Where do you normally find out about new PbtA games?
Where do you normally find out about new PbtA games?
For example:
Apocalypseworld.com
Drivethrurpg.com
Kickstarter.com
Patreon.com
+1 Forward podcast
RPGGeek.com
Where else?
I bet you’re wondering how PbtA evolved and which games were inspired by which other games.
I bet you’re wondering how PbtA evolved and which games were inspired by which other games. Here’s a rough draft of a figure cross-referencing them all. There are a couple gaps — feel free to help me fill them or point out any mistakes I might have made.
Okay, so I’ve been pulling together publication information for the various PbtA games and you can see a rough first…
Okay, so I’ve been pulling together publication information for the various PbtA games and you can see a rough first draft below. Games are sorted by publication year and then by start date, rather than strictly chronologically, so that it’s easier to see the range of development times. On average, it takes 2.5 years to bring a PbtA game to market (although it’s more like 1 year for ashcan editions). On average, PbtA Kickstarter campaigns have 2 years development behind them. I’ve also broken them into waves based on which existing games they draw inspiration from. If you’ve published a PbtA game and it’s not on there, it’s an oversight and not a judgement.
Questions, comments, and curse words are all welcome forms of feedback.
Wanted: exact publication dates
This isn’t a new idea but it’s a good exploration of scarcity in many different contexts and it’s worth a listen.
This isn’t a new idea but it’s a good exploration of scarcity in many different contexts and it’s worth a listen. The main idea of the episode is that scarcity causes a kind of tunnel vision that makes you focus on what’s missing, causes you to make bad decisions because you’re blinded to the big picture/long term view, causes thoughts about those scarcities become intrusive, and impairs your overall cognitive ability. In the real world, the experience of scarcity is the worst. At the table, it makes for good drama! This has me thinking about how to amplify this effect in games that are about scarcity like AW (or The Quiet Year or Fiasco). One way is to model the cognitive effects of scarcity. Keep bringing the conversation back to those scarcities, keeping the focus on them and their immediacy.
New GM Move: Ask them about what they don’t have.
When it’s your turn to make a move and particularly when play slows and players look to you, ask them about their scarcity. At the beginning of play, ask players what is the most pressing thing they lack. Have them write them on note cards and then leave them in front of them where everyone can see them. When you make this move, ask them about what they’ve written on their card. Is it still the thing they need the most? What’s the worst thing about not having that thing? Do they know what they could do or where they could go to get that thing? Is there something you could do about this scarcity right now? This is a soft move but make it often.
Have you designed a PbtA game? If so, what year did you begin work on your game(s)?
Have you designed a PbtA game? If so, what year did you begin work on your game(s)?
A twist on troupe play for PbtA…
A twist on troupe play for PbtA…
Okay, so I’ve got King Arthur Pendragon, Ars Magica, and Game of Thrones running around in the back of my head. So a hack might go something like this: each player has 2 playbooks that fit together. One playbook represents the person (knight/noble/mage) that you are attached to (with appropriate moves) and the other playbook represents your relationship to that person (with appropriate moves). So, you might be the Queen’s steward or the knight’s wife or mage’s father. Each session you retire your character and switch out one (but not both) of your playbooks. Now maybe you’re the Queen’s sister or a different knight’s wife. This might be a way of telling those sprawling fantasyy epics about competing houses in a distributed way and changing one (but not both) playbooks each session means that every character is juxtaposed against some other character. What do we learn about the queen from her sister that’s different from what we learned from her steward? How are the two knights different as seen through the eyes of their wives?
Occasionally folk ask about where they can lay hands on a copy of my PbtA nanogame, Nanoworld: A Game of Clones.
Occasionally folk ask about where they can lay hands on a copy of my PbtA nanogame, Nanoworld: A Game of Clones. By far, the easiest way is to gift a copy during Epimas. Look for it among other fine games in the Sergeant Major Vixen bundle.
In this new year, I have a number of shiny +1’s for folk who can write their New Years resolutions in the form of a…
In this new year, I have a number of shiny +1’s for folk who can write their New Years resolutions in the form of a couple broad agendas, a handful of principles about how you’re going to achieve those goals responsibly and a set of actionable moves that will help keep you on track.
The Warren
Originally shared by Marshall Miller
The Warren
(formerly Lapins & Lairs)
Ok, so I’m at that point again where I want to get feedback and, if I’m lucky, some outside playtesting done on this game that I’ve been working on. A while back I released a 6-page hack and, after some playtest feedback, I’ve since fleshed it out into a full rules text.
The Warren
The Warren is a game about intelligent rabbits trying to make the best of a world filled with hazards, predators and, worst of all, other rabbits. While the rabbits in your games will solve some of their problems and discover things they never thought to try before, they are still bound by their basic physiology and nature.
My aim is to create a *World game that is to Bunnies and Burrows what Dungeon World is to Dungeons and Dragons.
The playtest version, linked below, is all prettied up and ready to go.
Questions, comments, and curse words are all welcome forms of feedback (even if you just read through the text).
Note: If you played in a game of Lapins & Lairs and I didn’t include you in the acknowledgements, let me know.
#apocalypseworld #rabbits #watershipdown #bunniesandburrows
Stop me if this has been done before:
Stop me if this has been done before:
Ok, let me tell you a story. This is a story about you. You’re in debt. You go to tell tell your booky that you don’t have the money and he beats you up. You don’t see your chance till he leaves for a minute to call “The Fisherman.” You dash outside and there’s an old guy stopped at a red light. You yank open the door, pull the guy out while apologizing, and drive off in his car.
You’ve just committed a crime. At this point, the GM pulls out a blank case front and begins to build a case against you. She writes ‘car jacking’ at the top, under crime. Next, she writes ‘victim’s account’, ‘blood at the scene’, and ‘automotive forensics’ under evidence. Finally, she writes ‘two uniforms’ under response. From now on, when you fail a roll, the GM can advance the police’s progress on the case – the case that leads to you.
You’ve got a vague notion that the police will look into the car but that’s not so important right now. You drive to the AC plant, ditch the stolen car, and take your own. You drive to your sister’s place cause you know she’s out of town. That’s when the booky shows up. How did he know you would come here? This time you’ve got the drop on him though. Grabbing a golf club, you crack his skull as he gets out of the car.
You’ve just committed another crime. This time the GM writes words like ‘murder’, ‘body’, ‘eye-witness’, and ‘APB’. Because this is a more serious crime, this case front will go above car jacking and the GM will tick off boxes for the murder first, if possible. When all the boxes on a case get checked, the police are coming for you with the response listed. You can be wanted for multiple crimes. Of course, you might be able to tamper with the evidence and curtail the case. If you could talk to the right people, they could reveal to you what’s on the GM’s case front, that’d be helpful.
So, yeah, I think this might be useful for a certain type of crime thriller. Maybe something where you’ve been framed and are on the run.