Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

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.

11/1/2005 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.

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.

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.

10/28/2005 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.

10/27/2005 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.

10/27/2005 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 timfire: [The Mountain Witch] Reward System?
Awhile ago, I was discussing tMW's "reward system" with Ron Edwards. It was spurred by a comment Vincent made on his blog that players get rewarded for making their characters…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, MatrixGamer, Clinton R. Nixon.

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.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

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.

11/20/2005 Nogusielkt: Any rpgs in which rule 0 doesn't apply?
Might be the wrong forum, but the descriptions aren't clear on where to ask questions about existing rpgs... So, can I get a list of games that don't have rule…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Nogusielkt, timfire, Eero Tuovinen, komradebob, Joshua BishopRoby, JDMcDonnell, TonyLB, Ron Edwards.

11/21/2005 Mike Holmes: Adjusting FATE for PBEM Play
I was asked how I'd modified FATE for PBEM play in this thread: I did a few things actually to make play flow more smoothly. I have to admit first,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, joepub.

11/21/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Architect Stance
Okay, total snippet of a thought, here.  While Actor, Author, and Director stances describe the stances that player-participants take "in play" while things are happening, there's also procedures that player-participants…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Mark Woodhouse, Andrew Morris, Mike Holmes, timfire, Ron Edwards, Roger, M. J. Young.

11/21/2005 aedaren: Ideas for defaults in classic skill-based systems
Hello All!  I've been developing a simple system with a normal rules-set (IE: similar to BRP, GURPS, AD&D, etc)... But I've been struggling with skill defaults.  I've gone back and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: aedaren, Joshua BishopRoby, Mike Holmes, demiurgeastaroth, M. J. Young, Ethesis.

11/22/2005 komradebob: I want training wheels!
I have a horrible confession to make: I realized tonight that I need training wheels. I realized it when I finished reading PTA, a game whose anticipated arrival in my…
In RPG Theory
Participants: komradebob, Shreyas Sampat, Warren, Troy_Costisick, TonyLB, Ron Edwards, joepub, Mike Holmes, Joshua BishopRoby, Noon, Valamir, ffilz.

11/23/2005 Bluve Oak: Coolness Hit Points
Crazy thought #509234. Most RPG’s have a mechanic that tells you if your character is alive or dead, or somewhere in between; Hit Points, Health, Injury… What if this measure…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bluve Oak, Victor Gijsbers, Arturo G., Mike Holmes, Michael S. Miller, jerry.

11/23/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Shaping Gamer Culture (Looooooong)
Okay, so see if this sounds familiar to you: You go to your Favorite Local Game Store.  The clerk there shows you a new book that just came out.  You…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Marco, cpeterso, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, Arpie, Justin Marx, Merten, Arturo G., contracycle, Roger, Bankuei, Lig, John Kim, M. J. Young, DrVital, komradebob.

11/24/2005 J B Bell: Content Creation for the Discontented
[quote="contracycle"](From [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17711.0"]Shaping Gamer Culture . . .[/url]): The appropriate response to the "demand for content" which you recognise is to produce content, not to fail to do so.  This is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: J B Bell, Mark Woodhouse, Joshua BishopRoby, M. J. Young, contracycle, komradebob, pells, Caldis, Shreyas Sampat, Ethesis.

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