Previous Topics
In Actual Play

3/22/2010 Willow: [D&D] Religious & Cultural Diversity in D&D's Middle East
So, I was talking to a couple of folks at Forge Midwest about something I'm going to be doing in my D&D game- the party is going to the world's…
In Actual Play
Participants: Willow, Eero Tuovinen, Noon, Excalibur, Ron Edwards, Kallisti, Paka.

3/21/2010 Aelwyn: What's the worst thing you've ever done as a GM?
True confessions time: what's the worst thing you've ever done as a GM? I'll start. I was running a Morrow Project campaign. Characters were paramilitary mercenaries cryogenically frozen and awakened…
In Actual Play
Participants: Aelwyn, Noon, Locke, LostSoul, Anekanta, Luminous, darthfodder, Ron Edwards, Adam Dray.

3/18/2010 Simon C: What is Right to Dream for?
Probably one of the most successful "traditional" games I've played was about seven or eight years ago.  It was a Traveller-inspired home-brew science fiction game.  It went through several iterations,…
In Actual Play
Participants: Simon C, Noon, contracycle, Jeff B, davidberg, Motipha, FredGarber, Eero Tuovinen, ThoughtBubble, Caldis, anders_larsen, Lance D. Allen, Frank Tarcikowski, Silmenume.

3/10/2010 greyorm: Dysfunction at the Magic Tourney [D&D 3.5]
Weirdly, this is going to tie into at least two other current threads happening right now... For our last session we took a break from 3:16 to play in our…
In Actual Play
Participants: greyorm, Noon, Ron Edwards, JoyWriter, Aelwyn.

3/9/2010 Jeff B: (D&D2e) Bringing in the new guy
Below is an account of a game I played in and my observations about bringing new characters into an existing roleplaying campaign, a maneuver which fails more often than it…
In Actual Play
Participants: Jeff B, Ron Edwards, Noon, James_Nostack, Aelwyn.

3/7/2010 James_Nostack: In-Fiction Sexual Exploitation: blarrrrgh
I guess this is a solicitation for similar AP; there's some analysis questions at the bottom.  But mostly I feel like venting a little. The other day I played Champions,…
In Actual Play
Participants: James_Nostack, CedricP, Noclue, Noon, Jeff B, FetusCommander, Lance D. Allen, JoyWriter, greyorm, contracycle, Ron Edwards, Paka, mark2v, Ar Kayon, Miskatonic, ShallowThoughts, davidberg.

3/7/2010 ThoughtBubble: Trying to figure out the anatomy of challenges I like
This is all inspired by the "Challenge the player" thread from last year. I've fallen into a pretty heavy "planned to showcase ability x" rut in my dungeon/encounter design. So…
In Actual Play
Participants: ThoughtBubble, Jeff B, Noon, Filip Luszczyk, Excalibur, JoyWriter, contracycle, Ron Edwards.

3/3/2010 Filip Luszczyk: I hate compromises
I hate compromises. I immediately started to hate compromises the first and the last time I played Burning Empires. We've spent 40 minutes or so playing out DoW. Then, we…
In Actual Play
Participants: Filip Luszczyk, Frank Tarcikowski, jburneko, Luke, Noon, Paka, greyorm, JoyWriter, Ben Lehman, Brendan Day, contracycle, ThoughtBubble, CedricP, Eliarhiman6, Noclue, Jeff B, ShallowThoughts, Ron Edwards.

2/24/2010 Frank Tarcikowski: [TRoS] Destiny Spiritual Attribute
No, I don't have an actual play account (yet) where the Destiny spiritual attribute played a role. I will be running a game on Friday in which several characters have…
In Actual Play
Participants: Frank Tarcikowski, Noon, Paka, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards.

2/21/2010 Gregor Hutton: [S/Lay w/Me] O'er Plains of Ice the Sky-Ship Sails
So, at WarpCon in Cork, Ireland I got in some gaming as well as enjoying the odd refreshment (ahem) at the Old Bar at University College Cork. Most of my…
In Actual Play
Participants: Gregor Hutton, Lance D. Allen, Ron Edwards, contracycle, greyorm.

2/20/2010 grigori777: 3.5 to 2
Good day.  I am finding numerous character generator programs and sites to create characters in 3.5, but none for 2.0 that accept any race other than elf, 1/2 elf, human,…
In Actual Play
Participants: grigori777, Vulpinoid, Miskatonic, CaptainImpressive.

2/11/2010 Paiku: [Sorcerer]Sorcerers in Casablanca - AP
[b]Sorcerers in Casablanca[/b] hit the ground last Thursday night! The group of four veteran 20- and 30-something gamers has been playing story-now games together for over a year now, but…
In Actual Play
Participants: Paiku, Ron Edwards, Roger, rycanada, Andrew Norris, Paul T, Karl.

