Previous Topics

5/26/2005 Mike Holmes: Narrative Voice
This is a topic that interests me a lot for some reason. I think it's been covered before, but mostly in parts of other threads (if you have a link…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Andrew Morris, Harlequin, Danny_K, PlotDevice, John Kim, Victor Gijsbers, Trish2, M. J. Young.

5/25/2005 Mike Holmes: Portuguese Speaker Needed
There's a recent report of a murder associated with a LARP in Brazil. The details, however, are sketchy. At the CAR-PGa (RPG Advocacy) the folks need to assemble more information…
In Connections
Participants: Mike Holmes, matthijs, dsmvites.

5/24/2005 Mike Holmes: Tenet Phase Participation
Steve (AKA Hix) thought this might make a good thread topic, so here it is: I have personally experienced cases where individual players have gone through tenet phases without adding…
In Universalis
Participants: Mike Holmes, Andrew Morris, matthijs, hix, Trevis Martin.

4/29/2005 Mike Holmes: D&D for Dummies
Actually has nothing to do with Moose's game, and is just what it sounds like: http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0764584596.html So, will this product have any impact? Does it attempt to mainstream D&D (and…
In Publishing
Participants: Mike Holmes, Eero Tuovinen, Andrew Morris, pete_darby, jdagna, komradebob.

4/12/2005 Mike Holmes: Costick on Story/Games
Walt will want to check this one out. Herr Costickyan gave some sort of presentation recently on story in games, and getting beyond the implicit dichotomy. The Power Point presentation…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, Selene Tan, John Kim, contracycle, pete_darby, C. Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, Gordon C. Landis, Walt Freitag, GregCostikyan, Marco, Ron Edwards, James Holloway.

4/5/2005 Mike Holmes: [TSOY]Easter Sunday Shadow
So I get this mail that says that Paul Czege is coming to town with Danielle to, amongst other things, do some RPG play with Josh and myself. We discuss…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, joshua neff.

2/16/2005 Mike Holmes: Religion and Homeland
I thought I'd bring this up here. I was going to post it to the rules list, but I'm thinking it's really more speculative than the rules currently cover. Though…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Bankuei, Brand_Robins, Ron Edwards, Bryan_T, Donald, James Holloway, joshua neff, contracycle, lightcastle.

2/1/2005 Mike Holmes: MGF and YGMV
This thread follows from this one: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=150082 Peter points out that I may have read MGF incorrectly in creating my heresy #10. So I'd like to look at that more…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Bankuei, Peter Nordstrand, Scripty, KingOfFarPoint, ffilz, Donald.

1/25/2005 Mike Holmes: Gender and other Norms in Keywords
In this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=13774 I said that I thought that the gender issues provided in keywords, such as what occupations were allowed for different characters, are important. And I'll stand…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ian Cooper, James Holloway, StalkingBlue, xenopulse, Ron Edwards, Brand_Robins, Bryan_T, Donald.

1/20/2005 Mike Holmes: PDF Methods
In the original announcement, people are discussing the idea of adding a PDF to sales of the game. I thought I'd continue that here. Some people mentioned that they liked…
In Muse of Fire Games
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman, TonyLB, LordSmerf.

12/16/2004 Mike Holmes: Academy of ArixAx
Not wanting to be a slacker, either, I'm posting the wizardry school that I came up with for a Carmanian character in a PBEM that I'm involved with. Please feel…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes.

11/18/2004 Mike Holmes: Penalizing the World
Major Victory = Major Defeat for the opponent. Sometimes when a hero gets a victory, I want to give them a bonus, instead of giving the opponent a penalty. For…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Technocrat13, Brand_Robins, Doug Ruff, Mandacaru, Scripty, KingOfFarPoint.

11/18/2004 Mike Holmes: Mundane Contests
Ocassionally I'll do a contest for something less than earthshaking, or even exciting. To use an example that I've refered to before, once I had the heroes make rolls for…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Brand_Robins.

11/18/2004 Mike Holmes: Mundane Contests
Occasionally I like to use the conflict system for something that might seem kinda odd. I have the character roll for something really mundane. For example, in one case, before…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes.

