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In RPG Theory

9/2/2005 b_bankhead: The Anima Rpg, If it isn't a Heartbreaker how come it's breaking mine?
(before you click on the url below, you should know the little glowing jewel thingy operates the controls to turn off the sound) http://www.animarpg.com/ I know this one isn't really…
In RPG Theory
Participants: b_bankhead, Andy Kitkowski, greyorm.

9/2/2005 jasonm: Vi Åker Jeep
I'm friends with Olle Jonsson, who is a founding member of the Swedish freeform collective Vi Åker Jeep.  These guys are doing some very interesting things, and I really wanted…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jasonm, Joshua BishopRoby, Merten, Tobias Wrigstad.

9/2/2005 Montola: CFP: Role-playing seminar at Tampere University
We're hosting a small seminar on role-playing theory at the University of Tampere. Check out the seminar webpage below for practical information and the call for papers; please note that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Montola.

9/1/2005 Meguey: Ritual and Gaming/Game Design
All the recent discussion in Actual Play of Dogs, Under the Bed, Barbaren, and Bacchanal got me thinking. Here's what I thought: I have been creating ritual for groups from…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Meguey, lumpley, Artanis, Silmenume, cruciel, Joshua BishopRoby, Paka, Ben Lehman, Adam Dray, Blankshield, Emily Care, ivan23.

9/1/2005 Jeff Turner: I am legion, we are many
Has anyone heard of a game or system that casts players as organizations or groups? For example, a player has either a stable of characters, represents a corporation or entire…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jeff Turner, Paul Czege, TonyLB, Artanis, contracycle, Sean, Michael S. Miller, Gaerik.

8/31/2005 TonyLB: IIEE and Karma Resolution
A discussion over on the Muse of Fire boards got me thinking pretty seriously about IIEE, and where it applies.  I reference threads:  the four steps of action, What is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Ron Edwards, Noon, cruciel, Vaxalon, Gaerik, ewilen, Joshua BishopRoby, John Kim.

8/28/2005 timfire: Rewarded for winning---backwards?
Over in Indie Design I posted my ideas for a new project. One of my main ideas for the game is this---When you win a conflict, you win the stakes,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, matthijs, Filip Luszczyk, Marco, Troy_Costisick, TonyLB, Noon, Ron Edwards, Halzebier, John Harper, Shreyas Sampat, contracycle, Bankuei, Joshua BishopRoby, ewilen, Negilent.

8/28/2005 Graham Walmsley: The GM as safety net
This is an idea that's currently interesting me. I'm hoping you guys will kick it around and tell me a. Whether it might work, b. Whether it's hopelessly naive and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Graham Walmsley, lumpley, Halzebier, TonyLB, demiurgeastaroth, Noon, MrSandman666, contracycle, c, GB Steve.

8/26/2005 John Kim: John's Standard Rant #1: Freeform Traits
This is a general rant about freeform traits, prompted by some off-board discussion.  I'm not opposed to them in general, but I think that some designers choose them as a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Kim, Sean, gsoylent, Emily Care, Nathan P., Joshua BishopRoby, greyorm, HMT, lumpley, chadu, Marco, Sydney Freedberg, cruciel, Noon, Troy_Costisick, Darcy Burgess, jaw6, Everspinner.

8/25/2005 gsoylent: Investigation sequences
This is taken from the Actual PLay thread Star Wars d20: Is this Sim vs. Gamism http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16489.0 The problem in question was in a Star Wars adventure in which the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gsoylent, Albert of Feh, Technocrat13, Joshua BishopRoby, hix, Nogusielkt, pedyo, Eero Tuovinen.

8/25/2005 Silmenume: Exploration does not equal Bricolage.
I broke this off from Xenopulse’s (Christian) thread Complications Instead of Failure as I felt this would be too far out of the original subject matter.  A link to the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Silmenume, ewilen, cruciel.

8/24/2005 TonyLB: Who's your Pep-Squad?
So I was chatting with Andrew Cooper at GenCon, and we were talking about how Capes falls apart if nobody brings the excitement to the table.  It's like people come…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Ron Edwards, Gaerik, Miskatonic, Technocrat13, J. Tuomas Harviainen, Joshua BishopRoby, Noon, c, Meguey.

8/24/2005 Levi Kornelsen: Physical Game Staging - Black Box LARP
I've been slowly building up my methodology for staging LARP events, and I feel that it could benefit from some critical analysis and any general thoughts others had. This is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Levi Kornelsen, Andrew Morris, komradebob, Matt, Albert of Feh.

