Previous Topics

4/21/2004 Ben Lehman: Polaris: Trait Bidding
Yet another "Iron Game Chef" follow-up thread. I'm almost reluctant to post this, because I don't want to point out flaws in my game before the judging, but I really…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen.

4/19/2004 Ben Lehman: Gamism and Narrativism
I have been thinking, recently, apropos to lumpley's Arranging the Pieces of the Game as to what really defines Narrativism and Gamism, at a base. I think that there…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen, Rob Carriere, greyorm, Doyce, Ron Edwards, beingfrank, M. J. Young, pete_darby, Valamir, contracycle, Walt Freitag, Emily Care, Ian Charvill, cruciel, DannyK.

4/19/2004 Ben Lehman: System Typing
I have an idea. Now, as I begin to lay this idea out, I think people are going to instantly relate it to another set of three categories which have…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen, BPetroff93, lumpley, John Kim, cruciel, FredGarber, M. J. Young, Emily Care.

4/11/2004 Ben Lehman: On Dragons and Evil
"Fairy Tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed." --GK Chesterton This is a topic…
In Dark Omen Games
Participants: Ben Lehman, GreatWolf, Trevis Martin.

4/11/2004 Ben Lehman: Sorcerer Comic
Apologies to those that may have already seen this: http://www.angryflower.com/master.gif
In Adept Press
Participants: Ben Lehman, sirogit, tetsujin28.

4/10/2004 Ben Lehman: GenCon Booth Monkey Questions
Hi. The possibility of me being at GenCon this year is increasing daily, so I thought I would ask some questions about the difference between Forge Booth Monkey attendance and…
In Conventions
Participants: Ben Lehman, Matt Wilson, Lxndr, Tav_Behemoth, daMoose_Neo, Ron Edwards, Dav, Jürgen Mayer, Nev the Deranged.

4/7/2004 Ben Lehman: Grand Forge Cross-Country Road Trip!
Hi all-- Since I'm not a Company (yet) I don't know if this would belong in the Conventions forum, but it's definitely "on-topic" for this forum. So, I'm pondering the…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Wolfen, lumpley.

4/7/2004 Ben Lehman: Status of Alyria
Hey... So everything I've heard about this system makes it sound perfect for a game that I want to run in the Fall, but I don't know if the game…
In Dark Omen Games
Participants: Ben Lehman, GreatWolf, M. J. Young, Rich Stokes, Valamir, arxhon, Mike Holmes.

4/4/2004 Ben Lehman: Religion!
Hi. This is the new religion thread. Post here. I am curious as to people's religious beliefs. I ask this because I am in a muddle about my own beliefs…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Shreyas Sampat, Christopher Kubasik, Eero Tuovinen, ethan_greer, taalyn, clehrich, Sean, Simon W, C. Edwards, Lxndr, coxcomb, Jack Spencer Jr, J B Bell, joshua neff, Jonathan Walton, Valamir, RaconteurX, greyorm, talysman, cruciel, Ben Terry, Brian Leybourne, contracycle, lumpley, quozl, Christopher Weeks, Rich Forest, BPetroff93, Anonymous, Green, Matt Wilson, Scourge108, Yasha, DannyK, Jack Aidley, Marhault, orbsmatt, Rich Stokes, Muggins.

4/4/2004 Ben Lehman: The Necromancer Stirs...
Awakening from within his foul lair, he calls upon the ancient demon-lords of administration -- bound long ago into the Forge of time, and presents them with offerings of bones,…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

3/26/2004 Ben Lehman: Tactics: Antagonist Bidding
Previous Threads on this game: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8551 http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=9041 So, after some long agonizing over the virtues of varying levels of "GMless" play, I have decided the following things: 1) If it…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ben Lehman, Mike Holmes, Dev.

2/29/2004 Ben Lehman: A RPG of Heroic Passion
Hey everybody. So I had some free time today, and sat down to work on Tactics (minutia of movement rules... joy!) Instead, this came out, nearly whole cloth, in about…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ben Lehman, james_west, Jeph.

