Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

10/27/2005 Montola: Role-playing in academia
Okay, I have to clear this up a bit: though Frans Mäyrä looks forward to one in Beyond Role and Play foreword, no faculties of role-playing studies exist yet. But…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Montola, lankoski, Ben Lehman, Matt, Blankshield, Eirik Fatland, pekkok, Mike Holmes.

10/26/2005 Montola: Publishing theory
Okay, as I've bragged already, I'm working with a PhD on role-playing pretty soon. In that effort, and in my real work (researching pervasive games) I have one major pet…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Montola, Eero Tuovinen, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, Eirik Fatland, Rorimack, Mike Holmes, matthijs, Arturo G., J. Tuomas Harviainen, M. J. Young, Noon, J B Bell, Mark Johnson, timfire, Thor Olavsrud, pekkok.

10/25/2005 JasonPalenske: The Impossible Design
The Impossible Design Over the last week or so I've noticed a profound change in the Forge. I say this as it comes from actually not being present on the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: JasonPalenske, WhiteRat, Nogusielkt, greyorm, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards.

10/25/2005 Wormwood: Play: Content, Controls, Constraints (PCon3) - Overview
As a central aspect of all RPGs play behavior is surprisingly unexamined in the context of RPG theory. About three years ago I started trying to piece together a theory…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wormwood, MatrixGamer, HenryT, Mike Holmes.

10/25/2005 MatrixGamer: Unspoken rules - boardgames to miniatures to role play games
A quote by Vincent got me thinking about implied rules. Over time, repetition makes a body of informal procedures, mere hit-or-miss guesses, into an unspoken and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: MatrixGamer, Sydney Freedberg, Mike Holmes.

10/25/2005 Silmenume: "Situation Creation" mechanics - and Sim
Hey Everyone! The other day in my AP thread Vincent (Lumpley) made the following assertion in response to my claim – Situation creation Mechanics…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Silmenume, Bankuei, Joshua BishopRoby, talysman, contracycle, Shreyas Sampat, lumpley, John Kim, cruciel, ewilen, Mike Holmes, Noon, timfire, Marco, M. J. Young, LordSmerf, Valamir, Supplanter.

10/23/2005 WhiteRat: [Design Patterns of RPGs] What's in a Diagram?
Like many, I was impressed and intruiged by John Kirk's text Design Patterns of Successful Role-Playing Games. As a software engineer myself, I found the currency flow diagrams especially thought-provoking.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: WhiteRat, John Kirk, 1of3, talysman, Shreyas Sampat, RenjiKage, Roger.

10/21/2005 Montola: The Invisible Rules of Role-Playing
Ron and Ben were interested, so here's a quote I posted to my blog, Shards, about the three rules that I use to classify role-playing. I'm finalizing my paper proposal…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Montola, matthijs, Mark Johnson, MatrixGamer, Joshua BishopRoby, ewilen, John Kim, JasonPalenske, Mike Holmes.

10/20/2005 M. J. Young: Clarifying Participationism
Over in Illusionism etc there has been some discussion of illusionism versus participationism. Hal, to extend your metaphor, the theoretical functional illusionism is where your wife…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, Noon, Marco, JasonPalenske, Halzebier, Caldis, Silmenume.

10/19/2005 Madheretic: Need a Good One-on-One Demo
Sorry if this isn't the right place for this request: I just recently convinced someone to try role-playing again after being given a lack-luster introduction with D&D and Storyteller a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Madheretic, Sydney Freedberg, Ron Edwards, Graham Walmsley, Joshua BishopRoby.

10/19/2005 Frank T: [Question] Chargen?
I've come across the term "Chargen" a couple times now and realized I don't have a clue what it means. It's not in the Provisional Glossary. According to my dictionary,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Frank T, Blankshield, Joshua BishopRoby, 1of3, Troy_Costisick, Ron Edwards.

10/19/2005 LordCarter: Game Mechanic Concept...
I had a somewhat new idea for a game mechanic. Tell me what you guys think. CORE MECHANIC SYSTEM + Roll Luck Dice (4d6) + Add Ability Modifier and Skill…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordCarter, Rob Carriere, oreso, Mark Johnson, ffilz, MatrixGamer, Sydney Freedberg, talysman, Clint, M. J. Young.

