Previous Topics
In Indie Game Design

4/6/2005 daemonchild: Idea for a game (Occupation)
Hi, (Thanks to Mike Holmes for recommending me to post here.) I have an idea for a game I'd like to write. Here are the specifics: GAME QUESTION: An alien…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: daemonchild, kenjib, Andrew Morris, Emily Care, Mike Holmes.

4/5/2005 Shreyas Sampat: Locating Cruft in Mridangam
So, I've been working on this game Mridangam. (Sorry about linking; it's just not the same without the inline images and so forth.) Anyway, I'm looking at the section called…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Shreyas Sampat.

4/4/2005 Kilor Di: [Terrae Novae] Minion Classes
Normally, I would post the link for my notes on Terrae Novae, but those notes are so out of date it's almost funny. Almost. Minion classes (classes that either summon,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Kilor Di, tj333, Bob the Fighter.

4/2/2005 ChrisJaxn: [whispers] resolution mechanic
I've mentioned my game here before, but only briefly, so I'll recap, and then ask my question. Whispers is a game where the players take control of pieces of some…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: ChrisJaxn, xenopulse.

4/1/2005 Emily Care: rpgs being designed by women
Hey there, I just took a gander at John Kim's bigass list of games and looking back year by year I was struck by how few women's names I saw.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Emily Care, Green, Bardsandsages, Vaxalon, Frank T, daMoose_Neo, Margaret, Zahtevnik, Kat Miller, Paul Czege, Meguey, Paul's Girl, itesser, daemonchild, MatrixGamer, nikola.

4/1/2005 Domhnall: Harnmaster Review?
I have searched and cannot find anyone from the Forge doing a review of Harnmaster. This game sounds like my own in spirit and I wanted to hear its pros…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Domhnall, klapton, daMoose_Neo, ethan_greer, Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Eero Tuovinen.

4/1/2005 avidreader: [The Last Word]: An Experiment in Letter-Tile RPG Mechanics
The idea for the mechanics of The Last Word have been percolating at the back of my mind since November 2003. I was working on a collection of word games,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: avidreader, Paul Czege, FzGhouL.

3/31/2005 Bill_White: [Ganakagok]When Morning Comes
So I've been working on Ganakagok, where people play tribal hunters on a fantastical iceberg-island as a thousand year long night comes to its end. I'm pretty satisfied with how…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Bill_White, Andrew Morris, TonyLB, Mike Holmes.

3/31/2005 Sydney Freedberg: [GroupDesign: Schrodinger's War] Doug's Draft Rules
Doug Ruff has put a pleasantly hefty set of draft rules online. There are some interesting convergences with Tobias's draft -- notably strongly structured collaborative setting design -- and some…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Sydney Freedberg, TonyLB, Doug Ruff, Tobias, Andrew Morris.

3/30/2005 brianhon: [EXPLOSION RPG beta] initial ideas
Hi, I've been lurking on the forge for some time now and I've finally decided to post. The EXPLOSION RPG is my second idea for an rpg, and probably the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: brianhon, Andrew Morris, JMendes.

3/30/2005 Jerry D. Grayson: GODSEND Agenda (Character progression system)
Hello all, I lurk here a lot but never post but lately I’ve been beating my head against the wall. Some of you may be familiar with my game GODSEND…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jerry D. Grayson, Andy Kitkowski, Sydney Freedberg, gorckat.

3/30/2005 MikeSands: Rewarding in-character socialising
Background: I'm writing a game of naval adventure stories, inspired by Hornblower, Aubrey & Maturin, Honor Harrington etc. After the first playtest session, the biggest hole in the game so…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: MikeSands, TonyLB, Bailywolf, Doehring, Valamir, Shreyas Sampat.

3/29/2005 Kilor Di: [Terrae Novae] Latin Lessons
I'm currently converting my notes on Terrae Novae into a manuscript so I can try to get it published. I would like to know if anyone knows of a website…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Kilor Di, Andrew Morris, Selene Tan, 1of3.

3/29/2005 matthijs: [electrified spikes through the soles of your feet] V. 0
[i]The world is hard and cruel. God hates you, and wants to destroy everything you love. When it's your turn to be God, you can get revenge on the world.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: matthijs, Mike Holmes, xenopulse, xiombarg, Valamir, daMoose_Neo, Bill Masek.

