Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

11/19/2002 Alan: Narrative Premise based on setting?
Hi, I've come to understand how narrative premise works when based on character - and what sort of mechanics work for that. However, I'm not clear on how narrative premise…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

11/19/2002 RobMuadib: SGR Model 0.5 - taking it to the next level (long)
Hi all I have worked on my SGR model some more, greatly inspired by the illusionism thread and other threads in the GNS thread. Anyway, I was inspired to expand…
In RPG Theory
Participants: RobMuadib, lumpley, Seth L. Blumberg, Emily Care, Mike Holmes.

11/19/2002 Le Joueur: How to Host a Deserted Island
I've been following the "Desert island" game idea since it was first proposed. After discussing it with my partner, I'd like to share how we'd do it. First of all,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Don Lag, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, M. J. Young, talysman.

11/19/2002 Bailywolf: An rpg inspired by... Bewitched?
OK, caught an episode of Bewitched the other day... the one where Tabitha starts teleporting the people she wants to see into her room... you know, big laughs. Anyhow, how…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bailywolf, JMendes, talysman.

11/18/2002 Eric J.: Tolkien and his legacy
I don't know what forum to put this in, but here it goes: Roleplaying came about, primarilly, from wargaming, as it was transformed in the form of Dungeons and Dragons…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric J., Kester Pelagius, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Walt Freitag, Valamir, simon_hibbs, Daredevil, Marco.

11/18/2002 Le Joueur: I Have Seen El Dorado! [ultra-long]
Hello, My name is Fang Langford and I'm an intrepid explorer, this is my cat Schroedinger. I just got back from a lengthy journey; I have some things I need…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Christoffer Lernö, RobMuadib, C. Edwards, Ron Edwards, Sylus Thane, Mike Holmes, joe_llama, Walt Freitag, Jake Norwood, Daredevil, Seth L. Blumberg, contracycle, Jonathan Walton, JMendes, M. J. Young.

11/17/2002 Manu: Ever heard of Dramatica?
Just found out this site/software, and I was wondering if any one ever used it for Narrativist advice or play...It looks intriguing, and got rave reviews, but it could…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Manu, Ron Edwards.

11/16/2002 Kester Pelagius: What have you always wanted to know about RPGs?
Greetings All, If you were to read a article or essay about role-playing games what would interest you the most? What sort of information would you most definitely want to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kester Pelagius, cruciel, Jonathan Walton, Sylus Thane, Eric J..

11/15/2002 Ron Edwards: Social Context
Hello, This is a companion thread to the Mainstream: a revision and Actual play in the game store threads. I might as well give the game away and reveal that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton, Clinton R. Nixon, C. Edwards, Paul Czege, M. J. Young, wyrdlyng, talysman, Emily Care, Maurice Forrester, cruciel, greyorm, joshua neff, Matt Snyder, Tim C Koppang, Stuart DJ Purdie, Jack Spencer Jr, Mike Holmes, Steve Dustin, Gordon C. Landis.

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.

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.

11/14/2002 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.

11/13/2002 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.

11/13/2002 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 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.

11/11/2002 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.

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

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.

11/8/2002 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.

11/8/2002 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.

<< more previous topics

Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

11/21/2002 talysman: Symbolic-Language Gamemastering (from Chunk Theory, from El
not sure if this will be helpful, but here's a sort of crude version of a potential "chunk" language that is not quite as crude as the "36 story types"…
In RPG Theory
Participants: talysman, Emily Care, Mike Holmes, Le Joueur, M. J. Young, JMendes.

11/22/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Help me with IntCon facilitating mechanics
I'm looking for help investigating how to write mechanics to facilitate certain types of IntCon play within Sim systems. I'm familiar with two different basic approaches of IntCon: Drama->Mechanics->Effect…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Andrew Martin, Le Joueur, M. J. Young, Kenway.

11/22/2002 Christoffer Lernö: Translate rating to a full fledged NPC on the fly?!
Sorry for the many threads but this problem is really, really driving me crazy. Any hints how to get started would be greatly appreciated. The situation is this: imagine you…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Ron Edwards, GreatWolf, Marco, Walt Freitag, Mike Holmes, JMendes, Jack Spencer Jr, C. Edwards.

11/21/2002 Seth L. Blumberg: Self-image (split from Gay / Gamer)
Perhaps Jake is failing to see how gamers feeling proud of themselves would cause 300-pound men to refrain from dressing up as Sailor Moon. Perhaps I am as well. (Do…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Seth L. Blumberg, Jake Norwood, Mike Holmes, James Holloway, M. J. Young, Ron Edwards, paulmjessup, Enoch, Eric J., Mark D. Eddy, Clinton R. Nixon, greyorm, Bankuei, damion, Irmo, contracycle, C. Edwards.

11/22/2002 Ron Edwards: El Dorado (terms clarification)
Hello, I thought I'd clarify a term or two. This may be a completely unnecessary post, but perhaps it'll help out if anyone needs it. El Dorado = Narrativism without…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, Walt Freitag, Valamir, Daredevil, Price Check.

