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In RPG Theory

2/9/2005 ethan_greer: Where is the Grail?
Hi, Forge. Maybe you can help me out with something. I want a game. It has to support fantasy play, prefferably Tolkien-ish, but with either no setting, or one easily…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ethan_greer, Bankuei, Jasper, MikeSands, Clinton R. Nixon, Sean, pfischer, Valamir, GB Steve, Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman, bcook1971, CPXB, Mark D. Eddy, clehrich, M. J. Young, groundhog.

2/8/2005 Paganini: Theory Without Jargon - Help for the Desparate - Number 2
(As you can see, the reason I've been enthusiasticaly participating in some of these recent threads is that they pertain directly to what I've been writing. Let's hear it for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, J. Tuomas Harviainen, Doctor Xero, clehrich, CPXB, greedo1379, kenjib, Wolfen.

2/8/2005 contracycle: naval speculation
I'm raising this thread somewhat tentatively as an invitation to discuss abstract movement and combat systems for naval actions. I would hope the discusison would be fruitful because addressing such…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Nathan P., komradebob, lumpley, Valamir, MikeSands, Piers Brown, Jules Morley, Ben Lehman, greedo1379.

2/8/2005 Paganini: Theory Without Jargon - Help for the Desparate - Number 1
Theory Without Jargon - Help for the Desperate - Number 1 Version 0 (Draft) The Forge is a place where people talk a lot about the theory of role-playing…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, clehrich, CPXB, J. Tuomas Harviainen, xenopulse, Andrew Morris, Emily Care, sophist, LordSmerf, Wolfen, Eero Tuovinen, John Kim, komradebob, timfire, greedo1379, Marco, Valamir, NOS.

2/8/2005 John Kim: Conflict Resolution and the Zeppo Effect
So a question came up on the 20x20 Room which I thought was interesting. Rob mentioned in his post you can see the Comedy is Easy, PTA is Hard.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, Nicolas Crost, Rob MacDougall.

2/7/2005 Noon: Narrativism as design process (split)
Over here in Early roleplaying and the interpretation of scripture I put out the idea that making rules is satisfying in a narrativist way. I thought I'd write up a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Brendan, Mike Holmes, Marco, contracycle.

2/7/2005 Wormwood: Culture and Mystification
This is a branch from this thread. This thread is intended to discuss the relationship between culture (and as a default assumption American culture) and the mystification that occurs within…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wormwood.

2/7/2005 Wormwood: Techniques of the Meta-SIS
This is a branch from this thread, focusing on developing our understanding of mystification in techniques. I believe this is of interest to understanding the shared space of mystifications, which…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wormwood.

2/7/2005 ShaneNINE: Banish the ignorance, please
Someone who know what they're talking about, please, please, banish the ignorance over at this this thread about dice pools vs. linear models on the Hârn Forum. Sorry if this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ShaneNINE, Bankuei, Walt Freitag, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards, Noon, John Kim, Paganini, NN, M. J. Young, clehrich, inky.

2/7/2005 matthijs: A theory journal?
This is one of those "wouldn't it be cool if..." posts. Over in Diaspora: How I learned 2 stop worrying & love the Forge, Chris Lehrich mentioned journals. Does anyone…
In RPG Theory
Participants: matthijs, Jonathan Walton, Brendan.

2/4/2005 Alan McVey: Early roleplaying and the interpretation of scripture
I'm splitting this off of Early Roleplaying because what I'd like to discuss seems to have more to do with theory than play. At the moment, my ideas are largely…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan McVey, Valamir, clehrich, Sean, Noon, sophist, lev_lafayette, contracycle, T'oma.

2/4/2005 Vaxalon: Incredible resource for wacky ideas
(Not sure where this should go, feel free to shove it into whatever group is appropriate) There's this author... writes "Anacrusis" which is a collection of pieces of fiction of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Vaxalon, Brendan.

2/4/2005 lev_lafayette: Pro-Forma Against..
Please excuse the lateness of my response. I'm new here. Seeming that everyone has said "right on", I'm going to try to take the best possible negative argument. Combat systems…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lev_lafayette, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Jinx, Marco, Wolfen, xiombarg, CPXB, LordSmerf, b_bankhead, M. J. Young, komradebob, Dauntless.

2/4/2005 Silmenume: Thoughts on the role of game design - musings
This is post of musings, so if it doesn’t make any sense to any one – mea culpa. Not too long ago I wrote a post where I posited a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Silmenume, clehrich, Doctor Xero.

2/4/2005 Phil Levis: The role of dice
I'm new to the Forge. I've perused some of the articles and recent threads with a good deal of interest. On one hand, the precise vocabulary and terminology used suggests…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Phil Levis, LordSmerf, Bankuei, contracycle, Valamir, Doctor Xero, Erick Wujcik, Marco, lumpley, M. J. Young, Paganini, Noon.

