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In Actual Play

10/2/2008 Altaem: Solving the problem of ineffectual character builds.
[b]The Problem:[/b] I’m interested in what solutions people have used to prevent players creating useless, flawed or otherwise campaign incompatible characters.  I’ve come up with a number of solutions myself…
In Actual Play
Participants: Altaem, greyorm, David Artman, anders_larsen, Kevin Smit, Tom Garnett.

9/26/2008 hoefer: "Sand Box" Adventures
Over on Craig's site the topic of "Sand Box Adventures" was brought up.  For this discussion the term meant game modules, adventures, story arcs, etc. where the GM was simply…
In Actual Play
Participants: hoefer, Vulpinoid, NN, Markus, Evlyn, opsneakie, Susan Calvin, Ron Edwards, James_Nostack, Marshall Burns, The Dragon Master, Caldis.

9/17/2008 gsoylent: [OctaNe] Almost there?
I've stripped as much of the background detail as possible from this Actual Play. This might make It might make the reading a little dry and not very OctaNe-like, but…
In Actual Play
Participants: gsoylent, Ron Edwards.

9/15/2008 Paul Czege: the preservation of antagonism
I was thinking over the weekend about various ways that games preserve antagonism (in the form of significant antagonist NPCs) from untimely ruin. Of course not all games are concerned…
In Actual Play
Participants: Paul Czege, agony, Eliarhiman6, Artanis, Michael S. Miller, Mel_White, Ben Lehman, Valamir, Frank Tarcikowski, jag, Ron Edwards, Vulpinoid, jburneko, contracycle, Thomas Lawrence, JoyWriter, Paul T, soundmasterj.

9/10/2008 Markus: Can someone explain the true reason behind "traits" (PtA style) to me?
Hello! This is my first post here at the forge. I finally decided to de-lurk because of a very specific question I have, but first of all let me introduce…
In Actual Play
Participants: Markus, Ron Edwards, jburneko, Joe Dizzy, Eliarhiman6, Noon, Christopher Kubasik, John Harper, FredGarber, Marshall Burns, Peter Nordstrand.

9/10/2008 Reithan: [NWOD][VtR] New Game - New Possibilities - New Questions!
I'm back from my long absence from the Forge (miss me?). I'd not had much chances to post much here, due to job shuffling, and storm evacuations and other 'outside…
In Actual Play
Participants: Reithan, Ron Edwards, Frank Tarcikowski, Eero Tuovinen, Marshall Burns.

9/8/2008 xjermx: [TSOY] Playing with the Facts
This actual play post is to share my recent discovery regarding stakes in Shadow of Yesterday. In the past I've done stakes pretty traditionally.  I found the following type of…
In Actual Play
Participants: xjermx, Eero Tuovinen.

9/8/2008 James_Nostack: [With Great Power] Justice League of America Summer Annual 2008
We played With Great Power... last night, and despite a few qualifications had a pretty good time.  A few panels from the imaginary Justice League of America Summer Annual 2008:…
In Actual Play
Participants: James_Nostack, cathexis, Valamir.

9/5/2008 Ron Edwards: [Zombie Cinema] Birthday game
Hello, Yesterday was my birthday, and as it was a weeknight, my wife Cecilia and I decided to save any partying for the weekend and relax for the evening. Our…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen.

9/2/2008 GreatWolf: [Go Play Peoria][Mist-Robed Gate] My doubts have been assuaged
Probably the highlight of Go Play Peoria for me was getting to play Mist-Robed Gate by Shreyas Sampat.  Sadly, I didn’t take really good notes, and I threw away the…
In Actual Play
Participants: GreatWolf.

9/2/2008 Ron Edwards: [A Dirty World] Brief play, fun with the numbers
After GenCon, Jari and I were relaxing for a little while at a picnic table by Lake Michigan, rolling dice and trying out some mechanics out for A Dirty World,…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards.

9/2/2008 Artanis: [Sorcerer] Welcome to the Carnival Bizarre
Hi My friends and I got together to play our first session of the Carnival Bizarre. We had only two and a half hours at our disposal, so my aim…
In Actual Play
Participants: Artanis, FredGarber, Ron Edwards.

9/2/2008 Artanis: [Zombie Cinema] Socially robust
Hello There's a point I want to make about Eero Tuovinen's new game Zombie Cinema (a.k.a. Zombeja! Ovella!). It has taken me days of textually shuffling my feet around in…
In Actual Play
Participants: Artanis.

