Previous Topics

12/4/2002 JSDiamond: Orbit cover art
The book cover art is finished. There will eventually be a starry background and shiny chrome text, but I'll do those in Adobe paint and illustrator. I set a black…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Valamir, Paul Czege, James V. West.

10/9/2002 JSDiamond: Orbit: Die Another Day!
While addressing the 'character death' part of the rules, I thought: "Why do characters *have* to die?" Risk factor = fun. I understand this. But Luke Skywalker doesn't die, and…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Mike Holmes, Matt Wilson, Paul Czege, Ron Edwards, Zak Arntson, Jonathan Walton.

5/31/2002 JSDiamond: Critical Hits and other hoary rules of the ancients
Since Orbit recognizes degrees of success (previous thread) it follows that a stupendous result should equate a stupendous effect. This occurs on a die-roll that results in a (51+) degree…
In Orbit
Participants: JSDiamond, Clinton R. Nixon, Blake Hutchins, Valamir, JohnK.

5/31/2002 JSDiamond: Orbit's Core Mechanics
Orbit has undergone some changes, -a lot of them with many thanks to Ben Baugh. Here is the system: 2d10 That's it for dice, you'll need no more. All skill…
In Orbit
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, JohnK.

3/29/2002 JSDiamond: Indies getting respect
Regarding Ron's debriefing on this year's GAMA trade show, I believe that he is quite right about a positive change that may be going on in the minds of retailers…
In Publishing
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, Jason L Blair, Misguided Games.

3/11/2002 JSDiamond: Beta anyone?
[b]Orbit[/b] [size=10px]Game overview: Space-opera in the spirit of Heavy Metal meets Cowboy Bebop. Ron Edwards described a typical party of Orbit characters as "looking like an underground comics parade on…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, Galfraxas, Dav, Bailywolf, Ferry Bazelmans.

12/13/2001 JSDiamond: How they did it (D&D & Vampire)
...and how WE can too. Branching off from creating a successful rpg line, Zak and I conferred on a few reasons as to why things have gone the way they…
In Publishing
Participants: JSDiamond.

10/10/2001 JSDiamond: minimum effort vs. "I can do THIS!"
With all the talk about the Pool and then the 'anti-Pool' I thought I'd offer this up. I wrote a system mechanic wherein the character's *minimum effort* required for a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Mike Holmes.

9/20/2001 JSDiamond: Chapter Layout to support G/N/S?
This was brought up in the Sorcerer forum but it lit a spark in my mind. Ron's point (I believe) was that the order of the chapters-by-subject could effect a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Jason L Blair, Le Joueur, James V. West, Ron Edwards, Tim C Koppang, Mike Holmes, contracycle, Bankuei, Valamir.

6/11/2001 JSDiamond: IndieAid at GenCon
Some of us are going, some of us are not going, and some of us are going to be attending as exhibitors. It's the exhibitors I'm addressing herein. Provided I…
In Publishing
Participants: JSDiamond, Dav, Ron Edwards, unodiablo, Ferry Bazelmans, Jared A. Sorensen, Misguided Games, Jason L Blair.

5/23/2001 JSDiamond: Rolling bones and other things
This was brought up by james_west and got me to thinking. How does the physical system-mechanic of a game affect its 'feel'? I chose percentiles (2d10) for Orbit for this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: JSDiamond, Dav, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, J B Bell, Le Joueur, efindel, Jack Spencer Jr, Bailywolf, James V. West.

5/21/2001 JSDiamond: Publishing pencil & paper games on CDs
This is more of a thread grown out of my answer in the New Distribution thread in another forum. It seems to fit here. Jeff Diamond once…
In Publishing
Participants: JSDiamond, james_west, Dav, Ron Edwards, Nathan, Clay.

5/17/2001 JSDiamond: GOLEM
hardcoremoose came up with a brilliant system-mechanic that I have altered somewhat for an rpg (tentatively) called "GOLEM" In it, players are robots that have 'awoken' within a behemoth factory…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Dav, hardcoremoose, Ron Edwards, GreatWolf, Clay, Zak Arntson, canisPRIME, Doc Midnight, John Wick.

5/14/2001 JSDiamond: Role-playing *is* alive and strong
I'm going to tell you something, on occasion I feel like I'm wasting my time writing and drawing. A "pearls before swine" epiphany emerges every now and again. You know…
In Actual Play
Participants: JSDiamond, Jared A. Sorensen, GreatWolf, Ron Edwards, joshua neff, Clay.

5/14/2001 JSDiamond: Endless Dance
Ron Edwards mentioned a game called "Hero" from a long time ago and that got me to thinking about a game I 'designed' a long time ago but never finished.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond.

5/6/2001 JSDiamond: The Ultimate Binding
I was just thinking about this last night. The idea came to me from an idea I have for a drawing inspired by Sorcerer. Binding a demon is dangerous, -this…
In Adept Press
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, Clay.

4/27/2001 JSDiamond: Punks Unite!
I have moved this here, to the publishing forum. "Punks Unite!" -that's our rally cry. Okay, this idea was practiced back in the good old days of gaming and it…
In Publishing
Participants: JSDiamond, GreatWolf.

4/27/2001 JSDiamond: Triple Platinum
The game of music industry backstabbing and rock star excess (that's the idea anyway). What you'll need:A watch with a seconds hand A pencil Some heroin (just kidding!) I have…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, poppocabba.

