There must be dozens of game worlds from the past 30 years of publishing that languish, out of print and undeveloped for modern gaming.

The first one that comes to my mind is the old Chaosium Questworld planet. This only got one not-very-good suppliment published in 1982, but the work done on the world itself was quite thorough and interesting.

Chaosium can't possibly think they'll ever make money on Questworld again. So why not release the source material under a Creative Commons license and let the world revitalize it?

I recall some heady months in the mid eighties at the VCU Gamesmasters club where we collaborated on a grand design for the history, magic, mythology and biology of the largest continent on Questworld. I may even have some of those notes! Of course, now all those guys who worked on it are spread across the country–some of them at various game companies: Les Brooks, Bill and Jon Bridges, Sam Inabinet, Lee Watts, Ric Strong, and several others. No idea how we could possibly tease loose who owned what idea and put that work back out.

My players heard me rave about Blindsight by Peter Watts a month ago. Man, is it terrific, awe-inspiring and frightening all at once:

And if the best toys do end up in the hands of those who've never forgotten that life itself is an act of war against intelligent opponents, what does that say about a race whose machines travel between the stars?

Apparently this book is selling so fast and is so hard to find at the moment that the author has released the entire book online as a pdf. But a hard copy is definitely worth having. Dig the author's description:

...it might be best described as a literary first-contact novel exploring the nature and evolutionary significance of consciousness, with space vampires.

But be warned: this does not have a happy feel good ending. Quite the reverse. Still, it addresses some extremely interesting ideas in ways I haven't seen done before. By the way, this is by the same guy mentioned in this post, who wrote or contributed to the amazing Vampire Domestication PowerPoint presentation.
And to tie this all back to gaming, the world described in Blindsight would make an awesome base for the Questworlds science fiction world.

I think I need to get a copy of his first book, Starfish (Rifters Trilogy) The review makes it sound like a science fiction inversion of Seaborn Child.

Technorati Tags: HeroQuest, RPGs, Science Fiction

Cory Doctorow is the author of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Overclocked, Stories of the Future Present and other interesting books.  He radically affected my thoughts on copyright and what is possible in a collaborative medium.

His article at Fortune called Giving It Away explains his thoughts better than I can.

Across a dust blown land hard faced gunmen ride to aid or vex the thousand tribes, towns, saloons and cattle drives of the legendary west. They build a history and a country with their sweat, bullets and blood.

The world we believe in is not the world that actually exists. Ancient powers, complex forces and hidden conspiracies shepherd the fate of mankind toward a terrifying conclusion, coming soon. The lucky will die before that day.

Here is a world of High Magic where the powers of the great magicians dwarf every other thing. Those able to work with the arcana of the world rule it utterly, to the despair and joy of the untalented.

In contrast to SCIFFY, the Distopian Future tells a lesson of how technology for technology's sake leaves humanity behind.

Blatantly stealing a title used by my old friend Greg Maples, SCIFFY is a Science Fiction Utopia where technological advancement has rid the world of want and ignorance.

But not all is well, not everyone is happy.

What I'm not sure if is whose game it may be inspiration for.

Apple - Trailers - The Host - Trailer

It looks completely hilarious.

Check out this very large picture.