1KM1KT Free RPG Community

It's rare that you get new free RPG authors popping up and setting up website and the whole shebang. looks like a pretty cool Sci Fi, I've invited the brain behind the site, Sean McLaughlin, over. Let's hope he pops in! The whole site is fresh as a daisy but definitely one to watch.

Proteus 2ed is in the works but I can't find 1ed just yet. Sean (Natai on the site) has started posting up content to get feedback.

Hello all. Rob and misterecho seem to have stumbled on to my little corner of the net and have invited me to 1km1kt. Actually, I've been here before, but it's been so long (years) that my account was deleted. Anyway, I'm here now and eager to discuss my seemingly perpetually work-in-progress RPG - Proteus Second Edition.

Before I get into second edition, I should mention that the first edition is available on 1km1kt. Just search for Proteus on the home page; it was last updated in 2005. That said, I would discourage anyone from thinking the first edition is indicative of what to expect from P2E. I wrote it in 2001, straight out of high school. To say it's an amateur product would be an understatement.

As for the second edition, I've been working on it on and off for a couple years now. I've made a lot of progress over the last few months, but it's not finished yet. I'm posting information and updates on a regular basis, tidbits on the game world and rules ideas in the blog and whole chapters of alpha rules in the articles. I'm planning on releasing a PDF of the complete alpha rules some time this year, followed by a PDF and print version of the final rulebook.

As far as being sci-fi, I'm marketing Proteus as a "cross-genre roleplaying game". Basically, the setting incorporates several different genres: sci-fi, post-apoc, cyberpunk, fantasy. I'm also thinking of adding a little horror to the mix. The setting allows for players to play different styles of game relatively easily, often by simply changing their characters' locations.

Rob is right about the site being fresh. I just reworked the entire site and setup vBulletin 4. I'm still getting familiar with VB4, as is pretty much everybody, so there's still work to be done. Regardless, the site is up and running. Of course, I'll talk about Proteus on any site and with just about anyone, but I also shamelessly encourage everyone to check out the site and post questions and comments there.

I'm still debating the details of how I'm going to release Proteus in terms of cost and license, and there's already a discussion of that starting on the base113 forums. There are also several chapters posted on the site that registered members can see and comment on.

That's it for now; I've got to get back to work on the game. Come check it out, and tell me what you think. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

I've made some changes to how the alpha rules chapters are setup on my site. Instead of articles within vBulletin, which Rob rightly pointed out make reading a multi-page document difficult to read, I've posted downloadable PDF files.
Just register on the site and you can download some of the rules, read them over, and post all your ideas, questions, criticisms, etc. on the site.
I've got six chapters up at the moment, including a 30+ page Skills chapter.

I'm looking for a few "honorable geeks" who might be interested in working on Proteus. I've been working on the game for the better part of a decade. It has evolved greatly in that time and much remains to be done. The system has many influences, but its present form most closely resembles that of Burning Wheel. I'm describing the game as cross-genre because it shares elements of post-apoalyptic, fantasy, sci-fi and cyberpunk genres. You can check out more information on the game world on base113.com; register and you can also read some of the rules in progress. Feel free to post questions about the game on the forums, or drop me an email.

My current plans for the game involve the release of a free Alpha ruleset in PDF form, which will include the basic rules annd some information on the Human civilization. This will be followed later by a release of the full game in PDF and print, likely through RPGNow. I am seriously considering releasing the game under a CCL, similar to how Eclipse Phase was released. I'm not in this to make money. I simply want to create a game that's fun to play and will hopefully give rise to a reasonably sized and active community of players. If it happens to turn a profit so be it, but I'm not looking to offer a lot of money right now. I don't mind paying artists if I can afford it, but what I'm really looking for are a few like-minded individuals who would simply be happy to help develop a kickass game.

As far as legal details go, I'm flexible but want to avoid a situation down the road that screws up an otherwise awesome game. I also want to be able to be open with those I'm working with. My initial thinking is we can work together on a trial basis on some stuff, and if you seem like a good fit I'll probably ask you to sign an NDA before opening everything up to you. I'm not looking to bring tons of people in on this, but if you're interested and dedicated I'm sure we can work something out. By the way, there's no hard timeline here (obviously) so deadlines are not a major issue.

As far as what I'm looking for - everything. I'm getting more and more ambitious with regard to the game world. Even if it's not going to have any gameplay impact, I'm all for including any details in the book that add to immersion in the world. Writers, artists, players, worldbuilders, editors, playtesters, tinkerers, mappers, web designers, everything. Experienced or interested in designing game system mechanics, settings, locations, civilizations, languages, plants and animals, architecture, weapons and armor or anything in between? Proteus has plenty of opportunity for you to flex your creative muscle. Experience level is not as important as interest and dedication, though I'd love to get one or two people that have worked on a project like this before, just to help the rest of us.

Additionally, I'm trying to create a fairly realistic game world. Nothing too ridiculous, but I want the world to feel genuine, like people really live in it. If you've ever read any of the numerous forum posts or articles out there about how most fantasy worlds get the details of daily life, rural areas, arms and armor, etc. wrong, you know what I'm talking about. The game world is not exactly medieval in nature, but if you're interested in that type of history or alternative histories you could be a lot of help. The idea of Humans colonizing other planets is also important, and while the details of such a colonization don't play as central a role in the game as you might expect, anyone with experience or knowledge of interplanetary colonization in science fiction could have some fun. There are a lot of areas where I would like to develop a fair level of detail just to tear it down to see what's left. Sort of "this is what the plan was, but here's what we've got now" type of thing. Have you ever wanted to come up with a new language, the architecture of a civilization, a religion followed by the population of an entire continent, a form of currency, or exotic weapons and armor? This is only scratching the surface of what we can create for the peoples of Ortellum.

Up til now I've been working on this by myself, with the exception of some art I've had commissioned. A lot of what I've done is written, but much is only in my head. The core setting and game mechanics are developed, but a lot of details need to be added. If this sounds like a project you might be interested in you can reach me through the site, or via email at admin@base113.com or games@base113.com.

Either the touring tests at base 113 are impossible, or I have been secretly replaced by a robot, and my robot brain only thinks that I have solved at least three of them, when in actuality I have solved them the way a robot would, so the website was correct for turning me down for registration.

I maybe it only lets robots in, cause it let me in. . .

Anyway, I'm checking it out now. I'd like to help but at the moment I've got a lot happening and several projects of my own to stop ignoring. I might be able to do some small contributions and down the line get more into it.

I make no claim as to your robotic nature. I'm guessing it may have been a browser compatibility issue, as the keycaptcha system I was using was working in a couple of tests runs on two browsers. Regardless, I changed the site settings to use the recaptcha system, which shouldn't have any issues.

I was having some serious spam issues on the site, so I decided to try a different verification system. Since then I have discovered a couple of additional settings within bulletin, so hopefully that problem is resolved.

If you have any further problems accessing the site, let me know.
I look forward to your feedback on the game world and rules.

I wouldn't mind helping out, Natai. My name is Jacob and I've done work for commercial RPGs including Traveller and Mecha.