8/28/2008 Arturo G.: [PtA] How are the narrative authorities working in this scene?
Ron was commenting here: Re: Players wanting their PCs to fail? , that he offered some people to post a scene in Actual Play to talk about the different…
In Actual Play
Participants: Arturo G., Ron Edwards, Artanis, Eliarhiman6, Matt Wilson.

8/23/2008 Greymorn: AMMF?
I have a feeling I may regret this in the morning, but this idea is stuck in my head so here it goes. Please reply with thoughts and especially AP…
In Actual Play
Participants: Greymorn, Filip Luszczyk, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards, greyorm, Entech, Web_Weaver, Big J Money, Marshall Burns.

8/22/2008 EarthenForge: [Under My Skin]...got under my skin. Now, with pictures!
I am undertaking the rather daunting task of writing an AP for Emily Care Boss’s Under My Skin game, in the Jeepform tradition, as played at GenCon 2008. It was…
In Actual Play
Participants: EarthenForge, RobNJ, Ron Edwards, Niobe, Emily Care, Tobias Wrigstad, GreatWolf.

8/21/2008 Emily Care: [Flowers for Mara] Family schisms at Gen Con
Hi there, At Gen Con, I got the chance to play Seth Ben Ezra's game A Flower for Mara.  This game is played in the form of an improv play…
In Actual Play
Participants: Emily Care, GreatWolf, segedy, Tobias Wrigstad, Blessdevil, Claudia Cangini.

8/20/2008 sirogit: [WGP] Jumper Hellboy and an Art teacher take on star girl and a yeti.
I'm 3 sessions into a WGP game. We choose a setting that's 'kind of like sunnydale', a suburban community that's serene conformist outside with corruption and evil powers and people…
In Actual Play
Participants: sirogit.

8/14/2008 Jargon: Ways to sell more narrativist or indie-like games to traditional players?
I was just wondering if the great minds here at the Forge would have any tips for trying to sell narrativist and more indie-like rpgs to the traditional gaming public?…
In Actual Play
Participants: Jargon, Vulpinoid, Eliarhiman6, dindenver, greyorm, The Dragon Master.

8/8/2008 Melinglor: [Sorcerer] Cascadiapunk: New Wrinkles and Old Habits
We played the second session last night. First session can be found here. It was pretty fun, but I have mixed feelings about some emerging play trends and how I…
In Actual Play
Participants: Melinglor, Ron Edwards, Reithan.

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Subsequent Topics
In Actual Play

10/11/2008 Christopher Kubasik: Traveller: Using Sorcerer and Sorcerer & Sword
Playing Traveller has been a dream of mine since I picked up the books at the Compleat Strategist on 33rd Street years ago.  I knew there was a game in…
In Actual Play
Participants: Christopher Kubasik, James_Nostack.

10/13/2008 gsoylent: [Gamma Wolrd!] Where's my conflict?
This actual play is kind of a companion piece to http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=26777.0. That was an octaNe game, this one is a Gamma World Game. What is perhaps surprisingly they both turned…
In Actual Play
Participants: gsoylent, Ron Edwards, drnuncheon, JoyWriter.

10/14/2008 daftnewt: [DitV] Joshua's Peak (Part 1)
Yesterday I ran my first Dogs in the Vineyard town for my nascent gaming group (may it flourish!).  I've fiddled with the system before, but never sat down and tried…
In Actual Play
Participants: daftnewt.

10/14/2008 pfischer: [Sorcerer] Abattoir Blues
I wake with the sparrows and I hurry off to work The need for validation, babe, gone completely berserk I wanted to be your Superman but I turned out such…
In Actual Play
Participants: pfischer, Paka, Ron Edwards, Malcolm.

10/15/2008 daftnewt: [DitV] Joshua's Peak (Part 2)
Last Saturday we finished up in the town of Joshua's Peak.  You can find the first part of that, with the characters, here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=26858.0 If anyone thinks I could've done…
In Actual Play
Participants: daftnewt, lumpley, Ante.

10/15/2008 Peter Nordstrand: Tunnels & Trolls advice
I'm about to start a Tunnels & Trolls campaign. I've wanted to try it out ever since Ron published his actual play reports a few years back. We are aiming…
In Actual Play
Participants: Peter Nordstrand, Eero Tuovinen, Ante, rafial, Noon, Finarvyn, Ron Edwards.

