Previous Topics

1/18/2002 Mike Holmes: Flaws
The flaw rule is the one that we've changed the most, IIRC. Originally, we wanted to reward the player who takes a flaw for their character for having done so…
In Universalis
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Andrew Martin.

1/18/2002 Mike Holmes: Economic Balance
One of he things that we have struggled with, back and forth is the relative costs of things in the game. One particular sticking point is the cost of traits.…
In Universalis
Participants: Mike Holmes.

1/18/2002 Mike Holmes: No PCs
Well, now that Ralph has let the genie out of the bottle, I'll ask the question. If you don't have Player Characters (or a GM, or a traditional resolution system,…
In Universalis
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Balbinus, Valamir.

12/27/2001 Mike Holmes: Cheating Death
Ron asks for: An application of game design that permits the player still to participate even though the character dies (and never mind kluges like resurrection, I mean Dead-death)…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon, Paul Czege, unodiablo, joshua neff, Jack Spencer Jr, Zak Arntson, James V. West, Laurel, Joe Murphy (Broin).

12/19/2001 Mike Holmes: 'Realistic' Orcs (was Heads Up)
Since nobody can seem to get off that thread, I'll just try and continue it here (a great deal of the hi-jacking was my fault). Anyhow, what this thread should…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, Uncle Dark, contracycle, John Wick, hardcoremoose.

12/19/2001 Mike Holmes: I saw it...
This might not be the appropriate site to comment on a movie. But having seen it I must say that I am truely inspired and feel the need to just…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ian O'Rourke, hardcoremoose, James V. West, Matt Snyder, Ron Edwards, Blake Hutchins, jburneko, Jared A. Sorensen.

12/6/2001 Mike Holmes: Breaks
[quote] On 2001-12-06 14:22, Ron Edwards wrote: Sometimes, I just say, "Let's take a break," and we chill out for a while, and talk about movies or sex or RPG…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, mahoux, Epoch, Ron Edwards, joshua neff, Marco, Ben Morgan, hardcoremoose, Mytholder, Paul Czege.

11/5/2001 Mike Holmes: Primeval
Well, Ron doesn't want updates to the Profile thread, so I'll just have to start a new one about the Primeval game I played last night. :smile: Very cool. I'm…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, unodiablo, 333Chronzon, Matt Snyder, Blake Hutchins, Valamir.

11/1/2001 Mike Holmes: Heavy Setting Prep (from Jorune thread)
[quote] On 2001-10-31 18:17, kwill wrote: so I guess the question is, given a rich setting, where do you begin introducing the players and the characters? [/quote] Excellent question. This…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege.

10/29/2001 Mike Holmes: Hey Alchemist!
That new concoction almost ready yet? A reel of black and white film, eye of Frank Lloyd Wright, a few dark demons, and a big dose of Kicker, and what…
In Adept Press
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis.

10/19/2001 Mike Holmes: The Questing Beast
Hey James, Back yet? Are you any farther on TQB? Can you give us any preview? Mike
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Mike Holmes, hardcoremoose, James V. West.

10/17/2001 Mike Holmes: Audience
We can continue this discussion here. I propose the following as a definition for Audience behavior. This definition tries to acknowledge Ron's version of the stance definition. Audience Behavior, is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Jared A. Sorensen, jburneko, Laurel, Valamir, Jack Spencer Jr, contracycle, Ampersand, Blake Hutchins.

10/2/2001 Mike Holmes: Motivations and Behaviors of RPG Participants
As an extension to the discussion in Interesting Article... below, we'd like to look at a discussion of what sorts of motivations are found in people who play RPGs, and,…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen, Gordon C. Landis, Paul Czege.

9/27/2001 Mike Holmes: Plot Flow and Metagame Resources
I mentioned to Ron that I agree with many that The Pool is an important design due to the fact that it lays bare the relationship between Metagame Resources and…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Mike Holmes, hardcoremoose, James V. West.

9/26/2001 Mike Holmes: Web Page Content
I can do HTML, and so can Ralph. We're not challenged as far as that goes. What is challenging is coming up with something to put on a web page.…
In Publishing
Participants: Mike Holmes, Matt, Nathan, Paul Czege, Marco.

9/24/2001 Mike Holmes: Name of the Game
Since we're (well I am at least) itching to talk about the game that Ralph and I am finishing up I thought that I'd bring up a relatively innocuous subject…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Jared A. Sorensen, Valamir, hardcoremoose, Paul Czege, Jack Spencer Jr, Mytholder, Jeffrey Straszheim, Jason L Blair, Epoch, James V. West.

9/24/2001 Mike Holmes: Flipping The Pool
Spurred on by something Ron said about it when it came out, I've been giving The Pool a little thought of late and something has occurred to me. Isn't the…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: Mike Holmes, Jeffrey Straszheim, Epoch, Valamir, hardcoremoose, Paul Czege.

9/6/2001 Mike Holmes: Mechanics as they relate to the world
This is similar to the last post but different enough to warrant a new thread, I think. Maybe it's just the hardcore simulationist in me, but how am I to…
In Dark Omen Games
Participants: Mike Holmes, GreatWolf.

6/8/2001 Mike Holmes: Rune
A lot of people had mentioned that they were going to try Rune. I rudely suggested that I felt that the game might not balance well, without even reading the…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon, Valamir, james_west, Levekius, GreatWolf.

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Subsequent Topics

1/18/2002 Mike Holmes: Dialog
As the game stands, dialog is a little odd. Who gets to speak for whom, and when? If it's one player's turn can others speak? If not, how do yyou…
In Universalis
Participants: Mike Holmes.

