I am grateful for the games I've enjoyed which exist as a result of this forum. In the end it's about people playing games.

I'll log in one more time to say thanks as well.  The Forge was a great and wonderful thing and changed the way I think about and look at games (and other things!).  Thank you to everyone who built, maintained, contributed to or otherwise was a part of the Forge.

It's really hard to accept that the Forge is closing, honestly.

C'est la vie.

-Andy

Thanks guys for an amazing, eye-opening thing that was made here. I'm going to attempt the same thing in my own way.

What we do at the table creates everything we imagine.

That's possibly the most profound thing I've heard in a long time.

I lurked, I read, I learned a lot.  I admit I've been essentially inactive for a couple years here.  But I did a lot of reading, and it's one of those situations where the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know.  

I'm still chugging along on a few projects of mine, but I think one of the biggest things I learned here is that there's No Silver Bullet.  That's an old programming aphorism that suggests that no one solution can hope to solve 100% of the problems you face.  No language, no development style, no anything.  I tried to make a universal system, and failed, and then learned that it's *impossible*.  Targeted experiences -- games meant to evoke certain styles of play, certain stories -- are amazing, and it's been awe-inspiring watching the Forge and its diaspora cultivate a genre that had only begun to understand what it could do.

Ron, Vincent, Clinton, Simon, and all the rest -- well, I don't have the audacity to call you friends, because I wasn't really involved here.  What I can call you all is teachers.  I don't use that phrase lightly.  Not evangelists, not apologists, not lecturers, but teachers.  I mention one of the biggest things I've learned, but here's what comes in at number one:  I didn't learn how to make games.  I didn't learn what's successful, what's the "right way".  I didn't learn the best way to roleplay.  (I learned that those are the wrong questions, too.)  But what I did learn is how to *think* about RPGs, and how to make my own conclusions and shape my experience the best way possible.  That's what the best teachers show you.  Don't be a slave -- to tradition, to conventional thinking, to "the right way" -- think for yourself.

It's been an honor learning from all of you.  

Be well.

yrs--
--Ben

Good work was done here.  


As a beneficiary of your labors, my gratitude goes out to everyone who contributed.

I just wanted to say that The Forge not only changed my vision of the hobby forever, but also gave me hope when I was struggling in the dark.
So thank you all, for everything and more (and Ron, sorry about that post, I know you dislike "Bye" topics but I couldn't resist).

Au plaisir de vous revoir en d'autres lieu.

Mael.