Previous Topics

4/12/2003 Marco: "I can't make a character for this."
For anyone who got the idea I never have trouble in my gaming groups: Tonight I got a chance for a coupla guys to try to get together a new…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco, clehrich, Valamir, simon_hibbs.

4/11/2003 Marco: LEARN ME SOME SORCEROR
Hey guys, I'm looking into some strongly Narrativist play--I don't want to *hear* about it--or be *told* about it--no, I want the whole echilada. I wanna *play* it. Since time…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Paganini, Andy Kitkowski, Bob McNamee, greyorm, Trevis Martin, Wolfen, Drastic, C. Edwards, Valamir.

4/9/2003 Marco: Marco's View of Gaming
Marco's Gaming Manifesto Here is my take on gaming. I'm not saying this is all it can be. I'm not saying this way or these terms are "the best" or…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Mike Holmes, Valamir, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, Walt Freitag, Bruce Baugh, Ian Charvill, Matt, Harlequin, Paul Czege, cruciel, Le Joueur.

4/8/2003 Marco: Where to promote new release?
We just came out with two new books and I'm looking for sites that do RPG news. I had a list but: a) it was on my old computer. b)…
In Publishing
Participants: Marco, Othyem, xiombarg, Matt.

1/15/2003 Marco: Artists Wanted
Hi, We have a new book on the cusp of coming out and are looking for artists. The basic style is black and white (color is optional--and we'll pay more…
In Connections
Participants: Marco, Arashi, Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton, Ben Morgan, ADGBoss.

9/23/2002 Marco: An Objective Standard of Quality for RPG's
In another post the idea of finding a way to grade RPG's was brought it (by Valimir) Since we know that all things produced are NOT of equal quality,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, C. Edwards, Andrew Martin, deadpanbob, Valamir, Clinton R. Nixon, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, contracycle, brainwipe, Jeremy Cole, Seth L. Blumberg.

9/11/2002 Marco: Fault Tolerant Scenario Design
Hi, We have two new articles up on the JAGS Site http://jagsgame.dyndns.org concerning scenario design. They're not written by me. They are related and concern how to construct what are…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, GB Steve, Valamir, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes.

9/6/2002 Marco: Participationism?
From a quote by Mike Holmes in the Actual Play group. Oh, if this was not participatinism, then I think that most likely it was Illusionism (but, hey, who…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, contracycle, Le Joueur, GB Steve, damion, Valamir.

9/3/2002 Marco: Weekend Game (long)
Two Day Game: This is a description and analysis of a game that took place over 2 days. The system was JAGS (a rules-heavy sim system that we've developed. Think…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco, Unsane, contracycle, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Paul Czege.

8/22/2002 Marco: JAGS Auto-Fire Rules Question
This is a simulationist rules-heavy design question for JAGS. I realize many/most people here aren't familiar with it (and our sever's down until the weekend). If you're familiar with GURPS…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Marco, J B Bell, Valamir, Christoffer Lernö, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon, Matt, Stuart DJ Purdie, Gordon C. Landis, Ace.

8/2/2002 Marco: A note on GNS and scale ...
From the "Why Sim" Thread. As to the original question: I like different gaming styles (make different decisions in my gaming) at different times for a variety of reasons. …
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Andrew Martin, Ron Edwards, Daredevil, Thededine, Jeremy Cole, Mike Holmes, jdagna, contracycle, Walt Freitag.

2/7/2002 Marco: Particles of Character Class
This is inspired by a discussion on the Scattershot Forum: Fang described his points in Scattershot as "particles of character class." I sort of disagreed with his definition--an indication to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Le Joueur.

2/6/2002 Marco: Topics should be seen
[Opionion sated as fact] Topics should be presented in bold face at the top of the post--It'll make 'em more relevant [/opionion stated as fact] -Marco
In Site Discussion
Participants: Marco.

1/9/2002 Marco: A game over the holidays
This holiday I played in two excellent games. This is an analysis of the second. There were three kingdoms. This is the fourth. Mars is baren. Europa has huge,…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco.

12/28/2001 Marco: Historical Inaccuracy
Whew ... I had something to say about Paul's historical-setting thread--but we were so close to the launch of our newest world book that it was better to wait. We've…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Marco, James V. West, Laurel, Mike Holmes, Joe Murphy (Broin), joshua neff.

11/27/2001 Marco: Reflections on a game from this weekend
[quote] Cold Light was the codename for a soviet telepathic assassination project during the cold war. A rather spectacular psychological warfare success: the US spent millions of dollars trying to…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco, Epoch, Ron Edwards.

10/2/2001 Marco: Cultists!
Ok, maybe this has been done before (which is why I'm asking). I've been brainstorming for ideas for a source-book for our multi-genre game system (Universal, Ron! Universal! hah!) JAGS…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Marco, Matt, GB Steve, contracycle.

9/29/2001 Marco: Sorry about the inappropriate post.
Removed Msg about newly released book. -Marco
In Publishing
Participants: Marco.

9/10/2001 Marco: Common Problems from GNS Incompatibility
I'm thinking this has been discussed elswhere but I just got into the GNS model and was discussing it with a friend and came up with this: When a group…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

9/7/2001 Marco: Killing off all the PC's (gimicks in modules)
We just released a horror module with, what I had thought was a pretty unique twist: the players get two sets of pre-defined characters (they're high school students) and in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Mytholder, wyrdlyng.

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Subsequent Topics

4/26/2003 Marco: Mechs
I'm working on JAGS Mechs. This isn't a game mechanics issue (I mean it is--but it's all tactical balance stuff and I'm not delving into that here)--but more of a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Marco, Thomas Tamblyn, greyorm, Sidhain, Walt Freitag, Bankuei, Mike Holmes, Eric J., Stuart DJ Purdie, SwordofLux, b_bankhead, Emmett.

