURPS (if you count 3+CI+CII as "3.5"), and loved them; edition specific warts and all.

I bought the D&D 4E Core Set, expecting good things and was very disappointed. I have never, EVER seen a role-playing game get bent over and screwed in the ass like WOTC did with D&D 4E.

I decided to go with Pathfinder RPG instead and now run a Pathfinder game every other Saturday. The PDF for the Core Rulebook (PHB + DMG) is only $10... check it out.

To scan the rules without buying a copy check out the open gaming reference document.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

But let me assure you that the book is well worth 35 dollars on amazon. Hell it is probably worth full price if you want the PDF.

I recommend you check out Pathfinder. It is the d20 3.5 rules, redone and put into a gorgeous volume that is extremely well organized. And it is far better than anything from WotC. Some elements of Dark Sun are possible in it, although not really Planescape's, which is a shame.

A subscription to Planet Stories

we just give up on mmo's and micro transaction based flash games and go back to some good old Tabletop Gaming with friends that uses our brains and some funny looking dice - if you really need a computer, there are excel characters sheets and virtual dice that will run on any platform?

http://www.rpgnow.com/

http://www.yourgamesnow.com/

http://www.paizo.com/

http://e23.sjgames.com/

#1: Their new license basically rapes you if you want to publish OGL content. It's explicitly designed so that publishers supporting 4e must throw away their 3.xE content, including anything based on OGL, and start over. I read it as "ha ha, fuck you publishers, upgrade bitches." So you're absolutely right that this is not about "piracy", this is consistent with a strategy of wizards desperately trying to scramble for more control of the game. It's about kicking out everyone who might make money off their product who isn't them. It's completely retrogressive and I expect Wizards to get killed in the marketplace; it just takes one strong competitor who Does It Right.

#2: Check out Paizo publishing. They're doing it right, making a game that continues to be freely licensed and does allow other publishers to add on. With the upcoming Pathfinder RPG, they've basically forked the D&D 3.5E rules, opened them up, and given the finger to Wizards. (Incidentally they were one of the PDF resellers who got kicked in the groin by the recent delisting of PDFs.)

My money's on Paizo. Literally. I'll be spending money on their products as soon as the release edition is available for sale. The beta edition is already a free PDF download. I've got my copy.

Paizo has come up with a system that I think rocks.

If you are angry with WotC and their Vista-like 4e, try the Beta .. Real version should be out this year.

Free Beta Download

I'm starting up a Pathfinder game as well in about 4 weeks (schedule conflicts..grr..)

I have the PDF of the beta and I love the changes to grapple and polymorph. I think it will solve several issues with the game.

I'm a total Paizo fan now. They have so many good names in the industry writing for them and I think they have captured the spirit of D&D. I hope Hasbro sells the D&D brand to them.

Take a look at Pathfinder (3.75 ed) at Paizo or the up-coming Fantasycraft from Crafty Games if you want some real DnD goodness. WotC are well over the shark with 4ed.

With the gutting of the Forgotten Realms to a dripping carcass of its former self just to serve as a 4ed setting with a name that has 'brand recognition' and the focus of the new rules on WoW style combat to the exclusion of all else, trying to force DnD into the paid subscription model of revenue deserved to fail.

Ok, rant over :)

Yup. Got the free beta download and it looks pretty good. Figure we'll try a game with it and see if it's worth grabbing the hard cover.

It was a game balance and rules contradiction or rules ambiguity problem. As much as one might want to leave all decisions to the GM/DM, there were the inevitable rules lawyers that made gaming miserable by ... well ... lawyering...

But there are rules lawyers in every game with rules, even games like Monopoly and American Football. Some games even seem to facilitate this process with complex rule systems (RuleMaster, I'm lookin' at you, baby).

In my eyes, 1st Ed. AD&D is the One True Edition just as vi is the One True Editor. :D

The 1st Ed AD&D still has a place in my heart. I haven't played a real table-top game in decades but if I ever do, I'll just use my 1st Ed books. I have a hunch I'm not the only one who feels like this. If you don't have the old rulebooks anymore, you can buy them from Paizo or download OSRIC (Old School Reference & Index Compilation, a project aiming to provide a copyright-free version of early editions of Dungeons and Dragons). I still might get 4E at any rate, just for the heck of it and see how the game has evolved.

I've played every edition of D&D as well.. I'm certainly not buying 4th edition. I have a bookshelf of D&D products, and I canceled all of my outstanding orders when they canceled their relationship with the brilliant folks at Paizo, dumping the hardcopy magazines, Dungeon and Dragon. Now they're issuing a new version of the game, which will put further nails in the coffin of Paizo, and trying to milk the franchise for another round of "upgrade", which will incidentally harm all of the third parties like Malhavoc Press who have just finished huge efforts to publish OGL-compatable d20 games.

No, I can keep buying the 3rd party d20 stuff and just ignore Wizards from here on... if I'm really jonsing for something D&D I can whip out my 3.5 edition rules and the dozen or so sourcebooks I have.

http://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/19/w a/browse?path=store/apparel/tShirts/offworldDesign s/v5748btpy7rmu&wosid=5t479QhI8uSZwaO0CHUAww

Seems like everyone would be better surved with forums, a web-page and the normal book releases.

