Would this be a good idea? (or is it out there already?)

[madmosher]

So I have been in the graphic design and creative business for a few years, and a role player longer than that. Like a few others I know, I developed my own game and have been play testing it over the years. The mechanics are smooth, quick and open. There have been two developed worlds and everything that goes with them. This is my question/idea:

Would people be interested in a web based rule book that always updates and fixes rules and game errata? The site would include all the core rules for free. This being everything you need to make a basic character with no add-ons (like magic, races, cyberware or superhuman abilities). Serious players could pay $1.00 a month to get the above mentioned add-ons, and Game masters could pay $2.00 a month for all of the above plus get access to the world sections (maps, NPC’s items and scenarios).
I have many more ideas to add to this mix, but that would be the core package. I suppose what I want to know is would anyone in the current gaming community be interested in something like this? As this would take A LOT of time and thirty memberships wouldn’t cut it.

The most basic premise of the game story is a cataclysmic event occurs on our earth leaving a handful of survivors stranded on a moon base in 20XX. They then find a rift that allows them to go to alternate earths that have developed under different circumstances (which allows for a few different types of genres to be explored). This story has worked to allow inclusion of different genres, letting you play them inclusively or as part of a mega-verse. The site would include two of these worlds at the start, and then the community would vote on the next world.

I think something like this could work really well, but I also might be too close to it also. Thanks in advance and look forward to hearing from you!

[Malruhn]

I answer on very little sleep and just a knee-jerk reaction, but here it goes:

If you have play-tested so much, there shouldn't be that much errata. Even with the OMG books available through Lizards or Paizo, one, or TOPS, two errata updates are all you need. I wouldn't pay for monthly updates for this, as it is overboard and I would be paying for nothing.

Secondly, how would you keep it out of the hands of those of loose morals? All I have to do is pay $2 and download everything, save it to my computer, cancel my membership, then upload a torrent of it and you are getting screwed out of intellectual property.

The basic premise sounds interesting, but keep in mind that this is just a first-peek and I'm running on 45 minutes sleep over the last two days.

[twistedmage]

Agreed.

[madmosher]

I answer on very little sleep and just a knee-jerk reaction, but here it goes:

If you have play-tested so much, there shouldn't be that much errata. Even with the OMG books available through Lizards or Paizo, one, or TOPS, two errata updates are all you need. I wouldn't pay for monthly updates for this, as it is overboard and I would be paying for nothing.

Secondly, how would you keep it out of the hands of those of loose morals? All I have to do is pay $2 and download everything, save it to my computer, cancel my membership, then upload a torrent of it and you are getting screwed out of intellectual property.

The basic premise sounds interesting, but keep in mind that this is just a first-peek and I'm running on 45 minutes sleep over the last two days.

LOL! I've had days like that. I see now I wasn't clear on some finer points though. When I say errata, I mean world errata and not rules so much. And with rules changes I mean to subsystems and not core rules (like magic and cyberware). My idea is to have the world constantly evolving, always adding scenarios, NPC's, Items and the such.

As far as piracy... it aint going anywhere. And I definitely know that. But I think with a site that is always updating even if someone does rip it, within a few weeks they just have an old version without all the updates, and they are back anyways.

But ultimately I plan on having as many different outputs for this as possible, I just think the community actively on the site would always get the better end of the deal.

[Malruhn]

Now that I've caught up on sleep...

If your game becomes "obsolete" after "a few weeks" - then you are forcing people to pay money to maintain memberships so they can be "on the cusp" forever. Sorry, you won't be getting me. Give me a solid game in a couple of books - publish a SINGLE errata after min-maxers break the game - then come up with new books with new stuff as they are available. Unless you are more prolific than Monte Cook and Bruce Cordell TOGETHER, then you won't be coming out with anything meaningful every month. This means that I am wasting money to update every month...

Just do what Lizards and Paizo have done - make people pay for the core rules, then tease us with splat books later for more money as they come out.