Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

8/15/2004 M. J. Young: Altering the SIS in CRPG
I really should not be starting this thread, because I'm still wading through the stuff I missed when my computer crashed; but in reading Vincent's A short rant about…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Noon, Rob Carriere, simon_hibbs, Christopher Weeks, contracycle, Inner Circle Inc, Andrew Martin, Blankshield, JamesSterrett, Doug Ruff, Ron Edwards.

8/14/2004 Troy_Costisick: Balance of Character
Heya, I was reading the thread by Sean (A note on balance) and it sparked a discussion (argument) between myself and a friend of mine (Scott) who was over for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Troy_Costisick, Ron Edwards, NN, Walt Freitag.

8/12/2004 Mike Holmes: Terminology: Focal Points and Emphasis
In this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12222 The terms Focal Point and Emphasis were brought up. I really like these terms, and wanted to see if others thought they were as useful as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, John Kim, ErrathofKosh, Paul Czege, Doplegager.

8/11/2004 Montola: Beyond Role and Play available in the web
Beyond Role and Play: Tools, Toys and Theory for Harnessing the imagination is now available as a free electric edition in the Internet. Beyond Role and Play is a collection…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Montola, Ravien, Albert of Feh.

8/9/2004 Doctor Xero: what causes this?
from http://www.indie-rpgs.com/posting.php?mode=quote&p=130414 Now, what happened was that I played the Exalted game once. I thought that the game was very much like a HERO/MERP game we'd tried before. There was…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Doctor Xero, Bartmoss, bcook1971, contracycle, Noon, jdagna, Mulciber, Ravien, John Kim.

8/8/2004 mindwanders: Hooks and Kickers
OK, I'm having trouble with the whole "kicker" and "Hook" issue that was brought up in this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12268 I think I have a challenge based Kicker system built into…
In RPG Theory
Participants: mindwanders, Matt Wilson, Paul Czege, Doyce.

8/7/2004 mindwanders: Dark Ages Political LARP Tools
OK folks, I'm working on a late dark ages based political LARP system. I think I've got all of the main tools that a player will need to actually engage…
In RPG Theory
Participants: mindwanders, Ron Edwards, Walt Freitag.

8/7/2004 Gamskee: Boffer Based Combat Resolution in LARP
I've played in a boffer based Fantasy Larp for a few years and have found that I personally like the Boffer based combat resolutions. However, I've been thinking of running…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gamskee, mindwanders, Matt, JamesSterrett, Andrew Morris, calebros, buggy, Jinx, contracycle.

8/6/2004 Christopher Weeks: Are MMORPGs CRPGs?
So I've been following the current threads on CRPGs and whether or not they're RPGs and whether or not the employ an SIS. But I want to know if we're…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christopher Weeks, Blankshield, Mike Holmes, Eero Tuovinen, Merten, Vaxalon, Andrew Morris, Gamskee, Lxndr, herrmess, JamesSterrett, Eric J., Comte, Troy_Costisick.

8/6/2004 sirogit: Success with RPGs under an hour?
I've always wanted to run a game at the same speed as a tv show. In my expierince, gaming was always very slow. Too much looking up rules, arguements, over-elaborations,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sirogit, Dev, Mike Holmes, Ravien.

8/6/2004 Tomas HVM: Anything goes? Blah!
Frankly, I do not understand gamesmiths who encourage the players to do whatever they want with their game. In my expereience gamers need no encouragment to do this. They will…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tomas HVM, Ron Edwards, Dev.

8/4/2004 myripad: Abstracted combat.
A friend of mine recently purchased the AD&D 3.5 PHB. He and the group he organized have asked me to run a game as I'm a fairly experienced referee. The…
In RPG Theory
Participants: myripad, Ron Edwards, timfire, Artanis, adaen, M. J. Young.

8/4/2004 lumpley: A short rant about "SIS"
"SIS" is broken terminology. I hate it with hate! The SIS is precisely what the players agree happens in the game. A CRPG, a game book, Stratego, they don't have…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Christopher Weeks, Sean, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Valamir, timfire, John Kim, Noon, Paganini, ADGBoss, contracycle, Alan, simon_hibbs, ErrathofKosh, Jonathan Walton.

8/4/2004 Tomas HVM: Any RPG potential in the wilderness?
In the thread about the "survival-game" we started discussing wilderness and survival in roleplaying games, in more general terms. I'd like to go on with that discussion in this thread.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tomas HVM, Vaxalon, ErrathofKosh, contracycle, Noon, Frank T, Thor.

