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In RPG Theory

1/4/2002 furashgf: Cut-Scenes and Narritivist Technique Inventory
There's a good amount of material on starting up a narritivist centered game on the site and, for example, in Ron's book on starting a narritivist game. SOAP gives you…
In RPG Theory
Participants: furashgf, Ron Edwards.

1/3/2002 contracycle: Using Kickers & Bangs
Question: do kickers strinctlyn have to occor BEFORE PLAY BEGINS? Is the kicker necessarily the fist instance of play? I would say not. Working on an experimental scenario, I was…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Paul Czege, jburneko, Ron Edwards, Ben Morgan, hardcoremoose, Mike Holmes, Daredevil.

12/30/2001 contracycle: using R-maps
Hey, I just had a thought about a way to possibly use relationship maps. I'm sitting here with a copy of the L5R GM's survival guide, which includes a breakdown…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Ben Morgan, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis.

12/29/2001 Paganini: Outcomes as Plot Devices
I just read Raven's thread on cinematic results where failure results in a success plus a complication. I agree that *always* succeeding removes real tension from the game. No matter…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini.

12/29/2001 hardcoremoose: The Road Goes Ever On...
Hey guys, I'm sure everyone's aware of the phenomenon in which a random gathering of casual gamers occurs, and with little to no planning, they decide to play a game.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hardcoremoose, James V. West, Joe Murphy (Broin), Jared A. Sorensen, Laurel, Ron Edwards.

12/29/2001 hardcoremoose: Drawing from Experience
This is a companion to the Historical Inaccuracy thread, in the Game Design Forum above. Research is nify, but what about real life experience? Don't novelists always say "write what…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hardcoremoose, Skippy, Ron Edwards, James V. West, Mike Holmes, Osric.

12/28/2001 Paul Czege: on making the same character over and over
Hey, On the A Connecticut Narrativist in King Arthur's Simulation thread in GNS Model Discussion, Skippy wrote: I have a current player who always plays a mage. ALWAYS....Kelly…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, Laurel, Clinton R. Nixon, Mike Holmes, Skippy, Ryan Ary, hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Joe Murphy (Broin), Uncle Dark, Osric, Logan.

12/28/2001 Joe Murphy (Broin): Three-way Plotting in AvP2 (long)
I *think* this is the best forum for this observation. This post will have some spoilers for the AvP2 game. A dear friend gave me a copy of 'Aliens vs…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joe Murphy (Broin), Mike Holmes, Paul Czege, Bankuei, Epoch.

12/28/2001 James V. West: The Fantasy Role-Playing Gamer's Bible
Ok, anyone familiar with this book? Its written by Sean Patrick Fannon, pubished in 1996 by Prima Publishing. THE FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAMER'S BIBLE. I bring this up because I bought…
In RPG Theory
Participants: James V. West, Ron Edwards, jburneko, Jack Spencer Jr, greyorm.

12/27/2001 Bankuei: Suspense in mechanics
I was thinking about game design after playing one of my favorite party/not quite board games…Jenga. For those of you unfamiliar with it, you take a stack of wooden blocks…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bankuei, Mike Holmes, unodiablo, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon, Laurel, contracycle, Mytholder, Epoch, Garbanzo, Osric, Le Joueur, Paul Czege, joshua neff, Ian O'Rourke, woodelf.

12/26/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: Displacement
[quote] dis plas' ment, [i]n.[/i] 6. in psychiatry, the transference of an emotion to a logically inappropriate object. [/quote] This is a little something that's been gnawing away at me…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Marco, Ron Edwards, Skippy, joshua neff, Paul Czege, Mike Holmes.

12/24/2001 Paul Czege: more than mechanics alone
Hey everyone, Recently, Scott Knipe sent me to RPG.net to see a thread entitled "Top 5 Free Rpg's" on which GB Steve made some very nice comments about A…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, Jared A. Sorensen.

