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In RPG Theory

7/7/2005 Andrew Morris: What are "kewl powerz?"
Since the discussion over in the What is the function of Kewl Powerz thread seems to be devolving into a discussion of exactly what "kewl powerz" means, I decided to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Morris, Mike Holmes, xenopulse, TonyLB, M. J. Young, Miskatonic, indie guy, Marco, cruciel, Remko, Ria, ffilz, Bob McNamee, Adam Dray.

7/5/2005 Paka: Impossible Thing Before Breakfast Question
[quote]Impossible Thing Before Breakfast, the "The GM is the author of the story and the players direct the actions of the protagonists." Widely repeated across many role-playing texts. Neither sub-clause…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paka, timfire, Selene Tan, Marco, contracycle, Gaerik, M. J. Young.

7/5/2005 Damballa: Real-Time RPGs
Hey, what do you guys think of the real-time strategy genre as it applies to roleplaying? I’m taking my lead here from Hakim Bey’s tangential suggestion of a 'Quilting Bee'…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Damballa, Vaxalon, Noon, James Holloway, Mike Holmes.

7/4/2005 timfire: Equipment as character component.
Over in the thread, this sentiment was repeated a couple of times: Equipment, which is external can be easily lost, and only begs to bear a label saying:…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Matt Wilson, Noon, Vaxalon, Andrew Morris, Ron Edwards, Artanis, TonyLB, Wolfen, Nogusielkt, Mike Holmes, PlotDevice.

7/1/2005 M. J. Young: Theory 101: The Impossible Thing Before Breakfast posted
For those following the series, Places to Go, People to Be has released the next issue, containing the second of the theory series, Theory 101: The Impossible Thing Before Breakfast.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Albert of Feh, John Kim, Andrew Morris, Ian Charvill, timfire, Sean, Paul Czege, cruciel, ewilen, greyorm, Silmenume, 1of3, contracycle, Marco, Noon, brainwipe, Vaxalon, Mortaneus, Ron Edwards.

6/29/2005 John Kim: Models of Adventure Structure
So this is cross-posted with my blog. I'm pondering ideas about the development of the RPG adventure. This is something that isn't explicit in character creation and action resolution…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, TonyLB, Albert of Feh, lumpley, Ben Lehman, Troy_Costisick, Andrew Morris, gsoylent, Sydney Freedberg, Sean.

6/29/2005 sayter: The role of Magic/Magick
While I am sure every person here has a different idea of what magick is, why it exists and how it should function in a game world I thought it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sayter, Valamir, Lonoto, Troy_Costisick, Tom B, Albert of Feh, John Kim, Noon, Nick, JSDiamond, contracycle, John Wick.

6/29/2005 Lonoto: [MAGD] Proposed GM-less play...
I'm working on a martial arts based game design at the moment, (this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=15793) and after some thinking I came up with the idea of throwing out the GM…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Lonoto, M. J. Young, TonyLB, contracycle.

6/28/2005 MrSandman666: one-shots and attachment to character
Hello everybody. Haven't posted in a long while but I've been lurking here pretty frequently. Now finally after a long time of playing around with several different ideas there is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: MrSandman666, Jack Aidley, Trish2, M. J. Young.

6/28/2005 David Bapst: Simulationist Reward Systems
What are the reward systems that support a Simulationist CA? I seem to have found several types that are repeated over and over again, but I’m unsure if they really…
In RPG Theory
Participants: David Bapst, Nathan P., beingfrank, Gaerik, John Kim, Rob Carriere, M. J. Young, Silmenume.

6/26/2005 Troy_Costisick: What is the function of Kewl Powerz
Heya, In this thread Tony wrote this: My argument is that they address something that is hard to address in other ways. Which is why, in fact, games without them…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Troy_Costisick, KingstonC, Jeph, Remko, Andrew Morris, Noon, TonyLB, Doug Ruff, Sydney Freedberg, chadu, HMT, Vaxalon, timfire, John Kim, Simon Marks, Artanis, Brand_Robins, xenopulse, Eero Tuovinen, Itse, cruciel.

6/25/2005 David Bapst: Sim Centralization - Dependency on the GM and Alternatives
So, I've been giving my collection a partial read through lately, partly spurned on by a friend to "fix" a system we used to play (Long story why: I argued…
In RPG Theory
Participants: David Bapst, Noon, komradebob, John Kim, Lee Short, timfire, John Burdick, M. J. Young.

6/24/2005 Gaerik: Collaborative Character Creation
In most of the games my players are used to playing, character creation is strictly a solitary process. In D&D, for example, the creation process is where everyone sits down…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gaerik, Andrew Morris, timfire, John Harper, Paul Czege, Vaxalon, Andrew Norris, M. J. Young.

