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In RPG Theory

4/22/2004 Asrogoth: God Games -- Who, What, Where, When????
[i]I wasn't sure where to put this post, but I believe this is the correct place.[/i] For those of you who have read my submission to the Son of Iron…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Asrogoth, Paul Czege, anonymouse, greyorm, pete_darby, Simon W, Jere, Marhault, M. J. Young, contracycle.

4/22/2004 Jonathan Walton: Fine Art #7: Chris Lehrich's "Ritual Discourse"
Hey Folks, The newest article in my "Fine Art of Roleplaying" column is finally up, after a two week break. We decided to abandon the article I was going to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, Cemendur, contracycle.

4/22/2004 Paka: Kickers and Spiritual Attributes - Brothers? Cousins?
I've been re-reading Sorcerer, getting ready to play after I put together a group in the coming weeks. The last game I've been running lately has been TROS, and the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paka, Ron Edwards, Akamaru.

4/21/2004 Zoetrope10: Plausible NPCs
A while back I was going to post a query seeking views as to how to improve the plausibility of NPC's and their behaviours. Rather than posting such a query…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Zoetrope10, BPetroff93, orbsmatt.

4/20/2004 Mike Holmes: Iron Game Chef - AAR
I'd like to conduct an after action review of the contest. I'll personally chime in with more notes later, but I wanted to start out with Eero's thoughts so that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, C. Edwards, Dav, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards, quozl, Walt Freitag, talysman, timfire, Lxndr.

4/20/2004 SrGrvsaLot: Unworkable Concepts
Is there such a thing as a concept that absolutely cannot be made into a playable game? If so, has anyone run into such an animal? If these unworkable concepts…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SrGrvsaLot, quozl, Jack Aidley, Valamir, Ron Edwards, simon_hibbs, Shreyas Sampat, timfire, Gaerik, Gelasma, Mark Johnson, Cemendur, M. J. Young.

4/20/2004 SrGrvsaLot: Rethinking Randomness
Randomness, in the form of die rolls, is an essential element of many games, but is it necessary? Can it be eliminated? Can a game be fun and exciting without…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SrGrvsaLot, Mark Johnson, talysman, M. J. Young, Ben Lehman, Domhnall, pete_darby, Jonathan Walton, simon_hibbs, orbsmatt, Noon, TonyLB, lumpley.

4/19/2004 Valamir: Lessons from Iron Chef
Eero asked such a great question at the end of the Son of Iron Chef thread that I took the liberty of transposing it over here where it won't get…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, Jonathan Walton, quozl, hanschristianandersen, Shreyas Sampat, talysman, Bill_White, John Kim, Eero Tuovinen, Emily Care, Bob McNamee, Dav, Jack Spencer Jr, Asrogoth, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, JamesSterrett, Zak Arntson, John Harper, Noon, Lxndr, Jack Aidley, dalek_of_god, Alan.

4/19/2004 Gaerik: Earth of the Fourth Sun
I was just wondering if anyone had actually tried out The Earth of the Fourth Sun rpg by Thomas Slaughter. It looked interesting. He's got a pdf playtest version of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gaerik, M. J. Young.

4/19/2004 Ben Lehman: System Typing
I have an idea. Now, as I begin to lay this idea out, I think people are going to instantly relate it to another set of three categories which have…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen, BPetroff93, lumpley, John Kim, cruciel, FredGarber, M. J. Young, Emily Care.

4/18/2004 drimitz: Getting started.
Greetings all, I am new here and I have a very simple question, though I expect the answers to be complex. What is the best way to get started in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: drimitz, Domhnall, Ben Lehman, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, ethan_greer.

4/17/2004 The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: A Categorization of Magic Systems (long)
This is a first stab at trying to map out the possible metaphysics of magic in gaming. This list is in no way normative and if anyone comes up with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: The Fiendish Dr. Samsara, Ravien, M. J. Young, greyorm, Ben Lehman, simon_hibbs, FredGarber, clehrich, BPetroff93, redwalker.

4/16/2004 Malechi: Sci-Fi Narr-based with some healthy doses of Situation
Straight to the point.. we're looking for a low $ investment sci-fi rpg. It needn't be an actual Sci-Fi rpg but should definitely allow for some nice background setting, situation…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Malechi, Dev, Lxndr, b_bankhead.

