Previous Topics
In Random Order Creations

1/21/2003 Cassidy: The Pool: First Play Session Comments
Ran my first Pool session on Monday. Nothing too heavy. I plan it to run 4, maybe 5, sessions tops. Setting: Middle Earth. Location: Dunedain Kingdom of Rhudaur, Spring 1408…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, James V. West, Florian Edlbauer, Ron Edwards.

1/20/2003 Florian Edlbauer: [The Pool] First playtest impressions
Hi all, I'm new here. I discovered The Pool last week and ran my first game yesterday. This is a short report of how it went. If such things bore…
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Participants: Florian Edlbauer, James V. West, Bankuei.

1/16/2003 Cassidy: Number of Conflicts
Hey all, How many times do you find yourself as GM calling for a die roll during play? How often do you find your players requesting die rolls? I know…
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Participants: Cassidy, Blake Hutchins, Ron Edwards, James V. West.

1/13/2003 Cassidy: Do MOVs need to be Monologues?
I've been considering how I currently try to engage and encourage player narrative in the game I run, and how MOVs will fit in. At the moment conflict/task resolution in…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, James V. West, Paganini.

1/12/2003 Cassidy: GMing the Pool
Hello all, I'm in the process of preparing to run with the Pool and I find myself wondering about how best to actually do it. Normally, if I was DMing…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, Ron Edwards, Paganini, James V. West.

1/8/2003 Cassidy: MOVers and Shakers
Hello James, One of these days I think I'm going to dip my toe in the Pool. Before I do, I'd like to ask a couple of questions if I…
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Participants: Cassidy, James V. West, Paganini, Ron Edwards, Bob McNamee.

1/6/2003 aplath: Multiple players requesting rolls at the same time
Hello all, First of all James, I think the Pool rocks! I've just played it in a one-on-one session with a friend (we've been meaning to test it for some…
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Participants: aplath, James V. West.

1/4/2003 Paganini: Woohoo! Here it be!
And was it worth the wait? Ah yes! James, I continue to be impressed not only by your graphical skills, but in the dramatic construction of your tales. They're in…
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Participants: Paganini, jrients, Ron Edwards, James V. West, hardcoremoose, lumpley.

12/30/2002 James V. West: Random Order Comics and Games #2
Hey everyone! Random Order Comics and Games #2 is finished and available. This issue features a game called Visions. This is a very simple game based on fantasy (or other)…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West, Ron Edwards, jrients, lumpley, Paganini.

12/20/2002 Ron Edwards: Black Wind
Hi James, Here are some of my thoughts about Black Wind, which I'd really, really like to play. Please take all of these as suggestions - toss out what doesn't…
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Participants: Ron Edwards, J. Backman, Seth L. Blumberg, James V. West, Spooky Fanboy.

12/5/2002 Kenway: "Nemesis" rules for The Pool
"Nemesis" rules for The Pool Here's a Pool implementation of "Advancement via Notoriety" and "PC-summoned foes" discussed elsewhere on The Forge. *SETTINGS THIS WOULD WORK IN These rules were originally…
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Participants: Kenway, James V. West, Rich Forest.

11/11/2002 James V. West: The Pool--hardcore
Let the beatings begin. Here is the hardcore version of The Pool. Most everything is restored to its original form, with some differences. I've read it over and over but…
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Participants: James V. West, Bob McNamee, J. Backman, Paganini, Mark Withers, xiombarg, Ron Edwards, Zoetrope10.

11/6/2002 Mark Withers: Dragons and Dreamers - My take on the anti-pool rules
Hi again! Here are the rules that I'm planning to use in Dragons and Dreamers - and all future games that I write. They are written with inexperienced roleplayers in…
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Participants: Mark Withers, James V. West, Mike Holmes, Andrew Martin, Henry Fitch.

10/27/2002 J. Backman: The Pool -- extended
I made a post to the design-forum about a project called Theatrum, which is basically The Pool extended. The post (with download link to 1st draft) can be found here:…
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Participants: J. Backman.

10/23/2002 Paganini: Comics & Games
Cool beans James! It arrived today... it do indeed pay to be first. And it even has snazzy little Halloween stickers! I was a little surprised by the shape of…
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Participants: Paganini, James V. West, joshua neff, lumpley, jrients.

10/22/2002 Mark Withers: Can I take a dip in your pool?
The Birmingham(UK) university Roleplaying Society is planning a convention, roughly scheduled for the new year. Since this is a *massive* undertaking for a very inexperienced society we would appreciate whatever…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Mark Withers, Matt, Mike Holmes, James V. West, Paul Czege.

10/6/2002 James V. West: Pool Party--everyone's invited!
Hey What I want to do here is just sort of survery everyone interested in The Pool and find out what your idea of the game is. What rules tweaks…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West, Bob McNamee, Paul Czege, Paganini, Michael Bowman, Zoetrope10, Valamir, Blake Hutchins, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

10/3/2002 Michael Bowman: The most recent revision
There's a lot of rewriting in this version of The Pool. I like the fuller descriptions of MoVs now. It makes things nice and clear. Dice refreshing at the beginning…
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Participants: Michael Bowman, James V. West, Zoetrope10, Bob McNamee, Paganini.

9/30/2002 James V. West: The Pool in print in new comic zine
Hey! My new comic zine Random Order Comics and Games is now available and it features the first ever printed version of The Pool. This newest…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West, Ron Edwards, joshua neff.

