Previous Topics

3/17/2008 Marshall Burns: [The Rustbelt] Cruel cargo; also, more GM clumsiness
So, we playtested The Rustbelt again, and, also again, I hadn't prepared at all.  You'd think last time would learn me, wouldn'tcha?  Nope.  But, still, things came out pretty well…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, Eero Tuovinen, Ron Edwards, Knarfy, Wolfen, jag.

3/7/2008 Marshall Burns: [SAN!] system changes, highlights: "Jimbo's Saga" "Fantastical Wizard of Frotz"
Okay, I haven't been posting about it, but we've been playing the HELL out of this game.  Seriously, I can barely pull my players away from it.  If I ask,…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, Ron Edwards.

2/22/2008 Marshall Burns: [The Rustbelt] GM flails, but at least the system rocks
The latest incarnation of my baby, The Rustbelt, finally got a test run.  It was kind of spur of the moment, so it took a while to get ready as…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, Eero Tuovinen, Peter Nordstrand, Knarfy, Ron Edwards, davidberg.

2/20/2008 Marshall Burns: [Nicotine Girls] Wow. Ouch. Wow.
Paul, I just wanted to let you know that I just read Nicotine Girls, and it's brilliant.  So brilliant that I don't think I'll ever be able to play it. …
In Half Meme Press
Participants: Marshall Burns, jburneko, Wolfen, Paul Czege.

2/18/2008 Marshall Burns: [kill puppies for satan] the terror of Consequence
So, the other night, my group had just wrapped up a Super Action Now! scenario (the first one to span over one session), and we still had a couple hours…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marshall Burns, lumpley.

2/8/2008 Marshall Burns: [Fantastical Adventure] The Purple Pearl of Pinoche!
We a played a bit of one of my new games, Fantastical Adventure, last night.  It's, um, well, I still haven't figured out how to explain it properly.  The setting…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, jag.

2/4/2008 Marshall Burns: [Sorcerer] GM stumbling blocks
Ron, I bought a copy of Sorcerer about a month ago, because I like magic-with-consequences in fiction & games, and also because I'm interested in trying out and analyzing games…
In Adept Press
Participants: Marshall Burns, Ron Edwards, Christopher Kubasik, Finarvyn, Yokiboy.

1/30/2008 Marshall Burns: [SAN!] elusive CA; plus, deep sea fishin'
So, I had a chat with David Berg regarding our discussion in the Bubba Bad thread, and it turns out I had totally missed his point.  And his point, it…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, davidberg.

1/30/2008 Marshall Burns: [Roguelike] Alone against Infinite Peril
Here’s the basic idea:  an RPG derived from Roguelike games.  I don’t expect everyone here to be familiar with Roguelikes, so I’ll explain them a bit. Rogue was a computer…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, Adrian F., David Artman, Clinton R. Nixon, Noon, davidberg, Ron Edwards.

1/11/2008 Marshall Burns: [Super Action Now!] Bubba Bad's bad day, + hobo clones & son of sasquatch
Playtest #2 of Super Action Now! last night.  Did I say the first one was a blast?  Well, I was wrong.  THIS was a blast.  I mean, DAMN we had…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, davidberg, Noon, jag.

1/4/2008 Marshall Burns: [Super Action Now!] Monkey causes chaos, guy gets fired, cat doesn't care
[i]Super Action Now!  a Crazy-Ass Roleplaying Game[/i] had its first playtest last night.  The players were myself (also Referee, although I never had to bring any power to bear), my…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, davidberg, jag.

1/2/2008 Marshall Burns: OBLITERATI: the Unspeakable Horror of the Literary Life
[b]Exposition[/b] All the players take on the roles of made-up famous novelists.  Let’s assume that all these novelists have been well-acquainted for about 10 years, and also that, when it…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, Murrquan, brainwipe, jasonm.

12/20/2007 Marshall Burns: Super Action Now! (and the Way of the Disco Samurai)
So I was thinking about a comment Sam "wreckage" made about an old, old game I had designed in this thread.  He said:  Dwogres? Robots? Flesh eating owls? Grotesque character…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, Noon.

12/20/2007 Marshall Burns: The Rustbelt and a GNS question
I've been writing this game called The Rustbelt off and on for six years.  It's set in a place called the Rustbelt, in a non-specific part of America, sometime in…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, Ron Edwards, Wolfen, Eliarhiman6.

12/14/2007 Marshall Burns: [Witch Trails] poker conflict resolution
First, I have to admit that I got this idea from Dogs in the Vineyard.  Once I had the idea, I started building a game around it, and that game…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, preludetotheend, jag, Guy Srinivasan.

12/1/2007 Marshall Burns: scattershot pitches
Ok, I've been trying to hold back from doing this all day, but I think I might explode if I don't. The following are abstracts of game concepts that I…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, earwig, StrongBadMun, Ken, Castlin.

11/30/2007 Marshall Burns: i have to gush for a minute.
Sorry, but I just have to gush for a moment. This site makes me giddy.  I am so glad that I found it.  I have been reading posts since I…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Marshall Burns, Ron Edwards.

11/30/2007 Marshall Burns: baby pictures -- summary of early RPG experiences, & one real game example
In this thread I briefly described my history of roleplaying -- namely that, lacking access to RPGs, my friends and I simply made up our own.  Larry Lade asked that…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marshall Burns, Miskatonic, Ron Edwards, wreckage.

11/30/2007 Marshall Burns: American Wizards, detailed character, loose resolution
I'm currently working on a game called American Wizards and would like to get thoughts on certain aspects of its design.  BUT I want to presage this with a touch…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, Troy_Costisick, Miskatonic, c.