6/18/2003 Marco: Gamist Essay -- GOOD!
This isn't a post with a hella-lot of content--but I got finished with the gamist essay and ... it's *good!* The split of the challenge sections is insightful. The language…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Ron Edwards, Ted E. Childers, xiombarg, Mike Holmes.

7/4/2003 Marco: Contradictory Gamism
Hey Ron, High competition in Step On Up plus low competition in Challenge = entirely team-based play, party style against a shared Challenge, but with value placed on some…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Ron Edwards, Jack Spencer Jr, BPetroff93, ross_winn, Gordon C. Landis, Mike Holmes, contracycle, epweissengruber.

7/11/2003 Marco: Continued Play as a goal
A msg I saw on another board got me thinking. The post said words to the effect of "PC's should never die--setbacks are fine. Take all the gear. But don't…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, Thomas Tamblyn, Comte, ScottM, contracycle.

7/16/2003 Marco: Can you do that!?
I'm running a Savage World's game for a group with some new-gamers and some experienced ones (and it's been non-functional in terms of getting started--there's a whole interesting story here…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco, gobi, rafial.

8/12/2003 Marco: More illusionism
[b] This was split from a thread about players modifying dice results in Actual Play.[/b] Assuming that the GM ran a game "straight" (pinball-sim, here's a map, go explore ...…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Walt Freitag, cruciel.

8/15/2003 Marco: The gap between CRPG's and Pen and Paper breached!
Check this out: http://www.gamespy.com/fargo/august03/realrpg/ It's a joke (a pretty good one, IMO)--but it does raise issues with the pervasiveness of trends of dysfunction in the RPG experience. My own experience…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Windthin.

9/3/2003 Marco: Video Games aren't fun enough ...
One thing that's often said here is that RPG's won't be main-stream in their current configurations (i.e. even popular games fall short of being pop-culture or main-stream intertainment). Here's an…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, pete_darby, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Gordon C. Landis, talysman, contracycle, cruciel.

9/18/2003 Marco: JAGS Have-Not Book 1 [Focus on Approach Chapter]
We are nearing completion of our post-apocalypse world book Have-Not (for the free JAGS system). Our first book (setting) is close to done--and we have a draft of it up--however,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Marco, deadpanbob.

10/6/2003 Marco: JAGS Vehicles Damage Question
Hello, We are almost done with JAGS Have-Not--however our tests of several vehicular damage systems have been sub-optimal--so I'm posting here to see if anyone has some input on our…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Marco, Mike Holmes, abzu, SumDood.

10/26/2003 Marco: Popular and damaging
Ralph wrote: At any rate, IMO Call of Cthulhu stands with GURPS as what I consider to be the two most damaging games to the development of the hobby…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Marco, Valamir, jdagna, Ian Charvill, Jack Spencer Jr, Calithena, RaconteurX, b_bankhead, John Kim, Jonathan Walton, Dauntless, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, greyorm, quozl, Walt Freitag, Matt Snyder, Gordon C. Landis, Green, Jack Aidley, Andrew Norris, David Chunn, Minx, Ben Lehman, C. Edwards, Lxndr, damion, Scripty, eyebeams.

11/7/2003 Marco: Game Promotion Sites
Hi everyone, again, we've got news to post. Where are the good sites to promote RPG news. I have RPG.news, RPG.net, and Pen and Paper. I think RPG Gazette is…
In Publishing
Participants: Marco, C. Edwards, xiombarg, Cynthia Celeste Miller.

11/18/2003 Marco: GNS/Creative Agenda Essay [long]
I received this in email. I'm not sure I agree with all of it--but I was asked my opinion on it. I asked permission to post it, and do so…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Paul Czege, Ian Charvill, Matt Snyder, Valamir, John Kim, Mike Holmes, Andrew Martin, Walt Freitag, Ron Edwards.

7/20/2004 Marco: Weekend Game Analysis [LONG]
This is a description of a game I ran this past weekend (using a point-based Simulationst system similar to GURPS)--since I'm heading back to the UK for 3wks, I'd told…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco, John Kim.

8/16/2004 Marco: Participationism and Sim II
In the thread on introducing a Narrativist to Sim Play, Ron said he'd tell his players this: guys, I'm gonna make decisions for your characters. I'll mainly do it…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco.

8/27/2004 Marco: Three Personal Rewards
Both I and Mike Holmes have touched on this--I think that a thread on it might prove interesting: Thesis: There are Three Personal Rewards of Gaming All players who game…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, ErrathofKosh.

8/31/2004 Marco: Techniques, Expectations, and Interactions
Ron wrote, P.S. Whoops, editing this in, Marco - your example sounds Narrativist to me. But it's kinda sketchy in your summary, so maybe I'm projecting into it to…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Ron Edwards.

9/1/2004 Marco: Internal cause and Premise
Someone got back to me on my techniques article with some questions. Rather than listing them here, I'm going to distill them and discuss them here. It was pointed out,…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Walt Freitag, Ron Edwards, Erling Rognli, ErrathofKosh, Ben Lehman, M. J. Young, John Kim, Gordon C. Landis, contracycle.

9/4/2004 Marco: [JAGS] After The War
A GM I like came down for the weekend and we agreed to run a two or three day game using most of the available time (dawn-through-dusk).Here are the results:…
In Actual Play
Participants: Marco, JamesSterrett, Tobias, Ron Edwards, AlHazred.

9/9/2004 Marco: Personal Agenda vs. Social Agenda
In another thread I discussed the case where a player is "playing Gamist" but not getting props from the group. The group is okay with him doing that--but they aren't…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Marco, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Walt Freitag, Mark Woodhouse.

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