8/23/2005 J. Tuomas Harviainen: Please rip our questionnaire apart.
We have done field research on larp experiences by using this questionnaire, with the intent of gathering data on how people experience the in-game stare. It also contains questions that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: J. Tuomas Harviainen, Eero Tuovinen, xenopulse, beingfrank, Graham Walmsley.

8/23/2005 Balbinus: What creates complexity in rpg mechanics?
Hi guys, I posted this originally on rpg.net, as it was inspired by a comment in a thread about how many game character sheets tend to look like tax returns,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Balbinus, GB Steve, komradebob, ewilen, John Kim, Joshua BishopRoby, LogicaLunatic, ragnar, Nogusielkt.

8/21/2005 ragnar: Resolution mechanics in Zero?
I was not sure where to post this, so admins feel free to move the post if I got it wrong. Ron mentioned in one of the articles that the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ragnar, Ron Edwards.

8/19/2005 exploreRPG: Tabletop to CRPG? Share your thoughts...
I am a professional software engineer that has also developed what I think to be a near-perfect model for table-top RPGs to be converted to CRPGs. My design, while it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: exploreRPG, M. J. Young, Gordon C. Landis, Vaxalon, Noon, nikola, Ron Edwards, Silmenume, Selene Tan, LordSmerf, Tobaselly.

8/19/2005 M. J. Young: A Model for a CRPG?
Recently I was corresponding with someone whose understanding of The Big Model is rather incomplete. In the course of our discussion he portrayed his dream of designing a CRPG with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Noon, Warren, Adam Dray, contracycle, JamesSterrett, Eric J..

8/15/2005 Tobias Wrigstad: [Knutpunkt 2006 RPG con] Call for Papers
[size=10pt][tt] Hi there, the Call for Papers for the book accompanying the Knutpunkt 2006 convention on role-playing is now official. It can be found here: http://jeepen.org/knutpunkt/ but is also included…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tobias Wrigstad.

8/15/2005 Troy_Costisick: What Role Does Setting Play In System?
Heya, I'm working on a problem in my latest design, and am hoping to get some good input from you guys.  Let's say you have a finite ammount of space-…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Troy_Costisick, Ron Edwards, GB Steve, Artanis.

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In RPG Theory

9/4/2005 lpsmith: Control and Restrictions in RPGs
So, I wrote an essay about RPG theory: http://strackenz.spod-central.org/~lpsmith/rpg/essays/ControlAndRestrictions.html It has two basic premises:  one, that a roleplaying system delegates control over different aspects of the created story to the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: lpsmith, Noon, contracycle, lumpley, Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, M. J. Young, Marco, demiurgeastaroth, Blankshield, Halzebier, Mike Holmes.

9/7/2005 Dumirik: Surrounded by Genius
Ok, this thread might be something new, or it might have already been dealt with before, in which case give me a swift kick in the ass and point me…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dumirik, timfire, Vaxalon, Andrew Morris, TonyLB, bcook1971, Graham Walmsley, contracycle, Arturo G., Paul Czege, xenopulse, Blankshield, Joshua BishopRoby, gsoylent, Troy_Costisick, Ron Edwards, Michael S. Miller, Nathan P..

9/8/2005 jasonm: Swedish Freeform and the Forge
[url=http://polyfem.blogspot.com/]Sven Holmström[/url] has some interesting things to say about the similarities and differences between narrativist games emerging from the Forge and nordic [i]friform[/i] gaming.  It was pointed out to me…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jasonm, Green, J. Tuomas Harviainen, Merten, Sven, JonasB.

9/8/2005 TonyLB: Advantage/Disadvantage: What does the divide tell us?
Characters in many games have clear-cut advantages and disadvantages.  The way games treat these is becoming a source of fascination for me. I was raised (as a gamer) in Champions. …
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Technocrat13, c, Joshua BishopRoby, Noon, Tony Irwin.

9/8/2005 TonyLB: Why should player's support their characters?
[i][ Okay, I am arrogant enough to think that what follows is a whole separate topic from [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16750.0]Advantages/Disadvantages[/url].  They are clearly linked, in mindset if nothing else, but they seem…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Joshua BishopRoby, Troy_Costisick, Ben Lehman, Gordon C. Landis, timfire, Noon, lumpley, Emily Care, xenopulse, demiurgeastaroth, cruciel, Kynn.

9/8/2005 RPGnut: who needs a GM?
Now as much as the title might make it sound as if I'm looking for work as a gorups GM I'm not.  Instead I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RPGnut, Technocrat13, Andrew Morris, lumpley, Halzebier.