Forums? Not the same at all. I don't want to have to wade through mindless rules flamewars and irrelevant conversations to find useful stuff.

Existing books? Sure, those have value, if they can get enough material on a topic to create one. But maybe I just want an article with five new, themed spells, suitable for an NPC, new religion, or a dusty tome of "forgotten" spells. Or maybe I want the excellent Dungeoncraft series to continue, or "100 things you'd find in a marketplace".

Websites? We shall see what WotC comes up with, but websites can be impermanent -- the content is only available as long as the site's owners chose to host it. What would have happened had TSR had such a site when they were looking to go out of business? My guess is, the site would be shut down and that information lost; even if not, little of the content would likely still be available on WotC's site today.

Dungeon improved greatly over the past couple of years, culminating in the Adventure Paths -- a series of linked adventures, one per month, designed to take a party from 1st- to 20th-level. The first one, the Shackled City, was so-so in my opinion. The second one, the Age of Worms, was a lot better; I think they were starting to get the feel for writing them. We are over halfway through the third one, the Savage Tide; it will conclude in the final issue of Dungeon. The Dungeoncraft articles are pretty interesting, too; Monte Cook and Wolfgang Baur have both provided wonderful articles about adventure design and campaign-building.

In my opinion Dragon is still of varying usefulness with the addition of monthly columns devoted to WotC's major campaign settings (Eberron and Forgotten Realms) and my favorite series of articles EVER, Core Faiths. Each article explored a deity in the core D&D pantheon and really fleshed it out -- outlook on life, role of the clergy, aphorisms, new spells or magic items unique to the faith, sample NPCs suitable for summoning via Summon Planar Ally, and more. (The Core Faiths for Vecna was a great Halloween treat last year.)

What eventually convinced me to subscribe was the utility of having those articles on hand whenever and wherever I game. No scouring a series of websites, or hoping that WotC's site hasn't "retired" the article. The fact that subscriptions to Dungeon and Dragon were increasing over the past couple of years tells me that I'm not alone in finding this content valuable.

Paizo will apparently be publishing a new periodical, Pathfinder. It looks to be a hybrid of Dungeon (adventures, including new Adventure Paths) and Dragon (new monsters, spells, NPCs, and locales), and all of their material will be released under the OGL. You will be able to get it in either PDF or dead-tree editions, so people who want that electronic content will have it while old fogeys like me can add to the growing pile of gaming supplements. I'm strongly considering converting my remaining subscriptions and grabbing the first couple of issues.

• Kill Doctor Lucky - the award winning game of what happens right before Clue begins. I happen to own and love the Cheapass version as well.
• Battlelore - the best light wargame I've ever played
• Mystery of the Abbey - Clue for fans of The Name of the Rose and Brother Cadfael
• Puerto Rico - a classic eurogame and, for my money, the best "gateway game" there is. I'll play this over Catan any day of the week.
• Warrior Knights - an updated version of the '85 classic, and a terrific American-style boardgame (which is to say, there's direct player vs. player conflict). Where else can you be made Ambassador to the Orient and a Traitor to the Crown on the same turn?

Lego is surely the coolest toy out there!

I was going to suggest this very thing, but then there's the problem of visibility. If you only have one game available on your website, you may not even show up on Google unless someone is specifically searching for your game.

One solution to this problem, though, may be following the Cheapass rulebook to the letter. Print your own boards and rules, let people find their own pawns, etc., then sell through a site like Paizo (which just happens to be how you buy Cheapass Games now). I don't have any idea how Paizo selects which games to include on their site, or if there are any other websites that would be interested in talking with you, but I'm sure you'll be able to find something (Etsy maybe?).

One last suggestion (and it may have already been mentioned), go spend some time in the Board Game Geek forums. I know that there are a lot of budding game developers there, and there may be some much better suggestions/solutions that they know of. You might also be able to develop a starting market there.

As a small publisher of RPGs myself, I feel compelled to point out that there's much more out there than WOTC and White Wolf. There are a slew of small publishers putting out great, critically acclaimed material, both in PDF and print format. I draw your attention to the ENnie awards (complete list of 2006 winners can be found right here, which this past year rewarded not only big guys like Paizo Publishing and White Wolf, but smaller pubishers like Green Ronin and Guardians of Order, as well as really little guys like Atomic Sock Monkey Press (for the excellent super-hero game Truth & Justice and Dog Soul Publishing (for their Baba Yaga book, which I penned. Check us out. We may not be as well known as the other guys but we're just as good.

Actually, you can already get a ton of them as pdf. And not too expensive, either.

http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast /aDAndD2/

Polyhedral dice by the handful!

Sheeesh, and you call yourselves geeks...

I was glad to see this movie featured on the cover of the latest issue of Amazing Stories .

And hey, look -- Amazing Stories is back from the dead once again! Geez, it's been a foundation of science fiction since 1924. Heck, the Hugo award is named for the guy who started Amazing. The current incarnation seems to be covering lots more stuff than just short stories -- comics, movies, video games and everything scifi. Coolness.

• Dragon Magazine
• Linux Magazine Freedom
• Ché
• PC Gameplay
• Hustler