Greg Stolze is another game designer with an interesting release model. He uses a ransom model in which he will write a story and place it up for ransom at X cents a word. If the ransom is reached through donations, Greg releases it to the public domain. If the ransom is not raised, apparently he deletes the story from his computer and it never sees the light of day.
Greg is working on a new RPG game design soliciting public comment throughout the process. As he writes on his web site, “In 2012, it is my intention to design a game in public, so that people can make suggestions before I get into the tedious layout process. The game is HORIZON and you can read a tiny bit about it on this dedicated blog page.“ In Greg’s words, it’s fantasy science set on a planet of disasters. He has a PDF of the first version of the mechanics that he calls System 6-10.
“System 6-10 is a set of RPG mechanics for the game HORIZON. To play it you need standard six-sided dice (d6s) and specialized ten-sided dice (d10s). To get things done you must amass ‘successes.’ You get a success by creating a pairing of a d6 result and a d10 result where the d10 is greater than the d6.
Example: Rory rolls 2d10 and 1d6. On the d10s he gets a 10, on the other a 3. On his d6 he gets a 6. The only success he can assemble is the 6 on the d6 and the 10.”
I haven’t had a chance to study the PDF extensively, but I have seen some intriguing things. For example, Love and Hate are tangible in this game, and if you attack someone that you love or hit someone who loves you, there will be consequences. Likewise, being attacked by someone who hates you or you attacking someone you hate can produce bonuses.
Interesting stuff, I look forward to seeing it develop and I hope I can contribute.
High Altitude Game Design 