Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I was wondering if people knew of any good rulesets that have been published either to the public domain, or with a creative commons or some other largely permissive license. Free rules (such as Infinity, KoW, Malifaux, Anima Tactics, and I'm sure there are more out there) aren't quite what I'm looking for, but it can't hurt to look at them; after all, it's not like it will cost me any money. I know this is a somewhat odd request since you can't copyright rules, but I'd like to avoid the issue entirely if at all possible; there are definitely examples of game companies not really worrying about the law before suing people.

If it helps, I'm looking for something that could function as an alternate set of rules for 40k. Ideally, I'd like something that can scale from a skirmish scale (Infinity, Necromunda) to a mass battle scale (Epic40k.) They are by no means requirements, but they'd certainly help.

You really won't find anything good for what you really want. Variable scales are just really clunky.

Anyway, I'll just do a little whoring here... Click the banner in my sig and it'll take you to my own wargame. It's a small scale, short beer n' pretzels affair. Not really competitive, and it's still not fully done yet.

Also, you could always check out Wargame Vault, which is just a huge ruleset site. There's free ones there.

Horde of the things, maybe? I haven't tried it personally, but it might be one to look at.

FUBAR future rules are 2 pages. They have a 3-4 ? page 40K variant. All free. Don't have the link handy but google should reveal all. These are great rules IMO. I love them long time.

Take a look at http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/

Hi Lansirill,

I created an account to post this because I've been looking for more CC miniatures games too. I have about a dozen under the Miniatures Games tab here: http://fossilbank.wikidot.com/category:tabletop-game

Thanks Sanglorian. I keep forgetting that Leviathans is CC.

There's a thread in the News and Rumors section about an updated version of a game you might want to add to your list: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/524296.page

 Lansirill wrote:
There's a thread in the News and Rumors section about an updated version of a game you might want to add to your list: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/524296.page

Thanks for the plug!

Yes, I've specifically released both editions of Aetherverse under Creative Commons. They're both currently licensed for non-commercial use, but I'm going to be adding in a line to that to allow people to, for instance, create army lists for miniature lines that they are producing. My main goal with the license being non-commercial is to prevent someone else from just selling the standalone rules.

EDIT: this prompted me to go ahead and actually add the provision to allow for limited commercial use of the rules for purposes of publishing Army Lists.

The 1st edition included a conversion for smaller scales (as with Epic or Flames) that should still be compatible with the 2nd edition. There was also a "narrative campaign" version of AV1 (same style of game as Necromunda, Mordheim, etc), but I don't actually recall where I published that. Regardless, I think I'll most likely be doing that again with AV2E since there's now a big gaping hole in the market for that.

If you have something specific in mind that you would like to do, Lansirill, feel free to PM me or contact me through one of the methods listed at titaniumspork.org.

 Lansirill wrote:
you can't copyright rules

Slight point of order: rules certainly ARE protected under copyright... at least, the specific words are. You cannot lift rules text verbatim and paste them into your own rules. However, rules IDEAS are not protected by copyright, which is the idea you were going for, I think.

Quite. It is the expression of the rules, not the mechanics that is protected by law.

And as a designer, I can promise you a really sweat over that expression (well, I do, anyway).

R.

 Lansirill wrote:
I was wondering if people knew of any good rulesets that have been published either to the public domain, or with a creative commons or some other largely permissive license. Free rules (such as Infinity, KoW, Malifaux, Anima Tactics, and I'm sure there are more out there) aren't quite what I'm looking for, but it can't hurt to look at them; after all, it's not like it will cost me any money. I know this is a somewhat odd request since you can't copyright rules, but I'd like to avoid the issue entirely if at all possible; there are definitely examples of game companies not really worrying about the law before suing people.

If it helps, I'm looking for something that could function as an alternate set of rules for 40k. Ideally, I'd like something that can scale from a skirmish scale (Infinity, Necromunda) to a mass battle scale (Epic40k.) They are by no means requirements, but they'd certainly help.

Yes.

Go here.

http://www.miniaturewargaming.com/

Lansirill wrote:
If it helps, I'm looking for something that could function as an alternate set of rules for 40k. Ideally, I'd like something that can scale from a skirmish scale (Infinity, Necromunda) to a mass battle scale (Epic40k.) They are by no means requirements, but they'd certainly help.

BlapBlapBlap wrote:You really won't find anything good for what you really want. Variable scales are just really clunky.

I have to agree with this observation don't try to find one ruleset that will handle skirmish through mass battle. You won't find a good one, and there are plenty of individual options that work better for different "Scopes" of games.

Are you trying to find open source rules for your own publishing? You won't find much out there. However if you're trying to find free "generic" rulesets that include a unit creation mechanic then there are some great choices.

None of the below are "Public Domain" since the authors retain rights to them, but they are all free to download and play and they all have unit creation mechanics so you can stat up any unit you would like.
-WarEngine is a very nice ruleset. Bigger than Skirmish, but smaller thah 40k as it doesn't handle large vehicles well. (the blog is dead, but sign up for the yahoo group for the free rules)
-No Limits is the VOR rules engine adapted for generic sci-fi. Very similar in scope to 40k.
-In The Emperor's Name is a great super-fast playing warband size skirmish game. Set in the 40k universe, but with no resemblance at all to 40k rules.
-Panzer 8 sci-fi is an extremely streamlined mass battle game for small (3mm-15mm) scale armies. They have a website, and their yahoo group is nice too. Grab the "CSW" Panzer 8 sci-fi version off the yahoo group for a version that is a bit more clear with more established units.

It's not generic, but if you're looking for a 40k, replacement, check out Warpath 2.0 for fast-playing 40k fun. Warpath 1.0 (do a google) rules work great for mass battles either with apocalypse size 28mm games or scale the distances down for smaller scales.

Lastly, There are some cool Generic rulesets that you can buy for less than 15 bucks each that are well regarded.
Gruntz: nominally 15mm, but can be easily scaled up.
Blasters and Bulkheads: Uses the "Goalsystem" engine for space opera with large warbands.

I've played all of the above except for No Limits and Gruntz and endorse all the ones I've played.