Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

11/4/2002 thoth: XP/Reward based on Actual Challenge vs Intended Challenge?
I recently did up a mod for d20 and awarding XP. It is based on the concept of giving XP for the Actual Challenge of a critter and not the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: thoth, Mike Holmes, Robert K Beckett, Bankuei, talysman, greyorm, M. J. Young.

11/3/2002 Palaskar: How do you prevent "The GM/Players from Hell?"
After reading the post "The worst superhero team EVER" on rpg.net, I was reminded of a game of Stormbringer I played back in high school. Basically, we suffered from what…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Palaskar, Matt Wilson, Ron Edwards.

11/3/2002 Cassidy: Breaking up is hard to do
Just some observations from my experiences as a player and as a GM with my current RPG group I'd like to share. Recently, one of the guys ran a Vampire…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Cassidy, Emily Care, Ron Edwards, Sylus Thane, Demonspahn, MK Snyder.

11/3/2002 Evan Waters: Storytelling and RPG "War Stories"
An interesting subject cropped up on RPG.net recently, and I wonder what the game-theory people here might do with it. Here's the thread: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19972. To sum it up here, basically…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Evan Waters, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

11/1/2002 Sylus Thane: How to go about Making Dragons Different
Anyone have any ideas on how to make Dragons different from the normal gold grubbing monsters they normally are in most sword and sorcery games? I would like Dragons to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sylus Thane, Christoffer Lernö, GreatWolf, Jake Norwood, Valamir, Paka, ethan_greer, ks13, thoth, talysman, szilard, Andrew Martin.

11/1/2002 Matt Wilson: the PCs have stats, and everything else is a diff. level
If anyone's done something like this already (I'm coming to expect it), can you point me to a game to check out? Anyway, on to this idea... In this game…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Wilson, Christoffer Lernö, Mike Holmes.

11/1/2002 contracycle: combined or singular design
A questiom about the way we are doing things here; not a serious challenge to the status quo, just a thought. The prevailing tendency, reinforced by the "creator owned" concern,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton, Mike Holmes, simon_hibbs.

10/30/2002 Sylus Thane: Fantasy and Firearms
I'm curious what peoples opinions are about the inclusion of firearms into a fantasy setting. In the fantasy world I am developing right now I have limited firearm ability in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sylus Thane, ADGConscience, Ron Edwards, Bankuei, b_bankhead, greyorm, Gwen, Matt Snyder, Shreyas Sampat, Jonathan Walton, Mike Holmes, Jeremy Cole, contracycle, Christoffer Lernö, Thor Olavsrud, Valamir, UnSub.

10/29/2002 ethan_greer: Horror gaming? Why?
So... Continuing from this thread... I agree with Bailywolf; The Ring scared the living shit out of me as well. In fact, I don't think I'll ever watch a horror…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ethan_greer, Jared A. Sorensen, lumpley, Christoffer Lernö, hardcoremoose, J B Bell, Emily Care, JSDiamond, greyorm, b_bankhead, vegasthroat, Uncle Dark, Seth L. Blumberg.

10/29/2002 Kuma: *CHARACTERS (and their Players) NEEDED*
I am putting out a request for some assistance from y'all (no money need change hands). For a project that I'm working on (one of the three in my .sig,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kuma, Seth L. Blumberg.

10/29/2002 Sidhain: Tip of an Iceberg
Tip of an idea "In the Red" character in an ITR game have a number of attributes decided by the GM as is appropriate for the current ITR game's genre.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sidhain, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

10/28/2002 Eric J.: Open/Closed Setting(Pyron's Woe's Take 165)
Pyron(the character): Syrus! We have to get to the ship! The Deathstar's going to destroy the heart of the Rebellion! Syrus: {Loads his blaster, sets it to kill) Gotcha. That…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Ron Edwards, talysman, greyorm, Walt Freitag, Marco, M. J. Young.

10/28/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Are you fudging rolls? You might have EF-trouble
In my attempt to study how the "Effect First" GMing technique works I post this about how fudging die rolls might be an indicator of running EF in a system…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Jack Spencer Jr, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes.

10/27/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Sample effect-first (EF) facilitating mechanics
I post this separate from the thread where we were discussing EF because this is more of a practical treatment of it. Basically the effect-first GM technique is about introducing…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Mike Holmes, Bankuei, talysman.