2/14/2002 Mike Holmes: Narrativist Spies
Well, BW, here's your chance. I can't think of a Narrativist game that does traditional spies. Oh, sure, EV, would work, but might not generate the right mood for some.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, lumpley, Ron Edwards, Mithras, Bailywolf.

2/22/2002 Mike Holmes: Mesopotamia Game
[quote]...Also, maybe we are thoroughly hijacking this thread and need a new one. [/quote] You were very right about the hijacking, so, here we are. [quote] I would be concerned…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Mike Holmes, amiel, Mithras, contracycle, Valamir, Ron Edwards.

4/2/2002 Mike Holmes: Well Behaved
I cannot get over how well behaved this internet forum is. I may be the worst poster on the site! What are you and Ron doing right, Clinton? I mean,…
In Moderators
Participants: Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, Jared A. Sorensen.

4/30/2002 Mike Holmes: Mike's Standard Rant #3: Combat Systems
I post this here because I wanted to link to it from another discussion: http://indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19344#19344 I didn't want to derail that thread. Besides, I feel like bomb throwing today, and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, J B Bell, joshua neff, Ron Edwards, GreatWolf, xiombarg, Fabrice G., Bankuei, joe_llama, Le Joueur, Bailey.

5/2/2002 Mike Holmes: Mike's Standard Rant #4: Stat/Skill systems
This one's title may be misleading. I am not against Stat/Skill systems per se. I am against their general mishandling, and this rant takes a look at a common problem…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Valamir, Paganini, xiombarg, Seth L. Blumberg, Le Joueur.

5/15/2002 Mike Holmes: Final Draft Feedback
Hello all, Well, Ralph and I feel that we want to write the final beta and move to Actual Version 1.0. We're looking closely at all suggestions so far. Given…
In Universalis
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ayrizale, amiel, Bankuei, joe_llama, Blake Hutchins, Valamir.

6/16/2002 Mike Holmes: Faster, Better, Cheaper playtest
As part of the playtest swap program I organized a session using Kirt Dankmyer's Faster, Better, Cheaper system last night, 6/15/02. I assembled three players. Brad, who is amongst…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, joshua neff, xiombarg.

6/25/2002 Mike Holmes: Equipment and Balance
First, this is a little fragmented so please bear with me. This is not intended to be a discussion of what balance means, please hash that out elsewhere. The discussion…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Jared A. Sorensen, damion, J B Bell, Valamir, Le Joueur, Bankuei, Andrew Martin, Victor Gijsbers, contracycle, Paganini, Zak Arntson.

7/8/2002 Mike Holmes: Mike's Standard Rant #5: The Myth of Opposed Rolls
[size=18px]Mike's Standard Rant #5: The Myth of Opposed Rolls[/size] When RPGs started resolution rolls were all of the "Roll vs. Target" type. Soon thereafter, however, somebody invented the idea of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon, Le Joueur, Bankuei, Gordon C. Landis, Ring Kichard, Paganini, Reimer Behrends, Paul Czege, Wart, damion, Jake Norwood, Walt Freitag, contracycle.

8/7/2002 Mike Holmes: Sorcerer and Space demo
Well, I had a chance to run Sorcerer and Space for a fun group last night. Present were Ron, Josh , Jurgen, and Josh's friend Julie. Here's how it went.…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, Bailywolf, Ron Edwards, joshua neff.

8/20/2002 Mike Holmes: What Does Master Czege Require?
So, Paul, what exactly are you looking for here? Further playtest reports? General discussion on the system? What do you think needs doing most? Mike
In My Life With Master Playtest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Paul Czege, hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards, Emily Care.

8/21/2002 Mike Holmes: Web Site
Ralph and I continue to try and improve our web site for Universalis, and already we have quite a bit of support up. Check out Ralph's essays that didn't make…
In Universalis
Participants: Mike Holmes, Roy, Valamir, Ayrizale, Matt, Fabrice G., Tony Irwin, Jason L Blair, Bob McNamee.

8/27/2002 Mike Holmes: Status
Hey Nathan, Considering that you've rolled out a new site, I was just wondering what the status of Mysticages was. Has it's scope changed? If so, how? How do the…
In Mystic Ages Online
Participants: Mike Holmes, Nathan, Paul Czege, Valamir, Spooky Fanboy.

8/28/2002 Mike Holmes: Publishing
In discussing publishing of Master, I'd like to make a clarification. Universalis went direct to print. Only sort of true. While games like Universalis and Dust Devils did…
In My Life With Master Playtest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Silent Tamatama.

8/28/2002 Mike Holmes: My Master
I feel that the Premise of this game is timeless. If that's so, then I should be able to create a Master in any setting. Here' my experiment to see…
In My Life With Master Playtest
Participants: Mike Holmes, xiombarg, joshua neff, Paul Czege.

8/28/2002 Mike Holmes: Character Effectiveness (or Lack Thereof)
I started my character in our playtest with 2 Self Loathing, and 1 Weariness in a game where Reason was one lower than Fear. What did this mean? That I…
In My Life With Master Playtest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Paul Czege.

8/29/2002 Mike Holmes: Die Conventions
A statistically similar, but possibly simpler method to the current die mechanic would be to roll the same number of d4s as before, and count each as one unless it…
In My Life With Master Playtest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Paul Czege.

8/29/2002 Mike Holmes: Synthesis Playtest
I got a chance to try out my system Synthesis with Josh and Rich at GenCon. We all wanted to talk about it, but have not gotten around to posting…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, joshua neff.

9/5/2002 Mike Holmes: Setting Shift
OK, so I'm putting together a Hero Wars game, but I want to do something terrible with it. I've never been a fan of the Glorantha setting, you see. Well,…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Blake Hutchins, Ron Edwards.

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