11/23/2002 chikoppi: The game outside the game
I originally posted this message on rpg-create and several list members suggested I repost it here. I've added a few clarifications in this version of the post, included below in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: chikoppi, RobMuadib, Walt Freitag.

11/24/2002 thoth: Codifying GM Meta-Gaming?
I hope i'm using proper terminology. What is everyone's opinion on requiring GMs to use "Meta-Points" (as i'm calling them) to alter the outcome of a roll? I'm not sure…
In RPG Theory
Participants: thoth, Jack Spencer Jr, Tim C Koppang.

11/26/2002 Christoffer Lernö: IntCon vs GM Oomph?!
I'll cut to the chase: I recently heard the opinion that IntCon meant zero GM Oomph. I was further told that in addition to the types I already thought of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, Le Joueur, Seth L. Blumberg, Walt Freitag, Mike Holmes.

11/26/2002 Demonspahn: "Dread"ing cut-scenes
Hi everyone. Recently Mike Holmes brought up the interesting use of cut scenes here to help with a game mechanic problem I've been having. Maybe because I have been…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Demonspahn, Andrew Martin, contracycle.

11/27/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: Going cheap
I was in the bath today when an idea occured to me. OK, no I wasn't but the idea came nevertheless. It has something to do with going for the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Mike Holmes.

11/27/2002 simon_hibbs: Doomed heroes and Inescapable fate
I watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for about the 10th time again last night (first time in 6 months though!), and was talking about the ending, and how it could…
In RPG Theory
Participants: simon_hibbs, Michael S. Miller, Mike Holmes, jrients, wyrdlyng, hardcoremoose, Christopher Kubasik, C. Edwards, Demonspahn.

11/27/2002 Michael S. Miller: Games that enforce story structure?
When working on a game, I like to see what's been done before in the same vein. Can anyone point me to games that support a certain structure for the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Michael S. Miller, RobMuadib, James Holloway, Jared A. Sorensen.

11/27/2002 Le Joueur: So...What is Railroading? (Using Illusionism Terminology)
Simple (highly emotionally charged, hot button issue, loaded) question:Given Illusionism terminology, what is Railroading?For the sake of argument, we'll assume that the Railroading in question is about 'story conscious' gaming.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Emily Care, Mike Holmes, Marco, Ron Edwards, Andrew Martin, Christoffer Lernö, contracycle, Jack Spencer Jr.

11/29/2002 Walt Freitag: What does role playing gaming accomplish?
"What does role playing gaming accomplish?" No, I'm not looking for an answer. I'm pointing out an aspect of role playing gaming that influences the public perception of the activity.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Walt Freitag, simon_hibbs, cruciel, thoth, jrients, Mike Holmes, Ziriel, Jack Spencer Jr, Le Joueur, Paul Czege, JMendes, Price Check, RobMuadib, M. J. Young, damion, MK Snyder, joe_llama, contracycle, quozl, Emily Care.

11/30/2002 cruciel: Christian Gamers and Self Esteem
All this question of gamer pride when revealing your hobby to non-gamers has brought up a lot of "it's all the fundies falt" comments, and I'm curious about something. So,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: cruciel, Clinton R. Nixon, M. J. Young, Victor Gijsbers, thoth, Ted E. Childers, Bankuei, Uncle Dark, Sidhain, Ron Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, Jonathan Walton, Clay, Kester Pelagius, contracycle, Paganini, Evan Waters, Irmo.

12/1/2002 zaal: Fortune in the Middle
I started a thread over on the game design forum (Alternative Combat Round), not realizing this forum was probably more appropriate for what I wanted to talk about :P .…
In RPG Theory
Participants: zaal, cruciel, Mike Holmes.

12/1/2002 zaal: Getting the Players Involved
I've made a pretty good dent into Scattershot, which seems to go out of it's way to tell the reader that player contributions during the game are at least as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: zaal, Clinton R. Nixon, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Victor Gijsbers, Ted E. Childers, talysman.

12/1/2002 Ben Lehman: Resources and Resolutions
Hey-- New here, so if this has been brought up before, please let me know and I will apologize profusely. Imbedded in Ron's GNS article is the old "Drama /…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, Victor Gijsbers, Walt Freitag.

12/1/2002 Victor Gijsbers: Some thoughts on the Karma/Fortune distinction
This might be nothing new, but I hope you'll forgive me for not checking every thread ever written here in order to find out. :) I just realised that Karma,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Victor Gijsbers, Ben Lehman, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

12/1/2002 MK Snyder: Re: What does role playing gaming accomplish?
[quote="M. J. Young"] It seems to me that in the 80's, the overwhelming majority of role players were guys. I know that every girl who played at my table was…
In RPG Theory
Participants: MK Snyder, thoth, Clinton R. Nixon, Uncle Dark, talysman, cruciel, Ziriel, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, contracycle, ethan_greer, A.Neill, jrs, lumpley, Matt Wilson, Clay, Gordon C. Landis, Jack Spencer Jr, damion, C. Edwards, Bankuei, Enoch, Walt Freitag, Valamir, quozl, Le Joueur, Irmo, Evan Waters, Emily Care.

more subsequent topics >>