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In Indie Game Design

4/6/2004 Morrius: Worldbuilding and ecology
I think one of the most important parts of designing a setting is to have a stable ecology. All the different parts of an environment contribute to the development of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Morrius, Henri, coxcomb, M. J. Young, WDFlores, FredGarber, contracycle, Ravien.

4/6/2004 Crackerjacker: Freeform, Diceless, "System" experiment-test 1.&qu
As has been said before, the preferred "system" for my preference of play is pretty much freeform. It's certainly not the gaming mainstream, but it can work, and is a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Crackerjacker, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

4/5/2004 Shreyas Sampat: For Ben: The heaven game.
This is a Forge Birthday (and Special Events) game; if it isn't finished by the time the Birthday Forum closes for the year, I will hold off on it until…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Jonathan Walton, DannyK, quozl, Ben Lehman, Ravien, Eero Tuovinen, Valamir, FredGarber.

4/5/2004 Mourglin: Skyfall
My goals for this thread are two fold. First I wish to answer two inter-related questions I have been wrestling with for weeks. In order to present these questions to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mourglin, Kryyst, Shreyas Sampat, Castellanus, Alex Johnson, ghostwolf.

4/4/2004 Morrius: Damage mechanic
Whenever I'm trying to develop a system in my head, the one part that always stymies me is the damage mechanic. I'm currently working on a systems that uses an…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Morrius, Jasper, Knarf, Matt.

4/3/2004 Spooky Fanboy: Entry-Level Dieties: a roleplaying game in progress
Okay, I started this game being fed up with games like Lost Gods, Black and White, the Last Exodus, Nobilis, etc. for various reasons. My goal, in creating this game,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Spooky Fanboy, gobi, taalyn, RaconteurX, Matt, Marhault.

4/2/2004 Jere: [Shadows in the Fog] Age of Paranoia
I'll be adapting clehrich's excellent Shadows in the Fog to an espionage game, heavily borrowing from John Le Carré's Cold War espionage novels, that I'm calling Age of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jere.

4/2/2004 Mourglin: Using a survey.
Hello all, This is my first visit to the Forge and my very first post. I am pleased with the volume of discussions going on here and was referred by…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mourglin, Argetlamh, M. J. Young, Bluve Oak, Ron Edwards.

4/2/2004 Valamir: [Robots & Rapiers] Contacts, Favors, and Influence
I'm busily at work getting R&R ready for the next round of testing and thought I'd throw out a concept I'm pretty excited about. Contacts. Contacts are all of the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Valamir, montag, Jack Aidley, Michael S. Miller, Ron Edwards.

3/31/2004 xiombarg: Unsung Overhall
So, okay, Alexander sent me an email with several suggestions about changing Unsung as a post mortem to the campaign we just ended. Other people are welcome to chime in.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Lxndr.

3/31/2004 timfire: [E.rpg] Worked out some kinks, and developed a new focus.
Well, I feel I've worked out the major kinks in my reworked heartbreaker, E.rpg. Here are the basics of the system. I still have to finish writing everything out, but…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire.

3/31/2004 rafial: Rules suggestions for NDG Pirates
This thread is continuation of the game design issues brought up in a previous thread which is now closed. Since I am responding to a question regarding future directions of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: rafial.

3/31/2004 Malechi: [Cabal] intro mechanics
Hi there, So there we were, digesting the last session of InSpectres with a nice glass of Pinot when we struck upon the idea for a new game. Its got…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Malechi.

3/31/2004 Survivor: Help needed for unique RPG system
Hey, I'm new here, and I need some help (as if the title didn't give it away). I'm undertaking a very improbable, highly specialized task: Making an RPG based on…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Survivor, xiombarg, erithromycin, Palaskar.

3/30/2004 Kilor Di: [Terrae Novae] Tables
www.geocities.com/greginkelaar/projects.html and then click on Terrae Novae. I'm having troubles with the table-work in the game (experience tables, gold/credit tables, etc.) Any suggestions on how to create such tables would…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Kilor Di, Jasper, orbsmatt.

