Previous Topics

11/20/2003 gobi: Trailers for RPGs
The thought crosses my mind after seeing this trailer for Robota: Reign of Machines. The opening shot of a trio of skinny semi-humanoid robots treking through the windy desert, clad…
In Publishing
Participants: gobi, Ron Edwards, Clinton R. Nixon, Jason L Blair, Chris Passeno, max.lambertini, Matt Snyder, Ben Morgan, Gold Rush Games.

11/17/2003 gobi: [Freak High] A spin on superpowers as social disadvantage
This was going to be posted on spooky's thread, but he seems to be going in a different direction with his game now. Still, the discussion of superpowers as uncontrollable…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, LordSmerf, Spooky Fanboy, Andrew Martin.

11/16/2003 gobi: [PUNK] Two possible minor revisions to task resolution
Quick recap, 'cause it's been a while since the last update. PUNK is a game of rebellion against the Man. It lays out a basic system tailored to the more…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Shreyas Sampat, Lxndr, Dev.

11/8/2003 gobi: Game Design 101: A survey
Assume you were to create and teach a college course in the design of role-playing games: 1) Summarize the nature of your class and its ultimate goal. 2) What would…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, M. J. Young, Eero Tuovinen, jdagna, fusangite, Calithena, Lxndr, Dotan Dimet, Emily Care, Mike Holmes, John Kim, Ben Lehman, Comte, ross_winn, eyebeams, damion.

10/22/2003 gobi: Encouraging Cheating
While cooking up Gears & Spears' setting-influenced task resolution, I started thinking about a task resolution appropriate for Take, my criminal underworld/heist side side project formerly titled "Pull." Because the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, ethan_greer, Christopher Weeks, Jonathan Walton, Tim Alexander, LordSmerf, Harlequin, Mike Holmes, Jeph, Lxndr, M. J. Young.

10/22/2003 gobi: [Gears & Spears] New Mythic Task Resolution (long post)
It's been a while since the last update, but I have indeed written a bit more for the game (though nothing ready to be posted on the page itself.) One…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, anonymouse, raga, Shreyas Sampat, Jonathan Walton.

10/11/2003 gobi: Discussion vs. Self-Promotion
I've often worried about something when posting on a thread. When the topic of the thread is something about do-it-yourself skills, for example, I'm compelled to discuss how PUNK handles…
In Site Discussion
Participants: gobi, Ron Edwards.

10/5/2003 gobi: [ bleed_ ] A 24-hour game
The Adults in Wonderland thread got me thinking about the Maxx and a game idea I once had for an rpg about people's outbacks bleeding into reality. I started writing…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Little_Rat, JimmyB, garapata.

10/3/2003 gobi: What are the usual specs for a RPG game site?
I've got several games being developed simultaneously and by the time they're ready to publish on html/pdf, I fear my dinky little university-provided webspace will fill up long before then.…
In Publishing
Participants: gobi, Matt Snyder, Marco, Mike Holmes, Matt, jdagna.

9/27/2003 gobi: [Gears & Spears] Update: Numero Uno
For those who missed the big, giant G&S thread, the results of that discussion have been compiled into this page. Recap The setting is Earth, two hundred million years after…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Jonathan Walton, RaconteurX, raga, Ben Lehman.

9/25/2003 gobi: Pull - A game of criminals and capers
The Urban Mythos thread has got me thinking about a quickie rpg concept I got a couple years ago, but never developed entirely. You can probably see prototypical hints of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Jason E. Roberts, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Tim Alexander, Zathreyel.

9/4/2003 gobi: Gears & Spears (A little side project)
[b]Gears & Spears[/b] [i]Mythic Tribal Robot Role-Playing in the Year 200,000,000 A.D.[/i] It all started with this stream-of-consciousness bit I wrote after coming home from work. [quote] The meat, in…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Mike Holmes, anonymouse, Lxndr, Ben Lehman, Jasper, mrteapot, Sylus Thane, WDFlores, Dumirik, raga, Ron Edwards, dragon_of_colour, Jeph, taalyn.

