Previous Topics

1/10/2005 Valamir: UNIVERSALIS ART CONTEST VOTING for Entries #1-#6
[size=12px]In September of 2002, an early conversation about how to pronounce "Universalis" resulted in the "Universe Alice" art contest. We were looking for the image that best captured the spirit…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir, Adrienne, headcase, pigames.

1/3/2005 Valamir: Universalis play in Dallas
Bill Cook, sent me This Cool Link Looks like a pretty slick way of organizing local mini cons. I'm glad to see Uni getting some play. Bill, let us know…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir.

11/12/2004 Valamir: Role Playing Flair in Board Games
Recently I've been thinking about games I've played that provide some of the same feeling of characterization that I get from role playing. I'm not talking so much about "adventure…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, ffilz, Blankshield, Sydney Freedberg, CplFerro, GreatWolf, Noon, Itai Greif, Bob Goat, contracycle.

10/5/2004 Valamir: Marcus' game (latecomers to Flagging thread)
[quote]Perhaps that is been my main problem running the game- I am divided between two principles, being "don't exercise any control, the players will drive the game and interesting situations…
In Adept Press
Participants: Valamir, marcus, Scripty, Ron Edwards.

9/23/2004 Valamir: History and Morality (split)
[quote]I object to the worst elements of history being portrayed as moral,[/quote] There is no such thing as a moral or immoral historical event. Morality of a historical event can…
In lumpley games
Participants: Valamir, lumpley, nikola, Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman, clehrich, Sean, Mark D. Eddy, DannyK.

8/31/2004 Valamir: Universalis Third Printing
Thanks to a fairly significant volume of stock moved by Key 20 into distribution (including 2 subsequent sizeable reorders by Alliance) I find myself running lower on Universalis than I'd…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir, rafial, Christopher Weeks, Jonathan Walton, Mike Holmes, komradebob, Bob McNamee, OnyxFlame, Andrew Morris, Bankuei.

8/31/2004 Valamir: Post Gen Con Website Update
Some good updates to the site today. There are 8 new actual play examples from various GenCon demos, including one with the obligatory zombies. There are also 2 more entries…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir.

8/24/2004 Valamir: Narrativism: Not a Creative Agenda...
I have been recently thinking more on the nature and interrelation of CAs and Techniques in the context of my recent essay. I've been thinking a great deal on the…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Valamir, timfire, ADGBoss, Artanis, Alan, Marco, Lee Short, Asrogoth, contracycle, Sean, Caldis, John Kim, ErrathofKosh, Gordon C. Landis, M. J. Young, Silmenume, clehrich, Ron Edwards.

8/23/2004 Valamir: Forge Booth Triumphant
[b][size=18px]GenCon Sales Results and Comparison[/size][/b] In 2003 we had 287 separate customer transactions In 2004 we had 360 separate customer transactions This is an increase of 73 customers or 25.4%…
In Conventions
Participants: Valamir, abzu, Ron Edwards, Christopher Weeks, smokewolf, Lisa Padol, Bob Goat.

8/17/2004 Valamir: Paging Gordon Landis
Does anyone have Gordon's phone number? He has not responded to PMs or Email. He is supposed to be at GenCon in the Forge Booth but I can't get in…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Valamir, Gordon C. Landis.

7/30/2004 Valamir: Dramatism and Illusionism
In this thread Marco commented I especially liked the expansion on Simulationism--I think it's good and well wrought--but it seems to me to leave out GDS Dramatism which, I do…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Valamir, Ron Edwards, Tim C Koppang, Mike Holmes, Silmenume, Marco, M. J. Young, contracycle, John Kim, Caldis, ErrathofKosh, Sean, Lee Short.

7/30/2004 Valamir: The Model as seen by Valamir [Long. Very, very long]
A slew of threads in recent months has tackled various aspects of the model and led to some really good discussions that have influenced my perception of how its many…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Valamir, PlotDevice, Marco, Ron Edwards, ADGBoss, Vaxalon, Lathan, Tim C Koppang, Paganini, Caldis, C. Edwards, Emily Care, John Kirk, M. J. Young.

7/29/2004 Valamir: RPGMall
I recently had a series of email exchanges with James regarding the future of RPGMall and my perception that it needed to reinvent itself as something more than just an…
In Publishing
Participants: Valamir.

