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It's why I stopped playing D20 games. After 4.0 came out with NO open content, I turned and never looked back.

Well, that's certainly stupid.

What exactly do you mean by open content? If you mean you're pissed because they didn't allow people to republish WotC's rules and content verbatim, then I suppose that's a legitimate concern.

But they certainly have opened 4.0 up, and there are plenty of 3rd party products available for it.

I'm curious, which games do you play, since having an open system is so important? Off the top of my head, the only non-d20 game I can think of which has a semi-open license allowing 3rd parties to publish content is Savage Worlds. And their license, while free, is relatively restrictive in that you must specifically get permission from them.

If you want to sell your work, you must contact us at PEGShane@gmail.com with your plan and some samples of your work. We'll work with each company on a case-by-case basis. Once we grant your company the license, you can make whatever you want without submitting it for further approval, as long as you follow the guidelines below.

Be aware that we're looking for HIGH production values--meaning great art, trade dress, and professional layout--as much as we are great content.

I think BESM had some kind of license, but that game is long defunct. All the other stuff I can think of (True 20, Mutants & Masterminds, Pathfinder, SpyCraft) are d20-based.

So I can only think of one current, non-d20 RPG with an open license. You've stated that you play RPGs (plural) and that you no longer play d20-based games. You also implied that you only play games with open content, whatever twisted definition you might have for that term. So what are the other games you play?

Steve Jackson? gah. Screw GURPS, too many damn specific rules, combat takes to long, and running on a bell curve with their point system make no sense mathematically.

I gave up on that pile of needless complications 4 years ago.
Try savage worlds and have some fun. Play characters that can actually be cool right out of the gate, and only get cooler. There rule book cost 10 bucks.

What's that? 10 bucks too much to try a new game? well then, I suggest you take it for a Test Drive

Do I sound a little fanatical? probably, but I ahve played it since it's release, and still enjoy it, and have played and ran in almost every Genre available.

Steve Jackson? gah. Screw GURPS, too many damn specific rules, combat takes to long, and running on a bell curve with their point system make no sense mathematically.

I gave up on that pile of needless complications 4 years ago.
Try savage worlds and have some fun. Play characters that can actually be cool right out of the gate, and only get cooler. There rule book cost 10 bucks.

What's that? 10 bucks too much to try a new game? well then, I suggest you take it for a Test Drive

Do I sound a little fanatical? probably, but I ahve played it since it's release, and still enjoy it, and have played and ran in almost every Genre available.

be TSR to seem hi[p and relevent.

Granted they are trying to adapt to the changing gamer market, but they are trying to do so AND serve a corporate master stuck in the 20th century.

these [people get it:
http://www.peginc.com/Games/SavageWorlds/main.htm

10 bucks for the rule book, 10 freaking bucks.
The system allows the players to feel like hero's out of the gate. It's simple.I am a hard core DnD (Method 1, baby!) but this game system rocks.

On the plus side, I hope to see a bunch of nice mini's released for the collectible game there trying to turn DnD into.

Savage Worlds from http://www.peginc.com/ is exactly what you're after. It provides a fantastic play experience with easy to learn, yet comprehensive rules. It's extremely newbie-friendly without being lightweight. It was designed to accomplish everything other games do without their unnecessary rules bloat, slow gameplay and long preparation times. I've been gaming for 23 years and played scores of rpgs and find Savage Worlds peerless. I simply can't bring myself to run any other game than SW now. It certainly lives up to its motto of "Fast! Furious! Fun!".

You'll also appreciate the fact that it does all this in a single rulebook that covers almost every conceivable genre. That's right, you can use Savage Worlds to play fantasy, sci fi, horror, supers, WW2, modern espionage or whatever else takes your fancy. The game's system is robust enough to cover them all in style. It's also a simple matter to convert your favourite game world/book/tv series/movie/whatever to these rules and have a blast immersing yourself in their worlds. Check out the conversions others have made already at http://www.savageheroes.com/ for scores of (freely downloadable) examples of this. The online community for SW is the friendliest I've come across and there's a LOT of cool stuff available on the net to help you out with this game.

