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In RPG Theory

5/17/2003 Jeph: Does anyone else distinguish between System and Mechanics?
System is defined as the means by which the group agrees to imagined events during play. Or at least, that's waht Vincent, Ron, and everyone else seems to agree on.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jeph, Le Joueur, Valamir, jdagna, M. J. Young, Jared A. Sorensen, Alan, lumpley.

5/16/2003 Bankuei: Super Happy Game Ball
Here's an idea in the forming...we'll call it the Ball for short. The Ball, represents input into "what happens next" in a game by the group. This input, is not…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bankuei, Emily Care.

5/14/2003 Ron Edwards: More D&D history help
Hello, I have acquired a wealth of information regarding the history of Dungeons & Dragons publishing from about 1982 through 1995 or so, but very little of it is rock-solid…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ron Edwards, Matt Snyder, Christopher Kubasik, Valamir, Jack Spencer Jr, efindel, Jeff Klein, Gordon C. Landis, Caldis, talysman, jrs, Mike Holmes, greyorm, Rob MacDougall, Jack Aidley.

5/12/2003 talysman: dungeon crawls and relationship maps
in another forum, I started a discussion about GMless role-playing (defined loosely to include any shared or rotating GM duties.) I started the thread mainly because it was obvious from…
In RPG Theory
Participants: talysman, Mike Holmes, Matt Wilson, Ron Edwards, efindel, jdagna, John Kim, Gordon C. Landis, Emily Care, Thierry Michel, Bill_White.

5/10/2003 taalyn: Real life atrocities?
I'm wondering what the general thought is on incorporating real world nastiness into game history. For example, does anyone have strong thoughts or feelings about incorporating 9/11 into a world…
In RPG Theory
Participants: taalyn, lumpley, Brian Leybourne, Matt Wilson, Jared A. Sorensen, Christopher Kubasik, deadpanbob, clehrich, Bob McNamee, Ron Edwards.

5/10/2003 LordSmerf: A little help on probability curves please...
This is something that i just started working with the other day, so the answer may be simple and i'm just missing it. Anyway, i was messing around with curves…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, M. J. Young.

5/9/2003 Matt Wilson: Of course you win, but at what cost?
Just another one of my ideas that's influenced by Joss Whedon. Angel Season finale spoilers below, so quit now if you need to. On a TV show, or even in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Wilson, LordSmerf, Adam Dray, Paul Czege, M. J. Young, Bankuei, clehrich, Mike Holmes, Bob McNamee, Jeffrey Miller, Scripty.

5/9/2003 Jack Spencer Jr: Fighting with the Interface
Those old enough to have played text adventures remember the pleasant frustration (?) of trying to figure out just the right wording for a command to try to figure your…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, Bob McNamee, Ron Edwards.

5/8/2003 ejh: The Lumpley Principle?
Can someone summarize this for me, and point me to the threads it comes from? It's gotten to the point that Ron is using it without defining it in essays,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: ejh, Ron Edwards, lumpley.

5/8/2003 LordSmerf: The Three Levels - An introductory thread
This is my first post, so i figured i'd start with something i've already worked on. Please feel free to provide feedback and criticism... Beginning canned essay... I don't know…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, Jack Spencer Jr, Jay Turner, Ron Edwards.

5/8/2003 Jack Spencer Jr: Content of an RPG
Since the Elegance and Deliberateness thread is now closed, and upon reflection is seems that I was breaking off from the original discussion, I've decided to start my own thread.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Bankuei, Harlequin, LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, John Kim, Ron Edwards, Shreyas Sampat.

5/7/2003 Harlequin: Aesthetics and Conveying Reality
If I read the conclusion of the Aesthetics and Reality thread correctly, then Chris and Emily tried to pin down a specific tension, between two things: a Baseline, which is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Harlequin, Mike Holmes, Matt Snyder, Emily Care, clehrich, John Kim, Ron Edwards, Le Joueur, Mark D. Eddy, Valamir, Bankuei, Jack Spencer Jr.

5/7/2003 Jay Turner: Roll/keep probabilities?
I'm toying with an idea for a game that uses a roll/keep system for piloting vehicles, and I'm trying to think of a way to use it for other things,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jay Turner, Mike Holmes, Matt Wilson.

5/6/2003 taalyn: point of view?
This may not be the right forum, but thinking it is at the moment... What point of view do you prefer when reading rules? What I mean is do I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: taalyn, Shreyas Sampat, Mike Holmes, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson.

