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In Indie Game Design

2/20/2002 Zak Arntson: In-Progress - Alien Descent Team
Talking with Clinton about a space-age Donjon (which might become my Donjon supplement, we'll see), coupled with an inspiring mention from Jon Morris (of Ape-Law) about "Alien school", and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Zak Arntson, Bailywolf, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, Garbanzo.

2/20/2002 Steve Dustin: Kitchen-sink setting::premise-good/bad/needs work?
Thought I'd shoot this game setting/premise by this forum to see what the reaction is. It's not even remotely original and borrows liberally from several sources, but (I'm hoping) it's…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Steve Dustin, Mike Holmes, J B Bell.

2/20/2002 joe_llama: Outcast needs help
That's it. I quit playing RPG's. Well, not really quitting but taking a VERY long break. I guess part of this is GM burnout but it's not even half the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: joe_llama, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

2/20/2002 Bankuei: Fate & Tide (previously was Narrativist Mishmash game)
After playing Donjon Krawl, Dynasty Warriors 3 on the PS2, pulling ideas from the Pool, Sorcerer, and Scattershot, with some influence from Persona...here's a mechanic that was floating around in…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Bankuei, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, James V. West.

2/19/2002 Seth L. Blumberg: Diceless conversion quagmire
So there I was, trying to think of a scenario to run for AmberCon 2002 (see, GMs get preference over non-GMs when selecting games, and the popular games are damn…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Seth L. Blumberg, Epoch, Bailywolf, Clinton R. Nixon, Torrent, Ron Edwards.

2/19/2002 lumpley: Another Sad Little Narrativist Vampire Game
This one looks very similar to the previous, but little changes in the stat names and relationships make a big (well, small, but still) difference in Premise. The two…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: lumpley, Bailywolf.

2/19/2002 Ron Edwards: Superpets questions for Zak
Hi Zak, I'm lookin' over some games I want to play really soon, and Superpets poses a problem or two for me. I like it a lot but help's needed…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ron Edwards, Zak Arntson, Mike Holmes, lumpley.

2/17/2002 Bailey: Wiff Factor
I don't see what is so bad about characters who don't succeed, even if it's considered a horrible thing on these forums. The only time that it seems innapropriate are…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Bailey, joshua neff, Bailywolf, Ron Edwards, Balbinus, Jack Spencer Jr, Joe Murphy (Broin), Jared A. Sorensen, Le Joueur.

2/16/2002 Steve Dustin: Scenario Mechanics
I've got a half-baked idea I thought I'd run through this forum. It's not a game, only the kernel of a game. I'm not sure what to do with it,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Steve Dustin, Mike Holmes, Mithras, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege.

2/15/2002 Matt: Literati - A game of big guns and rogue literary characters.
How to explain this one? It's like blade runner, only the PCs get to hunt down rogue literary characters, brought into the real world by misuse of A Quantum Fiction…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Matt, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon, Manu, joe_llama, GMSkarka, Joe Murphy (Broin), Jason L Blair, GB Steve, Zak Arntson.

2/15/2002 Ron Edwards: New game from Adept Press: Trollbabe
Hi there, I wrote 'nother role-playing game, working title: Trollbabe. Like Elfs, it's light fantasy, but it's not satirical. Here are some excerpts, which explain about 20% of the system/idea.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ron Edwards, Bailywolf, contracycle, Clinton R. Nixon, Adam, Manu, Dav, lumpley, BPetroff93.

2/14/2002 Mithras: Egypt Needs Characters (and a few mechanics)
Hi all, I've been sketching out more ideas for this Ancient Egyptian game, a game that's going to focus on trying to maintain the eternal balance and the power of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mithras, lumpley, Paul Czege, Epoch, Mike Holmes, Blake Hutchins, contracycle, amiel, Mytholder, Le Joueur, Valamir.