10/19/2005 Noon: Burn sanity for narrativism?
Split from and thoughts about the genre Not sure if this is worth a thread or not. Chris wrote: Ron: it's also entirely possible that the 'solutions' to CoC…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, Bankuei, Mike Holmes.

10/18/2005 Rustin: Arbitrary means and the Sim-Agenda
I composed this in response to this thread. I agree with Ron, for CoC, it's all about the Sim-Agenda.  Though I suspect that the exploration of that agenda cannot…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Rustin, Mike Holmes.

10/18/2005 Troy_Costisick: Troy's Standard Rant #3: The Power 19
Heya, As I was looking back through my earlier rants and the links to other threads provided, I realized two things about the three questions I examined.  First, they were…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Troy_Costisick, Tony Irwin, Graham Walmsley, timfire, Joshua BishopRoby, M. J. Young, 1of3, ChrisJaxn.

10/17/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Scope & what I mean by it
Over in Godfria, Mars thread, Roger asked me to elaborate what I mean by 'scope'. The scope of a game is the imaginary territory from which content…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Roger, Mike Holmes, jmac, M. J. Young.

10/14/2005 jmac: Illusionism etc
I've looked through the forum and found few discussions about this kind of play. The topics found were either old, or opinions expressed were of a recognizable kind. It looks…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jmac, Andrew Morris, WhiteRat, Mike Holmes, Joshua BishopRoby, Marco, timfire, Halzebier, M. J. Young, komradebob.

10/13/2005 talysman: applied RPG Design Patterns
John Kirk referred us to his work in progress, RPG Design Patterns, a few threads ago. I didn't say anything at the time, although I thought the book is shaping…
In RPG Theory
Participants: talysman, Mike Holmes, John Kirk, Vaxalon.

10/13/2005 Nogusielkt: Super-Powers shift focus of techniques/challenges?
It becomes fairly clear that, when you introduce super powers into a system, that actual play becomes different.  In a mundane game, challenges that are introduced might include solid walls,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Nogusielkt, Sydney Freedberg, Joshua BishopRoby, Jason Petrasko, M. J. Young, Michael S. Miller, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

10/13/2005 Eric J.: Device Mechanic For Alchemy
Okay, I've been working on a game for a few months now that I'm pretty excited about. There's this anime I saw that made me go "Gosh, that would be…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Troy_Costisick, greyorm.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

10/27/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Non-Binary Conflict Resolution
In discussing Dogs in the Vineyard, we came across a slight conceptual bump when it came to conflicts that included more than two parties all with mutally exclusive agendas.  Dogs'…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, Blankshield, lumpley, Shreyas Sampat, John Kirk, TonyLB, Trevis Martin, Michael S. Miller, Mike Holmes, LordSmerf, MatrixGamer, M. J. Young.

10/27/2005 darrick: SenZar ???
aaahh, that explains it!   i heard about this scifi/dark fantasy/horror rpg called SenZar by accident.  a few guys on rpg.net disparagingly referred to SenZar when writing about my rpg: …
In RPG Theory
Participants: darrick, Jasper, daMoose_Neo, Sean, M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, Dr. Velocity.

10/28/2005 Certified: Defining a game’s setting, how much is too little or too much?
These are just some general questions about world building, open to anyone, for any setting. These are questions I’ve been asking myself lately and will answer them in another post,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Certified, Jack Aidley, Lamorak33, Adam Dray, Mike Holmes, Joshua BishopRoby, Troy_Costisick, talysman, Shreyas Sampat, Sydney Freedberg, M. J. Young, Michael S. Miller, Paka.

10/28/2005 greyorm: Parlor Narration and Simulationism
Over in  Going beyond "Parlor Narration", Callan complained: was thinking, "Hey, it'll be cool to see how the characters interact," but then I restricted it to algorithms so…
In RPG Theory
Participants: greyorm.

10/29/2005 RenjiKage: Component-based design of RPGs
Two weeks ago I read about John Kirk's RPG Design patterns. I downloaded the book, read it and was very excited. As a student of computer science, focused on software…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RenjiKage, John Kirk.

11/1/2005 brightstar: Another look at it
I just joined the board via a friends suggestion that I should come here and take a look around.  I figured before I got to posting I should introduce myself. …
In RPG Theory
Participants: brightstar, ScottM, Bankuei, Joshua BishopRoby, John Kim, M. J. Young.

