Forge Theory Overview

         "The Forge" is a website for independent role-playing games, hosted by independent RPG authors Clinton R. Nixon (The Shadow of Yesterday et al.) and Ron Edwards (Sorcerer et al.). It has a web-based bulletin board, on which much RPG theory and design discussion has taken place. Below I have collected some links of information related to the Forge in particular.

"Introduction to Forge Theory" by Ben Lehman

A series of blog posts written as an introduction.

• Introduction - the nature and purpose of the work
• Part 1 - Players at a table
• Part 2 - On house rules and fudging
• Part 3 - Rules and what they are
• Part 4 - Rules and what they do
• Part 5 - The Big Model (The Way Ben Draws It)
• Part 5.1 - The Big Model (The Way Ron Draws It)
• Part 6 - Elements of Exploration
• Part 7 - The GNS Categories

RPG TheoryTopics Wiki

A collection of terminology with topical links to relevant webpages, including Forge discussion threads. Many terms originate at the Forge.

Referenced Threads from The Forge

A chronological list of threads which were considered important for RPG theory, either by me or other Forge participants.

Referenced Threads from the Forge by Topic

Another collection of threads organized by what topics they are related to.

Role-playing Theory, Hardcore by Vincent Baker

A collection of short articles on role-playing theory by Forge contributor Vincent Baker. The third entry (titled "Roleplaying's Fundamental Act") outlines the "Lumpley Principle".

The Fun Now Manifesto

Chris Chinn (aka "bankuei") attempt at a quick and easy summary of useful things that came straight out of Forge Theory that you can use right away.

Scott's Roleplaying Styles Links Page

Another collection of Forge links by topic.

Forge Member Profiles

Profiling Statistics:

This is a survey which is done seasonally of what systems the users on the Forge on playing. Each user is asked to respond with the three games last played, three games most enjoyed, and three games not yet played that (s)he most wants to try. I have collected the statistics of the responses out of curiosity, and made them available.
Fall 2004
Fall 2003
Spring 2003
Fall 2002

For those interested, I also have a zip file of the Perl code I use for the parsing and the text files which I edit from the thread itself. The process requires hand-editting to regularize the names and categories from the thread.
Original threads:
Profiling, Fall 2004 profiling, fall 2003
Profiling (Winter 2001)