4/16/2004 eyebeams: The Feel of the Dice
One thing that's often ignored in game design is what players are actually doing when they roll the dice (or draw cards, or what have you). I think this resolves…
In RPG Theory
Participants: eyebeams, talysman, Dr. Velocity, Eero Tuovinen, Noon, Seth L. Blumberg, BPetroff93, Lxndr, Jack Spencer Jr, Bankuei, Ron Edwards, cruciel, Aman the Rejected.

4/16/2004 rylen dreskin: Canonical Texts
Hey, I've been reading the HeroQuest pages. From there I hunted terms like "bangs," "narrativist," and "social contract" to this forum. Hope I'm in the right place. I've found some…
In RPG Theory
Participants: rylen dreskin, Alan.

4/16/2004 Noon: Group player ownership of all PC's
This is from 'Players never have a "free choice"' http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=10707&start=15&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= No character is the sole ownership of any one player. I would agree with this part anyway.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Rob Carriere, FredGarber, BPetroff93, Ron Edwards, Valamir, SrGrvsaLot, John Kim, pete_darby, contracycle, Mike Holmes, Eero Tuovinen, Jonathan Walton, C. Edwards, beingfrank, Halzebier.

4/15/2004 orbsmatt: Bangs
At the risk of sounding ignorant, what are bangs?
In RPG Theory
Participants: orbsmatt, Mike Holmes.

4/14/2004 Palaskar: The next stages in RPG evolution? (longish)
After reading the post on game evolution at rpg-create, I've tried to extrapolate the next stages in RPG evolution. I would appreciate it if people could critique and help me…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Palaskar.

4/13/2004 Tomas HVM: Force, feeding techniques and scene framing
Walt Freitag wrote: I'm one of the Forge's most outspoken advocates and (if I do say so myself) innovative practitioners of high-Force techniques. I'd love to participate in discussion such…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tomas HVM, M. J. Young, Walt Freitag, Eero Tuovinen, Bankuei, hanschristianandersen.

4/13/2004 Zak Arntson: Design - What does the player/character/gm do?
Just in case someone isn't familiar with it, I'll open with one of the standard questions you give a designer: The idea's great and all, but what do you do?…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Zak Arntson, Astrivian.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

4/24/2004 lpsmith: The RPG Basement
So, Christopher Lehrich's 'Ritual' essay, and Jonathan Walton's essay at RPG.net about it made me think about the RPG basement, to wit, the collection of tools and pieces we've collected…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lpsmith.

4/25/2004 cruciel: I Don't Know, Just 'Cause
So, I'm having a conversation with one of our players. We're talking about how his run is going so far, and I ask him, "Why do you like that?" I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: cruciel, C. Edwards, Noon, greyorm, Bankuei, beingfrank, clehrich.

4/25/2004 Jonathan Walton: The Handbook Project: Give Us a Hand
Many of you may remember this thread from a month ago, when I proposed a "Player's Guide" that actually explained how to roleplay: i.e. put forth the theories and practices…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, neelk, Ben Lehman, clehrich, Emily Care, Trevis Martin.

4/25/2004 anonymouse: sketched mechanic: choice of words = Influencing Force
It would basically work like this: * Write up a list of the forces that are in work in your game. * Assign a few words, concepts, phrases, et cetera…
In RPG Theory
Participants: anonymouse, TonyLB, Noon, C. Edwards, Shreyas Sampat.

4/26/2004 bcook1971: Force and Vice
It’s my understanding that the use of Force is dysfunctional by definition. I wanted to get some feedback as to the dividing line between proper GM play and the use…
In RPG Theory
Participants: bcook1971, clehrich, Ron Edwards.

4/26/2004 Simon W: BBC ACKNOWLEDGES 30 YEARS OF D&D
I know this does not really belong here but we wouldn't all be designing games if it wasn't for D&D, so I thought this might be of passing interest to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Simon W, Mike Holmes, pete_darby.

4/26/2004 xiombarg: metaplot footnote 2
Well, as of today I feel that someone was listening to my my rant. I mean, the cynical part of me "knows" that the main White Wolf people aren't reading…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, DannyK, Matt, eyebeams.

4/27/2004 Sydney Freedberg: Fear & confusion - do all RPG combat systems miss the po
[Pull pin; count one, two, throw; and...] Proposition: Pretty much every RPG fails to capture the true essence of combat, which is terror, confusion, and chaos. This goes double for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sydney Freedberg, Valamir, lumpley, Bob McNamee, TonyLB, Noon, Jack Spencer Jr, cruciel, Andrew Martin, neelk, timfire, Sean, Maarzan, Ron Edwards, Marhault, Mike Holmes, Artanis, talysman, M. J. Young, Walt Freitag, Vaxalon1, Itse.

