Other open-source RPG projects

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

I've been working on a non-DQ game recently, and my work on the DQ
rewrite has consequently taken a step or two down the priority ladder.
 There wasn't a grand embracing of the concept either, so I'm going to
work at that as I have time.  

I hadn't been aware of any other significant open-source RPG projects
until I ran across an article about the latest version of Paranoia. 
Anyhow, here's the article; there's also a more direct link to an
announcement about Paranoia at the end of the article:

Paranoia game redesigned using open-source methodology
(http://www.boingboing.net/2004/08/06/paranoia_game_redesi.html)

Paranoia, the classic role-playing game in which players battle a mad,
totalitarian computer for their freedom ("a light-hearted game of
terror, death, bureaucracy, mad scientists, mutants, dangerous
weapons, insane robots, and technological satire that encourages
players to lie, cheat, and backstab each other at every turn") has
just re-launched with a new version that was collaboratively developed
with players via a Wiki, borrowing "the tools and methods of
open-source software development for a paper game."

    To a large degree, the game was developed online, in public. Fans
of the game contributed enthusiastically via blog, wiki, and online
forum. They wrote text, debated rules, proofread, ran statistical
analyses, and even wrote a computer simulator to test the game's
paper-and-pencil rules.

    "Online collaboration made this edition of Paranoia the best yet,"
said Allen Varney (www.allenvarney.com), the game's designer. "We
borrowed the tools and methods of open-source software development for
a paper game, and it worked brilliantly. I plan to create future games
the same way, and other designers should consider it too." 

http://www.costik.com/weblog/2004_08_01_blogchive.html#109173202462615135

  --Rodger