Hmm. So, I clearly don;t have enough things to do, and thus I've been thinking of trying to design my own RPG framework? The idea being that it's kinda like GURPS, except designed to handle all sorts of radically dimorphic balance changes, levels of detail, etc, and would be totally open source. Would anyone be interested in hearing about that? XD
@Angle FYI, I'm working on developing a TORG/CoD crossover module myself. (Fan mechanics rather than F/OSS.)
@Angle There are, of course, a number of F/OSS pen-n-papers out there. A quick Google search reveals:
Fate/Fudge, Open d6, D6 Rulebook, Minisix, WaRP, Pathfinder, Eclipse Phase,
(None of which I've played.)
Or, this mind-boggling list: http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/freerpgs/fulllist.html
Would be curious what you think of any of these, and what your looking to accomplish that you haven't seen elsewhere.
@beadsland ...Huh. I guess I should probably look through the list in detail before I go thinking about making my own. I was thinking of basically having a framework for making your own system, with a number of different sliders and assumptions you could try and use. Probably wouldn't work, to be honest, but it's fun to think about. XD
@Angle Also, this thread might help figure out what pitfalls you need to consider:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=54754.0
From what you're describing, it sounds like you want to design an meta-framework for generating game designs, rather than a game system, per se, yes?
@beadsland Yes, exactly. XD
@Angle In that case, also consider Nomic.
There are also a crop of tabletop RPGs now that that get away from the traditional character sheet, with GMs and Players basically working out what characters can do during the course of play. Wil Wheaton's Tabletop presented one such game this season, I believe.