12/21/2001 Paul Czege: when the game played isn't the game in print
On the "Gamism In Action or Why I Hate Arts and Crafts" thread in Actual Play, EpochMike wrote: You can also borrow the "And, two years later" technique. It…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, hardcoremoose, contracycle, gentrification, joshua neff, Mike Holmes, unodiablo, Marco, Skippy.

12/20/2001 Joe Murphy (Broin): Fortune in the Middle vs Stunt Rewards
Assuming one is using the Fortune in the Middle approach, is there any way to then offer PCs rewards for well-described actions? In Exalted and Feng Shui, well-described actions get…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joe Murphy (Broin), Tor Erickson, hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, Laurel, Zak Arntson, Blake Hutchins, Gordon C. Landis, Paul Czege, Clinton R. Nixon, Garbanzo.

12/17/2001 greyorm: It Never Fails
So, I've been a movie-watching buff lately. I've sucked down more special-effects-ridden media than I have in years. Other than coming to the realization that all of John Carpenter's movies…
In RPG Theory
Participants: greyorm, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, Mike Holmes, contracycle, gentrification, Bankuei, hardcoremoose.

12/16/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: What is an RPG supposed to be?
This is a question, and various answers that I've run into when talking RPG w/ people. Invariably I run into a wall of "an RPG is supposed to be (blank)."…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Armin D. Sykes, Marco, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Mario, Laurel.

12/10/2001 jburneko: Narrativist Missions
Hello All, I've had one of those weekends where I had a lot of ideas that generated nothing but questions. Some of these ideas and questions are a bit unfocused…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jburneko, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, gentrification, xiombarg, contracycle, Paul Czege, Le Joueur, Marco, Daredevil.

12/8/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: "Hmm, a thread about magic stuff would be cool,"
[quote] Ron Edwards wrote: "Hmm, a thread about magic stuff would be cool," [/quote] Seems like a good idea to me. The previous Three you never see thread got on…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Marco, hardcoremoose, mahoux, contracycle, Ranko, James V. West.

12/6/2001 Firbog: Meta-plots, Railroading and Settings
Since I am new to this forum, and not sure if these have been discussed in the way I am bout to ask questions, I hope that you all will…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Firbog, Matt, Tor Erickson, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, jburneko, Manu, Ben Morgan.

11/28/2001 Laurel: Romance, Happiness, and Expectation
(building off of Valid Premises thread) Taking as a premise the validity of Gareth's statement "{Romance} has become the default filler of nearly anything made for TV.... as a way…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Laurel, mahoux, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

1/14/2002 lumpley: Fortune-forward Vs. Fortune-backward
So I've been looking at my games, and others' games, and I've been thinking hard about the old Description-Based vs. Quantified thing, which seems to have lost currency, and about…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Jared A. Sorensen, Paul Czege, Joe Murphy (Broin), Gordon C. Landis, contracycle, Le Joueur, greyorm.

1/15/2002 Zak Arntson: D/F/K and the Unknown Factor
I've been thinking about mechanics for some time now. I'm trying to come up with a good vocabulary for working out systems in games. This applies only to rpgs with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Zak Arntson, Bankuei, Garbanzo, Epoch.

1/15/2002 contracycle: Matrix Gaming
Well, I thought that it wasabout time I pushed out another gaming idea I've been tangenmtially working with for a bit. This is the concept of Matrix Games as pioneered…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, J B Bell.

1/16/2002 Bankuei: Purpose of rules
Inspired by the Shared Power thread, I started thinking, in every roleplaying game I've seen(except Rune), the rules were all intended with the idea that the GM is supposed to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bankuei, hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards, Paganini, Gordon C. Landis, Bailey, joshua neff, John Wick, contracycle, erithromycin, lumpley, James V. West, Paul Czege, Skippy.

1/18/2002 Gordon C. Landis: Player Illusionism
OK, Logan mentioned (in one of the GNS/Dramatism threads) that Illusionism is usually a GM "tool". I'm putting this here in Theory, even though it involves Actual Play, because it's…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, jburneko.

