Previous Topics
In First Thoughts

3/8/2009 Bercilac: Melbourne 1890: An Educational Simulation
PARTS OF THIS POST A.  Overview of the project. B.  The Scenario A.  OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT The game you see before you is an outline of an educational simulation…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Bercilac, Adarchi, Vulpinoid, Noon, Simons.

3/7/2009 zmobie: You can do it!
Alright. It's time to polish off that game you quit working on last (month / week / year). You've let it gather dust long enough. You know that your (mechanic…
In First Thoughts
Participants: zmobie, whiteknife, Ron Edwards.

3/6/2009 DWeird: Messages through the time stream
Hi! I've been working on a game concept of a sort for a very, very long while now, with nothing to show for it but a few hair-brained half-baked ideas.…
In First Thoughts
Participants: DWeird, Vulpinoid, Abkajud.

3/6/2009 Xose Lucero: Groping for Coherence: Am I G or N or just plain wrong?
Long time reader, first time poster. Finding the Forge was an eye opener experience. After a long time grasping at the straws of comprehension I'm finally beginning to formulate intelligent…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Xose Lucero, Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, greyorm.

3/6/2009 JoyWriter: Stakes, how do you do set em?
I love the idea of setting stakes for dice rolls, so that a failure still means something happens. Instead of dramatic events getting vetoed by failed dice rolls, I'd love…
In First Thoughts
Participants: JoyWriter, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards, Noon, monkey.

3/5/2009 Jason Kottler: The Name of the Game
Hello, Forgers! I'm thrilled to be able to report that I'm going to be taking my system to GenCon with the Forge booth this year (thanks, Ron!). However, I have…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Jason Kottler, Abkajud, Eero Tuovinen, Noon, Vulpinoid, whiteknife, Amadeo, Paul Czege.

3/5/2009 BrunoDeLaBomba: a new frankensteind-setting
first of all, this is not an entry about reanimated people, sown together from the parts of dussins of different men. it's about stealing a litle bit of this and…
In First Thoughts
Participants: BrunoDeLaBomba.

3/4/2009 chance.thirteen: Avoiding type of task primacy?
I am throwing together a RPG for my friends from standard parts. The problem i have is linked to my own thinking. I tend to divide action in an arena…
In First Thoughts
Participants: chance.thirteen, Luke, Noon, Creatures of Destiny, Bert.

3/4/2009 Xenoheart: Basic RPG
It has occured to me quite a few times that I was asked to guide a group of 9, maybe 10 year old kids as a Game Master in all…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Xenoheart, mjbauer, chance.thirteen, Joshua BishopRoby, BrunoDeLaBomba, Bert, Jason Kottler, alseeger, Egonblaidd, Noon, Eldrad.

3/4/2009 alseeger: podcasting?
Hello everyone, I'm new around here, so please forgive me for sounding like the newbie I am. Anyways, I'm looking for ways to promote my indie press rpg and I…
In First Thoughts
Participants: alseeger.

3/4/2009 Noon: A human feeling - small potato issues
This is more of a side thing I want to establish in game and it's basically a human feeling. Basically at the start and at certain fairly regular intervals (perhaps…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Noon, Luke, Vulpinoid, ShallowThoughts, Marshall Burns, Abkajud, Everspinner.

3/4/2009 Bert: Game for 30-something newbies
Hi all, I'm putting together a game for a bunch of 30-something newbies who have developed an interest in tabletop RPGs through playing CRPGs. They're all rather sheepish about it,…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Bert.

3/3/2009 Sergon: Arcane Control
In my old west r.p.g. characters who use magic, must make an Arcane Control check. This is a percentile roll modified by the caster's intellect modifier. At present I have…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sergon, chance.thirteen, Vulpinoid.

3/2/2009 preludetotheend: EP (Empty Palm ~ No Pain No Gain)
So I got some great feedback on my table top game GaC which I have taken to my creative processing center to chop shop and further develop the “right direction”…
In First Thoughts
Participants: preludetotheend, Luke, dindenver, Noon.

