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In These Are Our Games

2/2/2006 Rob Donoghue: Out of Stock!
So, Polaris is currently out of stock at indie games.  This is problematic because I have the only local copy, and I fear for it's safety - the drool alone…
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Participants: Rob Donoghue, Ben Lehman, faerieloch, cthulahoops.

1/10/2006 Grover: Polaris is about activism?
Ben, I read in your UtB actual play that Polaris is about activism.  I didn't see that at all, and after thinking about it, I still can't really see how…
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Participants: Grover, Brand_Robins, Ben Lehman, Miskatonic, Bankuei, ejh, Dev, RDU Neil, Sydney Freedberg, Calithena, Jasper the Mimbo.

1/9/2006 Bret Gillan: Forcing Heart Actions
Okay, a long time ago I asked about the sanctity of the Heart, and affecting the Heart's emotions, thoughts, and actions. In response Ben said the following. Similarly, it is…
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Participants: Bret Gillan, Ben Lehman.

1/4/2006 scbarber: Playing Polaris via VoIP (i.e. Skype)
I've heard some really good things about Polaris (thanks to Paul Tevis and "Have Games, Will Travel") and some of my buddies want to play it with me, but we…
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Participants: scbarber, Victor Gijsbers, Ben Lehman, Frank T, Artanis, Joe Zeutenhorst.

12/29/2005 demiurgeastaroth: [Polaris] Problems in Play
My group played Polaris a couple of weeks ago (as detailed here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=18088.0) and some questions were raised. Our next session is on Monday, so I hope people aren’t put…
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Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Shreyas Sampat, GreatWolf, Ben Lehman, Frank T, Hermes3.

12/21/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Polaris Meets Amber
After our first play session, one of the players (Stuart) observed, "you know one setting this system would work well for? Amber." This got a pretty vehement denial from the…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Sydney Freedberg, xenopulse, Hermes3, Ben Lehman, TonyLB, Rob Donoghue.

12/21/2005 cpeterso: Polaris flowchart
I'm a detail-oriented, visual learner, so I tried to create a flowchart for the Polaris conflict phrases. I know Ron Edwards designed something similar, but I felt it left many…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: cpeterso, Victor Gijsbers, Tobias, Ben Lehman, humis, demiurgeastaroth.

12/19/2005 Jeffrey Straszheim: Length of game
The rules point out that it takes and average of 27 experience rolls to complete the cycle of a character, and the fast game option roughly halves that.  The folks…
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Participants: Jeffrey Straszheim, Ben Lehman, Frank T, GreatWolf.

12/14/2005 coffeestain: [Bliss Stage Playtest] First Session
Last night, we played a short session of Bliss Stage using the playtest rules available prior to the 12/14/05 set. Setting The game was set in Madison, WI and had…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: coffeestain, Ben Lehman.

12/13/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Polaris Setting Introduction
Has anyone wrote up an introductory summary of the Polaris setting - say, 500-1000 words or so? I'll be playing the game next week, and would like something like that…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Ben Lehman, Frank T, Victor Gijsbers, Sydney Freedberg, Arturo G., Brand_Robins, Bret Gillan, Bankuei, GreatWolf, Valamir.

12/5/2005 ewilen: PDF, Update policy
Hi, Ben. I've gotten a few people together who are planning on playing Polaris for a few hours this weekend, but only one of them owns the rules. There's a…
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Participants: ewilen, Ben Lehman.

12/2/2005 Hermes3: Polaris IRC
I was considering playing Polaris over IRC sometime. Anyways I made a little script to roll the dice for the two kinds of dice rolls needed in the game. Just…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Hermes3, Victor Gijsbers, Ben Lehman.

11/30/2005 TonyLB: Polaris-by-post
DannyK is too classy to cross-post his recruitment thread here where it would do the most good.  But I'm not.  I've been accused of many things, but an excess of…
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Participants: TonyLB, Ben Lehman.

11/24/2005 Bret Gillan: Posting in Mid-Game
The guys just ran for soda, and I had to hop on the computer to tell you that your game is exquisite. My friend Jere got it for me for…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Bret Gillan, Ben Lehman.

11/23/2005 Blankshield: [Bliss Stage playtest] Rats in the Malls
Ok, first off, although you mentioned it wasn't your priority, we did have fun.  We closed off the game stoked, and will be revisiting it, even if we didn't feel…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Blankshield, Ben Lehman, Harlequin.

11/21/2005 Mark Woodhouse: {Bliss Stage playtest] Northstar State Nightmare
Playtest notes for Bliss Stage Playtest date 11/20/05. GM: Mark Woodhouse Players: Kathy Shane, Adam Cerling General comments on reading, rules. 1. The game is really, really bleak and hits…
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Participants: Mark Woodhouse, WhiteRat, Ben Lehman, ptikachu.

11/21/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Guidance in conflicts
One thing I'm a little unclear on. The Moons have guidance over characters in, say, hierarchical or romantic relationships. The Mistaken makes conflict statements. What happens when a character's lover…
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Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Ben Lehman, LordSmerf, Victor Gijsbers, Frank T.

11/19/2005 TonyLB: Popping the stack
The title's computer terminology.  If it boggles you, ignore it.  The question's straightforward, I think.  Here's the example. PC#1:  And so it was that I bopped the demon on the…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: TonyLB, Blankshield, Ben Lehman, demiurgeastaroth, Iskander, boredoom.

11/17/2005 demiurgeastaroth: Six Players
Over on: http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/pen/vpost?id=694535 someone said the Polaris is meant for 4 players, and Ben (!) said, "As a counter-point to Paul's view, I actually prefer 6." What rules do you…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: demiurgeastaroth, Ben Lehman, Eric Minton.