6/24/2005 TonyLB: Why adventure at all?
Most RPGs you will ever find have two elements: Adventure and Kewl Powerz. Even games that clearly do not focus on such things most often include them. White Wolf's various…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Andrew Morris, Troy_Costisick, Eva Deinum, Remko, Victor Gijsbers, Andrew Norris, Alan, Noon, Bankuei, John Kim, Eero Tuovinen, Melinglor, Vaxalon, M. J. Young, Itse.

6/22/2005 LordCarter: Newbie Designer on the Verge. Looking for Tips...
Hello all, this is my first post on the Forge. From reading Ron's article, seems like he's got a good bead on the industry. I had some ideas for a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordCarter, ethan_greer, Troy_Costisick, Jack Aidley, Adam Dray, Victor Gijsbers, Eero Tuovinen, xenopulse, Remko, Erick Wujcik.

6/22/2005 preludetotheend: Seperation anxiety.
Well, folks I figure this would be the forum to go to, you see I want to get rid of stats in my game. I am running off a more…
In RPG Theory
Participants: preludetotheend, TonyLB, Troy_Costisick, contracycle, Noon.

6/21/2005 Simon Marks: Reward Systems in LRP
Ok, after taking some time to think abouty it, I'm going to punt this one out to the field. In Ron's article "GNS and other matters of roleplay theory", he…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Simon Marks, Andrew Morris, Albert of Feh, Noon, Harlequin, J. Tuomas Harviainen, M. J. Young, Vaxalon.

6/18/2005 thapheonix: one player campaign
A'ight, here's the deal. I'm trying to make a game where you have all the experiences of a regular rpg, except, you fight on a gridded board in a tactical,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: thapheonix, Noon, Kriegsaffe No. 9, Troy_Costisick.

6/18/2005 epweissengruber: (OT) "Nomic" Games and Rule Governed Self-Amendmen
A while back I posted a speculative note] regarding rule-governed transformation of play space. I got a number of useful responses. Recently, I have uncovered a type of game that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: epweissengruber, Walt Freitag, Jeph, Noon, Adam Dray, Doug Ruff, MatrixGamer.

6/16/2005 Darcy Burgess: Strong Foundations: Good games where PCs are v.similar
I'm trauling for some ideas, sounds pretty theoretical to me. I'm currently wrestling with finding a way to make a game "interesting" when all of the PCs are essentially identical…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Darcy Burgess, GB Steve, TonyLB, timfire, Andrew Morris, gsoylent, Jasper, Troy_Costisick, Harlequin, Chad Sonderberg.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

7/11/2005 loki's wrangling: [Risus]Compelling Cliches a la Fate?
So I'm planning a one-shot space opera, rather like a single episode of Star Trek. Risus, with its ultra-simple character generation, seems a perfect system with which to run one-shots…
In RPG Theory
Participants: loki's wrangling.

7/11/2005 Andrew Morris: [Breaking the Ice]How does it relate to the Czege Principle?
Lately, I've been wondering if Breaking the Ice helps support the Czege Principle ("When one person is the author of both the character's adversity and its resolution, play isn't fun."…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Morris, Gaerik, Paul Czege, Adam Dray, Ben Lehman, timfire, Emily Care, jaw6.

7/14/2005 brand: About DFK - what about a fourth resolution mecanic?
Hello, First of all, let me apologize if this topic was abundandly discussed before, but I would like to ask a few questions about this subpart of the model. I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: brand, Alan, Trevis Martin, ewilen, timfire, Walt Freitag, Artanis, M. J. Young.

7/14/2005 Jack Aidley: The function of Races in Fantasy RPGS
I'm in the process of developing a Fantasy roleplaying game. One of my aims is to be able justify every aspect of the game in terms of acheiving my goals;…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Aidley, Bob Goat, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, NN, Emily Care, simon_hibbs, cruciel, greyorm, M. J. Young.

7/15/2005 contracycle: Explicit Goals
A discussion of the use of expicit goals and steps, especially for gamist play. Original post: I agree with Noon's point. Thinking about things like Power/Evil has recently priompted this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Lord Shield, StalkingBlue, Noon, Nogusielkt, GB Steve.

7/16/2005 Funksaw: Has anyone put the SRD on a Wiki?
I'm sure everyone wants a crack at improving D&D. I'm just wondering - has anyone put the 3.5 SRD on a Wiki and just letting people go wild on it?
In RPG Theory
Participants: Funksaw, sayter, John Kim, Miskatonic, Vaxalon.

7/16/2005 Vaxalon: "Gandalf Did It"
[quote="sayter"] I dont see any reason why a mage cant be as good with a sword as a warrior. Gandalf did it, and countless other heroes in fantasy settings have.[/quote]…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Vaxalon, Alan, Noon, Uzzah, LandonSuffered, Silmenume, Clinton R. Nixon, Miskatonic, Ron Edwards, ADGBoss, jaw6, sayter.