3/30/2004 taalyn: How to determine difficulties
I can't figure them out. They're beingtransparent. I have a huge excel file with all the odds and probabilities for my system, but have no idea how to decide what…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: taalyn, Steve Samson, Jeph, Jasper, orbsmatt, Mike Holmes, Shreyas Sampat.

3/30/2004 Jasper: PN: divided, rotating GM powers
Principium Novum is progressing nicely. What I've been working on recently is the potential for dividing the typical GM powers between the players. I still want to retain a central…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jasper, Mike Holmes.

3/29/2004 Ravien: Eclipse: Combat Resolution Mechanics
[b]Eclipse: Combat Resolution Mechanics [/b] Combat resolution in Eclipse is fast and intuitive (it is, damn you!). You won’t “miss” someone because of a poor roll, and you won’t score…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ravien, Bracken, Valamir, greyorm, charles ferguson, Alf_the_Often_Incorrect.

3/29/2004 Ravien: Eclipse: Social Interaction Mechanics
[b]Eclipse: Social Interaction Mechanics [/b] The social interaction mechanics in Eclipse are fairly complex in theory (in practise they are pretty straightforward), and may or may not be intuitive or…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ravien, Autocrat, Spooky Fanboy, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Shreyas Sampat, Andrew Martin, Alf_the_Often_Incorrect, Thor.

3/26/2004 Ben Lehman: Tactics: Antagonist Bidding
Previous Threads on this game: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8551 http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=9041 So, after some long agonizing over the virtues of varying levels of "GMless" play, I have decided the following things: 1) If it…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ben Lehman, Mike Holmes, Dev.

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Subsequent Topics
In Indie Game Design

4/6/2004 Bret Gillan: My Game: Pundits & Pollsters
Hey folks. Cranked out a mini-game of sorts on my website - Pundits & Pollsters. Nothing special. It basically came about after some pondering on my part about whether a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Bret Gillan, Jasper, quozl.

4/7/2004 Domhnall: Systems with Worlds?
I have (what I assume to be) ~92% of my system ideas hashed out, and ~70% of the footwork complete. But, I am wondering if systems are more well received…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Domhnall, Jasper, Andrew Martin.

4/7/2004 taalyn: [Crux] conflict/task resolution method
Having been inspired by Lumpley ramblings here, I've got half of a conflict/task resolution method figured out. I have the system, but could use help with the method. The idea:…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: taalyn, coxcomb, cruciel.

4/7/2004 clehrich: For Eero: My Life With Levi-Strauss
So after Eero, Jonathan, and Ralph said all that postiive stuff, I just want to let you know I'm actually starting to work on Levi-Strauss in Amazonia, though I'm not…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: clehrich, Andrew Martin, Jonathan Walton, Piers Brown, Eero Tuovinen.

4/8/2004 gobi: [Azure Dusk] Brainstorming
Over on the birthday forum, I mentioned a weird game concept I have had sitting stillborn for several months because it was just too weird for me to get my…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Shreyas Sampat, Walt Freitag, Emily Care, Jeph, Marhault, Jonathan Walton, Lxndr, anonymouse.

4/8/2004 pointyman2000: Steampunk Mafia game up for analysis and improvements
Hello! I'm fairly new to the forge and I'd just like to offer a free RPG I came up with for everyone's review, comments and suggestions. It's currently a work…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: pointyman2000, coxcomb.

4/8/2004 Bill_White: [Rune Saga] Example of Play
I'm working on a game of "epic narrative fantasy roleplaying" that I'm calling Rune Saga. I'm in the process of revising the rules in the aftermath of a playtest-by-email session.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Bill_White.

4/8/2004 Jonathan Walton: For Ben: The Shang Dynasty Game
[quote="Ben Lehman"]I want an Asian fantasy / history game that isn't reheated D&D and SamuraiNinjaKewl. And, of course, Mr. Walton writes it.[/quote] I would have done it anyway, but since…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jonathan Walton, clehrich, Rich Forest, talysman, Ben Lehman, daMoose_Neo, contracycle, Shreyas Sampat.

4/9/2004 ghostwolf: [Eschaton]: example of play and synopsis
Hi all. I'm in the initial throws of designing a game for publication via web-site or pdf. Following is an example of play and a synopsis of the system: Example…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: ghostwolf, FredGarber, Andrew Martin, Jeph, Ravien, Mike Holmes, quozl, RaconteurX.