5/5/2003 SwordofLux: Transparency revisited
Just to put in a couple cents, I think of Transparency as relating to, as mentioned previously, intuitiveness combined with ease-of-use. I like to think of it in video-game terms.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: SwordofLux, Ron Edwards.

5/5/2003 Ben Lehman: Power Distribution in Games
Read some of the things about power dynamics in this forum, and thought I would delurk and post an essay about power in RPGs, and how it relates to system,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Mike Holmes, Emily Care, M. J. Young, Paganini, lumpley.

5/5/2003 Le Joueur: Elegance and Deliberateness
[Cracks his knuckles and begins typing...] Okay, today's the first asymptomatic day I've had since I got that cold; I think I'll celebrate by trying to unravel what I've wrought.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, dragongrace, Shreyas Sampat, deadpanbob, C. Edwards, Mike Holmes, Harlequin, Felix, Stuart DJ Purdie, clehrich, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards.

5/5/2003 Ben Morgan: Volatile and Non-Volatile Traits (for want of better terms)
Had an idea the other day, don't know if anyone else has come up with something similar. It revolves around separating elements of a character into two groups, for purposes…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Morgan, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes, Bankuei, Ron Edwards, Walt Freitag, Emily Care.

5/2/2003 Felix: Holy 'That's what PCs are' Batman
This was kind of inspired by Fang’s thread Psychotic (or is It Schizoid) Game Design. I’m not advocating what I’m saying here, just musing out loud and making observations. I’ll…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Felix, Clinton R. Nixon, Jeffrey Miller, Matt Wilson, Bankuei, Marco, John Kim, clehrich, Jack Spencer Jr, Valamir, cruciel, M. J. Young, Bruce Baugh, Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, simon_hibbs, Mike Holmes, Emmett, damion.

5/2/2003 clehrich: Aesthetics and Reality
Okay, so I was grading papers or something, and when I turned around, there had been this hugely interesting debate here about aesthetics, reality, emulation, genre, and a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: clehrich, Bankuei, Emily Care, deadpanbob, John Kim, Bruce Baugh, C. Edwards, Le Joueur, Jere, Jack Spencer Jr, cruciel, Marco, Caldis, M. J. Young, jdagna, Sylus Thane, Ron Edwards.

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Subsequent Topics
In RPG Theory

5/19/2003 Bankuei: The Ball in Play
Hi folks, I've been twirling the idea in my head for a bit, and got something a bit more clear and coherent. The Ball "Avenues of Potential" I find that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Bankuei, damion, Jack Spencer Jr, Emily Care, Mike Holmes.

5/19/2003 M. J. Young: System versus System
According to the Lumpley principle, System is that which exists at the social contract level by which participants decide what is happening in the shared imaginary space. As such, it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Le Joueur, lumpley.

5/19/2003 M. J. Young: Why Incoherent Games Sell
In a thread in the Scattershot forum entitled Vive La Resistance or System Doesn't Matter, Fang Langford raises the question of why incoherent games sell. He suggests that it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Le Joueur, jdagna, Jeffrey Straszheim, clehrich, Jack Spencer Jr, LordSmerf, talysman, John Kim, Balbinus, damion, C. Edwards, woodelf, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

5/19/2003 clehrich: Confused Agendas and Practicality (LONG)
I'd like to throw the following out, and see whether it strikes a chord. If not, I'm not going to push about it. I mean what I say, but if…
In RPG Theory
Participants: clehrich, Gordon C. Landis, Le Joueur, Matt Snyder, Eric J-D, Mike Holmes.

5/19/2003 Jack Spencer Jr: What sells?
Over in Why Incoherent Games Sell Fang drifted the topic a bit and I realised that I would wind up drifting the topic completely so I started a new thread.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Bankuei, DaGreatJL, Gordon C. Landis, Jack Aidley, C. Edwards, John Kim.

5/20/2003 Emote Control: RPGs as art form?
I have been thinking recently about RPG design, and something struck me about the nature of the process itself. It consists of human beings devising concepts, which they put into…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emote Control, clehrich, John Kim, M. J. Young, jdagna, Mike Holmes, C. Edwards, Ron Edwards, dragongrace, Emily Care, Paul Czege, John Kirk, Jack Spencer Jr, Hunter Logan.

5/20/2003 Gordon C. Landis: Gamma Worlds' "How to Use This Book"
My copy of Gamma World is copyright 1978, TSR Rules, and is listed as the 2nd printing, August 1978. The authors are James A. Ward and Gary Jaquet. Clearly an…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Gordon C. Landis, Patrick O'Duffy, quozl, John Kim.

