Previous Topics

7/8/2003 xiombarg: social contract stuff -- another thread
Since people seem to be talking about this sort of thing, check this out: http://www.livejournal.com/users/xiombarg/306814.html Be sure to read the commentary as well. My current plan is to sit the…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, ADGBoss.

7/1/2003 xiombarg: Nomic and Universalis
Are either of you, Mike or Ralph, familiar with Nomic? Were you familiar with it when you designed Universalis? What about anyone else who's played Univeralis -- any of you…
In Universalis
Participants: xiombarg, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Tony Irwin.

6/30/2003 xiombarg: I finally got to play Universalis!
Moderator post to note that he deleted Kirt's message accidentally (I am an idiot). Look below to make more sense of the responses. Thanks, Mike
In Universalis
Participants: xiombarg, Mike Holmes, Bob McNamee, Valamir.

6/23/2003 xiombarg: fantasy heartbreakers: a theory
[url=http://www.rpgnews.com/article.php?sid=2509]Working at rpgnews.com[/url] has gotten me thinking about [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/9/]Fantasy Heartbreakers[/url] again. Slap me down if this insight is trivial and/or someone already popped out with it and I missed the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Valamir, Bankuei, Ron Edwards, WDFlores, Cadriel, Marco, John Kim, M. J. Young.

6/21/2003 xiombarg: Lusting After Jesus, Part II: To Hell (Pretender Playtest)
A while back, I ran a second session of Pretender, with some rules modes I suggested in the previous thread, which you might want to check out to refresh your…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg.

6/19/2003 xiombarg: Pretender Revised
IIRC, this is the correct forum for "open comments" on a game, because Indie Design is for talking about more specific design questions. Well, I incorporated the proposed changes, and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, lumpley, Mike Holmes.

4/23/2003 xiombarg: Lusting After Jesus, Part I (Pretender Playtest)
So, last Wednesday I finally ran Pretender. I'll talk about the general experience, and then make some comments regarding the system in actual play, and some changes I might wanna…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, Brian Leybourne, lumpley, Enoch.

4/15/2003 xiombarg: We Hate God, Part II (Pretender Playtest)
Okay, I'm actually running Pretender tommorrow, so I figured I'd post about the full chargen session. You may want to look at the original thread to refesh your memory about…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, ADGBoss, furashgf.

4/3/2003 xiombarg: Small Talk: The Shield
Well, I finally got to see The Shield. It was the season finale. The edgy camerawork made my wife sick but I liked it. Very gritty, very morally ambiguous. I…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: xiombarg.

4/3/2003 xiombarg: We Hate God, Part I (Pretender Playtest)
A couple members of my local group were very keen on trying out Pretender. Therefore, last night we did chargen, in preperation for playing in two weeks hence. Since a…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, lumpley, Valamir.

3/21/2003 xiombarg: Tropes: An Addition to the Forge Lexicon?
[url]http://www.livejournal.com/users/bruceb/24788.html[/url] Now, general Forge wisdom is genre isn't a useful thing to discuss, but what about Tropes? It's certainly true that we've discussed, in essence, certain Tropes that apply to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Ron Edwards, clehrich, Bruce Baugh.

3/19/2003 xiombarg: Pretender: System (based on OtherKind)
Okay, I was thinking last night about a campaign I've wanted to run for a very long time. In essence, it's the same "turf" as the World of Darkness: Mythic…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Palaskar, Spooky Fanboy, Shreyas Sampat, Valamir, lumpley, Mike Holmes.

3/19/2003 xiombarg: Pretender: Setting
Okay, I was thinking last night about a campaign I've wanted to run for a very long time. In essence, it's the same "turf" as the World of Darkness: Mythic…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Spooky Fanboy, Mike Holmes.

2/14/2003 xiombarg: Faster, Better, Cheaper is Back!
As a break (and to clear my palete, as it were) from Unsung, I finally incorporated Mike's playtest comments into Faster, Better, Cheaper. Everyone, new and old, please check it…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, James V. West.