4/28/2004 ghostwolf: Sci-Fi Heartbreakers?
I just finished reading Ron's Fantasy Heartbreakers articles (again) and noticed this time around at the end of the second article that he mentioned Sci-Fi heartbreakers. Being a huge fan…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ghostwolf, Ron Edwards, Shreyas Sampat, John Kim, Paka, AdAstraGames, Rob Carriere, Matt, simon_hibbs.

4/28/2004 Emiricol: Is this scene framing? Force? Narr? Silly newbie post.
Hello. Let me preface this by stating that I'm new to these forums, and most of these concepts are new to me. I read about them and recognize that I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emiricol, timfire, Walt Freitag, Wolfen, TonyLB, M. J. Young, Noon, Ron Edwards.

4/28/2004 lumpley: A Theoretical Combat System
Straight out of Fear & confusion, and bearing in mind that somewhere out in the world there's someone who wants me to write a game called Two Clicks... Imagine a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, cruciel, Noon, Mike Holmes, simon_hibbs, ethan_greer, Sydney Freedberg, Andrew Norris, John Harper, Christopher Weeks.

4/29/2004 The Fiendish Dr. Samsara: Agrippa's magic
This thread is a spin-off from http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=10832&sid=c2012109810037019721824e309b2b7f There was a lot of discussion there about magical theory in the early modern period, specifically H.C. Agrippa’s work, and the disticntions of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: The Fiendish Dr. Samsara, clehrich, Jere, John Kim, simon_hibbs, redwalker, neelk, M. J. Young, talysman, contracycle, Piers Brown, Alan McVey, Matt, BPetroff93.

4/29/2004 Noon: A technique for Rifts rules/balance drift
Recently I've found myself thinking of enjoying Rifts again (probably something on AIM). Naturally this brings up the issue of house rules (at least it does for me) that are…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Mike Holmes, ScottM, timfire, Andrew Martin.

5/1/2004 Samael: Need a little help working out the math...
...for the resolution mechanic I'm using. Here's the basics. Skills (worst to best) defined as: Horrendous, d4 Terrible, d6 Poor, d8 Mediocre, d10 Fair, d12 Good, d16 Great, d20 Superb,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Samael, Maarzan, Andrew Martin, M. J. Young, Hunter Logan, semprebon, Shadetree, Walt Freitag.

5/1/2004 Jack Spencer Jr: Forget Immersion: Sympathy vs Empathy
I was going to put this in the Deep Immesion thread, but I decided it branches off enough to be it's own thread. Personally, I think immersion and the way…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Christopher Kubasik, Ian Charvill, cruciel, Emily Care, John Kim, Valamir.

5/2/2004 Ravien: Conceptual Combat Mechanics
I know this topic probably won't be particularly interesting, what with Lumpley's proposition of psychological combat, but this mechanic came to me last night and I had to write it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ravien, Akamaru, TonyLB, Sydney Freedberg, Mulciber, M. J. Young, Hereward The Wake, Olibarro.

5/5/2004 hanschristianandersen: [IGC:Snow Day] Postmodern? Huh?
First of, another hearty round of applause for Mike Holmes for staging and judging the Iron Game Chef contest! from Mike's review of my IGC game "Snow Day": Who…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hanschristianandersen, clehrich, John Kim, Peter Hollinghurst, talysman, Mike Holmes.

5/5/2004 quozl: Semi-RPGs?
[quote="Mike Holmes"]First, a lot of these games are very close to the line between RPG and something else - something like a boardgame. That is, sure one can narrate events…
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, Jack Aidley, orbsmatt, Walt Freitag, Mike Holmes, Sean, Dev, dalek_of_god, pete_darby, contracycle, Nathan P., John Kim, Lxndr, Rich Forest, M. J. Young.

5/5/2004 chadu: Dead Inside Playtest, Gender Ratios, Mild Analysis
(see also my livejournal post at http://www.livejournal.com/users/chadu/119466.html) Recently, I had a very pleasant phone conversation with Paul Czege, author of My Life With Master. Amongst numerous threads of discussion re:…
In RPG Theory
Participants: chadu, Mike Holmes, TonyLB, Ravien, Noon, xiombarg, Dev, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, John Kim, Christopher Weeks.

5/6/2004 shehee: Target Number Theory
First I'd like to explain how I understand target numbers for challenges, then I'd like to ask a question about target numbers and probability. As I understand it, the difficulty…
In RPG Theory
Participants: shehee, Rob Carriere, Akamaru, Tim C Koppang.

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