11/2/2005 frikardellen: Evaluating aesthetics i a competetion
Hi everyone I have an idea for a game which in gns-terms is a gamist-narrativist hybrid in that order. What i am trying to do is make the aesthetic contribution…
In RPG Theory
Participants: frikardellen, Matt, Roger, Noon, TonyLB.

11/2/2005 Kory Strickland: Introducing new games to old players
    Hello all, I'm a long time lurker here at the Forge, but this is my first post.  I'd like to get started running an RPG, but since none…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kory Strickland, Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, brightstar, Blankshield, Trevis Martin, efindel, Halzebier.

11/4/2005 Montola: Thesis: The Role of Detection in Rule Enforcement
From Role-playing in academia thread. I didn't this thesis useful. A review in my reading diary. Best, - Markus PS. When was it published?
In RPG Theory
Participants: Montola, Blankshield, Bankuei, Vaxalon, 1of3.

11/4/2005 Wormwood: Methods of Play Content Analysis (PCon3)
PCon3 is presented here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17387.0 One of the advantages of examining the whole of play content is that active content can be classified in multiple ways, without dependence on the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wormwood.

11/5/2005 talysman: suggestions for rapid RPG prototyping
someone pointed me to this article on rapid game prototyping. it's specifically about computer games, not roleplaying games, but I was struck by some of the similarities to the Iron…
In RPG Theory
Participants: talysman, Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, Noon, Roger, contracycle, Warren.

11/8/2005 pells: About writing for RPG
This thread is a follow up of About dices, rules and narrative (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17184.0. I'd like to present the way I write, or let's say, the tool I design for scenarisation.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: pells, WhiteRat, contracycle, MatrixGamer, komradebob.

11/9/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Setting > Situation > Scene?
Point of slight clarification. I'm trying to figure out how broad 'Situation' is supposed to be.  I've been considering it as the immediate elements of the setting, thrown into juxtaposition,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Noon, lumpley, MatrixGamer, Troy_Costisick, ewilen, John Kim, pekkok, Graham Walmsley, Adam Dray, contracycle, Mike Holmes.

11/10/2005 Noon: Where investment seeds
Snakes and ladders is an amazing game. I recommend all Forgites play it again sometime soon if you haven't recently. Preferably with someone young and excitable! What amazes me is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, contracycle, MatrixGamer, Joshua BishopRoby, komradebob, Mark Woodhouse, Graham Walmsley, TonyLB, Ice Cream Emperor, talysman, Kesher, timfire, M. J. Young.

11/10/2005 Roger: Of Utopias and Dystopias
Of Utopias and Dystopias Settings, in role-playing games as well as in fiction, can be very broadly described as resting somewhere on a spectrum which has utopias on one end…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Roger, MatrixGamer, Joshua BishopRoby, Joel, M. J. Young, Neal, Ben Lehman, DrVital, contracycle, JDMcDonnell, Mike Holmes, Arpie.

11/11/2005 TonyLB: Preparation as fuel for Story
So I've been thinking about the connection between GM-preparation (whether classic "what's gonna happen" or more (to my mind) useful preparation schemes like Sorceror or DitV) and its function in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, Joshua BishopRoby, Paka, Noon, WhiteRat, Marco, Alan.

11/15/2005 Wormwood: Parallel and Hierarchical Views (PCon3)
I've already discusses the basics of a PCon3 here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17387.0 . Likewise I demonstrated an approach to reducing play goals to atomic pairs of topic and form. (Such as ethical…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wormwood, TonyLB, M. J. Young.

11/15/2005 E.T.Smith: [HELP] Unclear on an Aspect of "Authored Role-Playing"
In an effort to improve my GMing, I have recently acquired the book Sorcerer & Sword, specifically for the chapter entitled "Anatomy of Authored Role-Playing". I feel I've got the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: E.T.Smith, jburneko, Ron Edwards.

11/19/2005 Rob Alexander: Alan Turing and System Doesn't Matter
On a computer-related forum, someone pointed out that almost every time a discussion starts up along the lines of "Which programming language is better?", someone always pipes up with "It…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Rob Alexander, Jasper, pells, Noon.

11/19/2005 Samarkand: Gangster/Crime Genre RPG Mechanics
  I came across the Forge via mentions on RPG.net reviews mentioning GNS theory terms.  Must admit, much of the discussion goes way above my weight class at the moment;…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Samarkand, timfire, TonyLB, joepub, Mike Holmes, iain, Arpie, Ron Edwards, dindenver.

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