Previous Topics

4/30/2004 timfire: The importance of creation in Sim
I have some muddled ideas that I've been thinking over, and I thought I would bring up for discussion. I've been thinking about the "it" of Sim. In the infamous…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: timfire, Ian Charvill, Walt Freitag, M. J. Young, Silmenume, Caldis, Ron Edwards, talysman, Noon.

4/26/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] Trust + Fate
I don't expect to win the IGC, so I thought I would go ahead and ask for general opinions on my entry "The Mountain Witch." I've tweak things a little,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, Mike Holmes.

4/12/2004 timfire: GM's creating PC backgrounds...
I thought I would share a quick story about my brother's rpg'ing group. My brother, who only recently got interested in rpg's (specifically DnD), plays typical Illusionist Sim/Gam-stuff. His group…
In Actual Play
Participants: timfire, Lxndr, BPetroff93, Shreyas Sampat, Ron Edwards, Henri, jdagna, coxcomb, Paul Watson, Storn, StalkingBlue, Neylana, herrmess.

4/10/2004 timfire: Since we're on a bit of a Sim kick...
What are sim-oriented games that do not use the typical heavy actor stance, or to put it another way, what are some sim games that break the tradtional mold?
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, Landon Darkwood.

4/7/2004 timfire: Gamism or System-driven Sim?
Hopefully I can express myself, this is something I've thought about for a while, but have a hard time putting into words. First background: My prefered CA Sim, but I…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, RDU Neil.

3/31/2004 timfire: [E.rpg] Worked out some kinks, and developed a new focus.
Well, I feel I've worked out the major kinks in my reworked heartbreaker, E.rpg. Here are the basics of the system. I still have to finish writing everything out, but…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire.

3/23/2004 timfire: [E.rpg] Alpha playtest
Well, over the weekend I finally got my friends together to playtest my project E.rpg, my old fantasy heartbreaker that I'm reworking. I ran 2 sessions. The first session had…
In Actual Play
Participants: timfire.

3/9/2004 timfire: Using Experience points as a resource for other effects?
This came up in another thread in the indie forum, but I thought it might deserve a little more discussion here. In the other thread, I proposed letting players spend…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, anonymouse, brainwipe, Ron Edwards, komradebob, Valamir, John Kim, Mike Holmes.

3/4/2004 timfire: [E.rpg LITE] My Fantasy Heartbreaker
I've decided to finish up my Fantasy Heartbreaker so I can move on to other projects with a clean conscience. Since coming to the Forge, I've decided to change a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, montag, Halzebier, arwink, Jack Aidley, ethan_greer, John Burdick, Ravien, Ron Edwards, Valamir.

2/23/2004 timfire: Essential Topics to Read?
Alright, I'm trying to brush up on my theory. I've already read all the esssays in the articles section and I've looked at all the topics that Ron references in…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, John Kim, cruciel, ScottM.

2/11/2004 timfire: GM as arbitrator and opponent - conflict of interest?
Does setting up the GM as both an arbitrator of the rules and explicitly as an opponent create a comflict of interest? I did a search but didn't find anything…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, jdagna, Doctor Xero, Loki, Noon, John Harper, talysman, Mike Holmes, Emily Care, Shreyas Sampat, contracycle, Nuadha, Rich Forest, bcook1971.

2/9/2004 timfire: Design goals for Alpha, Beta, and Final versions?
As I work on my first draft for my new game, I was wondering what should be my goals for each phase of my design? What am I trying to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, Clinton R. Nixon, Valamir, Jack Aidley, Alex Johnson.

2/6/2004 timfire: Idea for card-based combat mechanic.
I don't know if this is the best place for this post, but oh well, here goes. I've decided to design a hack-n-slash dungeon-crawl with a card-based resolution system. You…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Pelinderian, Harlequin, Scripty, M. J. Young, Hereward The Wake, Lxndr, Ulmus, clehrich.

2/3/2004 timfire: Basic concept for Gamist dungon-crawl...
Taking a short break from my larger project, I thought about experimenting and trying to design a simple overtly-gamist fantasy dungeon-crawl. My goal would be to create a purely combat-focused…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, Shreyas Sampat, anonymouse, Zak Arntson, Harlequin.