7/27/2004 Valamir: Motocaust: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Had an opportunity to play some Motocaust this weekend with some other assorted Forgites. They may well chime in with some of their own view points. THE GOOD With somewhat…
In Actual Play
Participants: Valamir, montag, Jake Norwood, philreed, Ron Edwards, jrs, Jasper.

7/21/2004 Valamir: Web Site Down
The Universalis Website is down. From appearances it looks like Nathan didn't pay the dues on the ActionRoll domain. I am attempting to get in touch with him to get…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir.

7/16/2004 Valamir: GenCon Catalog material
In this thread the plan was outlined to create a catalog of games for the GenCon booth that included 2-3 pages of (digest sized) additional content for each game (rather…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir, Christopher Weeks, Tony Irwin.

7/13/2004 Valamir: Gen Con extras
I was thinking of purchasing a digital cash register. There's a pretty sweet Casio for $200 at office depot that we could actually program in all of the product prices…
In Conventions
Participants: Valamir, alchemist, btrc, jrs, Ron Edwards, abzu, Bob Goat, Paul Czege, Matt Snyder, smokewolf, Lxndr, Tav_Behemoth, Matt Wilson, Jürgen Mayer, lumpley.

6/29/2004 Valamir: MLWM the Reality TV show
If you haven't seen it, tune it to Blow Out, Bravo's latest entry into the realty TV show genre. I think this is the best RTV series ever, because it…
In Half Meme Press
Participants: Valamir.

6/12/2004 Valamir: Universalis Picked up by Alliance
As some of you are aware, earlier this year I hooked up with Key 20 Direct, a new consolidator run by Jason Blair and his partner Jason Valore. They rep…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir, ethan_greer, Jürgen Mayer, Bob McNamee, C. Edwards, Mark Johnson, Tony Irwin.

6/4/2004 Valamir: Games Quarterly Magazine Ads
Hey folks. Issue #2 of GQM is due out in time for GenCon. It is scheduled to include a column by Peter Adkison featuring (at least in part) the Forge…
In Publishing
Participants: Valamir, Paul Czege, abzu, Matt Snyder, Christopher Weeks, Tobias.

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Subsequent Topics

2/14/2005 Valamir: The Problem With This Forum: Too much damn theory
This is a semi rant about a trend in this forum that I find rather disturbing. The theory in here has gotten REALLY thick. There was a time...or maybe its…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Valamir, Clinton R. Nixon, Matt Snyder, Bob Goat, TonyLB, Ron Edwards, Bankuei, Harlequin, LordSmerf, clehrich, quozl, John Burdick, Jonathan Walton, CPXB, Eero Tuovinen, M. J. Young, John Kim, Paul Czege.

2/15/2005 Valamir: Explaining how to create stories with Uni
In the discussions for this review Matthijs made the following really good observation that I wanted to open further discussion on Seems to me there's a lot of talking past…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir, CPXB, Christopher Weeks, ethan_greer, bcook1971, komradebob, ffilz, Eero Tuovinen, matthijs, pete_darby.

3/2/2005 Valamir: Plausibility, Realism and game design goals [an essay]
In this thread Most traditional as well as most narration-based mechanics would be plausible but not realistic. There is no particular effort at simulation. The game designer/GM/player may…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, Nicolas Crost, xenopulse, neelk, Marco, Gaerik, John Kim, Bankuei, John Burdick, LordSmerf, lev_lafayette, M. J. Young, Noon, Vaxalon, Dauntless, Nathan P., b_bankhead, Walt Freitag, Ian Charvill, Domhnall, Ben Terry, contracycle, James Holloway, JMendes, Sean.

3/4/2005 Valamir: Proper convention Posting
There seems to be a little confusion about the proper sort of posts to have in this forum and why "Hey, I'm going to RandomCon, who else will be there"…
In Conventions
Participants: Valamir, Andy Kitkowski.

3/10/2005 Valamir: [Robots & Rapiers] 3 Problems...1 Solution
[b]A Lesson in Humility [/b] This is an exciting time for R&R development. Some pretty key system obstacles have been overcome and while there is a lot of work left…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Valamir, gorckat, bcook1971, Noon, Harlequin, Mike Holmes.