3/2/2009 Wordman: Lessons from the iPhone community
While this forum is not about computer games, I'm wondering if anyone gained any inspiration for pen & paper RPGs from the recent explosion of iPhone games (and other apps).…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Wordman, Vulpinoid.

3/2/2009 Lord Goon: Games about AI
So I've been reading a lot of stuff by Iain M. Banks, and it has me wondering whether anyone has ever made a serious attempt to design an RPG in…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Lord Goon, mjbauer, lessthanpleased, preludetotheend, Wordman, Bert, Noon, chance.thirteen, phatonin.

3/2/2009 mjbauer: Guns & Ammo
I'm looking for some examples of systems that do ammo without keeping track of each bullet and each shot. The game I'm working on is fairly gun-centric but I'm trying…
In First Thoughts
Participants: mjbauer, Luke, rafael, Ron Edwards, scarik, Noon, Gurnard, whiteknife, Wolfen, Capulet, Amadeo, phatonin, DanielM.

3/1/2009 Abkajud: Rules for damage and wounds - how do I avoid punishing my players?
So I've been playtesting my game, Mask of the Emperor, for three sessions now, and in our most recent session, one of the PCs suffered a wound. In game terms,…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Abkajud, Dr_Pete, Gurnard, Amadeo.

3/1/2009 jrnmariano: Big Brother Zombie!
Over at Ideonauta (http://ideonauta.blogspot.com), my partner-in-crime, Poacher, is writing a game of zombies in a reality show. I'm re-posting stuff here, because The Forge is the creative game designing think-thank…
In First Thoughts
Participants: jrnmariano, Vulpinoid, Noon, Luke, Rui!, chance.thirteen, otspiii.

2/28/2009 Adarchi: Game System with Realistc NPCs
I'm trying to create a system that allows PC generation to be done the same way as NPC generation. The goal being that a baker or wood cutter somehow fit…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Adarchi, Abkajud, Vulpinoid, JoyWriter, scarik, Bert, Luke, DWeird, opsneakie, ShallowThoughts, otspiii.

<< more previous topics

Subsequent Topics
In First Thoughts

3/10/2009 Simons: Need help fleshing out backstory... [Escape From Illeria]
Hey folks, Haven’t written here in a while (only just got back to the developed world).  I have this game that I’ve been working on on-and-off for the last couple…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Simons, Egonblaidd, Adarchi, Vulpinoid, JoyWriter.

3/10/2009 MikeF: Pool-aris
Pool-aris. I often leave the Forge for a few weeks at a time, while I'm off thinking about games, come up with what I think is a good idea, and…
In First Thoughts
Participants: MikeF, Vulpinoid, JoyWriter, Paul T.

3/11/2009 Nuthael: Not sure where to go from here
Hi. I'm new here, and honestly really new to designing rpgs. My friend and I have been working on this idea for years now, and its shown up a few…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Nuthael, Vulpinoid, natfrobinson, Noon, Abkajud, Luke.

3/12/2009 Caracol: Stats Sytem, need advices
I'm working on some ideas for a fantasy RPG. I came up with a particular idea about the stats and the abilities of the characters, based on the concept of…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Caracol, Eero Tuovinen, chance.thirteen, dindenver, soundmasterj.

3/13/2009 Egonblaidd: Difficulty of darts/javelins compared to archery
Hi, I'm new to the site.  I only got into pen-and-paper RPGs a couple months ago, and now I'm designing my own.  I've already started rewriting my first draft of…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Egonblaidd, Vulpinoid.

3/13/2009 Egonblaidd: Attribute/Skill system
Hi, I'm new to the community and to RPGs in general.  I feel like I'm introducing myself twice since I posted another thread, but I feel like that topic might…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Egonblaidd, chance.thirteen, ShallowThoughts, Luke, JoyWriter.

3/14/2009 Egonblaidd: Not enough "fantasy" in my fantasy world
I originally came here to ask a simple question, but the more I think about my RPG, the more I question it's foundation.  Maybe there's nothing wrong with it and…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Egonblaidd, Noon, whiteknife, Simons, Abkajud, otspiii, Paul Czege, everloss, Adarchi, NN, DWeird, Vulpinoid, Jason Kottler, JoyWriter, Ayyavazi.