2/25/2004 Ben Lehman: d4 traits and Fallout
More issues-- In fallout, you are given a choice from a list of options. This is Cool and Good, and needs to stay around. However, given that d4 traits only…
In lumpley games
Participants: Ben Lehman, lumpley, bluegargantua, nikola.

2/24/2004 Ben Lehman: Scene Entrance
So, say that Bob is over there, in some other scene across town, and he is suddenly doing something really cool that totally applies to my character and I want…
In lumpley games
Participants: Ben Lehman, lumpley.

2/24/2004 Ben Lehman: Ceremonies
Okay, the Ceremonies, at present, need work. A *lot* of work. I think that the change of ceremony to Trait from Conflict is a good one, but there are some…
In lumpley games
Participants: Ben Lehman, bluegargantua, lumpley.

2/23/2004 Ben Lehman: [Zero at the Bone] The worst thing
My major problem with the game is the opposite of Jesse's -- I've known some people who have done some very awful things, and thus one person is in the…
In Adept Press
Participants: Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards.

2/23/2004 Ben Lehman: Thieves and Kings 2
As a flaming T&K fanboy, I need to answer this old thread. But Quinton ... this is a character who breaks most role-playing conventions of "story" and "protagonist"…
In Adept Press
Participants: Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards.

2/22/2004 Ben Lehman: Exclusivity of Creative Agenda
Yo. To people who have been around for a while, I apologize. I've brought this up before, and this is spurred by some recent conversations with another friend (hi, Dave!)…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Ben Lehman, Jinx, Jack Spencer Jr, Paganini, Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, james_west, M. J. Young, Ian Charvill, Emily Care, Mike Holmes.

2/21/2004 Ben Lehman: Demons and Preservation
I don't like the way that Preservation, as a demonic power, works. It seems counter-intuitive to everything else in the system, which is all about throwing extra dice down on…
In lumpley games
Participants: Ben Lehman, lumpley.

2/21/2004 Ben Lehman: Obliteration and Sins
So I have been reading Sophocles and interviews with people who were sexually abused as children, which have combined with Dogs in my head into a incestuously breeding, heavily polygamist,…
In lumpley games
Participants: Ben Lehman, lumpley.

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Subsequent Topics

5/1/2004 Ben Lehman: Proof Reading and Editing
Hi. I thought I would put my card out for this, in case anyone is interested. I am a semi-professional copy-editor / proof reader. I have worked with authors of…
In Connections
Participants: Ben Lehman, smokewolf.

6/11/2004 Ben Lehman: Polaris: Player Roles
So my rpg, Polaris is about to go into playtesting and needs a little help. One of the big "things" about Polaris is that it doesn't have a normal…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ben Lehman, Tobias, Emily Care, Mike Holmes.

6/23/2004 Ben Lehman: Polaris: Fate and Choice
Hi Everyone-- So my RPG, Polaris is in final devolopment, before playtesting ensues. Since the last thread on it rocked so much (thanks to everyone who responded! Sorry I…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen, MarktheAnimator.

6/23/2004 Ben Lehman: Expanding IIEE
Hi everyone. So I'm designing this little RPG Polaris which has it's IIEE ripped off somewhat from The World, the Flesh and the Devil by way of Otherkind and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, lumpley.

7/1/2004 Ben Lehman: Current Game Text -- First Look Critique
I look at this text with the assumption of a "new to role-playing" reader. Is this a correct assumption? Introduction: It is never, ever a good idea to toot your…
In lumpley games
Participants: Ben Lehman, lumpley, inthisstyle, nikola.

7/10/2004 Ben Lehman: Wanted: Ad Designer for Polaris
Hi, so I'm writing this RPG (Polaris: A Tragic Fairy-Tale), which isn't done yet, but I have a sudden need for a "coming soon" advertisement, simply because there are a…
In Connections
Participants: Ben Lehman, Jonathan Walton.

