Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

3/16/2004 Christopher Weeks: Questions about a kind of fortune mechanic
Are there games in which the player has a pool of dice from which she must allocate some number for each task resolution roll and the pool regenerates through some…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christopher Weeks, Ron Edwards.

3/15/2004 Walt Freitag: On the term "Interactive": A Rant
On this thread Doctor Xero wrote: But in the name of sanity, please make a comment which has nothing to do with the use of the term "interactive" in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Walt Freitag, Valamir, John Kim, clehrich, Doctor Xero, Alan, Tomas HVM, M. J. Young, Christopher Kubasik, Mike Holmes, Caldis.

3/15/2004 xiombarg: too many choices
Check out this article: http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?040301crbo_books I think the thesis of the book reviewed, if true, has some interesting implications for RPG design. For one thing, it certainly explains why a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Nuadha, Scourge108, pete_darby, Thierry Michel, Ron Edwards, Doctor Xero, simon_hibbs, willofgod, clehrich, Walt Freitag, Bankuei, M. J. Young, Lorenzo Rubbo-Ferraro.

3/14/2004 taalyn: Myth of Opposed Rolls in action
This may be more appropriate for the design forum, since I'm talking about a specific manifestation, but I am open to discussing the relevance in other systems as well. So,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: taalyn, talysman, Halzebier, Mike Holmes.

3/14/2004 komradebob: Does anyone remember divided dice rolls?
The thread on Call of Cthulhu firepower reminded me of an old Dragon magazine article about divided dice rolls. This article must have been at least ten or more years…
In RPG Theory
Participants: komradebob, Walt Freitag, montag, Jeph, Christopher Weeks, Mike Holmes.

3/14/2004 Noon: PC motivation/character and inadvertant GM authorship of it
Hey all, This is a quick one to address GM techniques like 'keeping em poor keeps em motivated'. Not the stingy part of it, but that identification of motivation and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, komradebob, CRScafidi, Bankuei, Silmenume, John Kim, M. J. Young, Scourge108, simon_hibbs, Blankshield, Mike Holmes, Storn, Doctor Xero, Tomas HVM, age_of_dissent, contracycle, karolusb, Rexfelis, TonyLB.

3/14/2004 ShaneNINE: Fate & Exalted
[quote]Zaal sayeth[/quote] I'm eager to run ... Exalted (with the goal of making a mythic story) games with Fate rules. [/quote] Me too! Well, sort of. What I'd like to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ShaneNINE.

3/14/2004 Jack Spencer Jr: mystery
Originally posted in Why so little Scenario Oriented Design? Do the "Host a Murder Mystery" games provide an example of a single-adventure RPG product & rules? (I've never seen…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Asrogoth, Noon, komradebob, M. J. Young, Jack Aidley, Ian Charvill.

3/12/2004 Scourge108: Blue-booking
While I've tried just about every other roleplaying-related activity, I've never actually participated in a game that involved blue-booking. I'd like to know more about what this is like. How…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Scourge108, Ben Lehman, contracycle, Ron Edwards, ScottM, Valamir, Dev, HMT, John Kim, madelf, Alan, M. J. Young, xiombarg, Blankshield.

3/12/2004 anonymouse: [design sketch] apocalypse now
This is a design sketch. I don't have any mechanics in mind right now, just have a stumbling block at the moment. so, I was watching this special on International…
In RPG Theory
Participants: anonymouse, erithromycin.

3/12/2004 Noon: Wanna look at some gamist design bits of mine? (long)
I've got a few questions on a gamist system that I'm putting together (One I mentioned I was going to do in another post). I'll start with its goals, to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Mike Holmes, Harrek, Ron Edwards.

3/11/2004 Grex: IRC bots, Shakespeare, and relationship maps
I'm not quite sure if this has any practical application to RPGs, but it is an interesting read anyway: http://www.jibble.org/shakespeare/ Perhaps this PieSpy bot could be modified and put to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Grex, contracycle, pete_darby.

3/11/2004 Storn: Characters that Click! Or don't.
No. I'm not talking about HeroClix. And I'm fairly new to these boards, only been here a few days. But I'm struck by the wonderful deconstruction and re-construction of gaming…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Storn, Mike Holmes, John Kim, Valamir, RDU Neil, Alan, aplath, Nuadha.

