I've go a whole unused RPG system that uses two normal six-sided dice and, to be truthful, its incomplete and untested. The thing is I think it'd be a shame to just throw it out.

What I wanted to do was give it out to the tabletop RPG community but in it's current state it's pretty unplayable, so I thought it might be a good idea to get a community design project going and have gamers and designers get invloved. The blurb I typed up for the rules document is below:

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'IN GLORIOUS 2D!'

A ROLEPLAYING GAME OPEN DESIGN PROJECT

'In Glorious 2D!' (IG2D) is a science fiction roleplaying game that has been created with the designer in mind. It has been written so that the bare bones of the rules document can be taken away by anyone and adapted, changed, modified and otherwise restructured. Basically, it's a game that you can help design.

The aim of the project is to get gamers, designers and potential designers involved with the rules design process and create a game ruleset for the kind of science fiction games they play, be it cyberpunk, stellar empires at war, dark sci-fi horror or exploration of the stars. This way, the system can be adapted and modified to suit playing styles and campaigns for the multitude of gaming groups out there. This will hopefully create a set of generic rules that anyone can use for any style of science fiction game.

So where do you come in? Well, it's simple:
- You take the IG2D rules and give them a read over.
- If there's anything that you don't like, you take it out or change it.
- Then you playtest it in your own chosen setting, either an established one or preferably one of your own design, see what works and what doesn't and see what else is needed.
- Then you post your rules changes, ideas and thoughts on forums here or elsewhere and share it with other gamers.
- Then you take other ideas posted and try them in your own game, and listen to the feedback on the ideas and changes that you previously posted.
- The exchange of ideas and opinions help build the system and rules into a game that anyone can use for any kind of sci-fi game.

At some point in the future, once the project has been running for a while, the best rules and ideas could be collected and put together in a basic rules document that anyone can download and create their own games with. These rules can be used to play in your own games or, if you wish, can be used to power your own science fiction roleplaying game that you can design, write and release as a saleable product if you want.

That's not to say that the game can be changed so much that it is unrecognisable from it's original design – taking out the attributes, changing the skills and getting rid of the skill resolution system or changing it from 2D6 to 2D10 isn't modifying the system, it's creating a new one. The idea is to add, remove and modify the existing system. The aim of the IG2D project is to keep to the basic system and make it work. This way everyone is working from the same page and nobody is being thrown by rule changes that are designed for what will tantamount to a new system.

And the cost of all this? Nothing at all - just your time and your creativity. If you decide to use the rules for your own roleplaying game and release it to the paying market then go ahead and do so – there'll be no licensing charge or fees to pay because you helped design the game. The system will be available for anyone to use in any capacity, privately or commercially. Although the idea behind the project is science fiction, a genre I know a lot about and therefore feel comfortable with, there's no reason why you can't rework the rules to suit another genre such as fantasy and horror. Hopefully the system is robust enough to handle other types of games. If you do then you can still post your ideas and changes on the forum for everyone to use and that'll help open whole new avenues of possibilities, and bring other people into the discussion.

You can add whatever you want to the system. You want to try out a life path character creation system? Then design one, see if it fits. A more detailed combat resolution system? See what fits and playtest it. Do you want a fully customisable starship creation system? Then do so – throw out the starship rules here and start from scratch, if you feel you need to, as long as the basic IG2D system remains the same. Everything is customisable. This game system has never been playtested and has never been used for any setting whatsoever. These are just the bare bones, ready for you to add some real guts to, put some flesh on and animate.

The basic rules documents, in Microsoft Word and RTF format, are available to download now on the 'In Glorious 2D!' page of the //www.farsightgames.com website. Please make sure you read the guidlines and the Q+A sections, and if you have any other queries don't hesitate to drop me a an email.