Previous Topics

7/19/2004 contracycle: proposition: background and foreground
This is an attempt to square the apparent circle in which setting, situation, and system have become confused. I want to propose some setting-specific terminology to clear up this mess.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Marco, efindel, lumpley, Noon, M. J. Young, ErrathofKosh, Ron Edwards, Valamir, Silmenume, Christopher Weeks, John Kim.

7/29/2003 contracycle: new fora?
So we are getting a lot of raw game idea's pitched lately. No problem with that, its just difficult to fiugure out where they go. In RPG theory, as in…
In Site Discussion
Participants: contracycle, iago, Mike Holmes, greyorm, Mark Johnson, Jeffrey Miller, cruciel.

3/19/2003 contracycle: Scaffolding
Well, this is tyhe design that I have recently been tinkering with and which Mike badgered me to see in December. Its not exactly finished... the intent is to have…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: contracycle, Christoffer Lernö, MoonHunter, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

2/24/2003 contracycle: RPG as set text
I just wanted to canvass opinions on this thought, an approach to sim gaming. It's inspired by my current reading, The Isles: A History, by Norman Davies. Bity of a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, clehrich, greyorm.

1/5/2003 contracycle: micro-system: initiative
Another little sub-system, one which might conceivebaly be used for some extant games in place of their initiative mechanics. Everybody gets a card, one per combatant or bystander or Other…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: contracycle, Henry Fitch, Rich Forest.

12/13/2002 contracycle: finally got it
So, I FINALLY got a copy of TROS. Just thought I'd share my opinion now that I can see the real beast. I've not read all of it yet. I…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: contracycle, Jake Norwood, Brian Leybourne, Ron Edwards, Valamir, Mokkurkalfe.

11/1/2002 contracycle: combined or singular design
A questiom about the way we are doing things here; not a serious challenge to the status quo, just a thought. The prevailing tendency, reinforced by the "creator owned" concern,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton, Mike Holmes, simon_hibbs.

9/28/2002 contracycle: micro-mechanic opinion
Hi, I came across a wargame emchanic I want to steal but am curious to know what the statisticians think of it. It is a penalty die added to a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Bailywolf, Christoffer Lernö, Bob McNamee, mahoux, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, Sparky.

9/16/2002 contracycle: Yet Another Context Free Mechanic
So, this is an outline of my latest tinkering. Its a system aimed at swordplay, as it happens, rather than generic resolution. Its intended to exploit HW's concept of deferred…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Ron Edwards, Walt Freitag, Jeremy Cole, Colin the Riot, Mike Holmes, Garbanzo, M. J. Young.

8/28/2002 contracycle: the scottish play
Somehow I came across this thought while pondering Rons breakdown of classes - there is a link here somewhere with how character presage, bring about, their own actions as it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Mike Holmes, Le Joueur, Demonspahn, M. J. Young, xiombarg, simon_hibbs, GB Steve.

8/28/2002 contracycle: Polearms
Well, I went to visit Warwick castle last weekend, and quite entertaining it was too. There was a brief bit of jousting and so forth, and more interestingly, a short…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: contracycle, ShaneNINE, Jasper, Mike Holmes, GhostShip Blue, Lyrax, Wolfen, Durgil, Mokkurkalfe, Valamir.

7/16/2002 contracycle: tight framing
How tightly can we frame a game, as play event rather product? Assuming a fair amount of GM/player distinction, if I as a GM said something to the effect of…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, amiel, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, Mike Holmes, Michael Hopcroft.

7/16/2002 contracycle: treason by the book
Well, I'm not entirely sure about the appropriateness of this post, but I've come across a marvellous book for historically interested gamers. I'm not sure it is actually RPG theory,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Ron Edwards.

7/5/2002 contracycle: Magic & the Metagame
We've been discussing the metagame fairly extensively of light, and from time to time we have also touched on some of the hardy perennials of FRPG, what makes a good/mysterious/flexible/magical…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Le Joueur, Jack Spencer Jr.

