Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

5/25/2004 Albert the Absentminded: Referee, Protagonist, Antagonist
Okay, in traditional rpgs the guy who runs the antagonists is also the rules referee. How about making the antagonist another type of PC? Biggest problem I can see is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Albert the Absentminded, Eric J., Noon, SlurpeeMoney, Doctor Xero, M. J. Young, bcook1971, Henri.

5/25/2004 Drew Stevens: Handling action at a distance
Okay. A large portion of a game of intrigue is action at a distance- using your web of contacts and influences, allies and minions, to accomplish goals (wither arbitrary or…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Drew Stevens, John Harper, Shreyas Sampat, M. J. Young.

5/25/2004 Sydney Freedberg: Emotion mechanics and losing control of your character
Over in the "Fear and Confusion" thread (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=121164#121164), a discussion on how to include morale effects, e.g. fight or flight reactions, in combat systems touched on a wider issue. The…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sydney Freedberg, montag, pete_darby, Sean, xiombarg, simon_hibbs, Shreyas Sampat, Eric J., Noon, Dauntless, Valamir, Henri, neelk, Paul Watson, M. J. Young, Autocrat, John Kim, Doctor Xero, calebros, Tomas HVM.

5/24/2004 SlurpeeMoney: Yet Another Fantasy Game
I will not claim for even a moment to know the full scope and breadth of our great hobby, but it seems to me that very few games, if any…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SlurpeeMoney, b_bankhead, beingfrank, simon_hibbs.

5/24/2004 fruitbatinshades: What are the GMs responsibilities?
When discussusing our system, we keep coming back to the same point. How do you ensure everyone is playing the same game? When you're going to reward "thinking of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: fruitbatinshades, Matt, Ron Edwards, Noon, Doctor Xero.

5/24/2004 rylen dreskin: Looking for narrative adventures and tips on writing them
Hey, I'm putting this one in HQ and RPG Theory. I like what I've read about narrative games. But I'm not entirely sure how to put one together. I've read…
In RPG Theory
Participants: rylen dreskin, contracycle, pete_darby, John Kim, Sean, Bankuei.

5/23/2004 SlurpeeMoney: The "Art" of Magic (A posted brainstorm)
Treating magic as an art, rather than a science, comes with a few unique considerations, I think. Magic in role-playing has almost always been treated as, at least, an equal…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SlurpeeMoney, madelf, M. J. Young, John Kim, simon_hibbs, Valamir, Noon, ejh, Gully Foyle, contracycle, smokewolf, kenjib, Doctor Xero, Praetor Judis, Damballa, Anonyma.

5/23/2004 Ravien: Conceptual Psionic Mechanics
Forge Notebook Entry #3: I was just sitting here thinking, and the thought popped into my head about making mechanics for psionic characters that reflected their strengths in different areas…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ravien, WyldKarde.

5/23/2004 dragongrace: Whodunit?
I am looking to see if anyone has created a Mystery Style 'Who-Dun-It' game. Any method of play. Either a single controlling element to determine the 'mystery' or a group…
In RPG Theory
Participants: dragongrace, Garbanzo, wakingjohn, Simon W.

5/21/2004 SlurpeeMoney: Finding Your Voice
Over the course of the last few days, I've been talking to my group about kicking our games up a notch or two. By this, I mean utilizing more of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SlurpeeMoney, Paul Czege, wicked_knight, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Peter Hollinghurst.

5/21/2004 SlurpeeMoney: Gender Based vs. Gender Biased
I have not read the whole of the discussion on gender based rules creation, but it seems to me that the point in basing attribute decisions on gender is being…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SlurpeeMoney, Ravien, contracycle, Emily Care, Andrew Morris, Ron Edwards, KingstonC, John Kim, M. J. Young, Noon, Jonathan Walton, Halzebier, wicked_knight, Rob Carriere, iambenlehman, simon_hibbs, Eric J., Doctor Xero, Erling Rognli, komradebob, jrs, Andrew Norris, greedo1379.

5/20/2004 JavaApp: Looking for Ron Edwards' comments about Whispering Vault
Hello, This may be the incorrect forum to post in, but I am looking for an article by Ron Edwards which comments on Whispering Vault. I saw it mentioned on…
In RPG Theory
Participants: JavaApp, Ron Edwards, jrs, Valamir.

5/19/2004 Emily Care: teaching theory
[quote="Mike Holmes"]So, at this point, I'm thinking we're back to talking about what makes something accessible. Anybody got any links on how to write less "theory" and more "instruction" oriented…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emily Care.

