Previous Topics

11/14/2003 LordSmerf: [Forge East] Like a Pheonix from the ashes.
If you've been keeping up with the Death of Forge East thread then you know we've been talking about more Forge presence at cons. I'd like to go ahead and…
In Conventions
Participants: LordSmerf, Dregg, abzu.

11/8/2003 LordSmerf: [Trithofar] Need a little feedback
Ok. Trithofar is actually a setting that a few of my friends have been using for over ten years and we're trying to get a system locked down. Anyway, the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Mulciber, contracycle.

11/2/2003 LordSmerf: Do Generalized Systems Inhibit Long-term Play?
First, this is a personal observation stemming from my experiences playing Universalis and the Pool primarily. I was really curious as to other people's experiences. It seems to me that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, C. Edwards, Marco, Ron Edwards, Valamir.

11/2/2003 LordSmerf: GM/PC Play Simultaneously?
So Ron tossed this off in the Adept Press forum, almost anecdotally. I really thought it was a great articulation of something that i wanted to do. After some thought…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, jdagna, lumpley, C. Edwards, Lxndr, Ron Edwards, Emily Care.

10/18/2003 LordSmerf: [Universalis -> Improv.] Who needs a system anyway?
The night after we starte The Dead Can Dance. We picked it back up. About an hour and a half into the session we realized that we didn't really need…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf.

10/18/2003 LordSmerf: [Creeks and Crawdads] Dawson's Creeks and Crawdads
So we just finished a boredom busting session of Creeks and Crawdads. It was pretty dang interesting, though highly fatal for all involved. I don't know if i'd play it…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Lxndr, Dana_mun.

10/18/2003 LordSmerf: [Powers That Be - Working Title] Competition and Cooperation
This was inspired by Self Serving Eunuchs Go Hiking. I really love the basic concept, and after reading, begin work on a similarly themed game. What i don't currently have:…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, failrate.

10/17/2003 LordSmerf: Question on Mail Delivery time...
I ordered a copy of TRoS last Saturday. My question is: what shipping method is used and how long should i expect to wait. To go to the mail box…
In The Riddle of Steel
Participants: LordSmerf, Valamir, Richard_Strey, Brian Leybourne.

10/16/2003 LordSmerf: [Universalis - Nominally anyway] The Dead Can Dance
This was ostensibly a game of Universalis. We did generate Components and used traits, but never used Complications or Challenges. It was rather fun. A little background. This game was…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes.

10/15/2003 LordSmerf: [Dungeon Brawl] Hack and Slash for fun!
So i hit upon this idea yesterday and have been fleshing out some details. It's not exactly complex. The basic design is based on the fact that i want to…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, anonymouse, NeuroZombie, Jack Aidley, ethan_greer.

10/15/2003 LordSmerf: What ever happened to:Self Serving Eunuchs Go Hiking?
Does anyone know whatever happened to Self Serving Eunuchs Go Hiking? I stumbled accross the thread thanks to a tip from some people over at Indie Netgaming. This concept was…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, anonymouse, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

10/10/2003 LordSmerf: A question on setting up complications...
Mike, Rapl, or both of you... I'm fairly new to the game, but last night a question was raised. When does a Complication begin and what can be narrated prior…
In Universalis
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, Valamir, Mulciber, dragon_of_colour.

10/10/2003 LordSmerf: Gamist Goodness
Recently i've been wanting to play a Gamist game. Something that's all about powering up your character and very Players vs. DM oriented. I know that some of you have…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, C. Edwards, rafial, hix, M. J. Young.

10/6/2003 LordSmerf: The Difference between Published Design and Actual Play?
I was going to post this in another thread, but it was so off topic that i decided to split it before it derailed the previous discussion (again). Ron Edwards…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, Mark Johnson, deadpanbob, Tomas HVM, Ron Edwards, Jonathan Walton, Mike Holmes, RaconteurX.

10/2/2003 LordSmerf: The Ever-Elusive "Perfect" Damage System
No, i don't have it. Yes, i want it badly. Therefore i propose the following: This thread's express purpose is the discussion of damage systems. Anything from tracking character damage,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, Heather Manley, Jeph, gobi, Jack Spencer Jr, RaconteurX, M. J. Young, SumDood, Jack Aidley.

10/1/2003 LordSmerf: Who we play with
After some consideration over the weekend, i have decided that it is worth discussing the following point which was briefly mentioned in my Evolution of Preferences thread. The question is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, bcook1971, jdagna, M. J. Young.

9/25/2003 LordSmerf: "Radical" Ideas from Non-gamers
In the When can we stop making "games" thread it was mentioned that often, ideas that people who have spent time gaming find radical, seem rather logical to people who…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, Christopher Kubasik, Jonathan Walton, AnyaTheBlue, bcook1971, Andrew Martin, samdowning, Bankuei, Palaskar, LeftWingPenguin, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young.

9/24/2003 LordSmerf: The Evolution of Gaming Preference
After an extended hiatus, i was drawn back to the Forge by this discussion on redundant characters. Other than the fact that i saw, at least to some degree, a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, bcook1971, Ben Lehman, Jack Spencer Jr, John Kim, pete_darby, Ron Edwards, Mark Johnson, contracycle, samdowning, b_bankhead, Marco, M. J. Young.

5/10/2003 LordSmerf: A little help on probability curves please...
This is something that i just started working with the other day, so the answer may be simple and i'm just missing it. Anyway, i was messing around with curves…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, M. J. Young.

5/8/2003 LordSmerf: The Three Levels - An introductory thread
This is my first post, so i figured i'd start with something i've already worked on. Please feel free to provide feedback and criticism... Beginning canned essay... I don't know…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, Jack Spencer Jr, Jay Turner, Ron Edwards.

