The Forge Forums

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.

Quote from: Erik Weissengruber on June 01, 2012, 10:58:53 AM
Learn what it is you actually want, concentrate effort on getting it, accept no substitutes.  Then invite others to join in.

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.