2/5/2003 xiombarg: Death
Okay, even if you haven't before, please take a look at Unsung. In addition to the optional Enemy system, I've added a section entiled "Death" I particularly want comments on,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

2/5/2003 xiombarg: web site
Okay, am I correct that the following is the Dark Omen Games web site? http://darkomengames.mysticages.com/ Given that, it seems there is something wrong with the Alyria link from that page:…
In Dark Omen Games
Participants: xiombarg, GreatWolf.

2/4/2003 xiombarg: Incoherence is Fun!
Okay, I'm creating a lot of threads lately, ignore me if I'm annoying. What I want to discuss is this: I honestly enjoy all three modes of play. Seriously. I…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: xiombarg, Mike Holmes, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, Marco, M. J. Young, clehrich, contracycle, Le Joueur.

2/4/2003 xiombarg: The Impossible
Okay, as y'all know, I've been talking a lot about GNS and myown game, Unsung, as of late. The reason for it is this: In the final version of Unsung,…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: xiombarg, lumpley, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, Marco.

2/4/2003 xiombarg: GNS Crisis of Faith
Okay, this is a call to point to old, relevant threads (if any) and for new discussion. Before I get started, a disclaimer: I seem to have the super-power of…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: xiombarg, Clinton R. Nixon, Mike Holmes, clehrich, Cassidy, Ron Edwards, Paganini, M. J. Young, Bankuei, ADGBoss.

2/3/2003 xiombarg: Simulationism vs. Narrativism: Concrete Example
Okay, after reading Ron's recent essay, I'm starting to wonder if I'm somewhat "behind the curve" here in terms of my understanding of the GNS model. Could someone tell me…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: xiombarg, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Valamir, Balbinus.

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Subsequent Topics

7/28/2003 xiombarg: Kirt's Standard Rant #1: Metaplots
[url=http://www.rpgnews.com/article.php?sid=2583]Recent events[/url] have [url=http://www.livejournal.com/users/xiombarg/319163.html]gotten me thinking[/url]... I've voiced this before, and it's perhaps more relevant to "traditional" RPG publishers who are overly-reliant on the three-tier system, but I think it…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, Lxndr, jdagna, John Kim, Hardpoint, pete_darby, kamikaze, Valamir, Ron Edwards, Bogie_71, Mike Holmes, Jack Spencer Jr, contracycle, M. J. Young, talysman, AnyaTheBlue, eyebeams, Green, Gordon C. Landis, James Holloway, Kurosawa.

7/31/2003 xiombarg: social contract issues [update]
Some people wanted to know how things went with my group with regard to what was going on in this thread. So, we had the big talk I wanted to…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, ADGBoss, Ron Edwards, The_Confessor, Mike Holmes.

8/13/2003 xiombarg: The Setting
Split off from the playtest thread: Yup. I'm gonna have big trouble with that. It makes little sense to me. If I as an Archon want to prove the sun…
In Chimera Creative
Participants: xiombarg, Valamir, Matt Snyder, Mike Holmes, Jason L Blair, AnttiK.

8/17/2003 xiombarg: Gambling Gimmick
What do people think of this Gimmick? Once during each of his turns, a player can gamble. He can put up as many coins as he wants (up to the…
In Universalis
Participants: xiombarg, Tony Irwin, Mike Holmes.

9/3/2003 xiombarg: Card Captor Cabal
Hey, all. While my fiancee is away in Texas for her bridal shower, she asked me to write a little RPG based on her favorite anime, CardCaptors, aka Card Captor…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Shreyas Sampat, roleplyr4ever, Lxndr.

9/4/2003 xiombarg: Unsung: SWAT (session 1)
Well, after all sorts of scheduling mishaps, I finally got to run Unsung tonight (Wednesday) on IRC. We used my latest draft of the ruleset: http://ivanhoeunbound.com/unsung_playtest.html The game surrounded a…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, MachMoth, Grover, Mike Holmes, Lxndr.

9/11/2003 xiombarg: Unsung SWAT: KABOOM (aka session 2)
You might want to freshen up with the original thread. We added a new player, Dana, who was playing Alicia Tyloni, a sniper with rumored connections to the Mob... One…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, Lxndr, Dana_mun, Mike Holmes, suffusionofyellow.

