Reading list GM Budget
Compiled by Vincent Baker
5/21/2001 Clinton R. Nixon: Rune - the analysis
I managed to pick up Atlas Games' Rune this weekend and am about half-way through it. So far, I think it's a masterpiece, but I was biased going in.
It's extreme Gamism: the basic point is that players gain points for the actions of their heroes, Viking warriors (1 pt/1 hit point damage given to enemies, extra points for killing,…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: Clinton R. Nixon, Jared A. Sorensen, hardcoremoose, Mike Holmes, Ian O'Rourke, Valamir.
11/16/2002 Sparky: Character Death Mechanics?
Hi folks! I'm mainly looking for some options here. I tried various search queries in the forge archives and even a couple of google searches...I couldn't find anything much on the topic, which seems odd to me.
Background: I'm using a sort of a nine rung "result ladder," where I (so far) have positive and negative 'permanent results' at the…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Sparky, Andrew Martin, Mike Holmes, M. J. Young, GreatWolf, Jared A. Sorensen, Ron Edwards, damion, John Wick.
4/29/2003 Matt Wilson: PTA: No Myth structure?
I started thinking about the following rules for Primetime Adventures soon after the current playtest started. I think what I've got below might actually promote the no-myth play that's been recently discussed, but it might just be the diet coke talking.
Anyway, PTA is a game about a player-created TV show, in the vein of the currently popular action-drama hybrids,…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Matt Wilson, Mike Holmes, Jeffrey Miller, kregmosier.
1/31/2004 John Harper: UniPool -- Its Universalis! It's The Pool! It's both!
[b]UniPool[/b]
Universalis meets The Pool
Each player gets a stack of 10 coins at the start of each session. Any coins left over from a previous session are lost. These coins represent your “author power” in the session.
The GM gets a stack of 20 coins. You'll see why in a bit.
[b]Gameplay[/b]
The GM frames all scenes. The GM…
In Random Order Creations
Participants: John Harper, HMT, Alan, James V. West, Bob McNamee.
6/7/2004 Matt Wilson: PTA: revised budget and fan mail
Here's a fix to the current troubles I've had with awarding fan mail and maintaining a dice ecosystem.
My primary concern is reward and dice systems that promote the right kind of play, but I thought a lot about Mike's wariness of traits with names that don't match their use as much as they suggest. So maybe with this I've…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: Matt Wilson, Mike Holmes.
2/15/2005 TonyLB: GM-task: Test to Extremity
I split this off from Why would anybody want to GM? because it's a little off topic, and I want to take it a LOT further.
I articulated it on my blog kind of like this: there are three ways of knowing a character.
First, as the character's player/creator/owner/author. I want to know my characters inside and out so that…
In RPG Theory
Participants: TonyLB, lumpley, Sydney Freedberg, Doctor Xero, John Kim, clehrich, Kat Miller, Emily Care, Mark Woodhouse, LordSmerf, Brendan.
3/22/2005 Lxndr: RPG History: Limiting GM Resources
[b]Fastlane[/b] does something that, as far as I'm aware, not too many roleplaying games does: it gives the GM limited resources to spend on the world and the opposition of the PCs, much in the same way PCs have limited resources to spend in return on their characters and their actions.
In most RPGs I've run across, the GM is…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Lxndr, lumpley, Marco, James Holloway, M. J. Young, Zubon-do, contracycle, anonymouse.
4/25/2005 David Bapst: Difficulty/Success Needed as it relates to GM Fiat
Hello all,
Don't precisely know if this has been discussed before. If anyone could post links to past conversations, that would be greatly helpful.
I've been thinking recently on difficulties/success needed/required number/whatever you want to call it. For specific examples, DCs in Dungeons and Dragons, the target number/difficulty/successes needed in the Storyteller system, etc. I don't need to name every…
In RPG Theory
Participants: David Bapst, Matt Wilson, WhiteRat, Jinx, John Burdick, Noon, John Kim, daMoose_Neo, Valamir, Landon Darkwood.
5/14/2005 Ian Charvill: Marginalia on InSpectres
I didn't get to play yet as much as I'd like. I was looking to change job about the time I started running it and my first application turned into an interview turned into a job. We did character generation and a session where the players moved into their franchise headquarters.
I'm intending to try it again once I put…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ian Charvill, Jared A. Sorensen, Michael S. Miller.
7/17/2005 Matt Wilson: the balance of power - brainstorming
Hey.
