I really want to make something that "solves" the issues I've got with the idea of "builds", by making your advancement options highly dependent on the problems you faced. I've got some notes about doing that with monster stats, so having a lot of those is both helpful, but also a huge workload.
Do we have any constraints about what amounts to "open" here? The jam links to the CC licenses, but they have some internal distinctions, too. This page goes a bit in the details, basically saying that while the "-NC" variants are better than "all rights reserved", they're not really "free".
There aren't that many games like this, but I'd regard EC as an existing game, albeit with a fictional history/background, and thus not applicable to this jam? If so, I'd encourage everyone to make something for Conkle's Mork Borg-derived new rules for the original setting, not EC directly, given who currently holds the rights to that.
I'm thinking about doing something that I planned on doing for a while, just not starting with the main rules but with a supplement: The Eye of Argon RPG! Hailing from an alternative history, where poor teenage Jim Theis wasn't just put down by all the criticism for his short story, but went all out "Well, you do better then!" and thus invented the first RPG, with a lot less mechanical rigor than D&D, but more enthusiasm.
Now, a few years later, third party stuff is coming in, and this is what my fake product will be, one supplement for the Tales from the Emerald Orb game.
My main goals are
Classic Sword & Sorcery adventuring
Rules references that don't look like just some OSR/D&D clone
Capturing that Theisian enthusiasm
Avoiding the S&S sexism part
I'm not doing this as a parody with badly spelled Thesaurus abuse. Big inspiration will be early adventures (e.g. Judges Guild) and what Christian Conklehas been doing with his take on Revolt on Antares or Encounter Critical.
My job workload has been a bit wobbly recently, so I hope I'll be able to finish this in time.
