Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

3/21/2002 Matt Gwinn: Remaking a Gamer
I've been languishing over how I was going to answer Ron's profile post for nearly a week now. I looked back on my many years of gaming trying to deside…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Gwinn, joshua neff, Clinton R. Nixon, Bankuei, gentrification, Laurel, Fabrice G., Emily Care, Paul Czege, hardcoremoose, Robert Leal, Mike Holmes.

3/17/2002 Fabrice G.: Simulation exploring story vs narativism
Hi everyone, IIRC all act of roleplaying are exploration of some kind. Then, narativism is the exploration of Premise. What is sim. exploraton of story then ? In witch way…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Fabrice G., Ron Edwards.

3/14/2002 Le Joueur: What is Illusionism?
Since I started this, What about the above: "using any illusion to cause the players to believe they caused a story, when they have not."? No subcategories, no planning…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Steve Dustin, Ron Edwards, Seth L. Blumberg, Walt Freitag, Valamir, Fabrice G., Mike Holmes, Paul Czege, contracycle, Mytholder.

3/14/2002 Gordon C. Landis: Not just-RPG theory
As a result of joe_llama's (Nadav?) recent "We need a more general theory of games" postings, I took a look at a couple old links I had on the subject:…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, Laurel, joe_llama.

3/14/2002 Tim C Koppang: Theory Serves Communication
Has anyone been reading some of the posts over at The Gaming Outpost? I have, and I noticed that Scarlet Jester has become a bit frustrated with himself and the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tim C Koppang, Laurel, Christopher Kubasik, Valamir, Ron Edwards.

3/14/2002 Valamir: Vanilla Narrativism
Really the basic definition of Vanilla Narrativism is "Narrativist play, without all of the Narrativist mechanics bells and whistles" The word having sprung from the idea that vanilla is "plain".…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, Bankuei, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, Ron Edwards, hardcoremoose, joshua neff.

3/13/2002 Eric J.: D100 flaws
I'm creating a D100 system. Is it too complicated for the average person? It would almost always be if you roll a D100 is it lower than- X+Y=DC or X=DC+Y.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Jared A. Sorensen, Clinton R. Nixon, Tim Denee, J B Bell.

3/13/2002 amiel: Dramatism as Vanilla Narrativism
I may be wrong... I decided to take a game that I'm running toward a more Narrative angle while using most of the book rules. So I added some of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: amiel, Ron Edwards.

3/12/2002 Walt Freitag: Looking deeper into Intuitive Continuity
Disclaimer: Presumptuous of me, I realize, to attempt a new thead with my very first post. Furthermore, I am new to this terminology and, while I believe I've absorbed the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Walt Freitag, Christopher Kubasik, Noble, contracycle, GB Steve, Valamir, Le Joueur, Jack Spencer Jr, Jared A. Sorensen, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Steve Dustin, Seth L. Blumberg, Paul Czege, C. Edwards, Michael Bowman, Blake Hutchins.

3/9/2002 Gordon C. Landis: Role playing is not a goal?
Plucked from the "GNS Showdown" thread over in the GNS Model discussion forum, in an attempt to curb my normal "support thread drift" tendencies . . . Start from scratch.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, joe_llama, C. Edwards, contracycle.

3/8/2002 Sidhain: Character
I'm not sure if this relates to GNS besides in the most peripheral way. I was discussing with someone role-playing and they said something that I found odd. It was…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sidhain, C. Edwards, Ron Edwards.

3/5/2002 hardcoremoose: Premise in the Whispering Vault
Okay, since we've been talking about hidden Premises of late... I'm prepping to run possibly my all-time favorite game, The Whispering Vault. Now, I've run the Vault in the past…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards.

3/5/2002 Seth L. Blumberg: What makes a good Narrativist Premise?
There are lots of examples of Premise scattered around in various threads, but try as I might, I can't seem to find anywhere that the question "What are the conditions…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Seth L. Blumberg, Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Le Joueur.

3/4/2002 erithromycin: Chasing Premise
Spun off from the Devilry over in IGD. Sorry Ron, I am a monkey. Which brings me to this thought: Is it possible for a ruleset to be Premise-less?…
In RPG Theory
Participants: erithromycin, hardcoremoose, Valamir, Ron Edwards, xiombarg, Seth L. Blumberg, C. Edwards, Balbinus, Mike Holmes, Blake Hutchins.