2/11/2010 John Stephens: [Tunnels & Trolls] From the Lair of the Wyrm to Florinburg and Back
[b]Background[/b] My daughter and I have been experimenting with storytelling and roleplaying games off and on since she was four years old. She is nine now, and she loves fantasy…
In Actual Play
Participants: John Stephens, Eero Tuovinen, Finarvyn.

2/2/2010 Meramec: [D&D] Hot elves, morality, and the missing initiative roll
So I gather three friends for an impromptu session of D&D.  They’ve all played the first WOTC edition of the game extensively and one has significant experience with the second…
In Actual Play
Participants: Meramec, Noon, Ar Kayon, Ron Edwards, Tim C Koppang, JoyWriter, NN, ShallowThoughts, athornton, contracycle, LostSoul, Jeff B, Jasper Flick.

1/29/2010 David C: [GURPS Traveller] What type of play is this?
I was invited by a friend to play some GURPS Traveller. I wasn't particularly interested (ughhh, GURPS...) but I always like meeting new people.  The game was mostly dominated by…
In Actual Play
Participants: David C, Ar Kayon, Ron Edwards, Noon, contracycle, davidberg, athornton.

1/22/2010 jburneko: [Burning Empires/Primetime Adventures] RPG Weight Training
Hello Everyone, So right now I'm GMing Burning Empires.  It's a massive undertaking and it's very demanding.  We're four maneuvers into the Infiltration phase.  I'm really struggling with the game…
In Actual Play
Participants: jburneko, pfischer, davidberg, Welkerfan.

1/22/2010 jlhburnett: [octaNe] "Hey buddy, watch the tentacle!"
This past weekend, my Skype group decided to give octaNe a whirl.  It didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped, although things got better towards the end of the session.…
In Actual Play
Participants: jlhburnett, Ron Edwards.

1/18/2010 drhoover: [Fiasco] In a Nice Southern Town
My group tried Fiasco for the first time this weekend and had a blast. There were four of us, 3 lifelong roleplayers and 1 a more recent convert. We used…
In Actual Play
Participants: drhoover, jasonm, Tim C Koppang, segedy.

1/11/2010 Dionysus: How to make sessions/scenes stop dragging?
Howdy all. Been a while. Our little group of players has finally taken the plunge and is enjoying the waters of new games. We were a very strong WoD/Exalted group,…
In Actual Play
Participants: Dionysus, Falc, jburneko, Noon, davidberg, greyorm, FredGarber, Noclue, JoyWriter.

1/10/2010 trick: Combat molasses
I've been reading an earlier thread titled Warhammer; Chaos! Order! Molasses!. It's about the dullness of just going from place to place and trivial conflicts. In the games I've been…
In Actual Play
Participants: trick, contracycle, Noon, JoyWriter, Hereward The Wake, Meramec, Locke, Jeff B, ShallowThoughts, FetusCommander.

<< more previous topics

Subsequent Topics
In Actual Play

3/24/2010 Ron Edwards: [Legendary Lives] Three games to talk about
Hi there, I've written about Legendary Lives in both Fantasy Heartbreakers and More Fantasy Heartbreakers, and as time went on since those essays were placed, I finally got around to…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, davidberg, Miskatonic, Artanis, Lance D. Allen, Noon, Trevis Martin, Millsy, Paul T, Willow, JoyWriter.

3/24/2010 Ron Edwards: [Bliss Stage] Men and girls
I’d hoped to get a chance to play this, partly because I’m working on a pretty big project regarding science fiction role-playing, and partly because Ben was available at Forge…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, Frank Tarcikowski, CedricP, Simon C, hix, Filip Luszczyk, Nev the Deranged, Ben Lehman.

3/27/2010 Simon C: What is Step on Up for?
I ignored D&D4E when it first came out.  I know from experience that the kind of play it encourages isn't what I want from a roleplaying game.  I didn't need…
In Actual Play
Participants: Simon C, Noon, Jasper Flick, greyorm, ThoughtBubble, Caldis, davidberg, Motipha, Roger, Frank Tarcikowski.

3/29/2010 jburneko: [S/lay w/ Me] The Cowboy and The Clockwork Hacker
So I had the opportunity to play S/lay w/ Me.  For a while I had been trying to convince Laura to the play the game with me but she found…
In Actual Play
Participants: jburneko, Savage Slacker, Ron Edwards, Eliarhiman6, Noon, Eero Tuovinen, Jasper Flick, bayonder, hix.

3/31/2010 Paka: In which we head out into the Sorcerer's Solar System
Bret, Christine and I are all buddies who don't game together.  Realizing this was silly, we got together to game.  We agreed that we wanted a finite game, 3 session…
In Actual Play
Participants: Paka, Bret Gillan, Ron Edwards, Roger, davidberg.

4/2/2010 Paul T: [Dogs in the Vineyard] Chinese immigrants from Out West
I just started up a Dogs game with four other players, and I think it's going to be a blast. We all met for dinner, hung out a bit, then…
In Actual Play
Participants: Paul T, Paiku, rycanada.