10/18/2004 Mike Holmes: Purchasing Clarification
Split from the thread here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12419 I don't want to wander too far backwards, but something you said, mike, intrigued me. It really is that whenever you learn a new…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, lightcastle.

9/15/2004 Mike Holmes: PC Secrets
This topic has been discussed, I'm aware, as part of other related topics, but I couldn't find any threads that were dedicated to this. If you have references please provide…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, timfire, pete_darby, Blankshield, M. J. Young, John Kim, Paul Czege, contracycle, Shreyas Sampat, Ron Edwards, Alan.

8/24/2004 Mike Holmes: Common Magic Religions and Common Magic
In the thread linked to here the question was raised about how to assign abilities to the Common Magic keyword. We all know that heroes with the keyword start off…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, lightcastle, Ron Edwards, Mark Galeotti, nellist, Ian Cooper, jrichard.

8/12/2004 Mike Holmes: Terminology: Focal Points and Emphasis
In this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12222 The terms Focal Point and Emphasis were brought up. I really like these terms, and wanted to see if others thought they were as useful as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, John Kim, ErrathofKosh, Paul Czege, Doplegager.

8/9/2004 Mike Holmes: New 3D Model
GNS has limitations, I think we'd all agree. One of the limitations is that it doesn't address the concept of player control, other than to say that without control you…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Mike Holmes, Hunter Logan, Andrew Morris, ErrathofKosh, Marco, Artanis, Sean, Jack Aidley, Emily Care, Ben Lehman, M. J. Young, Valamir, Tobias, Christopher Weeks, Dev, Lee Short, Caldis, contracycle, Mark Woodhouse, Mark Johnson.

7/27/2004 Mike Holmes: The meaning of Big R "Rules"
In Vaxalon's post here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12144 he discussed the term System. I was hoping to get some treatement of the term Rules as it pertains. It seems to me that one…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, xiombarg, Christopher Weeks, Vaxalon, lumpley, M. J. Young.

<< more previous topics

Subsequent Topics

6/2/2005 Mike Holmes: Variable Augments - Used?
I think this has been covered before (if not here, then on the rules group). How often are variable augments used in your game? I have a feeling that they're…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Eero Tuovinen, Brand_Robins, Bankuei, Christopher Weeks, nellist, bigpumpkin, Gelasma, Balbinus, Ian Cooper, James Holloway, Scripty, Vaxalon.

6/2/2005 Mike Holmes: Keyword Restrictiveness
A keyword includes within it everything that it "should" have in it. This is, to me, one of the features of HQ - you never have what I refer to…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Eero Tuovinen, Valamir, Christopher Weeks, bigpumpkin, Gelasma, lightcastle, Thor Olavsrud.

7/11/2005 Mike Holmes: Publication Control Concepts
So, at Origins, I discovered a few interesting ideas that people have about publishing. For one, let's start with White Wolf's announcement about licencing: http://forums.white-wolf.com/viewtopic.php?t=19615 In brief, if you charge…
In Publishing
Participants: Mike Holmes, Bob Goat, Jack Aidley, MatrixGamer, Gaerik, xenopulse, ADGBoss, jdagna, Andrew Morris, abzu, Adam.

7/18/2005 Mike Holmes: New Software
I know you're busy, Clinton, so take your time with this one. But I'm assuming that the new software has features that we moderators should know about? Does anyone know…
In Moderators
Participants: Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon.

8/25/2005 Mike Holmes: Other Projects?
You've already mentioned plans for at least one other game. Any hints as to what we can expect out of your new venture, Em? Mike
In Black and Green Games
Participants: Mike Holmes, Emily Care, Ron Edwards, Ben Lehman, Gregor Hutton, Andrew Morris, Andrew Norris, Shreyas Sampat, Allan, Brand_Robins.

9/1/2005 Mike Holmes: Who Do You Play?
Hi Joshua, nice meeting you at GenCon. I'm hoping that the question in the thread title is answered in the text somewhere. I didn't get a copy of the game,…
In glyphpress
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, nikola.