3/29/2005 heironymous: [Seven Leagues (a fantasy RPG of Faerie)] Please comment
I have posted a working draft of my RPG, Seven Leagues, here: http://www.malcontentgames.com/7leagues.pdf Please feel free to download the file (1.7 MB, 20 pages, includes most of the first third…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: heironymous, Jasper, kenjib, Selene Tan, ironick, Ron Edwards, Bill Masek, Bob the Fighter, James Holloway, berginyon.

3/28/2005 Andrew Morris: [Shadows & Light] Question on handling time
I am designing a LARP system, along with a friend. We have been working on this for a while now, and even though our setting and color are pretty well…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Andrew Morris, ironick, TonyLB, Sydney Freedberg.

3/27/2005 TonyLB: [Dulcimer Hall] Another shot at Resolution
Okay, first go read the Hybrid Resolution document to see where I'm starting from. Now go read Crypto-romance Character Development to see what I want to achieve with…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: TonyLB, MikeSands, Doug Ruff.

3/25/2005 Trevis Martin: [Revisionist History] New draft needs critical eyes.
Hi folks. Its me again. I've revised my game Revisionist History and I'd like some feedback on it. Its a game written for online play like Neel Krishnaswami's Lexicon. It…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Trevis Martin, Tobias.

3/24/2005 TonyLB: [Dulcimer Hall] Crypto-romance Character Development
Dulcimer Hall characters are super-spies of some stripe. So as I look at character development (i.e. how the character evolves over time as a result of their choices, successes and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: TonyLB, Troy_Costisick, Bill_White, Doug Ruff, Garbanzo, Shreyas Sampat.

3/24/2005 taalyn: [Crux] conflict system - need some help, please
hey all, I've been working diligently on Crux, and have finalized (well, nearly so) the conflict system. It's based on extended combat in HeroQuest (thanks Mike!), with a couple of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: taalyn.

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Subsequent Topics
In Indie Game Design

4/7/2005 dysjunct: [My Life With Bigotry] first look!
[size=18px]My Life With Bigotry[/size] (inspired by the gay-marriage threads in the Birthday forum) [u][b]Introduction[/b][/u] Like MLWM, this game is about the tragic things people do to each other in pursuit…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: dysjunct, Bob the Fighter, Asrogoth, Bill Masek, Frank T, Mike Holmes.

4/7/2005 TonyLB: [TNaRPG] Dibs! I called it!
Inspired by this thread over on RPG.net, I have thought of a wonderful puff-piece of a game to write: That's Not an RPG!, the RPG I think the way to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: TonyLB, Gaerik, daMoose_Neo, Aman the Rejected, Selene Tan, Brendan, Mike Holmes, MatrixGamer, killacozzy.

4/7/2005 Jasper: [Trials Distilled] Describing credibility
I'm still hacking away at the text of Trials of the Grail: Distilled (go to the link in my sig if you want to read about it) and I'd appreciate…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jasper, Garbanzo.

4/8/2005 Bob the Fighter: Damage Control: When Crime-Fighting Gets Messy (long)
Hello! I'm working on an RPG called Damage Control. The theme of the game is exploring personal responsibility and the repercussions of one's actions. The mechanics support this by creating…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Bob the Fighter, TonyLB, MatrixGamer, daMoose_Neo.

4/8/2005 xenopulse: Markers, Currency, Character Ownership [long]
I am designing a system for a court intrigue game. However, it could probably be used for pretty much anything. I'd like to get some feedback on the basic idea…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xenopulse, Bill Masek, SPDuke.

4/8/2005 Jason Mical: [Crescent City - Tarot RPG] First Draft - Comments Please
One of the things that has always left me a little dissatisfied with RPGs is that the random element of rolling dice, flipping coins, using random number tables (thank you,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jason Mical, jasonm, Bill Masek, Paul Czege.

4/9/2005 ExternalStudiosLLC: [Dreamscape] mechanics in action
The Dreamscape development saga... err, cycle, continues! For those of you who are keeping track, Dreamscape is a card game introduced some time ago in this post. It's a cooperative…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: ExternalStudiosLLC, Victor Gijsbers.

