Category: Powered by the Apocalypse

Something I came up with while trying to make AW easier to play by post/forum.

Something I came up with while trying to make AW easier to play by post/forum.

Something I came up with while trying to make AW easier to play by post/forum. The idea is to boil down the moves to a single structure, but with a little more complexity than “just use act under fire”, and then let the players decide the details of the outcome, eliminating a lot of the back-and-forth that would lead to bogdown in text-based play. (And yeah, I know this wouldn’t work with all players, but trust me, with the folks I usually play with the issue will be getting them to not screw their characters over too badly…)

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To play this game, you need one green D6 (the “good” one) and one red D6 (the “bad” one). Or any colors you like, so long as it’s easy to see and remember which is “good” and which is “bad”.

If the total is 10 or more:

• …and the red die is highest: full success! You did the thing, and you looked good doing it.

• …and the green die is highest: critical success! You did the thing really well – the result is especially potent, or you get some kind of helpful side effect.

If the total is 7-9:

• …and the red die is highest: partial success. You did the thing, but the result isn’t all you’d hoped for, or there’s some kind of unfortunate side-effect.

• …and the green die is highest: hard choice. You have a shot at doing the thing, but it’ll cost you, somehow. Choose now whether you’ll pay the cost, or do something else.

If the total is 6 or less, you fail, and suffer all the logical consequences thereof.

I’m working on a PbtA game about Cold War espionage, called The Service.

I’m working on a PbtA game about Cold War espionage, called The Service.

I’m working on a PbtA game about Cold War espionage, called The Service. It’s very much a love letter to Le Carré, Len Deighton and the ITV show The Sandbaggers. I’m aiming for a low powered, drab, bureaucratic take on the genre.

As for games, I’ve been influenced mostly by Apocalypse World, Dungeon World and Blades in the Dark, with some Monsterhearts, The Regiment and The Sprawl as well as others sprinkled in for good measure.

If any of y’all are interested, here’s the current, unpolished version. Any feedback more than welcome!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MEWifN23zNacjUJ9AUhxqiARIhkVpdTK/view?usp=sharing

The Codex Volume 1 Kickstarter is live!

The Codex Volume 1 Kickstarter is live!

The Codex Volume 1 Kickstarter is live!

The Gauntlet’s Kickstarter to the raise funds needed to put our beautiful PDF zine in a gorgeous hardcover book is live! Codex is absolutely jam-packed with Powered by the Apocalypse stuff, including expanded content for: Urban Shadows, The Sprawl, Dungeon World (LOTS of Dungeon World), Apocalypse World (our terrific playbook based off BABYMETAL) and more!

We hope you’ll take some time to look at the campaign page today. If you have any questions, let me know!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gauntlet/codex-rpg-zine-volume-1-hardcover?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=codex+

Friends!

Friends!

Friends! I’m a couple weeks away from releasing an alpha/ashcan version of Lonesome World, a PbtA one-on-one Western-themed game.

In your experience, what is the most important piece of an early-version PbtA rpg to help play-testers feel comfortable with a new game? (i.e. besides the basics of moves, character creation, advancement, and agenda/principles, what else should I be sure to include?)

Bonus question: If you’ve done any play-testing without the author present, what’s been the most convenient way for you to provide feedback? (compose quick email, complete survey, have a phone call, etc.)

Many thanks!

so im playing in a 5e game today, any tips on how to skew it to a PBTA style of play, being but a player and not the…

so im playing in a 5e game today, any tips on how to skew it to a PBTA style of play, being but a player and not the…

so im playing in a 5e game today, any tips on how to skew it to a PBTA style of play, being but a player and not the gm?

So, experience as a reward.

So, experience as a reward.

So, experience as a reward. In many of the pre-PbtA games that I enjoyed playing, the GM was given a guide for giving xp and along with that guide was often what I called the arbitrary clause. As a GM, I often made use of the arbitrary clause when the methods for xp gain were otherwise not rewarding my PCs.

