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In RPG Theory

11/25/2004 Revontuli: The Turku School online
I've put the Manifesto of the Turku School, and a couple of other roleplaying theory articles online at http://users.utu.fi/mijupo/turku/
In RPG Theory
Participants: Revontuli, Eero Tuovinen, Vaxalon, Ron Edwards, greyorm.

11/22/2004 clehrich: Cults and Gaming -- suggestions?
Digging among the various Mainstream and whatnot threads in the Big Five, including Gay/Gamer especially but also a lot of others, I stumbled on a weird thought. Most of that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: clehrich, Ron Edwards, Matt Snyder, Ben Lehman, Silmenume, M. J. Young, Jonathan Walton, daMoose_Neo, John Kim, John Kirk, contracycle, WhiteRat, Mike Holmes, Mark Woodhouse, Noon, wkoepf.

11/22/2004 Shooshpanchick: [Exalted] Strange powers
I'm Ukrainian, and therefore my English isn't as good as I want it to be (so, please, correct me if I use some words incorrectly). There's book coming soon for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Shooshpanchick, contracycle, Jonathan Walton, Walt Freitag, neelk.

11/21/2004 Noon: Speed tip for highly detailed combat
The forge gets a few posts on complex combat rules. Although it's not really my thing, it made me wonder about the factor involved with them which makes them not…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Eero Tuovinen, Vaxalon, jdagna, M. J. Young, John Kim, Blankshield, bcook1971, Hereward The Wake.

11/20/2004 Stormborn: Resolution Systems, Dice etc.
Right now I am in the begining stages of "from scratch" game design. I have done a little proffesional work in d20 materials but am looking to do something new.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Stormborn, Ron Edwards, Shreyas Sampat, John Kim.

11/20/2004 Tav_Behemoth: Fictional Actual Play
I've been making an effort to read some modern genre fantasy, and one of the ones I picked up was Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame, which I originally read…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tav_Behemoth, clehrich, rafial, Blankshield, jdagna, Paul Czege, Mike Holmes, John Kim, Vaxalon, M. J. Young, Latigo, ricmadeira, simon_hibbs, Rob Carriere.

11/19/2004 Wysardry: Cultures: Mix n match or copy?
When creating cultures and/or belief systems for fantasy campaign settings, is it better to base each one on a single example from history/mythology, or create new ones by merging several…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wysardry, clehrich, DannyK, Jonathan Walton, Troy_Costisick, Sydney Freedberg, dalek_of_god, James Holloway, contracycle, Stuart Parker, GB Steve.

11/19/2004 Latigo: "reality and firearms" links
Hello to all, Questions about “reality and firearms” often surface in RPG design, and after talking to Forge member Paka recently I thought to share these links which folks might…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Latigo, Mike Holmes, Lee Short, Jasper, Noon, contracycle.

11/18/2004 Ben Lehman: Ben's Non-Standard Rant: Rules Length is not Rules Focus
Mandatory Notice: This rant has not been standardized by the Bureau of Rants, nor has it been granted an Bureau Official Rant Index Number (BORIN). Use of this rant with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Adam Dray, bcook1971, clehrich, Jason E Leigh, greedo1379, Blankshield, ffilz, Noon, Mike Holmes, jerry, Marco, DannyK, Valamir, John Kim, M. J. Young, Harlequin, Sydney Freedberg, inky.

11/18/2004 Sabney: Mood Music... Yea, Or nay?
This being my first post on this forum, I believe I shall introduce myself. I am currently a college student and I have been Roleplaying for about 4-5 years, only…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sabney, ScottM, Vaxalon, ffilz, Eero Tuovinen, Negilent, clehrich, Mike Holmes, b_bankhead, M. J. Young, Silmenume, Noon, Angaros, SlurpeeMoney.

11/18/2004 Ben Lehman: Costikyan on Games
Greg Costikyan made a lovely attempt at defining what a game is in his blog You should read the article. Really, you just should, because if you're reading this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Alan, xiombarg, Noon, simon_hibbs, Sean, efindel, clehrich, Shreyas Sampat, contracycle, komradebob, M. J. Young, Caldis.

11/16/2004 WyldKarde: Strategy Games and Theory
I've been on the Forge for awhile and I still have trouble categorizing my thoughts and ideas into easily arranged subjects for discussion. I've gained a fairly comprehensive understanding of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: WyldKarde, clehrich, epweissengruber, Mike Holmes, Ravien, contracycle, timfire, M. J. Young, simon_hibbs.

11/16/2004 Jason E Leigh: Antagonistic GM
Anyone? Quick survey of collective memory... Are there any games currently available that set up a combative/oppositional relationship between players and GM? I'm particularly interested in functional examples. Thanks.
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jason E Leigh, Eero Tuovinen, TonyLB, Adam Dray, Vaxalon, greyorm, M. J. Young, GreatWolf, John Uckele, Blankshield, Noon, Ravien.

