Previous Topics

4/28/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: Sine Qua Non
Once upon a time, I might have tried to parse these techniques on something like a weekly basis, but due to the 'rough cut' nature of what I am now…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Joe Murphy (Broin), Mike Holmes.

4/28/2002 Le Joueur: Down with Just a Few SMACS
[i]Originally, I wanted to really impress everyone with a mini-shot of Scattershot, but heck, I just can't bring myself to finish this. So, in keeping with the new 'rough cut'…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

4/28/2002 Le Joueur: Scattershot Undergoes a 'Transition' of Its Own.
This comes as something of a sad announcement for me. I've decided to scrap the 'for print' design specification for Scattershot. Being a 'serious' or 'professional' game designer has been…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Joe Murphy (Broin), Gordon C. Landis, Ron Edwards.

3/21/2002 Le Joueur: The Gaming Model: Basic (First Stage)
Before I put this up, I'd just like to give credit where it is due. It starts 'back in the day' on r.g.f.x and their little three-sided thingie. Many of…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Laurel, Marco.

3/14/2002 Le Joueur: What is Illusionism?
Since I started this, What about the above: "using any illusion to cause the players to believe they caused a story, when they have not."? No subcategories, no planning…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Steve Dustin, Ron Edwards, Seth L. Blumberg, Walt Freitag, Valamir, Fabrice G., Mike Holmes, Paul Czege, contracycle, Mytholder.

2/6/2002 Le Joueur: What Do You Think?
[quote="Marco"]Mike is right--if points are tokens of relevance (not, as you said, particles of character class), then you should simply pay some percentage (out of 100, probably) based on how…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Marco, Ron Edwards.

2/7/2002 Le Joueur: Roll the Videotape; by Request, an Early Play Example
Okay, example of play; roll tape. This details a recent short-run game we played with Scattershot. It ran probably for about 10-12 sessions and involved only one player. (I chose…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

2/5/2002 Le Joueur: The Old UE Chart (that's Universal Equivalency Chart, son)
Here is the oft referred to UE Chart (the right third), in its current incarnation: Rating Bonus Subject Multi Info 1 +0 0 0 2 words 2 +0 0…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Paul Czege.

2/1/2002 Le Joueur: Scattershot (only the mechanics) is Here!
After many private requests for a 'mechanics-only' version of Scattershot, without all the presumptuous design-speak, I have finally cobbled one together. (I bet you were wondering where I had disappeared…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Le Joueur.

1/31/2002 Le Joueur: Scattershot presents: Just the Mechanix
These are Scattershot's Mechanix isolated from its Techniques. (See glossary for the descriptions of italics items throughout.) The basic idea is the Techniques explain how to use the Mechanix. SOLO…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

1/31/2002 Le Joueur: It's Here!
After many private requests for a 'mechanics-only' version of Scattershot, without all the presumptuous design-speak, I have finally cobbled one together. (I bet you were wondering where I had disappeared…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

1/27/2002 Le Joueur: Okay, Let's Make It Official.
Many people believe I have a lot of work done on Scattershot; that may be true, but I mostly see how much more I have yet to complete. I guess…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

1/19/2002 Le Joueur: More than Three 'Boxes'
Hi, over in the GNS forum, I mentioned trying to take Simulationism and 'break it out' into more 'boxes.' I am pressed for time so I am going to just…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Logan, jburneko, contracycle, Marco, james_west, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis.

1/2/2002 Le Joueur: Part V: Peeling Back the Layers - The Real Deal
January 24th, 2002 - At the behest of my friends here on the Forge, I will present Scattershot at the point I have it. Even though this is a work-in-progress…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, contracycle, RobMuadib, Rob.

12/29/2001 Le Joueur: Part IV: Sorting the Nuts and Bolts
December 28th, 2001 - At the behest of my friends here on the Forge, I will present Scattershot at the point I have it. Even though this is a work-in-progress…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

12/28/2001 Le Joueur: Part II: Whence go the Mechanics
January 2nd, 2002; Happy New Year! - At the behest of my friends here on the Forge, I will present Scattershot at the point I have it. Even though this…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, joshua neff.

12/27/2001 Le Joueur: Part III: Being the Difference Between Players & Gamemasters
December 30th, 2001 - At the behest of my friends here on the Forge, I will present Scattershot at the point I have it. Even though this is a work-in-progress,…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, joshua neff, mahoux, lumpley, Laurel, James V. West, Mike Holmes.

12/27/2001 Le Joueur: Part I: Core Concept
December 26th, 2001 - At the behest of my friends here on the Forge, I will present Scattershot at the point I have it. Even though this is a work-in-progress,…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Ron Edwards.

12/26/2001 Le Joueur: Pagination
This is kind of a rare thing, but a few regulars on the Forge have so many posts to their names, when you go to their profile and click on…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Le Joueur.

12/26/2001 Le Joueur: Transitioning to Gamism (to answer a questi
While I wanted to start the this series of threads with a thread that was descriptive of the game itself, I could not really let this question founder. So with…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Mike Holmes.

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Subsequent Topics

5/1/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: Genre Expectations
Okay, next Emergent Technique time! This time let's visit the Genre Expectations concepts. Previously I briefly covered the idea, here and referred to it, here, but I haven't really gone…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Walt Freitag, Paul Czege.