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Subsequent Topics

11/18/2003 LordSmerf: [Freak High] Undead Vermin and Mind Control
So since the planned Indie Netgaming stuff fell through tonight we decided to play Freak High. It was anonymouse's suggestion, but he bailed on us (i'm hoping technical stuff, and…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf.

11/21/2003 LordSmerf: Shooting people with guns mechanics
I'm not sure if this should be in Theory or not, i'm sure it will be moved if it needs to be. Anyway, what i'm looking for is a survey…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, xiombarg, Harlequin, Dev, Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman, jdagna, M. J. Young, theltemes, contracycle, gobi.

12/17/2003 LordSmerf: Question concerning high quality color printing.
Over in the Interesting Space Dogfights thread we tossed around the idea of using computer generated graphics and shots from the Hubble (and other similar sources) as art for a…
In Publishing
Participants: LordSmerf, jdagna.

12/25/2003 LordSmerf: [Universalis] Lessons learned
So tuesday night we played a game of Universalis. The group consisted of: Me. about 7 games WW. about 5 games JG. about 6 games NL. about 5 games PW.…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Bob McNamee, Tony Irwin, Ron Edwards, rafial, Christopher Kubasik, TW, Paul Czege, Christopher Weeks, Valamir.

12/29/2003 LordSmerf: [My Life With Master] University Days
This is a direct transcript of my first MLwM game. The notes include our explaination and brainstorming session as well as our actual Pregame and first play session. Hopefully i'll…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Paul Czege, Bob McNamee.

12/29/2003 LordSmerf: [Powers That Be] Rethinking some old ideas
So after taking some time of from Powers That Be. I've decided to consider a couple of new ideas. One, based on the thread over in GNS Model Discussion: Good…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, anonymouse, Ron Edwards, John Harper.

1/18/2004 LordSmerf: [MLwM] University Days
This is a log of our final two sessions of My Life With Master. This is a continuation of this game. The record keeping duties were transferred to a different…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Mike Holmes, Mulciber.

7/17/2004 LordSmerf: [Caper] A Game in Search of a Premise
So i started this project intending to enter it as a 24 Hour RPG. Basically i'm trying to capture the feel of Caper fiction. Examples include: The Italian Job, Ocean's…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, MikeSands, TonyLB, Sydney Freedberg, Blankshield, Stephen, Ron Edwards, Jere, Juicetyger, Thor, SteveCooper, Frank T.

7/18/2004 LordSmerf: [Capes] Danger from the Shadows
So we played Capes tonight. I had a lot of fun, especially considering its half-finished state. A little background: We had three players with me as the GM. We've all…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, TonyLB.

7/29/2004 LordSmerf: Shared Publishing Center
So as i read over Phillip Reed's Fun Size project i started to wonder: Is there enough interest to support a website that is dedicated to publishing compilations (probably as…
In Publishing
Participants: LordSmerf, Vaxalon, Jack Aidley.

8/21/2004 LordSmerf: [Capes] Class Struggle
So we played Capes again. We had fun, but things went much differently from last time. We took for our inspiration this game the Justice League International of the mid…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Jinx, Sydney Freedberg.

8/27/2004 LordSmerf: [Trust & Betrayal] Workable concept or insane babbling?
So i have been thinking a lot about meta level gameplay recently... I find the things you can do with the system beyond modeling events incredibly compelling. Anyway, i have…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, TonyLB, timfire, Vaettyr, John Kirk, Ron Edwards.

8/29/2004 LordSmerf: [D&D 3.5] Looking back and seeing yourself behind you
So, with school and work it has been more and more difficult to make time to play around my area with the regular group. I ended up looking up the…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Ron Edwards, Tobias, Vaxalon, ffilz, Alan, Doug Ruff, eef, Ian O'Rourke.

9/1/2004 LordSmerf: [Capes] Rough Justice - New Beginnings
So, we played Capes over IRC Monday night. You can check out Tony's most recent posts over in Game Design to see what changes he is considering after this playtest.…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Ron Edwards, TonyLB, b_bankhead.

9/12/2004 LordSmerf: [Universalis] Short, sweet, and what's the point?
So Friday evening, as we were waiting for the rest of the group to show up, two of us played a game of Universalis. It was a rather interesting game…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf, Valamir, Tony Irwin, Mulciber.

9/28/2004 LordSmerf: [Trust and Betrayal] Where's the conflict?
So i have been thinking quite a bit about Trust and Betrayal and i think i have most of what i want fleshed out. I will have to test it…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, TonyLB.

9/30/2004 LordSmerf: Reasons for cross-gender play
I am a male. I play female characters in roughly 40% of my games. I was idly wondering about that the other day when i realized why i do it.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, Vaxalon, beingfrank, Ben Lehman, Emily Care, Matt Wilson, Paul Czege, DannyK, Dr. Velocity, M Jason Parent, Sydney Freedberg, Roger, Ron Edwards, jrs, John Kim, M. J. Young, Ravien, List, Baraboo, John Uckele.

10/3/2004 LordSmerf: [Trust and Betrayal] A couple of points regarding Draft 1
So i managed to get a first draft of Trust and Betrayal hammered out. You can find the draft here if you are interested (and i hope you are). There…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: LordSmerf, John Kirk, TonyLB.

10/8/2004 LordSmerf: Technique and Ephemera Inventory
So over the past couple of days i have been going back over a bunch of old threads trying to find some sort of comprehensive (heck, i would settle for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: LordSmerf, lumpley, Ron Edwards.

10/8/2004 LordSmerf: [Capes] Rough Justice #4 - Unmasked!
For those who have been following our adventure in Rough Justice, the most recent (and final) session can be found here (In Character) and here (Out of Character). One interesting…
In Actual Play
Participants: LordSmerf.

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