prologue
How it came to pass
There had been a lot of concern around the amount of control large proprietary companies potentially have over RPG system licenses and their restrictions. In the end, that problem actually worked out pretty well for everyone involved BUT many people were worried that their games—even their businesses and livelihoods—were at risk. As we said, it worked out okay in the end, but it got a few of us thinking.
What if there was another cool game system that wasn’t owned by a company? What if this system belonged to the RPG community instead? It wouldn’t matter if you were a publisher or a gamemaster or a player, you could create anything you wanted for this system for free and without asking anyone for permission! Together, we could create a fantastic set of compatible resources for gamers everywhere!
Join us as we make this dream a reality and demonstrate what is best in roleplaying games and gamers. Help shine a spotlight on our community’s collective creativity and camaraderie. Be part of a celebration of our hobby’s ability to bring diverse groups of people together to create magic.
The Quest
A game for everyone
We’re going to make a brand-new fantasy RPG system that is free for everyone. We’re not just talking about players and gamemasters. Game designers, writers, software creators – anyone will be able to use this system for any cool project they can imagine, and they can do so irrevocably, perpetually, and without paying a dime to anyone ever. It’ll be a game that belongs to the community.
Step one
assemble the party
How will we do this? To start with, we need you. Grab a seat at the table and join our adventuring party by backing this campaign. Throughout the design process, your feedback will guide us. Surveys, live chats, focus groups, and more will let you make your voice heard and influence the direction of the project!
step two
get the best designers
We reached out to legends of the RPG industry and the most brilliant new creators, and we assembled a game design dream team to serve as our wizened mentors! Meet our team of game design legends!
Step three
build, build, build!
From the minute this Kickstarter hits its funding goal until August 2024, we’re going to work tirelessly to build this system. Every two weeks we’ll release new material for you to read, review, and playtest. After you have time to take a look, we gather your feedback, and your input helps influence the design of the game.
step four
publish & Give it away
In the final step, we take the fully armed and operational roleplaying game and release it first to you, and then, the world! From that day onward it’ll be free to anyone and everyone that wants to play it, share it, publish their own game with it, create a cool video game with it, or anything else they can imagine. Irrevocably, perpetually, and royalty free until the end of time.
and that’s the plan
Ambitious, exciting, and maybe just a little bit crazy, but we believe we can do something fantastic for our hobby by working together to make some real magic.
The details
money, skills, and more
We’ve covered all the exciting stuff so now on to some details. We’ll also share more on how the project will run, what rules we’ll cover, and a host of other details in updates and live streams that we’ll post throughout the campaign.
“Where Does the Money Go?”
This project is not designed to “make money.” Every penny this campaign brings in goes to the costs of completing the project and delivering the rewards. It is, at best, a break-even proposition. Here are some details about how we’ll use the funds generated during this Kickstarter.
YOUR SUPPORT WILL HELP COVER THESE EXPENSES:
- Paying Consulting Designers and Contributors
- Legal Fees to Draft or Review a License
- Layout and Design
- Art and Illustration
- Editing and Copyediting
- Printing costs (for backers that choose those tiers)
- Kickstarter and Backerkit Fees
BUT PLEASE NOTE:
- WE’RE NOT PAYING MARC – Marc Tassin is donating his time for this project. This includes his writing, design, editing, and project management time.
- WE’RE NOT PAYING Mechanical Muse Expenses – We’re donating our infrastructure to make this happen. None of the money earned in this campaign goes toward our day-to-day costs.
- WE’RE NOT MAKING A PROFIT for Mechanical Muse – ANY money we get during this Kickstarter will be spent on this project in a way that benefits the project. Mechanical Muse makes ZERO profit. Nothing earned during this Kickstarter goes into the Mechanical Muse coffers. We’ll spend every penny we get making the rewards you receive even better.
WE BELIEVE IN PAYING CONTRIBUTORS A FAIR LIVING WAGE. This is non-negotiable and one of the core beliefs of Mechanical Muse (you can read our charter here). In fact, this is a big reason why we’re using Kickstarter — to ensure all the other contributors receive fair payment for their work.