5/17/2004 DannyK: Setting vs. Situation (long)
OK, after reading lots of Sorcerer and thinking about setting up a game of my own, it occurred to me that there's a tricky distinction between Setting and Situation that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: DannyK, Hunter Logan, List, simon_hibbs, M. J. Young.

5/17/2004 Autocrat: Setting...insight....
OK, OK.......people have tossed this one back and forth, too and fro since the dawn of RPG's........ right then, as far as I have been reading it... there are those…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Autocrat, fruitbatinshades, Matt, Ravien, M. J. Young, hanschristianandersen, wicked_knight, Zak Arntson, clehrich, lumpley, timfire, Henri, simon_hibbs, Mike Holmes, Tomas HVM, Tobias.

5/16/2004 Ravien: Kill Bill Inspired Mechanics
Forge Notebook Entry #2: Kill Bill Inspired Mechanics. Yeah, saw Kill Bill the other day, kicked myself for not seeing it at the cinemas, then immediately went and saw Kill…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ravien, Valamir, anonymouse, Ben Morgan, Andrew Martin, Rob Carriere, John Harper, Trevis Martin, Andrew Morris, dalek_of_god, M. J. Young, frictorious, Sledgeman, Dumirik.

5/15/2004 sirogit: Hunter Logan: "Dice-driven railroading"?
In that Bleeding Edge thread, Hunter Logan said Parts of it are flat-out fucking brilliant. But other parts are not quite so brilliant, and it seems to me that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sirogit, Hunter Logan, greyorm, Ian Charvill, Trevis Martin, Ron Edwards.

5/15/2004 bcook1971: Force and Pressing for Action
I've been thinking about Force a bit. I understand it to be a technique by which the GM makes significant decisions for the PCs. It implies the concept of Input…
In RPG Theory
Participants: bcook1971, Ian Charvill, contracycle, Noon, M. J. Young.

5/15/2004 Asrogoth: The Bleeding Edge
In the thread Perceptions of Civility at the Forge, the discussion turned to the bland-ness of "recent" rpg design, especially here at the Forge. If considering the rpg…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Asrogoth, Jonathan Walton, Noon, Valamir, Hunter Logan, Jack Spencer Jr, greyorm, M. J. Young, pete_darby, Ron Edwards.

5/15/2004 Noon: The game of social contract forging
From the 'A Hard Look at Dungeons and Dragons' article No wonder people either idealize or vilify their youthful experiences playing D&D. On the one hand, it was you and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, bcook1971, Asrogoth, clehrich, Ron Edwards.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

5/27/2004 Noon: Rank; different chains of command
A traditional view on rank in RPG's (though probably not common) is that the GM is top dog and says what goes and the players are policed by him, the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, neelk, M. J. Young.

5/28/2004 JamesDJIII: Helpful and Enjoyable? Bah humbug!
I was re-reading the responses to this thread http://indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11255. Ron, you said: ...One of the topics I'm forever maundering about concerns the plain-old-people dialogue that surrounds or grounds a role-playing…
In RPG Theory
Participants: JamesDJIII, greyorm, pete_darby, Ron Edwards, montag, Noon, bcook1971, Ravien, ethan_greer, iambenlehman, Cemendur, Jack Spencer Jr, clehrich, John Kim, Valamir, neelk, xiombarg, contracycle.

5/28/2004 sirogit: Group social dynamics similarity to sexual social dynamics?
It's been floating around in my head for awhile that many of the game groups, paticularly ones which emphasis social basis rather than creative, operate in social dynamics similar to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sirogit, lumpley, Noon, Ravien, Bankuei, Doctor Xero.

5/28/2004 sirogit: Creating the sensation of hope.
It occurs to me that a sensation I never here people trying to create in an RPG session is "hope", and yet I find it a very essential part of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sirogit, montag, Paul Czege, neelk, Doctor Xero, SlurpeeMoney, Andrew Martin, TonyLB.

5/29/2004 HyperactiveBuffalo: an idea for a D20 system modification. [long]
hello. this is my first time posting on The Forge, though I have been reading it for about 6 months. my name is Justin, but Hyper will work just as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: HyperactiveBuffalo.

5/25/2004 Dauntless: Fear & confusion (split)
There was an excellent game called Phoenix Command that was put out in 1986 by Leading Edge games. Basically it was a replacement firearms combat system for other roleplaying games…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dauntless, Noon, Sydney Freedberg, bcook1971, Tomas HVM, Ron Edwards.

5/31/2004 timfire: One Player, Many GM's...
Back in the Forge Birthday Forum, Ben Lehman brought up this idea for an rpg, in the "Tell me about... your unfinished game ideas" thread: Prophet -- A single-player…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, anonymouse.

