I published this on the 7th of April. I try to translate it faithfully. My reason to write this document was because I felt that most of the RPGs are defined by their difference from the oldschool RPGS, more specifically post-wargame RPGs. I was trying to define what an RPG is not based upon its history, but based upon the act of roleplaying itself. I hope, it will make possible to make RPGs that can be defined as "an RPGs wich is" instead of "it is different from D&D in regards".
This isn't the canaan, this is only an experiment. There is yet another important condition: this document tries to define only classic "one almighty GM, more players one character each" games. It contains many of my personal tastes that I would want to incorporate, but maybe aren't part of a baseline RPG.
Basics
The players get the opportunity to play as characters in a fiction.
The task of the GM is to make the fiction work.
For this task the GM gets the last word in any discussion. The players can tell him arguments, wich can change the decision of the GM, but if the GM insists, the player has to accept it.
Preparations
The player creates his/her character wich means (s)he imagines a character in the specified fiction, wich (s)he can play, can think in his/her place, knows the secrets of his/her hearts and can represent the character in front of the other players.
The GM creates a conflict in wich the characters will take part. (This is the external conflict.)
The task of the players is to solve the conflict.
The task ot the GM is to create a conflict wich is tailored to the players and their characters with the appropriate level of challenge.
Internal Conflict
A character is only interesting if there is an internal conflict within him/her. (The character doesn't have to be sad because of this, but it is there.) This means, when the player creates his/her character, the essence of the character have to be a core conflict. The character have to be created with the internal conflict in a state of local stabil balance.
The external conflict presented by the GM has to put one of the characters' conflicts into imbalance. It depends on the character's player and the resolution of the external conflict, what will be the end state of imbalanced internal conflicts. (Wich local balance is achieved after the adventure.)
Reverse thinking: The characters' internal conflicts has to be chosen to help in the solution of the external conflict. There are three possibilities: the external conflict imbalances the internal conflict, the internal conflict influences the external conflict, no interaction is between external and internal conflicts.
Actual play
In default mode, the players are out of character, they submit their decesions regarding their characters. These include results of former decisions, too. (For example choosing of clothing, vehicle, living quarters etc.) These accesories are part of the character. Wich aren't discussed before the play session and can influence the interaction of internal and external conflicts, can be vetoed by the GM.
A session begins with describing a lifesituation of the characters by the GM and the player. In theory the player describes all of the possible situations and the GM chooses, but it is quicker if the GM tells what kind of situation is needed and the player gives it. This baseic situation is described by the player then the GM is continuing to tell the story as (s)he describes the conflict situation to be met by the characters.
The adventure consists of scenes wich are seperated/linked by invisible but discrete borders. Every scene has a good defined beginning, ending and scopes. These borders can be broken, but this mostly means to get into another scene. Apart from the first scene all of the scenes are generated by the adventure (the external conflict), hence they are narrated by the GM, the players can only describe the decisions of their characters and happenings wich are part of the characters accessories.
This was the default mode. If a conflict arises, these things change. In a conflict situation the players are acting in character and the GM are acting in character instead of the NPCs as the scene orders it. The situations of conflict are resolved in a manner of dramatic game. The situation of conflict end when the supporter of the conflict chooses to. In a conflict situation everything have to be acted in character, nothing should be described out of character.
There is a third mode wich uses parlour games as tools. Some activities are symbolized by subgames. In this case the game is used instead of describing out of or acting in character. (These symbolums can be like tokens, markers, dice, coins etc.) These games can be used parallel to acting in character while conflict situations to replace the missing narration. The outcome of these subgames are influencing the internal and external conflicts directly or indirectly.
Conclusions
After the session the players and the GM discuss the dynamics of the internal and external conflicts. The player decides based upon this discussion if (s)he would like to play next time the character who advanced in this session in his/her internal conflict or a totally new character. The GM uses the conclusions to write the conflict for the next session.