5/9/2002 Le Joueur: Ideal to Application: Turning an Example into System [Long]
In the spirit of presenting 'ideal play' situations to bring rules up to par with, I'd like to present this little vignette. While I was reviewing some of my favorites…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Le Joueur.

5/14/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: an Ambitious Approach...
[Reading [u]Robin's Laws[/u] by Robin Laws got me thinking. So many of his "Player Types" rang clearly of the Scattershot Model, I thought it scary, except numerous times he had…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, mtr1966.

5/16/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: Mystiques and Intrigue
What is a Mystique? The definition is "an aura of heightened value, interest, or meaning surrounding something, arising from attitudes and beliefs that impute special power or mystery to it."…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

5/16/2002 Le Joueur: Ideal to Application: Examining a Technique [Long]
How about another 'ideal game' example? For the sake of brevity, I'll use the movie Ghostbusters as the in-game dialogue of play (saves you the trouble of having to read…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Le Joueur, Mike Holmes.

5/27/2002 Le Joueur: Okay, Dramatism Again...
You've brought up three points (I think) that I want to address separately, no offense intended. With respect, you have fallen into the same trap that others have fallen…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Le Joueur, Ron Edwards.

6/11/2002 Le Joueur: Who's in Charge Here?
I am preparing the next "Emergent Techniques" article for the Scattershot forum and I think I'm having problems. I want to 'capture' more of the usual unspoken dynamic that drives…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Le Joueur, Paul Czege, Laurel.

6/20/2002 Le Joueur: Roughly, But It Should Be Magic
Bankuei asked for information for using the Scattershot mechanix for Dungeons & Dragons type play. I dug up my ancient notes. Okay, this is in super rough-draft form, many things…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

7/22/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: Who's in Charge
So far, most of Scattershot's Emergent Techniques have been about handling what happens between the players and their games or within those games. It's past time to discuss what happens…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

7/22/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: Challenge and King Solomon's Auction
I'm gonna throw two Techniques together (mostly because it's past time I spelled out one of them). The first is mentioned in passing in the Mechanix, the second it Scattershot's…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Paul Czege, Mike Holmes, damion.

7/26/2002 Le Joueur: You May Be at a Disadvantage, But It's Gonna Cost You!
There's something I've been thinking about for some time. (Hiding it from game design actually.) Everyone knows Scattershot is a fairly familiar 'buy abilities with points during character creation' game,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Le Joueur, Seth L. Blumberg, Zak Arntson, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, xiombarg, Valamir, Andrew Martin, efindel, Philippe Tromeur, Paul Czege.

8/7/2002 Le Joueur: What's a Metaphor Phor? Metaphorically Speaking. [LONG]
You know how it is; you think you've just about got it. Everyone keeps telling you to sit down and write your darn system, it's done. So down you sit,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Le Joueur, Ron Edwards, Seth L. Blumberg.

9/3/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: Creating Detail
I'm running a bit late so this is a little pressed, excuse (or question) the vague parts. This Technique describes how you can use Scattershot's various Mechanix to create Detail…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, damion.

9/16/2002 Le Joueur: Emergent Techniques: The Suspense is Killing Me
Well, let's try and make this a biweekly thing, shall we? Suspense It's what die rolling is for. Heck, I could go so far as to say it's the whole…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

9/21/2002 Le Joueur: Call for Playtesters; Let's Make a Deal.
I received an interesting private message yesterday. It was about a comment I made over in Electronic Publishing Potential about not having enough setting to go to blind playtest. I…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Paul Czege.

9/21/2002 Le Joueur: Scattershot Call for Playtesters
My friends, Yes, I'm afraid you read that right. We're looking for 'blind' playtesters (and I'm not talking about the sight-impaired); well, kinda blind. It's a lot more complicated than…
In Connections
Participants: Le Joueur, Eddy Fate, Demonspahn.

9/24/2002 Le Joueur: Gaming Comes Out-of-the-Box [was "Beginner-Friendly Gam
This is a response to a post directed at me in the thread "What is a beginner-friendly game?" I was moved to respond there, but I feel the topic diverges…
In Publishing
Participants: Le Joueur, Jeremy Cole, quozl, Clay, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, Mike Holmes, Seth L. Blumberg, Clinton R. Nixon, Eugene Zee, wyrdlyng, Valamir, Walt Freitag, deadpanbob.

9/24/2002 Le Joueur: Combined Techniques: Experience Dice and Genre Expectations
[b]Pieces Parts[/b] There are four primary components to any GenEx, Central Concept, Metaphor, Motif, and Running Gag (well, Running Gag is what we call it). The Central Concept is the…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur.

9/24/2002 Le Joueur: Scattershot Time Travel - Maybe in the Future
Hey Paul, Maybe you should toss in your idea anyway; if it took that long, perhaps your players might be ready. Well...in my opinion, the great unmet need…
In Scattershot
Participants: Le Joueur, Paul Czege.

9/25/2002 Le Joueur: Brainstorming 'What is Gaming' Outside the Box
So I made a call to action, I better back that up, right? Okay. I also said that the first part ought to be laden with "that's so inside the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Le Joueur, C. Edwards, Christoffer Lernö, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, Paul Czege, deadpanbob, wyrdlyng, damion.

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