To SRD or not to SRD

[RosenMcStern]

I wish to share some considerations about the licensing model for the Red Moon Rising RPG. Paizo’s new license, the ORC, is now available, and we wish to use this, and not the OGL, for all future declinations of Revolution D100, including Red Moon Rising. Rose has already given her consent to releasing the game rules as ORC licensed material, and keeping all the lore as reserved material that is not free to use without her consent.

There is also the subject of how and when to release a System Reference Document (SRD). The SRD is a useful tool for those fans who wish to use the rules as a base for their own games, and it is usually released as soon as the complete game is available. We know that many fans are eager to see a streamlining of the Revolution D100 rules, and Red Moon Rising does exactly this, in preparation for the International Edition of RD100. I now have a consolidated, fully edited text for Red Moon Rising. We might be tempted to publish the SRD earlier, rather than wait for the availability of the full game of Red Moon Rising (ETA: Christmas 2023 or early 2024). 

What do you think? Would it be beneficial? Or detrimental? Would it be respectful for the backers of Red Moon Rising who have paid in advance and waited so long?

Or would you rather see a list of the changes to the rules introduced in Red Moon Rising, and scheduled to appear in the International Edition?

Edited October 7, 2023 by RosenMcStern

[Jakob]

I'm not a backer, so I'm not quite sure if it would be fair, but I just want to say that I'd love to get an SRD sooner than later!

[Jakob]

But I'd also be happy with a list of the changes for now, to satisfy my curiosity! I'm reading the rules again at the moment, and a lot of stuff is great, but some things seem like the same thing could probably be achieved with less fiddling - though honestly, I wouldn't know how myself. Fate is a good example, the whole activating/de-activating of motivations kind of makes sense to achieve the desired spend-fate-to-gain-fate-when-you're-fighting-for-something-important effect, but it seems to have a lot of mechanical overhead that might not be strictly necessary.

[g33k]

On 10/7/2023 at 6:44 AM, RosenMcStern said:

... Would it be beneficial? Or detrimental? Would it be respectful for the backers of Red Moon Rising who have paid in advance and waited so long?

IMHO, the answer should defer to the Backers for this... isn't it their money (at least in part) that have funded the development of these rules (*) ?

If the majority of those folk wish to be given earlier access, and would somehow feel slighted or cheated by a same-time / same-product SRD distro, then I would (at the least) give the Backers early access.

Fully-open public access (as per the normal "SRD" expectation) would follow in due course.

 

(*) If the RedMoon project did NOT fund the rules-development that will be released in the SRD -- and the earlier public release won't impact/delay the RedMoon release -- then I don't see the need to give privileged access to the Backers of it.

IMHO this is the straightforward ethical approach.
 

 

(Full Disclosure:  I am not a Backer, but I do want the SRD!)

 

Edited March 9 by g33k
typo

[xalabin]

Being a backer, i don't care waiting a few months more if everybody gets the SRD.
Honestly, the SRD might be more beneficial for the full RD100 universe than getting Red Moon Rising 😄

[RosenMcStern]

Thank you very much for this valuable feedback.

One thing that maybe was not clear: the SRD we may release at the moment would be the SRD of Red Moon Rising, not the general SRD. Luckily, Red Moon Rising contains a good 80% of the entire ruleset, and I think you can easily create your own game world with it, but some elements (divine magic, cantrips, vehicle combat, overcome spells, etc.) are not there, and we are not yet ready to release them.

As for whether Red Moon Rising would be beneficial for RD100 in general, please remember that in many cases the presence of a strong IP that fits the system has been essential for the viability of a game line. I am a great fan of generic BRP, but what has kept the system alive over the years was in fact Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest. For this reason, our current priority is certainly Red Moon Rising, that allows us to add good contents, both textual and visual, to the rules.

[Mugen]

@RosenMcSternI would also add that RD100 is written like a toolbox, which is either a strong or a weak point, depending on the reader. I like it, but others may be more comfortable with a more traditional presentation.