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In Actual Play

12/6/2005 Tancred: What Went Wrong?
Hi, I've been running a play-by-email game recently and have been trying to use techniques like bangs, kickers and premise. Recently I ran a scene which didn't go at all…
In Actual Play
Participants: Tancred, TonyLB, Lamorak33, Paka, Brand_Robins, Joshua BishopRoby, Noon, nilsderondeau.

12/6/2005 Paka: A skill to cultivate: Setting Stakes
[url=http://dogdesign.blogspot.com/2005/12/theory-in-design-making-your.html"]This is all inspired by the link contained in this sentence to Matt Wilson's blog where we talked about stakes.[/url] I can remember the first time stakes became really clear…
In Actual Play
Participants: Paka, Dev, Joshua BishopRoby, MetalBard, Bret Gillan, Thor Olavsrud, komradebob, Tim Alexander, Michael S. Miller, Bankuei, John Kim, Mike Holmes, Jonathan Hastings, TonyLB, Ben Lehman, Vaxalon, Levi Kornelsen, Danny_K, Brand_Robins, Jason Newquist, Storn, contracycle, Supplanter, CPXB.

12/5/2005 Vaxalon: The social agenda and the antisocial agenda, as I have experienced them
Let me start with some play experiences. First, there's a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that I ran some years back.  We played about 12 hours a month, on average, and…
In Actual Play
Participants: Vaxalon, Joshua BishopRoby, Ron Edwards, Noon, Sydney Freedberg, Supplanter, Neal, John Kim, Arpie, Danny_K.

12/5/2005 anonymouse: [InSpectres] -- Ankh-Morpork City Watch
[u]Observations about the stuff that went wrong:[/u] Having played [i]a lot[/i] of Donjon, InSpectres feels like some weird hybrid between that and "traditional" gamin' to me, and it's incredibly awkward.…
In Actual Play
Participants: anonymouse, beingfrank, knicknevin.

12/4/2005 Scott: Alternative to limping Gamism for Gamist player types?
Our (D&D) games typically consist of 7 sessions of violence, intrigue, and puzzles served up by an all-powerful, ultimately responsible GM for about 6 "cooperative" players, then a bloody climax…
In Actual Play
Participants: Scott, TonyLB, Halzebier, Joshua BishopRoby, NN, Supplanter, Ron Edwards, Noon, anonymouse, Arpie.

12/4/2005 jasonm: [DitV] Paint Creek Branch
Eric, Lisa, Andrew and I played Dogs in the Vineyard yesterday with mixed success.  I ran Paint Creek, a town I wrote up for the occasion.  I won’t go into…
In Actual Play
Participants: jasonm, Andrew Norris, Technocrat13, urbanpagan, Neal, lumpley, Lord_Steelhand.

12/4/2005 lampros: [More Abyssals] CA Clashes and holes in gamist systems.
I ran into a problem with my Abyssals game the other night. There was a large battle scene, one of the players really wanted to use their badass new spell.…
In Actual Play
Participants: lampros, Noon, TonyLB, Danny_K, Ron Edwards, jmac, Kintara, contracycle, Bret Gillan, John Burdick.

12/4/2005 Wormwood: From Outside the Big Model
Years ago, and subsequently as I was developing an understanding of core theory at the Forge, I discovered my most persistent hurdle was accepting the disenfranchisement of the model. The…
In Actual Play
Participants: Wormwood, Paka, talysman, Joshua BishopRoby, jburneko, Mike Holmes, Simon Marks, Adam Dray, Silmenume, Caldis.

12/3/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [CtH] Rising like a Phoenix - Artifacts of Play
Alright, I've cleaned up and posted the Actual Play Transcript of my latest game of Conquer the Horizon. Pertinent bits and pieces: We tried pushing the boundaries of what CtH…
In Actual Play
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby.

12/3/2005 Elliott Belser: [BESM 2nd Edition] "Ties and Bonds" Mechanic Flopped For Me!
There's an optional mechanic in a Big Eyes, Small Mouth supplement called "Ties and Bonds."  Essentially, you pick 12 points worth of things that are of critical importance to your…
In Actual Play
Participants: Elliott Belser, mutex, Supplanter, lampros.

12/2/2005 Paka: Theory at my Table
This post isn't about one night, it is about 4 years, my past four years with the Forge and its games and the game tables I have played at with…
In Actual Play
Participants: Paka, Michael S. Miller, jmac, Ron Edwards, Dantai, MetalBard, Arpie, Mike Holmes.

12/2/2005 Tim Alexander: Shock Playtest, with mixed results
Hey Folks, Last night me and a friend of mine decided to give Shock a whirl and see how the playtest rules drive. He's a writer who's main experience has…
In Actual Play
Participants: Tim Alexander, Simon Marks, Allan, nikola, joepub, rafial, lampros.

