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In RPG Theory

3/15/2003 Dotan Dimet: The Forge dialectic - how do I boil this down?
Hi, The community wherin I operate (organized Israeli gamerdom) has a strong simulationist-illusionist attitude. They've read the books, they believe in The Impossible Thing Before Breakfast, Deep Roleplay and GM-as-Storyteller…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Dotan Dimet, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, Bankuei, Marco, Mike Holmes, Emily Care.

3/14/2003 Kester Pelagius: How much would you want to know?
Greetings All, Say someone was working on a minigame that was a melding of Ptolemaic and Medieval cosmology ala Spelljammer, but that this project was not directly based off of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kester Pelagius, Sylus Thane, Mike Holmes, Bankuei, M. J. Young, Le Joueur, Jack Spencer Jr.

3/13/2003 Mike Holmes: Mike's Standard Rant #1: Designers! Know your hobby!
Well, Chris Passeno, recently asked me where Mike's Standard Rant #1 was. I informed him that I had numbered them sorta randomly, and had not gotten around to number one.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, DaR, wyrdlyng, RobMuadib, Jonathan Walton, Rob Donoghue, Sylus Thane, lumpley, Valamir, clehrich, cruciel, Ron Edwards, Walt Freitag, M. J. Young, Kester Pelagius, efindel, Bankuei, Pramas, Stuart DJ Purdie, rdl, Andy Kitkowski, Bruce Baugh, szilard, J. Backman.

3/13/2003 Daredevil: Self-Revelation in Role-Playing (or Educational RPGs)
This thread came to my mind after I tied a few danglings threads together. First there was this thread http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=5118 which was actually a follow-up to http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=5031 and then this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Daredevil, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, greyorm, Paul Czege, M. J. Young.

3/13/2003 Tor Erickson: Robin's Laws?
Okay, I did a search on this one and didn't come up with anything... if this has already been discussed, I apologize: Over in Actual Play Ben Morgan made a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tor Erickson, Johannes, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Walt Freitag, jrs, Emily Care, Mike Holmes, Wulf, Ben Morgan, woodelf, talysman, clehrich, M. J. Young, Thierry Michel.

3/12/2003 Nathaniel: Intro and Rewards Discussion
Hello all. Name's Nathan. I've read all the articles in the articles section and a good number of the recent posts and figured I'd have at it and post my…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Nathaniel, iago, ThreeGee, M. J. Young, Ron Edwards, Ben Morgan, Walt Freitag, Mike Holmes, szilard.

3/12/2003 Airshipjones: Show don't tell?
So, how do we reconcile the old writers adage of 'show don't tell' with the basic RPG idea that we are often describing our characters actions? I find that much…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Airshipjones, ThreeGee, Ron Edwards, Nathaniel, Walt Freitag, Le Joueur, Jack Spencer Jr, Johannes, Marco, epweissengruber, clehrich, M. J. Young, Tim C Koppang, efindel, erithromycin, quozl.

3/12/2003 Johannes: Access to the inner world of characters
The inner world (knowledge, desires, fears, moral etc.) of characters plays crucial role in most litterature. In litterature the reader is often given access to these inner worlds by some…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Johannes, Emily Care, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Bankuei, Jack Spencer Jr, M. J. Young, clehrich, Ian Charvill, talysman, Jared A. Sorensen.

3/10/2003 Paka: Overbrewing the Homebrew World
I am most certainly a GM who is a frustrated writer and enjoys creating worlds in order to creatively stretch my toes in the sand. However, I find that the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paka, Jack Spencer Jr, Blake Hutchins, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, Ron Edwards, Paganini.

3/10/2003 Le Joueur: Setting, Information, and Suspense Don't Matter* [long]
We had an epiphany last night. My wife and I were gearing up for yet another one-on-one game and there was some confusion over a discussion of such from the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Bankuei, Mike Holmes, Sylus Thane, ThreeGee.

3/10/2003 Christoffer Lernö: Stealing ideas: mechanical Fighing simulation anyone?
Hello everyone, I'm back! I'm gonna go a little off-topic. I hope you can forgive that. I have been reluctant to jump back until I knew I had time to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Christoffer Lernö, ThreeGee, talysman, Dr. Velocity.

3/9/2003 Jack Spencer Jr: too much information?
This is an extension of the Is meaningless detail really meaningless? thread and sort of where I'm going with my own thoughts on RPG theory. I'll try to explain.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, clehrich, M. J. Young, contracycle.