3/14/2009 mjbauer: A Combat System for Firefights
I'm trying to come up with a combat system that is fast to simulate the excitement of a mildly gun-fu style shootout (like THIS) but also has rules to govern…
In First Thoughts
Participants: mjbauer, chance.thirteen, Aloeus, Vulpinoid.

3/16/2009 Adarchi: Game Setting Idea - The Grand Strategist / reverse dungeon crawl
Concept overview: Normally players adventure out into the unknown and battle through areas and exploring something the DM has created. Instead, the players are tasked with preparing for a coming…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Adarchi, Vulpinoid, Egonblaidd, Simons, DWeird.

3/17/2009 Ayyavazi: Should I post my Power 19?
Greetings all, I'm new here on the forums. I've been working on an RPG for about a decade now, and scrapped the rules and the world setting so many times…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Ayyavazi, Egonblaidd.

3/18/2009 Ayyavazi: What if every dispute succeeded for every side?
I was just reading The Applied Theory article and had this idea. I don't know if I want to turn it into a game or not, but here it is…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Ayyavazi, Vulpinoid, Egonblaidd.

3/18/2009 chance.thirteen: Can you create suspense via mechanics?
The topic of suspense came up in another thread, and to avoid derailing the topic I will attempt to open it here. A little reading on suspense as an audience…
In First Thoughts
Participants: chance.thirteen, Egonblaidd, Noon, soundmasterj, dindenver, Paul T, Vulpinoid, FredGarber.

3/19/2009 Adarchi: Game Setting Idea - Diplomacy vs Effectiveness
Thesis: players may be more or less effective given their choices while developing their character, perhaps they could be rewarded for not trying to min/max during development. Inspiration: Occasionally…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Adarchi, Vulpinoid, Egonblaidd, JoyWriter.

3/24/2009 maldito: Simple system, many problems
I'm always thinking in new games and I almost never finish them. Now I'm thinking in a new one: players would be soldiers in a science fiction army, like Starship…
In First Thoughts
Participants: maldito, Luke, soundmasterj, Wordman.

3/26/2009 bjorell: Non-copyrighted games I can "borrow" texts from?
Dear all, I'm new around here, but have been working on a FRPG for quite some time now. I have the resolution system (d100) and the basic functions around classes,…
In First Thoughts
Participants: bjorell, Eero Tuovinen, Egonblaidd, Paul Czege.

3/26/2009 valadil: How do I start adding numbers to my abstract idea for a game system
Hi.  I've had an idea for a game bouncing around in my head for a while and I want to get serious about writing it up and playtesting my ideas.…
In First Thoughts
Participants: valadil, Luke, lumpley, Paul Czege, Noon, Wordman, Egonblaidd.

3/28/2009 Egonblaidd: Skill System - Organizational help needed
I divide skills into Basic Skills and Advanced Skills.  Basically, each Basic Skill has a number of Advanced Skills associated with it (and conversely, each Advanced Skill is associated with…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Egonblaidd, whiteknife, Luke, JoyWriter, Ayyavazi.

3/28/2009 Eldrad: Simple but deadly fantasy
Here is my idea. Two people with weapons ready to attack each other. Who goes first? Each throw a dice when combat is decided. If one rolls a 6 then…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Eldrad, twztdwndpipe, zmobie, Vulpinoid, Paul Czege, Luke, Egonblaidd, Noon, Hereward The Wake.

3/28/2009 twztdwndpipe: Wargame Balancing.
Me and a friend have decided to take wargaming (personal wargaming) to a different level. Each race would have basic units. Right now, I'm just asking about infantry. From there,…
In First Thoughts
Participants: twztdwndpipe, zmobie, Vulpinoid, Simons, chance.thirteen.

3/28/2009 GregStolze: The World is My Character Sheet
Mmmmkay, one of the things I did with REIGN was stat up social structures so I could bring them into play and beat them against one another.  Now I'm working…
In First Thoughts
Participants: GregStolze, soundmasterj, C. Edwards, Guy Srinivasan, Vulpinoid, Wordman, chance.thirteen, JoyWriter, contracycle.

more subsequent topics >>