12/2/2005 humis: [Polaris] I'm surprised.
We played a six player (three guys, three gals) Polaris game yesterday. I was the only one who really knew prior to the session what type of game we were…
In Actual Play
Participants: humis, Joshua BishopRoby, MatrixGamer, Brand_Robins, jburneko, Ben Lehman, Victor Gijsbers, GreatWolf.

12/2/2005 TonyLB: Hey, that's -my- conflict!
I was playing a Stargate SG-1 derived setting in a FATE-derived ruleset, with my buds Danny (GMing), Jen, Eric, Melissa and Delenn.  Nice folks.  Not all on the same page…
In Actual Play
Participants: TonyLB, Andrew Morris, Joshua BishopRoby, Mike Holmes, Brand_Robins, John Kim, Noon, sirogit, Supplanter, Mark Woodhouse, spaceanddeath, Bankuei, contracycle.

12/2/2005 Pol Jackson: [AmberCon NW 2005] Four Days, Seven Games
I recently spent four days at AmberCon NW 2005. I've been attending this Con every November, for going on six years now. This year, I had a lot of "ten…
In Actual Play
Participants: Pol Jackson, immlass, John Kim.

12/2/2005 Jeph: [Exemplar] A playtest campaign that's rocking some serious socks.
I wrote this light game called Exemplar a few years ago. You can find it by following the links in my signature. It was about psychic kung-fu heroes fighting against…
In Actual Play
Participants: Jeph, jasonm.

12/1/2005 Lamorak33: Heroquest Demo Disaster!
Hi all I ran a HQ demo (a blood opera type game) and there was this bit where in a meeting with several npc's and pc's talking. one of the…
In Actual Play
Participants: Lamorak33, James Holloway, Mike Holmes.

12/1/2005 Neal: [DitV] Red Horse Pass
This past Tuesday, I ran my players (Dave and Mike) through Red Horse Pass.  The town is described in its own posting in lumpley's forum.  The Dogs were Brothers Thomas…
In Actual Play
Participants: Neal, jasonm, lumpley, Joshua BishopRoby, Valamir.

12/1/2005 Rossum: [DitV] First post-Katrina GMing; play with strangers
Allow me to delurk. Firstly, a shout out to El Clintonian for Findplay and D. Vincent Baker for Dogs. Since it rained, my regular gaming groups haven't met. Many of…
In Actual Play
Participants: Rossum, jasonm, ScottM, lumpley.

12/1/2005 komradebob: Minis, Narr Techniques, and my 9 year old daughter [long]
I've been working on the idea of creating a minis game that uses some of the narr supportive techniques that folks around here have developed. A discussion of those possibilities…
In Actual Play
Participants: komradebob, Mark Woodhouse, Arturo G., joshua neff, Tony Irwin, Arpie, John Kim, James Holloway, Danny_K.

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Subsequent Topics
In Actual Play

12/7/2005 James: Advice when using THE KARMIC CYCLE?
I've pitched a western PBeM using a variation on Dan Bayn's game, The Karmic Cycle, and though the system seems pretty straightforward in theory, I'd love to hear what sorts…
In Actual Play
Participants: James.

12/7/2005 Troy_Costisick: [D&D] GM's Fun
Heya, To bribe my friends to help me playtest my Ronny games, I'm agreeing to take part in one of their D&D campaigns.  I was discussing the kinds of characters…
In Actual Play
Participants: Troy_Costisick, jasonm, Joshua BishopRoby, Calithena, joshua neff, Mike Holmes, Warren, ffilz, Lamorak33, contracycle, Rob Carriere, CSBone, Danny_K, Adam Dray, Wade Lahoda.

12/7/2005 Kaare Berg (Old): [Descent] – realtime lag teaches lessons
My big project is a game called Source Code. As a part of designing this game several ideas pop up, circulate, distract and basically get in the way. The…
In Actual Play
Participants: Kaare Berg (Old), Joshua BishopRoby, MikeSands.

12/7/2005 Neal: [DitV] Yellow Clay
This session, our session was going to be shorter than usual, so I went with a town I had developed specifically for its simplicity.  We got started around one-thirty or…
In Actual Play
Participants: Neal, ScottM, Troy_Costisick.

12/7/2005 Paka: Before Stakes: What is your intent?
This is an important step that takes place before stakes setting that is worthy of its own post. The Conspiracy of Shadow game's kicker was that the cell of PC…
In Actual Play
Participants: Paka, Bret Gillan, Thor Olavsrud, Mark Woodhouse, Warren, mtiru, Brand_Robins, Joshua BishopRoby, John Kim, Myrmidon, Tim Alexander, hix, Noon, Angaros.

12/8/2005 Anna B: [Changeling LARP]
So used to run a Changeling LARP. My co-ST and I ran a weekly game with about 10 players for around a year and half maybe two years. For the…
In Actual Play
Participants: Anna B, Danny_K, Joshua BishopRoby, WhiteRat, Matt, Brand_Robins, Sydney Freedberg, Arpie.