4/11/2004 daMoose_Neo: [Backstage] Job Title/Description vs Actual Skills
[i][url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=10213]Original "Backstage" post for reference...[/url][/i] (a diceless, almost statless game). Originally, I was trying going with a Skill system for this, allowing the player to choose a few skills with…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: daMoose_Neo.

4/12/2004 Hannu Hurme: Ego & Soul
Here's a rundown of what I've written down so far. Mostly to clear my own head. This all began quite a while ago when I made my first posts here…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Hannu Hurme, Spooky Fanboy.

4/12/2004 Mike Holmes: Son of Iron Game Chef!
The Chairman enters the arena once again. The light's come up. He's carrying a fist full of d10s. He rolls them and considers the results as a strange grin comes…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, Eero Tuovinen, ethan_greer, John Harper, Jonathan Walton, Mark Johnson, Jack Spencer Jr, Piers Brown, Zak Arntson, Dav, Bill_White, Jack Aidley, Alan, gobi, bluegargantua, Shreyas Sampat, hanschristianandersen, Ron Edwards, Marhault, Sydney Freedberg, talysman, Lxndr, Paul Czege, lumpley, Crackerjacker, Rich Forest, Dev, anonymouse, Spooky Fanboy, Darcy Burgess, Walt Freitag, Valamir, timfire, Asrogoth, Matt Snyder, C. Edwards, Ben Lehman, redivider, Emily Care, quozl, greyorm, dalek_of_god, xiombarg, JamesSterrett, Bob McNamee, Palaskar, Christopher Weeks, hardcoremoose, Designer X.

4/13/2004 The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Contest Checks: 2/3rds of a Mechanic
Hi all. Long-time lurker; first-time poster. I’d like to post, for general review and comment, the very basics of my system. If there’s any interest (and I mean “any”), I…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: The Fiendish Dr. Samsara, coxcomb, BPetroff93, Mike Holmes.

4/14/2004 eldaen: Ethelea - a simple little game
Greetings, all! I would like some of your appreciated feedback on the rules for my own system. These are still drafts and not finished by far. Maybe you would care…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: eldaen, montag, Ravien, RaconteurX, Juicetyger.

4/15/2004 James Wages: Newbie Post
I hate these kinds of posts, but here it goes. Yes, I'm new here and I do plan on trying to create an RPG. This wouldn't be the first time…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: James Wages, Matt Wilson, Mike Holmes, Dav, daMoose_Neo, Zak Arntson, Eero Tuovinen, Ravien, orbsmatt, Juicetyger.

4/16/2004 NeuroZombie: RPG Mechanics Survey
I am in the process of creating a system for a cross-genre rpg (name pending more background material.) I have been brainstorming different stat methods, skill systems, class vs no-class,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: NeuroZombie, BPetroff93, Mourglin, xiombarg, montag, M. J. Young.

4/16/2004 ghostwolf: [Eschaton] Character Creation and Task Resolution
Once again, many thanks for the help in refining this concept. Original post can be found here. Assigned Traits Brawn - Physical health and strength. Agility - Coordination and manual…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: ghostwolf, RaconteurX, SrGrvsaLot.

4/16/2004 xiombarg: intro to roleplaying (for Unsung)
Could y'all do me a favor? http://xiombrag.tripod.com/unstart.pdf The above is some introductory "what is roleplaying" kinda text for the RPG I'm currently working on the manuscript for. I want to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Zak Arntson, Jack Spencer Jr, quozl, Dev, Ben Lehman, Steve Samson.

4/18/2004 Survivor: How to get started...
Hey guys, remember me? I took your (group) advice, and have a prototype for a d20 Modern-based sci-fi RPG. It's pretty detailed - with vehicles, races, equipment, planets, artifacts, and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Survivor, BPetroff93, Astrivian, Mike Holmes.

4/18/2004 Nathan P.: [Timesteam] Take a look!
Hey all I finally finished the first decent draft of Timestream, a game of time travel and manipulation. I already have a list of modifications I want to make, but…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Nathan P., Survivor, Sydney Freedberg, gobi, Spooky Fanboy, Ravien, Nathan.

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