Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

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.

1/24/2002 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.

1/23/2002 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.

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

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 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 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.

1/20/2002 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.

1/19/2002 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.

1/18/2002 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.

1/16/2002 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.

1/15/2002 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.

1/15/2002 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.

1/14/2002 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.

1/11/2002 Joe Murphy (Broin): Character Sheets - Rubbish?
Why are character sheets so ungodly awful? Last year, I had a plan to write a scenario for a games convention. One of the cuter gimmicks for this TransFormers-inspired…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joe Murphy (Broin), hardcoremoose, contracycle, Mike Holmes, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards.

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.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

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.

2/13/2002 lumpley: Disruptive and/or Stupid IIEE Question
So if roleplaying is like every other shared creative activity I can think of, it's built out of this kind of process: Proposal ] Negotiation, Amendment, Counter-proposal ] Acceptance Like…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Ron Edwards.

2/13/2002 Steve Dustin: In-and-Out of the Box
I've been lurking on these boards for about a week, and have decided to jump in. I don't think I'm quite up-to-speed on the jargon that gets thrown about here…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Steve Dustin, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, contracycle, Emily Care.

2/14/2002 Ayrizale: Newbie Question - Relationships - Maps, Modifiers, and Such
Hello, I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question, but I figure that it is as good a place to start as any. I've been…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ayrizale, Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, Jared A. Sorensen, efindel.

2/14/2002 wyrdlyng: Investigation and Interaction as Role-playing
This crosses over with a post I made at GO inquiring about how to a game which focused primarily on investigation and npc interactions. The short and sweet is how…
In RPG Theory
Participants: wyrdlyng, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Mike Holmes, Mithras, GB Steve.

2/20/2002 lumpley: Currency and Metagame &c vs. a Complete RPG
(There's been talk before about when and whether a game's complete, like Actually Finishing your RPG here.) So I've been designing some games and I've got some questions. I'll…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Mike Holmes, contracycle, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege.

2/20/2002 jburneko: Abstract Premises
First off I'm using Premise in the narrow Narrativist Sense. I was thinking about Science Fiction and how it often has rather abstract Premises. One of the things that gets…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jburneko, J B Bell, Ron Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, Seth L. Blumberg, contracycle, joshua neff.

2/21/2002 Joe Murphy (Broin): Narrativism = few stats?
There's a simple subject line for y'all. A game like Sorceror has 4 stats. Donjon Krawl has about half a dozen. Is more than a few stats necessarily a bad…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joe Murphy (Broin), Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr.

2/25/2002 erithromycin: Do unto others...
This was an idea I had, literally moments ago. What if the basis for interaction within a game was your initial interaction with the other party? GM: The room is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: erithromycin, Jared A. Sorensen, Mike Holmes, Valamir.

2/26/2002 Paul Czege: several hundred dollars worth of GM
Hey everyone, Ron's fantastic and complex post in the Sorcerer forum about the zones and categories of a character's interests brings up an interesting side issue. The post reveals…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, J B Bell, Gordon C. Landis.

2/27/2002 joe_llama: Narrativist Catalyst
There is something I really think all Narrativists should check out. It's an interesting theory of story called Dramatica, freely available at www.dramatica.com . Using my own words will only…
In RPG Theory
Participants: joe_llama, lumpley, Seth L. Blumberg, Blake Hutchins, Valamir, Paul Czege, contracycle.

2/28/2002 Emily Care: Common Sense Guidelines for Group-Concensus Exploration...
Common Sense Guidelines to Group-Consensus Based Exploration of World, Setting, Character, System and Story First, find some folks with whom you are capable of having an enjoyable and productive conversation,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emily Care, xiombarg, Ron Edwards, lumpley, jburneko, Paul Czege.

3/4/2002 erithromycin: Chasing Premise
Spun off from the Devilry over in IGD. Sorry Ron, I am a monkey. Which brings me to this thought: Is it possible for a ruleset to be Premise-less?…
In RPG Theory
Participants: erithromycin, hardcoremoose, Valamir, Ron Edwards, xiombarg, Seth L. Blumberg, C. Edwards, Balbinus, Mike Holmes, Blake Hutchins.

3/5/2002 Seth L. Blumberg: What makes a good Narrativist Premise?
There are lots of examples of Premise scattered around in various threads, but try as I might, I can't seem to find anywhere that the question "What are the conditions…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Seth L. Blumberg, Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Le Joueur.

3/5/2002 hardcoremoose: Premise in the Whispering Vault
Okay, since we've been talking about hidden Premises of late... I'm prepping to run possibly my all-time favorite game, The Whispering Vault. Now, I've run the Vault in the past…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards.

3/8/2002 Sidhain: Character
I'm not sure if this relates to GNS besides in the most peripheral way. I was discussing with someone role-playing and they said something that I found odd. It was…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sidhain, C. Edwards, Ron Edwards.

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