2/14/2002 Mike Holmes: Narrativist Spies
Well, BW, here's your chance. I can't think of a Narrativist game that does traditional spies. Oh, sure, EV, would work, but might not generate the right mood for some.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, lumpley, Ron Edwards, Mithras, Bailywolf.

2/11/2002 furashgf: Player Directorial Stance in Rules or Ad Hoc?
I was enjoying Jared's new OCTANE rpg, and noticed (obvious to everyone else) that players get directorial power based on rules w/ in the system. Elsewhere, people seem to say…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: furashgf, Ron Edwards, efindel.

2/6/2002 Epoch: More of the Same
My fanatical groupies (yeah, right), will notice that this is a concept that I've approached over and over again, looking for a good way to do it. This time, I'm…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Epoch, Tim Denee.

2/4/2002 Paul Czege: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil Font...
...is now available for download. Intended to aid in the creation of dice for the game, it provides five fabulous icons (World, Flesh, Devil, and plus and minus symbols in…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Paul Czege, Joe Murphy (Broin), hardcoremoose, lumpley, Ben Morgan, James V. West.

2/2/2002 Zak Arntson: Divine Right - Harlekin-Maus Monthly
Okay, I've put up February's game: Divine Right. It was originally about exorcists, but then the basic Premise, "What would you sacrifice to save another," kept sticking in my…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Zak Arntson, Ron Edwards, Fabrice G..

2/1/2002 amiel: Narrativist Wargames Part the Second
Okay, after taking some of your thoughts into consideration: Everyone makes decisions regarding base setting together, or the GM just makes it up. Faction/State generation: Write a 50-100 word description…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: amiel, Ron Edwards, Mithras.

2/1/2002 Le Joueur: Scattershot (only the mechanics) is Here!
After many private requests for a 'mechanics-only' version of Scattershot, without all the presumptuous design-speak, I have finally cobbled one together. (I bet you were wondering where I had disappeared…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Le Joueur.

1/31/2002 lumpley: Another Stab at Narrativist Vampires
Okay Ron, I'll bite. (Ha ha ho. I slay me.) We use violence to protect ourselves from intimacy. Make up a vampire. I'd go with text about how old you…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: lumpley, Bailywolf, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Tim Denee, Mithras.

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In Indie Game Design

2/22/2002 Mike Holmes: Mesopotamia Game
[quote]...Also, maybe we are thoroughly hijacking this thread and need a new one. [/quote] You were very right about the hijacking, so, here we are. [quote] I would be concerned…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, amiel, Mithras, contracycle, Valamir, Ron Edwards.

2/22/2002 Ron Edwards: More fun with Trollbabe
Hello, Here are some more notions about Trollbabe. The biggest unit of play is "the Adventure," which is like a short story. It contains Scenes within it, and Scenes contain…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ron Edwards.

2/22/2002 Clinton R. Nixon: There and Back: a meta-system
A couple of months ago, I created a quick meta-system in these forums as a response to the Cheating Death thread in Indie Game Design. The goal was to provide…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Clinton R. Nixon, Emily Care, Kenway, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

2/22/2002 Gordon C. Landis: System for multiple-roll scenes (and more)
A thread over in the Random Order Creations forum ("When Heroes Fail", http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1451) triggered me to write up a quick and rough summary of what I'm working on at the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, hardcoremoose, Bankuei, Joe Murphy (Broin).

2/23/2002 mearls: Hardcore Gamist Design
I'm thinking of putting together what I think would qualify as a relentlessly gamist design. I don't even think it qualifies as an RPG, but we'll see. Here are a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: mearls, Valamir, Joe Murphy (Broin), Mike Holmes, Ben Morgan.

2/24/2002 James V. West: Trollbabe- the feminine touch
I was just thinking...Trollbabe is the first rpg I've ever seen that actually limits you to one gender. So this seems to be a game that's all about girl power,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: James V. West, Valamir, Ben Morgan, Tim Denee, Dav, Ron Edwards.