8/4/2004 Vaxalon: Terminology: "Randomness"
Spawned from: This thread on dice In the context of dice mechanics, I put forward the following definition of "randomness": A dice mechanic is considered more random if it is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Vaxalon, Walt Freitag, ErrathofKosh, Jack Aidley, MarcoBrucale, simon_hibbs, Paganini, Doug Ruff, Bill_White, beingfrank.

8/4/2004 hix: Can you recommend: one-shot, Inspectres-esque game?
Hi (and I hope this is the right forum). Our group's had a gaming slot open up for next week. Does anybody know any games that are being (or have…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hix, Trevis Martin, Jack Aidley, timfire, Michael S. Miller, xiombarg, Zak Arntson.

8/2/2004 Noon: Non game system reward for your use
This is actually from issue 229 of roleplaying tips. One of the many contributors to it gave this (some of it snipped out by myself). The author of this is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Mike Holmes, ethan_greer, Silmenume, mindwanders.

8/2/2004 newsalor: What is a roleplaying game?
I know that this is an old question, but it should be the first question to be asked. What is a roleplaying game? What is roleplaying? I know several definitions,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: newsalor, Sean, lumpley, Tim C Koppang, Jack Aidley, Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton, M. J. Young, Noon, simon_hibbs, Blankshield, timfire, Christopher Weeks, Silmenume.

8/2/2004 ADGBoss: CRPGs, SIS, and SOlo Play: Is it Role Playing?
The subject of CRPG’s was brought up in this thread in Site Discussion and it brought to my mind a few ideas and questions which I thought might be…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ADGBoss, Vaxalon, newsalor, Eero Tuovinen, Blankshield, lumpley, M. J. Young, Noon, ErrathofKosh, Christopher Weeks, contracycle, JamesSterrett, simon_hibbs, Andrew Morris, Ron Edwards.

8/2/2004 Sean: A note on Balance
I just posted this in response to something SteveD wrote on rpg.net and thought it might be of interest here too. ---------- At least two different things get called balance:…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sean, Vaxalon, Ron Edwards, Marco, ADGBoss, Mike Holmes, NN, PlotDevice, bcook1971, Precious Villain, Doplegager, Doug Ruff, Troy_Costisick.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

8/12/2004 cfc: Card resolution mechanics (split from older thread)
In terms of minimizing the benefit of blowing low cards on trivial tasks, has anyone tried a draw-under mechanic with blackjack degree-of-success? I'm thinking that to succeed you have to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: cfc, Chris_Fougere, Ron Edwards.

8/15/2004 Doug Ruff: RPG definitions continued (split)
[quote="Ron Edwards"] When seeking a definition, you cannot hold the two following things fixed: 1. A basic principle or descriptive feature 2. A set of individual instances that are supposed…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Doug Ruff, Ron Edwards, neelk.

8/17/2004 anonymouse: [unattached mechanic/rules] Memories modifying characters.
This isn't wedded or designed for anything in particular. Just some stuff I was ruminating on, and thought it might make an interesting set of mechanics for a game. ===…
In RPG Theory
Participants: anonymouse.

8/18/2004 Person: Characters modifying memories
I'm (strongly) considering running an Unknown Armies game in the near future, and there's one sticky GMing issue that's been bothering me: how do people handle the situation where PCs…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Person, TonyLB, Shreyas Sampat, Praetor Judis, Negilent, M. J. Young, Albert of Feh.

8/18/2004 Paganini: Advancement Systems and D&D, Advancement Systems and Des
So, if you think about it, D&D advancement (of ANY incarnation) is basically a scaling / pacing mechanic. I think we've had that discussion before, but to do a basic…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, contracycle, Mark Johnson, NN, Marco, Shreyas Sampat, anonymouse, Russell Impagliazzo, Zak Arntson, Noon, Precious Villain, Eric J., M. J. Young, timfire.

8/18/2004 Storn: Fantasy Games: Western Gold Mine
I just read the "wilderness RPG thread" and it sparked some observations in my own life... and their impact on my GMing. These are just some observations and not *really*…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Storn, b_bankhead, Doctor Xero, Jasper, hix, Sydney Freedberg, komradebob, Sean, M. J. Young.

8/19/2004 Andrew Morris: Are hybrid (not just mixed) resolution systems possible?
I'm wondering if it is possible to have a funcitonal resolution system that is, in and of itself a hybrid of two or more of Drama, Fortune, and Karma. Specifically,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Morris, Noon, Vaxalon, Mark Johnson, Andrew Martin, simon_hibbs, Walt Freitag.