Anyway, don't just take my word for it, you can download the FREE Test Drive rules now and give it a crack!

If you're after some fantasy adventures to play using the Test Drive, try these ...

"The Legend of Jub Jub Lake" http://www.savageheroes.com/adventures/JUB%20JUB%2 01.pdf

... and if you'd like a taster of some of the rules from the main book that don't get mentioned in the Test Drive, grab these two files:

For more free adventures in different genres and other cool stuff visit http://www.dragonsfoot.org/sw/ and http://www.sharkbytes.info/

Savage Worlds from http://www.peginc.com/ is exactly what you're after. It provides a fantastic play experience with easy to learn, yet comprehensive rules. It's extremely newbie-friendly without being lightweight. It was designed to accomplish everything other games do without their unnecessary rules bloat, slow gameplay and long preparation times. I've been gaming for 23 years and played scores of rpgs and find Savage Worlds peerless. I simply can't bring myself to run any other game than SW now. It certainly lives up to its motto of "Fast! Furious! Fun!".

You'll also appreciate the fact that it does all this in a single rulebook that covers almost every conceivable genre. That's right, you can use Savage Worlds to play fantasy, sci fi, horror, supers, WW2, modern espionage or whatever else takes your fancy. The game's system is robust enough to cover them all in style. It's also a simple matter to convert your favourite game world/book/tv series/movie/whatever to these rules and have a blast immersing yourself in their worlds. Check out the conversions others have made already at http://www.savageheroes.com/ for scores of (freely downloadable) examples of this. The online community for SW is the friendliest I've come across and there's a LOT of cool stuff available on the net to help you out with this game.

Anyway, don't just take my word for it, you can download the FREE Test Drive rules now and give it a crack!

If you're after some fantasy adventures to play using the Test Drive, try these ...

"The Legend of Jub Jub Lake" http://www.savageheroes.com/adventures/JUB%20JUB%2 01.pdf

... and if you'd like a taster of some of the rules from the main book that don't get mentioned in the Test Drive, grab these two files:

For more free adventures in different genres and other cool stuff visit http://www.dragonsfoot.org/sw/ and http://www.sharkbytes.info/

Savage Worlds from http://www.peginc.com/ is exactly what you're after. It provides a fantastic play experience with easy to learn, yet comprehensive rules. It's extremely newbie-friendly without being lightweight. It was designed to accomplish everything other games do without their unnecessary rules bloat, slow gameplay and long preparation times. I've been gaming for 23 years and played scores of rpgs and find Savage Worlds peerless. I simply can't bring myself to run any other game than SW now. It certainly lives up to its motto of "Fast! Furious! Fun!".

You'll also appreciate the fact that it does all this in a single rulebook that covers almost every conceivable genre. That's right, you can use Savage Worlds to play fantasy, sci fi, horror, supers, WW2, modern espionage or whatever else takes your fancy. The game's system is robust enough to cover them all in style. It's also a simple matter to convert your favourite game world/book/tv series/movie/whatever to these rules and have a blast immersing yourself in their worlds. Check out the conversions others have made already at http://www.savageheroes.com/ for scores of (freely downloadable) examples of this. The online community for SW is the friendliest I've come across and there's a LOT of cool stuff available on the net to help you out with this game.

Anyway, don't just take my word for it, you can download the FREE Test Drive rules now and give it a crack!

If you're after some fantasy adventures to play using the Test Drive, try these ...

"The Legend of Jub Jub Lake" http://www.savageheroes.com/adventures/JUB%20JUB%2 01.pdf

... and if you'd like a taster of some of the rules from the main book that don't get mentioned in the Test Drive, grab these two files:

For more free adventures in different genres and other cool stuff visit http://www.dragonsfoot.org/sw/ and http://www.sharkbytes.info/

Savage Worlds from http://www.peginc.com/ is exactly what you're after. It provides a fantastic play experience with easy to learn, yet comprehensive rules. It's extremely newbie-friendly without being lightweight. It was designed to accomplish everything other games do without their unnecessary rules bloat, slow gameplay and long preparation times. I've been gaming for 23 years and played scores of rpgs and find Savage Worlds peerless. I simply can't bring myself to run any other game than SW now. It certainly lives up to its motto of "Fast! Furious! Fun!".

