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In RPG Theory

12/17/2002 Thierry Michel: Genre / roleplayability etc. (an example)
In a bout of insomnia, I cooked up an example to try illustrate my point about what subjects/genre/styles are appropriate for rpgs. So, let's say we have two game ideas…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Thierry Michel, Shreyas Sampat, Jack Spencer Jr, Matt Wilson, Fabrice G., Cassidy, Michael S. Miller, Mark Johnson.

12/17/2002 M. J. Young: In Defense of Complexity
Periodically I read threads here at The Forge in which people argue against more complex systems, and particularly more complex combat systems. I take these with some bit of salt;…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Paul Czege, Shreyas Sampat, Jack Spencer Jr, Bankuei, Andrew Martin, Thierry Michel, xiombarg, cruciel, Ozymandias, Le Joueur, Sidhain, Alan, Christoffer Lernö, Mike Holmes.

12/16/2002 quozl: "playing a role for fun"
"playing a role for fun" That's my definition of a roleplaying game. I thought it was an obvious definition but Ron Edwards called it "extremely dubious and debatable" so I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: quozl, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, JSDiamond, Jack Spencer Jr, Mark Johnson, Christopher Kubasik, jrients.

12/13/2002 vegasthroat: Game for beginning role-players (split)
It's my personal opinion that games with a more narrativist (and some gamist) approach (I REALLY hope I'm using those terms correctly, is there a FAQ or a glossary of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: vegasthroat, Clinton R. Nixon, Ozymandias, Cassidy, Seth L. Blumberg, Ron Edwards, kamikaze, Christopher Kubasik, M. J. Young.

12/13/2002 vegasthroat: Science fiction II
I am so not smart enough for these forums, yet... I think the problem with most Science Fiction games is that they try to encompass the entire genre than focus…
In RPG Theory
Participants: vegasthroat, Alan, Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, Thierry Michel, Uncle Dark, M. J. Young, Jack Spencer Jr.

12/14/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: Genre and thinking outside of this particular box.
By genre I mean science fiction, fanatsy and horror, the so-called "genres" as labeled by some people in the mainstream. I guess the "action" genre can also be tossed onto…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Ozymandias, Ron Edwards, Alan.

12/13/2002 Alan: Large-scale RPG club - Scope and Mission
Hi all, If we were to start an RPG club, I think we need to clarify the scope and the purpose. I don't think it'll be helpful to dive into…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Irmo, Clinton R. Nixon, Ozymandias, M. J. Young, Matt Wilson, Seth L. Blumberg.

12/13/2002 Alan: Large-scale RPG club - Buidling a healthy club
Hi all, Irmo's quotes from the German RPG club organizers set me thinking. They hinted that they thought their club had peaked and was now stagnating. Whle this may only…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes, Irmo.

12/13/2002 Thierry Michel: What is roleplayable ?
This is my first post here, and I'm still trying to understand the terminology and theories that you're using. However, I can't seem to find a thread on what, for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Thierry Michel, quozl, lumpley, Alan, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr, Seth L. Blumberg, M. J. Young.

12/13/2002 Ozymandias: Mediums for dealing with gaming related social issues....
I've been reading a lot of the threads on here recently discussing different social issues which affect the gaming community ranging from religion to sexism, and while these have spawned…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ozymandias, quozl, Mike Holmes, J B Bell.

12/12/2002 Paul Czege: the importance of Sim-like gameplay to the Narrativist
So, after roughly eighteen months of fairly intensive Narrativist play, I find myself recently thinking an awful lot about Sim. And quite surprisingly, I find myself increasingly convinced that the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paul Czege, contracycle, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes, JMendes, lumpley, Le Joueur, Valamir, Gordon C. Landis, Bankuei, Emily Care.

12/10/2002 M. J. Young: Use of Gender Pronouns
[quote="Emily Care"]"Do" use both pronouns in examples of play when refering to players, gms and all game participants. (This one makes a difference for me when I read a game,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Clinton R. Nixon, contracycle, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes, Jonathan Walton, lumpley, ethan_greer, Paganini, damion, Clay, bluegargantua, Ron Edwards, cruciel.

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.

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.

12/8/2002 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.

12/6/2002 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.

12/6/2002 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 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.

12/5/2002 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.

12/5/2002 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.

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In RPG Theory

12/18/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: d20 Will it go the distance? (skylarking)
OK, d20 has been around now for, what? two years or so? The question before the panel now is, will is still be around after ten years or will d20…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Cassidy, Jeffrey Miller, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, Eric J., Ozymandias, xiombarg, Thierry Michel, Kester Pelagius, jrients, Pramas.

12/19/2002 cruciel: Definition of Complexity
As a split off from here. Relevant external articles: http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/ruleslaw28jun01.html http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/elements20sep02.html Is there an official Forge-Brand (TM) model for defining game component complexity? I see a lot of complexity-ish terms…
In RPG Theory
Participants: cruciel.

12/19/2002 Cassidy: What makes a d20 game a d20 game?
Spurred on by the d20 Will it go the distance? (skylarking) thread, something Ozymandias said got me thinking. There are a couple of reasons why d20 should prove to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Cassidy, xiombarg, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, Ted E. Childers, M. J. Young, Eric J., Valamir, Ozymandias, Seth L. Blumberg.