3/8/2003 Andy Kitkowski: Using graphical methods to demonstrate how to play...
From the Marvel thread, at the end: Sorry, three layers of quotes to follow: Jonathan Walton wrote: The obvious thing, it seems to me, is to have almost 1/2 of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andy Kitkowski, quozl, ks13, Torrent, Jack Spencer Jr, Sidhain, Jonathan Walton, Bankuei, Simon Ringwood, szilard, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen, Michael S. Miller.

3/8/2003 Sylus Thane: A Polling Question
For all of the Forge members out there a couple of questions. 1. How many of you have actually published a game? If so what was it or they? 2.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sylus Thane, greyorm, M. J. Young.

3/7/2003 Johannes: Fortune and narrative suspence
Hi, I'm working on the purpose of fortune mechanics in RPGs. I'm basically trying to address the question "Whý people use fortune in their play?" One of the sub-questions I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Johannes, bowlingm, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, Jack Spencer Jr, clehrich, Le Joueur, Jonathan Walton, Mike Holmes, iago, Gordon C. Landis.

3/7/2003 Rob Donoghue: How many stories in a setting?
Assuming you've got a persistant group of players, how many campaigns are you looking to run in any given setting (defined, for this purpose, as a fixed set of pre-written…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Rob Donoghue, Johannes.

3/7/2003 M. J. Young: Maps: Necessary or Superfluous?
In the Real Color thread, (if you design a game, especially fantasy, make sure you include a good easily copied map) I've done a lot of fantasy settings,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, contracycle, James Holloway, Jack Spencer Jr, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, Sylus Thane, clehrich, Airshipjones, simon_hibbs.

3/6/2003 Emily Care: sim fidelity
Hello all, The thread on order of sim elements inspired these thoughts in me, but they were OT enough that I figured I should put them on a different thread.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emily Care, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, talysman, Mike Holmes.

3/6/2003 Matt Wilson: most fun moment of play?
In another thread, Ron requested this info from a potential game designer: please provide us with some better perspective on what, in your view, will be the single most fun…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Wilson, Ron Edwards.

3/5/2003 Paganini: Real Color
I like miniatures. And game cards with cool artwork. And dungeon floor-plans. And actual dungeon / landscape layouts. I don't typically like your standard fantasy wargame, or your standard skirmish…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Paganini, Matt Wilson, C. Edwards, John Kim, Le Joueur, Cryostorm, contracycle, Michael S. Miller, Mike Holmes, Sylus Thane, Jared A. Sorensen, bluegargantua.

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In RPG Theory

3/16/2003 Drew Stevens: Team Author stance? (inspired/stolen from Universalis)
So, I just had a kind of weird idea for a metagame thingy. Basically, as opposed to each player having sole control over one character, give each cahracter a couple…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Drew Stevens, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

3/17/2003 ethan_greer: Sorcerer/Donjon dice mechanic
I wasn't sure where to put this, so here it is in RPG Theory... So, Sorcerer and Donjon use variations of the same dice mechanic - each participant rolls a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ethan_greer, Mike Holmes, iago, szilard, M. J. Young, cruciel.

3/18/2003 Kester Pelagius: What is. . . 'The Alchemy of Role-Playing'?
[color=darkblue]This post is revisiting an old article posted here a while back. As always I look forward to reading your remarks and special insights.[/color] [size=16px][b]The Alchemy of Role-Playing[/b][/size] [color=darkred]Copyright ©…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kester Pelagius.

3/18/2003 Lugaru: Critical hits = less damage (I figured this is the forum)
Ok, I decided to try making that card based game where the amount of cards you drop of a single suit is what determines successes, damage and stuff like that.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Lugaru, Kester Pelagius, Valamir, John Kim, contracycle, cruciel, Tar Markvar.

3/19/2003 Johannes: What is the most realistic RPG?
The purpose of this thread is NOT to immerse ourselves into endless arguments about personal preference. What I want from this thread is that people would reflect on what meaning…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Johannes, Mike Holmes, Paganini, Jack Spencer Jr, Lugaru, ThreeGee, Marco, quozl, Valamir, Emily Care, Ron Edwards, lumpley, Thingmaker, Walt Freitag, Le Joueur, M. J. Young, simon_hibbs, weeble, CplFerro.

3/19/2003 Kenway: Flawed/Incoherent Games explained?
Mike's #1 rant (and Ron's articles) bring up lots of examples of flawed (and incoherent) games. I've only pieced together some of the flaws from various threads on The Forge,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kenway, Mike Holmes.

3/19/2003 Kester Pelagius: Where Did it All Begin?
Greetings All, Given current events I thought we could all use a distraction. So, without further adieu, part two. Kind Regards, Kester Pelagius # The Alchemy of Role-Playing Copyright ©…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kester Pelagius.

