Previous Topics
In Indie Game Design

12/18/2002 Matt Wilson: Peregrine character story arc
I've been batting around this idea for a while now, and it's starting to make some sense to me. The motivation for it is a desire to formalize what I…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Matt Wilson, Henry Fitch, Peregrine, Emily Care.

12/17/2002 Mark Johnson: Tarot Card Based Game
Hello all, I just typed "tarot" into the search here at the Forge and it shot out over 50 threads with the occurance of the word. Obviously, the idea of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mark Johnson, Jack Spencer Jr, Paul Czege, Michael S. Miller, Bob McNamee, Shreyas Sampat, clehrich, Unsane.

12/16/2002 Green: Neverending Story RPG
It may be a silly move, but I've been inspired by a book I finished reading recently called The Neverending Story byMichael Ende. The themes, plot, and setting call to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Green, Shreyas Sampat, Clinton R. Nixon.

12/15/2002 Michael S. Miller: Incarnadine: Shakespearean RPG: 1st look (long)
Okay, I’m working on a new game (who isn’t) and I’d love some feedback. The game is called Incarnadine: Role-Playing in a Shakespearean Style and, as you might gather, is…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Michael S. Miller, Mark Johnson, Paul Czege, Shreyas Sampat, Andrew Martin.

12/15/2002 Nathan: a WILD topic : the WILD rpg
Hallo, An unexpected surprise! I was working on my home network today, and I plugged in an old hard drive into an old Powermac 7200 to setup as a internet…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Nathan, Shreyas Sampat.

12/15/2002 Shreyas Sampat: The Calligrapher's Sword
Today, I present you with a fresh plate of sacred steak - internal consistency. The Calligrapher's Sword is a game about people in a dreamworld, something like a combination of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Wormwood, Henry Fitch, Jonathan Walton, Peregrine, Ted E. Childers, kaworuiskool.

12/14/2002 Clinton R. Nixon: Topic for dissection: How do you design a game?
Up-front, I want to state this is a different type of thread. Anyone is free to contribute, of course, but I'm going to ask that only people who have actually…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Clinton R. Nixon, DaR, Jack Spencer Jr, M. J. Young, Nathan, ethan_greer, Shreyas Sampat, gentrification, Wormwood, kamikaze, Michael S. Miller, GreatWolf, Peregrine, Andrew Martin, Eddy Fate, Mike Holmes.

12/13/2002 Jonathan Walton: The Wars of the Roses
This is another Ma Jiang-based system, but in a completely different style than Shreyas' Refreshing Rain. While I really like Shreyas' design, I wanted a system that was more closely…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jonathan Walton, Emily Care, Shreyas Sampat.

12/13/2002 Andrew Martin: Mecha
I happened to suddenly design this mecha game over on RPG.net for a Anime Manga Mecha parody setting. The author of the setting doesn't like it so far, preferring instead…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Andrew Martin.

12/13/2002 Bankuei: Main Void Main
Hey all, Here's a fun little game I came up with over the course of the last two weeks or so. It's what I call a Stealth Narrativist game, filled…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Bankuei, Shreyas Sampat, Emily Care.

12/12/2002 Skadedyr: Do part-OGC games count as indie?
I'm currently designing a game based on the d20 SRD, wich will be 100% Open Game Content. However, all the parts I don't write myself will be copyright WotC. Does…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Skadedyr, Andrew Martin, Clinton R. Nixon, Valamir.

12/12/2002 Green: been a long time...here it is, the drama system
Not too long ago, I posted here about an RPG setting that was centered around fairy tales. After much thought and tweaking, I decided to expand the game to more…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Green.

12/10/2002 Clinton R. Nixon: Riptide and odd questions
I'm designing the 'curriculum' system for my new game, Riptide, right now. To answer these questions, all you need to know is that it's set in high school. Ok. Question…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Clinton R. Nixon, Matt Wilson, Wormwood, Jared A. Sorensen, quozl, damion, Walt Freitag, cruciel, kamikaze, Ziriel, Shreyas Sampat, Jack Spencer Jr, Mark Johnson, contracycle.