3/11/2004 b_bankhead: Hot Lead and Hypocrisy: a rant on guns in Call of Cthulhu
Note: This article is an extension of the threads, Drifting to R'lyeh and Cthulhu's clues. It will be best understood by reading those posts One of the most nagging anomalies…
In RPG Theory
Participants: b_bankhead, Valamir, Noon, Andrew Norris, Ian Charvill, Itse, GreatWolf, John Kim, madelf, Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, Trevis Martin, Ole, komradebob, Halzebier, simon_hibbs, Mike Holmes, pete_darby, GB Steve, ChefKyle, Russell Impagliazzo, James Holloway, JDJarvis, DannyK, M. J. Young, Storn, Castellanus, contracycle, CPXB.

3/10/2004 thelopez: Elves Comparative Study
It would be interesting to do an average height, weight and age comparison for Elves from a variety of FRPGs or similar styled RPGs as Brian asked for in his…
In RPG Theory
Participants: thelopez, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Scourge108, Ben Morgan, Tavish, Harrek, Valamir, HMT.

3/10/2004 taalyn: Systematic challenge, or "How the party met an untimely
One of the things that really impressed me with Dunjon was the method for gauging how many or what level to make NPCs so that they would be a consistent…
In RPG Theory
Participants: taalyn, M. J. Young.

3/10/2004 Asrogoth: Streamlining Design
Since I opened the can of worms regarding "Streamlining the Creative Process" (see this thread http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=9943) and have accepted the challenge of making my "vision" come to life, I am…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Asrogoth, thelopez, lumpley, Mike Holmes, andy, Ole, timfire.

3/9/2004 John Kim: Got my Solmukohta Book
I just wanted to say that I got my contributor's copy of the book "Beyond Role and Play" that Jonathan Walton mentioned in this thread. Thus far, I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, Jonathan Walton.

3/9/2004 RPGuru59: Diceless Combat Resolution
I am designing a storytelling game called SAGE (Story Advanced Game Engine) that uses diceless combat resolution. I use a point based system, allowing the characters to give away points…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RPGuru59, M. J. Young, Michael S. Miller, RaconteurX, simon_hibbs, Lxndr, Ron Edwards.

3/9/2004 thelopez: Dynamic Character Missions
In the MORPG that I want to design I want to include missions that characters can attempt. There are several problems, IMHO, with the mission systems that have been implemented…
In RPG Theory
Participants: thelopez, Peter Nordstrand, Christopher Weeks, Mike Holmes, Tavish, Doctor Xero.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

3/17/2004 ShaneNINE: [dice pools] - swapping 10 dice for Y # of successes
Say you have a game that uses d10 dice pools and a fixed target number of 7 ::cough::exalted::cough:: Now suppose you had a rule for large die pools that basically…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ShaneNINE, Valamir, HMT, M. J. Young, Christopher Weeks, Lxndr, Thierry Michel, John Kim, Jaik, JamesSterrett.

3/17/2004 Lorenzo Rubbo-Ferraro: Relationships
Hi all. Inspired by recent readings of HeroQuest and old posts about relationship maps at the Forge I came up with this model. Relationships are a big part of HQ…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Lorenzo Rubbo-Ferraro.

3/17/2004 pete_darby: What is the text in rp theory?
Well, a couple of tar-baby threads are rolling around, and they seem to be waiting for repsonse from various people before continuing, so I'm going to muddy the waters by…
In RPG Theory
Participants: pete_darby, Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, Christopher Kubasik, John Kim, Valamir, Walt Freitag, clehrich, Gordon C. Landis, Caldis, Jonathan Walton.

3/18/2004 Christopher Weeks: RPGs for kids
Howdy all, Over in This thread we started discussing kid-friendly RPGs. The topic is threatening to dunk that thread, so I'm bringing it over here. There was also a thread…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christopher Weeks, Michael S. Miller, Ron Edwards, Noon, M. J. Young, quozl, daMoose_Neo, Jack Spencer Jr, Ben Lehman.

3/18/2004 quozl: Why not freeform?
I was going to go write a long post comparing different levels of rules and their effects on play but I thought I'd ask this question first. Why not just…
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, Valamir, RDU Neil, Jonathan Walton, coxcomb, Michael S. Miller, lumpley, Emily Care, contracycle, Noon, BPetroff93, Wolfen, Bluve Oak, Scourge108, neelk, Nuadha, Doctor Xero, Jack Spencer Jr.

3/18/2004 clehrich: Not Lectures on Theory [LONG!]
There are several threads running concurrently that I want to respond to, and I have an awful lot to say, so I thought it would be best as its own…
In RPG Theory
Participants: clehrich, Eero Tuovinen, pete_darby, james_west, montag, cruciel, Rob Carriere, Doctor Xero, Itse.