12/20/2002 Emily Care: thoughts on why immersion is a tar baby
Hello all, A conversation with friends prompted me to look back at recent threads about the sticky topic of immersion in role-playing. There is an excellent and constructive discussion of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emily Care, Sidhain, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr, Alan, M. J. Young, Seth L. Blumberg.

12/20/2002 Walt Freitag: Comedic Narrativism and the Arabian Nights LARP (long!)
I’m posting this description of the Arabian Nights LARP I’ve mentioned in some previous threads. For two reasons: I promised to do so many weeks ago on this pretty decent…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Walt Freitag.

12/20/2002 Gordon C. Landis: "In character" - another less-than-useful term?
I couldn't decide if this belonged in the tar baby immersion thread, or over in player vs. character in GNS, or somewhere else, so . . . I'm starting a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, jburneko, Jack Spencer Jr, M. J. Young, Ted E. Childers, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, Walt Freitag, bluegargantua.

12/21/2002 Andrew Martin: Game Design and Personality Type
I've been taking a personality test over the net and came across one that labelled me as: INFP, which is either "The Searcher" or "Healer", depending upon what site one…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Martin, Jared A. Sorensen, Clinton R. Nixon, Valamir, Christoffer Lernö, Seth L. Blumberg, Green, Eric J., Alan, M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, WhiteRat, Marco, Palaskar.

12/24/2002 zaal: Item Collecting
Hi all, A thread in a Mutants & Masterminds review on RPG.net got me to thinking. Essentially, the thread talks about forcing players to "pay" for items/weapons/powers that their characters…
In RPG Theory
Participants: zaal, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr, Andrew Martin, bluegargantua, erithromycin, Michael S. Miller, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes.

12/24/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: The same old recuring story?
I have a thought, or half a thought. It's forming as I write this. I'll start at the begining. On the DVD audio commentary for Monty Python and the Holy…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Bankuei, Andrew Martin, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, jrients.

12/25/2002 fabien: SCAR mechanics qualities
I start a thread on RPG.net and someone suggest me to talk about it here instead. It's itself an old concept I develop with some other guys on a French…
In RPG Theory
Participants: fabien, Jack Spencer Jr.

12/26/2002 Andrew Martin: Many Uninteresting Features
Jack wrote this in another thread recently: ...a game contains many uninteresting features that "have to be there" and must be edited out in retelling. Are "many uninteresting…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andrew Martin, Jack Spencer Jr.

12/26/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: Same Story Revisited
[url=http://indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4671]The same old recurring story[/url] thread seems to have drifted off-topic, and that is partially my fault for not being very clear about what I was getting at. Rather than…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Andrew Martin, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, talysman, Bob McNamee, Le Joueur.

12/28/2002 Jack Spencer Jr: Resolution mechanics, can this particular box be broken?
Recall, if you will the old Daffy Duck cartoon The Scarlet Pumpernickle where Daffy is pitching the idea for his new picture, aptly title the Scarlet Pumpernickle, to a Warner…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, J B Bell, Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen.

1/2/2003 Johannes: Please help a student
Hello everyone, I’m a long term active role-player who is starting to work on a masters thesis about the narratology and fiction of table-top RPGs. I’m a Comparative literature major…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Johannes, simon_hibbs, Alan, clehrich, Le Joueur, Tim C Koppang.

1/2/2003 Johannes: On the time of narration
I’m working on a masters thesis about the narratology of RPGs (see the Please help a student –thread). One of the things that might be of interest is the temporal…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Johannes, Clay, Jack Spencer Jr, M. J. Young, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, Rich Forest, Jared A. Sorensen, Shreyas Sampat, talysman, Andrew Martin, Bob McNamee, Le Joueur, epweissengruber, Christopher Kubasik.

1/3/2003 sdemory: Engel query
Hey there, all, Recently picked up the Feder und Schwert/White Wolf game Engel. Lovely, lovely setting, great feel, bothersome, clunky d20 gaming system. I bought the game expecting d20 and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: sdemory, Paul Czege, clehrich.

1/1/2003 Ted E. Childers: All or nothing (split from older thread)
Maybe I'm missing the boat, but it seems that many games that have an all or nothing limit (roll X number to succeed, otherwise you fail) has this problem. Take…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ted E. Childers, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, Alan, Andrew Martin.

1/5/2003 Shreyas Sampat: Is Inconsistency Playable?
This is closely related to my game The Calligrapher's Sword, but independent of it, so I thought to start a Theory thread. I was thinking about games set in realms…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, Jack Spencer Jr, bluegargantua, Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton, clehrich, Michael S. Miller.

1/5/2003 Cassidy: Amber Gambler
Hello all, Rummaging through my old rpg stuff the other day I came across my copy of Amber and found myself wincing at the memory of the one time I'd…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Cassidy, Paul Czege, Andrew Martin, Brian Leybourne, DaR, simon_hibbs, Ron Edwards, bluegargantua, M. J. Young.

1/6/2003 Emily Care: tarot and narration mechanic idea
Hello all, This weekend I got to take part in a multi-person tarot reading session, which seemed like it might be adaptable for use in rpg. One person is the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emily Care, lumpley, Bob McNamee, Jared A. Sorensen, Paul Czege, Uncle Dark, bluegargantua, Walt Freitag, clehrich.

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