7/17/2005 Matt Wilson: the balance of power - brainstorming
Hey. So if you've ever played Primetime Adventures, you know about Budget, which is my response to what I always considered a daunting task as GM, which is providing the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Wilson, xenopulse, matthijs, timfire, Bankuei, Clinton R. Nixon, Nathan P., Sydney Freedberg, bcook1971, Technocrat13, Ron Edwards, Miskatonic, chadu, contracycle, Sean, Adam Dray, spawky, John Harper, M. J. Young.

7/18/2005 Biggles: Objective vs. Subjective Difficulty
Hi all, First, very nice site. I've been lurking about for weeks, reading the articles and these forums, and I've been really enjoying myself. Thank you to everyone who wrote…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Biggles, Bankuei, bcook1971, Justin Marx, simon_hibbs.

7/19/2005 Paka: Discussion with my GMing Mentor
Jim is my gaming Qui-Gon.  He got me to GM when I was 13. But here's the thing, when I told him I didn't know the rules well enough to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paka, TonyLB, Technocrat13, LandonSuffered, Valamir, Bankuei, Nathan P., Sydney Freedberg, dyjoots, cruciel, Mencelus, contracycle, Andrew Norris, greyorm, Matt Snyder, Noon, Marco, Alan, Trevis Martin, Ria, Thor Olavsrud, Ron Edwards.

7/19/2005 LordCarter: Alternative Names for "Game Master"
I'm trying to come up with a different name for the "GM" in my RPG design. BACKGROUND 2415, Earth. The world is just waking up from a nuclear holocaust of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordCarter, Andrew Morris, Vaxalon, LandonSuffered, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon, Troy_Costisick, 1of3, Jack Aidley, Miskatonic, gsoylent, indie guy, killacozzy.

7/19/2005 LandonSuffered: Need for Experience/Improvement
For a lot of folks with even a little gamism in their agenda, one of the great enjoyments in role-playing is to see their character grow from a young, inexperienced…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LandonSuffered, Nogusielkt, Sean, Ron Edwards, Miskatonic, Silmenume, M. J. Young, Asen G, sophist, Justin Marx.

7/19/2005 LandonSuffered: Race/Species in Fantasy RPGs: Is It Necessary?
This is another topic of discussion I’ve been aching to have, and I did not find any older threads on the Forge…if anyone has one, please post a link. Race…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LandonSuffered, ewilen, Shreyas Sampat, SlurpeeMoney, Troy_Costisick, simon_hibbs, zircher, Jack Aidley, Rob Carriere, Justin Marx, killacozzy, Green, contracycle, M. J. Young, madelf, RobNJ.

7/20/2005 Resonantg: How important is system complexity?
G'day people; My question may have been asked before, and if so, please refer me to any links I may have missed. :c) During the development of my game, I've…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Resonantg, TonyLB, Alan, FzGhouL.

7/20/2005 Hereward The Wake: RE Problem defining martial arts
This topic went quite while I was away. It is an area that I am very interested as I have been trying to something similar myself. Was anything developed from…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Hereward The Wake, Resonantg, Miskatonic, FzGhouL, Latigo, John Kim.

7/20/2005 Andrew Morris: Turn-based structures in RPGs -- what are they good for?
Someone (RobNJ, I believe) recently pointed out that they dislike turn-based RPGs. Personally, I love 'em. Universalis, Capes, Ganakagok, Breaking the Ice...lots of my favorites use turns, in some form…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Morris, TonyLB, komradebob, John Kim, John Harper, ewilen, bcook1971, Adam Dray, matthijs, Jack Aidley, Ron Edwards, Miskatonic, Valamir, Damballa.

7/21/2005 Blake T. Deakin: Party split-up
So, I've been running an old pre-written adventure called "Night of a Thousand Screams" for L5R. This is a classic, linear game. Tragically, a lot of players are familiar with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Blake T. Deakin, Vaxalon, timfire, Andrew Norris, Troy_Costisick, Noon, ewilen.

7/21/2005 Dangerboy: Simplicity to Complexity: can you make a sliding scale rpg?
While working on a generic RPG system I started to think to myself, can you make an RPG system that's built on a sliding scale? Like if you set your…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dangerboy, Grand_Commander13, Shreyas Sampat.

7/23/2005 Mark Woodhouse: Creator or fan?
This post originated in a thread at rpg.net. I will be posting a parallel thread there as well, as I really want to hear from a few people who won’t…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mark Woodhouse, SlurpeeMoney, Damballa, Clinton R. Nixon, Sean, Miskatonic, Ron Edwards, greyorm, xenopulse, John Kim, Marco, John, Alan.

7/23/2005 Sean: Immersion and Handling Time
One complaint that theorists here sometimes receive from immersionist tabletop gamers and members of the Scandinavian LARP scene basically boils down to the following argument: 1) I like immersion. 2)…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sean, Mark Woodhouse, Ron Edwards.

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