The Forge Archives

Greetings fellow gamers and designers,

I am as the title of the thread states quite new to this site, but very interested in this place for source material in creating my very own role-playing game. There are so many new terms and ideas here that I have little clue were to begin. I did not know so many terms existed for RPGs. To make my point, I would like a list of a few articles and threads to read in order for me to 'catch up' to everyone else. In the future I will post on the Game Design thread and talk in depth about the game I am creating. Thanks

Richard Leon

Welcome to the Forge, Richard!

To get an understanding of terms, I would start with the RPG Theory Wiki, and specifically with the Big Model. The Wiki has boatloads of terms, as well as links to articles and forum threads discussing the terms, so it makes a good starting place.

One thing to keep in mind regarding the articles is that many of them are dated. The concepts described have often undergone refinement and revision on the forums.

Look forward to seeing your game!

Richard,

Welcome to the Forge!

You're starting in the right place, wanting to design your own game, and planning to join in on the Indie Design forum.

Read the stickies in the Indie Design Forum.  You need to have a sense of how discussion works there, in order to get maximal use out of it.

Okay, so the question of terms.

First of all, the sticky at the top of the GNS forum includes a lot of useful links to start out.

Second, I would strongly encourage you to read a cluster of essays in the Articles section.  In particular, I would recommend opening up the Provisional Glossary as a reference-point, then actually reading:

[*]Simulationism: The Right to Dream
[*]Gamism: Step On Up
[*]Narrativism: Story Now
Also read:
[*]GNS and Other Matters

If you are designing a fantasy game, read:
[*]Fantasy Heartbreakers
[*]More Fantasy Heartbreakers

There are also a series of Standard Rants by Mike Holmes, which you can search for through the "Search" function in the toolbar above.[/list:u]Now my own opinion is that the first step in terms of jargon and so forth is to get the basic concept of the Big Model (which is discussed in the Glossary and the three type-essays listed above).  Once you have the general concept, just keep an eye on what happens in the GNS Forum (soon perhaps to be renamed the Big Model Forum).  But don't agonize about it.  Eventually you will see enough discussions in various places of the Big Model and its implications that it may matter to you exactly how it works, and then you need to re-read those essays very carefully.  But all you really need, certainly for discussing your game profitably, is a general conception of what the Model does and does not do.

Note on the Model
Don't worry about any of this too much.  So long as you're participating and getting something out of the discussion, the rest is gravy.  If you're stuck or confused, just ask.  Nobody will think you're dumb or something, and "newbie" is not a pejorative term here.

Note on Tone and Discussion at the Forge
If you should feel unhappy about the progress of a thread, e.g. you think you've been flamed or attacked or that people are derailing your thread or whatever, DON'T attack back.  Send a PM to Ron Edwards, the primary moderator, and ask him to help.  He is very supportive, especially of new members.  He is also anxious to explain miscommunications, and has a good ability to clear the air.  Discussion at the Forge is tightly moderated for tone; that is, flames, personal attacks, random comments about other things, and so on are not supposed to happen.  If they do, ask Ron about it.  If you do it, and he tells you not to, don't get angry -- ask him what the problem is and don't stop asking (by PM) until you understand where he's coming from.

Something that a great many new posters do, which you should be warned about in advance: don't post to old threads.  If it's off the first page of a forum, you shouldn't post to it.  If nobody's posted to it for more than a couple of weeks, you shouldn't post to it.  If you want to restart the discussion, post a new thread called:

Name of Old Thread, cont'd[/list:u]
Hoping that helps, welcome once more to the Forge.

Welcome to the Forge, Richard.

Chris already gave all the advice that's needed, so... enjoy the learning experience. :)

In addition to the threads Chris has pointed you to, I would suggest that you also read the following Stickies in the Site Disccusion area. These are very important for creating positive, helpful discussions and achieving the sorts of interaction which will be beneficial to you.

Etiquette at The Forge (policy) is by one of our two main moderators, and lists the expected rules of posting and responding for this site.

On Charitable Reading is also very helpful to understand the sort of behavior expected in discussions, by all participants.

The Infamous Five, though I list it last, is a very important group of threads collected for perusal.

Note that the post is actually a pointer to a large number of threads (the actual Infamous Five). Ron Edwards has said that he considers the Infamous Five "The single most important touchstone for any kind of historical review at the Forge..." You certainly don't have to read all of them (or even any of them), but they may prove of some interest to you.

I know that he has put some stuff on the Wiki, but I think that most of John Kim's stuff (which isn't just him, but his notations on other stuff) is still on his own site. Well worth checking out as well: http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/

Also an invaluable resource for the encyclopedia of RPGs there.

Mike

Thank you everyone!

I have read a few articles by Ron Edwards in the last couple of days and find these new terms to be quite facinating and applicable to my needs. Currently I am reading the "GNS and other matters of Role-Playing Theory and loving what is being said there. Now I feel I have some sense of where to start and get these darn ideas out of my head lol. I have had so many ideas, but had a devil of a time getting an actual game together. I have written a few articles for fantasy magazines, (and started a sourcebook for an Indie Game) but never could quite get the ideas of what I need for a foundation or place to start creating my game.

Now armed with some knowledge, I hope to have a nice post on the Premise of my game in the very near future.

Richard Leon

Not to stroke your ego or anything, Richard, but Ron for one is going to love having you around.

See, the usual reaction to being fascinated by these essays is to go post a bunch of questions and ruminations about them in the GNS Forum.  Your instinct, apparently, is to go play games and tell us about them in Actual Play.

Ron loves that.  So do we all, really.

Welcome again!  I look forward to your play descriptions.