Selected Forge Articles

     The following is a list of Forge articles that I have found interesting, in chronological order. These are generally about RPG theory and in particular the GNS model.

• All-out dissection (LONG AND BRUTAL) (Apr 24, 2001)
  Discussion of started by Ron Edwards over whether Simulationism is really a 'retreat' from pursuing real meta-game goals.
• "Story" Thoughts (May 10, 2001)
  Gordon Landis' questions on how the idea of story fits into GNS, along with Ron Edward's early answers.
• Friendlier G/N/S definitions (May 10, 2001)
  Attempts at paraphrased or alternate definitions of GNS.
• Scene Framing (Jul 9, 2001)
  Early discussion on the concept of scene framing -- advancing to a specific point of in-game time.
• A call for new terminology (Sep 10, 2001)
  A thread started by Hunter Logan, calling for an expansion of GNS to more specific game styles. He also announced dropping work on the FAQ.
• Gamism In Action or Why I Hate Arts and Crafts (Dec 12, 2001)
  A thread from Jesse Burneko describing his attempts at running old-style dungeon adventures using 3rd edition D&D, concluding: "Don't knock a good a gamist scenario when you see one. There's a real subtle craft and art there that's just plain beyond me." and "Gamism even at it's simplest dungeon crawl/treasure hunt form can be fun and rewarding and still be quite mature and not at all munchkiny or power gamey."
• Scene Framing and octaNe (Feb 4, 2002)
  More on scene framing.
• Narrativism sans Directorial Power? (Jun 11, 2002)
  A thread started by Nathan (Paganini), where everyone basically agrees that GNS Narrativism doesn't require Directorial Power.
• Power, Credibility, and Assent: aka The Lumpley Principle (Oct 4, 2002)
  The origin of the "Lumpley Principle", which states that "System" is the means of coming to consensus on what happens in the imaginary world.
• Narrativist vs Director Stance (Nov 08, 2002)
  Tony Irwin questions the relation of Narrativism to Director Stance.
• Mainstream: a revision (Nov 12, 2002)
  Thread #1 of 5 started by Ron Edwards.
• Actual play in the stores (Nov 15, 2002)
  Thread #2 of 5 started by Ron Edwards.
• Social Context (Nov 15, 2002)
  Thread #3 of 5 started by Ron Edwards, on the relation of out-of-game socializing to RPG play.
• Vanilla and Pervy [thread #4 of the Five] (Nov 19, 2002)
  A suggestion on the idea of "Vanilla" and "Pervy".
• Pervy Sim, Points of Contact, Accessibility: an example game (Nov 29, 2002)
  Vincent describes his play with Sarah Kahn and her group. This was referenced in No-Myth-of-Reality style.
• The Forge as a community (Thread #5 of 5) (Dec 2, 2002)
  Thead #5 of five started by Ron Edwards to discuss important issues.
• Egri & the "Lumpley Principle" (Dec 30, 2002)
  Vincent Baker (aka Lumpley) suggests from reading Egri that story will naturally arise from the right characters and starting situation.
• Backstory vs. Strong Character Creation (Jan 5, 2003)
  Thoughts on how to ensure that characters are motivated and will engage at the start of the game.
• Naive and Sophisticated: The Terms (Jan 27, 2003)
  Christopher Kubasik coins the term "fabulist" for games which operate by story logic rather than in-game reality logic.
• Railroading, Star Wars, and more (Jan 21, 2003)
  An extended thread where Fang Langford illustrated his theories.
• Useless Detail? (Feb 1, 2003)
  Discussion of character detail which may be irrelevant to the story (such as a peanut allergy), and whether it should be discouraged or encouraged.
• Confused over Simulationism + example campaign (Feb 7, 2003)
  Here I used the example of my Water-Uphill World campaign to question the definition of GNS Simulationism and how it differs from rgfa Threefold Simulationism.
• GNS - what is it? (Apr 3, 2003)
  An overview on the definition of the GNS theory, recommended by Ron Edwards.
• The Impossible Thing (Apr 4, 2003)
  A very long thread on relative roles of the GM and players in authoring the story of the game. "The Impossible Thing" is saying that the GM is the author of the story but the players control the protagonists.
• Creative Agenda == Explorative Agenda? (Apr 4, 2003)
  Gordon Landis observes that "Explorative Agenda" might be a better term for what has been labelled as "Creative Agenda" under GNS, since GNS claims to not cover many creative activities.
• What makes an RPG? (Apr, 2003)
  Discussion of what the definition of an RPG is.