9/8/2005 ragnar: Harming characters...let players narrate their own pain?
While GMing a diceless free form game (with some elements of Theatrix) a while back I came across one problem. I didn't want to harm the characters of the story.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ragnar, Joshua BishopRoby, Ron Edwards, Arturo G., M. J. Young, Noon, Vaxalon, xenopulse.

9/10/2005 Noon: Complete games with unguided resource assignment
Just a quick question or three: What is the take of people here on RPG's which ask for users to assign mechanical resources without system guidance? Say, like a game…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, TonyLB, Shreyas Sampat, Gordon C. Landis, Kynn, Sean, LordSmerf, Joshua BishopRoby, Vaxalon, RPGnut, John Kim.

9/10/2005 cruciel: Technique Discussions
I've seen it come up a couple times now that people are having trouble finding design tools - talk about specific Techniques.  I know such discussions are all over this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: cruciel, M. J. Young.

9/10/2005 John Peloquin: A Theory on Role, inspired by character class debates
First a little background: I've been lurking on these forums for about a month, reveling in the collection of knowledge available here. Yesterday I was running a search on threads…
In RPG Theory
Participants: John Peloquin, Halzebier, Troy_Costisick, J. Tuomas Harviainen, aplappi, Alan, Ron Edwards.

9/13/2005 Troy_Costisick: Troy's Standard Rant #1
Heya, Never done a rant before, and not sure this really counts as one.  Don’t really care either.  I just have a point I want to make and then a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Troy_Costisick, TonyLB, Gaerik, Arturo G., Halzebier, Jasper, WhiteRat, Joshua BishopRoby, demiurgeastaroth, Ben Lehman, c, timfire, Noon, Graham Walmsley, M. J. Young, Tony Irwin.

9/14/2005 Sara Adyms: Games of the Geek...Why we play.
Alright. I've more or less stalked this website forum for nearly a year now and haven't said a word, but last night, I got it in my thick head to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sara Adyms, TonyLB, Trevis Martin, Rob Carriere, Michael S. Miller, Meguey, M. J. Young, nikola, Damballa, Blankshield, Bardsandsages.

9/16/2005 Nogusielkt: Player Goals as part of creation?
I've been working on setting player goals as a part of character creation.  At some point during creation, most likely one of the first things you do, is roll for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Nogusielkt, Joshua BishopRoby, Kynn, Nathan P., TonyLB.

9/16/2005 Palaskar: Getting New Gamers Into the Hobby
I saw the "DnD for Dummies" commercial a few days ago, and was wondering what should be done in terms of game design to get people into the hobby. Here's…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Palaskar, Andrew Morris, timfire.

9/16/2005 unheilig studios: rpg/board games: blurring the lines
It comes to me that working on my rpg design, elements of a board game keep cropping up and i keep pushing them away. Should I? Take Clue, for example.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: unheilig studios, lumpley, Troy_Costisick, gsoylent, timfire, jasonm, Joshua BishopRoby, John Kim, Gordon C. Landis, rafial, Blankshield, ewilen.

9/16/2005 Palaskar: Learning from the "DnD for Dummies" ad in terms of game design
I don't know if this should be posted here or in Publishing, so I started here. I've ommited stuff that I know has been obviously talked about, in this case,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Palaskar, timfire, Joshua BishopRoby, Emily Care, Noon, demiurgeastaroth.

9/16/2005 Kesher: Contingent rpgs
I have two purposes with this post.  First, I'd like to find out if anyone knows of other examples of what I'm calling a contingent rpg (defined below); second, I'd…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kesher, Joshua BishopRoby, ewilen, Noon, Paul Czege.

9/17/2005 ewilen: Breaking out bass playing, or credibility distribution sub-classified
Basically, this is an effort at disambiguation, or classifying different gaming styles so as to note their existence and distinguish them from each other. (It may also be worth emphasizing…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ewilen, Marco, Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, John Kim.

9/19/2005 TonyLB: Orthogonal Preparation
So I love the town creation setup in Dogs in the Vineyard, because it lets me know exactly what to do while preparing.  It's a structure for preparation.  That rocks.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Joshua BishopRoby, nikola, Emily Care, Sydney Freedberg, TonyPace.

9/19/2005 nikola: The role of fortune
Why do we care about Fortune mechanics? Why does it matter that randomness has an effect on our games? What if it doesn't? For instance, Polaris has indeterminacy without randomness.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: nikola, TonyLB, MrSandman666, Andrew Morris, lumpley, HenryT, Bob Goat, LordSmerf, xenopulse, Green, Emily Care, Halzebier, Mudlock, contracycle, cruciel, simon_hibbs, Valamir, Joshua BishopRoby, talysman, ewilen, jmac, Marco, Garg, Doug Ruff, M. J. Young.

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