9/22/2003 xiombarg: Grammar nitpick... or something
So, I got my copy of Orbit. I like most of it so far. But the pendant in me wonders about constructions like this: "You can eat cheese, meat, -or…
In Orbit
Participants: xiombarg, Lxndr, ethan_greer, Valamir, Ben Lehman, JSDiamond, quozl, Gordon C. Landis, Matt Wilson, JohnK.

9/22/2003 xiombarg: Unsung: Lapse and Gift Mechanic (peanut gallery wanted)
Okay, in reference to this thread I'm curious what other people think about the Lapse and Gift mechanics in Unsung. It's probably best to look at the latest playtest rules…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg, Ben Lehman, Mike Holmes.

9/23/2003 xiombarg: two random questions
Jeff: I really like the Arach. Are they exempted from the Wundershen? It seems to heavily imply that to leave the Hive is rare. Yet, if they're League members, they…
In Orbit
Participants: xiombarg, JSDiamond, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

9/25/2003 xiombarg: Unsung: SWAT -- introspection (session 3)
You might want to freshen up with the previous thread. This session was a lot slower and more introspective, but it got real interesting toward the end. http://ivanhoeunbound.com/unsung3_nar.txt http://ivanhoeunbound.com/unsung3_ooc.txt As…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, Dana_mun, suffusionofyellow, Mike Holmes.

9/25/2003 xiombarg: hidden information and Narrativism
In various threads regarding Unsung, particularly during play, Mike points to the idea some of the players have had that information hiding is okay (while others shared all information, even…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: xiombarg, Ron Edwards, Matt Snyder, Mike Holmes.

9/25/2003 xiombarg: Unsung: Radical Reward Restructuring
So, okay, Alexander has suggested some radical reward restructuring for Unsung here and elsewhere. He suggest in addition to getting Gift Points (GPs) for giving Gifts, that a player recieve…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xiombarg.

10/7/2003 xiombarg: concept games footnote, politics in games
As a footnote to the concept games thread and the games as serious art thread, I'd like to note something that's going on in video games, in at least in…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, contracycle, John Kim, Tim Alexander, simon_hibbs, Tomas HVM, Jonathan Walton, Mark Johnson, M. J. Young, Rob MacDougall, Mike Holmes, taalyn.

10/9/2003 xiombarg: metaplot footnote
As a footnote to my original rant and the thread about using metaplot as a tool, I picked up Orpheus yesterday, and I'm pleased by how they're handling the metaplot…
In RPG Theory
Participants: xiombarg, eyebeams, The Solecist, Mike Holmes, simon_hibbs.

10/23/2003 xiombarg: Pretender: Attack of the Mechanical Dinosaurs
Well, some of the players couldn't make it to Unsung, so we grabbed a free-floating player and played Pretender instead. Though I greatly abbreviated the pregame prep and took a…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, AgentFresh, Lxndr, Dana_mun, MachMoth.

10/31/2003 xiombarg: No Press RPG Anthology (II)
Is this project still live? I hope so, because I just sent in a submission...
In Publishing
Participants: xiombarg, gobi, abzu, Ron Edwards, Matt, Jeph, Lxndr, Rich Forest, quozl, Mike Holmes, LordSmerf.

11/6/2003 xiombarg: Unsung: Sweeps Week (Session 4)
You might want to freshen up with the previous thread. This session was a lot more action-oriented and had less Gifts -- the idea was to test the core sytem…
In Actual Play
Participants: xiombarg, Lxndr, Dana_mun, Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman.

11/21/2003 xiombarg: distribution horror stories (and related anecdotes)
I know Ron and many others are on-record as being disgusted with the current RPG distribution system. I couldn't help but think about this as I was browsing the Pulsar…
In Publishing
Participants: xiombarg, Pramas, HinterWelt, Gold Rush Games.

12/2/2003 xiombarg: Supplements and the Tragedy of the Commons
In this thread, we have the following statement from Raven:Ryan, having tied his own dick around d20 and D&D with his stubbornly defended pre-3rd Edition predicitions, as usual can't afford…
In Publishing
Participants: xiombarg, contracycle.

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