New Open-Source Tabletop RPG

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."

Comments

GPL Tools?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:GPL Tools?

[Alpha27]

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.

Re:GPL Tools?

[OAB_X]

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 on using the open-source device above called a pen.

You don't even need to use comercial software to get the boards printed. Just make a nice board, go down to your local Office Place/Stables/Buisness Depot and ask them to run you off a few thousand copies of your board game. Made with the pen/paper. Multiple colours of pen may be used. Or even paint, which can be manufactured using ground up plants and rock. Its been around for even longer then paper or pen has.

But more importantly, if you want to modify the content, you know you won't have to buy any software to do it.

I never knew. So those new question cards for Trivial Pursuit, my new Monopoly land deed prices and community chest cards, and that board game I made back in grade 3 (using OSS materials known as pen/paper) was all done using software? Im shocked.

Does not windows come with a built in word processor (Wordpad/Notepad), an image editor (msPaint), and printing drivers so that you can use your printer to run off copies of the game?

Re:GPL Tools?

[swdunlop]

I find Paranoia XP's 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 is a good diceless game, and their more traditional Impresa 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, which I find to be a horrible system but it seems to appeal to GURPS masochists.

Re:GPL Tools?

[ClintonRNixon]

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 another RPG (besides, well, some others of mine) that are specifically licensed to be freely used to create derivative works without restrictions.

Common Definitions

[BrookHarty]

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.

Re:Common Definitions

[Golias]

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

[Golias]

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...

Re:Common Definitions

[msuzio]

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 critical areas was basically incapitation, and I think loss of 2x the points was death. In arms, legs, and hands 1x was incapitation of the limb, 2x was amputation. Roll a d10 for the location an attack hits, or you could also do called shots at a penalty.

I'd use a system like that, I guess. Of course, most of the time now, my sessions are pretty combat-lite, so I don't really sweat the details.

Re:Common Definitions

[nathanh]

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.

Re:Common Definitions

[zephiros]

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.

Re:Common Definitions

[alva_edison]

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

[Tyreth]

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 called it "vitality".

Check out White Wolf's Exalted roleplaying game (or Vampire which is similar). In that, armour reduces the damage potential but doesn't eliminate it. As you lose health from damage, you become less capable of performing. It's a simple system, but it works well.

Re:Wow

[BrookHarty]

Trust me, nerds rarely stay virgins. Chicks dig the whole "roleplaying" thing, too.

My wife has all girl D&D parties, of course booze and munchies are always required.

Shes been watching me play World of Warcraft, not sure if she wants to try an Online game, but I'm thinking it will make a nice christmas gift.

So, yes, lots of women dig RPG's, SIMS online is very popular with women. In fact, SO says they are geared towards women...

Misleading?

[Kleedrac2]

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

Rulebooks

[secolactico]

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

[Golias]

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.)

Re:Rulebooks

[softspokenrevolution]

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.

Article fails to mention:

[Pxtl]

Is it good?
.
.
.
or is it whack?