Previous Topics

12/19/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: The Wonderful and Terrible world of CMS -- advice?
Hey there!  I've been merrily setting up my imprint's site and before I get too far along I want to set it up 'right' with a Content Management System rather…
In Connections
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Andy Kitkowski, Eero Tuovinen, jasonm, CommonDialog, pfischer, Bryan Hansel, greyorm, Clay.

12/3/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [CtH] Rising like a Phoenix - Artifacts of Play
Alright, I've cleaned up and posted the Actual Play Transcript of my latest game of Conquer the Horizon. Pertinent bits and pieces: We tried pushing the boundaries of what CtH…
In Actual Play
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby.

12/2/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] Scrip Format
This is continuing in the vein of Reward System At Last! and partially triggered by Eetu's comments in I'm Surprised. System in question in short: Every character has…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, TonyLB, LordSmerf, Ice Cream Emperor.

11/23/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Shaping Gamer Culture (Looooooong)
Okay, so see if this sounds familiar to you: You go to your Favorite Local Game Store.  The clerk there shows you a new book that just came out.  You…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Marco, cpeterso, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, Arpie, Justin Marx, Merten, Arturo G., contracycle, Roger, Bankuei, Lig, John Kim, M. J. Young, DrVital, komradebob.

11/21/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Architect Stance
Okay, total snippet of a thought, here.  While Actor, Author, and Director stances describe the stances that player-participants take "in play" while things are happening, there's also procedures that player-participants…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Mark Woodhouse, Andrew Morris, Mike Holmes, timfire, Ron Edwards, Roger, M. J. Young.

11/9/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Setting > Situation > Scene?
Point of slight clarification. I'm trying to figure out how broad 'Situation' is supposed to be.  I've been considering it as the immediate elements of the setting, thrown into juxtaposition,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Noon, lumpley, MatrixGamer, Troy_Costisick, ewilen, John Kim, pekkok, Graham Walmsley, Adam Dray, contracycle, Mike Holmes.

11/8/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: FindPlay Connection!
Clinton, I just got my first email through FindPlay from a guy local to me who'd like to play.  That's great, and I'm going to try and set something up.…
In Connections
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Andrew Morris.

11/2/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [DitV] Knights of the (Blue) Rose
So I keep thinking of using the Dogs rules in the Blue Rose setting, with the PCs as Knights of the Rose, spreading compassion, temperance, and understanding throughout Aldea.  I'm…
In lumpley games
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Vaxalon, Brand_Robins, oliof, Neal, preludetotheend.

10/27/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Long Running Campaigns
What's the longest campaign you've played Dogs for?  How many towns did you go through?  Did character progression/development change the way the game played eventually?  Did the formula (Dogs enter…
In lumpley games
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Vaxalon.

10/27/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Non-Binary Conflict Resolution
In discussing Dogs in the Vineyard, we came across a slight conceptual bump when it came to conflicts that included more than two parties all with mutally exclusive agendas.  Dogs'…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, Blankshield, lumpley, Shreyas Sampat, John Kirk, TonyLB, Trevis Martin, Michael S. Miller, Mike Holmes, LordSmerf, MatrixGamer, M. J. Young.

10/21/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [DitV] "Relationships Determine What Conflicts Will Be About"
Okay, so I've read the line "Traits determine how conflicts are resolved, but Relationships determine what conflicts will be about."  I don't see how this works out mechanically, except if…
In lumpley games
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Vaxalon, TonyLB, Neal, Brand_Robins, IMAGinES, demiurgeastaroth, lumpley, James Holloway, Karasu, jrs.

10/19/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Hierarchy of the Shitstorm & Doctrine
Is the Pride -> Injustice -> Sin -> parts I don't remember -> Hate and Murder thing a strictly OOC setup, or is it an in-character understood element of the…
In lumpley games
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Iskander, Brand_Robins.

