Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

6/28/2002 Mark D. Eddy: Jazz as a metaphor for RPG's
While working up some ideas for a game design, I crystalized out something that I have been trying to get out of solution since I started reading and posting here…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mark D. Eddy, Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

6/26/2002 Ben Morgan: Retroactively assigned abilities
[quote="In another thread in the Adept Press forum, Christopher Kubasik"]But this is moot. The real question I want discussed is: Do PCs have pasts? If so, how much? Are their…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Morgan, Jared A. Sorensen, xiombarg, Laurel, Mike Holmes, Paganini, Victor Gijsbers, Ron Edwards, Matt Gwinn, Le Joueur, Tim C Koppang.

6/26/2002 DaR: Innovative Mechanics
Or Yes Virgina, System Really Does Matter In the past few months, there's been a preponderance of truly interesting new games here on the Forge and elsewhere. A number of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: DaR, Ollog Herder, Andrew Martin, Paganini, Jake Norwood, damion, gentrification.

6/25/2002 Mike Holmes: Equipment and Balance
First, this is a little fragmented so please bear with me. This is not intended to be a discussion of what balance means, please hash that out elsewhere. The discussion…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen, damion, J B Bell, Valamir, Le Joueur, Bankuei, Andrew Martin, Victor Gijsbers, contracycle, Paganini, Zak Arntson.

6/25/2002 Eric J.: Consistancy:Resolution mechanic
This mechanic is a way of simulating consistancy in dicepool systems. I developed it for my RPG (see associated threads). Basically, it works like this: You have a crossbow, and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Ron Edwards.

6/23/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Looking at yet another combat system bastard
I was thinking a little on how to make a combat resolution system which would translate down to a AHQ style boardgame without much trouble and still incorporate things like…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Ron Edwards, Bankuei.

6/21/2002 Christoffer Lernö: A simple skill resolution and a twist
I'm trying to think of some simple skill resolution for Ygg, and came up with this: Prerequisites: Stats (or skills) have a number ranging from maybe 1-7 or something like…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Victor Gijsbers, Ferry Bazelmans, efindel, Ron Edwards, Andrew Martin, Bob McNamee, Mike Holmes.

6/20/2002 Jake Norwood: Director Stance: Fun, but is there a Challenge?
People play RPGs for different reasons (hence GNS and all that stuff). Most of us alternate or combine from time to time, even within a session. The deal is that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jake Norwood, Bankuei, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Wolfen, Seth L. Blumberg, Blake Hutchins, Walt Freitag.

6/20/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Looking at "Fang's Dilemma"
Ok, I'm interested in some stuff from this thread. What's discussed here is the freeze all characters, unfreeze one, take action, freeze, unfreeze next, and so on. Mike Holmes suggested…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Ring Kichard, Le Joueur, Christopher Kubasik.

6/20/2002 Andrew Martin: The mystery of the creature's head
[quote="Fang Langford"]What I'm struggling with is a technique to afford the mystery of what's in the critter's head. I see a lot of value in maintaining that Mystique, both when…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Martin, Le Joueur, Walt Freitag.

6/20/2002 Christopher Kubasik: Relationship Maps AGAIN?
Hi everybody, A quick question (especially for Ron): Why the novels? Why read a book, take the R-Map and twist it around? Why not just make up a map on…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christopher Kubasik, Buddha Nature, J B Bell, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards.

6/19/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Narrated combat results - a problem
I was thinking about an issue regarding using director stance to describe combat events. Let's say player A is fighting a monster. Now the GM is really running a sim…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, gentrification, Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen, damion, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, Le Joueur, Seth L. Blumberg, Clinton R. Nixon, Gordon C. Landis, Valamir, Jesse Paulsen, Andrew Martin, contracycle.

6/19/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Interrupting actions
First read the 4 steps of action thread if you haven't already. Now onto something I'm interested in. What about interrupting actions, how can one deal with the them well?…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Andrew Martin, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, Ring Kichard, Seth L. Blumberg, C. Edwards, Buddha Nature.

6/19/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Linear skill ratings deciding dice pool size is broken
Adding to the "broken" series here. Let's look at the popular dice pool decided on a skill rating. Most systems have a simple: skill level x gives x dice. Similar…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, Syphon, Andrew Martin, Ron Edwards.

