Previous Topics

12/18/2003 Calithena: [Shifter]
OK - preface - I have no intention to actually publish this game, it's a system to facilitate something I'm doing with a friend. You can find a discussion of…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Calithena, Ben Lehman, RaconteurX, Valamir.

12/18/2003 Calithena: Can I see a sample monster? A sample NPC?
I'm curious about what these things look like in Burning Wheel and how long they take to whip up.
In Burning Wheel
Participants: Calithena, rafial, taepoong, abzu.

12/17/2003 Calithena: Can I get a game rec?
Okay, so one of my best players is going to start playing a new game with me. His character is a shapeshifter. I first went to Sorcerer, because I've been…
In Actual Play
Participants: Calithena, Mike Holmes, Paul Czege, RaconteurX, Clinton R. Nixon, Anthony I, Rob MacDougall, Michael S. Miller, Shadetree.

12/17/2003 Calithena: Simulationism
In the thread at http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=9025 , I offered some thoughts on Exalted. These lead me to ask some questions. Ron's distinction there between the excitement generated by thinking about a…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, Alan, Ian Charvill, Ron Edwards, M. J. Young, Silmenume.

12/11/2003 Calithena: Dragon Magic
Hi folks - I posted this on rpg.net but am not getting much feedback, so I thought I'd see if anyone nibbled here. Basically, this isn't Glorantha, and I haven't…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Calithena, RaconteurX, Mike Holmes, epweissengruber, soru.

12/6/2003 Calithena: Hackmaster: The Postmodern RPG
OK, I've been trying to restrain myself on this one for a while, but since HM and KoDT came up in the Actual Play thread on Abused Player Syndrome, I…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Calithena, Jack Spencer Jr, Bill_White, gobi, Noon, ross_winn, ColonelHardisson, Funksaw, eyebeams, Rob MacDougall, Jaif, John Kim.

11/26/2003 Calithena: Interesting RPG history link
I got some offline queries about RPG history. Victor Raymond, who plays in M.A.R. Barker's Thursday Night Game, wrote the article at the attached lnik; he hasn't followed it up…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Calithena, Emily Care, Valamir, Jack Spencer Jr, Liz Henry.

11/23/2003 Calithena: Anaxial's Roster
Are they planning a new version for HeroQuest, or has that already been done, or are they just going to stick with the old version even though there have been…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Calithena, Peter Nordstrand, Der_Renegat, Ron Edwards, pete_darby, Mark Galeotti.

10/31/2003 Calithena: GNS: Theses, Claims, Comments, and Questions
1. Gamism, simulationism, and narratism are modes of play for games. (Question: is there some principled reason for thinking that these are all there are? What is it? Or is…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, M. J. Young, Ian Charvill, Mike Holmes.

10/30/2003 Calithena: Mu's Bed II
Paka, my money is in your pocket the second any version of this hits pdf or the stores. This stuff rocks the HOUSE! Probably you've read her stuff already long…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, Paka.

10/30/2003 Calithena: DERPG and GNS
I'm jumping ahead to the next step here, but I want to pose a basic question and see how people answer it. I think that the Dying Earth RPG is…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, gentrification.

10/30/2003 Calithena: Premise Revisited - Educate Me
I get stance, and the actor/author stance distinction has been one of the most fertile ideas I've gotten for thinking about my gaming in a long, long time. I think…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, Ian Charvill, Ron Edwards, greyorm, Valamir, Tim C Koppang, Mike Holmes, Lxndr, Marco, C. Edwards, lumpley, Gordon C. Landis, M. J. Young, Paganini.

10/29/2003 Calithena: [Sorcery & Sword] Humanity Trading
I'm sure this has come up before, but I couldn't find an old thread. So I'll just ask. I decide I want to play a strongman type character. Really strong,…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, Valamir, scorpio rising, Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon.

