The Future Of PbtA Games

#63

I was more referencing the idea of playbooks that each have they’re own completely unique movesets with no common set of basic moves, while you’re more talking about the opposite direction, design-wise – generalizing PBTA moves to produce a unitary system. A unitary system, though, still enforces a shared space in so far that everyone needs to go through the same mechanical hoops to accomplish the same thing. Like, looking at DnD, I would argue that even though you don’t have a “move” for punching a guy in the face, the manner in which a character punches a guy in the face doesn’t particularly vary across classes. What will vary is the quality of the roll and modifiers that improve or worsen the outcome unique to the character. I think your answer certainly approaches parts of the question I brought up, though. the notion of the conversation and the way that it helps unify the experience. The idea I BELIEVE @yoshi brought up (they can correct me if I misinterpreted). seems like it would also bring a unique set of its own design challenges to the table, though.

Anyway, I don’t want to hijack this discussion with a thread on one idea, so I’m personally going to leave it there for now.

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#64

Exactly! Legacy looks AMAZING but also complicated with lots of setup required. I have downloaded this quickstart!

#65

I have to say that this is one of the two advantages of playing by forum. The forums often have ways to hide spoilers and point them to only the appropriate players (assuming players want to abide by them) . The other advantage is you can really delve into detail and world building without slowing down the game.

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#66

@Alexi_Sarge… Ironsworn can be played GM-less using the “oracles”

Meanwhile, there are a bunch of great ideas above. As for my own ideas I would like to see,. I have just a few to add:

*a PbtA that works best with 3 people
*more succinct PbtA rules
*a PbtA with a Civil War motif
*a PbtA game focused on investigating and playing to find out
*PbtA using a maps to create and document the location - a la Stonetop Stonetop on Discern Realities but on a bigger scale

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#67

Do you mean three players or two players plus MC? I personally feel that most pbta games run best with the former.

This is a bit confusing since Truncheon World only includes the GM facing rules. (It is basically the DW DMG.)

AFAIK Monster of the Week is investigation focused, no? Also I would recommend @SinisterBeard’s supplement Apocalypse by Moonlight in Codex: Moonlight - it is a guide for running investigations with pbta games.

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#68

@shane

  • There are several duo games (although Ironsworn is the only duo playable PbtA game, I think) Then, there is virtually every other rpg, which are ideally built for 4 - 5 players with or without GM. I would love to see an rpg that runs best with 3 players (with no GM / sharing GM responsibilities), particularly in PbtA where the game mechanics focus / impact relationships.

*Truncheon World was a bad example. To be more clear, I would like to see more PbtA games where the rules are maybe more concise (Between 20 and 80 pages) for the GM and the rest of the rules fit on 1 simple 2 sided player aid and a 2 page character sheet for each playbook. I enjoy learning and running new games… It feels
a bit much sometimes then for a GM to have to learn all the GM rules AND teach every player facing rule to players before play can start. One of the reasons I enjoy Dungeon World and Apocalypse World so much is because MOST of the rules fit on the playbooks and the rest is generally something you can look up if it comes up. Still, if the rules can be complete without lookup, that is clearly better.

*Monster of the Week is an investigation game…but it fell flat with me and my group. Looking back. I am not sure why. Personally, I would be more interested in a cleaned up version of We Used to Be Friends.…maybe Noir World does this well? I haven’t gone through that one yet. Maybe all I need is the Codex: Moonlight. I will check that out.

Before someone mentions it I know there is City of Mist that handles investigations but that one is WAY heavier on the crunch than I am interested in at the moment.

Edit: I just learned of Jinkies - a Scooby -Doo style game. This sort of investigation is what I am looking for but for a more serious game. As GM, I love the idea of “playing to find out” and Monster of the Week requires the mystery be prescribed ahead of time.

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#69

Inspectres https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/InSpectres is not PbtA and not especially serious, but it does handle the investigation side of things in the way it sounds like you’re after: the GM doesn’t invent the mystery, and instead the players assemble it from clues they invent as they go along.

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#70

That is definitely in my to play if I ever get the chance list.

#71

If by “industry standard” you mean “in replacement of” f2f games, I’m not sure I am in solidarity with you there. I only play in person games. I totally support online only games and mechanics, but hope they don’t become the industry standard in place of face to face. Definitely though every rule book should include a chapter or section on how to play or enhance the game for online play. Or even visa versa (games mostly focused on online play have a section on f2f play).

If I misunderstood your position, forgive me.

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