8/31/2002 James V. West: TQB errata
I found another mistake in the draft of The Questing Beast: Under the playtesters/brainstormers listing I listed Mike Holmes as Mike Hall. This was a mental burp by me. Mike…
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Participants: James V. West.

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Subsequent Topics
In Random Order Creations

1/23/2003 Cassidy: Questions regarding trait bonus's
[quote="The Pool"]Five: THE CONTINUING STORY If you have 9 dice or more left in your Pool at the end of a session, you start the next session with the same…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, Ron Edwards, James V. West, Bankuei, Blake Hutchins.

1/24/2003 aplath: Played the pool with multiple players
Hello all, Well... I finally got to play The Pool with more than one player. It almost didn't happen though. It was a last minute gathering of some people from…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: aplath, James V. West.

1/26/2003 Cassidy: Sorry Players, No More Freebies from Mr GM
Hey all, Before running my first pool session I bought a bunch of D6s, same sizes, 3 different colours. I had about 50 of so black dice to represent pool…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, James V. West.

1/27/2003 Colin the Riot: PBEM possibilities
Note: I originally went fishing for interested people in actual play with this, but got no response. I'd like to find a couple of people interested in playing a slow…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Colin the Riot, James V. West.

1/29/2003 Cassidy: The Pool: 2nd Play Session Comments
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4889][b]The Pool: First Play Session Comments[/b][/url] Quick update on my 2nd play session running the Pool. First off, made some tweaks based on ideas I wanted to try... 1. Dispensed…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, Bob McNamee, James V. West, Blake Hutchins.

1/30/2003 Cassidy: Bad Stuff
What is bad stuff? All the stuff that players seem loathe to mention about their characters. The flaws and quirks that really don't help characters achieve success in the conventional…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, Bankuei, James V. West.

2/4/2003 Cassidy: The Pool: 3rd Play Session Comments
Previous threads... The Pool: 1st Play Session Comments The Pool: 2nd Play Session Comments Ran my 3rd session with The Pool. No rules changes from 2nd session. Comments...…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, Mike Holmes, James V. West, Trevis Martin, Bankuei.

2/5/2003 Cassidy: Trait question
One of my players posed this to me at the end of last session. Vlesic is... A former capain of the guard and seasoned veteran of the Drenai wars (+1)…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, Paganini, Bankuei, James V. West, Mark Withers.

2/6/2003 Mark Withers: Another Anti-Pool variant.
I'm really sorry, I can't help fiddling with things! Here's how I play the Pool nowadays! Your Character Write a story about the character that you’re going to play. The…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Mark Withers, James V. West, Cassidy.

2/6/2003 James V. West: Call for Variations of The Pool
If you have created a set of variant rules for The Pool and wouldn't mind having them posted on my website (linked from the actual The Pool page), please email…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West.

2/6/2003 James V. West: R.O.C. Update
What I'm up to, rpg-wise: 1) The Pool This one has been covered by many people here and I feel like the game is pretty solid. I won't be doing…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West, Paganini.

2/11/2003 clehrich: Brief theory question
Hi, I just read The Pool --- I haven't played it yet --- and I have a brief question. If I succeed at a roll, I can take an additional…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: clehrich, Valamir, James V. West, Ron Edwards, xiombarg.

2/12/2003 Cassidy: The Pool: 4th Play Session Comments
Previous threads... The Pool: 1st Play Session Comments The Pool: 2nd Play Session Comments The Pool: 3rd Play Session Comments This was the last session in the short game I…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Cassidy, Mike Holmes, Bankuei, James V. West.

2/16/2003 James V. West: Apologies...
Hey I was just working on the (hopefully) final draft of The Questing Beast when I realized I had left out several playtesters from the credits of both TQB and…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West.

2/17/2003 Jeph: Are the links working?
Whenever I try to get to The Pool, or any other ROC sites, for that matter, it gives me a 'specified file server could not be found' blurb. This is…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Jeph, Cassidy, James V. West.

2/22/2003 James V. West: The Pool Variations Are Up
Hey I finally got around to posting some of the variations on The Pool. Check it out here! If I've left some out please don't be shy. Let me know…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West, Cassidy, Mike Holmes, Valamir.

2/26/2003 Mark Withers: Play by forum/pm/email...
Is anyone interested in playing a game of the Pool, either by forum, personal message or email? Also, what do people think about that style of play? Is the Pool…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Mark Withers, Cassidy, James V. West, Bob McNamee, Tony Irwin, Colin the Riot.

3/2/2003 James V. West: TQB: Counting the days...or hours?
Hey As I've mentioned before, I'm going to go with a Print On Demand service for The Questing Beast. What this means is I've had to learn how to do…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: James V. West, Paganini, Fabrice G..

3/10/2003 timczar: The Pool/Puddle with different genres
I haven't read through all the posts concerning the Pool and it's variants, but I'm curious what genres it's been used in successfully, and if it's really tanked when using…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: timczar, Bob McNamee, Cassidy, James V. West.

3/16/2003 Parandro: The Pool working in Detective Stories?
Hi there, until now I haven't yet played a game of The Pool, although I like the idea of giving narrative power to players very much. The problem is: as…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Parandro, Bob McNamee, James V. West, Ron Edwards, Blake Hutchins.

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