10/17/2005 Mike Holmes: Simulationism Aside
Simulationism is problematic. I don't think that I'm saying anything shocking there. There is little agreement on what it actually is, which I posit is due to the fact that…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Mike Holmes, timfire, Troy_Costisick, Adam Dray, Wolfen, WhiteRat, komradebob, Ron Edwards, Merten, jmac, Sydney Freedberg, HenryT, Andrew Norris, contracycle, Wormwood, Marco, Mark Woodhouse, M. J. Young.

11/17/2005 Mike Holmes: HP Reward Systems Revisited
Yah, I've been through this before, dontchano. Time to look at it again. For brainstorming purposes, if people want to propose outlandish stuff, go ahead. But I've got some specific…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Vaxalon, Janus, Christopher Weeks, Eero Tuovinen, Lamorak33, CCW, Kintara, Ian Cooper, Bryan_T, simon_hibbs, Doyce, lightcastle.

11/17/2005 Mike Holmes: Multiple Specialized Magic Cults
So I'm looking for examples from play of characters that you've played or had in a game you've run that had magic from more than one specialized cult. I'm trying…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, Janus, Lamorak33, Ian Cooper, MrWrong.

11/21/2005 Mike Holmes: Adjusting FATE for PBEM Play
I was asked how I'd modified FATE for PBEM play in this thread: I did a few things actually to make play flow more smoothly. I have to admit first,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Mike Holmes, joepub.

11/30/2005 Mike Holmes: Constructive Denial?
In the following post, Ron came up with the phrase Constructive Denial: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17334.15 Actually I think that some of his last posts were some of the best statements that I've…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Supplanter, GreatWolf, talysman, Marco, komradebob, Artanis, Mark Woodhouse, clehrich, jmac, contracycle, M. J. Young.

3/24/2006 Mike Holmes: Unrelated Actions Revisited
A perennial topic, the subject of Unrelated Actions was brought up in this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=19082.0 The question, as always, is what makes an action truely unrelated enough to use this…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, lightcastle, Tim Ellis, Web_Weaver, nichughes.

3/27/2006 Mike Holmes: Asymetrical Conflicts
There's been a principle that I've wanted to discuss for a while, and what with the buzzword Asymetrical Concflict being thrown about on the news a lot of late, I…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, lightcastle, simon_hibbs.

4/3/2006 Mike Holmes: [Concinnity] Wrap Up
Concinnity 6 is over, and I thought I'd put in a quick after action review. I really have to say that this was a very well run small convention...one that…
In Conventions
Participants: Mike Holmes, Matt-M-McElroy.

5/1/2006 Mike Holmes: That Other Game
So I was just traipsing through all of the independent company fora, and for some reason the tag line for Chimera Creative caught my eye - it says that Chimera…
In Chimera Creative
Participants: Mike Holmes, Wolfen, Matt Snyder.

5/22/2006 Mike Holmes: MOLAD US Demo Team
I've been honored by having been selected to become the new HQ demo team leader in the US. I find that the demo team consists of only a very few…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, a_verheaghe, epweissengruber.

6/5/2006 Mike Holmes: Some Simulationism Concerns
This thread was originated from comments made here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=19987.15 This is an usefull summary on your thinking on the so-called GNS model (I admit I did not have the nerve…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, alexandre santos, Bryan_T.

6/5/2006 Mike Holmes: Flat Characters
[quote]In both instances the characters are completely flat and transparent, they are simply a tool for the players to act in the reality of the game. They have no personnal…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, barna284, alexandre santos, Arturo G., Vaxalon, Bryan_T.

6/6/2006 Mike Holmes: Play Example Explanation
Alexandre was inquiring about what my play is like mechanically from what he's seen in the logs here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=19987.15 I was thinking more about publishing…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Mike Holmes, alexandre santos, Valamir.

6/8/2006 Mike Holmes: Why D&D Raven?
I asked Raven why it was that he plays D&D, considering that he's well aware of other games that would seem, to me at least, like they would better satisfy…
In Actual Play
Participants: Mike Holmes, Clay, Ron Edwards.

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