12/10/2002 Shreyas Sampat: Refreshing Rain: The Relationship Sky
[url=http://www.geocities.com/torchbearer_rpg/rain.html]Refreshing Rain[/url] uses a board as a representation of the relationships of various characters in-game. Very simply, a single piece in the board represents one entity. That entity is antagonistic…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Jonathan Walton, Kuma.

12/9/2002 Jonathan Walton: Pre-Game Fortune = Fortuneless Gaming?
I think I just stumbled across something really cool. I was working on a set of diceless rules for Continuum, while still trying to reflect the original mechanics and allowing…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jonathan Walton, xiombarg, Le Joueur, damion, Mike Holmes, talysman, Paul Czege, Wormwood.

12/8/2002 Shreyas Sampat: Refreshing Rain: Wuxia Pathos and Astrology
[i]The water barely shimmered as Li Mu Bai ran across its surface. Jen followed, marring the lake with expanding rings.[/i] Wuxia is not about the kung fu. It's about the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Tim Denee, Jonathan Walton, Emily Care, Thor Olavsrud.

12/6/2002 Eddy Fate: Mechanic: Craps
I've been bouncing around a modern day mobster RPG for a few weeks now. I was trying for some sort of resolution mechanic that is quick, relatively balanced, and evokes…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Eddy Fate, Walt Freitag.

12/5/2002 xiombarg: Unsung: Pick Me Apart! Fnord! And, oh, a bit about cops.
Okay, I'm waiting on some research materials so I can do some serious playtesting of Unsung with the idea of adding a couple of settings to it and turning it…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Mike Holmes, Tony Irwin.

12/5/2002 Gwen: A Political Space Roleplaying Game
This is an idea I had earlier this year. (I know I have a lot of ideas, but I have RPG ADD.) I really liked the idea, but I got…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Gwen, Emily Care, Mike Holmes, bluegargantua, damion, Bogie_71, Kuma.

12/4/2002 Jonathan Walton: PC Worship of the Metagame
Yes, this is me playing with IC-OOC distictions again. I'll get sick of this eventually, don't worry. In comparison with the metagame powers of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jonathan Walton, szilard, lumpley, Alcar.

<< more previous topics

Subsequent Topics
In Indie Game Design

12/19/2002 Peregrine: Wayfarer's Song: The Duergar kithbook is done and posted...
Hi all, I was hoping to get some feedback on the latest addition to Wayfarer's Song. For those who are not familiar with the game, it is Saxon-Norse, folklorish, magical,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Peregrine, Shreyas Sampat.

12/21/2002 Shreyas Sampat: Refreshing Rain Combat System
Hey, all. I did some thinking, and this is how the RR combat system might look: The three Ma Jiang suits, Bamboo, Circles, and Characters, represent respectively Attacks, Defences, and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Emily Care, Jonathan Walton.

12/22/2002 Alan: RPG Proposal: The Outward Urge
Outward Urge - an RPG Proposal *Premise* The Outward Urge explores the tension between pioneers on the expanding edge of human interstellar expansion. Dynamics form between the entrenched core and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Alan, Emily Care, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, Mike Holmes.

12/24/2002 Green: ex-mas (Santa Claus is Coming to Town; he should stay there)
Premise: The players portray the elves of the North Pole in the midsts of a civil war, being either elves loyal to Santa or elves whose allegiance lie with the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Green, xiombarg, lumpley, Henry Fitch, Ron Edwards.

12/25/2002 signoftheserpent: a pair of fantastic ideas
Here are some ideas i am tryting to develop; some feedback would be appreciated. 1. Martian Book fo the Dead - a steampunk horror game. the premise revolves around the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: signoftheserpent, Andrew Martin, Roy, jrients, Ron Edwards, Shreyas Sampat, Drew Stevens, szilard, ADGConscience, Gordon C. Landis, Bankuei.

12/26/2002 Drew Stevens: Predeterminism vs Free Will - a random smattering of thought
A bit of theme- Imagine that God has a perfect plan, and it's your job to defend it. That's what you've trained for- you're on of the best of the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Drew Stevens, Shreyas Sampat, Michael S. Miller, szilard, Jonathan Walton.