2/24/2002 Tim Denee: Junk it!
Yeah! My website is up! Things I'd like comments on: The website's ability to function as a place to put my games, and as a website generally. It's my first…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Tim Denee, Matt, sdemory.

2/25/2002 Paul Czege: two WYRD proposals
Hey Scott, I've been thinking a lot about how I might modify the mechanics for WYRD subsequent to our session on Friday. But before I get into that, maybe I…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Paul Czege, Valamir, hardcoremoose, Jared A. Sorensen, Matt Gwinn, Mike Holmes, Silent Tamatama.

2/26/2002 Steve Dustin: Narrativist scenario-scene system
Thought I'd run this through the collective brain trust here, to see if it's worth a reaction. It's the barebones of a system idea I'm working on now, that is…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Steve Dustin.

2/26/2002 Mario: Secret & Lies
Well I decided to take the plunge and create a game of my own. Here are some of the initial ideas. Setting: My first thoughts were of a day after…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mario, Valamir, Dav, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, unodiablo.

2/26/2002 Mithras: Simple Magic - Egypt Style
As a direct progession of my musings on an Egyptian game, I'd like some impressions of my concept for a number lite magic system. Now, magic has never been my…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mithras, contracycle, Stivven.

2/27/2002 Matt Snyder: Dust Devils: Old West RPG
This industry’s not big enough for the lot of us, but I’ve saddled up my latest game design attempt anyway. This one’ll be cheaper than a penny ante, but hopefully…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Matt Snyder, Bailywolf, Tim Denee, Matt Gwinn, unodiablo, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Valamir.

2/27/2002 Galfraxas: I just thought I'd share with the peoples...
Hey Forge Citizens, I just thought I'd share with everybody my little announcement. Two of my games, The Blackest Sea and The Fifth Trait, are now available on my website…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Galfraxas, Zak Arntson.

2/27/2002 Matt Snyder: Dust Devils PDF download
Hey, folks, I got motivated today and put together a nice playtest version of the Dust Devil rules I posted below. Please visit my website to download the file. Sorry…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Matt Snyder, Zak Arntson.

2/28/2002 Matt Snyder: Dust Devils "revised" PDF download
Hey, folks, just wanted to let everyone know that I've uploaded a revised version of the Dust Devils playtest PDF. It now includes rules for Stakes, damage recovery and also…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Matt Snyder, Bailywolf, furashgf, Balbinus, Andrew Martin.

2/28/2002 Tim Denee: The poker mechanic
Mike suggested in another thread using the actual game of poker as a mechanic. I myself have been thinking about this a lot lately. The way I see it, it…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Tim Denee.

3/2/2002 Kenway: Fully Mutable Characters Idea
I've attempted to make and customize some rpgs, but I've come across several snags. Character creation was alot faster than any store-bought game I've run, but it wasn't fast enough!…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Kenway, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

3/4/2002 Ron Edwards: No Premise: Dust Devils, The World The Flesh and the Devil
Hello, I want to discuss a problem I'm seeing with a lot of would-be Narrativist game design at the Forge. It is the problem of No Premise. It's most serious…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ron Edwards, Jason L Blair, jburneko, Valamir, Matt Snyder, erithromycin, Matt Gwinn, hardcoremoose, Bailywolf, Gordon C. Landis, Bankuei, Paul Czege.

3/5/2002 Voidwalker: Anybody Got Any News on VoidScape?
Ya see, I have a vested interest in whether VoidScape is still in the capable hands of Tom McGrenery, or if I have to take over, so as to ensure…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Voidwalker, Jared A. Sorensen.

3/5/2002 lumpley: Making The World, the Flesh, and the Devil Drive a Premise
I love The World, the Flesh, and the Devil with all my heart, but I'm going to express it by waylaying it, clubbing it, and dragging it off to do…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: lumpley, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis, Paul Czege.

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