So if you've ever played Primetime Adventures, you know about Budget, which is my response to what I always considered a daunting task as GM, which is providing the right amount of adversity for the player characters. There are very few games that don't leave the amount of toughness totally up to the GM, and I'm thinking that for…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Matt Wilson, xenopulse, matthijs, timfire, Bankuei, Clinton R. Nixon, Nathan P., Sydney Freedberg, bcook1971, Technocrat13, Ron Edwards, Miskatonic, chadu, contracycle, Sean, Adam Dray, spawky, John Harper, M. J. Young.
7/29/2005 Everspinner: Target Numbers, or the last bastion of GM fiat
Hello
There is an area of game design that I have been wondering about for a while. Since it is something that must have been discussed before, I would appreciate it if you could point me to any good threads. Failing that, pointers to games that have tackled the issue, or opinions based on actual play would be most welcome.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Everspinner, GB Steve, Jack Aidley, daMoose_Neo, Noon, cruciel, Adam Dray, xenopulse, David Bapst, Gelasma, simon_hibbs, btrc, Andrew Norris, John Harper.
9/10/2005 Noon: Complete games with unguided resource assignment
Just a quick question or three: What is the take of people here on RPG's which ask for users to assign mechanical resources without system guidance? Say, like a game which has some combat rules and stuff but some guy, usually the GM, is to draw up a dungeon for it (a dungeon, or whatever material suits the setting and…
In RPG Theory
Participants: Noon, TonyLB, Shreyas Sampat, Gordon C. Landis, Kynn, Sean, LordSmerf, Joshua BishopRoby, Vaxalon, RPGnut, John Kim.
12/2/2005 xenopulse: [Beast Hunters of Chel'qhur] It's All About the Challenge
Well, I just lost my long post on this because something closed my browser window. So this one will be shorter. I hope it'll still catch your interest, because I'm very excited about this one.
Here it is: Beast Hunters of Chel'qhur.
This is the fruit of several months of work, a Gamist design based on the lessons I learned…
In Indie Game Design
Participants: xenopulse, Noon, Joshua BishopRoby, Clinton R. Nixon, jasonm.
4/13/2006 Filip Luszczyk: Adversarial GM - incentives to win?
A thought occurred to me a few days ago, when I've been working out some new rules for my project. Basically, in my game GM has the following functions:
-He controls everything that the players don't (he plays the world).
-He possesses a little bit more narrative veto power than the other players (there's not much GM's fiat).
-During the…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Filip Luszczyk, timfire, MatrixGamer, Noon, Thunder_God, Paul Strack, Kat Miller, Michael S. Miller, FlameLover.
8/20/2006 Valamir: How many minions? How much Strife?
Lets assume 4 players, at least one of whom has the divine blood d8 Name die.
The maximum Strife for a single NPC would be 20. The maximum number of minions of up to 10 Strife strength is also 20.
Whats a good rule of thumb for NPC strife and number of minions to throw at the hero band if:…
In one.seven design
Participants: Valamir, John Harper, demiurgeastaroth, rafial.
10/28/2006 Ron Edwards: [Dead of Night] Werewolves! Men with guns! Mom!
Hello,
Last week, Tim A's household was laid low by kid crud, so Tim K, Chris, and I met to play a one-session game in the interim between Shadow of Yesterday sessions. That meant I could play the must-play game I'd been carrying around in my pocket for a couple of weeks and showing to everyone. It's even called a…
In Actual Play
Participants: Ron Edwards, Ben Lehman, inthisstyle, Yokiboy, andrew_kenrick, rumble, charlesperez, Web_Weaver, Tim C Koppang, Tancred.
9/7/2007 Willow: [Poison'd] A Boring Thread About Theory
Ok Vincent, let's go. Bring it on.
In lumpley games
Participants: Willow, JC, Temple, lumpley, Ben Lehman, Andrew Barton, Eliarhiman6, Christopher Kubasik, Parthenia.
3/25/2008 Peter Nordstrand: [While We Were Fighting] GM Dice Pool
[i]While We Were Fighting[/i] is a game about powerful people intriguing in a fictional Italian renaissance city. It is a decidedly narrativist game, drawing inspiration from such perennial favourites as Sorcerer, HeroQuest, Universalis, and others.
[b]My Problerm[/b]
I would appreciate some help deciding how to determine the GMs dice pool in conflict resolution.
[b]Conflict Resolution: A Brief Summary[/b]
All players…
In Playtesting
Participants: Peter Nordstrand, Anders, Marshall Burns.
4/23/2008 agony: [Poison'd] average booty...?
Just finished reading Poison'd and I'm in utter agony; the game is absolutely stellar and I don't even know if I will get to play in the foreseeable future.
Anyway, the point of this topic is concerning the following quote: "A single pirate's share of a single raided ship could amount to three, four hundred pieces of eight worth -…
In lumpley games
Participants: agony, lumpley, GB Steve, Pelgrane, Graham Walmsley.