The most important thing I've learned

[lumpley]

If you want something to exist, create it!

Thanks, Ron. Thanks, Clinton.

-Vincent

[Erik Weissengruber]

Learn what it is you actually want, concentrate effort on getting it, accept no substitutes.  Then invite others to join in.

Thanks Ron, Vincent, Clinton.

[Jim D.]

Learn what it is you actually want, concentrate effort on getting it, accept no substitutes.  Then invite others to join in.

That's possibly the most profound thing I've heard in a long time.

[Chris_Chinn]

What we do at the table creates everything we imagine.

[jessecoombs]

Thanks guys for an amazing, eye-opening thing that was made here. I'm going to attempt the same thing in my own way.

[Marhault]

I'll log in one more time to say thanks as well.  The Forge was a great and wonderful thing and changed the way I think about and look at games (and other things!).  Thank you to everyone who built, maintained, contributed to or otherwise was a part of the Forge.

[Pelgrane]

I am grateful for the games I've enjoyed which exist as a result of this forum. In the end it's about people playing games.

[Hans Chung-Otterson]

I never posted here much, but this is the place where I first learned that something like game design could even be talked about and thought about intelligently. And that I could do it, too, if I wanted to.

Thanks, everyone.

[Bret Gillan]

Even though I was not a substantial participant, my games were still born here.

[Graham W]

Publishing books is remarkably easy.

[Warrior Monk]

Design matters!

[hix]

A game's reward system isn't just about mechanics; it's also how the game satisfies the people playing it. A reward system is the 'Why' of "Why we play this game".

(I learned this here.)

[Simon C]

You don't need anyone's permission to make the game you love. But you do need to love it, and you do need to connect with other people who love it as well.

Thanks everyone!

[Jonathan Walton]

Two things, really.

1. I am not alone (we are not alone!).

2. The amazing things I always suspected RPGs could be (without any concrete proof!)... it's true, they can actually be like that.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this place what it was, is, and will continue to be. My life is immeasurably better because The Forge was a part of it and the relationships made here will go on and on.

[Gregor Hutton]

I learned to be critical in how I thought about gaming.

Thanks, especially, to Ron, Clinton, Vincent, Emily, Ben, Paul, Mike, Ralph and Eero. To Joe Prince, who through the Ronnies became such a very close friend offline. And to everyone I was on a Forge Booth with, particularly Nathan and Kevin.

And the quote that chimes with me most about the stuff I read on the Forge?

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
—Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788–1860)