[dreamers] Best Free/OGL systems?

[Scrubilicous]

Hey all,

I've been dreaming up RPGs and die mechanics for years now, but recently I've been trying to actually write some of  them up.  I doubt I'll ever sell them to a serious publisher, but I'm hoping to be able to run campaigns and maybe publish in PDF.  

My most recent idea is a game called "The Secret Society of Dreamers".  Its slightly similiar to Changeling, or perhaps the Neil Gaiman novel "Neverwhere."  .  The idea is that there's a magical reality called Dream, which overlays normal reality.  Its very difficult to see.  But if you can see it, you can interact with it and use its reality to your advantage.  However, it can also interact with you and do various mean things to you.  Lots of  the stuff in dream has been there for years, and some of it is pretty ornery.  The characters are ordinairy people who adventure through Dream, meeting strange and interesting  things, trying to use their power for their advantage, and occasionally dealing with a problem in Reality. Fairly standard adventure game, really.

Mechanics wise, I need something with a little bit of crunch, a fairly loose magic system, and an easy way to make Perception rolls.  How much of the dream you can percieve is a constant struggle, meaning you have to roll for it fairly often.  So, I need a die mechanic that's easy to use.  This is where my question comes in.

I've been dreaming up die mechanics and systems for years, and I've got no shortage of them.   I like working on systems, some of them are pretty decent.  But, really, I'm not particularly attached to any of them.  I'm just as happy to adopt one that someone else has already made.  It seems like this would be better in various ways.  

So, does anyone know of good free/ogl systems?  It has to be something that I could, theoritically, publish.  It has to be free.  It needs to have at least a little crunch.  

So, any suggestions?  I'm looking for ideas for Dreamers, but also for other games I'm working on.  I'd be interested in any good Free/OGL systems you know of.  

Thanks in advance,

Scrub

[TonyLB]

The characters are ordinairy people who adventure through Dream, meeting strange and interesting  things, trying to use their power for their advantage, and occasionally dealing with a problem in Reality. Fairly standard adventure game, really.

So why should anyone be more interested in this than in (say) Unknown Armies?

Not because it needs to be more interesting in order to sell... feh!  Sales!  A matter for tradesmen and accountants.

No, I want to know what you intend to achieve with the system.  Until I know that, about the best I can advise you is that any Free/OGL system will not have been built in order to accomodate your vision, and will therefore forever be inferior to a product that you custom-create for the purpose.

[Scrubilicous]

So why should anyone be more interested in this than in (say) Unknown Armies?

You probably shouldn't, since I'm sure Unknown Armies is a much better game.  That said, they're completly different games.  Dreamers, if I manage to get it done, is basically surreal D&D, with sort of a Ancient Religion meets Old West meets, um.....some modern artist concerned with people's inner states.  Or something.  I've got the idea down, but I don't  know how to articulate it yet.

No, I want to know what you intend to achieve with the system.  

Not much, or I'd be designing it myself.

Until I know that, about the best I can advise you is that any Free/OGL system will not have been built in order to accomodate your vision, and will therefore forever be inferior to a product that you custom-create for the purpose.

I'm ok with that.  

-Scrub

[Simon W]

It sounds a bit along the lines of my own game Dreamscape here

http://www.geocities.com/dreamscape2020/

It's moved on a lot since my original 24-hour version (about 50 pages now, much of it flavour text and background and several pieces of good original artwork), but I'm now having the sort of difficulties you seem to be having.

I've left what I've done so far well alone for a few weeks, which seems to be a comon recommendation for people having mental blocks from other game designers and writers.

The ideas are beginning to come back now, so I'm about to hit the keyboard again.

Simon W
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/