I got to run Epyllion last night, my first PbtA game. It was… awkward. I felt like I was struggling to find the moves I should be making, to shoehorn the players actions into moves. I attribute it to my lack of experience with the system. But I could feel the edges of the shiny gem of a game buried in my incompetence. The game was trying to do something cool, I just couldn’t figure out how to let it.
Fortunately, my players has a good time anyway and want to continue the adventure next week. I have a long list of sections to re-read before then.
Also check running other PbtA games for guidance and suggestions
I’ve read a good sized pile if them, just haven’t had a chance to run ot play in them yet. You gotta start somewhere, right?
Yep. It just sounded like you were having similar issues to lots of other folks new to PbtA
I think I understand how it should work. But the move on the list doesn’t light up when it’s triggered. Someone has to recognize that the players action falls within the domain of a particular move. Most of the moves are really clear but a couple of times I ran into actions that had potential interesting complications but didn’t really trigger a clear move so I’d be like “yea, I guess that could be Acting Despite Danger.”
Playing again tonight we really hit a groove. The Daredevil filled up her shadow track early and really embraced her shadowself. She rushed ahead, determine to do things alone and consequently made things much more difficult for the clutch mates following her. Things really snowballed out of control. We ended the night with The Daredevil alone, deep underground in the birthplace of the Darkness, failing a Shadow Magic move. We agreed that it made sense for her to be entirely consumed by Shadows. It was beautiful.