11/14/2005 Eric Minton: [Polaris] Lines
So, we played our first game of Polaris last night.  It went great!  We went whole hog on providing ambiance: candles, incense, music, and a bottle of white wine (followed…
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Participants: Eric Minton, Kesher, Ben Lehman.

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2/20/2006 Frank T: [Polaris] New Protagonist Sheet Design
This is what happens when you play with an illustrator and forget to bring copies of the protagonist sheet. I should do that more often. Thanks Kathy! http://www.wyvernslair.de/handouts/polaris_charsheet.pdf
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Frank T, coffeestain, Artanis, Rob Donoghue, Ben Lehman, cdr.

2/24/2006 Ben Lehman: ATTN: Foreign Language Folks
Hello. This is a message to everyone who has written a foreign language translation of the Key Phrases and other basic points of play. I would like to get permission…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Ben Lehman, Carlo, Miskatonic.

3/5/2006 Arturo G.: [Polaris] Conflict flowchart for new players
Hi, folks! I have drawn a flowchart of the conflict key phrases, with colors, to help new people to understand how the conflict works. Perhaps someone may find it also…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Arturo G., Selene Tan, Ben Lehman, Jeffrey Straszheim, Adam Biltcliffe, humis.

3/15/2006 Arturo G.: [Polaris] Full reference flow-chart
Hi, again! One of the players in my group (Mot) has integrated the conflict flow-charts presented in the thread Conflict flowchart for new players into a full reference chart…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Arturo G., Ben Lehman.

3/15/2006 Ben Lehman: Polaris at GenCon
Kat Miller is looking for <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=19013.0">people to run indie games at GenCon</a>. I want a Polaris game to be scheduled for GenCon.  Because of my booth and personal commitments,…
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Participants: Ben Lehman, Nev the Deranged.

3/22/2006 Joe Murphy (Broin): [Polaris] A convention game
Sunday afternoon, I'm due to 'run' an introductory session of Polaris. This is taking place as part of the 'Indie Games Track' at Conpulsion, a gaming con in Edinburgh. I…
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Participants: Joe Murphy (Broin), Ben Lehman.

4/4/2006 harish: This post was spam
deleted
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Participants: harish, Ben Lehman, Clinton R. Nixon.

4/11/2006 GB Steve: [Polaris]French convention game
At SteveCon Paris this week we played a game of Polaris, in French. I'll ask the strangely named Squeeze to email his translations to Ben if he hasn't done so…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: GB Steve, Ben Lehman.

4/17/2006 Thunder_God: [Bliss Stage Playtest] Read Through Questions
Reading a PDF, reading a book, not so good for getting questions out of it, one must sit with a pen, so I did. Some questions are answered later, I…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Thunder_God, Ben Lehman.

4/19/2006 GreatWolf: [Polaris] Key Phrases are lies
In another thread, Ben said this: It occured to me sometime after publishing the game that all three of the elaborate key phrases (game opening, character introduction, game closing)…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: GreatWolf, Ben Lehman, TonyLB, Valamir, Jinx, Raquel, Arturo G., Bankuei, Gaerik.

5/17/2006 Nicolas Crost: "You Ask Far Too Much"-Question
Hi, the following question arose during our game of Polaris: When faced with an "You Ask Far Too Much"-statement as a player, do I a) revise the content of my…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Nicolas Crost, Ben Lehman, Valamir.

5/24/2006 Johan Granberg: Crappety crap crap.
I ordered Polaris (along with some other stuff, but Polaris was the real reason i placed the order) from IPR a couple of weeks ago and have been itching to…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Johan Granberg, Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen.

6/1/2006 khelek: Two Player - BadWrongFun
I hosted and played in my first Polaris game last night! In expectation of the difficulty of herding my friends into a single room I invited five (5!) players, all…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: khelek, Ben Lehman, Steven Stewart.

7/9/2006 GB Steve: Polaris by Christian Dior
[url=http://www.style.com/fashionshows/collections/F2006CTR/complete/slideshow/CDIOR?loop=0&event=show1503&designer=design_house27&trend=&iphoto=37&play=false&cnt=6]This [/url] shows something from Dior's latest collection that seems to be straight from the pages of Polaris.
In These Are Our Games
Participants: GB Steve, Artanis, Ben Lehman.

7/12/2006 Artanis: [Polaris] Key phrases design
Hello Ben! I'm really fascinated by the Key Phrases and how they allow for powerful negotiation between the players. Would you agree to share with us your thoughts about how…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Artanis, cpeterso, Ben Lehman.

7/31/2006 Steven Stewart: Two Questions from Tokyo
Hiya, First I would like to say thanks for making such a game. News travels slow to this end of the world, and eventhough I don't physically have the book…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Steven Stewart, Ben Lehman, Rorimack.

8/2/2006 Steven Stewart: Offering to Host a Polaris Game over Ventrilo (Voice over Intenet Software)
Hello fellow Polaris fans. I am really excited about this game, and looking forward to playing. Due to some real life constraints and location, I think that playing Voice Over…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Steven Stewart, Ben Lehman.

8/2/2006 Noutaja: More About length of game
Hi everyone! Usually our Polaris sessions arent very long. Every session lasts something between 4 or 6 hours, I dont know yet that how many sessions we need to play…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Noutaja, Ben Lehman, martino, Steven Stewart, Blankshield, Arturo G..

8/5/2006 Steven Stewart: It looks awesome...
Hey Ben, et. al, Just got the game in the mail. First Off Kudos to IPR. They have been so far, the best ordering company I have purchased a game…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: Steven Stewart.

8/24/2006 ocasta: Polaris: Ending a Scene
I've just read through the Polaris rules for the first time and am looking forward to playing it this weekend. I had one question from the rules regarding ending a…
In These Are Our Games
Participants: ocasta, Arturo G., Ben Lehman.

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