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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kargeras" data-source="post: 7648227" data-attributes="member: 6688629">Desparate attempts to monetize TRPG could kill it.This article beautifully explains why it's hard - and getting harder -  to get rich from selling RPG gear. I would be even more blunt and  describe the 4e debacle this way: WotC weren't aiming at improving the  game; they were instead trying force the RPG community onto a territory  where they would be easier to fleece for cash. One one level you can't  blame them. They're a company sailing into a mighty headwind. But on  another level, they also have some responsibility to the RPG  institution. This is what I read from their 4e moves: We're prepared to  salt the earth of TRPGs as we mine out the last available dollar.What  we need now is a plan for how to keep TRPGs vibrant and thrilling even  after it becomes unmarketable. Here's how I see that playing out.We're quickly approaching the era when even board games are basically  software. The open source community needs to be ready for this and start  writing games for this format.Most definitely, I will want to  do some tabletop fantasy RPG in this setting, but I won't want to do  this in WotC's sandbox. (Their inevitable attempt to desperately cash in  will be perfectly at odds with what the game needs to be fun, which is  opennes, accessibility and customizability.) We'll be crying out for an  open source  alternative to D&D, one that doesn't force you to run your campaign  the WotC way. And since we know this, I hope we start now to think  about how the optimal implementation of a fantasy roleplaying game  should look.Timing is important, because companies like WotC  will certainly support the integration of user-supported modules and  other content, and they'll get armies of creative people basically  adding value to their corporate product while they scheme ways to find  excuses to pull more money from them and the rest of us. (A part of it  will be "new (virtual) rulebooks" to buy - essentially a paid unlock of  certain features, monsters, classes and items. And who knows what else  they will think of to nickel-and-dime us?)The alternative we  need is an open gaming system, one that is flexible enough to  accommodate house rules, patches from volunteers, and the full and  unrestricted power of the internet. I think it's really important for  the future of social gaming that we start working on this. I picture the  basic mechanics of the software would be standard - how it handles  dice, or maps and spatial orientation, for example. But then you could  load in your selection of mechanics which could resemble some edition of  D&D, or something like Hackmaster, or something else that  volunteers will write and you can easily customize. I thought of  Hackmaster because combat in that game is cumbersome, since it simulates  so many details which demand lots of looking up in tables. But once all  that is done instantly by the machine, role playing games will be free  to simulate all kinds of details that PnP games now can't. You could  keep track of exact wound locations, of armor dings, of what collection  of items fits or doesn't fit in your backpack, etc.More  important than anything else: We need an open file format for saving  user-created modules and environments, whose content would be adaptable  to any given campaign's house rules. No way will WotC take the lead on  this, but without it, the usefulness any content that volunteers  generate will depend on their whims. I would also love to support the  creation of a very detailed fantasy world-setting, as a competitor to  Forgotten Realms or whatever. It could be called "The Free Kingdoms", a setting in the larger framework project called  "Open Lands" or something like that. I already have some original content for  this, and I'm the faculty advisor of a large gaming club in a state  college. Many of the geeks there would definitely make some excellent  contributions, and there are millions just like them around the world!Right  now,  no outside party has any say over how you play PnP games - what rules  you enforce, what edition of books you use or don't use, etc. That will  end once games become corporate software, which has the power to force  you to play the WotC way. The future  of fantasy roleplaying is about to swoop in, and you know that  companies will try to rob it of its fantastic openness and lack of  restrictions in order to make money. A concerted movement has to oppose  this. An open system will have the big advantage of not having to impose  artificial restrictions on play, because these are necessary only for  reasons of DRM or making room for paid content. So we can have a better  product without necessarily having bigger budgets or better authors,  just like Wikipedia is by far the best encyclopedia. But we need to be  thinking about this before everyone forgets what truly unrestricted  role-playing was like.What we need first is for the wonder to  return to game worlds, and this will happen when we can generate free  and deep fantasy content, beginning with the "Free Kingdoms" setting.  First we need at least a partial cannonical theology and metaphysics,  much of which could be adapted from Gygax works. Next: Geography. Then:  Detailed history. Content work on the Free Kingdoms should begin at  least 500 years before the time of the gaming era, and lots of thought  at a high level of detail should be given to the interaction of the  aboriginal cultures and gods, as well as external influences. The  theology must be fixed first, because that, more than anything, will  form the template for culture. To maximize game-world openness, the game  setting needs a recent cataclysmic collapse. Games in the aftermath of a  collapse will leave enough freedom for characters to be their own  masters, and also seed the world with many forgotten pockets of  unconsolidated or unlooted treasure.Once the development of this  setting is underway, fans will be invited to flesh out the content,  create modules, write fan fiction, make fan art, etc. The result will be  in Wiki form, moderated by a volunteer Consulate of Canonicity. They  will make sure that canonized content is of high quality and overall  internal consistency.In parallel to this, open-source game  software would be developed for running actual gaming sessions. This  would be a big task, but a compelling and open-sourced Free Kingdoms  setting would definitely help with the enthusiasm. With modern  development tools, six clever, dedicated people could bring such a  project quite far. The focus would be on compatibility, customizability  and connectivity. You should be able to adventure in the Open Lands  using a rule set of your choosing, and fan-generated modules should  appear in a format which makes them playable with a variety of rules.  3rd party tools like Skype could be leveraged for virtual presence. A  rendered "what your character sees" screen would be perfectly feasible,  and could be done with GPL rendering engines like Doom3. It wouldn't  have to be pretty to be good. If decent community development tools got  made, entire regions could be rendered and canonized.This is how  tabletop role playing should look in the future - this is how to bring  the magic back. However, this is exactly what will never happen if we  leave the initiative with WotC or any other profit-driven company. Their  #1 priority is not (and can't be) to create an excellent game  experience. It's to permanently leave you feeling that something is  missing, something that your money might fix. That's the Farmville  model, and it's what digital D&D will become. The true spirit of TRPG is  exactly the opposite: It's the feeling that you can freely do anything  and go anywhere. This spirit can only survive if there is an open  alternative once TRPGs transition to a digital format, and it's up to us  the community to make that happen.</blockquote>

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