Severe homebrewitis! Should I make a new RPG?

[FiendishCentaur]

Sooooo...... The problem is, I have always been a die-hard fan of D&D 3.5 and pathfinder, and have dabbled in other systems, but I have a serious and desperate need to customize everything I get my hands on. My players love my house rules, and now want me to take it further.
Some of my players had been talking behind my back, and they are now trying to convince me to create my own pen and paper game to publish and make some ching-ching. They, however, do not understand the amount of effort this would require. I would like to ask if anyone would consider this a worthwhile endeavor or not.
My tastes lean heavily towards swords and magic, and I have started working out some basics. I'm thinking percentile die for everything (for realism without too much complication; you have an x% chance to succeed).
Before you suggest it, yes I have studied other systems. Many of them. No, they were not close enough to what I want to create. My question is if it is worth the time. Any advice?
What system should I look at (I probably missed examining some out of the hundreds of thousands that exist).

[Curbstomp]

Read the Rules Cyclopedia. It contains everything that you need to play original D&D and is remarkably well-organized. I have begun adapting parts of it into my ongoing 3.5 campaigns. This has been particularly true for fortress construction and leadership. We are also using a throwback XP table from it. Rules Cyclopedia helped give me some ideas for balance and organization for a d12-based game that I am slowly working on.

[BWR]

If you can list in detail what you want from a system and what you've looked at, it will be easier to make suggestions.

I love the RC, so that one is worth a read even if you don't use it. The sheer amount of, well, everything, they managed to stuff in that slim volume is quite amazing. Introduction to roleplaying in general, races, classes, spells, skills, advanced weapon and combat rules, domain building and management, mass combat, how to build and run your world and campaigns, adventure (dungeon and wilderness) design, traps, monsters, a brief look at an amazing campaign setting, maps, decent art for the time it was written, how to become a god and more. All in 300 pages.

[DM Nate]

There is no ching-ching. There is you spending loads of your own time and money with the hope that maybe, someday, you might actually break even on your endeavor.

[Gemini476]

Read the Rules Cyclopedia. It contains everything that you need to play original D&D and is remarkably well-organized. I have begun adapting parts of it into my ongoing 3.5 campaigns. This has been particularly true for fortress construction and leadership. We are also using a throwback XP table from it. Rules Cyclopedia helped give me some ideas for balance and organization for a d12-based game that I am slowly working on.

Basic Dungeons & Dragons. It contains everything you need to play Mentzer's Basic (and Expert, Companion, and Master), not the original D&D. (You'll need either the Immortals boxset or Wrath of the Immortals to play the last part of BECMI, although who ever did that?)

One of the notable differences between the two is that OD&D actually had separate race and class. And only went up to level... eight, I think? It ended at name level, anyway. And needed Chainmail for its combat rules.


For the OP I would suggest taking a look at Conan d20, Dungeon World, RuneQuest, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, and the aforementioned BECMI. All of those take rather different approaches to the rules, which might be worth it.
Oh, and GURPS and FATE just to throw in some more universal systems that might have some of what you want.
And Legends of the Wulin and Legends of the Five Rings. There's a lot of very different systems out there, and I haven't even gotten into those oddball japanese ones with d66 tables and Double Cross' crazy exploding Xk1+Y mechanic or Maid's stat*1d6 and all the various dicepool systems out there. And then there's diceless systems, like Amber Diceless and Nobilis. RPGs are pretty varied! Even sticking with d% BRP and Eclipse Phase are extremely different in how they manage that.
Oh yeah, and the various Warhammer 40,000 RPGsout there might be worth looking at as well?

[FiendishCentaur]

Appreciate the responses. I've been hardcore researching the systems mentioned. Funny enough, a llot of what is done with Runequest is extraordinarily similar to what I have in mind. Mine, however, will not be using the "roll under" mechanic that Runequest has, simply because it is flawed. What happens when a character has 100% or more in a skill? Besides that, I like the concept of levels... It's a great way to make a player feel like he's making leaps and bounds in power level, and gives the GM a good idea of what would be a fair challenge, more so than other systems I had looked at.
I appreciate the input, and will be checking back for any other useful bits of information.

[Honest Tiefling]

1) Do you like doing this as a hobby?

2) Do you have time for it?

3) Do you understand that it might not see the light of day, and you might be horribly embarrassed by it in 10 years time?

If yes, proceed. Nothing wrong with a hobby, nothing more then writing or drawing is the way I see it.