Previous Topics
In Dog Eared Designs

8/23/2005 Yokiboy: PtA Revised?
Hi Matt, How do I go about purchasing a copy of the revised PtA? TTFN, Yoki
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Yokiboy, Matt Wilson.

8/11/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Using Traits
Can a single player, in a single conflict, use multiple Traits. Example: if the player could someho justify it, could Nate Spisak use both of his Trained Paramedic and Underworld…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Eero Tuovinen, Matt Wilson.

8/5/2005 Norbert Matausch: Hong Kong Action PTA
As a longtime fan of HK action movies, and as a longtime GM of very freestyle HK action movie roleplaying, I find the idea of a HK action PTA series…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Norbert Matausch, dyjoots.

8/4/2005 Matt Wilson: New Books Update
I saw a proof of the new books just an hour ago, and they look great. Woo hoo!
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Matt Wilson, Rob Donoghue, Erik Ny, pfischer, Brand_Robins, IMAGinES.

8/3/2005 Andy Kitkowski: A PTA game that went horrible south, but not for the expected reasons...
I declared that I wanted a drama. We batted ideas around, and settled on an exciting Roman epic in the decline of the empire. As the producer, I demanded that…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Andy Kitkowski, IMAGinES, bcook1971.

7/29/2005 StalkingBlue: Rules questions: No cooperation?
"If more than one protagonist is involved in the conflict, each player should compare his or her dice results separately with the producer." (p. 49) I read the above to…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: StalkingBlue, Joe Dizzy, Matt Wilson, Frank T, Ben Lehman, Rob Donoghue, John Harper, demiurgeastaroth, MarcoBrucale, Ron Edwards.

7/28/2005 Chris Goodwin: Connections
How exactly do you bring in a connection?  Can it be something like this:  "Pete remembers some advice Father Joe gave him.  Flashback to Pete and Father Joe discussing..."  Or…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Chris Goodwin, ashmoo, Matt Wilson, IMAGinES.

7/28/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Timing
In a typical session of 3-4 hours, with 4-5 players, how many scenes can I expect to get through? How many times will the Producer get a scene (that is,…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Alan, Jasper Polane, Frank T, Ron Edwards.

7/25/2005 Matt Wilson: the next printing
I'm a hair's breadth from getting the next books printed. Just waiting on a couple edits to the cover. Any actual 'rules' changes will be available on the web site…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Matt Wilson, Miskatonic, xenopulse, John Harper, Bob Goat.

7/22/2005 Frank T: Spicing old shows up, PtA style
I really love the new Battlestar Galactica show. I was sceptical about it because I always watched the old show as a kid. But the new one is just so…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Frank T, Chris Goodwin, Matt Wilson, IMAGinES.

7/20/2005 Rob Donoghue: Quick Dice Questions
Is there any particular reason to count odds rather than, say, count 6+, or whatever number happens to give you a 50% outcome?  I ask because I was considering switching…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Rob Donoghue, Ron Edwards, BlackSheep, Chris Goodwin, johnmarron, demiurgeastaroth.

7/14/2005 mofarme: Yet another dumb question... (this time about the PTA PDF)
Hi, I recently got PTA (probably just before it sold out!), and while I am positively delighted about the game, I would like to have a PDF version, so, even…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: mofarme, Matt Wilson, KingOfFarPoint, John Harper.

7/5/2005 James Holloway: Probably kind of a dumb question
But when resolving a conflict, what happens when participants have an equal number of successes? I can't seem to find the reference, and it's very likely (we're only in our…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: James Holloway, StalkingBlue.

6/29/2005 dyjoots: How to prepare an episode
I've run and played in a couple of PTA games, but I've always had trouble figuring out exactly how to prepare for an episode as the Producer. There is so…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: dyjoots, Alan.

6/29/2005 ashmoo: Audience Pool & Budget Questions
In playing my first season of PTA (see 'The Z' in the Actual Play forum), and having an absolute blast. I have a couple of questions about the dice economy:…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: ashmoo, Chris Goodwin.

6/28/2005 Smithy: RPGNet PTA Discussion
For those interested, here's a link to a discussion of PTA on RPGNet. PTA's got quite a number of defenders chiming in already (myself among them), but more discussion never…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Smithy, Matt Wilson, rafial.

6/28/2005 Warren: Sold Out!
Just as I my resolve weakened enough (and my resources grew enough) for me to order another Indie-RPG, I go to the site to discover that PtA is sold out!…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Warren, BlackSheep, Matt Wilson, rafial, Bob Goat, ScottM, Chris Goodwin.

6/27/2005 Joe Dizzy: Help me design a Star Trek show
I'll be running a Star Trek one-shot at the next gaming convention using PtA with pre-gen characters. The game will be just like TNG in tone and structure, but on…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Joe Dizzy, Alan, Matt Wilson, ashmoo, azrianni, dyjoots, Chris Goodwin.

6/15/2005 Lord_Steelhand: PTA - Guest Players Idea
I have read several posts where there was some question on how to include guests in on a PTA game without setting them up with permanent characters. The preferred solution…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Lord_Steelhand.

6/14/2005 Alan: Show Issue and Screen Presence
Here's an idea for the second edition: Give the Show itself an "Issue" and Screen Presence rating. The show's SP deterined the Producer's base dice in a conflict. Show SP…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Alan, Lord_Steelhand.