4/24/2001 JSDiamond: Dark Ages
Literally, the dark ages of the gods. The age is that of their realization that their time is finite and their pantheon will one day come to an end in…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, poppocabba.

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Subsequent Topics

4/18/2003 JSDiamond: Site referrals
Forgites, My rpg Orbit will have a page or two devoted to "must visit" sites. If you want to have your site listed in this book, email me with the…
In Publishing
Participants: JSDiamond.

7/9/2003 Bailywolf: Orbit by July's end
What else can one say? BOO-YAA!
In Orbit
Participants: Bailywolf, Ron Edwards, Catalyst, JSDiamond.

7/14/2003 JSDiamond: ORBIT now!
As of 12:35 a.m. Sunday July 13, 2003 I have plugged in the last .tif image and Orbit is finished! It's press time (finally) and after much inspiration and thought…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond.

8/18/2003 JSDiamond: ORBIT release date
It's official. The printers tell me September 10th. After many problems they promised me a galley proof by this Friday, and after my 'okay' the presses are turned on and…
In Orbit
Participants: JSDiamond, Valamir, Catalyst.

9/4/2003 JSDiamond: Fight the Nazis as a reckless daring 1940's spy
"Rhinegart Station-South" is a noir, pulp action style rpg set in 1940 Europe. Just a bit of fun I'm working on. You can download it from my site's main page,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

9/8/2003 JSDiamond: Orbit is ON SCHEDULE!
It's a GO! The printers just emailed to assure me that Orbit is on schedule to roll off the presses on the 10th, this Wednesday!
In Orbit
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, Catalyst.

9/15/2003 JSDiamond: Orbit shipping TODAY!
That's it, Orbit is finished! The books are on their way as of this morning. 272 pages of planet hopping, alien hottie, boozing, gun-fighting goodness!
In Orbit
Participants: JSDiamond, Mike Holmes, Catalyst.

9/16/2003 JSDiamond: ORBIT is here!
I received my books back from the printer today! They look awesome. Aside from a few production problems I encountered along the way, I must say that Central Plains Book…
In Orbit
Participants: JSDiamond, Valamir.

9/19/2003 JSDiamond: Orbit is 99% mistake free! And now...
Not too serious, but here's the other 1% On page 118 the armor table is missing the center column that shows the armor ratings for each type of armor. I've…
In Orbit
Participants: JSDiamond.

10/16/2003 JSDiamond: STEEL yourself!
Here's a quicky run & gun system. Just visit the site and go to the Other Projects page. In PDF. Click on the STEEL logo. http://www.orbit-rpg.com
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, ethan_greer.

10/23/2003 JSDiamond: Trust me, artwork helps
This isn't a question thread as much as an idea-for-promotion thread. I recently decided to put up a gallery page separate from my main site so that people can see…
In Publishing
Participants: JSDiamond, busling.

10/24/2003 JSDiamond: SUPER GREEN!
Inspired by Ruby Rod. Check it out on the 'Other Projects' page. In pdf. http://www.orbit-rpg.com
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, gobi, Spooky Fanboy, Andrew Martin.

11/8/2003 JSDiamond: Hell Comes to Frogtown - free rpg
Apologies to anyone with taste. http://www.orbit-rpg.com/froggy.pdf
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, gabby2600, Lxndr, C. Edwards, greyorm, Mike Holmes, Phillip.

6/29/2005 JSDiamond: In-game character death resolution
I'm thinking of something like this for resolving character death in the "fantasy heartbreaker" I'm making. I think I might even add it to my existing opus. Here's the rules.…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Andrew Morris, TonyLB, Doug Ruff, Resonantg, Valamir, Nogusielkt, Justin Marx, daMoose_Neo, Jack Aidley, Master Marx, Stickman.

9/20/2005 JSDiamond: "All's quiet" playable draft
I loved the Thief pc games by looking glass and I've never agreed with how thieving is presented in tabletop RPGs --relying on a player's ability to continue to role-play…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, mutex, Noon, Ron Edwards.

9/29/2005 JSDiamond: All's quiet... second draft pdf
Here is the second draft with the suggestions by Ron and Callan.  I've yet to work out the modifier value tweaks. http://www.orbit-rpg.com/alls_quiet2.pdf  
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Selene Tan.

10/1/2005 JSDiamond: Alls quiet... 3rd draft
I've high-lighted the new bits in green shadow boxes.  The GM's use of special cards is finally set, as is the definitions of "types" of actions. http://www.orbit-rpg.com/alls_quiet3.pdf
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond.

10/8/2005 JSDiamond: All's quiet...
Using everyone's posts as a goldmine of tweaks and new ideas, here is version 4.  This is the most complete edit thus far with darn near everything in it except…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, Ron Edwards.

10/13/2005 JSDiamond: "All's quiet..." draft 5
Slowly but surely... getting it all worked out.  This time taking a cue from the earliest posts about environment modifier values.  Got them dialed in good --hopefully you will think…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, JasonPalenske, Noon, mutex.

10/14/2005 JSDiamond: All's quiet... preliminary GM's draft
Here's a rough and incomplete draft of the GM's info. http://www.orbit-rpg.com/alls_GMs.pdf
In Indie Game Design
Participants: JSDiamond, SPDuke, mutex.

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