Previous Topics

1/11/2003 Alan: Spiritual Attributes for Traveller
[color=darkblue]Spiritual Attributes for Traveller[/color] I've been considering different approaches to designing narrativist-favoring mechanics for a hard SF RPG about stellar exploration and trade. Here's some past ideas I've posted: [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4661]RPG…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Alan, simon_hibbs, Paul Czege, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Dave Panchyk, Blake Hutchins.

12/22/2002 Alan: RPG Proposal: The Outward Urge
Outward Urge - an RPG Proposal *Premise* The Outward Urge explores the tension between pioneers on the expanding edge of human interstellar expansion. Dynamics form between the entrenched core and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Alan, Emily Care, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, Mike Holmes.

12/17/2002 Alan: Learning to GM narrativist style
Hi, Last night I ran the Hanged Man from Dust Devils for five players as a one-shot. After play, everyone reported that they enjoyed the game - however, I was…
In Actual Play
Participants: Alan, Jeffrey Miller, Clay, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, Fabrice G..

12/13/2002 Alan: Large-scale RPG club - Scope and Mission
Hi all, If we were to start an RPG club, I think we need to clarify the scope and the purpose. I don't think it'll be helpful to dive into…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Irmo, Clinton R. Nixon, Ozymandias, M. J. Young, Matt Wilson, Seth L. Blumberg.

12/13/2002 Alan: Large-scale RPG club - Buidling a healthy club
Hi all, Irmo's quotes from the German RPG club organizers set me thinking. They hinted that they thought their club had peaked and was now stagnating. Whle this may only…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Le Joueur, Mike Holmes, Irmo.

12/13/2002 Alan: Message quotes and Font size
I've noticed that after a second block of quoted text, my body text is always in miniscule font. Is there a way I can change this? Where can I find…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Alan, Ron Edwards, Emily Care, quozl, Clinton R. Nixon, M. J. Young, Valamir.

12/11/2002 Alan: Conflicts with multiple participants
Hi, I'm reading over DD for the second time, preparing to run a demo game. I'm not quite clear on a few things. Here are the rules as I understand…
In Chimera Creative
Participants: Alan, Matt Snyder, Ron Edwards.

12/10/2002 Alan: Player Narration can be Exhausting!
Hi all, Over the past two Mondays at our Indie game night, I've played or GMed InSpectres, Universalis, and Extreme Vengeance. All have mechanics that demand creative player narration. I've…
In Actual Play
Participants: Alan, Fabrice G., Jared A. Sorensen, Matt Wilson, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Tim C Koppang.

12/10/2002 Alan: Universalis - Red Hunger
Hi all, Last week, playing Univeralis, Clinton entered a game rule that said "Alan has to write this game up for Actual Play on the Forge." As far as I…
In Actual Play
Participants: Alan, Tony Irwin, Mike Holmes, Seth L. Blumberg, Ron Edwards, rafial, Rys, contracycle, Valamir.

12/10/2002 Alan: Community Building in Seattle
I'm not sure exactly which forum to post this on - Actual Play seems as appropriate as any. Here in Seattle we have a very active email group for local…
In Actual Play
Participants: Alan, Clinton R. Nixon, Ron Edwards, Jeffrey Miller, Rys.

11/19/2002 Alan: Narrative Premise based on setting?
Hi, I've come to understand how narrative premise works when based on character - and what sort of mechanics work for that. However, I'm not clear on how narrative premise…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

11/7/2002 Alan: Space Trek - InSpectres variant
Space Trek - An InSpectres variant. INTENT Players play the crew of a starship in the tradition of Star Trek, Blake's Seven, and Andromeda. Each four hour game session attempts…
In Memento-Mori Theatricks
Participants: Alan, Le Joueur, Jared A. Sorensen, Joe Murphy (Broin).

11/7/2002 Alan: Narration as a simulationist device
Over in Indie Game Design I started a Narrativist Space Trader topic. While responding to questions about narrative premise, I had an interesting thought: Can player narration…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, Valamir, Ron Edwards.

