Looking for co-designers for d20 Open SRD

[jreyst]

My name is John Reyst and I am the primary instigator/initiator of d20pfsrd.com, probably the #1 SRD site for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. I am now beginning to consider a new project based on a similar concept but with different goals. I would like to use the rules present in d20pfsrd.com, apply any as yet unofficial errata from Paizo, then clean up certain sub-systems. This can not be done to d20pfsrd.com because that site is meant to be official Pathfinder rules only.

I have created http://sites.google.com/site/d20opensrd/ and would like to hear from any others who would be interested in working on this further. We can discuss specific goals etc via email etc.

Email me at jreyst@gmail.com if you are interested.

 

[Walking Dad]

Can you tell what sub-systems you think need a clean-up? Might be interested.

 

[tenkar]

So you're gonna clean up the system that was designed to clean up The System... ouch

Best of luck.

 

[jreyst]

Sorry for not replying before now. Having spent countless hours working on d20pfsrd.com I think I might have a unique perspective on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. While it is my favorite highly complex high simulationist system, of late I have been leaning more towards preferring simply systems, such as that delivered by Castles and Crusades. Unfortunately I have found countless things that are in my opinion poorly designed or implemented even in C&C. I decided it might be a cool idea to take the framework of the Pathfinder system, throw it out to the community as another system for *the community* to develop and use. Since Paizo has now opened up their entire system there is nothing preventing anyone from making a complete clone of their system and developing it as a forked branch of their source code so to speak. What I am doing is making that branch easily accessible and editable for anyone who would like to play with it, debate areas of concern etc.

If that does not appeal to you that's fine. Just trying to see if it appeals to anyone.

 

[Kafen]

Sorry for not replying before now. Having spent countless hours working on d20pfsrd.com I think I might have a unique perspective on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. While it is my favorite highly complex high simulationist system, of late I have been leaning more towards preferring simply systems, such as that delivered by Castles and Crusades. Unfortunately I have found countless things that are in my opinion poorly designed or implemented even in C&C. I decided it might be a cool idea to take the framework of the Pathfinder system, throw it out to the community as another system for *the community* to develop and use. Since Paizo has now opened up their entire system there is nothing preventing anyone from making a complete clone of their system and developing it as a forked branch of their source code so to speak. What I am doing is making that branch easily accessible and editable for anyone who would like to play with it, debate areas of concern etc.

If that does not appeal to you that's fine. Just trying to see if it appeals to anyone.

I speak for myself. Pathfinder is still emerging in my view. So, altering the core system beyond small house rules is something I am not eager to chew on for the moment. You could be meeting that kind of problem from other people. Heck, some of us are just now getting the core book from pre-order to poke fun at one of the small things.

Anyways... In the current market, ground zero is a pretty lonely place to be unless you have some sort of inertia to help to drive your pet projects. The Grand OGL Wiki site hosts a large body of OGC for example. You could maybe nudge the site admin for a working relationship if you have the unique content to offer as a publisher. My point being, you are likely to get the most productive work from distributing your unique content through established channels. The self built networks evolve over time, and you really have to work the public grindstone to get your own name brand out before you can really build a self sustaining network.

 

[Walking Dad]

... What I am doing is making that branch easily accessible and editable for anyone who would like to play with it, debate areas of concern etc.

If that does not appeal to you that's fine. Just trying to see if it appeals to anyone.

That sounds like a fine idea. Still a bit unspecific for my above question

... The self built networks evolve over time, and you really have to work the public grindstone to get your own name brand out before you can really build a self sustaining network.

I think he want to offer it for free.

On these very boards gaming threads (Talking the Talk, Playing the Game), the key for success are rules anyone has (4e) or are easily accessible (Pathfinder, modern d20,... anything else with a online SRD).

It is not, for example, that Fantasy Craft is completely inferior in mechanic and so not as much played here as Pathfinder, but the rules are not easily accessible.

So an easy accessible online hybrid of say: Pathfinder, Trailblazer, Book of Experimental Might, Iron Heroes,... could indeed be successful in the sense of being played.

 

[Kafen]

Free or not, it is still a product. It has some value - the trick is getting the worthwhile content into distribution. *shrug* Small networks just do not get the traffic for it to spread as a "natural" growth - quality issues entirely aside.

 

[joela]

link down

I have created http://sites.google.com/site/d20opensrd/ and would like to hear from any others who would be interested in working on this further.

John, the site seems down.

 

[Walking Dad]

I accept with informatiom: It is not, for example, that Fantasy Craft is completely inferior in mechanic and so not as much played here as Pathfinder, but the rules are not easily accessible.

Is this a spam?

 

[jreyst]

John, the site seems down.

Hmm that is really strange. I have several Google Sites, the biggest being d20pfsrd.com, and this site (http://sites.google.com/site/d20opensrd/) is merely a copy of d20pfsrd.com. Google Sites says the site is down due to a violation of terms of service but I have no idea what that could be from. I've sent them a communication asking for an explanation as to why the site was taken down but if my past experiences with Google support are any indicator, this might take a while.

In answer to some of the other comments above, yes, this is/was meant to be a free deal. Simply put, Paizo has put the entirely of their rule system into the open world. The entire world is free to take that system and do as they please. This site is/was meant to be an incubation point for anyone who dislikes having one corporate entity being in charge of what fixes are made and at what pace to the system. The idea would be that the system would be improved over time by a group of volunteers working on it in their spare time. A free product, a complete system, based on 3.5/Pathfinder, but without a single bottleneck for rules fixes and tweaks etc. The game system that is maintained by the community as it were.

If there isn't sufficient interest in this, and assuming Google decides to put the site back up, I'll just work on it in my own spare time, incorporating the fixes made by Paizo as well as back-porting in older things that were somehow dropped in the conversion from 3.5 to Paizo.

You see, I sort of see this as if Microsoft (or Sun, or Apple, whichever you prefer) released their operating system as complete open source. Now the hackers out there get to take that source, add patches, and fork it.

Some people will prefer to continue to only get their operating system from Microsoft/Apple/Sun etc, and waiting for the patches released by them etc, but others might enjoy this new branch in the source code tree. A community maintained and tweaked "os" / "game system" for all to use, for free, forever.

Seems like a noble idea to me.