10/26/2002 Palaskar: "Meaningful" RPGs?
I was remembering playing on a MUD a few years back, when something occurred to me. Although I had spent approximately 4 years on it as first a player, then…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Palaskar, damion, M. J. Young, Emily Care, contracycle, Mike Holmes, simon_hibbs, Eric J., Bankuei, MK Snyder, Jeremy Cole, Alan.

10/26/2002 ks13: Methods to encourage group cohesion
My concern is that there might be a conflict between having mechanics that encourage the player act on things which they deem critical to their characters (mechanics along the line…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ks13, Shreyas Sampat, damion, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, Jonathan Walton, greyorm, Mike Holmes, Bankuei, talysman, MK Snyder.

10/24/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Facilitating illusionist retcon story techniques
I've been thinking about successful illusionism a lot lately. I've come to the conclusion that pretty much all the consistently good rpg experiences has been with GMs running illusionism with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Andrew Martin, Marco, Valamir, Le Joueur, Walt Freitag, Mike Holmes, Robert K Beckett, JMendes, contracycle, GB Steve, Ron Edwards.

10/23/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: Waxing Solo
[quote="Emily Care"]It struck me as I read about Arabian nights and so on that part of what makes these games so g_d-awful unwieldy is the massive amounts of charts, etc.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, M. J. Young, ejh, Mike Holmes, greyorm, Emily Care, lumpley, Ron Edwards, Wormwood.

10/23/2002 Palaskar: What does Success mean? -- Transitions made simple?
I was searching for an example of a good Gamist genric/universal system when I chanced upon the thread on a tri-modal system (one which allows Gamist, Narrativist, and Simulationist play.)…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Palaskar, Mike Holmes, C. Edwards, Ron Edwards, Marco.

10/23/2002 Robert K Beckett: Arrowflight and illusionist game texts
[quote="Ron Edwards"] One of the most interesting design features of Arrowflight (which I believe is the single most overt and [i]effective [/i]illusionist game text I have ever seen) is that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Robert K Beckett, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, Valamir, Mike Holmes.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

11/4/2002 Patrick Boutin: some questions about "Fantasy"
Hello everybody! After a crazy year, I'm back (trying) making roleplaying games once more. The post "Dawn of the Magi" and the article "Fantasy Heartbreakers" by Ron make me wonder…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Patrick Boutin, Alan, Valamir, Jared A. Sorensen, Eric J., Bankuei, Sylus Thane, talysman, greyorm, thoth, Jeremy Cole, simon_hibbs, Seth L. Blumberg, Jack Spencer Jr, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, contracycle.

11/5/2002 quozl: RPG Tactics
I was just wondering on what people here think of this artice at rpg.net: http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/elements01nov02.html
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, Valamir, simon_hibbs, Ron Edwards.

11/6/2002 Patrick Boutin: About the way you "design" game!
Hello again! I'm not sure where this thread belong but I will post it in the RPG Theory forum! I would like to know how everybody design there games. What…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Patrick Boutin, Le Joueur, Andrew Martin, Bankuei, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Matt Wilson, Eric J., M. J. Young, Shreyas Sampat, RobMuadib, Palaskar, Seth L. Blumberg, cruciel.

11/7/2002 Daredevil: Applying "Red Curtain"-style
Hey folks, I've been pondering the possibilities of taking certain cinematic techniques and incorporating them into roleplaying games. Sure, it's nothing that hasn't already been almost endlessly debated in a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Daredevil, J B Bell, M. J. Young, contracycle, Ron Edwards, Christoffer Lernö, Emily Care, Walt Freitag, Jonathan Walton.

11/7/2002 Kenway: Ideas: Advancement via Notoriety, PC-summoned foes (renamed)
I thought of an odd idea: eg. a Swords and Sorcery world. Advancement for the players is described by the number and level of monsters which "hate them." The idea…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kenway, Rich Forest, Valamir, Ron Edwards, ethan_greer, Mike Holmes, Bob McNamee.

11/7/2002 Anthony: Simple systems, newbie players?
I've been reading some of the all but freeform game writeups and thinking "this is cool, but isn't it going to be even harder to get the shyer players to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Anthony, Ron Edwards.

