Essential Topics to Read?

[timfire]

Alright, I'm trying to brush up on my theory. I've already read all the esssays in the articles section and I've looked at all the topics that Ron references in his 3 Sim/Gam/Nar essays. But are there other topics I should read? Has anyone compiled a list of "essential" topics here at he Forge (other than the topics Ron referrences)?

Thanks!

[Ron Edwards]

If anyone has, then it'd be mighty helpful.

The tricky thing is that people tend to focus on the "in the thickets" discussions rather than on the "one-two punch" discussions which actually get somewhere fast. So if you want to find out about IIEE, there ain't much to go on because the key material consitutes what ... maybe a dozen posts total, whereas there are God-knows-how-many pages on debating "congruence."

But understanding IIEE is central to understanding resolution, and congruence is best understood as a second-order, near-metaphysical discussion of "meaning" at the social level.

So if anyone wants to provide such a list of links, it might be difficult to provide the punches separate from the thickets.

Best,
Ron

[John Kim]

Alright, I'm trying to brush up on my theory. I've already read all the esssays in the articles section and I've looked at all the topics that Ron references in his 3 Sim/Gam/Nar essays. But are there other topics I should read? Has anyone compiled a list of "essential" topics here at he Forge (other than the topics Ron referrences)?

I can't say which ones are "essential" in an objective sense, but I collected a bunch of links for threads which I thought were interesting.  You can find them at:
http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/theory/theforge/

Unfortunately, the list is very long -- but it is at least shorter than the list of all threads in general, and I have some thumbnail descriptions.

[Jason Lee]

Calling all Rants contains many an interesting link.

[ScottM]

Unfortunately, the list is very long -- but it is at least shorter than the list of all threads in general, and I have some thumbnail descriptions.

I did essentially the same to serve my own purposes. It covers a lot of "basics" threads that people keep getting referred back to. Unfortunately, they're mostly but not completely forge threads... for example, I linked to Clinton's "The Shadow of Yesterday" IIEE page, cause it did such a good job (for me) on the subject.  Look here: Style Links.