10/27/2003 Calithena: D&D and Gamism, continued
This is in response to Mike Holmes' and subsequent posts on the D&D spells and gamism thread, because it's a more general topic. Ron's essay is right on as far…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, anonymouse, greyorm, failrate, Blake Hutchins, ScottM, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, Andrew Norris.

10/27/2003 Calithena: Stat Scaling in Sorcerer
I've seen Ron imply in a thread on rpg.net that demons with Power 15 can 'eat Cthulhu'. Where does that leave demons like Gutterblax and Lashtipus from Charnel Gods, with…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, sirogit.

10/27/2003 Calithena: Character Conversion
This is a conversion of my namesake character, who I have played off and on (mostly with the same GM) for more than two decades, to Sorcerer. I'm open to…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, lumpley, Mike Holmes.

10/27/2003 Calithena: Computers, Gamist Design, and the Future of TRPGing
One thing that reguarly pushes my interest in gaming towards the narrativist and world-building (I guess this is simulationist, but so is wanting to know exactly which tendon that sword…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, Andrew Martin, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Valamir, anonymouse.

10/25/2003 Calithena: D&D Spells and Resource Allocation Problems
Okay, I'm not quite up to speed on all the theory here yet, but I'm a quick study. But I wanted to bounce something off the people here as worth…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Calithena, Walt Freitag, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

10/23/2003 Calithena: [Sorcery & Sword] Query for R. Edwards re: Fantastic Fic
Ron, I loved your take on the different genres of fantastic fiction in Sorcery and Sword. You have exquisite taste, which as F/SF editor and critic Don Herron once noted,…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, greyorm, joshua neff, David Chunn, Rod Anderson, Ian Charvill, Heraclitus.

10/23/2003 Calithena: [Charnel Gods] Vanye's Demon
It occurred to me that while the world of Morgaine's saga is fundamentally different in character from Naur Tier, there is a kind of isomorphism between Morgaine's and Vanye's quests…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, David Chunn.

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Subsequent Topics

1/6/2004 Calithena: PBeM?
Has anyone tried Burning Wheel for PBeM play? The thing that makes me think it might be a cut above the norm is the 'combat scripting' approach, though I only…
In Burning Wheel
Participants: Calithena, Lxndr.

1/6/2004 Calithena: Shapeshifting in Sorcerer
OK, here's a problem I've been struggling with for a while. Let's say you have a demon concept which involves a parasite/possessor demon allowing its host to take on any…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards, Tim Alexander, greyorm, erithromycin.

1/7/2004 Calithena: Resolution Mechanic Query
After some initial experimentation I really like the method of opposed dice pool resolution in Sorcerer and Donjon. One thing I like about it is that I don't know exactly…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Calithena, Mike Holmes.

1/8/2004 Calithena: Device for Gamism
This is just an aside to Mike's Standard Rant #7. I noticed Drifter Bob there talking about a hypothetical spell 'Goodnight', which is basically a device allowing the party to…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, Mike Holmes, contracycle, Umberhulk, M. J. Young.

1/9/2004 Calithena: Follow-up Query
Wow! That was an extremely interesting game. We're going to continue. Roleplaying a whole land full of people mostly at Humanity 0, without memory or a sense of identity, was…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards.

1/12/2004 Calithena: RPG/CCG hybrid scam; Monetary Awards in RPGs more generally
In another thread, Mike Holmes wrote: "The one thing that I always bring up regarding that we have this scorekeeping device…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Calithena, MachMoth, Andrew Martin, contracycle, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, xiombarg, Drifter Bob, damyano.

1/15/2004 Calithena: Another Sorcerer Combat Question
Hiero is fighting Gurk and Gookin. Hiero has five dice, gook and gurkin 3 each. They roll off. Hiero gets 65442; Gurk gets 543; Gookin gets 331. Hiero goes first.…
In Adept Press
Participants: Calithena, jburneko, Ron Edwards, Mike Holmes, Lxndr, zmook, Blind Hero.