11/16/2004 jdagna: Scenario Design Advice. Please Critique!
A fellow who writes a column for my website has been having major difficulties writing one particular column in which he wanted to figure out how to write/run a scenario…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jdagna, John Kirk, Trevis Martin, greedo1379, Negilent, Simon Kamber, John Kim, DannyK, Tomas HVM.

11/15/2004 Grover: Task resolution/Conflict resolution
I was thinking about the distinction between task resolution and conflict resolution, and noticing how conflict resolution is never used in computer role playing games, and here are some ideas…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Grover, John Kim, M. J. Young, Marco, simon_hibbs.

11/14/2004 madelf: combat without the crunch
I'm looking for advice here. I expect it will most likely come in the form of recommendations for games to take a look at, and that's cool. (Hopefully it won't…
In RPG Theory
Participants: madelf, SlurpeeMoney, bcook1971, Caldis, Erling Rognli, Ron Edwards, Noon, M. J. Young, John Uckele, apparition13, Yokiboy, simon_hibbs, timfire, Ben Lehman, Clinton R. Nixon.

11/12/2004 Scripty: Setting Up the Social Contract [split from GM is God]
A lot of very elucidating discussion, at least for me, has taken place on the GM is God thread. Most of the conclusions in that thread seem to point back…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Scripty, jdrakeh, M. J. Young, Yokiboy, bcook1971, contracycle.

11/12/2004 Valamir: Role Playing Flair in Board Games
Recently I've been thinking about games I've played that provide some of the same feeling of characterization that I get from role playing. I'm not talking so much about "adventure…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, ffilz, Blankshield, Sydney Freedberg, CplFerro, GreatWolf, Noon, Itai Greif, Bob Goat, contracycle.

11/12/2004 Shreyas Sampat: Rules Diagrams
In Game Design Methodology, As an extension to Tony's thought about integral design: So here's my design process: Take a few simple rules and provide a framework for them to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Adam Dray, Ron Edwards, Andy Kitkowski, Malckuss, contracycle.

11/10/2004 Mithras: Solo Game. My Life As A Legionary.
Or something like that :) Its the kind of thing that would suck as a multi-player table-top RPG, but appeals to my love of Roman military history and reminds my…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mithras, M. J. Young, Grex, Noon.

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In RPG Theory

11/26/2004 GB Steve: The purpose of play
An item of interest for theoreticians: This article By Monica Veinbergs presents a summary of this longer one by Lloyd P. Rieber and suggests that: Reiber proposes four types of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: GB Steve, contracycle, bcook1971.

11/26/2004 Tobias: Question; dropping social and mental stats - been done?
While perusing some old posts, I wondered about something. There are obviously a number of differences between RPGs and normal boardgames, but one difference is that normal board games generally…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tobias, Ron Edwards, inthisstyle, DannyK, Blankshield, madelf, Tony Irwin, John Kim, Noon, mindwanders, Stuart Parker, Sean, jdagna, NN, James Holloway, M. J. Young, inky.

11/27/2004 daMoose_Neo: Non-random yet challenging resolutions...
Ahkay, I posted earlier about a project I might be undertaking and am working up some notes on it. To get it a little closer aligned with the property, I'm…
In RPG Theory
Participants: daMoose_Neo, TonyLB, Shreyas Sampat, Ben Lehman.

11/29/2004 Paka: Being a Game's Therapist
A friend of you e-mails and says their game isn't working. Something's wrong. Consider it an RPG intake call. What is it you ask? Whose playing and what are their…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paka, Nathan P., bcook1971, beingfrank.

11/29/2004 SlurpeeMoney: If all that is considered good considers you evil.. Are you?
So I've been reading Jaqueline Carey's new book Banewreaker. Compared to the Kushiel's Legacy trilogy, it's fluff, but it's been an interesting read for a few reasons, mostly pertaining to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SlurpeeMoney, TonyLB, Troy_Costisick, Shreyas Sampat, Ron Edwards, neelk, bcook1971, clehrich, daMoose_Neo, M. J. Young, John Kirk, Sydney Freedberg, Vaxalon.

11/30/2004 Noon: System inspiring the game world again
I was recently playing some D&D 3.5 with my 5 yo son (I'm looking to write an actual play at some point). The way it was, I'd started to give…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, angelfromanotherpin, komradebob, Silmenume, epweissengruber, ethan_greer, jdagna, bcook1971.

11/30/2004 Space Cowboy: Good atmospheric stuff for an RPG website?
Hey guys, As part of the continuing process to build up the content on the Wild Sphere website, I've been alternating adding atmospheric stuff for the RPG with adding chapters…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Space Cowboy, MisterPoppet, ethan_greer, Akasha4evr, Alan, peacecraft.

11/30/2004 komradebob: Minis and RPGs: Thoughts on new directions?
Hi all, I'm interested in your thoughts on miniatures in rpgs, and possible new directions to take rpgs+miniatures in. Some background: I first became intersted in rpgs when I was…
In RPG Theory
Participants: komradebob, John Kim, Blankshield, ffilz, M. J. Young, Lee Short, Nathan P., Marhault, Hereward The Wake, greedo1379, Noon, Shadetree, neko ewen, contracycle, Kensan_Oni, Tony Irwin, Latigo, Paul Czege, Bifi, kaikatsu, Ron Edwards.

