[Crosspost] New Project

["rthorm" <rthorm@cornellbox.com>]

This is cross-posted from the DQN-list, so many of you have seen it,
already.
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Rather than put together some kind of manifesto to explain what I am
proposing to do, I'm just going to start it. The best way to explain
this is by example. Having done a bit with money in DQ recently, I
have produced a first draft for a rewritten rule 81 Money Matters. It
can certainly use some further work, but it is a beginning.

Some months back, I talked about a new canon for DragonQuest.
Reception to this proposal was mixed, perhaps rightly so. Rather than
try to force a consensus, I am going to concentrate my energies on
creating a new and improved version of DragonQuest.

A better metaphor for what I want to do is found in the Linux
community. If SPI's Second Edition DragonQuest is UNIX; I'm proposing
to create DQ's Linux.

SPI's kernel is the basis (the starting point) for what I am doing,
but my ultimate aim is to create a free and open set of game rules
that are based on DragonQuest, but completely rewritten in order to
create a rule system document that is entirely free of copyright
questions. It is my intention that these rules will ultimately be
released under a Creative Commons license.

I am not a copyright lawyer. But I think all of us have become at
least somewhat acquainted with contemporary intellectual property law
as we have struggled to understand the ownership and rights issues
concerning DragonQuest. It is my understanding that game rules cannot
be copyrighted, only the expression of those rules can be copyrighted.

To keep this project legally clean with respect to the original
DragonQuest, I am proposing to rewrite all of the rules of Second
Edition. The concepts and workings of the game will be the same. It
will be compatible and interoperable with original DQ. But it will be
a new version, and free to be revised and improved by anyone.

I prefer to think of this as another flavor of DQ, just as Linux has
different flavors (RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, etc.), rather than as a
break with the DragonQuest community. There will probably be forkings
and schisms within this project as well. But I hope that this will
put us on the path to new opportunities with DragonQuest.

I suppose this ended up being a bit of a new manifesto, after all.
But this demonstrates the basic concept of rewriting the existing
ruleset to create a new and open version of the game.

I'm going to post these rules over in the DQ-rules
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dq-rules/) group. I am starting with a
preliminary draft for rule 81 Money Matters.

I look forward to your comments.

--Rodger Thorm

PS On a more personal note, I have second son as of Monday.
Otherwise, this might have been posted a little bit sooner.