6/14/2002 Wart: Narrative Authority and/or Power and Resolution Mechanics
(Whups, this belonged here rather than in "Actual Play".) The old thread about narrative authority has gotten a bit tangled, as Ron has pointed out, so let's start a new,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wart, Ron Edwards, Seth L. Blumberg.

6/14/2002 Walt Freitag: Linear Die Roll Modifiers Are Broken (long and math-full)
There’s been some past discussion here of various common game mechanisms that are actually mathematically broken in subtle ways. Attribue + Skill systems, for example. In the same spirit, I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Walt Freitag, Valamir, xiombarg, Le Joueur, Seth L. Blumberg, J B Bell, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis, Jaif, Christoffer Lernö, damion, Eric J., Victor Gijsbers.

6/13/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Die roll transparency
I was thinking about bringing up the issue of die mechanic transparency. I'm talking about "how clear is it what my chances are when I roll the dice" I'm very…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Andrew Martin, Zak Arntson, Walt Freitag, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur.

6/12/2002 Jaif: Math in games: why the stigma?
As I've been looking through online posts at RPG.net and, more recently, the forge, I've noticed what I call a stigma (pick your word) against math in many postings. "Too…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jaif, Jared A. Sorensen, Valamir, joshua neff, Ron Edwards, Zak Arntson, Mike Holmes, Seth L. Blumberg, Laurel, Blake Hutchins, Le Joueur, Bankuei, xiombarg, Paganini, Gordon C. Landis, Walt Freitag, Wolfen, Evan Waters, damion, Andrew Martin.

6/12/2002 Paganini: Exploration of System?
I was checking over the GNS essay this evening to review terms for the Directoral Power thread, and I got interested all over again. Towards the back (Ch 5. I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis.

6/12/2002 Paganini: Who says it? When does he say it? How much can he say?
Well, "Directoral Mechanics" doesn't really seem to be the right topic for this thread (I needed a review of what Director Stance really is), so I've started a new thread.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, Zak Arntson, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

6/30/2002 Mark D. Eddy: Metagame Theory and Roles
Well, having discovered that the search function of this board doesn't get me what I'm looking for, I'm going to talk about filling roles in a game. I'm fairly sure…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mark D. Eddy, Jack Spencer Jr, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Jared A. Sorensen, Paganini, Mike Holmes, damion.

7/2/2002 Jesse Paulsen: Sorceror/Donjon dice mechanic burp?
In the event of an opposed roll between two players (A and B) with Player A having only one die to roll, and Player A failing to roll higher than…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jesse Paulsen, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon.

7/5/2002 contracycle: Magic & the Metagame
We've been discussing the metagame fairly extensively of light, and from time to time we have also touched on some of the hardy perennials of FRPG, what makes a good/mysterious/flexible/magical…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Le Joueur, Jack Spencer Jr.

7/7/2002 Eric J.: The World vs. one.
I feel alone sometimes. Very alone. There are thousands of people working on new books, new games, new ideas, and new inventions constantly. I am but a single individual, a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Le Joueur, Ring Kichard, Victor Gijsbers, Ron Edwards.

7/8/2002 Mike Holmes: Mike's Standard Rant #5: The Myth of Opposed Rolls
[size=18px]Mike's Standard Rant #5: The Myth of Opposed Rolls[/size] When RPGs started resolution rolls were all of the "Roll vs. Target" type. Soon thereafter, however, somebody invented the idea of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon, Le Joueur, Bankuei, Gordon C. Landis, Ring Kichard, Paganini, Reimer Behrends, Paul Czege, Wart, damion, Jake Norwood, Walt Freitag, contracycle.

7/11/2002 amiel: Use of Blackjack as Mechanic
Could one of you statistics (the science not the RP term) junkies out there do some breakdowns on odds as they pertain to the popular game of Blackjack. Yes, I'm…
In RPG Theory
Participants: amiel, Matt Snyder, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, Ring Kichard, Jack Spencer Jr, Mike Holmes, damion, Mighty Platypus.