1/20/2004 Calithena: Making a Game out of Magic
This is the kind of thread I never know whether to put here or in RPG theory. I want to discuss some issues relating to RPG magic systems in a…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Calithena, Lxndr, gobi, Umberhulk, Shreyas Sampat, Valamir, GreatWolf, Jack Aidley, Christopher Weeks, apeiron, M. J. Young, Paul Czege, BPetroff93, RaconteurX.

1/26/2004 Calithena: Weapon Traits
Inspired by parts of Sorcerer & Sword, as well as discussions in the TRoS forum, I've been wondering about treating weaponry in fantasy RPGs strictly through the traits of the…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, montag, lumpley, Christopher Weeks, talysman, Lorenzo Rubbo-Ferraro, clehrich.

8/11/2005 Calithena: Are these two things incompatible?
1. "You're in a cavern of undulating stone, with an ancient brass demon-idol hulking above its farther reaches. Three bestial humanoids stand guard before it, waving flails..." (During the battle,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Calithena, Alan, Ron Edwards.

1/22/2006 Calithena: [S&S] Managing Outsized Adversity
This relates to the game I'm designing at http://1.myfreebulletinboard.com/calithena-forum-12.html&sid=fb44d74ad26efba39c2651a46e4c5921 but has some more general application. I'm designing a game where some key elements - adventure location, magical spells and items,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Calithena, dindenver, contracycle.

2/17/2006 Calithena: [S&S] Ask How
I just roughed out the following text for the game I'm writing. It's an attempt to formalize the play-procedures associated with certain variations on the 'realism' question. Feedback would be…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Calithena, Sempiternity.

2/19/2006 Calithena: My Hangup/Grist for the Mill
I was just reading Paul's starting situation stuff and I see the problem he needs to solve. Every time I think about this game, I imagine the characters are all…
In Acts of Evil Playtest Board
Participants: Calithena, Paul Czege.

3/1/2006 Calithena: [Azureflame] Conflict Resolution & Imaginary Content
So I gamed all weekend with my friend Del. There are a bunch of thoughts percolating but I want to focus on a particular scene: not the pivotal scene of…
In Playtesting
Participants: Calithena, Noon, heraclitusagain.

3/17/2006 Calithena: Heroquest Probabilities Question
Talking extended contests here - rough answers are OK. (I already know the answers for simple contests, they're easy to analyze, and weird - I think I'd come extended or…
In HeroQuest
Participants: Calithena, Tim Ellis, Mike Holmes, Hans, Vaxalon, epweissengruber.

7/16/2006 Calithena: [AP & History] Initiative Rules
I was running my system for some old friends the last couple of weeks. I decided a while back that initiative rules were not worth the time they took, but…
In Actual Play
Participants: Calithena, Tommi Brander.

11/24/2006 Calithena: [Father & Son Fantasy] Looking for some help
Hi folks - I've now run 2 sessions of a fantasy game for a father and son in the neighborhood I like. We generated characters using a moderately homebrewed (mostly…
In Actual Play
Participants: Calithena, Paul T, Noon, Ron Edwards, WDFlores, David Artman.

2/16/2007 Calithena: Miniatures-Driven Roleplaying Rules
Hi all - I'm working on a system right now which is sort of an 'alternate direction' RPGs could have evolved back in the seventies. Instead of trying to make…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Calithena, RyanMacklin, Leviathan, komradebob, johnwedd, Simon C, Darcy Burgess, Samael, mratomek, Thenomain, TroyLovesRPG, David Artman.

3/1/2007 Calithena: [Hero's Banner] The Madness of Tucaescu
Paul, Danielle, George and I have started playing this game, with Paul GMing. There will be lots to say, but first I want to get something out of the way.…
In Actual Play
Participants: Calithena, Tim C Koppang, Nev the Deranged, Paul Czege, geestar3.

8/29/2007 Calithena: POD in digest size?
Hi all - I have a gaming project with legs going on with some other people and we want to do it POD. Ideally we'd like it to be digest-sized…
In Publishing
Participants: Calithena, Ron Edwards, jasonm, Ben Lehman.

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