3/12/2005 Valamir: RAMSHEAD ANNOUNCEMENTS
1) ART CONTEST WINNER: With 40% of the 77 votes cast, John Harper's image wins the contest and the $50 prize. Thanks to all who voted. Special thanks to…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir.

4/1/2005 Valamir: Birthday Forum
Its about that time, any plans to open it back up this year? I think there might be some folks jonesing to take the pink piggie stacking title...
In Site Discussion
Participants: Valamir, Ron Edwards, Andy Kitkowski.

4/8/2005 Valamir: Sneak Peak at new Robots & Rapiers art
Its a map...its an illustration...its REALLY cool Check it out (scroll down)
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: Valamir, Paka, abzu, James Holloway, Emily Care, Gaerik, Rob MacDougall, GreatWolf, quozl, TonyLB.

4/9/2005 Valamir: Universalis Sales Data
In the Spirit of My Life with Master and Prime Time Adventures I offer: Universalis Sales Chart Most of the categories are self explanatory. The Distribution Sales are all through…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir, MatrixGamer, Michael S. Miller, Bob Goat.

4/10/2005 Valamir: Paging John Harper
If anyone has an email address that they know is current for him and that he checks with some frequency please PM it to me. I've tried his Feng@shootingIron address…
In Connections
Participants: Valamir.

4/15/2005 Valamir: Communication
[quote="TonyLB"]Ralph, not to go all Alex Trebek on you, but would any of that have been difficult to phrase as a question? I believe that you're in this to try…
In Muse of Fire Games
Participants: Valamir, TonyLB.

4/22/2005 Valamir: Motivations to Create Conflicts
As these various threads have progressed its occured to me that that the game may actually demotivate you from creating conflicts that you want to win. Consider our favorite villain…
In Muse of Fire Games
Participants: Valamir, TonyLB, jburneko, Grover, Chris Goodwin, Sydney Freedberg, Tymen, John Harper, hyphz, Doug Ruff.

5/2/2005 Valamir: Fun with math
So I was noodling around with some mechanics (I'll spare you the boring details) and hit upon an interesting relationship I thought some might find useful. We're all familiar with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, Technocrat13, Victor Gijsbers, TonyLB, Mike Holmes, bcook1971, Ben Lehman, Eva Deinum.

5/3/2005 Valamir: Achievement Question
I finally brow beat Seth into running some Dogs and we had our character creation session last week. My question involves the difference between simple achievements where I play what…
In lumpley games
Participants: Valamir, Wolfen, lumpley, GreatWolf, Trevis Martin.

5/15/2005 Valamir: First Fully Burned character, some questions
Ok so I sat down and Burned up my first BW character from scratch and wanted to run it it by some folks for tips and comments. I didn't do…
In Burning Wheel
Participants: Valamir, Thor Olavsrud, Angaros, abzu, Mike Holmes, Yokiboy.

5/19/2005 Valamir: UNIVERSALIS COVER
Well, its my intention to have a sharp and spiffy new cover for the next printing of Universalis. Unfortuneately, I'm not going to be able to use the wonderful contest-winning…
In Universalis
Participants: Valamir, Paul Czege, Chris Passeno, John Harper, ethan_greer.

5/24/2005 Valamir: Public Service Announcement - Paypal
I'm posting this here because I know a number of indie publishers use paypal to collect payment. I've been getting a number of spoof emails claiming to be from paypal…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Valamir, Paganini, Andrew Morris.

6/8/2005 Valamir: Setting as Rules
In This Thread Its this sort of point of view that makes me think that certain setting elements are tantamount to system. If introducing elements into setting implies or compels,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Valamir, xenopulse, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, FzGhouL, Noon, Dauntless, SlurpeeMoney, M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, pete_darby, Marhault.

6/13/2005 Valamir: [Polaris] Key Phrases
I've had this thought following a number of Polaris play posts. I haven't been able to study the game since the old outdated version, but the key phrases seem to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Valamir, Bob Goat, Emily Care, Blankshield, Harlequin, Ben Lehman, Noon, hardcoremoose, Mike Holmes.

6/17/2005 Valamir: Indie Boardgame Publisher
Since there've been a recent spate of threads interested in boardgame publishing I thought I'd throw up a link to Viktory. Its an independently published wargame which could be summarized…
In Publishing
Participants: Valamir, Clinton R. Nixon.

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