8/19/2004 Noon: Quick question on in game consequence
I wanted to find out where I am on this in relation to general thought at the forge. Now say in reality, I'm standing on a balcony where a vase…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Andrew Martin, Praetor Judis, Andrew Morris, TooManyGoddamnOrcs, Marco, simon_hibbs, Alan, John Kim, Doctor Xero, aplath, Bill_White, Artanis, TonyLB, eef, M. J. Young, Doug Ruff, ErrathofKosh, keithn, DannyK, contracycle, Lisa Padol, Walt Freitag, Ron Edwards.

8/20/2004 Hudson Shock: Getting accurate estimations from players
There's a contest for the captain with the slowest boat. Two captains enter. How do you prove who actually has the slowest boat, since either captain can purposely go slower…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Hudson Shock, Andrew Martin, Marco, mindwanders, neelk, John Kim, aplath, Bankuei, Noon, M. J. Young, Morgan, Sydney Freedberg, simon_hibbs, Doctor Xero.

8/20/2004 jphannil: A truly generic rpg
Hi ! When developing Chaos & Order, I've stumbled onto meanings of generic rpgs. Usually generic rpgs means generic in a setting-wise, it can be played in different settings. What…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jphannil, newsalor, jdrakeh, ErrathofKosh.

8/21/2004 Frank T: Setting? Character? Explored?
The search function didn't really help much on this one, so I'm just going to ask. What theoretical approaches to Setting and Character has the Forge developed up to now?…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Frank T, Dev, neelk, M. J. Young, ErrathofKosh, simon_hibbs, Ron Edwards, Valamir, nerdnyc.

8/22/2004 Scourge108: Aliens
I'm looking for information on what RPGs may exist that have aliens as player characters. Most games I can think of that fit that bill are of the general science…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Scourge108, Andrew Martin, M. J. Young, Mark Woodhouse, peejay, simon_hibbs, Jaik, Vaxalon, Lxndr, contracycle.

8/24/2004 Eric J.: How to spice up combat- The less rhetorical question
As some sortof recent threads in Actual play may or may not have said, I'm currently in my best campaign yet, Star Wars: Sins of the Father. I'm using classic…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Thor, Andrew Martin, Doctor Xero.

8/24/2004 Darcy Burgess: Quandry: using a beloved setting that's highly restrictive
[b]Lead-in:[/b] Originally posted [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12406]here[/url], but redirected to this forum. [b]The Backstory:[/b] I'm working on a Star Wars campaign, using a conversion of the Riddle of Steel as a mechanic (if…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Darcy Burgess, Alan, Sydney Freedberg, Eric J., greedo1379, Andrew Martin, Tobias, Ron Edwards, ErrathofKosh, Madeline, anonymouse, Doctor Xero, greyorm, Itse, M. J. Young.

8/25/2004 ADGBoss: World of Darkness 2.0... Rulebook First Impressions (essay)
[u][b]World of Darkness Rule Set: First Impressions[/b][/u] Well under pressure and duress from my SO I decided to have some friends pick up the new WOD2 and Vampire Requiem from…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ADGBoss, Albert of Feh, sirogit, DannyK, Zathreyel, Jack Aidley, Walt Freitag, Scripty, Noon, Ron Edwards, Landon Darkwood, eyebeams.

8/25/2004 Eric J.: My D6 Mods (Split from "How to Spice up Combat")
Okay, I've needed a thread to figure out how to deal with my D6 mods for a while now. This might end up longish... but please bare with me. I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Andrew Martin, M. J. Young, ErrathofKosh.

8/26/2004 Noon: Rewards for setting up
We talk alot about game rewards here at the forge, so I thought I'd ask about those for setting up. By setting up I mean what's needed for a session…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Doctor Xero, Marco, clehrich, bcook1971.

8/27/2004 M. J. Young: Acceptance of Delayed Gratification--a Gamer Trait?
In Rewards for Setting Up, Callan (Noon) asked what the personal rewards were for the time spent setting up for a game. He put forward the idea that in-game…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Noon, Negilent, John Kim, Eric J., Doctor Xero, timfire, contracycle, Ravien, Cup of Iron, Storn.

8/27/2004 Person: Re: Mike's Standard Rant #3
Recently a friend (hi Albert!) recommended that I read Mike's Standard Rants, which I did. Overall I found them very insightful, but I found myself somewhat bothered by a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Person, bcook1971, Dev, ADGBoss, HMT, timfire, neelk, Vaxalon, Marco, M. J. Young.

8/27/2004 Kester Pelagius: The Harsh Reality of Game Design and the ‘Fantasy Heartbreak
Greetings, I was hoping to use this as the first article in a regular column series at RPGnet, but long story short that doesn't seem like it's going to happen.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kester Pelagius, Ron Edwards, ethan_greer, Precious Villain, eyebeams, Mark D. Eddy, ErrathofKosh, mike.

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