2/28/2002 Emily Care: Common Sense Guidelines for Group-Concensus Exploration...
Common Sense Guidelines to Group-Consensus Based Exploration of World, Setting, Character, System and Story First, find some folks with whom you are capable of having an enjoyable and productive conversation,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emily Care, xiombarg, Ron Edwards, lumpley, jburneko, Paul Czege.

2/27/2002 joe_llama: Narrativist Catalyst
There is something I really think all Narrativists should check out. It's an interesting theory of story called Dramatica, freely available at www.dramatica.com . Using my own words will only…
In RPG Theory
Participants: joe_llama, lumpley, Seth L. Blumberg, Blake Hutchins, Valamir, Paul Czege, contracycle.

2/26/2002 Paul Czege: several hundred dollars worth of GM
Hey everyone, Ron's fantastic and complex post in the Sorcerer forum about the zones and categories of a character's interests brings up an interesting side issue. The post reveals…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, J B Bell, Gordon C. Landis.

2/25/2002 erithromycin: Do unto others...
This was an idea I had, literally moments ago. What if the basis for interaction within a game was your initial interaction with the other party? GM: The room is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: erithromycin, Jared A. Sorensen, Mike Holmes, Valamir.

2/21/2002 Joe Murphy (Broin): Narrativism = few stats?
There's a simple subject line for y'all. A game like Sorceror has 4 stats. Donjon Krawl has about half a dozen. Is more than a few stats necessarily a bad…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joe Murphy (Broin), Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr.

2/20/2002 jburneko: Abstract Premises
First off I'm using Premise in the narrow Narrativist Sense. I was thinking about Science Fiction and how it often has rather abstract Premises. One of the things that gets…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jburneko, J B Bell, Ron Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, Seth L. Blumberg, contracycle, joshua neff.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

3/22/2002 Gordon C. Landis: New/New is better than Familiar/New?
I almost put this in Actual Play, but since it's a game that DIDN'T happen . . . we're here in Theory. I was going to start running a Sorceror…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, Christopher Kubasik, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes.

3/25/2002 Christopher Kubasik: GMs & Players: The Contract
[quote="Rich"][quote]He's a smart guy. You should game Narrativist with him.[/quote] I've seen a couple of Sorcerer One sheets around here. I'm getting the impression that GMs are putting them together…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christopher Kubasik, Rich Forest, joshua neff, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Emily Care.

3/26/2002 hardcoremoose: "I know what I want"....player investment in rpgs
Hey guys, I've been thinking a lot about player investment in a game. We discuss it all the time. Some examples: I've championed group character creation in recent months, as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: hardcoremoose, contracycle, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Le Joueur, Walt Freitag.

3/27/2002 Clinton R. Nixon: Simple Questions: Why the GM?
Ok - this question dives into the simple. Why do you GM? This question's been rolling around in my head for the longest time. Of all the supposed biases on…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Clinton R. Nixon, Mike Holmes, unodiablo, rafael, xiombarg, Gordon C. Landis, joshua neff, Mytholder, Le Joueur, Sidhain, Bankuei, Jared A. Sorensen, Rich Forest, C. Edwards, Balbinus, J B Bell, wyrdlyng, Seth L. Blumberg, Laurel, Zak Arntson, Steve Dustin, Matt Gwinn, Ace, Kenway, contracycle, JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, Wolfen, Valamir.

3/28/2002 Steve Dustin: Players, players, I can't stand it anymore
Everyone knows what a GM does. And everyone knows who the Players are (everyone but the GM). But then everyone also knows the GM is a player. But stopping to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Steve Dustin, Zak Arntson, Ron Edwards, Blake Hutchins, Walt Freitag, Brian Hose, Seth L. Blumberg.

3/30/2002 Jared A. Sorensen: Mage: the Descent
(thoughts which occurred while in the shower) Having just revised Schism, it made me realize just what is wrong with Mage: the Ascension. Why it consistently misses the point while…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jared A. Sorensen, joshua neff, contracycle, Seth L. Blumberg, Ron Edwards, Blake Hutchins, J B Bell, eyebeams, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis.

4/2/2002 Clinton R. Nixon: Simple Questions 2: What makes a good GM?
Now that the "why GM" question has been fully hashed out, I want to move on to another question: what makes a good GM? Even more personally, why do you…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Clinton R. Nixon, Mytholder, joshua neff, Bankuei, Petter Sandelin, contracycle, Walt Freitag, Valamir.

