Taxonomy of Powered by the Apocalypse Games

Found this interesting blog post with a mind-boggling graph:

That’s clearly unreadable, but here’s the blog post:

The author doesn’t give much analysis aside from what’s in the graph, which they’ve made available as a layered PDF (so you can turn bits off to see more clearly) or as independent graphs for each discrete part.

6 Likes

This looks a bit overwhelming, but it’s definitely some thought food! I really enjoy PbtA hacks, and it’s a recurrent topic of discussion, so it might bring a different POV to it. Thanks!

2 Likes

This was enjoyable, especially seeing what categories the creator chose to highlight. I think the insight into which PbtA games has modular or single-move playbooks rather than standard ones was my favorite part.

3 Likes

I wish the legend were readable on the ‘big graph’. =/

Each layer has a different criteria, and each criteria has its own legend. Hope this helps :slight_smile:

XP:
Highlights
By Playbook
Misses
Universal

Structure:
Unstructured
Phases
Seasonal

Playbooks:
Standard
Modular
Single-move

Evenness:
Uneven PCs
Even PCs

Moves:
Basic + Playbook
Universal

Interpersonal Systems:
Hx
Bonds
Strings
Debt

Dice:
2d6 + [stat]
best of [stat] cards
Character tags
2d10 + [stat]

Death & Harm:
Harm
Optional death
‘Sever harm’ move
Structural

Consequence tracks:
Stress

Conditions:
Negative stats
Freeform

3 Likes

I know, it’d be nice if they could’ve had a large legend in place of the overlapping ones from each layer. Thanks for the index, @nynphaiel !

1 Like

Thanks! That does help a lot!

Interesting stuff there, gets me thinking about my game.

1 Like