12/9/2005 kalyptein: [Feng Shui] Endless debate takes over (long)
I apologize if this is overly long.  Lots of Actual Play threads seem to receive "need more details" posts, so I dumped in everything I could think of.  Also, I'm…
In Actual Play
Participants: kalyptein, Halzebier, Brand_Robins, bcook1971, Dantai, Noon.

12/9/2005 droog: 'You're the heroes' vs 'You're mortal too'
Hi folks I have a question put to me by a friend via email. He is a very experienced GM in the illusionist vein, but has never encountered the BIg…
In Actual Play
Participants: droog, Caldis, Warren, Sydney Freedberg, contracycle, Joshua BishopRoby, Noon.

12/9/2005 Frank T: [Polaris on Skype] Senator Antares Perseus
We played our second session of Polaris on Skype this Wednesday with our gang of usual suspects from GroFaFo, only three players unfortunately. It’s a struggle. Here’s what we struggle…
In Actual Play
Participants: Frank T, Bret Gillan, Brand_Robins, Ben Lehman.

12/9/2005 GreatWolf: [Polaris] We make Veteran!
Okay, no procrastinating this time.  Our group played on Wednesday, and I’m going to get the actual play written up quickly this time.  (Not like last time.)  So, let’s get…
In Actual Play
Participants: GreatWolf, cpeterso, demiurgeastaroth, ptevis, Ben Lehman.

12/10/2005 bcook1971: [TROS] Tipping Point of Group Chargen
******************************************************************** MY PLAYERS -- SPOILER ALERT -- READ NO FURTHER ******************************************************************** I'll be running a TROS campaign in January, so I guess this is Actual Prep. I've been getting e-mail…
In Actual Play
Participants: bcook1971, Paka, Noon.

12/10/2005 KingstonC: social contract bent but not broken
About six months ago, I posted an actual play report about my TSoY game. In it, http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=15567.msg166281#msg166281 Kamia the barmaid, played by my friend Jessica, turns a trick for a…
In Actual Play
Participants: KingstonC, Brand_Robins, Noon, Joshua BishopRoby, Rob Carriere, Kamia.

12/11/2005 urbwar: [Actual Play] Little Fears: The Septic Tank Goblin
(This is my second ever actual play, so hopefully it's not too boring) Four years ago, I bought a copy of Little Fears at my FLGS. I've been wanting to…
In Actual Play
Participants: urbwar, mtiru.

12/11/2005 dindenver: [LoL] No one using Luck
Hi!   I've run two sessions (about 5 hours of gaming, no combat so far) and none of the characters have used luck. Even when an NPC informed them they…
In Actual Play
Participants: dindenver, Noon, Eero Tuovinen, mutex, Sydney Freedberg.

12/12/2005 TonyLB: [Capes] Learning about Character Integrity
How to describe this:  Our group of spotlight characters has completed the process of totally fragmenting.  Of six characters who were originally a cohesive team, there are now no clusters…
In Actual Play
Participants: TonyLB, Arpie, C. Edwards, Paka, Kintara, dunlaing, Joshua BishopRoby, Brand_Robins, Graham Walmsley, Sydney Freedberg.

12/12/2005 WhiteRat: [DitV] I can't kill characters
I ran a one-shot session of Dogs this weekend, my first time running the game. Great fun was had by all: the five of us played literally all day. Unfortunately,…
In Actual Play
Participants: WhiteRat, Brand_Robins, Blankshield, C. Edwards, Paka, Kintara, Frank T, Marco, Calithena, Wolfen, coffeestain, Joshua BishopRoby, nikola, lumpley.

12/12/2005 Mr Darran Sims: [Actual Play] Serenity:HeroQuest. 'Echoes in the Black'
[b]The Pitch[/b] '[b]Echoes in the Black[/b]' by Darran Sims narrated by Darran Sims. Serenity: HeroQuest adventure for 6 players. "[i]Ta Ma Duh[/i]! Why can't we stick to the gorram plan! …
In Actual Play
Participants: Mr Darran Sims.

12/12/2005 Matt Wilson: [CoS] A Conspiracy of Ravenloft
Keith has been saying that Conspiracy of Shadows would be a kickass game for playing in the world of Ravenloft, and yesterday we committed to taking the challenge. I figure…
In Actual Play
Participants: Matt Wilson, Matt-M-McElroy, daemonchild, Keith Senkowski, Paka.

12/12/2005 Graham Walmsley: [All Creatures Crazed and Feral] Letting players decide the story
At Dragonmeet, I ran "All Creatures Crazed And Feral", a werewolf LARP . It was about werewolves threatening a Yorkshire village. (If you know British television, then it was a…
In Actual Play
Participants: Graham Walmsley, Levi Kornelsen, Joshua BishopRoby, TonyLB, jasonm, Lig.

12/13/2005 ragnar: [The Pool] Spring festival (first time)
This was our first time ever playing The Pool. Most of the players are long time role-players, though we have little experience with Forge games, though we've done a lot…
In Actual Play
Participants: ragnar, Roger, cpeterso.

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