Übergame RPG

I am into my forth decade of playing and GMing Role-Playing Games.  In all of those years I have played and GM’d almost every game system and genre in existence and over that time I have learnt what makes a good game and what does not, both in terms of style and game mechanics.  Like most good GMs, I have always had playing around in the back of my mind a desire to develop a game of my own.

I have always been a fan of TSR’s (now Wizards of the Coast’s) games.  As one of the first and certainly the most popular of RPGs (Role-Playing Games, for those of you new to the hobby), D&D, AD&D and the rest of the TSR family have provided many afternoons and evenings of entertainment with friends.  Unfortunately, during the 1990’s AD&D took what I and many of my fellow RPGers considered to be a downturn.  With the resurrection of D&D version 3, version 3.5, version 4, version 5 and all of the various spin-off versions and games, Fantasy RPGing in particular and RPGing in general is enjoying a massive upswing in popularity and I congratulate Wizards and the other gaming companies for what they have done.  However, while there is much I like about D&D 3.x and others, there is also some things in my experience I think could have been done better.

Übergame is the culmination of all of my desires, experience and knowledge about what a good Role-Playing Game should be.  It is based heavily on Original D&D, Advanced D&D 1, 2 & 3.x and I am pretty sure that Übergame complies with the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast, although I have not consulted Legal Advice about this.  In addition, however, I have drawn on many, many other RPGs and other sources.

So, as far as general copyright goes, some of Übergame is OGL, some is drawn from copyrighted material held by Wizards, some is drawn from material copyrighted from others and the rest is copyrighted by me (Matthew J BLACK).  What I am trying to say is that ALL of the Übergame material is copyrighted by someone and if you know who that is drop me a line so that I can acknowledge them properly.  Also, without the written permission of the relevant copyright holders, you may not use this material for any purpose.

I have put all of the Übergame information online primarily for MY GAMING GROUP.  I am NOT making a profit from this, nor am I condoning or encouraging copyright violation or piracy in any form.  As such, a password is required to access the rest of this information.  Contact me for the password if you are or am going to be one of my gaming group members.

The final point I’d like to raise is the feeling that some of you may have as to what gives me the right to think I can do it better than the “publishers”.  My answer to that is my over 30 years of playing and GMing experience and also to point out that a great many of the “publishers’” games started out just like this and NO ONE has the right to say that a particular system is any better or worst than anyone else’s or is the correct one or not.  So, maybe if I can get the time and resources together I might end up becoming a “publisher” myself and you’ll see Übergame on the shelves next to D&D, Shadowrun and all the other great and not so great games out there.