4/10/2005 daMoose_Neo: One system, many ways to play?
Noticed the variations on MlwM and suddenly didn't feel so bad about my wandering mind. My Imp Game (http://www.neoproductions.net/imp/) is wrapping up and my mind continues to wander, but I'm…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: daMoose_Neo, Jason L Blair, Bankuei.

4/11/2005 Rorimack: [Restaurant of the Jade Dragon] - my first try at design
Restaurant of the Jade Dragon -or Uncle Jün-Li’s cooking exam- 0. Introduction So one day I realized that I have written an rpg. An rpg I didn’t planned, or _wanted_…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Rorimack, Bill Masek, daMoose_Neo.

4/13/2005 Glendon: If you could have any power...
Hi, I'm new to the forum (so glad it exists!), so I hope this is the right section. Feel free to move the thread if I screwed up. :O I've…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Glendon, nikola, Troy_Costisick, xenopulse, FzGhouL, daMoose_Neo, groundhog.

4/13/2005 b_bankhead: Design notes for a new Lovecraftian Rpg
[b]Notes Toward the Design of a New Lovecraftian RPG[/b] This Design precis is for Eldritch Tales, a new Lovecraftian story game that I am writing and is an outgrowth of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: b_bankhead, Rob MacDougall, Paul Czege, Technocrat13, GB Steve, MikeSands, daMoose_Neo, Simon Kamber, Bill Masek.

4/14/2005 Doug Ruff: [Brag, Boast and Screw] Playtest draft ready for critique
In the recent Forge Birthday calebrations, I made a couple of promises. One of these was to design and release at least two free PDF games before the next Forge…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Doug Ruff, MatrixGamer, Tobias.

4/15/2005 Emily Care: [shooting the moon] of mechanisms and fairy tales
The second of my games I got to playtest this weekend, thanks to Ben Lehman's help, was Shooting the Moon which is very much in development. This is the very…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Emily Care, Andrew Morris, MatrixGamer.

4/16/2005 daMoose_Neo: [Hunters: The Lost Colonies] Revival & Card playing
Multi-purpose thread! 1) Riviving my notes and design on my CCG/RPG Hybred 'Hunters', also found at these threads: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=13683 - Hunters base rules (Important read) http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=13858 - "Distress Signal" Introductory…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: daMoose_Neo, ChrisJaxn, contracycle, Doug Ruff.

4/15/2005 Gurnard: Thread Necromancy
I've been thinking about this game idea for a while, and after talking it over with a friend I have a suggestion. Instead of a single goal for each protagonist…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Gurnard, Ron Edwards, Blankshield.

4/16/2005 Scrubilicous: Name for "Fight Scenes" or "Dramatic Moments&
Hi, I'm working on a game. The game has slightly different rules for combat and certain kinds of magic. Conceptually, its a bit like the "Brining Down the Pain" system…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Scrubilicous, Bill Masek, contracycle, Troy_Costisick.

4/17/2005 b_bankhead: A Home for Horror: Locale and Situation in Eldritch Tales
HP Lovecraft set his fiction in an evironment increasing familiarity,body of lore, imagery and organization created a multlayered tapestrie that was a whole greater than the sum of the stories.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: b_bankhead, Ron Edwards, Darcy Burgess, MatrixGamer.

4/18/2005 TonyLB: [Dulcimer Hall] Fallout Scene Mechanics
So close... so very, very close. Sydney sent me a brilliant email a little while ago (yay Sydney!) in which he pointed out that you could (for some purposes) modify…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: TonyLB, Doug Ruff.

4/18/2005 Rodger Thorm: A new Spy Game
Spy Game We are working on a new Spy Game that has several conventions of RPG gaming reversed. The primary question at this point is how to set limits on…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Rodger Thorm, Brendan, Bill Masek, MatrixGamer, Simon W, gains.

4/19/2005 Andrew Morris: [Shadows & Light] Preventing follow-up conflicts?
For a LARP system I’m working on, I want to promote fast conflict resolution (discussed here). One of the points raised was how to handle follow-up conflicts. For example,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Andrew Morris, xenopulse, Bill Masek.

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