• RPGs and Soap Operas [LONG] (Apr 12, 2003)
  Discussion of a long essay by Chris Lehrich on how to use television soap opera structure for an RPG campaign.
• A demoralising day (Apr 22, 2003)
  This was a long discussion of railroading, which included an extended discussion of Fang's No-Myth-of-Reality style.
• Plotless but Background-based Games (Apr 22, 2003)
  This was a thread started by myself concerning an open style of play which uses only background detail.
• Psychotic (or is it Schizoid) Game Design (Apr 30, 2003)
  Discussion started by Fang Langford's claim that RPGs which emulate fictional source material should use meta-game logic to drive resolution.
• Aesthetics and Reality (May 2, 2003)
  A suggestion by Chris Lehrich that games can be characterized by tension between reality and genre expectations. This lead to extended discussion of realism and genre.
• Elegance and Deliberateness (May 5, 2003)
  Discussion started by Fang Langford on the message communicated by RPG design.
• Aesthetics and Conveying Reality (May 7, 2003)
  A long thread developing the theory by Chris Lehrich and Emily Care about tension between "Baseline" (which is common reality) and "Vision" (which is the fictional reality).
• Confused Agendas and Practicality (May 18, 2003)
  A general discussion on the place of RPG theory and its relation to practical game-design.
• Casanova, homosexuality and underage sex (May 21, 2003)
  An extended discussion of immersion and role-playing. This included a controversial post by Valamir/Ralph Mazza where he asserted "Characters are not real", which became a topic for further discussion.
• Is this really Nar? (Jun 1, 2003)
  This delves into the question of intent for Nar and Sim, using an extended example of play from cruciel/Jason's campaign.
• Sharks With Lasers On Their Heads!!! (Jul 11, 2003)
  A discussion of the observed tendency for RPGs to have over-the-top elements.
• How to Handle Legal Dramas (Jul 11, 2003)
  A branch from the sharks-with-lasers discussion on how to do a legal drama as an RPG.
• Shadows in the Fog playtest (July, 2003)
  Discussion of a playtest which included three Forge members of a new game by Chris Lehrich called "Shadows in the Fog".
• The Lumpley Principle Goes Wading (Aug 2, 2003)
  Discussion of the Lumpley principle, including whether game rules can represent the game world.
• GNS - what is it? (split) (Aug 3, 2003)
  A belated continuation of the GNS overview, also recommended by Ron Edwards.
• "Playing my character" (Aug 5, 2003)
  Commentary by Ron on GNS analysis, following my Shadows in the Fog playtest discussion.
• Pitching "a new way" (Aug 5, 2003)
  On the Adept Press boards, Tim Alexander asks how to get players to trust the "new way" of playing enough for it to work.
• "Playing my character" Part 2 (Aug 7, 2003)
  More commentary on GNS analysis.
• Brief Critique of Relationship Mechanics (Sep 2, 2003)
  An extended discussion of relationship mechanics of the sort used in HeroQuest.
• Who Cares? (Sep 8, 2003)
  Extended discussion on character wants vs player wants, including Ralph Mazza's rant against Deep Immersion (as he defines it).
• My Character Would (Sep 11, 2003)
  An early discussion on the topic of players sticking to fixed character conceptions.
• Immersion and Story (Sep 17, 2003)
  A discussion about Authorial Appearance and its affect on the game.
• Front-loaded relationship-driven Nar/Sim overlap (Sep 23, 2003)
  A thread started by myself to talk about games which use .
• Shadows in the Fog - Sim? (October, 2003)
  Further discussion about the Shadows in the Fog playtest.
• Gaming on Purpose (Oct 29, 2003)
  Some ideas about Narrativist ideas in practice.
• GNS: Theses, Claims, Comments, and Questions (Oct 31, 2003)
  Calithena's ideas on GNS.
• Mission Selection and Player Authorship (Nov 5, 2003)
  A thread which tackles whether PC action can constitute authorship via mission selection (i.e. deciding what the PC's goals are).
• Narrativism for the Soul (Nov 20, 2003)
  An emotional/personal attempt at describing what Narrativism means, as a counter to various formal attempts at definition.
• Open Play for the Soul (Nov 26, 2003)
  A personal attempt by myself at describing what my melting pot play style is like, and how it came about.
• Anti-my-guy Syndrome (Dec 5, 2003)
  Discussion of conflicts between players who have in-character PC actions which annoy other players -- often classified as "My Guy" syndrome.