11/30/2004 GB Steve: A wild and an untamed thing - how literature refuses gaming
[url=http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/show.html?ey,viriconium,1]M. John Harrison's postion on roleplaying[/url], is that: [quote]"What would it be really like to live in the world of .... ?" is an inappropriate question, a category error. You…
In RPG Theory
Participants: GB Steve, TonyLB, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Matt Snyder, Valamir, lumpley, ethan_greer, MR. Analytical, Alan, joshua neff, simon_hibbs, John Kim, Ben Lehman, Sean, M. J. Young, daMoose_Neo, madelf, neelk, greedo1379, Ian Charvill, Russell Impagliazzo, Mark Woodhouse, clehrich, Erling Rognli, SlurpeeMoney, Caldis.

11/30/2004 Jonathan Walton: Exalted Adopts Stances (sort of)
Okay, so there was all this buzz about Exalted: The Fair Folk and how Rebecca Sean Borgstrom was going to further her diabolical plans of infecting Exalted, a fairly traditional…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, Valamir, TonyLB, Ben Lehman.

12/1/2004 SlurpeeMoney: An Interesting Thought on Character Creation
I am sure I remember something like this in Nobilis, and I've rather Japanized the best note from one of the posts in Indie Game Design. It's a bit of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SlurpeeMoney, Jasper, TonyLB, M. J. Young, timfire.

12/1/2004 Matt Snyder: Explaining how I design
How do you design? I wrote an essay, How the sausage is made, on how I actually design on Heads or Tales, my blog for Chimera Creative. On the same…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Snyder, Ben Lehman, TonyLB, madelf, Michael S. Miller, Christopher Kubasik, John Kim, Ron Edwards, GaryTP, Sean.

12/3/2004 Matt Snyder: Revision and interpretation in role-playing
This is in reply to Chris Lehrich's excellent post in A wild and an untamed thing - how literature refuses gaming: Interpretation and revision are not the same animal,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Snyder, clehrich, TonyLB, daMoose_Neo, John Kim, Marco.

12/3/2004 clehrich: On RPGs and Text [LONG]
In a couple of running threads, I’ve emphasized a radical divide between textual media and RPGs. Ron has suggested that this may be dragging at least one of those threads…
In RPG Theory
Participants: clehrich, Matt Snyder, John Kim, neelk, daMoose_Neo, Christopher Kubasik, Alan, LordSmerf, TonyLB, lumpley, ethan_greer, Mark Woodhouse, Piers Brown, Mike Holmes, Michael Brazier, Ian Charvill, contracycle, Rob Carriere, Ron Edwards, Caldis.

12/3/2004 LordSmerf: Mechanical Facilitation and... Other Stuff?
Over in the GNS Theory forum, specifically in the thread: Setting Premise Narrativism Paul says: How does facilitate setting premise? Don't ask me. I don't think it's a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, TonyLB, timfire.

12/3/2004 madelf: Character creation during play
I'm at it again, fishing for information. I know I've heard reference to games where character creation takes place during play, but I can't think what they were. Maybe you…
In RPG Theory
Participants: madelf, Ben Morgan, Trevis Martin, Marhault, komradebob, tj333, timfire, Nathan P., jerry, M. J. Young, contracycle, Wormwood, Shadetree, Tim C Koppang, clehrich.

12/4/2004 John Kim: Role-playing Adapted Worlds
This is a sub-thread off of A wild and an untamed thing - how literature refuses gaming. There have been related discussions On RPGs and Text and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, GaryTP, Marco, clehrich, Noon, komradebob, Caldis, Christopher Kubasik, Cemendur, Chris Goodwin, M. J. Young, greedo1379, contracycle, GB Steve, Ron Edwards.

12/6/2004 Dangerboy: [System] The Quality System
I've been working on a system to use for some online settings to put on our website. The idea is that they're quick 'one shots', but each setting will use…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dangerboy.

12/7/2004 jknevitt: Hybridisation of the RPG and CCG model
As I see it, there has been very little discourse on the hybridisation of CCGs and RPGs. The CCG, the bastard cousin of the RPG, is a veritable treasure trove…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jknevitt, inky, Nathan P., greedo1379, Shadetree, Matt Snyder, ethan_greer, daMoose_Neo, Simon Kamber, Noon, TonyLB, kaotmus, Tobias, contracycle, Storn, Walt Freitag, Mike Holmes, Gamskee, komradebob, M. J. Young, Dantai.

12/7/2004 GB Steve: Theory, or anecdotally supported opinion?
How much data is used to support roleplaying theory? And what level of proof is required? There's possibly some discussion about this here which I may have missed but I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: GB Steve, Rich Forest, Matt Wilson, Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, clehrich, John Kim, Vaxalon, beingfrank.

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