11/7/2002 RobMuadib: the SGR Model - Adding the 4th dimension to GNS (LONG)
Hey all Being that I am back into working on my game, I thought I would post my theoretical model deal from back in the day. I call it SGR,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RobMuadib, Le Joueur.

11/7/2002 Alan: Narration as a simulationist device
Over in Indie Game Design I started a Narrativist Space Trader topic. While responding to questions about narrative premise, I had an interesting thought: Can player narration…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Valamir, Ron Edwards.

11/7/2002 Balbinus: Wars without frontiers - another narrativist space concept
Hi, I wanted to get some advice on an idea spawned by this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4170 RobMuadib, among many interesting comments, said the following: To make it narrativist you would have…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Balbinus, Mike Holmes, contracycle, Manu.

11/8/2002 Matt Snyder: Task vs. Conflict; Eroding the "whiff factor"
I've been thinking about all kinds of game design schtuff, lately. While writing notes to myself in my little "game design journal," I came upon some ideas that surely have…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Snyder, Paul Czege, Jared A. Sorensen, ethan_greer, Christoffer Lernö, J B Bell, Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, Valamir.

11/8/2002 Jonathan Walton: What's Wrong with Pawn Stance?
Okay, let me go ahead and answer my own question: "Nothing, if it's what you want." My point is that I think Pawn Stance has gotten a bad rap. First…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, MK Snyder, Jack Spencer Jr, Christoffer Lernö, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, Mike Holmes, Tim C Koppang, lumpley, xiombarg.

11/9/2002 MK Snyder: NLS model of characterising players by preferences...
I've been browsing the back posts at rec.games.frp.advocacy, and Kim's FAQ, and Ron's essay here... I see the "Threefold Model" has changed over the years. In 1997, it was applied…
In RPG Theory
Participants: MK Snyder, greyorm, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards.

11/11/2002 Paganini: whoa there
<empty post> Argh.
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, lumpley, Ron Edwards.

11/11/2002 Ron Edwards: Illusionism: a new look and a new approach
Hello, I decided to write a piece on Illusionist play from the ground up. Any material preceding this one may be considered a past influence, and I'm putting this up…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, jburneko, Bob McNamee, Paganini, M. J. Young, contracycle, Marco, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, Seth L. Blumberg, MK Snyder, Mytholder, Christoffer Lernö, Valamir.

11/13/2002 Wormwood: The Importance of Play
One of the matters I've seen fairly ignored in most RPG theory discussions is the presence or lack of value in the play aspects of RPGs. In particular I mean…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Wormwood, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, MK Snyder, Kester Pelagius, Eric J., contracycle, lumpley.

11/13/2002 Seth L. Blumberg: Illusionism and GNS
Ron wants this taken to a separate thread; I comply. (Might could be that some splitting needs to be done on the parent thread.) In this thread, Ralph (Valamir) said:…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Seth L. Blumberg, Valamir, jburneko, Mike Holmes, Marco, Walt Freitag, Ron Edwards, Christoffer Lernö, contracycle.

11/13/2002 Walt Freitag: Reality in flux: illusionism or not?
On this thread Marco wrote: I see Illusionism as a practice of creating an illusion of perfectly logical non-story driven world, when, in fact, the reality is in flux as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Walt Freitag, Marco, Valamir, Ron Edwards, Christoffer Lernö.

11/14/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: "D&D fantasy" What is it?
[quote="Ron Edwards"]I consider "D&D fantasy" to be a thing-in-itself with no direct parallel in fiction that's not gaming-derived. In other words, D&D fantasy is not high fantasy, epic fantasy, Tolkien-inspired,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Evan Waters, Eric J., greyorm, talysman, Ian Cooper, Valamir, Ron Edwards, ethan_greer, Mike Holmes, jrients, Walt Freitag, Matt Wilson, Seth L. Blumberg, contracycle.

11/15/2002 Le Joueur: Um...Magic: the Gathering?
Simple request (for a difficult answer): Can someone explain to me why Magic: the Gathering isn't a product like Ron's discussing over in Mainstream: the Revision. It is arguably a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Mark Withers, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton.

11/15/2002 Jared A. Sorensen: win by losing?
I was going to post this in my own forum but I think it belongs here. The idea I had is partly inspired by the mechanics in octaNe and InSpectres.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jared A. Sorensen, Mike Holmes.

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