10/18/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: First Question -- Resolution Without People
This is the first among many questions I'll probably ask here.  I've read through the Resolution chapter and while it makes me grin and jump up and down, I'm kind…
In lumpley games
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, lumpley, dunlaing, xenopulse, Vaxalon, Ron Edwards, Neal, Sydney Freedberg, TonyLB, IMAGinES.

10/17/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: Scope & what I mean by it
Over in Godfria, Mars thread, Roger asked me to elaborate what I mean by 'scope'. The scope of a game is the imaginary territory from which content…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Roger, Mike Holmes, jmac, M. J. Young.

10/16/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [Conquer the Horizon] Godfria, Mars
Got to play Conquer the Horizon for a second time last night, and was highly satisfied with the results. Players were: myself (27), my brother (22) and his wife (27),…
In Actual Play
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Mike Holmes, Ice Cream Emperor, Roger.

10/3/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [CtH] Microgame Marketing Thingy!
So, experimenting with microgame publishing, I've put Conquer the Horizon into a tiny (5.5" x 4" profile) format that can probably fit into your back jeans pocket.  The registration of…
In Publishing
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, MatrixGamer, nikola, guildofblades, Mike Holmes.

9/19/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] Reward System at last!
Thank you, Ben, for something you said two years ago.  I think I've got a reward system for Full Light, Full Steam. Context: Full Light, Full Steam is a game…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, LordSmerf, xenopulse, mutex, Shreyas Sampat, John Harper, Sydney Freedberg, spaceanddeath, Thor, jasonm.

9/13/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: GenCon SoCal?
GenCon GenCon GenCon!... Indy.  Soooo many threads about the Midwest convention. I'm going to GenCon SoCal this winter -- mostly because it's in my back pocket two cities over.  The…
In Conventions
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, cdr, Ron Edwards.

8/26/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: [Conquer the Horizon] First Playtest
[url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16492.0]Conquer the Horizon[/url] is a microgame of four pages in which the players portray members of an exploratory team from the Old World discovering the wonders of the New World. …
In Actual Play
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, TonyLB, Emily Care.

8/25/2005 Joshua BishopRoby: We Need a Term
We need a term (or do we already have a term?) for all of these compact little roleplaying games that come out to nothing more than a few pages.  They're…
In Publishing
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Graham Walmsley, Jasper, Jeph, Addix, Heraldic Game Design, rickr, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon, Bankuei, Eero Tuovinen, timfire, TonyLB, KeithBVaughn, Miskatonic.

<< more previous topics

Subsequent Topics

1/3/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] First Playtest -- HMS Dauntless
We had three players: myself, my wife Laura, and my brother Ben.  Six if you count our three cats, one of which had her own character sheet. We played a…
In Actual Play
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Brand_Robins, Nathan P., Warren, mutex.

1/7/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] Character, Prop, Set
In Full Light, Full Steam the Game Master prepares situation "Cogs" which can be Characters, Props, and Sets.  Said Cogs are then built into a Situation and engaged with the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, dindenver, Arpie, Troy_Costisick, Ice Cream Emperor.

1/15/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] Second Playtest -- HMS Achilles
For context, first Playtest here: First Playtest -- HMS Dauntless Timeframe: 3:00 - 5:00 First Session      3:30 - 4:00 Character Creation      4:00 - 5:00 Engineering…
In Actual Play
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby.

2/1/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Web of Shadows] Need an Endgame, and a Term
This little snippet of a game has been dogging the back of my brain for too long, so I wrote it out today.  It's missing an endgame -- I know…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Rob Carriere, Troy_Costisick, CommonDialog, Ramidel.

2/8/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] Flags, Situation, Address
So in his FLFS playtest, Jason found the Thematic Batteries to be somewhat lacking: People would degrade their abilities when it didn't really matter, or when they were…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, jasonm.

2/13/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [HoS] The Disappeared -- Knitting Plots Together
Last night we played a game from Heads of State: Nine Short Games About Tyrants.  Our selection last night was "The Disappeared," in which the three of us played characters…
In Playtesting
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, redivider.

