Runesword is finally out after something like four years of development (I have been following it development for the last year or so). And it is free!
What the heck is Runesword and why haven’t you seen it in the big computer game magazines? In one sense Runesword is just a freeware turn-based RPG. Since it has been developed by two guys in their spare time, the graphics are not really comparable to Baldur’s Gate II or Diablo, though they are not that far behind the times either.
On the other hand, the engine behind Runesword rocks. The game was built from the ground up with the aim of making it easy for people to design their own games. Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking — there are a ton of computer RPGs that have come out or are on the horizion, such as Vampire: The Masquerade and Arcanum, that promise to let you make your own adventures. Reality check: if you are a programmer familiar with Java and willing to put in 10-20 hours with the APIs for V:TM and Aracnum, maybe you can turn out something interesting, but there is no way the average person is going to do this (anymore than the average user is going to make a MOD for his or her favorite first person shooter.) Plus most of these have pretty serious limitations on how modifiable the engine is, with Arcanum notably having some pretty severe limitations.
Runesword, by contrast, really does make it easy to make complex RPG adventures — including making fundamental changes like adding or deleting skills, creating new monsters, etc. — with a minimum of dipping into the programming interface (there is a scripting language that Runesword uses, but it is relatively simple and straightforward).
Even better, Runesword was designed to be object-oriented. What does this mean? Suppose somebody else designs a Sword of Reckoning for his adventure or a really cool looking Hill Giant. To bring that into your adventure, just simply cut and paste the Sword of Reckoning or Hill Giant object into your adventure and you can use it immediately. This sort of thing is much more difficult to do in other RPG editors, which means it is easy to quickly build an RPG adventure from scratch with literally no programming skills.
Plus, since the game is freeware you can distribute a complete working copy of your adventure with the game to friends, family, etc.
This game just screams “awesome” on all levels. One of the few games I have seen with absolutely no downsides.