I’m currently working on PbtAW hack, set in a collaboratively created city, set 30ish years after a gritty climate-change induced apocalypse. I want to implement mechanics for the creation and gestion of, what I call, the Clan. In that optic, the game went in the direction of BitD organically. So I am now with a hybrid fusion of two games, both in which I heavily steal mechanics (I know, really not orthodox). I was wondering, if you gents, know about other hack/fusion to figure out the balance, because for me it is really uncharted territories. Thanks in advance.
(P.S : I don’t intend to sell the thing, I just want to make it work)
I feel like I heard about someone doing a PbtA/Fate fusion…
Marshall Miller City of Mist is rocking a PbtA/Fate style ruleset.
Alfred Rudzki Thanks ! I’ll go check this out
Axel Chouteau What are you trying to accomplish with the game?
I’m not sure on where you’re going, so how it’s hard to suggest what to steal. e.g., what mechanics have you stolen, what mechanics are currently absent, what genre/themes you’re trying to evoke, etc.
’cause you can get pretty far by just playing AW straight, while using BitD’s clan bits.
Have a look at Legacy while you’re at it. Sort of multi-generational post apoc PbtA goodness.
J Stein The core stolen mechanics are the verbs/action of BitD, moves of AW, bonds system of DW and big inspiration of the crew system of BitD, with the Clan having stats, special moves and leveling system. There’s also a lot of little bits and pieces of cool mechanics here and there (yes, it is a mess, but it’s my mess, and I’ve grown fond of it).
The game is about characters that are about the Clan. They want to make it thrive and be the better faction of the city. Sometimes it means destroying another less powerful faction and sometime it means going to ennemy territory to make treaty with a more powerful faction.
Henry de Veuve already know that one ! Very cool design and nice direction of post-apoc setting.
So what is it that you’re missing / trying to steal to finish out the gameplay? Playbooks?
I’d look to some actual plays of Legacy and BitD for this. BitD I’d hold up as the successful example of what you’re going for, and Legacy the unsuccessful; see where one succeeds (and why it does), and where the other fails (and why). If you could pin down the underlying reasons behind the two outcomes, I think you’d likely be able to build a f’n good clan game. I think the guys on the +1 forward podcast might have discussed this point on a couple of episodes, too.
(IME, Legacy looks good on paper, and stumbles in play. It’s got some grand ideas, but it falters in actually structuring the relationship between characters and clans, and when you use moves of different scales, etc. It’s exacerbated by the fact that some playbooks lend themselves to their clan relationship, and others seem entirely unrelated (e.g., the hunter). So, how do you play characters that may or may not interact with one another, while playing families that may or may not interact with one another, when the characters may or may not interact with their families, and the various interactions can happen at different scales of time. … And although most of the moves are character-centric, characters get chucked w/ every Age. A 2.0 w/ a lot more playtesting might be a fantastic, fantastic game. As it stands, I think it’s a great lesson on how not to structure your character-clan relationships … or rather, why you need to structure those relationships in the game mechanics, so it’s actually part of the game.)
Axel Chouteau Ser Rudzki told me about that back when I was trying to hack Houses of the Blooded for PbtA. (grin) Still working out the bugs on that project when time and inspiration permit.
It is very hard to make the game about the Clan. In each of the playbooks, I’ve tried to insert both moves that include the Clan and moves that include the other PC because bothe of those aspects really are important. I want to make the player feel that their relation as a team is a reflect of the well-being of the Clan. Ultimately I think the John Harper to approach it will be the most efficient. Putting a mechanic of faction leveling in the game is the real incentive to make the game about the Clan. I don’t know yet how to make a seamless transition between moves of the characters and moves of the clan. I also need mechanics to represent relationships between clans.
Henry de Veuve this sounds really cool ! Good luck man
Axel Chouteau It’s pretty dead in the water at the moment, but one can never tell when my muse will stop playing a certain variant of seven card stud and get back to work.