Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

4/9/2005 Paka: Table & Text: Strange Bed-fellows
I have been going through some of the threads from the Forge Birthday topic, Best Threads of the Year. As a rabid writer of fiction and a rabid gamer, I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paka, groundhog, TonyLB, JMendes, John Kim, ScottM, Jason Mical, Paganini, bcook1971, Wolfen, Latigo, M. J. Young.

4/9/2005 Ron Edwards: Eastern bloc role-playing
Hi everyone, Due to the very exciting My life with RPG's thread, I am starting up a general discussion of role-playing as it arose and persisted in eastern bloc countries,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, James Holloway, ( o Y o ), mindwanders.

4/9/2005 Shreyas Sampat: Human Behaviour is Patterned
So, I have been thinking about psychology. Human behaviour is something that has observable patterns. There are innumerable games which concern themselves solely with the emulation of observable patterns, and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Bankuei, Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, efindel, JMendes, Eva Deinum, Sean, TonyLB, contracycle, Domhnall, beingfrank, James Holloway, Harlequin, John Kim, Bill Masek.

4/5/2005 TonyLB: Tony's Standard Rant #1: Roleplay/Game Duality
This rant brought to you courtesy of discussion in this thread. There is a misconception that's become a pet peeve of mine, and that I want to debunk: The idea…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Jasper, Vaxalon, Shreyas Sampat, Doug Ruff, Andrew Morris, gorckat, Noon, contracycle, C. Edwards, John Kim, Lee Short, JMendes, James Holloway, groundhog, Ron Edwards.

4/4/2005 Kilor Di: "Ages" of Magic
I don't know if this is the right forum for this discussion... Most of the games that deal with technology also deal with (or at least refer to) the ages…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kilor Di, efindel, Damballa, jerry.

4/4/2005 Troy_Costisick: Character Effectiveness = CA/SIS Interface?
Heya, This is a split topic from: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=14908&start=0 James Holloway Wrote: Troy: Quote: You have a player who is wanting to engage in one of the Arenas of a CA…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Troy_Costisick, Noon.

4/4/2005 Vaxalon: The relationship between character, sheet, and play
Spawned from another topic, link to be added momentarily... I mean... one of the things that defines a person, is the sum of his memories and experiences,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Vaxalon, James Holloway, contracycle, Jason Newquist, Shreyas Sampat, John Kim, lumpley, Alephnul.

4/3/2005 James Holloway: Balance: System, Session, or what?
So, spinning off from the "Balance", "Fairness" ? thread, I thought I'd continue with a point I was fumbling toward at the end there. Before I get started, I want…
In RPG Theory
Participants: James Holloway, TonyLB, Troy_Costisick, Sydney Freedberg, Domhnall, contracycle, Vaxalon.

4/3/2005 Domhnall: Immersionist play kills off RL communication?
In the "Balance", "Fairness"? thread, Callan wrote: And on a side point, although pushing expectations onto others is a bad thing, immersionist play has a tendancy to kill off real…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Domhnall, komradebob, Valamir, Gordon C. Landis, Andrew Norris, Ron Edwards.

4/3/2005 Vaxalon: Addressing theme negatively
[quote="timfire"]As others have implied, there's always 'two sides' so to speak in regard to any theme. Not choosing an option that the system seems to push is a perfectly valid…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Vaxalon, Bankuei.

4/3/2005 WhiteRat: Types of Reward?
I am interested in learning what different categories of reward mechanics exist in RPGs. I haven't found any threads that address this (my search-fu is weak) -- perhaps someone can…
In RPG Theory
Participants: WhiteRat.

4/2/2005 Victor Gijsbers: Shared Imagined Space, Shared Text
In the Provisional Glossary, Shared Imagined Space is defined as: The fictional content of play as it is established among participants through role-playing interactions. This is open to different…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Victor Gijsbers, Noon, Vaxalon, lumpley, Alan, Ron Edwards, am, Sean, Jonathan Walton, JMendes, contracycle, Silmenume.

4/1/2005 Sean: Random Attribute Scores
OK. It sort of embarrasses me that I'm still thinking about this, but I am. You can't always be one of the smart kids if you want to make progress.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sean, Paul Czege, Mike Holmes, Doug Ruff, Lxndr, M. J. Young, John Kim, FzGhouL, NN, kenjib, daMoose_Neo, Lee Short, Jinx, Kit, JMendes, Noon.

4/1/2005 Eva Deinum: Can you really explore a theme in a game designed for this?
I have played several games designed around a certain thematic question. At first sight is seems those games are perfect to explore that theme. I more and more doubt so.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eva Deinum, MisterPoppet, Trevis Martin, TonyLB, Bob the Fighter, Ron Edwards, Andrew Norris, Bankuei, Vaxalon, timfire, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Victor Gijsbers, pete_darby, Alan.