4/6/2010 JB: Making the transition from mission based play?
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=of734dlu4p338e246v3ajn2qb4apksc7&topic=29547.msg275043#msg275043]http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=of734dlu4p338e246v3ajn2qb4apksc7&topic=29547.msg275043#msg275043[/url]
In Actual Play
Participants: JB, Eero Tuovinen, contracycle, epweissengruber, Paka, Noon, Frank Tarcikowski, Jasper Flick, Aelwyn, Paul T.

4/8/2010 Simon C: Thematic Play
This is a continuation of the other threads I've been writing, expressing dissatisfaction with GNS, because I don't think it usefully describes inherant differences in how people play rpgs, and…
In Actual Play
Participants: Simon C, Frank Tarcikowski, Caldis, FredGarber, contracycle, Roger, Eero Tuovinen.

4/8/2010 jburneko: Differences between Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2020
So, I feel like this should be a legitimate Forge question but I'm uncertain how to ground it in AP.  So I'll ask my question then share some experiences and…
In Actual Play
Participants: jburneko, Eero Tuovinen, d.anderson, Darcy Burgess, Ron Edwards, Gregor Hutton, contracycle.

4/13/2010 Darcy Burgess: [In A Wicked Age] - Getting our feet under us
Hi, Last night, our haphazard group kicked off an In a Wicked Age game.  I pitched it as "old, pulpy sword & sorcery lasting between 4 and 8 sessions, but…
In Actual Play
Participants: Darcy Burgess, Noclue, Ron Edwards.

4/15/2010 darthfodder: [Mutants and Masterminds 1e] Super-hero Battles Similar to Comics
For those who aren't familiar with it, Mutants and Masterminds is a super-hero rpg published by Green Ronin with modified d20 mechanics. If you aren't familiar with Dungeons and Dragons…
In Actual Play
Participants: darthfodder, Noon, Mackie, Nocker.

4/15/2010 kris_h: [Vampire: the Requiem] White Wolf crap at its best
Hi, I’m disillusioned with the campaign I’ve been playing in for some time (about 3 years), so I thought that Forge is a good place to share my thoughts. We’ve…
In Actual Play
Participants: kris_h, Miskatonic, Noon, Mobius, JoyWriter, Aaron Baker.

4/16/2010 greyorm: [3:16] Does It Encourage "We didn't roll the dice for three sessions!" Behavior?
We don't play as much as I'd like, probably once or twice a month on average, but 3:16 has been the "go to" game for our group for quite a…
In Actual Play
Participants: greyorm, Noon, Gregor Hutton, Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, jkantor, JoyWriter.

4/18/2010 JB: Encouraging Player Involvement Outside ‘Their Turn’
Some comments from the ‘Making the Transition from Mission Based Play” thread: Eero: To be more useful, I think that the party and mission are a big obstacle to dramatic…
In Actual Play
Participants: JB, legion329, Adam Dray, Eero Tuovinen, help im a bug, jprussell, Paka, Ron Edwards, Anthony Sheets, Falc, Brimshack.

4/19/2010 legion329: [The Whispering Vault] Running the game for the first time
Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, so apologies in advance if this thread is misplaced. I'm going to run a one-shot of The…
In Actual Play
Participants: legion329, Ron Edwards.

4/22/2010 Ron Edwards: [The Exchange / Justifiers] The right game with the right setting
Geez, I hardly know where to start with this thread. I suppose it matters that I'm currently really interested in the range of science fiction in role-playing, and I'm writing…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, Levi Kornelsen, pseudoidiot, hix.

4/22/2010 Ron Edwards: [In A Wicked Age ...] Particular strengths accumulating through the stories
In hopes of generating more fun and useful discussion about In A Wicked Age, I decided to focus on a single detail of the system, and how it has been…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, David Artman, lumpley, Rughat, yellowparis.

4/23/2010 Christian: [InSpectres] A few rules question before playing...
Hello all, I'm planning an InSpectres session, I reread the rulebook and I realised I still got a few questions. So if anyone knows the answers, just to be sure…
In Actual Play
Participants: Christian, Ron Edwards.

4/26/2010 bayonder: [InSpectres]Illuminated Thinking Llc
Here is a little semi GMless game of inspectres that me and my roomie have started.The way it works is we roll up a client and from that frame work…
In Actual Play
Participants: bayonder, greyorm, Ron Edwards.

5/3/2010 Noon: Something about 'height advantage' and it's kin
Fa wut uts worf Couple of requirements for participating in this thread - you have to be able to humour the idea, if not actually believe, that something that's near…
In Actual Play
Participants: Noon, Filip Luszczyk, Roger, Christian, lumpley, VAgentZero, Christopher Kubasik, Caldis, contracycle, Motipha, Ron Edwards, Paul T, Simon C.

more subsequent topics >>