5/20/2003 Sidhain: Incoherance and Communication Modes (long)
Alright I read several of the threads that talked about so called incoherant games, and this may be me coming from left field on the topic (as I usually do)…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Sidhain, M. J. Young, Jack Spencer Jr, Mike Holmes.

5/21/2003 Andy Kitkowski: "Site Theory": How come not many folks here use OG
Consider this a curiosity thread more than anything, I don't think that this has any far reaching implications or the like. Anyway, I couldn't help but to notice that the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Andy Kitkowski, taalyn, Mike Holmes, jdagna, Wormwood, Jeffrey Miller, Brand_Robins, Jeph.

5/21/2003 TheGameBoy: Which System to use?
I'm working with a fantasy world that has only humans as a choice of races. The magic is very psychically based. Mages are blind, but see through magic. What system,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TheGameBoy, Balbinus, ADGBoss, Bankuei, Mike Holmes.

5/21/2003 Balbinus: Casanova, homosexuality and underage sex
Hi, I initially posted this on rpg.net but on reflection the issues raised may be better addressed here. To the extent it's relevant, this is phrased from an essentially simulationist…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Balbinus, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, Clinton R. Nixon, Jack Spencer Jr, Thierry Michel, Valamir, Eric J-D, lumpley, Veiltender, Walt Freitag, clehrich, M. J. Young, John Kim, simon_hibbs, damion, Jack Aidley.

5/22/2003 Matt Wilson: PC interaction and party split-ups
I was just reminded of this thing in Trollbabe where you can have your 'babe start anywhere on the map, and so the whole adventure - or maybe even series…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Wilson, Jack Spencer Jr, C. Edwards, clehrich, Cassidy, Ron Edwards, Bankuei, Mike Holmes, Ben Morgan, M. J. Young, Brian Leybourne, damion, John Kim, Emmett, cruciel, Jeffrey Miller, Bill_White.

5/24/2003 Jonathan Walton: Player-Character Distinctions
Wanted to bring this up, since many people seem to have very strong feelings about this subject that are baffling to me. Some comments were made recently that brought this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jonathan Walton, clehrich, Alan, Jeffrey Miller, jdagna, Jack Spencer Jr, M. J. Young, Reprisal, Kester Pelagius, Mike Holmes, Thierry Michel, Jack Aidley, simon_hibbs.

5/29/2003 Emily Care: Applied Design Theory: Enlightenment Group Game Design cont.
Hello everyone, I invite you to take your favorite bag of game design theory tricks and apply them to a Forge original game: Enlightenment. Last year Mike Holmes started a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emily Care, Mike Holmes, Shreyas Sampat, LordSmerf, talysman.

5/30/2003 Jack Spencer Jr: the psychology of getting enjoyment from play (split)
This is split from The airplane issue First, a full recap since it was impossible to split the thread: More interesting, perhaps, is the question of why an argument…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Spencer Jr, Bankuei, LordSmerf, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, John Kim, M. J. Young, jdagna, ADGBoss.

5/30/2003 epweissengruber: Where did the discussion of stances start
I tried doing a search to find the first definitions of "Stances, but didn't quite get what I was looking for. Can anyone help me find the snowball that started…
In RPG Theory
Participants: epweissengruber, Ron Edwards.

5/31/2003 zaal: Cinematic Weapons and Narrating Damage
Hi all, I'm working on an action setting, so right now my mind is on emulating high-flying cinematic butt kicking in RPGs. I'm not posting this in the game design…
In RPG Theory
Participants: zaal, Garbanzo, iago, Shreyas Sampat, fitheach, damion, WhiteRat, Walt Freitag.

6/2/2003 Jack Aidley: How is D&D magic Karmic?
I hope this is the right place for this. In this article, Ron states that: AD&D uses Karma for magic and Fortune for combat. I don't see why D&D…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Aidley, Shreyas Sampat, Valamir, Jeph, Ron Edwards.

6/2/2003 Emote Control: Using a website
I've been doing some thinking about how RPG companies use their websites, and looked at a number of them. The main purposes of the websites are: 1-A place to buy…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Emote Control, M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, John Kim.

6/6/2003 Jack Aidley: How good are you at mental arithmetic?
I am exceptionally good at mental arithmetic. Not as good as I used to be, mind, but still exceptionally good. I have never played a roleplaying system in which the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Jack Aidley, WDFlores, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, damion, jdagna, John Kim, M. J. Young, talysman, Shreyas Sampat, John Kirk, Walt Freitag.

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