Are there any AW hacks that don’t use playbooks / classess approach and allows for more free-form character generation? Is it possible at all, or it does not have a sense?
Are there any AW hacks that don’t use playbooks / classess approach and allows for more free-form character…
Are there any AW hacks that don’t use playbooks / classess approach and allows for more free-form character…
“Bootleggers” (John Harper) doesn’t use playbooks / classes.
Neither does “Last one standing” (Kickstarter).
Though one may disput if their still PbtA,..
Check out the Class Warfare supplement for Dungeon World. You could use that to design a custom character creation system.
The watership down game uses only the “bunny” playbook, but each bunny gets a special move to distinguish them.
Most PbtA games seem to rely strongly on archetypes, though, which is implemented through play books with custom moves and pre-generated Hx and background bits.
You could totally use a more general pick list to assemble that from, but just remember to look into what you’re dropping, and how you’re changing/replacing/obviating it.
Jesse Cox Yes, I’m wondering if whole point of mechanics won’t be missed that way. On the other hand, it is sometimes hard to find sensible archetypes in some genres.
Also check out Uncharted Worlds. Its a PbtA game that builds characters via a lifepath mechanic.
Jiima Arunsone, is there a particular genre you are wanting to do?
Speaking of John Harper’s stuff, Ghost Lines (http://www.onesevendesign.com/ghostlines/) doesn’t have classes or playbooks. I’d argue that World of Dungeons doesn’t either, though you have some options that let you differentiate characters. Planes of Dungeons (https://corvidsun.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/planarch-codex-planes-of-dungeons/) is a hacked World o’ Dungeons rule-set with a bit more customization, I believe.
I had more thoughts. Ghost Lines is neat because it actually uses the AW countdown clocks for physical and mental well-being, and has some idea of debilities. WoD is heading back into Hit Points and the classic 6 DnD attributes, whereas GL has 4.
Oh, there’s also Nano World by Marshall Miller, which uses a shared play…card.
Im working on a playbookless Cowboy hack, with archetypes, skills and fate-ish aspects. So to answer your question, yes it is possible.
Worlds in Peril doesn’t use it.
Wynand, that sounds so good! Tell us more!
Nathan Roberts
It is Louis Lamour kind if Cowboys. Characters are made with archetypes, skills, beliefs and flaws. The archetypes, beliefs and flaws can be invoked or compelled as in Fate. The basic moves are still like in AW, although I made new violence moves the fit the genre. (More like in DW. Go aggro does not work well for a quick draw duel at high noon) And the most basic move is Use a Skill, very much like WoD.
Ooooh, Louis Lamour! Have you read the cross over in the back of Grim World? It basically covers what you describe as an unholy mash-up of Fate and DW, albeit rather briefly.
Playbooks aren’t necessary, but they are helpful. In particular, they:
1. Speed up how quickly players can get into the gameplay with an interesting character.
2. Ensure diversity between characters, which enriches the gameplay.
3. Ensure diversity between characters, which makes it easier for characters to shine in the game.
Good playbooks also enhance the character by provide options the player might not think of themselves.
Moving from classic RPGs (D&D, Traveller, etc.) to PbtA games, I’ve discovered that a well thought out playbook typically gives me a better character to play than anything I might create using a skill pick system. That doesn’t mean all playbooks suit me – most don’t. But as long as there is a decent selection to chose from, I can usually find at least one one that turns out to be a lot of fun to play.
It seems to come done to how much work has gone into the playbook.
– Does it provide an interesting archetype (interesting to me, that is) to play?
– Are the diverse options for customizing the character?
– Does it provide in-character options for responding to different sorts of activity (e.g. exploration/discovery, persuasion/negotiation, conflict/combat, etc.)
Nathan Roberts Yes I did. It was part of my initial inspiration, but I must say I can’t remember how their mechanics worked, so I can’t say that it is the same. My main concern was to have mechanically unique characters without playbooks. At the moment I have a list of 45 western archetypes players can choose from during character creation, and because of the fate mechanics and skills system, all are mechanically significant. It is not possible with playbooks.(Unless you write 45 playbooks, or a whole book like Class Warfare)
It is still in playtest, so I cannot promise it will work very well. So far all our sessions were fun.
Michael D
I believe character creation can be just as fast without playbooks, but I do agree (mostly) with you on the other points. The design challenge I set myself is to match the strengths of playbooks with this hybrid system, without the limitation of playbooks, namely few character types. (You can’t realistically offer all 200 3rd party playbooks to a table of newbies…)
This may be an obvious question, but you are familiar with Dogs in the Vineyard, right?
I have not read it yet. I know I probably should…
Yeah, I’d think so. It may of may not nail what you want. If not, it may give you some ideas.
My wife Willow Palecek has been working on an Apocalypse West hack as well. But it uses playbooks. 🙂
Thanks for pointers. I have a lot to read, from mentioned I know only “Ghost lines”.
Meguey Baker The problem is, thing I’m trying to create is somewhat cross-genre and currently it spawned two stories which have somewhat incompatible styles of play. One is like “soldiers of fallen country trying to survive on enemy territory”, and second is “inexperienced diplomats found proofs of war conspiracy”, and both share the same setting.
One of the superhero ones I saw does. There are only four playbooks (defined as the masked hero, the unmasked hero, the unmistakeable abomination, and the transforming character) but they are mostly the same and the moves and specifics are more designed by the long list of character powers. I’m sure something similar could work outside of that genre (such as multiple skill packages a la old Palladium rpgs or something).
There’s a bare-bones Cthulhu hack by Graham Walmsley without playbooks. Second post over here: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?665682-Anyone-have-Dark-World-by-Graham-Walmsley-%28AW-Hack%29
Hm, i recently started a zombieworld campaign that turned out to be more freeform, adding aspects and moves as we go. We started with the zombieworld playbooks, but its more like we treat them as archetypes than actual playbooks(hey, reporter, sounds like your trying to pick that lock, you did that before, huh, how do you go about that? Reporter: yeah, i have my trusted swiss army knive for that…)
So my advice is, if you want more freeform, take simpleworld from buried without ceremony, start with talking about the world you like to play in and the character archetypes, what their specialties are, add moves later, when so,ething they do comes up frequently.
You may have a set of basic and special moves ready that fits the genre too.
Ill see how our little experiment turns out, but its already a fate/apocworld crossbreed and i like the flexibility alredy…