10/16/2008 Ron Edwards: [Space Rat] Femme babe action at GenCon
I demonstrated Space Rat quite a bit at the Forge booth. It was a reasonably strong draw, with a brightly-colored cover, intriguing name, and the quick pull of the femme…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, Rusty, Markus.

10/18/2008 Peter Nordstrand: Prepping Tunnels & Trolls
I am preparing a Tunnels & Trolls game for the first time, trying to follow the good advice I got in the thread apltly named Tunnels & Trolls advice. Are…
In Actual Play
Participants: Peter Nordstrand, Noon, Ante.

10/19/2008 LemmingLord: Halloween Game Success
I used Risus for the very first time to run a Halloween Horror game.  It seems that I and my players had a very good time so I wanted to…
In Actual Play
Participants: LemmingLord, Ron Edwards.

10/22/2008 rycanada: [4e] Players Roll All the d20s
Last night I ran 4e for the first time.  The game went very, very well.  The only house rule in effect was Players Roll All the (20-sided) dice - which…
In Actual Play
Participants: rycanada, gsoylent, Noon, GregStolze, angelfromanotherpin, Ron Edwards, Big J Money, Finarvyn, greyorm, maldito.

10/25/2008 blueflame: TSOY starting characters and advances
Please can someone do a breakdown for the starting TSOY characters Violet and Oliphant and how they spent their 5/25 advances? I'm pondering a new TSOY game and it's the…
In Actual Play
Participants: blueflame, oliof.

10/27/2008 Artanis: [Sorcerer] Getting involved in the Carnival Bizarre
Hello all At last we got around to meet and give a follow-up to the first session. First thing, we agreed with Thomas that Alice was just a woman that…
In Actual Play
Participants: Artanis, Ron Edwards, kwelndar.

10/27/2008 Neal Durando: [Matrix Game] Mitrovica Matrix Exercise
In the context of one of my military English classes for my consultancy, www.defenselinguistics.org, I recently began conducting an Engle Matrix Game, using the situation in Mitrovica, 2000 as a…
In Actual Play
Participants: Neal Durando, MatrixGamer.

10/28/2008 Ron Edwards: [L5R, The Pool, and others] A new look at Drift
Hello, I've chosen to begin a new thread using one of Markus' final posts in Can someone explain the true reason behind "traits" (PTA-style) to me? as the starting point.…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, Simon C, Noon, Tim C Koppang, jag, Artanis.

10/29/2008 gsoylent: [3:16] Way Too Easy Or Just Got the Rules Wrong?
Ran my first game of 3:16.  There were two players besides me, none of us had played this game before and only I had read the rules. My planet involved…
In Actual Play
Participants: gsoylent, pfischer, Ron Edwards, Gregor Hutton, Wolfen.

10/29/2008 Darcy Burgess: [My Life with Master] Beating the Love out of a Minion
So, we kicked off our new MLwM game on Monday night.  We've got a nifty Master.  He's an enormous lump of a man, with sausages for fingers and a penchant…
In Actual Play
Participants: Darcy Burgess, Eero Tuovinen, Artanis.

10/29/2008 Filip Luszczyk: [Yuuyake Koyake] Railroady Participationism & Game Economy
I intended to write and post this AP earlier, but here goes: At the beginning of September we played a game of Yuuyake Koyake, using the early version of the…
In Actual Play
Participants: Filip Luszczyk, Andy Kitkowski.

10/29/2008 Eero Tuovinen: [Poison'd] About action and choice
We had bit of an impromptu house convention last week here in Sonkajärvi, as all the university students got a period break at the same time and swarmed here. Among…
In Actual Play
Participants: Eero Tuovinen, lumpley, Graham Walmsley.

10/31/2008 Noon: Traits and the darkness that comes before
The title is a reference to the prince of nothing fantasy trilogy and in itself refers to discovering not what is happening now, but discovering what made 'now' exist to…
In Actual Play
Participants: Noon, Markus, Marshall Burns, Ron Edwards, LandonSuffered.

11/3/2008 GregStolze: [3:16] Planet Bosch: Stop Picking At It
I'd been eager to try out 3:16 Carnage Among the Stars, and when we had an unexpected GM-less session, I whipped up Planet Bosch and threw the players into it.…
In Actual Play
Participants: GregStolze, Eero Tuovinen, LandonSuffered, Wolfen, Ron Edwards.

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