What's changed for me since the Forge.

[Marhault]

Simply put, my entire view on RPGs has changed.  I used to think that tailoring your system to your setting meant having an appropriate 'skill list,' and maybe tacking on a 'unique' mechanic.

This works, but it produces bland, flat, uninteresting traditional sim-style games.  Since I've come here, I've seen games that are so much more.  I've had my mind blown more times than I can count.  Ghost Light, Sorcerer, Unsung, Dogs in the Vineyard, My Life With Master, Primetime Adventures, Legends of Alyria.  Every time I read a game, my jaw drops.

There is more to Roleplaying than I ever knew, and this website and the people here are the reason I discovered that fact.

[Per Fischer]

Well, simply put, I had given up roleplaying due to inconsistent results and pleasures from it (after playing for 10-12 years).

Forge brought me back, and I now I think I know how to better get what I want from roleplaying and being able to formulate it better than before (I hope)

And I am still amazed at what Sorcerer can do (and the games it inspired).

Per

[Tony Irwin]

What a nice thread. I have much more fun when I roleplay now, and I roleplay many different kinds of games. I roleplay much less than I used to, but I roleplay with many more different people now.

[Brand_Robins]

I game more and obsess about gaming less. That's definately an improvement for me. :)

Crap! I forgot that one. Good call man, good call.

[Lance D. Allen]

I think a lot of people have said, in different ways, basically the same thing. It's the main thing the Forge has done for me, as well.

The Forge didn't teach me how to think about gaming, but indicated that maybe I *should*, and pointed out a few good places to start.

The Forge didn't tell me it was okay to game my way. The Forge told me it was okay that other people *didn't* game my way.

The Forge didn't say "don't design that game, there's nothing original." The Forge said "design that game, but keep in mind what makes it original."

Mad props to the Forge. Fer real, yo.

[xenopulse]

Yeah. What the others said.

I now realize why I have fun playing some things and not others. And I know what needs to be done about my current gaming, though I am still hesitant to do it.

Also, I used to be on this stereotypical quest of making that great generic, flexible system. Now I don't believe in generic anymore; I realized the power of focus, constraint, and player empowerment.

Thanks.

[Brendan]

I found the site and I was like "shyeah."  Then I read the essays and I was like "huh."  Then I read the forums and I was like "oh."  Then I bought Capes and Dogs and PTA and I was like "OH."

[Meguey]

What The Forge has meant to me:

First, it was a place where my partner could finally get the support in his game design that he couldn't get from me. I was/am just not the person to discuss GNS or FITM vs. FATE or theory what-have-you with him. So, I was glad he found community.

Second, I was intrested in some discussion and Actual PLay threads, and found myself respectfully heard.

Third, I'm edging into actually having friends who post here and I want to keep up on their ideas, and I'm posting here sometimes myself.

I may eventually even come out with my first (bound by the rules of writing to be sucky) game / game idea. But that may be a long way off, yet.

I definately have a wider variety of great games and people to play them with than I did pre-Forge. Plus, I have the keen T-shirt! (Thanks, Clinton)

[Jason13]

I have not been a member of The Forge for very long but my whole concept of roleplaying and why we do it has changed fundamentally.  I have been roleplaying since the age of 11 (in 1979 good god) playing Runequest during the lunch hour at school!  However at some point during the late 80's things changed, commercialism and greed led to a succession of poor games from major companies and a lot of gaming groups stopped using their collective imaginations, to play in settings that encouraged metaplot's and supplement saturation.  I have felt like this for quite some time but in reading the Sorcerer rpg and it's accompanying supplements I found my way to The Forge.  In some ways I feel like I am being deprogrammed or that this is some kind of intervention!  I think I forgot how to play and run games sometime in the early 90's as my game collection swelled.  So thank heaven for The Forge and this new wave of indie publishers.  This is a groundswell of movement in our hobby and even if my part is to get half a dozen people playing these important new games and more importantly having fun then I am proud to be a part of it.

[Judd]

Thanks for posting to this one, Jason.  I had forgotten about it and its wild to go back and read myself a year ago.

Neat.

[Jason13]

To be honest Judd I had not realise that your post was from last year, but it is great to reflect sometimes.  I am looking forward to this next years gaming so much with my Sorcerer game in the pipeline and I am purchasing Conspiracy of Shadows sometime this month and already have some cool ideas for it.  It will be great to look back on this year, next year and see all the progress that I have made (hopefully) as a player and a GM thanks to the community at The Forge and your amazing podcast's.

Respect

Jason

[Judd]

Wow, Jason.  Consider me firmly kicked in the nuts with flattery.

Stunned.

Thanks.

I've said it before but I am floored that anyone out there is listening other than Jeff's wife, my mom and a handful of gamers in Ithaca.

[Jason13]

I am feeling really mellow, as I have been posting and reading Lorraine and I have been watching Hudson Hawk and polishing off a few bottles of red wine and it is now 1.30 am here.  My intentions however remain sincere (hic).  Sons of Kryos rock on!

[neko ewen]

I first discovered the Forge when I bought one of almost everything they had at the Forge booth at GenCon SoCal 2004. For me the most important thing was that I got to understand more broadly and deeply what an RPG is, and in doing so got out from under some preconcieved notions. Run Robot Red, for example, has a much smaller overall "scope" than I was used to, but then the game is that much better for its laser-accurate focus on what it wants to do. InSpectres and octaNe, on the other hand, rip apart conventional assumptions about the division between GM and players. And all of the above do these things without doing anything gratuitously weird or baroque with the game mechanics.

Then I went and wrote a game about disturbed anime mascot girls quarreling with each other, which has rock-paper-scissors as the default resolution mechanic. If I ever finish any of the other games I've started working on, then we'll see how the fruits of discovering indie RPGs and the Forge turned out in terms of game design.

In terms of actual gameplay, the changes have been relatively slow, partly because I have a close-knit and overall very functional group, in which I'm the only one who actually buys RPGs and reads about them on the internet. However, more closely analyzing how we play and how we might do it better came about independent of my discovering the Forge, but having a better vocabulary for it is definitely useful at times.

[Joel P. Shempert]

When I came to the Forge i hada deepdiscontent with my current gaming. I still do. But now I sorta know why. Ideas about Social Contract and knowing what you want out of a game are rock-solid to me and make me go "YEAH! That's it!" All kinds of other Theory things are less clear, but I have been given the invaluable gift of knowing how to ask the right questions.

It's a start. We'll see how amazing things are by next year, maybe.