5/31/2004 timfire: lumpley's design theory
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11256&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0]In another thread,[/url] lumpley said: [quote="lumpley"]I've got a theory. There's Setting, System, Character, Situation and Color, right? I think that you can start a game as soon as you've nailed…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Jack Spencer Jr, sirogit, Jeph, ethan_greer, Bankuei, lumpley, M. J. Young, pete_darby, quozl, John Kim, teucer, Henri, Blankshield.

6/1/2004 Pagrin: An interesting thing happen on the way to CoC
I recently GMed a game of Call of C for some friends of mind. The game was written by two other people who had hosted it at a recent Con.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Pagrin, wyrm, Bob Goat, Valamir, Nathan, DrStalker, Doctor Xero.

6/1/2004 Moah: Improving Scales
*grumbles about computer crashing while typing long posts* Hi all, I’m posting here about a game I am currently game mastering again, and that I love. However, there are a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Moah, clehrich, M. J. Young, Mike Holmes.

6/1/2004 Tomas HVM: Challenge: comedy
I've succeeded with the design of a funny RPG once. And once I managed to make a comedy out of a game that was not meant to be funny. However;…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tomas HVM, M. J. Young, clehrich, pete_darby, Mike Holmes, xiombarg, ethan_greer, iambenlehman, Praetor Judis, Pagrin.

6/2/2004 teucer: Clueless about Bangs
So I've been lurking on the Forge for a long time. I lurk because I like what comes out of the discussions here, but I have trouble getting involved in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: teucer, Trevis Martin, Doctor Xero, TonyLB, Ron Edwards, Valamir, Zak Arntson, Andrew Norris, Bankuei, Roy.

6/3/2004 simon_hibbs: Reverse Engineering world from game mechanics
This comment got me thinking about something I've considered before and discussed with my gaming friends, but not discussed here. This is a seperate issue to the topic te quote…
In RPG Theory
Participants: simon_hibbs, xiombarg, Loki, iambenlehman, ethan_greer, beingfrank, HMT, Doctor Xero, Noon, lumpley, M. J. Young, contracycle, Dauntless.

6/3/2004 RobNJ: Doing away with XP
Fiction (be it plays, movies, books or TV) is not typified by people always becoming more powerful. Depending on the genre, they may even degrade over time. Instead of people…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RobNJ, smokewolf, Michael S. Miller, Zak Arntson, Doctor Xero, Jack Spencer Jr, Valamir, Sparky, Noon, Jack Aidley, Thor, M. J. Young, xiombarg, 16CBH, Gelasma, tiago.rodrigues, Jonathan Walton, Tomas HVM, WyldKarde, Tobias, Garbanzo, Alf_the_Often_Incorrect, Andrew Morris, LoreTG.

6/3/2004 Drew Stevens: Planning Political Plots
Still working on Touche, the game of courtly intrigue and such. And, I hope to see a way around another major stumbling block. See, the earliest designs of Touche almost…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Drew Stevens, Praetor Judis, Doctor Xero, HMT, teucer, greedo1379, M. J. Young, contracycle.

6/4/2004 Noon: Gettin' old, tactical to strategic preference
I was wondering about 'old school' type material the other day and the aging gamer. Old school stuff, not to be exact, includes stuff like funky little 'get around behind…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Dauntless, timfire, Sydney Freedberg, NN, simon_hibbs, M. J. Young, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes, greedo1379, Tim Alexander, contracycle.

6/4/2004 SlurpeeMoney: Preaching
I am having a dilema. I am writing a game, and I am not sure just how "preachy" I want it to be. There are aspects of theme that I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SlurpeeMoney, Doctor Xero, M. J. Young, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr, John Kim, simon_hibbs, Ravien, greedo1379, Pigfrenzy, WyldKarde, neelk.

6/4/2004 Dev: Help me drift InSpectres to Space Opera!
Yeah, InSpacers. I had this thought, you see. Firefly inspired, like about 60% of my ideas. A few solid thoughts, and welcome room for some brainstorming. If I'm drifting too…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dev.

6/4/2004 Christopher Weeks: Name Generation
Hi all, I imagine that just about all of us have, at one time or another, invented fictitious linguistic trends with varying degrees of success for our games. We want…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christopher Weeks, Zak Arntson, Andrew Morris, Shreyas Sampat, b_bankhead, Bob McNamee, M. J. Young, greyorm, Pagrin, Tobias, Rob Carriere.

6/4/2004 Thor: How much is enough?
First post. I thought I would start with a question befor hammering you with my wondeful game designs. I have been reading a number of posts lately that got me…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Thor, quozl, Storn, John Kim, Garbanzo, M. J. Young, Michael S. Miller.

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