Previous Topics
In RPG Theory

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.

11/27/2002 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.

11/27/2002 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 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 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.

11/26/2002 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.

11/26/2002 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.

11/24/2002 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.

11/23/2002 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.

11/22/2002 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.

11/21/2002 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 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.

11/22/2002 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.

11/21/2002 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.

11/19/2002 Ron Edwards: Gay culture / Gamer culture [Social Context]
Hello, I was wondering whether anyone wanted to discuss the parallels between closeted gay culture and gamer/role-player culture. I don't suppose those parallels are hard to perceive. Or is it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, greyorm, Matt Snyder, Valamir, Jack Spencer Jr, Jake Norwood, Clinton R. Nixon, talysman, erithromycin, jrs, Anthony, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes, J B Bell, cruciel, M. J. Young, Clay, contracycle, b_bankhead, Manu.

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.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

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.

12/2/2002 Cassidy: Seed of an idea
For a long time I've been looking for a simple RPG system which focuses on role-play rather than rules play. I'm a big fan of the Window and the style…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Cassidy, Mike Holmes, Jack Spencer Jr, Andrew Martin, Valamir, Walt Freitag, Paganini, zaal.

12/3/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: Can we intelligently discuss d20?
I don't know about you all, but I am sick of going to other RPG sites and seeing the tons of threads on d20 on the forums that are the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, contracycle, Valamir, Clinton R. Nixon, thoth, b_bankhead, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, greyorm, xiombarg, Blake Hutchins, Eric J., Jeremy Cole, Evan Waters.

12/3/2002 xiombarg: D&D Fantasy -- Monte Cook version
It's notable that even people who've embraced D20 recognize D&D fantasy as its own distinct form of fantasy. Check this out: http://www.montecook.com/lineos.html Jump down to the "C'mon! Give me something!"…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, bluegargantua, Jack Spencer Jr.

12/4/2002 Valamir: d20 as a Universal System
Ok, I'll kick start the d20 discussions. I'll leave some of the meatier topics for others, but this is one of interest to me. We've seen d20 get used with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, wyrdlyng, Clinton R. Nixon, contracycle, Matt, Jonathan Walton, Matt Wilson, cruciel, Cassidy, Blake Hutchins, damion, Bankuei, Steve Dustin, quozl, xiombarg, M. J. Young, b_bankhead, Mike Holmes, thoth, Alcar, Ace, Mark Johnson, talysman, Ron Edwards.

12/4/2002 Jonathan Walton: Religion in Roleplaying
[size=15px][b]The Problem of Religion[/b][/size] So, I was re-reading the current thread on [a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4419"]"Christian gaming,"[/a] when I slowly realized that there are very few, if any, roleplaying games that really…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, wyrdlyng, Le Joueur, thoth, C. Edwards, Uncle Dark, contracycle, Clinton R. Nixon, cruciel, lumpley, Clay, Mike Holmes, Paul Czege, Emily Care, Andrew Martin.

12/4/2002 Aelios: Karma Damage, meta-experience idea
I'm new to The Forge but have been lurking for a few days, so forgive me if something similar has been discussed before. I'm looking for creative criticism that will…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Aelios, Daion, Mike Holmes, Andrew Martin, Ziriel.

12/5/2002 Kester Pelagius: The Mechanic of "Religion" in Role-Playing Games
Greetings All, So I was reading threads. Something about the quote below struck me like a two-by-four upside the head on a bright day when a cold wind blows down…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kester Pelagius, Eric J., wyrdlyng, simon_hibbs, John Wick, Mike Holmes, Blake Hutchins, Uncle Dark, M. J. Young, contracycle, Alan, Seth L. Blumberg, greyorm, Walt Freitag, lumpley, Andrew Martin, Valamir, Ron Edwards.

12/5/2002 quozl: Civilization roleplaying
What games out there allow you to roleplay a kingdom, a civilization, a nation, or a planet? Has anyone tried to design such an animal? What are the limitations or…
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, xiombarg, Mike Holmes, Brian Leybourne, Valamir, Andrew Martin, contracycle, Ron Edwards, Balbinus, Michael S. Miller, Kuma, vorlon.

12/5/2002 xiombarg: d20 As Design
Okay, since I'm also interested in "discussing d20 intelligently", I'm starting a thread on what I'm interested in. I want to talk about d20 as a system design. In particular,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Valamir, Clinton R. Nixon, C. Edwards, contracycle, b_bankhead, Bankuei, damion, wyrdlyng, Ron Edwards, quozl, Cassidy, Ben Lehman, Evan Waters, Steve Dustin, Mark Johnson, Ozymandias, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, Jack Spencer Jr, Shreyas Sampat, Pramas.

12/6/2002 Irmo: Large-scale RPG club
Ok, I'll start with giving an overview of the organisation of the large scale club in Germany I'll give a basic overview of the organization, the details are, in part…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Irmo, Mike Holmes, Seth L. Blumberg, Alan, Valamir, quozl, Ozymandias, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon.

12/6/2002 quozl: What can I do for my daughter? (split from Sexism)
I am male, 30 years old, and married. My wife games a little (she loves Hogshead's Baron Munchausen) and our only child is our wonderful girl who is almost 1…
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, Clay, MK Snyder, Uncle Dark, Ron Edwards, John Wick, Ozymandias.

12/6/2002 xiombarg: d20 Social Issues
Okay, this is sort of spun off from this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4482 Anyhoo, in this thread I want to talk about the thing we're afraid to discuss regarding d20: D&D 3E's…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Mike Holmes.

12/8/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: preparation: character vs setting
From another thread: Another possibility to consider is that some games are constructed such that the characters are very rich and intense pre-play. Sorcerer is a good example; a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Andrew Martin, Clay, M. J. Young, bluegargantua, Fabrice G., Ron Edwards.

12/9/2002 Jonathan Walton: CCGs and Deck-Based Characters
This thread is influenced both by Matt Snyder's "Nine Worlds" concept (yes, Matt, someone was paying attention) and the ideas currently be discussed on the thread on "Pre-Game Fortune." Consider…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, Mike Holmes, Cassidy, bluegargantua, Eric J., Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Jared A. Sorensen, Walt Freitag, Reimer Behrends, contracycle, Seth L. Blumberg.

12/9/2002 thoth: Playing the opposite gender?
Off-shoot from the Sexism and Gaming thread. Is playing a character of the opposite gender a really bad idea? I can see it being bad because participants might end up…
In RPG Theory
Participants: thoth, Jack Spencer Jr, cruciel, Clinton R. Nixon, Eric J., Irmo, Ron Edwards, Uncle Dark, M. J. Young, Emily Care, Tim C Koppang, bluegargantua, Ian Charvill, Ziriel, Alan, John Wick, Maurice Forrester, Seth L. Blumberg, Blake Hutchins, Gordon C. Landis.

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