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In RPG Theory

5/23/2001 Dav: Metagame mechanics
Okay, so we've got a new forum, which is dandy. So, there seemed to be some question as to metagame mechanics, among other issues. I chose to just pull this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dav, GreatWolf, hardcoremoose, james_west, Ron Edwards, Logan, Zak Arntson, Gordon C. Landis, Mytholder.

5/21/2001 Ron Edwards: All righty then
Hello everyone, I think we've successfully dissected G/N/S to current forum members' satisfaction. I'm seeing a lot of light-bulbs going on, and a lot of shared vocabulary being used constructively.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, joshua neff, james_west, Dav, Gordon C. Landis, hardcoremoose, Logan, Blake Hutchins, JSDiamond, Ian O'Rourke.

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In RPG Theory

5/23/2001 Logan: Attributes or skills, not both?
I think I missed this rant, so somebody please fill me in. Best, Logan
In RPG Theory
Participants: Logan, Ron Edwards, joshua neff, james_west, Blake Hutchins, Mike Holmes, Valamir, Paul Czege.

5/27/2001 Damocles: Time
I have been thinking about the role of time in rpgs. Not so much story time vs. real world time, but practical issues like how long a session lasts, how…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Damocles, Ron Edwards, james_west, greyorm.

6/1/2001 Gordon C. Landis: The FitM pattern at other "scales"
I've been thinking a lot about Ron's focus on linear vs. non-linear resolution mechanics. It took me a little work to wrap my brain around Fortune in the middle (FitM),…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, Supplanter, Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, james_west, Dav.

6/3/2001 james_west: strong player directorial power
To me, games with strong, continuous player directorial power seem to as different from traditional RPGs as RPGs are from boardgames. I'm thinking Baron Munchhausen, Crayne's Storyboard or SOAP, Clinton's…
In RPG Theory
Participants: james_west, Ron Edwards, joshua neff.

6/6/2001 james_west: Fiduciary responsibility?
[I]:: Warning: This essay is going to seem elitist and egotistical, but it is genuinely something I wonder about. I'm honestly not trying to troll. ::[/I] When you look into…
In RPG Theory
Participants: james_west, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Ian O'Rourke, John Wick, JSDiamond, gentrification, greyorm, Nathan, Gordon C. Landis, Ian Freeman, James V. West.

6/6/2001 Damocles: Preventing dysfunction
Most of the time, game design seems to be concerned with attempts to faciliate (or create) a certain style of play. But lately I have been wondering whether it should…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Damocles, Ron Edwards, John Wick, joshua neff, james_west, greyorm.

6/7/2001 Ron Edwards: The "universal" issue
Hello everybody, Martin and I were saying hello in the Site forum, and this topic came up. I thought it might be better served here. It seems like a good…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, Dav.

6/13/2001 jburneko: The Orchestra Metaphor
I don't know if this belongs down in the Sorcerer Forum or up in the G/N/S Forum so I thought I would comprimise and post it here. Ron has often…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jburneko, Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, ConfigSys.boy.

6/22/2001 james_west: A Mechanic for Other Plot Types?
In Relationship Maps, Edwards has done a very good job of producing a concrete mechanic for running scenarios based on the style of plot found in mysteries and a lot…
In RPG Theory
Participants: james_west, Paul Czege, Jared A. Sorensen, joshua neff, Uncle Dark.

6/25/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: Story, schmory
I suppose there are several ways to look at it. Some of the more recent RPGs (meaning post 1982) have been focused on story even to the point of having…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, joshua neff, james_west, Zak Arntson, Stivven, Paul Czege, jburneko, Mytholder, Supplanter, John Wick, contracycle.

6/29/2001 Epoch: Player Control
This is an idea I threw out at one point on the GO, and didn't get any feedback on, so I figured I'd try it here. I got the idea…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Epoch, jburneko, Supplanter, GreatWolf, Tim C Koppang, Mytholder, Ron Edwards.

7/2/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: Character currency
I got this from the GO forum. It's Hunter Logan quoting Ron Edwards Ron wrote, ]Effectiveness then becomes all the ROLLS (or Karma scores) that determine how well the character…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, Epoch, Mytholder, Clinton R. Nixon, Blake Hutchins, Supplanter, Jared A. Sorensen.

7/5/2001 james_west: Favorite things I've learned
Favorite things I’ve learned from reading this site: (1) Facilitating the creation of good stories as an explicit design goal. This is from the GNS discussions. Previously, I’d only thought…
In RPG Theory
Participants: james_west, joshua neff, John Wick.

7/10/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: immersive authorship...(not sure either)
OK, those who been following the forum may have seen me say something to the effect of how I prefer to play immersively. Well, not quite immersive but the point…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, John Wick, Jared A. Sorensen, Dav, Ron Edwards, joshua neff, GreatWolf, Clinton R. Nixon, jburneko, Gordon C. Landis, james_west, greyorm.

7/16/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: premise
The education of Jack continues.... Now I'm trying to get a handle on this thing called a premise and i know it's fairly simple, something like "It's what the game…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, James Holloway, Blake Hutchins, jburneko, joshua neff, contracycle, James V. West, Supplanter, Mike Holmes, Valamir.

7/18/2001 Dav: the Gamble and the Stake
I wanted to bring this theory up to the collective to see what happens with it. on and I were talking briefly about the stakes in games. My position is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dav, Ron Edwards, John Wick, Jared A. Sorensen, hardcoremoose, James V. West, Le Joueur.

7/20/2001 hardcoremoose: Reward Systems, or Making Your Players Behave
I've discussed this topic elsewhere and it came back to me full force while reading through the "silliness" thread in the GNS forum. Basically I propose that the most important…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hardcoremoose, James V. West, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr, wyrdlyng, Jared A. Sorensen, kwill, John Wick, Damocles, james_west, Doc Midnight, Tim C Koppang.

7/22/2001 Tim C Koppang: Player Induced Rewards
After reading a couple of posts, I was thinking about a mechanic that would allow players to divvy out rewards themselves instead of giving the GM all of the control.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tim C Koppang, James V. West, Le Joueur.

7/23/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: This fifth business.
OK, after reading Kubasik's Interactive Toolkit, I've noted something. He refers to a narrativist (as it were) GM as Fifth Business after an old theatre term, etc etc... Here's my…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Mytholder, joshua neff, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Damocles.

7/23/2001 Jack Spencer Jr: "Not enough rules"
Over on the Elfs board I mention playing briefly w/ the wife. (The game. The game.) AFterwards I asked for her impressions and she said it could be fun but…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, joshua neff, jburneko, GreatWolf, Ron Edwards.

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