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In RPG Theory

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 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.

12/1/2004 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.

12/1/2004 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.

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.

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 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 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 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.

11/29/2004 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.

11/29/2004 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.

11/27/2004 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.

11/26/2004 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.

11/26/2004 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 Robin Hood: Idea: Highly Detailed Social "Combat"
Hi all, This is my first post, although I have been into RPGs & game design for some years. I would like to table a concept that has been plaguing…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Robin Hood, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards.

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.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

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.

12/7/2004 swdevlin: 'Evil' in an urban setting and the ability to Detect
My group has decided that they would like to play a 'hunt the undead' game (fantasy). I am not sure if they have been seeing too many horror movies as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: swdevlin, Lathan, hanschristianandersen, Vaxalon, Eero Tuovinen, MisterPoppet, jdagna, M. J. Young, Sydney Freedberg, shaheddy, Dr. Velocity, Paganini, contracycle, GB Steve.

12/7/2004 lumpley: A Design Checklist for FitM Conflict Resolution Rules
For Conflict Resolution - What does the winner get? - What does the loser get? - How do we know who's the winner and who's the loser? - What do…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Ron Edwards, Michael S. Miller, timfire, Eero Tuovinen, Matt Wilson, Emily Care, Sydney Freedberg, Noon, Troy_Costisick.

12/8/2004 jknevitt: Does Rules-Light Equal Speed of Play?
I'm on a gaming speed bender at the moment. I'm trying to squeeze that last ounce of fast play out of any system I get my hands on. I want…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jknevitt, jdagna, John Kim, Marco, Alan, Kensan_Oni, ffilz, Vaxalon, Noon, GB Steve, neelk, ssfsx17, FzGhouL, bcook1971.

12/9/2004 Shadetree: Experiment idea
[quote="Noon in another thread"] Isn't it sort of like a group of people all pushing at a block of clay, each always applying some level of pressure to shape it?…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Shadetree.

12/14/2004 greedo1379: Maneuvering Emotions on a Relationship Map
This is split from the Minis and RPGS thread (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=145632#145632) One thing I heard that did seem interesting was the use of a character interaction map. That would involve spatial…
In RPG Theory
Participants: greedo1379, timfire, contracycle, Emily Care, epweissengruber, Noon, Shreyas Sampat, nellist.

12/14/2004 geminidomino: Inverse dice probability?
(I hope this is the right forum to post this question in. Pardon my newness.) There are countless tools out there now that you can plug in an XdY+Z formula…
In RPG Theory
Participants: geminidomino, Akamaru, Eero Tuovinen, Walt Freitag, timfire, ffilz, M. J. Young.

12/14/2004 Akamaru: Rules for social interaction
Hello, I'm working on a system & setting where the primary means of resolving conflict is not combat, but social interaction. Talking that is. But I'd like a conversation to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Akamaru, Technocrat13, Snowden, Michael S. Miller, M. J. Young, TonyLB, Paul Czege.

12/15/2004 jknevitt: Wiki-based game design
Okay, I had a crazy idea. You (the hypothetical you-reading-this-post you) set up a wiki, and state a basic framework of a setting (trad fantasy, tribal, hard sci-fi, modern horror…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jknevitt, John Kim, timfire, Trevis Martin, Gelasma, neelk, Mike Holmes, Vaxalon, The_Nomad.

12/17/2004 b_bankhead: Breaking the Heart of the Universe
[b]Breaking the Heart of the Universe: Life and times of the Science Fiction Heartbreaker[/b] Ron Edward's concept of the 'Fantasy Heartbreaker' has really caught on, it's become the dominant epithet…
In RPG Theory
Participants: b_bankhead, clehrich, daMoose_Neo, komradebob, Ben Lehman, Halzebier, greyorm, Noon, Kedamono, timfire, Marco, John Kim, Ron Edwards, contracycle, jc_madden, M. J. Young, Caldis, Valamir, John Burdick, Storn, NN, HereticalFaction, Roger, Ian Charvill, Alan, Snowden, epweissengruber.

12/20/2004 DagdaMor: So what's my motivation?
Hi, I am relatively new here. I have been lurking for a while seeing how this place works, and I finally have my first point to make, I hope this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: DagdaMor, Michael S. Miller, clehrich, Roger, M. J. Young, Trevis Martin, John Kim, Dr. Velocity, shlo, Doctor Xero, Ron Edwards, J. Tuomas Harviainen.

12/21/2004 Noon: Design phase and run phase
I was PM'ing Vincent recently, and rambled on about something in regards to the A Design Checklist for FitM Conflict Resolution Rules You might want to skip down, as I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, TonyLB, lumpley, M. J. Young.

12/21/2004 Dev: A Firefly LARP in the making: What do they want?
(This fits better here, rather that in Game Design, due to the IP content and also because I'm talking more about expectations rather than mechanics here. Mechanics later!) I'm slated…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dev, randomling, Sydney Freedberg, Black Iris Dancer, TonyLB.

12/21/2004 Bankuei: Initial investment
Hi folks, I'm not sure if there is an official term for this, so I'm just calling it "Initial Investment"*- basically how much effort folks need to undertake before actually…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bankuei, jc_madden, Andrew Morris, komradebob, bcook1971, Ron Edwards, Keith Perhac, M. J. Young.

12/22/2004 M. J. Young: Defining Game Mechanic
Over in Ramblings on the role of Mechanics in CA's (fishing), somewhere on the second page,My understanding is that a mechanic is a specific feature of system…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, lumpley.

12/26/2004 d3nial: Blackjack Mechanic Probabilities
Trying to figure the probabilities of a modified blackjack mechanic: Am I right in assuming that the average value of a single card drawn from a 52 card deck is:…
In RPG Theory
Participants: d3nial, NN, M. J. Young.

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