<< more previous topics

Subsequent Topics
In Dog Eared Designs

8/25/2005 iago: The Tower over on Actual Play
I'm starting a thread over in Actual Play about the game I was in last night, The Tower: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16523.0
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: iago, John Harper.

8/25/2005 Judaicdiablo: Scene Structure - length and structure
I come from a D&D background and thus have a much more Task oriented frame of reference.  That being said, I have been reading PTA and I am a little…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Judaicdiablo, Matt Wilson.

8/26/2005 Matt Wilson: Revised Edition: Preorders
New books will be available to ship starting September 1. The price is $20 plus shipping and handling. However, if you can't wait until then to give me money, I'm…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Matt Wilson.

8/27/2005 ricmadeira: Multiple Conflicts in one scene
I've just posted this on Actual Play: Dirtside - A moment to remember It describes one scene where I used simultaneous multiple conflicts to force a player to divide…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: ricmadeira.

8/29/2005 Lisa Padol: Questions on Revised PTA
I picked up a few copies of 2nd ed PTA at GenCon and emailed Matt a couple of questions which he said to post here. (Note that my experience with…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Lisa Padol, Matt Wilson, demiurgeastaroth, ricmadeira, Chris Goodwin, avram, John Harper.

8/29/2005 Matt Wilson: this mysterious 'multi-flip ' thing.
In the revised book I suggest an option for handling those big long tense conflicts, like chases, negotiations, etc. In order for it to work, the producer and at least…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Matt Wilson, IMAGinES.

8/30/2005 Judaicdiablo: PTA Revised "Depowered?"
Hey Matt,     I notice in the update for PTA Revised that it looks like you have "depowered" the game a bit. Examples:  Players now have 3 Edges/Connections rather…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Judaicdiablo, Matt Wilson.

9/5/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Producer Scenes and Big Groups
Let's say you have 6 or 7 players (inc. Producer). Would it make much difference (a bad difference, that is) to give the Producer a scene every time half the…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Matt Wilson.

9/6/2005 Lisa Padol: More Questions
Okay, so, Avram, Beth, Josh, and I played 2 pilot eps of PTA this past weekend, with me as the producer both times. When 2 or more people have their…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Lisa Padol, Matt Wilson, mneme, demiurgeastaroth, MarcoBrucale, John Harper, Blankshield, Rob Donoghue, Landon Darkwood, iago, Andrew Norris, Alan, avram.

9/8/2005 Matthew Glover: Handing Out Fanmail Before The First Conflict
Hi!  I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of the new edition, so I had a friend of a friend pick one up at Gencon and got…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Matthew Glover, Meguey, Matt Wilson.

9/9/2005 TonyLB: Have I got the math of the economy right?
It seems to me that, since the producer only gets back half of spent fan-mail as more budget, there is a statistically finite amount of budget available for an episode. …
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: TonyLB, dyjoots, Matt Wilson, Ron Edwards, Yokiboy, demiurgeastaroth.

9/12/2005 BlackSheep: Another alternate resolution system
Dominoes. Instead of rolling dice or flipping cards, draw dominoes. Each domino can be read in two ways.  The 2:3, for example, can be 23 or 32. Highest domino wins…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: BlackSheep.

9/14/2005 Judaicdiablo: Can a Producer Split his Budget for one Conflict?
Here is the situation: There is a conflict with multiple Protagonists.  The conflict is determined and the stakes have been set.  I am the Producer and I decide that I…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Judaicdiablo, John Harper.

9/14/2005 demiurgeastaroth: [PtA] Scope of Narration, Scene Requests, and other questions
In our recent play, we experienced a few problems. The game was still fun, but questions were raised. Scene Requests: how much authority do the players have here? Can they…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Matt Wilson, Lisa Padol, iago, Rob Donoghue, Blankshield, Alan, John Harper.

9/15/2005 Rob Donoghue: Revised Colophon
And on a completely non-mechanical note, what were the fonts used for the revised edition? -Rob D.
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Rob Donoghue, Matt Wilson.

9/16/2005 demiurgeastaroth: [PtA] Entering a Scene
You can join a scene in progress by spending a fan mail. At one point in our first session, we were just beginning a conflict (that is, we were about…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Matt Wilson.

9/16/2005 Matt Wilson: have you always wanted a PTA hoodie?
I set up a cafepress store prior to GenCon so that I could pirnt up some shirts to wear at the booth. But then I thought, what the heck? I'll…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Matt Wilson, Rob Donoghue.

9/17/2005 demiurgeastaroth: [PtA] More Scene Requests Questions
Leaving the thread http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16833.0 to focus on the question of narration & stakes, here's a couple of quick questions on scene requests. Scene Requests: how…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Matt Wilson, John Harper, IMAGinES.

9/22/2005 Eynowd: [PtA] I have a complete failure to grok...
I bought a copy of PtA at Gencon this year, after a friend of mine reported some very favourable gaming sessions with it. From the way he described it, it…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Eynowd, Brand_Robins, Frank T, Michael S. Miller, Ron Edwards, John Harper, xenopulse, Andrew Norris, IMAGinES.

9/22/2005 Michael S. Miller: Lots of Audience Pool, Few Players
I just started running PTA for three players. Wanting to make sure that there were enough chips in the Audience Pool so that everyone could start giving Fan Mail right…
In Dog Eared Designs
Participants: Michael S. Miller, TonyLB, John Harper, demiurgeastaroth, Andrew Norris, Matt Wilson, Jonas Karlsson, Vaxalon.

more subsequent topics >>