12/26/2002 szilard: Standard Deviants
Okay... I've been mulling around a few thoughts on a potential new game. This is still in the "random bits rolling around in my head" phase. It started with a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: szilard, lumpley, bluegargantua, Mike Holmes, Shreyas Sampat, ethan_greer, richks, clehrich.

12/27/2002 mark2v: Looking for critisism
Hello: Im new to the forge but not to writing games. I have writen a game titled Light the game is availible for free, in Pdf format on my web…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: mark2v, Jack Spencer Jr, Andrew Martin.

12/29/2002 Eric J.: 8-Bit theater: Freeform?
I've been toying with this idea for a while. Of my favorite websights, there are three that imediatelley come to mind. The Forge is first, followed by www.reallifecomics.com and the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Eric J., Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, Andrew Martin, szilard, WRPIgeek.

12/30/2002 ejh: There and Back (split)
hmm... both "ohne" and the RPG referred to here by Clinton are no longer apparent on the web... no, wait, Clinton's RPG is still there as "There and Back," just…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: ejh, Ron Edwards.

12/30/2002 Shreyas Sampat: Mridangam: The Calligrapher's Sword in another Medium
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4584]The Calligrapher's Sword[/url] is a game set in a rather rarefied medium. I thought to condense it into something more concrete. So, we have [b]Mridangam[/b], the game of Vedic superheroes.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Drew Stevens, greyorm, Mike Holmes.

1/1/2003 Jack Spencer Jr: Truckers
I had recently gotten a weird idea of an RPG based on the folklore of truckers and the CB-era and such. I haven't read up on my road lore, but…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Eric J., Maurice Forrester.

1/2/2003 Andy Kitkowski: Indie RPG Awards: Theme Feedback
Around October I proposed the Indie RPG Awards: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3774 (please direct any comments or questions on the methodology of awarding people, how the award nomination/giving process will run, etc to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Andy Kitkowski, Henry Fitch, J B Bell, Eric J., ethan_greer, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, Steve Dustin, bluegargantua, GreatWolf, Jason L Blair, Enoch, John Wick, Ian Freeman, Rod Phillips, Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen.

1/3/2003 Jonathan Walton: Vespertine: Sin & Teenagers
Originally, this game concept was called "Vesperteen," a pun on the word "vespertine" (meaning "having to do with night"). However, I soon discovered that very few people were familiar with…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Jonathan Walton, szilard, Paul Czege, ethan_greer, Andrew Martin, Drew Stevens, talysman, Shreyas Sampat.

1/4/2003 Drew Stevens: A mechanic idea for dealing with potential
So, I idly mentioned that I really liked the idea of characters not all being equal, even with unlimited experience. And then, a fairly simply means of creating such a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Drew Stevens, Andrew Martin, ethan_greer, M. J. Young, contracycle, Jamie, James V. West, Michael S. Miller, Ron Edwards, Valamir, Paganini.

1/5/2003 greyorm: Who Gets Narrative Power?
In designing Orx I hadn't given much thought to the idea of who narrated being important; however, during the playtest sessions I ran, I found that who had the rights…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: greyorm, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, Paganini, Le Joueur, Bob McNamee.

1/5/2003 contracycle: micro-system: initiative
Another little sub-system, one which might conceivebaly be used for some extant games in place of their initiative mechanics. Everybody gets a card, one per combatant or bystander or Other…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: contracycle, Henry Fitch, Rich Forest.

1/5/2003 signoftheserpent: Pulp SF system ideas
For the past several months i have accumulated 50 odd pages of background for a cliffhanger style pulp (a word in danger of being overused) SF setting in the mould…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: signoftheserpent.

1/6/2003 Tony Irwin: Theme-Chaser: PDF
ohmigod its finally here!!!! I've provided a link to the PDF version of the extremely sketchy/preview/drawing-board file for the Theme-Chaser game I've been working on. I've been stuffing this down…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Tony Irwin, Drew Stevens, Shreyas Sampat.

1/8/2003 xiombarg: Unsung and Jared
Okay, in preparation to actually running it in a couple of weeks, I've re-organized and updated Unsung: http://ivanhoeunbound.com/unsung.html I've moved some of the sections around so they make more sense,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Jared A. Sorensen.

more subsequent topics >>