Primus: News

[damieus]

Taking the Linux analogy furthur may be the way to go. There are a couple other strengths of the open model that need to be applied

- Recognition. THis is the real reason that many Linux hackers work. They want to be the next Alan Cox or Linus Torvalds. We must make certain that proper accreditation is given to various contributions.

- Playtesting. Development doesn't really scale. It takes more time to add more people to a project. But troubleshooting does. Release early, release often, and incorporate that feedback into the game system.

- Flexibility. The reason Linux is moving into so many areas is that it is so adaptable. From a command line driven mainframe, to a fully functional modern desktop, to embedded consumer electronics, to homemade routers and server, Linux can do it all.

Adapting this idea means keeping the system open to all sorts of different play styles.

- Commerciability. Allow by the license for people to come up with 'distributions' of Primus. One person could use the info to publish a skill based game using dice pools, another could make a class based game using d20s. But all this information even if published is still Free so that others could build upon it.

- Benevolent Dictatorship. Damieus keeps the copyright on the name 'Primus', the sole use for this is if something deviates too far from one of the paths of the system he can declare that it is 'not primus' and cannot be marketed under that name. He would be in charge of the general direction of the system and appoint 'trusted lieutenants' to oversee various parts of the game's development.

Thanks, madd for saying (eloquently) what I was having a lot of trouble articulating. Ok, heres the update on Primus. I wanted to make people vaguely aware of the project so that in a few weeks (when i get the *#&$* file server running!) there will be some interest in checking it out. Rest assured, it's in the works, I'm actually not too far away from releasing the core of the system.

Once I release the core, there will still be lots of work to be done. Of course, feedback on the core will be very important to me and I will gladly change some aspects that people feel are clunky or superflous. But as for creative work, there will be spells, equipment, abilities, classes, races, all sorts of stuff to be made.

Anyway, my email is damieus@attbi.com if you are interested in doing some creative work on the system or just keeping updated. I'll put you on my little psuedo-mailing list for updates on the system. Thanks everyone!

Edit: Changed my email addy to one that actually works.