11/6/2002 Alan: Narrativist Space Trader
I've noticed that SF is not yet greatly explored by games which favor narrativist play. In particular, I'm thinking of SF in the tradition of space exploration or space trading.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Alan, Marco, Matt, Ron Edwards, RobMuadib, Andrew Martin, Tony Irwin, Tim C Koppang, Mike Holmes.

10/13/2002 Alan: 3x5 Index Cards for Components
Hi, Had my first game of Universalis yesterday ("The Ghost of Haunted Gulch"). It went really well and the new players had no problem picking up the rules. We used…
In Universalis
Participants: Alan, Bob McNamee, Ron Edwards.

10/9/2002 Alan: Questions: Scene Framing & Event Complications
Hi, I was reading over the rules and discovered some things I'm not clear on. 1) The rules say that "the framer can't be interrupted until at least one character…
In Universalis
Participants: Alan, Paganini, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Tony Irwin.

10/9/2002 Alan: Sorcerer & Sword: adding Pasts
Hi, I was just finishing Sword and I noticed that the character rules say that an experienced character might have multiple Pasts. What mechanic would I use to add a…
In Adept Press
Participants: Alan, Ron Edwards, Bailywolf, erithromycin.

10/3/2002 Alan: OctaNe: Playing for Points
Hi, I haven't played OctaNe yet, but I noticed some things about the Stunt system: Low Hazard rating rolls generate Plot Points more often and allow player narration more often,…
In Memento-Mori Theatricks
Participants: Alan, Jared A. Sorensen, joshua neff.

9/27/2002 Alan: Core Premise Trait
Hi, I was just reading the material about premises for RPGs on the Universalis website (http://universalis.actionroll.com/StoryElements.htm) and had a revelation. As I understand it, a good narrativist premise is expressed…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, contracycle, mahoux, Mike Holmes, Valamir.

9/23/2002 Alan: immersive authorship (split)
[Since this message has been promoted to a thread lead, I thought I edit it for focus.] I believe there's innate tension between the processes that create dramatic structure and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Alan, contracycle, Ron Edwards, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes.

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Subsequent Topics

3/12/2003 Alan: Challenges: cost up front or afterward
Hi all, In a recent game, we ran into a question about Challenges. Here's the scenario: The acting player declares something. Another player challenges immediately. The Question: has the acting…
In Universalis
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Valamir.

3/18/2003 Alan: New Gimmicks
Gimmick: No buying new traits during a Complication. The ban covers all components, whether they're in play or not. Once the dice are rolled and results tallied, the ban is…
In Universalis
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Valamir, rafial, Bob McNamee, Shieldage.

4/8/2003 Alan: Beastmasters and Three Beast for Charnel Gods
I'm GMing a Charnel Gods game based on the Sumeria of Gilgamesh with Clinton and Wilhelm (Rafial) as players. As Sumerian myth features some interesting beasts, we've had quite a…
In Adept Press
Participants: Alan, Clinton R. Nixon, hardcoremoose, Valamir, Ron Edwards, rafial.

4/23/2003 Alan: Questions on Extended Conflicts
In an extended conflict, on a player's turn, how many things can he do? My interpretation of the rules is that a player _either_ rolls their exchange, or rolls an…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Peter Nordstrand, Ron Edwards.

4/24/2003 Alan: Using Affinities and Feats
One of the pre-gen characters in Hound's Tower has a bunch of Affinities, but no Feats. The notes say he uses them with improvisational modifiers. Does this mean he gets…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Alan, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Peter Nordstrand, Palashee.

5/30/2003 Alan: Players Changing Dice Results - survey and speculation
Hi all, Matt Gwinn's thread on Cheating and GNS triggered some thoughts for me about why I occasionally change dice in a game. As Matt's thread has wandered into a…
In Actual Play
Participants: Alan, Valamir, ScottM, Matt Wilson, Christopher Kubasik, rafial, Enoch, jdagna, John Kim, Dr. Velocity, talysman, TheGameBoy, NoShoes, clehrich, Bob McNamee.