8/17/2003 gobi: Javascript Character Sheets?
I have PUNK currently set up as an html site. I'll be making a PDF as well, but the webpage will be a sort of sister site for more up-to-date…
In Publishing
Participants: gobi, Dev, Jonathan Walton, iago, Matt, HinterWelt.

8/15/2003 gobi: WTF? - A Game of Competitive Storytelling
Inspired by the FLCL thread in RPG Theory. Here's a link to the game as it stands: A very brief rough sketch. The way it's turning out is sort of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Mike Holmes, anonymouse.

8/12/2003 gobi: PUNK: Lycanthropunk - What should PCs do?
A while ago I posted a survey asking what were-animals folks would want to be in a lycanthropunk setting. Since then, I've I've chatted with people in several different circles…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Emote Control, Little_Rat.

8/7/2003 gobi: PUNK - System v. 0.5 feedback request
Soooo... I've spent the better part of the last two days finally straightening out the system for PUNK. I ditched the gritty stat-names since they were becoming more of a…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi.

7/31/2003 gobi: PUNK needs artists
If you've been reading my threads on the other forums, you're already familiar with the basic theme of PUNK. If you'd like some clarification, please PM me. Guidelines I want…
In Connections
Participants: gobi.

7/30/2003 gobi: Democratic Mechanic?
(Pasted from Theory) One could in theory devise a system where the player and the referee each propose an outcome of an action, and everyone votes (perhaps as…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, Ben Lehman, Hardpoint, Shreyas Sampat, iago, Mark Johnson, contracycle, simon_hibbs, Rob Donoghue.

7/25/2003 gobi: PUNK: Psipunk - A Rough Timeline of Universal Telepathy
(A word of warning, this is kind of a long read.) This is a rough timeline of events I've written up for the psipunk setting tentatively titled Mindcrash. My goal…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Ben Lehman, Brian Leybourne, Shreyas Sampat, Little_Rat, efindel.

7/14/2003 gobi: Game terminology in PUNK
(I'm not sure if this is the proper forum to ask this question, it might be more appropriate for RPG Theory. If so, I'll be glad to move it.) The…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Thomas Tamblyn, Cemendur, kregmosier, WDFlores, Shreyas Sampat, rafael, Lxndr, ross_winn.

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Subsequent Topics

12/6/2003 gobi: Word Banks / Knowing what a game is "about"
A few months ago, I was listening to music from Ecco the Dolphin 2. I loved that game as a kid, it was one of the few I'd play for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi.

12/9/2003 gobi: Percentile probability question...
Say the task resolution is a percentile roll vs. another person's percentile roll, whoever is higher wins. Now consider that it is possible to roll several d10s and only take…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, Dev, Brian Leybourne, John Kim, MachMoth, Ron Edwards, timfire.

12/13/2003 gobi: How does one go about "reactive" game design?
As opposed to "proactive" game design, wherein the designer gets an idea and develops it into a game, I'm considering "reactive" game design to be the act of trying to…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, anonymouse, John Kim, Andrew Martin.

12/20/2003 gobi: Off-Balance Resolution: A mechanic looking for a home
A mechanic just jumped out at me over breakfast, but I'm having trouble thinking of a setting or genre in which it would be most ideally suited. It's a mechanic…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, Noon, Bob McNamee, Andrew Martin, Chris Goodwin, Marhault, happyelf, M. J. Young, Shreyas Sampat, Harlequin.

12/26/2003 gobi: The Fun of Game Design
In response to the What are your goals as a game designer? thread, I'd like to ask slightly different questions. It is often said among big-time movie production crews that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, Lxndr, M. J. Young, ethan_greer, Palaskar, jdagna.

1/17/2004 gobi: [PUNK] Update agogo
Last update to PUNK was around August last year. It's time to take a another stab at the concept. In case people have forgotten about PUNK, it's an attempt at…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Mark Johnson, Jasper, Calithena, Dev, anonymouse, Shreyas Sampat, Jeph, Doctor Xero.

1/23/2004 gobi: Towards Mythic Storytelling and Mythic Role-play
This is a spinoff from the Mysterious Magic thread. They're powerful, but I'm unsure about the heavy emphasis on emotion. To me, that's really not a strong identifier of the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: gobi, Jonathan Walton, Shreyas Sampat, Calithena, greyorm, M. J. Young, clehrich, Harlequin, Bill_White, Mernya.