2/21/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [OrcCon] After Action Report
So Paul Tevis and Jesse Burneko and I went on down to OrcCon in LA this past weekend to run a few indie games and hold down a table in…
In Conventions
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, jburneko, ptevis, inthisstyle.

2/22/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Web of Shadows] Rotating GMishness and Judging Address
Okay, so in my current side-project that won't leave me alone, I've run up against an interesting choice. In Web of Shadows, players take turns framing scenes.  The framing player…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, 1of3, TonyLB, CommonDialog, Noon.

2/24/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Web of Shadows]
Mostly for reference: 1) What is your game about?  Supernatural demihumans conspire in the shadows to manipulate the unknowing world as the apocalypse descends. 2) What do characters do?  Well,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby.

2/24/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Web of Shadows] Packaging an Odd Game
For context, Power 19. This is a game that requires for play a pile of tokens, a holepunch, a whole lot of index cards, and lengths of…
In Publishing
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, LordSmerf, TonyLB, abzu.

3/2/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Web of Shadows] Version 0.2 -- Address Resolution
The second draft of Web of Shadows is available here.  It is far more elaborated and expanded from its last incarnation. Anyone feeling adventurous enough to playtest?  This is very…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby.

3/14/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: Need Drunken Dwarf Art
I need some line art of drunken dwarves and perhaps giant frothy mugs of beer for my Game Chef entry The Ancient and Venerable Art of Tippling. Any takers?  I'll…
In Connections
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, kroh, Miskatonic, racingspoons.

3/23/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] HMS Superb - Lingering Scenes
For reference, prior posts include Reward System At Last! and Scrip Format. My LAGames group (redivider, alejandro, Judson) got together for our second session, first session of roleplay, for our…
In Playtesting
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Ben Lehman, redivider.

3/27/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Agora] Delicate Die Pools
Okay, so.  This game, right?  You've got dice pools of different die sizes (d4, d6, d8, d10).  (There is just way too much density of information that you can cram…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Danny_K, Shreyas Sampat, nikola.

3/30/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: Wikimedia Commons -- Free Art Motherlode
God damn do I love the wikifolk.  When the wikifolk finally buy out Google or the other way around, we will acheive the information apocalypse, I swear. I found the…
In Publishing
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Bryan Hansel, jerry, Nathan P., jasonm.

4/3/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Agora] First Playtest. Currency & Direction Needed.
This game was previously discussed in the thread Delicate Dice Pools. So tonight we played a bit of Agora, which I would say is about 80% complete.  We played…
In Playtesting
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Dev.

4/5/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: Okay, what the fuck is Jungle Speed?
Y'all keep talking about it over and over and over. I think it's the flavor of Kool-Aid that they make you drink before you can work the Forge Booth.
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Paka, Iskander, Jared A. Sorensen, Alex Fradera, Miskatonic, gains.

4/6/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: Where Are You?
This is where I live: Nation: The United States State/Province: California Region: Southern California City: Whittier, suburb of LA
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, Thunder_God, inthisstyle, ErrathofKosh, Marhault, Jeph, GreatWolf, Bryan Hansel, pells, joshua neff, monsterboy, nikola, Gaerik, anders_larsen, Miskatonic, Alex Fradera, Emily Care, JMendes, Melinglor, Andrew Morris, Eric J-D, Ben Lehman, ffilz, A.Neill, Artanis, Warren, droog.

4/9/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [Agora] Playtester Shout Out
Hey there, hi there, ho there, folks. I'm looking for brave souls to join the Agora Playtest, running now through June 30th. Agora is a scifi transhumanist space opera colonization…
In Connections
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby.

4/19/2006 Joshua BishopRoby: [FLFS] HMS Superb -- Final Playtest
Continued from HMS Superb -- Lingering Scenes. My LAGames group, Mark, Judson, Alex, and I, completed our playtest of Full Light, Full Steam last night.  We used the revised…
In Playtesting
Participants: Joshua BishopRoby, John Harper.

more subsequent topics >>