3/18/2004 quozl: Why have no rules?
As a companion thread to the Why Not Freeform? thread, I thought I'd ask what are the benefits to not having rules? Now, this doesn't mean no rules at all…
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, RDU Neil, lumpley, Scourge108, Jonathan Walton, Emily Care, Valamir, talysman, Noon, Zathreyel, M. J. Young, Tomas HVM, Jack Aidley, Thierry Michel, pete_darby.

3/19/2004 Zathreyel: "Epic" and "Saga" roleplaying
okay, over on the Actual Play board there's been a thead runnning discussing the use of a relationship map in Epic role-playing, and it just kinda started sprawling beyond…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Zathreyel, orbsmatt, Gaerik, Valamir, Paganini, taalyn, John Kim, Sean, komradebob, Caldis, M. J. Young, Ian Charvill, contracycle, Vodrilus, Rexfelis, montag, Matt Wilson, aplath, FredGarber.

3/19/2004 Dylan Horrocks: Essay on RPGs, comics, world-building etc.
Hi everyone. I'm delurking to say that I've posted a long essay on my website, called 'The Perfect Planet: Comics, Games & World-Building.' It talks about all kinds of stuff,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dylan Horrocks.

3/19/2004 Sean: Kewl Assassin Powerz
OK, here's a thread which is asking for signifiers which only signify other signifiers, but not at the metatextual level others are pursuing; rather, I want to see if anyone…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sean, Storn, Eero Tuovinen, Valamir, cruciel, anonymouse, Trevis Martin, Halzebier, BPetroff93, Noon, M. J. Young.

3/20/2004 erithromycin: 'Not Here'?
A recent thread in Site Discussion got me wondering about the whole nature of roleplaying, and the particular biases that being online (and where one is online) bring to discussions…
In RPG Theory
Participants: erithromycin, james_west, Ron Edwards, John Kim.

3/20/2004 daMoose_Neo: How much "Stuff" do you generate?
Just a wondering post, if thats all right. I was wondering: Just how much "stuff" does your average writer here generate? I've got a WAY hyper-active mind and wandering around…
In RPG Theory
Participants: daMoose_Neo, M. J. Young, ChefKyle, brainwipe, clehrich, Matt Wilson, orbsmatt.

3/20/2004 beingfrank: R-maps as tools for players
I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but it seemed the best fit. It can always be moved if I'm wrong. I'm pretty new so…
In RPG Theory
Participants: beingfrank, clehrich, Trevis Martin, John Burdick, M. J. Young.

3/20/2004 Green: epic, myth, and legend in roleplaying
I was taking a look at this thread because one of my current RPG writing projects is a "sourcebook" I am tentatively calling Kathanaksaya: Middle-earth. The approach I am taking…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Green, ChefKyle.

3/21/2004 Tomas HVM: Method and setting
In another thread I have stated that I do not find the words "system" and "rules" adequate as descriptions of the way we play roleplaying games. They are used in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tomas HVM, BPetroff93, M. J. Young, Eero Tuovinen.

3/22/2004 Jonathan Walton: Fine Art #6 on RPGnet: Uncertainty
The new article is up now, though it hasn't yet been announced to the masses. Definitely connected with some of the ideas that have been bouncing around the theory forum…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, Tomas HVM, Ian Charvill, Sean, Ron Edwards.

3/22/2004 Doctor Xero: Vision of Interaction and Vision of Independence examined
Here's the theory : When two friends sit down at a chess board and decide to express their creativity and explore their cunning by playing a game of chess, each…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Doctor Xero, montag, John Kim, Alan, cruciel, Gordon C. Landis, pete_darby, clehrich.

3/22/2004 coxcomb: Investment for GM in player-directed play
So let's assume that a game has set up a large degree of player-control over play. What I'd like to discuss is how the GM operates in actual play. Players…
In RPG Theory
Participants: coxcomb, Alan.

3/23/2004 matthijs: Session transcript for purpose of analysis
Hi all! I haven't seen this question posted before: Has anyone ever tried to take notes during a role-playing session, focusing on crowd response/audience reaction? An example of a transcript…
In RPG Theory
Participants: matthijs, Jack Spencer Jr, clehrich, orbsmatt, John Kim, Rich Forest, Gordon C. Landis, Noon.

3/23/2004 Valamir: Trust and the Boink moment
So as not to clutter this cool glorantha thread Why is that such a "boink" insight for gamers, as opposed to the "duh"-obvious requirement for everyone else, for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, clehrich, ethan_greer, pete_darby, Matt Wilson, Blankshield, Bankuei, Christopher Kubasik, Itse, M. J. Young, Noon.

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