• Seeking methods of "Plot Framing" (Dec 15, 2003)
  Suggestions for actual play on how the GM should use plot and use of points for plot control that the players can spend.
• The whole model - this is it (Dec 15, 2003)
  Ron Edwards' original explanation of his taxonomy relating Social Contract, Exploration, Creative Agenda, Techniques, and Ephemera.
• [Narrativism essay] Concept & excerpt (Dec 18, 2003)
  Ron Edward's preview of his (at the time) upcoming essay on Narrativism, and related discussion.
• Simulationist Storytelling Systems (Dec 20, 2003)
  Question about GNS Simulationist systems which make use of player narration.
• Simulationism Revisited (Dec 26, 2003)
  Suggestion by John Kim about a subdivision of GNS Simulationism into "Immersionist" and "Fabulist".
• Adventures in RGFA Simulationism (Dec 30, 2003)
  Vincent Baker describes an immersive play experience of his, where instinctively following his character lead to meaningful insight about what was going on.
• What is the Dream? (Jan 9, 2004)
  A long thread on the concept of "The Dream" and whether it is really the primary goal of GNS Simulationism, or a quality desired by both GNS Narrativism and Simulationism.
• The Roots of Sim (Response to Nar Essay) (Jan 29, 2004)
  The roots of Sim II (Feb 4, 2004)
  Two threads in reaction to the suggestions that Simulationist play has to be forcefully trained into players by habit rather than being a natural pattern of enjoyment.
• Understanding: the "it" of Simulationism (Feb 2004)
  A thread by M.J. Young where he suggested that GNS Simulationism should really be understood as a focus on understanding.
• Son of Iron Game Chef (Apr 12, 2004)
  A collection of impromptu game designs, which included the games The Mountain Witch, Chanter, Dance the the Dawn, Polaris, and others.
• Bad News (Apr 19, 2004)
  A thread where a game author (Seth) has permission to use a given mechanic denied by the mechanics' originator -- Moon Phases in Legends of Alyria. However, various people present constructive ideas to replace or deal with the situation.
• "Mechanical Gender Differences" (May 2004)
  A discussion of the effect of putting gender differences into character creation. This was highly charged and controversial, but was talked through relatively intelligently at many points.
• Lumpley/Vincent's "Sacrificing Character Integrity - a Rant" (Jun 2004)
  Vincent Baker attempts to argue against the idea that Narrativism ever requires going against your vision of the character.
• "game design and psychology" (Jun 30, 2004)
  An essay by Emily Care and commentary about the relation of RPG design to concepts other fields such as psychodrama and dramatherapy.
• Lumpley/Vincent's "Caring How it Resolves?" (Jun 2004)
  ....
• Water-Uphill World: Virtuality Examined (Jun 30, 2004)
  An examination of how dramatic structure and in particular conflict escalation fit into the concept of Narrativism.
• Wait, What Matters Again? (Jul 15, 2004)
  Ben Lehman polls on what the definition of System is, leading to discussion of what is included and how we view Incoherence.
• CA Classifications and Game Systems (Jul 15, 2004)
  Ben Lehman attempts to categorize how game system relates to Creative Agenda.
• Representation & Your Message (Jul 18, 2004)
  Jonathan Walton starts a thread on representation of women, minorities, other cultures, and other real-world objects within RPGs.
• The Model as seen by Valamir (Jul 29, 2004)
  A variant view of the GNS distinction as seen by Ralph Mazza, aka Valamir. He sees a broad category of Creative-Agenda-less play which is distinct from all three of Gamism, Narrativism, and Simulationism. He sees GNS Simulationism as being much more about discovery and "what if".
• New 3D Model (Aug 9, 2004)
  A new model suggested by Mike Holmes, which has two axes of centrality of authorship and focus.
• It has to make sense" secret bane of the hobby? (Aug 14, 2004)
  A thread on the problems of internal cause.
• What GNS is about [LONG] (Aug 2004)
  A thread started by Lee Short which questions the definition of GNS.
• Valamir/Ralph's "Narrativism: Not a Creative Agenda..." (Aug 2004)
  Ralph Mazza debates whether Narrativism should be considered separately from player-empowerment Techniques. In response, Ron offers a new view on Simulationism that centers on it being "celebration" or "confirming of input".
• More on 3D Model (Aug 26, 2004)
  Elaborating the "3D" model suggested by Mike Holmes, focusing on what the axes mean.
• Referee/Player Sim/Nar Clash (Sep 2004)
  A discussion started between M.J. and Marco about how GM and player clash over Creative Agenda. This became discussion of how to integrate the 3D Model into GNS talk.