4/1/2005 ironick: Simulationism and Conflict Resolution
Caveat #1: I had trouble deciding which forum to post this in, because it is for a game I want to design, but I have too much on my plate…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ironick, Bob the Fighter, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Andrew Norris, TonyLB, timfire, Lee Short, Valamir, M. J. Young, charles ferguson.

4/1/2005 M. J. Young: Introduction to Theory article posted
In response to inquiries from Places to Go, People to Be, I have submitted a three-part miniseries attempting to summarize the basics of role playing game theory as discussed here…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman, Doug Ruff, timfire, Kit, Dobamine, GB Steve.

3/31/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Opposed resolution and directorial control
I like the way Trollbabe and the Pool can grant the player the ability to describe the result of a conflict. Are there any systems that combine such an approach…
In RPG Theory
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, TonyLB, Paul Czege, jburneko, Andrew Morris, ironick, JMendes, Ron Edwards.

3/29/2005 jamesdbr: Spotlight time in D20.
I'm considering running a one-shot dungeon crawl for a regular gaming group of mine, to give the GM a break from running all the time and also to get some…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jamesdbr, Valamir, Noon, Bankuei, Rob Carriere.

3/29/2005 John Kim: The place of character sheet and die rolls within play
So I had an interesting conversation on Vincent's (aka lumpley) blog anyway: cf. "Strong stuff indeed". However, I'm afraid I may have overstepped or sidetracked discussion on there.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, Andrew Norris, Alephnul, Bankuei, lumpley, jrs, Emily Care, M. J. Young, groundhog, contracycle, Jason Newquist.

3/25/2005 Damballa: Re: Structured Game Design (Warning: Long Post)
[quote="Roy"][b]<EXAMPLE BEGINS HERE>[/b] [b]GM, Bob, Jim and Sally...[/b] Well, that's my two cents on the topic. What do you think? What structures have you found that help you design games?…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Damballa, Ron Edwards.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

4/10/2005 Brown: [Codex] Precognitive Conflict Resolution
Pre Conflict Resolution or Precognitive Resolution Greetings, Long time Reader, first time poster. The Forge has always been an inspiration to my attempts at writing. This is something I am…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Brown, timfire.

4/10/2005 Bob the Fighter: One-shot sessions
So I've come across a glut of really neat games lately, and I was wondering what I could do to try 'em all out in relatively rapid succession. I'm thinking…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bob the Fighter, bcook1971, Michael S. Miller, Troy_Costisick, Danny_K, Adam Dray, Valamir, Eva Deinum, hix, FzGhouL, Andrew Morris.

4/11/2005 pete_darby: The limits of cultural play...?
In this thread, When it comes right down to it, we have to recognize that in spite of all of our aspirations in this forum, when it comes right down…
In RPG Theory
Participants: pete_darby, Brendan, Bankuei, C. Edwards, Eva Deinum, lumpley, Comte, John Kim, contracycle, Sean, Domhnall.

4/11/2005 TonyLB: What are the tools of pacing?
Okay, first off, what this question is not. I am not asking what tools a GM can use in order to effect changes in pacing. I'm asking why one effects…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Shreyas Sampat, C. Edwards, xenopulse, Harlequin, Gaerik, Bankuei, matthijs, timfire, MatrixGamer, Bill Masek, John Kim, Marco, Alan.

4/12/2005 sirogit: Charmed and Harry-Potter online free-form roleplayers
This always stumped me. Why is it when ever I put the words "roleplaying" into a search engine or livejournal, a very large number of the results are about freeform…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sirogit, Vaxalon, Valamir, Librisia, inthisstyle, daMoose_Neo, Danny_K, James Holloway, b_bankhead, Andrew Morris, Brendan, John Kim, Alephnul, SK, David Bapst, Mike Holmes, Andrew Norris, John Burdick, komradebob, Selene Tan, contracycle.

4/12/2005 Da' Vane: Something of Interest...
I was directed to this forum by a friend, and I thought that somebody might be interested in something I worked on a while back. PCSIK Few people have seen…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Da' Vane, Mike Holmes, Selene Tan, Alan.

4/12/2005 Mike Holmes: Costick on Story/Games
Walt will want to check this one out. Herr Costickyan gave some sort of presentation recently on story in games, and getting beyond the implicit dichotomy. The Power Point presentation…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Selene Tan, John Kim, contracycle, pete_darby, C. Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, Gordon C. Landis, Walt Freitag, GregCostikyan, Marco, Ron Edwards, James Holloway.