You'll also appreciate the fact that it does all this in a single rulebook that covers almost every conceivable genre. That's right, you can use Savage Worlds to play fantasy, sci fi, horror, supers, WW2, modern espionage or whatever else takes your fancy. The game's system is robust enough to cover them all in style. It's also a simple matter to convert your favourite game world/book/tv series/movie/whatever to these rules and have a blast immersing yourself in their worlds. Check out the conversions others have made already at http://www.savageheroes.com/ for scores of (freely downloadable) examples of this. The online community for SW is the friendliest I've come across and there's a LOT of cool stuff available on the net to help you out with this game.

Anyway, don't just take my word for it, you can download the FREE Test Drive rules now and give it a crack!

If you're after some fantasy adventures to play using the Test Drive, try these ...

"The Legend of Jub Jub Lake" http://www.savageheroes.com/adventures/JUB%20JUB%2 01.pdf

... and if you'd like a taster of some of the rules from the main book that don't get mentioned in the Test Drive, grab these two files:

For more free adventures in different genres and other cool stuff visit http://www.dragonsfoot.org/sw/ and http://www.sharkbytes.info/

Savage Worlds from http://www.peginc.com/ is exactly what you're after. It provides a fantastic play experience with easy to learn, yet comprehensive rules. It's extremely newbie-friendly without being lightweight. It was designed to accomplish everything other games do without their unnecessary rules bloat, slow gameplay and long preparation times. I've been gaming for 23 years and played scores of rpgs and find Savage Worlds peerless. I simply can't bring myself to run any other game than SW now. It certainly lives up to its motto of "Fast! Furious! Fun!".

You'll also appreciate the fact that it does all this in a single rulebook that covers almost every conceivable genre. That's right, you can use Savage Worlds to play fantasy, sci fi, horror, supers, WW2, modern espionage or whatever else takes your fancy. The game's system is robust enough to cover them all in style. It's also a simple matter to convert your favourite game world/book/tv series/movie/whatever to these rules and have a blast immersing yourself in their worlds. Check out the conversions others have made already at http://www.savageheroes.com/ for scores of (freely downloadable) examples of this. The online community for SW is the friendliest I've come across and there's a LOT of cool stuff available on the net to help you out with this game.

Anyway, don't just take my word for it, you can download the FREE Test Drive rules now and give it a crack!

If you're after some fantasy adventures to play using the Test Drive, try these ...

"The Legend of Jub Jub Lake" http://www.savageheroes.com/adventures/JUB%20JUB%2 01.pdf

... and if you'd like a taster of some of the rules from the main book that don't get mentioned in the Test Drive, grab these two files:

For more free adventures in different genres and other cool stuff visit http://www.dragonsfoot.org/sw/ and http://www.sharkbytes.info/

Why has no one mentioned table-top RPGs yet?

If you have even a tiny bit of imagination and a creative Games Master (you can rotate GMs in casual play, too), why not play some one-off games of Call of Cthulhu?

Or if you fancy something a little bit more 'campaign' like, I can highly recommend Deadlands (http://www.peginc.com), or perhaps just straight D&D 3.5 :)

That site is great. The other handy thing about it is the indications of what areas were yet unexplored at the time. By looking at a map of the era I know what fuzzy unknown wilderness areas are ripe to be populated with all sorts of Bad Guy hideouts and such.

On another note, I noticed an awful lot of the birds-eye artist rendition maps are from the Wisconsin area, where I live, and I thought that was a bit odd. It turns out the reason for it is that the Library of Congres' project of comissioning maps of all the new cities happened to be in effect at about the time the artist's birds-eye rendition was in vouge, which was also about the time this part of the country was starting to be heavily settled.