Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

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 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 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 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.

6/3/2004 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.

6/3/2004 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 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.

6/2/2004 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.

6/1/2004 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.

6/1/2004 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 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.

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.

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.

5/25/2004 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.

5/29/2004 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.

5/28/2004 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.

5/28/2004 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 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.

5/27/2004 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.

5/26/2004 Paul Czege: conspiracies
So... I've been thinking a lot lately about roleplaying that uses conspiracies as the basis of antagonism. And I'm interested in what folks might have to say on the following:Years…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, ethan_greer, Jere, talysman, contracycle, komradebob, Ben Morgan, Jack Spencer Jr, Praetor Judis, Doctor Xero, neelk, jeffd.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

6/5/2004 Dumirik: How to GM?
My RPG NightWorld (and someone please help me think up a better name!) which is currently in the middle of a re-write needs a section on GMing. What would the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dumirik, Drew Stevens, Pagrin, Garbanzo, SlurpeeMoney, Andrew Morris, M. J. Young, Gully Foyle, MarktheAnimator.

6/6/2004 Jason Petrasko: Heart, Fire, and Grace
Over the past say year or so, I've moved away from making RPGs that try and simulate the workings of the world. What seems like years ago I made the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jason Petrasko, timfire.

6/6/2004 tj333: Winning without killing
I am working on an anime based game and I want the character to be able to win and lose fights without anyone dieing. In many of the animes I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: tj333, Bankuei, simon_hibbs, Noon, anonymouse, SlurpeeMoney, M. J. Young, timfire, Doctor Xero.

6/9/2004 Pigfrenzy: Advice on implementation to a newbie (longish)
Forgive me if I've posted this to the wrong section, I wasn't sure if this section or Actual Play would be more appropriate. First off, I've been lurking here off…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Pigfrenzy, Mike Holmes, Trevis Martin.

6/9/2004 urizenhh: Styles/Motivations (does this belong here or gns theory?)
Hi there! Because of my groups problems I want to create a questionaire (sp?) for my players to figure out what they/we really want from playing. I was thinking about…
In RPG Theory
Participants: urizenhh, Rob Carriere, Valamir, Bankuei, John Kim.

6/9/2004 beingfrank: Downtime, or skipping time
I'm wondering what purposes people see being served by dowtime, or skipped time in a game. By that I mean deciding 'we're going to advance the game world by 6…
In RPG Theory
Participants: beingfrank, Doctor Xero, Ron Edwards, ethan_greer, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young.

6/10/2004 Halzebier: I have no words but I must communicate
Our D&D group had a brainstorming session for our next campaign tonight. I found it an exercise in frustration, as I was unable to get my ideas across. The others…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Halzebier, ethan_greer, Noon, xiombarg, Ron Edwards, trechriron, bcook1971, M. J. Young, Trevis Martin, Tobias, Matt Snyder, Emily Care, Henri, Caldis.

6/13/2004 sirogit: Thoughts on poor taste.
I've been thinking over an idea in my head and wondering if it is's good taste. Not that it's offensive, because I am most sure that it would offend somebody.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sirogit, Eero Tuovinen, Henri, ethan_greer, Tomas HVM, Andrew Morris, MarktheAnimator, lumpley, Doctor Xero, M. J. Young.

6/14/2004 ADGBoss: The Campaign Season: Length of Intended Play Affecting Desig
Hello everyone, back again after being away from the Forge and design for a few months. Re to the old timers and hello to everyone new. As usual (for good…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ADGBoss, Valamir, M. J. Young, neelk, Ben Morgan, Nicolas Crost, Andrew Norris, Mike Holmes.

6/16/2004 Tobias: Find the right color for humanist game
All, You may or may not be aware of a game I'm designing, Your Gods are Dead. Related to that game are a bunch of questions I've been having in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tobias, Jasper, JamesSterrett, Eero Tuovinen, Paul Czege, simon_hibbs, Mike Holmes, contracycle.

6/16/2004 Jonathan Walton: "Fine Art" Column Wraps at RPGnet
Hey Folks, The final piece of my 9-article series was just posted on RPGnet, though it won't be announced on the main page until Thursday. It details my conclusion from…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, Tobias, chadu, Valamir, neelk.

6/17/2004 quozl: "Switch!"
In this thread, the "switch" is mentioned. How would go about implementing it in a game?
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, Paganini, Noon, aplath, Luke Sineath, M. J. Young.

6/17/2004 TonyLB: Trust and Communication
Folks asked me to repost this somewhere that it could be discussed without interrupting the discussion it sprung from. Would that I had anything more to add at the moment,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, beingfrank, captain_bateson.

6/18/2004 Doctor Xero: the value or uselessness of a game master
In every gaming group, there is always an authority which reinforces the Social Contract and concomitant Creative Agendae, accepted Player Stance(s), game mechanics, etc. Sometimes that authority is placed primarily…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Doctor Xero, Ron Edwards, Henri, Noon, dewey, contracycle, pete_darby, Ravien, Marco, M. J. Young, clehrich, Negilent.

6/18/2004 Noon: Getting a system out of your system?
This link is a thread about making the same character over and over, because certain things with that character just aren't resolved. I was wondering if this could also apply…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Mojo, Decurio, Ron Edwards.

6/18/2004 Ville Takanen: Story roles
Story roles I have been using a mechanic I generally call "roles" in my bi-monthly (tabletop) fantasy role playing game. The idea behind the mechanic is that every character has…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ville Takanen, Eero Tuovinen, Jonathan Walton, Ron Edwards, neelk, M. J. Young.

6/18/2004 matthijs: Looking for inspiration for rule-less character creation
Hi! I'm trying to design a system for chargen that doesn't use rules. That is, there should be as little as possible use of numbers, readily defined traits etc. In…
In RPG Theory
Participants: matthijs, contracycle, Thor, aplath, timfire, buggy, HMT, xiombarg, Mike Holmes, Sydney Freedberg, M. J. Young, Peter Hollinghurst, Moah, simon_hibbs, komradebob.

6/19/2004 Pagrin: About the players.
While I read a lot here about characters and rules and GMing, I haven't noticed anything about the different types of player. Amoungst my friends and the locals here we…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Pagrin, M. J. Young, John Kim, Henri, Trevis Martin, WyldKarde, timfire, captain_bateson, Doctor Xero, Ron Edwards.

6/19/2004 Solo: Mass combats in gamebooks
I've recently refreshed my memories from Sagard the Barberian gamebook series. The thing that strikes me most in this series is the way of solving mass combats. It's simple, effective…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Solo, M. J. Young, Pagrin, Noon, Andrew Morris, Mark D. Eddy, simon_hibbs, timfire, Valamir, orbsmatt, dewey, b_bankhead, Precious Villain.

6/19/2004 Moah: GM-less games
Hi, I'm not sure this is the right forum for this question, hopefully I am not breaching any etiquette. I've been wondering if any of you have taken the narrativist…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Moah, TonyLB, Ravien, Jonathan Walton, Bob McNamee, Ron Edwards, sirogit, M. J. Young.

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