Author: Jeremy Strandberg

I finally got a chance to play this with some friends.  Initial reactions were very positive.  I think this has legs.

Character creation took longer than I hoped, but was very fruitful.  The naming guidelines & picklists worked great.  The players’ urge to be an adventuring party on a mission was pretty strong, though, enough that it made the Rogue really twist his In Too Deep choices to fit in.

Gear, Equipment, and Inventory weren’t intuitive enough. Folks liked it once they figured it out, but I need to reduce granularity and rethink the UI for the inventory section.

Using fictional inputs to determine bonuses worked beautifully. The players were actively looking at the “add +1 if…” statements and then trying to engineer those in the fiction.  It slowed things down a little when the action started (because we had to tick off the 2-3 questions per move to determine the bonus), but it had the benefit of making us interrogate the fiction every time a move triggered. 

Stats & Traits went over really, really well.  Everyone liked the fact that the stats never penalized you, they only gave you more control over the outcome. 

Playbook Moves were well received, though the Templar thought that Dominion was way, way too good.  Like, not-even-a-choice good.  Might need to reconsider.

Magic moves worked very well for the Sorcerer (who I’ve played with for years and who has a very similar frame of reference to me when it comes to that sort of thing), but was a bit grinding for the Templar.  Mostly, he assumed that the magic system was more freeform than it actually is, and it was jarring to him when he couldn’t use Hex to do what he wanted.  We eventually realized he was using Tempest, and when he went back and read the moves more carefully he was OK with that.  But I guess that’s something to consider… the Sorcerer and Templar have a lot more rules to be familiar with.

We didn’t play long enough to really vet all the moves. I got to apply a condition but didn’t really get to act on it.  The Push Yourself move never came up, so I’m still wondering how that will work.  And I still don’t have a sense of how quickly Stats/Traits/etc. will get expended.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0lFq3ECDQDQdkVSYzYyeFY1OEU&usp=sharing

More content up for my PbtA fantasy heartbreaker: the Rogue & Templar. Plus some revisions to the moves and previous playbooks (Warrior & Sorcerer).  If anyone’s interested in playing, go for it!  If you know AW, I imagine you could run it as-is. 

Let me know if you do so!  Also, feedback & commentary much appreciated.

As I’ve mentioned before, this started as an exploration of a few mechanical ideas:

– Most moves are modified by fictional positioning rather than stats

– Stats (and Fate-like traits) are more like “tapable” resources

– Magic is based on sympathy, contagion, and true names, and require a lot of imagination from the players

– PC conditions enable associated with GM moves (like how threats in AW have moves associated with them)

Plus I added in some harm & inventory ideas I’d been tinkering with elsewhere, and decided to give each playbook a backstory questionnaire that would help define their starting relationships & their situations.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0lFq3ECDQDQdkVSYzYyeFY1OEU&usp=sharing

About a week ago, I asked if anyone had made a hack where the modifiers to basic moves were situational rather than driven by stats. There was some interesting conversation, and after a binge of design, I give you Heartbreaker World. (As in “fantasy heartbreaker;” this ain’t some weepy romance.)

It’s far from done (only two playbooks so far) and could doubtlessly use a world of editing.  But I think it’s got legs. The situational modifiers feel right for the magic-related moves, and I think they add a nice gradient of difficulty and tactical positioning for the basic moves, too. 

I’ll post here as I keep working on it. I’m thinking about doing the Rogue next.

In the mean time, take a look.  Feedback very much appreciated. 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0lFq3ECDQDQdkVSYzYyeFY1OEU&usp=sharing