1/19/2002 Le Joueur: More than Three 'Boxes'
Hi, over in the GNS forum, I mentioned trying to take Simulationism and 'break it out' into more 'boxes.' I am pressed for time so I am going to just…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Logan, jburneko, contracycle, Marco, james_west, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis.

1/20/2002 Manu: On-screen time as a mechanic
Hey all, Has anyone already toyed with the idea of making the amount of "on screen" time a character gets a metagame characteristic, independent of the character's power level or…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Manu, Joe Murphy (Broin), Tim C Koppang, Ron Edwards.

1/22/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: Elastic Premise
An odd thought occured to me today. I've been trucking on coffee and Starburst hard candies all day, so stay with me. I've been hearing this call for a premise,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Garbanzo, A.Neill, contracycle, Ron Edwards.

1/22/2002 Manu: Setting vs. Color
Hey all, I'm a bit confused by this; what exactly is Color, where does setting stops and color starts? Is it a matter of depth of treatment? Any examples of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Manu, Ron Edwards, james_west, Jared A. Sorensen, Le Joueur.

1/22/2002 Jared A. Sorensen: Time, what is Time?
Okay, the obligatory heavy metal reference is outta the way. How does time factor into RPG design and play? Not like in a Puppetland kinda way...but more of a "what…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jared A. Sorensen, AndyGuest, Joe Murphy (Broin), Zak Arntson.

1/22/2002 Logan: What is IIEC?
..
In RPG Theory
Participants: Logan, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, Paul Czege, Le Joueur, Manu.

1/23/2002 Zak Arntson: Operant Conditioning & RPG System
Okay, my wife has a degree in Psych, so I've got a layman's view of the field. I've often thought about how gambling psychology plays into video games: The most…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Zak Arntson, hardcoremoose, Bankuei, J B Bell, Le Joueur, Laurel, Blake Hutchins, Ron Edwards.

1/24/2002 RobMuadib: Paradigm Shift - The X-Styles - The Truth Is Out There
Morning all, I went to bad last night after reading the Replacing Dramatism thread, and one post in particlar, by Mytholder resonated for me, indeed it spurred a paradigm shift,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RobMuadib, Mike Holmes.

1/25/2002 RobMuadib: the SGR model - reconciling GDS/GNS (renamed topic).
Hey guys, I revised my document again, which I present for your edification and amusement. Please comment on it. The SGR RPG Theory. ========================================== RPG's are open-ended games in which…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RobMuadib, Valamir, Logan.

1/30/2002 lumpley: Protagonism and Troupe-style play
Hey everybody. First off: Is Protagonism something that a player has, or something that a character has? Next off: Anybody thought about what it might mean to Protagonism to play…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Blake Hutchins, Paul Czege, Bankuei.

2/1/2002 Fabrice G.: Edwardian premises ?
Well i'm a newbie regarding premises. I read a lot about it here on The Forge, but still, it's not that clear to me. This morning i had some ideas…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Fabrice G., Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Marco.

2/1/2002 jburneko: Is 'Railroading' A Useful Term
Hello All, So, I was having a discussion with one of my players about various play styles and we seem to be constantly bumping heads about the meaning of the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jburneko, J B Bell, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, furashgf, Marco, xiombarg, amiel, TrizzlWizzl.

2/5/2002 Thededine: The Hell is a 'Kicker'?
Did I miss a newsfile or something? Everyone started talking about Kickers and I have no idea what they are. Help!
In RPG Theory
Participants: Thededine, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, Joe Murphy (Broin), Mithras.

2/7/2002 Fabrice G.: Narrativism, player authoring and hooror story
Hi, i plan to do an horror rpg and i have this question: can you have an horror story with a lot of player authoring power ? In my experience,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Fabrice G., Bankuei, J B Bell, Ron Edwards, jburneko, hardcoremoose, amiel, contracycle, lumpley, Paul Czege.

2/7/2002 Marco: Particles of Character Class
This is inspired by a discussion on the Scattershot Forum: Fang described his points in Scattershot as "particles of character class." I sort of disagreed with his definition--an indication to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Le Joueur.

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