6/10/2003 Alan: Black Fire - developing for play test
Hi all, (Black Fire is Ron's game design example for his Gamism essay. Black Fire is found at http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/22/ ) I really like what I see in Black Fire, and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Alan, Ron Edwards, Valamir, GreatWolf, Piers Brown.

7/10/2003 Alan: Content Classes and GNS
Hi all, I believe there's a quote somewhere that says a model (or theory) is just a tool for understanding. The more tools you have, the better you can approximate…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Alan, Paul Czege.

8/9/2003 Alan: Hardboiled - RPG Proposal
A short rules summary can be found at http://www.seanet.com/~alanb/Hardboiledv01.html I'm hoping to create a detective RPG with a narrative Premise like "What is justice?" Every PC…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Alan, iago, Paul Czege, Matt Wilson, lumpley, Valamir, Ron Edwards, WDFlores, Julian Kelsey.

8/9/2003 Alan: Blackfire v0.2 - for further development?
Hi guys, I did some development on Ron's Blackfire, the example of gamist design from his essay on Gamism. What I've done has languished for a month or two, so…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Alan, Ron Edwards.

8/17/2003 Alan: Conquest on History Channel
Hi all, I want to recommend Peter Woodward's show Conquest on the History Channel. Every episode, he trains a bunch of people to recreate a fighting style from the past.…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, prophet118, Swordmagnet, Ashton.

8/26/2003 Alan: [My Life With Master] Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering
Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering Boarding School & Correctional Facility My life with Master – play report I ran a one shot demo of MLWM at our Monday game night.…
In Actual Play
Participants: Alan, Mike Holmes, Paul Czege.

12/23/2003 Alan: Evasion, Attack, and Sorcery
Somewhere I got the idea that it was possible to allocate dice to Duck & Weave or Dodge even when you're attacking. Is this true? Also, can you cast an…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Jake Norwood, Ashren Va'Hale, Brian Leybourne.

12/29/2003 Alan: Systems of group meaning negotiation.
I started this new thread to discuss this idea. For background, look at the 6th through 13 message in Shared Imagined Space and Imagination - Split …
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Alan, Ron Edwards, Matt Wilson, Ian Charvill, John Kim.

1/22/2004 Alan: NEW SA Category: Secrets
I was just mulling over the Riddle of Spice and hit on an SA idea I thought appropriate for the Dune universe: The Secret. It would be similar to a…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Ingenious, kenjib, StahlMeister, Ben Lehman, Valamir, contracycle, Mike Holmes, Jasper.

1/24/2004 Alan: Holding a Spell
In standard TROS magic, is there a way to prepare a spell in advance, then release it later with reduced casting time?
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Jake Norwood, Bob McNamee.

1/28/2004 Alan: TROS Tarnsman of Gor
Anyone remember the John Norman potboilers? Gor was a planet in the same orbit as Earth on the other side of the sun. The Priest Kings kept a human culture…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, sirogit, Jake Norwood, Wolfen, Brian Leybourne, toli.

1/31/2004 Alan: Multiple Opponents - Terrain Rolls & Initiative
In several other threads, Jake has recently clarified a number of rules for me about handling multiple opponents, terrain rolls, and initiative. I thought I'd gather my understanding here to…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Brian Leybourne, Valamir, Half-Baked, Jake Norwood, Bob Richter, Ian.Plumb, Wolfen, Melkor, Richard_Strey, Lxndr, Pyske, Stephen.

1/31/2004 Alan: Narrativist Hard Questions
In his essay Narrativism: Story Now, Ron proposes the “hard” questions. Here are my responses: Are you Simulationist-by-habit? … if you'd rather be addressing Premise,…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Alan, james_west, Jack Spencer Jr, Christopher Kubasik, M. J. Young, pete_darby, Ron Edwards.

2/8/2004 Alan: Shock Bonuses, Half Sword, and Estoc
Hi Jake and Brian, Can you clarify a few things about weapons? 1) Like many Mass Weapons, the Club listing says +x Shock (x=Dam Lvl) I can't find a definition…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: Alan, Brian Leybourne, Jake Norwood, Pytorb, [MKF]Kapten, Mantis, Richard_Strey, Wolfen.

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