1/31/2004 timfire: Are there any TROS players in Chicago I can join?
Hey y'all, I was wondering if there were any TROS players in the Chicago area I could join and play with. I live in the North side near the lake…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: timfire, Valamir, MrGeneHa, Bob Goat, Mike Holmes.

1/29/2004 timfire: Mechanical suggestions for different types of magic?
Hi y'all (sorry this post might be little long), In the fantasy game world I'm trying to develop I want to have different types of magic. I was thinking that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, clehrich, November Kilo, M. J. Young, Technocrat13, urbanpagan, BPetroff93, Autocrat, tauman, Doctor Xero.

1/13/2004 timfire: Can I order TROS through Borders?
Can I order TROS through Borders (or other major bookstores) or is it only available directly through the TROS website? Thanks!
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: timfire, Bob Richter, Jake Norwood, Paganini, Wolfen, Loki.

1/7/2004 timfire: What are some RPG's that use playing cards?
I was curious about games that use playing cards instead of dice. I had a thought about a game that would work exactly like a dice-game except players would choose…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, jdagna, Ron Edwards, Grex, Aknaton, rafial, Adam, Zathreyel, beholdsa, Lxndr, clehrich, xiombarg, Mernya, jhawkins, JamesSterrett, Doctor Xero, apeiron, AlecAustin, M. J. Young, Hereward The Wake, Nuadha.

12/12/2003 timfire: Help w/ D20 mod: Making initiative more TROS-like
I'm not sure how many d20 players/designers the Forge has, but I thought I would ask this question anyway. Inspired by TROS, I've thought about making a mod (or whatever…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Jack Aidley, MachMoth, Mike Holmes, Andrew Martin, M. J. Young, Drifter Bob, The Benj.

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Subsequent Topics

5/4/2004 timfire: Post-ICG Results thread!
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11060]The ICG results are in![/url] Congrats to Bill White, Hans Christian Andersen, Dev, and especially Jack Aidley. I'm going to have to go back and reread those entries now. Thanks…
In Site Discussion
Participants: timfire, Zak Arntson, Ron Edwards.

5/22/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] New Revision Out!
[url=http://www.geocities.com/timfire2/MountainWitch.html] I've finally posted my revision of 'The Mountain Witch."[/url] I intend to submit this revision for the IGC publication, so I would greatly appreciate y'all mentioning any last minute…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards.

5/31/2004 timfire: One Player, Many GM's...
Back in the Forge Birthday Forum, Ben Lehman brought up this idea for an rpg, in the "Tell me about... your unfinished game ideas" thread: Prophet -- A single-player…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, anonymouse.

5/31/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] What should Influencing be based on?
For those of you unfamiliar with "The Mountain Witch," my game uses a "Trust" mechanic involves spending points for one of three purposes: 1) aiding another character's rolls 2) Narrating…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, ethan_greer, redivider.

5/31/2004 timfire: lumpley's design theory
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11256&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0]In another thread,[/url] lumpley said: [quote="lumpley"]I've got a theory. There's Setting, System, Character, Situation and Color, right? I think that you can start a game as soon as you've nailed…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Jack Spencer Jr, sirogit, Jeph, ethan_greer, Bankuei, lumpley, M. J. Young, pete_darby, quozl, John Kim, teucer, Henri, Blankshield.

6/11/2004 timfire: Why isn't Gam & Nar compatible?
Reading the "Experimental Validation: GNS Congruence" thread got me thinking about trying to make Gam & Nar work together, or more specifcally, why its so hard to get them to…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: timfire.

7/3/2004 timfire: Consensus vs. Individual Spheres of Influence
I apologize in advance, as my thoughts on this aren't very organized, but I've been thinking about it alot lately. I've been thinking about games that are developed by some…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Shreyas Sampat.

7/14/2004 timfire: Freedom where you want it
Over in the Narrativism & Force thread, I thought Henri made an insightful comment that seemed to get largely ignored. I think the answer is that the definition of Force…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Mike Holmes, Doctor Xero, M. J. Young, Noon, Marco, MR. Analytical, Jaik, beingfrank, Tomas HVM.