3/19/2003 Eric Kimball: Book randomization
This is a question I have had for a while regarding methods of generating a binary success or failure. In most game dice are used for the random mechanics and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Eric Kimball, Paganini, talysman, Enoch, Jonathan Walton, Yasha, M. J. Young, Jack Spencer Jr, Johannes, JMendes, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, cruciel, Stuart DJ Purdie.

3/20/2003 Kester Pelagius: Does theory really matter?
Greetings, Final posting, with annotations and bibliography. Kind Regards, Kester Pelagius # The Alchemy of Role-Playing Copyright © 2002, 2003 by C. Demetrius Morgan Part 3 of 3 Part One…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Kester Pelagius.

3/20/2003 GreatWolf: Suspension of disbelief
In the "realistic RPG" thread, the topic of "suspension of disbelief" came up. In this thread, Ron stated: #3 is most general, and I hope it doesn't spawn a string…
In RPG Theory
Participants: GreatWolf, Valamir, Alan, Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards, Sylus Thane, Mike Holmes, cruciel.

3/20/2003 ZeOtter: Game mechanics which attribute to govern firearms
I am new to these forums, and I hope I am posting this in the right place. Now that, that is out of the way... I have been kicking around…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ZeOtter, Paganini, quozl, Andrew Martin, Mark Johnson, Ben Morgan, M. J. Young, szilard, Mike Holmes, dalek_of_god, Ron Edwards, Rob MacDougall, JMendes, Solacus, Bob McNamee, bladamson.

3/21/2003 xiombarg: Tropes: An Addition to the Forge Lexicon?
[url]http://www.livejournal.com/users/bruceb/24788.html[/url] Now, general Forge wisdom is genre isn't a useful thing to discuss, but what about Tropes? It's certainly true that we've discussed, in essence, certain Tropes that apply to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Ron Edwards, clehrich, Bruce Baugh.

3/22/2003 Mark Johnson: At What Point Is Redundancy Redundant?
How much redundancy is necessary in writing game text?
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mark Johnson, greyorm, Jack Spencer Jr, Tar Markvar, cruciel, ethan_greer, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, szilard, M. J. Young, Bruce Baugh.

3/23/2003 dragongrace: Why we come to the 'table'
More than likely this has been discussed here but I'll bring it up again. GNS seems more or less how we play the game, or what kind of game we…
In RPG Theory
Participants: dragongrace, Lugaru, Jack Spencer Jr, Paganini, Bruce Baugh, Mike Holmes, cruciel, M. J. Young, Dr. Velocity.

3/25/2003 Jack Spencer Jr: What is 'adventuring'
[quote="Kester Pelagius"] The reasons for adventuring will be the same as why you adventure in any RPG, myriad and based upon what the GM and players have decided they want…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Valamir, Kester Pelagius, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, Johannes, JMendes.

3/25/2003 AV: Former Characters a question...
In the first game that I ever played, I came in late into the adventurings and mass murders of a trio of hitmen. I eventually more or less became the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: AV, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, Jack Spencer Jr.

3/25/2003 jburneko: Roleplaying The Short Story
Hello All, I have to admit that I really enjoy the classic four hour con event. I find the thrill of playing with (mostly) strangers in a brief effort to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: jburneko, Jonathan Walton, xiombarg, Mike Holmes, Blake Hutchins.

3/25/2003 cruciel: Task Based Traits vs Descriptor Based Traits
Well, as part of my big user interface kick I've hit an imponderable. In my mind I can see character traits (stats/skill) falling into two basic categories. Task based: The…
In RPG Theory
Participants: cruciel, Mike Holmes, Mark Johnson, Johannes, JMendes, Andrew Martin.

3/25/2003 Shreyas Sampat: Sense of Wonder
Those of you who have been watching the games I've been working on may have noticed this common thread: I want my games to have an air of wonder. I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Shreyas Sampat, szilard, Jonathan Walton, Matt Snyder, ZeOtter, Valamir, Paganini, Brian Leybourne, Tim C Koppang, Jack Spencer Jr, Mike Holmes, Le Joueur, Paul Czege, GreatWolf.

3/26/2003 Tim C Koppang: categorizing mechanics
Over in the “Sense of Wonder” thread, I started thinking about mechanics more closely. What I’m starting to convince myself of is that you can group mechanics generally into two…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Tim C Koppang, szilard, Mike Holmes, Jack Spencer Jr, Valamir, M. J. Young, efindel.

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