6/5/2002 contracycle: CD burners
Theres been some discussion round cutting CD's for games. Not much, but some. As it happens, browsing a techie catalogue, I see you can get a mass batch copier for…
In Publishing
Participants: contracycle, Clinton R. Nixon, A.Neill, Ron Edwards, Clay.

5/31/2002 contracycle: Wielding the Axe
OK, so I downloaded the charsheet and took a look. My first response is "too many attributes". This means I'm probably going to have a go at a TROS Lite…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: contracycle, Bob Richter, Jaif, Jake Norwood.

5/29/2002 contracycle: Split (again) from old discussion
[quote] No, we think that Simulationism is a form of retreat, denial, and defense against the responsibilities of either Gamism or Narrativism. [/quote] I disagree in the most violent possible…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: contracycle, Ron Edwards.

5/23/2002 contracycle: premise rides again
I extracted this from the RPGnet thread, 'cos it caught my eye: Joshua Neff wrote: Basic Lit 101 stuff: if there isn't some sort of moral/ethical/emotional question being addressed,…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: contracycle, Joe Murphy (Broin), Ron Edwards, joshua neff, Valamir, Paul Czege, Christopher Kubasik, Le Joueur, Bankuei, Matt.

4/9/2002 contracycle: dynamic settings
Lots have people mentioned their interest in dynamically created settings during various discussions about desired fantasy worlds. There have been a number of attempts at world-building manuals and systems, but…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: contracycle, Wolfen, Ron Edwards, Buddha Nature, Matt, Mike Holmes, Bob McNamee, Paul Czege, Matt Steflik, J B Bell.

4/3/2002 contracycle: pure visuals
This is a fairly out-there thought I had a while ago and I just want to ask what people think of the idea. This has to do with the Matrix…
In Publishing
Participants: contracycle, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Tyrant, Le Joueur, Laurel, Eugene Zee, Seth L. Blumberg, RobMuadib, Misguided Games.

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Subsequent Topics

10/20/2004 contracycle: RPG sheet music?
I had an interesting thought while going over my previous ideas on Sitation & Tension. The general direction in which I was trying to head was toward constructing a tool…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle.

10/29/2004 contracycle: the sword of damocles
This is a post sort of inspired by Shreyas Applied Design post and others. It's a notional mechanism offered for comment, and in this case aimed at a reinterpretation oof…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, TonyLB, Valamir, Technocrat13, Tobias, Walt Freitag, Shreyas Sampat, Mark Johnson, Precious Villain.

2/8/2005 contracycle: naval speculation
I'm raising this thread somewhat tentatively as an invitation to discuss abstract movement and combat systems for naval actions. I would hope the discusison would be fruitful because addressing such…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Nathan P., komradebob, lumpley, Valamir, MikeSands, Piers Brown, Jules Morley, Ben Lehman, greedo1379.

2/11/2005 contracycle: AMA/NLT
Here's another micro-mechanic for discussion. Its a Fortune device but with a kinda blurring of gamble and crunch. AMA/NLT stands for "As Much As" and "No Lower Than" and is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, LordSmerf, Nathan P., Valamir, lumpley, Marco.

2/24/2005 contracycle: MMRPG & Smiling Gator
This is a slightly odd post but is anyone here connected to a company called Smiling Gator in any capacity? They appear to be planning to release a MMRPG in…
In Connections
Participants: contracycle.

2/24/2005 contracycle: Allan Kaprow and the Happening Game
I have come across something I find quite extraordinary and would like to propose it here for discussion, because I am not really qualified to examine this properly. I think…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, groundhog, J. Tuomas Harviainen, Revontuli.

4/13/2005 contracycle: Raph Koster: A Theory Of Fun For Game Design
This is mostly an FYI/Heads Up post. Raph Koster is the creative director behind StarWars Galaxies, and something of a Name in the world of MUD design. He has recently…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, C. Edwards.

