Looking for a simple set of rules that I can republish without royalty payments

[robkelk]

I have an idea for a simple little tabletop roleplaying game. (Okay, I have a title and a bit of setting.) I can develop the flavour text and the setting-specific material on my own, but I don't have the time or the skill to make a full rule set from scratch. Once I have the game ready to play, I want to give it away - thus, no using GURPS or any other copyrighted system for the mechanics.

Is there a simple, public-domain or licensed-for-alteration-and-giveaway (CC "BY" or "NC" is okay, CC "SA" is not) rule set out there that I can legally download?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by robkelk

I have an idea for a simple little tabletop roleplaying game. (Okay, I have a title and a bit of setting.) I can develop the flavour text and the setting-specific material on my own, but I don't have the time or the skill to make a full rule set from scratch. Once I have the game ready to play, I want to give it away - thus, no using GURPS or any other copyrighted system for the mechanics.

Is there a simple, public-domain or licensed-for-alteration-and-giveaway (CC "BY" or "NC" is okay, CC "SA" is not) rule set out there that I can legally download?

Here you go.

http://fudgerpg.com/goodies.html

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Here you go.

http://fudgerpg.com/goodies.html

That was exactly the one I was going to point to. I've run two games in FUDGE and I find it quite satisfactory.

Bill Stoddard

[Armin]

And if you want to go with the very popular Fate, that has a CC-BY license: http://www.faterpg.com/licensing/

[Anthony]

Not sure of the details of the various creative commons licenses, but it's also plausible that the d20 SRD is suitable for your purposes (obviously, it's not CC, it's OGL).

There's a pretty extensive list of free RPGs here, most of which I know nothing about.

[Andrew Hackard]

I wouldn't call the d20 SRD "simple," however -- even the very stripped-down True 20 system from Green Ronin was pretty chart-heavy. (That said, it's a lot of fun and worth checking out if you like the d20 mechanics but not all the associated cruft.)

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

I wouldn't call the d20 SRD "simple," however

True, but "a lot of people already know it" is also a form of simple. However, it really depends on what you're after, the natural audience is significantly different.

In general, I don't see a lot of benefit to an obscure RPG over systemless, but that's a separate issue.

[panton41]

Originally Posted by Armin

And if you want to go with the very popular Fate, that has a CC-BY license: http://www.faterpg.com/licensing/

I'll second Fate. I think Fate Core version uses the OGL.

[Armin]

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

I'll second Fate. I think Fate Core version uses the OGL.

Fate Core offers both OGL and CC-BY, both linked from the licensing page I included above. Earlier versions of Fate offered only OGL, I believe.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Anthony

True, but "a lot of people already know it" is also a form of simple. However, it really depends on what you're after, the natural audience is significantly different.

In general, I don't see a lot of benefit to an obscure RPG over systemless, but that's a separate issue.

Systemless, I can do - but some people insist on a system anyway.

And, yes, d20 is too chart-heavy for my tastes. The setting I have in mind is modern-to-near-future with a high humour quotient, which I've never seen d20 in any version doing well. Fudge might work. Fate... I'm not familiar with - I'll have to take a look at the rules.

Any other suggestions before I make my choice?