7/15/2004 timfire: Mechanical issues w/ Donjon?
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=128247#128247]Somewhere else,[/url] Mike Holmes said: [quote="Mike Holmes"]there are some mechanical problems in Dunjon. Many of which Clinton has addressed on his forum.[/quote] As I'm new to Donjon (I own the…
In CRN Games
Participants: timfire, Mike Holmes, JamesSterrett, aplath, tk421, Dev.

7/29/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] IRC playtest, 1st scene
For the last month or so I've been trying to run a playtest of the Mountain Witch over IRC with the indie-netgaming folks. Scheduling keeps being an issue, so sessions…
In Actual Play
Participants: timfire.

9/14/2004 timfire: [Lab] Setting Premise?
I'm taking Paul up his invitation to discuss experimental play. I'm intrigued by the idea of Setting-Premise, but I'm not sure where to begin. How 'bout the obvious: Paul, are…
In Half Meme Press
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege, matthijs, Ben Lehman, Mike Holmes.

9/21/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] The Witch + Anti-Trust?
[[i]**You can find the playtest version of MW [url=http://www.timfire.com/MountainWitch.html]here.[/url]**[/i]] Lately I've been doing a little thinking about how I might be able to give the Witch in MW a little…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, LordSmerf, Paul Czege, ErrathofKosh.

9/29/2004 timfire: [Design Theory] Decision-Points?
This is an idea that I've had before, but wasn't able to articulate very well. But now I think I can articulate it better. I'm calling this a 'decision-point' in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, Michael S. Miller.

9/30/2004 timfire: Design equals... Play?
[quote="Jonathon (ErrathofKosh)"]Players design characters, GM's design settings and situations; those are considered play, so why wouldn't the game designer designing system be play?[/quote] I think this is a good topic…
In RPG Theory
Participants: timfire, TonyLB, DannyK, Ron Edwards, greyorm, Walt Freitag, bcook1971, John Kim, Vaxalon, Wormwood, clehrich, ErrathofKosh, M. J. Young, ffilz, John Kirk, Caldis.

10/27/2004 timfire: Repeating yourself?
Hi y'all, One of the things I'm trying to do with MW is edit/layout the text in such a way that all relevent information on a given topic is present…
In Publishing
Participants: timfire, TonyLB, inthisstyle, Jasper, Jack Aidley, Ben Lehman, daMoose_Neo, jdagna.

10/28/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] Help w/ Promotional Take-Away
Hi y'all, Clinton has graciously offered to demo MW for me at GenCon SoCal. But in addition to the demo, I was hoping to provide some sort of promotional piece…
In Publishing
Participants: timfire, daMoose_Neo, Andy Kitkowski, GregS, Roy, Ed Cha, greedo1379.

11/21/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] Ai-Uchi (Mutual Kill)
In MW, as it stands right now, there's an option under Partial Success called "Win-Lose". With a Win-Lose, both parties gain a Regular Success. The idea behind this was basically…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, humis.

11/22/2004 timfire: Binary Narrativism (relates to CRPG's)
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=143314#143314]Somewhere else[/url], Mike Holmes said this: [quote="Mike Holmes"]If, on the other hand, you want to go with a real narrativism based [[i]computer[/i]] design, then we're talking about getting into an…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: timfire, Matt Wilson, Mike Holmes, Adam Dray, Noon, Walt Freitag, contracycle, clehrich, epweissengruber, M. J. Young, Selene Tan.

11/29/2004 timfire: [Seventh Seal] GNS Frustration
This last weekend I had a chance to demo the game The Seventh Seal by Creative Illusions at the Chicago Gaming Conclave. The game is pretty much a WOD/Whitewolf heartbreaker.…
In Actual Play
Participants: timfire, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, Noon.

11/30/2004 timfire: [Mountain Witch] Demo'ing for never-before RPG'ers
This last wekend I twice had the chance of demo'ing The Mountain Witch for never-before role-players. The first time was with my Father. I needed to practice my demo, so…
In Actual Play
Participants: timfire, Jasper.

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