2/3/2004 gobi: Non-Gamist Rewards
So I'm working on mockups in the studio last night and it suddenly dawns on me that I can't think of any method of rewards (which I'm defining as "positive…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: gobi, Sean, Lxndr, Alan, Marhault, Ron Edwards, Harlequin, Gordon C. Landis, cruciel, M. J. Young, Rob Carriere, coxcomb, Shreyas Sampat.

2/6/2004 gobi: [PUNK: Boo York City] Initial Sketch of ectopunk supplement
Hey folks. Things have been crazy busy up in this joint with senior year hitting full throttle and the professors whipping us into shape. I did have a few minutes…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Doctor Xero, Dev, Spooky Fanboy.

2/21/2004 gobi: [Stat! TV Medical Drama] Design Goals
While putting aside the other game ideas that are simmering in the back of my brain for the time being, I started thinking of Tales of Human Drama! A few…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, MoonHunter.

3/28/2004 gobi: NPA Writer Update
I just sent Abzu a revised version of WTF? along with a tentative title logo. The only thing it's missing is a play example, but the deadline is approaching fast…
In Publishing
Participants: gobi, Lxndr, Matt, Mike Holmes, Michael S. Miller, xiombarg.

3/28/2004 gobi: [PUNK] Locked, Loaded, Ready for Playtest
After almost a year since first describing the concept and going through more than a few stages of development, I've finished a PDF version of PUNK and posted it online.…
In Connections
Participants: gobi, b_bankhead, Dev, Dumirik, Juicetyger.

4/4/2004 gobi: How have you coerced your friends to play a Forge game?
The only time I've managed to get people to play an indie game is when I got two guys to test out a tactical mini game in exchange for pizza…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: gobi, bcook1971, coxcomb, Argetlamh, Dev, joshua neff, Paka, Mike Holmes.

4/6/2004 gobi: When designing, do you ever think of a cool trait first?
I have a habit of coming up with names for traits that sound evocative and somewhat appropriate for a game without actually having a reason for those traits to exist…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: gobi, Shreyas Sampat, Ron Edwards, Lxndr, orbsmatt, xiombarg, Clinton R. Nixon, taalyn, Jonathan Walton, talysman, Rich Forest, clehrich.

4/6/2004 gobi: Tell me about... your undeveloped system
Sometimes weird system ideas just pop into your head without anything to for them to which to attach themselves. It's a shame, it is. Well, let's not let these systems…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: gobi, Jeph, Wolfen.

4/8/2004 gobi: [Azure Dusk] Brainstorming
Okay, the forum is about to close, but I wanted to get some real quick ideas for Azure Dusk now that a few people have expressed interest in seeing it…
In Forge Birthday Forum
Participants: gobi, Emily Care, anonymouse.

4/8/2004 gobi: [Azure Dusk] Brainstorming
Over on the birthday forum, I mentioned a weird game concept I have had sitting stillborn for several months because it was just too weird for me to get my…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Shreyas Sampat, Walt Freitag, Emily Care, Jeph, Marhault, Jonathan Walton, Lxndr, anonymouse.

10/24/2004 gobi: [Freak High] Second Draft
Let me start off by apologizing for my lengthy absence from the community. I've been gone for several months because of various RL reasons. Now that things are settled, I…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: gobi, Nathan P., Psuedopod, darthblevis, Dev, Shreyas Sampat.

12/8/2004 gobi: Meatbot Massacre and the Ransom Model
This doesn't pertain to RPGs specifically, but it's still a gaming-related online publication with an experimental distribution model, so I figured I'd give everyone a head's up on it. (And…
In Publishing
Participants: gobi, Jasper, inky, Vaxalon, ethan_greer, Tav_Behemoth, GregStolze, Valamir, Malak, Mike Holmes, Nathan, Noon, GaryTP, contracycle.

4/9/2005 gobi: The ransom is paid. Meatbot Massacre is released.
Yup. Many months ahead of schedule, the full ransom for Meatbot Massacre has been paid and it's now available for download. Previous threads about Meatbot Massacre and the Ransom Model…
In Publishing
Participants: gobi.

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