From WikiRPS

[edit] Those who have gone before

The ideas behind WikiRPS did not form in a vacuum. Role-playing games have been around for decades, and it's only fair to give credit to the pioneers whose inspiration birthed and nurtured the genre.

All of western civilization traces its roots to Greek philosophy and the Bible. Every modern fantasy writer is a literary descendant of J.R.R. Tolkien. Every modern science fiction epic is a legacy of H.G. Wells. Likewise, the publication in 1974 of Dungeons & Dragons, the brain child of Gary Gygax, can be heralded as the birth of the modern role-playing game.

The current incarnation published by Wizards of the Coast is barely recognizable in relation to the original, yet continues to profit from its immense popularity. The latest version has some significant enhancements over the original, in this author's opinion. One is a uniform d20 system for resolving all kinds of actions. Another is the release of much of the d20 core material under the Open Gaming License, permitting expansion by the broader RPG community (with limitations).

The comic book role-playing game Champions by Hero Games was the first (at least in this author's experience) to produce an elaborate, fully functional role-playing game in which the character design process was entirely non-random. Steve Jackson expanded on the Champions system in his GURPS game. GURPS was also the first to provide a set of rules which could be readily adapted to any setting, whether fantasy, science-fiction, or what have you.

These are only a few of many excellent and influential games developed over the years, too many to mention them all. Some others that especially impacted this author include RuneQuest, with an uncommonly detailed (and graphic) combat system, and Traveller, one of the first to bring role-playing into the space opera setting.

All of these games and others provide inspiration for WikiRPS, and we are grateful for their example.

[edit] Game comparison

WikiRPS borrows ideas (and open content text) from many other gaming systems. It also innovates where no other gaming system has gone before. Some examples of each are listed in Table: Game comparison.

This is all from memory, so please correct any mistakes. --Cúthalion)

Table: Game comparison

Feature	Champions	GURPS	Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 ed)	RuneQuest	WikiRPS
Universal	yes[1]	yes	yes[2]	no	yes
Character generation	point-based	point-based	random[3]	random	point-based
Character features	attributes, advantages, disadvantages	attributes, secondary characteristics, physical features, social background, advantages, disadvantages, skills	attributes, classes, feats, skills, misc	attributes, skills	attributes, traits, skills, boons, banes, gestalts
Dice	d6	d6	various	various	d20, d6
Complexity options	no	no	no	no	yes
Detailed combat results	no	no	no	yes	optional
Related skills	no	yes	no	yes	yes
Open license	no	no	yes[4]	yes[4]	yes
Completely free	no	no	no	no	yes
Completely online	no	no	no	no	yes
Evolving with community ideas	no	no	no[5]	no	yes
↑ Via its successor, the Hero System. ↑ This is disputed. ↑ Options are available for non-random attribute generation. ↑ 4.0 4.1 This is disputed. ↑ New classes and other features are continually being added at D&D Wiki and other sites, but the core system remains unchanged between commercial releases.