7/14/2002 Ron Edwards: Druine, Dunnar, and Half-dead
Hi there, I was looking through the Fantasy Heartbreaker games again, comparing various features of Deathstalkers. Deathstalkers has been released this year in hardback form (called "second edition" by the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, hardcoremoose, Walt Freitag, Clinton R. Nixon, Jack Spencer Jr, simondale, damion, J B Bell, amiel, Paul Czege, contracycle, Mytholder, Valamir, Matt Gwinn, Le Joueur, joshua neff, Mike Holmes, jburneko, Paganini, Jared A. Sorensen, Gordon C. Landis, greyorm, Tim Denee, xiombarg, hive, Jesse Paulsen, RobMuadib, TSL.

7/16/2002 contracycle: treason by the book
Well, I'm not entirely sure about the appropriateness of this post, but I've come across a marvellous book for historically interested gamers. I'm not sure it is actually RPG theory,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Ron Edwards.

7/16/2002 contracycle: tight framing
How tightly can we frame a game, as play event rather product? Assuming a fair amount of GM/player distinction, if I as a GM said something to the effect of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, amiel, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, Mike Holmes, Michael Hopcroft.

7/18/2002 Valamir: Origins, much bigger than I thought
Origins this year felt very small to me. A number of people I was there with mentioned the same thing. Perhaps it was the nearly always empty food court that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Jake Norwood, tdenmark.

7/18/2002 xiombarg: Forum-Style Play
[This all comes from the tail end of [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2761]this thread[/url]] So, it seems that more and more people are engaging in roleplaying on internet fora. These are usually pretty freeform…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Ron Edwards, Valamir, Mike Holmes, jburneko, blackmanxy, Blake Hutchins, Ring Kichard, Michael Hopcroft, contracycle, wyrdlyng.

7/18/2002 tdenmark: What is a role-playing game?
How far can you push the envelope and still be called a role-playing game? Can a board game with a character you control be an RPG? (Talisman?) Can a card…
In RPG Theory
Participants: tdenmark, Jared A. Sorensen, Valamir, Ring Kichard, Paganini, Le Joueur, contracycle, Stuart DJ Purdie, Jürgen Mayer, Zak Arntson, Mike Holmes, Victor Gijsbers, Wolfen, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards.

7/19/2002 Paganini: What can the dice determine?
So, I was bored this evening, and thinking about the bent my game-design thinking has been developing along. I appologize in advance for the rambling nature of this post. :)…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, lumpley, Mark D. Eddy.

7/21/2002 Scratchware: I have an awesome idea.
Have you ever had a game master that ran out of ideas during a session? Why not have 2 gamemasters? they can create a fun plot for the players and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Scratchware, Ron Edwards, Trav, Mike Holmes, Bob McNamee, Clinton R. Nixon, Matt Gwinn, hardcoremoose, Andrew Martin, Paganini, xiombarg, efindel, Bankuei.

7/22/2002 Ron Edwards: The class issue
Hi everyone, I finally had the chance to sit down and parse out this issue. To give you the short form, the term "class" in role-playing design has entered that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, jburneko, lehrbuch, Andrew Martin, Skippy, damion, Mike Holmes, Don Lag, Victor Gijsbers, Paul Czege, Clinton R. Nixon, Ian Charvill, contracycle.

7/24/2002 Ollog Herder: class control
maybe, if we want to keep using classes, there's a way for advancement to make sense. however, you have to bend over backwards for it to work, and in light…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ollog Herder, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, Skippy, Valamir, Andrew Martin.

7/31/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Throwing an idea for magic metaphysics
I don't know if this is useful for anything, it's more of a random idea I thought of and well, wanted to share. Maybe it can spark some ideas so…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Valamir, Andrew Martin, Bailywolf, Victor Gijsbers, Le Joueur, simon, Sleeper.

7/31/2002 jjkahrs: The Status Quo
Take a look at Bruce Baugh's nobilis weblog and read the post for Thursday, July 25th. I found it very encouraging, and it inspired me to take the things…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jjkahrs.

8/2/2002 Gordon C. Landis: Interesting General Game Design
Just noticed that back in March, some new stuff went up on www.costik.com - PowerPoint presentations that are quite fascinating. More computer game (of various stripes) oriented, but "Game Design…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis.

8/2/2002 Kenway: Solo rpgs?
Besides the typical Tunnels & Trolls/ Fighting Fantasy/Choose Your Adventure "solo" adventures, are there any real solo rpgs?
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kenway, Zak Arntson, Ron Edwards, jrs, Uncle Dark, Jack Spencer Jr, James, unodiablo, efindel, Eric J..

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