2/3/2005 Ben Lehman: Lessons for Designers
I do not know if this post goes in the RPG Theory board or in the Indie RPG Design board. Move if necessary. Since people recently have been talking about…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Rob Donoghue, TonyLB, LordSmerf.

2/3/2005 Storn: What Purpose?
[quote]The problem I have with your point 3 is that I don't think the Forge ever set out to teach, or preach, but to explore and discuss. The practice of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Storn, Ron Edwards, Bob Goat, lumpley, Bankuei, Paganini.

2/3/2005 caeman: The Big Numbers Fantasy System
Greetings. I have had an idea on paper for yet another way of handling RPG mechanics. I like the idea of many attributes. I also like using multiple types of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: caeman, M. J. Young, lev_lafayette.

2/3/2005 lumpley: Theory Seminar [cont'd]
In my thread Roleplaying Theory in Person...Vincent, this isn't the first time you've done this sort of thing, right? Do you feel that non-Forgies 'get-it'? What types of questions do…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Christopher Weeks, timfire, Harlequin, Andrew Morris, TonyLB, Bob Goat, M. J. Young.

2/2/2005 lumpley: Roleplaying Theory In Person
This is more Dreamation 2005 writeup. I had two hours on Sunday afternoon to talk about roleplaying theory. There were 3-6 other people there, depending on which bit of the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, ffilz, xenopulse, inthisstyle, Ben Lehman, clehrich, timfire, Noon, Shawn De Arment, M. J. Young, Jonathan Walton, J. Tuomas Harviainen, Clinton R. Nixon, Christopher Weeks, Storn, pete_darby, Ron Edwards.

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In RPG Theory

2/9/2005 John Kim: Mechanics, Contribution, and Doug the Dice Guy
[quote="clehrich"]But mechanics carry baggage: they have particular places in complex systems which we have (as you put it) preloaded into the game, and furhermore they have strong ascribed values and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, Sean, xenopulse, Valamir, LordSmerf, Marco, Paganini, M. J. Young, Simon Kamber, contracycle, Ian Charvill, sophist, ffilz, daMoose_Neo, clehrich, John Kirk, Erick Wujcik, timfire, Caldis.

2/10/2005 matthijs: Defining the Nordic Style
In Limits of acceptable "Theory", Eero Tuovinen mentions some differences between role-playing cultures. In particular, there's mention of the elusive Nordic style. I'm interested in definitions of this style. I'm…
In RPG Theory
Participants: matthijs, J. Tuomas Harviainen, humis.

2/10/2005 Doctor Xero: Player Responsibility
This was inspired by a post in another thread http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=14118&start=45 Let's say that a player is playing "The Teen Horror Movie Game" and it has this mechanic as a hard…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Doctor Xero, timfire, Marco, contracycle, LordSmerf, clehrich, CPXB, Mike Holmes, Kedamono, Vaxalon, M. J. Young, Noon, ffilz, xiombarg.

2/11/2005 Sydney Freedberg: Incentive Systems and Wanting to Lose
Yes, yes, yes, in D&D you kill things and take their stuff, and as a result you get better at killing things and taking their stuff. Not what we're talking…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sydney Freedberg, TonyLB, coxcomb, Brendan, Ron Edwards, Noon, Marco, Troy_Costisick, Doug Ruff, Mark Woodhouse, John Burdick, LordSmerf, Artanis, John Kirk.

2/11/2005 contracycle: AMA/NLT
Here's another micro-mechanic for discussion. Its a Fortune device but with a kinda blurring of gamble and crunch. AMA/NLT stands for "As Much As" and "No Lower Than" and is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, LordSmerf, Nathan P., Valamir, lumpley, Marco.

2/11/2005 coxcomb: Credibility of the rules as written
Over on this thread we started getting into a discussion about the intrinsic credibility of the rules as written. That was veering off topic, so here's one dedicated to that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: coxcomb, Brendan, lumpley, Bankuei, matthijs, TonyLB, clehrich, Doctor Xero, Valamir, Ron Edwards, Vaxalon, Noon, bcook1971, ffilz, Marco, John Kim, M. J. Young.

2/12/2005 Wolfen: Conflict in RPGs
I'm not totally sure this is the right place for this.. It's a sort of theoretical question, but I'm not exactly wanting to start a discussion, so much as pick…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wolfen, TonyLB, Ron Edwards, kenjib.