7/15/2005 contracycle: Explicit Goals
A discussion of the use of expicit goals and steps, especially for gamist play. Original post: I agree with Noon's point. Thinking about things like Power/Evil has recently priompted this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: contracycle, Lord Shield, StalkingBlue, Noon, Nogusielkt, GB Steve.

9/1/2005 contracycle: distribution?
Two gaming stores in London have a single copy of the Monster burner each and no copies of the character burner.  One lot told me its very hard to get…
In Burning Wheel
Participants: contracycle, Matt, abzu, Jake Norwood.

9/9/2005 contracycle: Payoffs
Ron Edwards wrote: This is foul. Gareth, you have a choice. Either the reasons you're here are paying off, for you and others, or they're not. If not, then…
In Site Discussion
Participants: contracycle, Andrew Norris, greyorm, joshua neff, cruciel.

6/28/2006 contracycle: Women lead rush to mobile gaming
[quote][b]Women lead rush to mobile gaming[/b] The casual nature of mobile games appeals to women.  Women players are responsible for two-thirds of the sales of mobile phone games, a US…
In Publishing
Participants: contracycle.

8/8/2006 contracycle: The raid on the Bank Nationale de Paris
The raid on the Bank Nationale de Paris I have been asked to provide an account of a heavily stylised, storngly directorial game that I have GM'd succesfully, and have…
In Actual Play
Participants: contracycle, Paul T, Sydney Freedberg, Ron Edwards.

12/20/2006 contracycle: Card games: hand sizes
I'm as wondering if there was anyone out there with encough familiarity with the CCG and similar line of things to help me with the following. I want to know…
In First Thoughts
Participants: contracycle, IntentionallyWrong.

12/20/2006 contracycle: [The Duellists]
The Duellists This is intended to be an RPG microgame, an RPG which executes exactly one scene, and then ends.  In this case, the scene is a duel between a…
In First Thoughts
Participants: contracycle, IntentionallyWrong, Valamir, Hereward The Wake.

7/2/2007 contracycle: Play prep and NPC's
I was asked to discuss the kind of prep I do and had some thoughts on the prior thread about NPC's which I wanted to mention. I thought I had…
In Actual Play
Participants: contracycle, Sydney Freedberg, Rob Alexander, Noon, FredGarber, Ron Edwards.

8/22/2007 contracycle: status of external properties
I would like to request some clarity/ruling on the extent to which we can discuss game ideas for a existing property held by someone else, your typical sort of movie…
In Site Discussion
Participants: contracycle, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards.

9/15/2007 contracycle: SW D6 Dogfights: Chase-Catch-Kill
SW D6 Dogfights: Chase-Catch-Kill This is a system designed to resolve small group dogfights in the original D6 version of the Star Wars RPG.  I have never liked the existing…
In Actual Play
Participants: contracycle, Valamir.

11/21/2007 contracycle: stupid thread locks
The stupid and counterproductive practice of closing threads because, allegedly, they contain "multiple topics", continues apace.  I wonder if it might be possible to indicate to we mere mortals what…
In Site Discussion
Participants: contracycle, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards, shark087, Gregor Hutton, Wolfen, Peter Nordstrand, Noclue, lumpley, Eliarhiman6.

3/11/2011 contracycle: No investigations?
I find myself really puzzled by a statement Ron makes in the Air Patrol Ronnies thread: Let's talk about investigations as game processes. More blunt facts: players don't investigate anything,…
In Actual Play
Participants: contracycle, davidberg, stefoid, Noon, dreamborn, Caldis, simon_hibbs, Ron Edwards, Roger.

11/5/2011 contracycle: character intros
Per Kyle's request, a little discussion on the character intro vignettes I used. So, as mentioned, this was inspired by the problem that players often "lose visualisation", as it were,…
In Actual Play
Participants: contracycle, kvanpelt, davidberg, Ron Edwards, knudsone.

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