• Are We as Cool as Shakespeare? (Sep 7, 2004)
  A serious discussion the place of the RPG as art started by Vincent Baker (aka lumpley).
• Validation of Input in Sim (Oct 2004)
  A thread looking more deeply at Ron Edwards' new definition of GNS Simulationism as "validation of input".
• Classifying by Social Function (Oct 19, 2004)
  Social Function and Feedback in Narrativism (Dec 13, 2004)
  Two threads looking at the social implications of RPGs -- i.e. how do the games affect you outside of play?
• A wild and untamed thing - how literature refuses gaming (Nov 30, 2004)
  Discussion regarding M. John Harrison's essay arguing against role-playing in literary fictional settings.
• On RPGs and Text [LONG] (Dec 3, 2004)
  An essay by Chris Lehrich and extended commentary on the idea of myth and bricolage as the core of GNS Simulationist play.
• Silmenume/Jay's "Sim is Bricolage and makes myth - comments?" (Jan 2005)
  The start of a new definition for Simulationism as being about myth and "bricolage".
• Retroactive Story (Jan 2005)
  A long thread by Marco where the definition of "story" and "transcript" was debated in detail.
• Lessons for Designers (Feb 2005)
  Ben Lehman suggests six points of advice for RPG designers.
• Theory Without Jargon - Help for the Desperate - Number 1 (Feb 7, 2005)
  Theory Without Jargon - Help for the Desperate - Number 2 (Feb 8, 2005)
  Theory Without Jargon - Help for the Desperate - Number 3 (Feb 27, 2005)
  A series of three introductory articles on Forge RPG theory.
• Bricolage APPLIED (finally!) (Feb 16, 2005)
  An essay by Chris Lehrich and extended commentary on the idea of myth and bricolage as the core of GNS Simulationist play.
• Conflict vs Task Resolution to facilitate Narrativism (Mar 5, 2005)
  A thread discussing Task Resolution and how it relates to Narrativism.
• Shared Imagined Space, Shared Text (Apr 2, 2005)
  Victor Gijsbers' suggests "Shared Text" -- meaning what is said in-game -- as an alternative to "Shared Imagined Space"; and the discussion that follows.
• My Life with RPG's! (long post) (Apr 2005)
  A new poster describes role-playing in East Germany, originally based on seeing D&D played in a movie but with no access to the texts.
• Role-playing Limits, or Do we need Molotov cocktails? (April 16, 2005)
  Discussion of the Lumpley Principle, Walt Freitag's alternative, and how they apply to other role-playing types such as LARPs and computer-moderated games (like MUDs).
• Meaning at the beginning, middle, and end (April 2005)
  Tony Lower-Basch attempts to create categories for when meaning assigned to game stats -- at the beginning, middle, or end of action using it.
• [Vocab] Task versus Conflict (May 10, 2005)
  A thread debating the meaning of Task Resolution versus Conflict Resolution in detail.
• Tony's Standard Rant #2: Disagreement != Dysfunction (Jun 2005)
  Tony Lower-Basch's rant
• John's Standard Rant #1: Freeform Traits (Aug 2005)
  John Kim's issues with player-defined trait systems, and resulting commentary.
• "Ritual and Gaming/Game Design" (Sep 2005)
  A thread started by Meguey Baker outlining the structure of ritual and its relation to RPG play.
• RPG Design Patterns (Sep 2005)
  John Kirk introduces his free book, "Design Patterns of Successful Role-Playing Games".
• ...
• Brain Damage:
  [Sorcerer] Introducing a New Player (Feb 1, 2005)
  [Sorcerer] Why Group Conflict Is So Confusing... (Feb 9, 2006)
  Brain Damage (Feb 11, 2006)
  Discussion of Ron Edwards' reference to certain role-players being "brain damaged".

The following are non-Forge posts but which have some bearing on Forge topics:

• Detailed character backgrounds. A rant. (Nov 25, 2003)
  A post to RPG.net where Ralph Mazza suggests that very detailed PC backgrounds express frustrations at play being unable to measure up to that sort of fiction-writing.
• Gamer Preference Quiz
  A quiz developed by M.J. Young for sorting out GNS priorities early in the .
• Game Theory Introduction
  An introduction to game theory in the scientific sense: mathematics concerned with optimizing choices.
• RPGnet Forums - Hold on there, son...
  An RPGnet Forum thread.
• Lumpley's Take on The 3D Model