thread: 2005-12-03 : I Cop to Hyperbole
On 2005-12-04, Ben Lehman wrote:
Huh. Well, that wasn't so much supposed to go up in public.
Of those six, I'd like to note the following breakdown:
3 are rehashing (Tony's Standard Rant #2, Meaning at the ____, and Lessons for Designers.) They are useful and productive rehashing, mind you, but they are rehashing.
1 is a retrospective on one player's (interesting) experience. It would probably be better filed in Actual Play.
That leaves two actually productive theory threads (Ritual Design and RPG Patterns) that are real, productive theory threads, with serious pick-up and use potential for anything else.
I'm just saying—it's seen better days.
yrs—
—Ben
P.S. I didn't include the Bricolage threads, even the Applied is okay, simply because I think Bricolage = Sim is wrong-headed, and that entire family of threads is the result of taking a really interesting topic (bricolage) and driving it so deeply into the ground that it may never be retrieved.
This makes MB go "Wow."
I'm flattered as all get out that you think my one actual serious post to the Forge was so helpful.
This makes SCS go "yeah,"
Bricolage is either (a) a technique or (b) essential to all Exploration, and Sim is a Creative Agenda, so there's a category error here. All three threads are good but Applied is best because it doesn't spend so much time on the GNS stuff and instead talks about some real and important aspects of Bricolage techniques in RPGs.
This makes BL go "Bricolage is..."
A fundamental process to exploration without being equivalent to exploration itself. That's awesome! It deserves further exploration. I really should continue my two articles someday. But the Bric=Sim threads left such a bitter taste in my mouth I think it'll be a while.
This makes NDP go "That's..."
...what I've been saying all along.
This makes BL go "Hi, NDP"
What's your actually name? I can't parse the initials. Mine's Ben Lehman.
Have you seen my two bricolage articles on This is my Blog (You'll have to dig a bit to find them). Let's strike up the topic in e-mail!
This makes SCS go "hey ben"
I too like that idea - I also think that Polaris makes very particular use of it among the players (some other interesting games that do this are Universalis, of course, and Code of Unaris). So in addition to being theoretically interesting it may be relevant to your personal creative process.
This makes NDP go "Nathan D. Paoletta"
...of Hamsterprophecy.
This makes XP go "Meguey:"
Your thread on ritual had a definite impact on my latest design; just look for my recent Beast Hunter post.