4/5/2002 Wolfen: Rewards
For the record, I looked for other threads on this topic within the past few months, as well as the essays. I found nothing there to answer my questions, so…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wolfen, Bankuei, Valamir, hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag.

4/5/2002 Valamir: Rewarding Color
One of my next projects which is gurgling around in the ooze and muck at the base of my skull is a western game. I've decided that I don't really…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, contracycle, J B Bell, jburneko, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, Paul Czege.

4/6/2002 J B Bell: Actor, Author, Director: three Spheres of Magic and more!
My understanding of improvised magic systems (and Champions' various power pools) as a way of exercising Author and Director power occurred only recently with a fuller understanding of what the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: J B Bell, Ron Edwards, contracycle.

4/7/2002 wyrdlyng: Art Styles
This is more of a curiosity question but how much does the art style in a game affect the way you play it? For example, Rifts is considered a fairly…
In RPG Theory
Participants: wyrdlyng, J B Bell, Ron Edwards, Eugene Zee, Wolfen, joshua neff, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis, contracycle, Fabrice G., Henry Fitch.

4/10/2002 Ron Edwards: Transparency
Hi Andrew and everyone, This post is a followup to the Transparent Game System thread in Indie Game Design. I figured I shouldn't derail the thread, as my concern is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, Blake Hutchins, Mike Holmes, Valamir, J B Bell, Jared A. Sorensen, Walt Freitag, contracycle.

4/12/2002 Balbinus: When does an idea need a new system?
Hi, Here is a thought I had recently which may be relevant to indie game design. When does an idea start to merit it's own rules set? For example, let's…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Balbinus, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, Valamir, Bankuei, J B Bell, Wolfen, Seth L. Blumberg, Stivven, Andrew Martin, Misguided Games.

4/12/2002 Blake Hutchins: Werewolf: the Appearance
In another recent thread, Mage: the Descent, Jared asserted that Werewolf is about Humanity, same as Vampire. If you look at the books and White Wolf's marketing of the line,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Blake Hutchins, Jared A. Sorensen, Seth L. Blumberg, Clinton R. Nixon, Valamir, Ron Edwards, jburneko, Laurel, Gordon C. Landis, Fabrice G..

4/13/2002 bodhi: Wonderful games
There is a topic by Pale Fire in the game design forum regarding the setting for his game, Yggdrasil. The discussion centered briefly on the idea of capturing a sense…
In RPG Theory
Participants: bodhi, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, contracycle.

4/14/2002 Fabrice G.: Company games vs indie ones (premise based)
In a lot of discussion about non-indie games, a common thing pop up again and again : the lack of focus in the premise, or the lack of premise itself.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Fabrice G., Wolfen, contracycle, Garbanzo, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards.

4/16/2002 Henry Fitch: Karma Mechanics in Realistic Settings
I've been looking at the Nobilis 2ed promo stuff a bunch lately, and the system just seems... well, beautiful. I love it. It appears to strip away randomness without losing…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Henry Fitch, Valamir, Paul Czege, Fabrice G., Ron Edwards.

4/14/2002 Paul Czege: Horror: Simulationism and Narrativism
Hey bodhi, I've decided for myself that the best chance my game has of capturing a sense of wonder, is to reward the players for trying to instill a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, Mike Holmes, contracycle, hardcoremoose, Wolfen, Matt Gwinn, Ron Edwards.

4/17/2002 Ron Edwards: Transparency again
Hello, Andrew Martin began this Transparent Game System thread in Indie Design, and I began the Transparency thread in an attempt to address some trouble I am having with that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Wolfen, Gordon C. Landis, Blake Hutchins, Jack Spencer Jr, J B Bell, Andrew Martin, Le Joueur.

4/18/2002 jburneko: Group Storytelling vs. Role-playing
Well, in one of Ron's Beef Injection he mentions acknowledging a line between group storytelling and actual roleplaying but doesn't know where that line is. I'm not so sure I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jburneko, Clinton R. Nixon, angelfromanotherpin, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Valamir, J B Bell, Tim C Koppang, Wolfen, Gordon C. Landis, joe_llama, Bob McNamee, Paul Czege, Andrew Martin.

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