7/15/2004 Ben Lehman: Wait, What Matters Again?
Wait, what Matters again? Or The Extent of Sys Or "If you have a D&D game without orc-killing, is it Drift?" Or "No complete RPG will ever be made." Jargon…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Ben Lehman, contracycle, Paganini, Marco, Kesher, John Kim, lumpley, Bankuei, efindel, John Harper, M. J. Young, MR. Analytical, Rob Carriere, Ron Edwards, Frank T, Tim C Koppang, TooManyGoddamnOrcs.

7/15/2004 Ben Lehman: CA Classification and Game Systems
Hi. This may be a "duh" to a lot of people, but it struck me very hard, and as something which isn't necessarily talked about a lot in these parts,…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Ben Lehman, NOS, Ron Edwards, Matt Snyder, Marco, Bankuei, John Kim, MarcoBrucale, Tim C Koppang, M. J. Young.

7/22/2004 Ben Lehman: [GenCon 2004] Sleeping Space
So the last housing thread has gone the way of the Dodo (off the first page) and I have some more housing... uh... requests. I will be booth-monkeying at GenCon…
In Conventions
Participants: Ben Lehman, btrc.

8/1/2004 Ben Lehman: Polaris enters Playtest
Polaris, my RPG of fairy-tale tragedy, has entered playtest stage. Anyone interested in playtesting should PM me with their e-mail, and I will send them a PDF file which is…
In Connections
Participants: Ben Lehman.

8/2/2004 Ben Lehman: [Riddle of Steel, Chorus] Scythe's Edge, session 1
Aka: Sometimes you have to make *sacrifices* to get what you want. That was a pun. *sigh* My players can stop reading this now, if they feel like it. It…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ben Lehman, rafial, Malechi, Jasper the Mimbo, Ron Edwards.

8/11/2004 Ben Lehman: [GenCon 2004] Coordinating Arrivals (airplane)
So I'm arriving via airplane and would love to hook up with other people for rides to hotels / downtown / convention / Diana Jones awards, whether getting picked up…
In Conventions
Participants: Ben Lehman, Lxndr.

8/27/2004 Ben Lehman: [Dogs] Spending Those Free Dice
I am ashamed. I was a proof-reader for Dogs, and there's the rule that slipped through the cracks. This giant *fuck-off* major rule. And I missed it. I'm sorry to…
In lumpley games
Participants: Ben Lehman, lumpley, nikola.

8/27/2004 Ben Lehman: Welcome!
Welcome everyone to my spiffy Polaris playtest forum, where you can savage the game text to your heart's content, far away from prying eyes that might assume that my god-awful…
In Polaris Playtest Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Dev.

8/28/2004 Ben Lehman: Errata and Clarifications on 8/04 text
Hi all. This is my thread to go "oops!" in. Other people feel free to post asking for textual clarifications, etc. The big problem here is that I made some…
In Polaris Playtest Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Dev, Emily Care.

9/2/2004 Ben Lehman: The Art Thread
Hi. So one of the topics that came up in the multifaceted First Reading, fast thoughts was the art, design, look and feel of the book. Now this is totally…
In Polaris Playtest Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen, Dev, Ron Edwards.

9/9/2004 Ben Lehman: Two Sorcerers, One Demon
There are a lot of compelling reasons to want to have two sorcerers bound to the same demon. I mean, it certainly shows up a lot in the literature. What…
In Adept Press
Participants: Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, Christopher Weeks, Mike Holmes, Lxndr, Old_Scratch.

9/10/2004 Ben Lehman: What I'm Thinking
So this is a brief thing about what I'm thinking about the game right now. People are welcome to offer their advice around the issue, but what I would really…
In Polaris Playtest Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen.

9/13/2004 Ben Lehman: What Traits Do
This is the "No psychological traits" thread, spun off from Eero's playtest thread. Here's what I want traits to do: Traits are things that frame conflicts -- they provide set…
In Polaris Playtest Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman, Eero Tuovinen.

9/17/2004 Ben Lehman: Things for next Revision
This is a public service announcement. I'm about to give the game text, especially the mechanics, a big once-over. Here are the rules that I'm thinking of changing. Please comment…
In Polaris Playtest Forum
Participants: Ben Lehman.

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