4/13/2005 contracycle: Raph Koster: A Theory Of Fun For Game Design
This is mostly an FYI/Heads Up post. Raph Koster is the creative director behind StarWars Galaxies, and something of a Name in the world of MUD design. He has recently…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, C. Edwards.

4/13/2005 Paka: System Examples of Scene Framing
I am thinking about scene framing and all I can think of for examples is MLwM where each scene contains one conflict roll. Is this even a tool of scene…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paka, JMendes, Alan, Eva Deinum, Trevis Martin, GB Steve.

4/14/2005 lumpley: Walt Frietag: the LP in Solo CRPGs?
This is a very narrow, very focused post. I want to hear from Walt before anybody else, if that's possible? Here, Walt Frietag"]Yes, the Lumpley Principle does get in the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lumpley, Walt Freitag, pete_darby, contracycle, Bankuei, Valamir, Gaerik, John Kim, Paul Czege, Gordon C. Landis, C. Edwards, Wolfen, Noon, kenjib, joshua neff, Ben Lehman, Wysardry, James Holloway, Domhnall, Ron Edwards.

4/15/2005 Roger: Solo (C)RPGs: A Thought Experiment
(inspired from Walt Frietag: the LP in Solo CRPGs?) Let's say that you've logged into a big old MMORPG and you're running around the system with thousands of other players,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Roger, xenopulse, Gordon C. Landis, Bill Masek, Noon, Eva Deinum, Paul Hebble, Domhnall, Sabazius, M. J. Young.

4/16/2005 John Kim: Role-playing Limits, or Do we need Molotov cocktails?
OK, so this is picking up from Walt Frietag: the LP in Solo CRPGs?. What I am curious about is a formulation of credibility which is inclusive of live-action…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, immlass, Alephnul, James Holloway, TonyLB, Wolfen, M. J. Young, Valamir, Mike Holmes.

4/17/2005 simonf: Single-player mystery RPGs?
Hi, Apologies if it's a bad forum - please relocate this to the appropriate place if necessary. I'm looking for single-person RPGs and adventures to run for my girlfriend. The…
In RPG Theory
Participants: simonf, MatrixGamer.

4/18/2005 Gordon C. Landis: How DO Game Designers (or computers) influence play?
Borrowing from Josh's post towards the end of this thread, I'd like to offer a distinction between "participating in" the SIS and "contributing to" the SIS. "Participating in" the SIS…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, efindel, Eva Deinum, Noon, Wysardry, contracycle.

4/19/2005 TonyLB: Meaning at the beginning, middle and end
In "Thematic Causality": What, why and how?, over in the Muse of Fire forums, we hit some very interesting general-purpose questions. Folks reckon, and I agree, that it might be…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Ron Edwards, Troy_Costisick, xenopulse, Miskatonic, Valamir, Ben Lehman, Noon, Simon Marks, JMendes, Sydney Freedberg, Silmenume.

4/19/2005 1of3: Gamism not for Game masters?
Hi. This is my first post here, so I will introduce myself first. My name is Stefan, I'm from Germany and I'm studying math and Latin for becoming a teacher.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: 1of3, komradebob, Gaerik, Gordon C. Landis, JMendes, xenopulse, Alan, Simon Kamber, Ron Edwards, Noon, John Kim, FzGhouL, MrSandman666, Walt Freitag.

4/21/2005 Andrew Morris: DFK (and SRV): Concrete examples and discussion (long-ish)
[b][i]Introduction[/i][/b] Back in [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=14773]this thread[/url], I brought up the concept of Skill as a possible candidate to flesh out the Drama, Fortune, and Karma triumvirate used to classify resolution mechanics…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Morris, xenopulse, Miskatonic, M. J. Young.

4/25/2005 David Bapst: Difficulty/Success Needed as it relates to GM Fiat
Hello all, Don't precisely know if this has been discussed before. If anyone could post links to past conversations, that would be greatly helpful. I've been thinking recently on difficulties/success…
In RPG Theory
Participants: David Bapst, Matt Wilson, WhiteRat, Jinx, John Burdick, Noon, John Kim, daMoose_Neo, Valamir, Landon Darkwood.

4/26/2005 David Chunn: Layering Conflict Resoultion over Task Res.
Does anyone have suggestions and methods for or experiences with layering conflict resolution over a task resolution system without changing the existing game mechanics? In other words, I don't want…
In RPG Theory
Participants: David Chunn, WhiteRat, Ben Lehman.

4/26/2005 paulkdad: Stages of Development and Roleplaying Theory
Background: The thread, “Meaning at the beginning, middle and end” got me thinking about the active construction of meaning in RPGs, which in turn got me thinking about something I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: paulkdad, J. Tuomas Harviainen.

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