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Subsequent Topics

4/18/2008 Marshall Burns: [Witch Trails] Strange Fruit
[i]Witch Trails:  the Invisible History of the American West[/i] is a game about the Hex Rangers, a secret militia formed to drive out angry spirits and other supernatural threats from…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, jag.

5/5/2008 Marshall Burns: craps conflict resolution
After using poker as the basis for the conflict resolution of Witch Trails (the structure and the betting work perfectly; the role of cards still needs some hammering out) I…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, imago, RobNJ.

5/13/2008 Marshall Burns: [American Wizards] a new way to handle "difficulty"
[i]American Wizards[/i] is a game idea I've been working on about students at a wizard college called the American Institute of Wizard Arts.  I've posted about it [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=25292.msg244089#msg244089]before[/url], mostly regarding…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, Plognark, davidberg, Spooky Fanboy, Everspinner.

5/23/2008 Marshall Burns: [While We Were Fighting] an observation & question for the author
[i]While We Were Fighting[/i] is a game in development by Peter Nordstrand about intrigue and such in Rennaissance Italy.  I've been wanting to playtest it for a while, but I…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, Peter Nordstrand, Måns.

6/30/2008 Marshall Burns: [The Rustbelt] a mighty rule-change is a-brewin'
So, I was at work the other day when an idea hit me, and I think it's the big fix for the Rustbelt's main problem.  (To recap, that problem is…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, Krippler, jag, Paul Czege.

7/15/2008 Marshall Burns: [The Rustbelt] "Tell me who killed my cat." & solo play experiment
So, I was supposed to play the Rustbelt with Stephen and my cousin James this weekend, but Stephen couldn't make it, so me & James just played by ourselves. I…
In Playtesting
Participants: Marshall Burns, Krippler.

7/22/2008 Marshall Burns: [Misspent Youth] multiple authorities?
Hey Rob, what's your thought on playing Misspent Youth with more than one Authority?  With conflicting goals and means?  With different people playing each one? Because I had this wicked…
In Robert Bohl Games
Participants: Marshall Burns, RobNJ.

8/26/2008 Marshall Burns: Welcome to Beyond the Wire Productions
Hi, welcome to the forum for Beyond the Wire Productions.  BtW consists of me, and a few friends that I'm collaborating with on some new game ideas. I primarily set…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns, jasonm, davidberg.

8/26/2008 Marshall Burns: RUSTBELT ERRATA
There's a few things that should have made it into the book that did not.  And they are: PACKAGED EFFECTS So, a moment from actual play: Kitt, the shady doctor,…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns.

9/16/2008 Marshall Burns: Re-Binding question
Hi Ron, I don't expect this situation will crop up too terribly often, but what exactly is the rule for re-Binding a demon whose master has died? In the "Training…
In Adept Press
Participants: Marshall Burns, Ron Edwards.

10/3/2008 Marshall Burns: [Rustbelt] contemplated rules change: Blood recovery
The Blood recovery rules stick out like a sore thumb to me, but I couldn't think of an alternative until I saw No Country for Old Men (which is a…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns.

11/5/2008 Marshall Burns: [GRiM] Lemme borrow your ears for a bit
Ok, so, as you probably know, I put together a CD of original music to accompany the Rustbelt ashcan.  The idea was for the songs to serve the same purposes…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns, davidberg.

11/13/2008 Marshall Burns: [Ride! With Great Justice] prototype ready
I've finished the scratch rules for Ride! With Great Justice, a game in which you play members of an elite police force doing battle with vicious motorgangs in a futuristic…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns.

12/17/2008 Marshall Burns: [MASK] Ordinary villains against extraordinary heroes
So, I'm working on a game about mystery men.  Not super heroes, you dig, but their precursors, the guys who have more in common with Dick Tracy than with the…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Marshall Burns, Bret Gillan, ShallowThoughts, chronoplasm, Everspinner, Niedfaru, Ken, Noon, chance.thirteen, Vulpinoid.

1/6/2009 Marshall Burns: I need your gamer knowledge!
Hey everyone, I need you to help me with some research.  I need to know about all the RPGs out there with post-apocalyptic themes, and I need to know as…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns, Eero Tuovinen, greyorm, jasonm, Darcy Burgess, Krippler, JoyWriter.

2/3/2009 Marshall Burns: [The Rustbelt] attributes for a setting mod: "Heatwave"
So, I'm working on this chapter for Rustbelt 1st ed. in which I explain how to modify the setting.  I do this partially because I know that people love tinkering…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns, agony.

2/10/2009 Marshall Burns: [3:16] one player play
Yesterday, I GMed some 3:16 for my cousin James.  We were actually slated to play some Dread, but the GM (Steven, from all of my previous APs) was sick.  James…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marshall Burns, ShallowThoughts, Gregor Hutton.

2/26/2009 Marshall Burns: [Rustbelt] de-ashcanification stage one: I need your eyes
So, I've got a draft of a new Rustbelt text. I'm not happy with it yet, but I don't know what to do to fix it. Specifically, I'm not satisfied…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns, JoyWriter, Nocker.

3/27/2009 Marshall Burns: [The Rustbelt] Slang collection project
I’m collecting slang terms for an appendix for my game The Rustbelt.  I’m looking for slang that is colorful, rough, earthy, gritty.  Probable good sources include early 20th century hipster…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns, Eero Tuovinen, Wolfen, Ron Edwards, ejh.

4/20/2009 Marshall Burns: Lunar Notes
Inspired by John Harper's GHOST/ECHO and Lady Blackbird, I made Lunar Notes: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/foolish_Paeter/lunarnotesp1thumb.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/foolish_Paeter/lunarnotesp2thumb.png Page One PDF Page Two PDF I'm not as hot as John Harper with the layout,…
In Beyond the Wire Productions
Participants: Marshall Burns, Ron Edwards, Noclue, DWeird, JoyWriter.

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