I’m curious about what design decisions lead to this arbitrary clause being removed in PbtA games.

I’m asking specifically because I created a discussion over in the Dungeon World Tavern and our conversation lead to a twist on the xp-on-miss mechanic that put the reward of the xp in the hands of the GM (so, Fighter misses a blow with a hammer, hammer strikes a brazier, the coals fly at the Rogue and the Rogue has to Defy Danger, the Rogue is given the xp because he was the one negatively impacted by the miss).

The reason for the solution is an extreme imbalance that has cropped up at two of my tables for games using the xp-on-miss mechanic and I am trying to find a replacement for my upcoming DW game.

Make The World Seem Real

Make The World Seem Real

Make The World Seem Real

I’m curious: what’s a common or obscure thing you know how to do that could help you and those around you if/when there’s a local apocalypse? Think supply line breaks, floods, power failures, earthquakes. Does this skill ever show up in your games, even as support for some background color?

I for one am not that good at food; given enough supplies I won’t let you starve, but I’m no Maestro D’.

On the other hand, if you want something mended, I’m your best bet. Patches, mends, rivets, ties, seams, skin if I had enough demand to practice – these show up in my “make the world seem real” all the time. That mattress stitch? Works for deep tissue wounds too. Subcutaneous stitch to minimize scarring? Gotcha. Massive, nasty scarring but gets the job done? Sure, couching will do it. How do you take your real-world skills and use them to make your AW seem more real?

I’ve been thinking about bringing the goodness of the GM side of PbtA to the players.

I’ve been thinking about bringing the goodness of the GM side of PbtA to the players.

I’ve been thinking about bringing the goodness of the GM side of PbtA to the players. As such I put together a little document. I’d love to get feedback. Let me know what you think.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UnWIbkXqa9hhvwQ_TqPK48iJCWOeJWVmMHAB8Qf2rhA/edit?usp=drive_web

So here is my crazy apocalypse world story idea o am trying out today with players.

So here is my crazy apocalypse world story idea o am trying out today with players.

So here is my crazy apocalypse world story idea o am trying out today with players. I love the idea, but I also think it’s tropy as hell and also really mysogenistic…yet not? I can’t tell if this idea is good, bad, awful, or just plain perfect tropy apocalypse. I need to say it though out loud so I can know if I should.

My 6 year old daughter wrote names for our AW campaign she wrote one named baby. I decided to make baby an enemy handhold without thinking much more since they never met baby yet. Then a psychic teller told our hero team that they need to go to Baby secretly to stop a warm between the two holds.

Then game ended and I thought about what you do game 2 and here is the crazy F’d up apocalypse I came up with.

Baby is a malevolent demon in the maelstrom (possibly Lucifer) and it communicates to our world as an unborn child inside the hardhold that is his mother known as the Reverend mother. The Reverend mother’s hold is a hospital and he rules it from the maternity/labor and delivery ward where they can always keep her and Baby safe. As long as the Reverend mother is pregnant baby speaks to her and is actually the real hard hold. When Baby is born The entity leaves the mother and is inside a baby. Since the baby can’t communicate the hold is defenseless at this time and the Reverend mother does the best she can to rule and protect. When the Reverend mother gets pregnant again the entity of baby returns to her and Baby can begin advising the hold again. All of Reverend mother’s children are connected to baby psychically. This cycle will then end when the Reverend mother’s first born is old enough to impregnate her so baby impregnates baby and then the child born will be the Antichrist god king child when it grows up. Until then the Reverend mother keeps searching for eligible suitors to be the seed of baby so that all he children will one day be princesses and princes that rule the Apocalypse once their King is born.

…..

So I think is idea is super crazy totally apocalypse and so much friggin weird I love it. Meanwhile I hate that it has so many tropes against women it because I try to avoid those in games. Yet there it is my super crazy convoluted disturbing hold.