2/14/2005 ReverendBayn: A Wushu Guide to Wushu Guides
[i]Note: Though this is meant for people who are planning to publish games under Wushu Open, it is not a game design in and of itself. Therefore, I didn't want…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ReverendBayn, Dev, ejh.

2/14/2005 Doctor Xero: Sense of History
As we analyze RPG theory and discuss and debate the current trends, I think it is helpful to remember that those past trends people sometimes merrily condemn had their reasons…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Doctor Xero, Sean.

2/15/2005 Kat Miller: Why would anybody want to GM?
I’m beginning to understand why different people game, that each person approaches the gaming hobby looking to satisfy different desires. But why do we run games? I understand that GMs…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kat Miller, TonyLB, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, xenopulse, pete_darby, Rob Carriere, Sean, lumpley, Paul Czege, Bankuei, Wolfen, CPXB, joshua neff, Vaxalon, M. J. Young, Doctor Xero, bcook1971, clehrich, groundhog, immlass, Emily Care, Mark Woodhouse, Marco, Noon, Jaycenn, ffilz, Russell Impagliazzo.

2/15/2005 Ron Edwards: The RPG Theory forum: what it's for
Hello, What is "theory?" Don't answer that. I will, for purposes of this forum and for the Forge in general. Theory = makes the most possible sense. Point #1: the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards.

2/15/2005 TonyLB: GM-task: Test to Extremity
I split this off from Why would anybody want to GM? because it's a little off topic, and I want to take it a LOT further. I articulated it on…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, lumpley, Sydney Freedberg, Doctor Xero, John Kim, clehrich, Kat Miller, Emily Care, Mark Woodhouse, LordSmerf, Brendan.

2/16/2005 Dauntless: Vietnam Campaign setting suggestions
I was in a nostalgic mood and decided to look at my old Phoenix Command system and I was immediately reminded of my days using this system for my Vietnam…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dauntless, komradebob, Erick Wujcik, M. J. Young.

2/16/2005 komradebob: History of theGM?
Kat Miller started a thread (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=14344) asking why someone would choose to be a GM. I can relate to many of the opinions and experiences posted to that thread. However,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: komradebob, ffilz, clehrich, Sean, Jere, Marco, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, John Kim, Doctor Xero, jerry, Rob MacDougall, Doug Ruff.

2/16/2005 clehrich: Bricolage APPLIED (finally!)
[size=14px][b]RPGs and Bricolage: Theory and Practice[/b][/size] In Jay’s recent thread on a 1/3-baked idea, a surprising (to me, anyway) agreement was reached about Simulationism, reflexivity, and so forth. In many…
In RPG Theory
Participants: clehrich, Eero Tuovinen, Clinton R. Nixon, CPXB, Jere, John Burdick, Nathan P., J. Tuomas Harviainen, Nicolas Crost, Sean, LordSmerf, matthijs, Paul Czege, shaheddy, Harlequin, Walt Freitag, Dobamine, M. J. Young, komradebob, xenopulse, GreatWolf, contracycle, Silmenume, pete_darby, lpsmith, Scrubilicous, GB Steve.

2/18/2005 John Burdick: Intentional ambiguity and Big Eyes Small Mouth
In response to Chris Lehrich mentioning the idea of ambiguity as a virtue in a game, I suggested that Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM) offers a kind of structured ambiguity.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Burdick, Noon.

2/18/2005 LordSmerf: Eidetic Reduction, is it only for LARPs?
Split from Bricolage APPLIED (finally)! A Husserl-derivative way of describing the difference between tabletop rpg (and larps very much like it) and experience-creation larps. In the former, the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, J. Tuomas Harviainen, humis, clehrich, Walt Freitag, M. J. Young, Sean.

2/18/2005 Andy Kitkowski: Indiestry creating a new "Class" of hobbyist?
Just a quick thought I had the other day, wanted to throw it out there and see what it means. In the traditional Gaming Industry, there were pretty much two-three…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andy Kitkowski, Ron Edwards, Nathan P., Valamir, Halzebier, daMoose_Neo, Vaxalon, b_bankhead, Noon, jerry, JMendes, Bob Goat, pete_darby.

2/20/2005 Dauntless: Effects-based vs. Cause-based character creation
Many games tend to follow either an effects-based rules system or a cause-based rules system. Effects-based (EB) systems are concerned with what happens; the rules model how the effect takes…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dauntless, MikeSands, jerry.

2/20/2005 Space Cowboy: Percentage-based games
Hey all, I was asked to do a guest column for RPG.net on the conceptual and developmental history of Wild Sphere, an RPG I’m in the middle of writing. I’m…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Space Cowboy, Bret Gillan, Uccisore, TRance Junkie, Kedamono, JMendes, Trevis Martin, Jules Morley, efindel, Walt Freitag.

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