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 What is Powered by the Apocalypse? Powered by the Apocalypse is a game engine invented by Vincent Baker. It was originally used in his post-apocalyptic role playing game, Apocalypse World. A great title that wowed gamers with its light nature, tight and narrow focus, and fluidity. While an amazing title on its own, Vincent Baker's love of open licenses lead to many great hacks being created for the system. What makes it special? The Powered by the Apocalypse engine is light and story-friendly. To quote Evil Mastermind, the best thing about the system is how it gets out of the way and let's players play. While I could get into the mechanics, it's best to first mention the underlying design philosophy: the Conversation. Vincent Baker posted:THE CONVERSATION This concept is what help build some of the best and most unique elements of the engine. The biggest and most prominent of which is "Moves." Moves permeate throughout the system and work as a great way of facilitating the conversation. Essentially, gamers just go about describing their actions. Once they reach a point where a move triggers -- all moves have a vague description of what triggers them in bold --, they resolve the move. These moves are made to reinforce the themes and nature of the game and lead to results that are appropriate. Think of it as a guiding hand for the narrative. Move resolution works off a simple formula, as well. Roll two six-sided dice and add a stat (valued between -1 and 3) and check the move. Generally, 10+ results in a success which leads to the character getting what they wanted. A 7-9 is a partial success and leads to the character getting what they wanted at a cost. The player gets to describe, with the move guiding them, how this partial success plays out. A 6- is a failure and results in the Master of Ceremonies, the systems term for a Game Master, making a move of her or his own. Jumping off that last point to clarify a common misconception, MC moves do not confine the actions of the MC. Instead, they are vague suggestions and reminders on what to do and are essentially what MCs do anyway as part of adjudicating. This, among other things with the system, leads to a Powered by the Apocalypse game having a back and forth nature to it. In every Powered by the Apocalpyse Game, there are additional mechanics such as ones to dictate relationships. That said, games with this engine -- good ones, at least -- make sure the system stays out of the way and only enhances the narrative. Titles using the engine  Apocalypse World The original, Apocalypse World is all about the post-apocalypse. It uses that setting to explore life after modern society has fallen and norms of said society have gone. To delve into a world without or, at least, less pervasive social expectations. It also deals a lot of with stuff straight out of Mad Max, if those elements are more your speed.  Dungeon World The first major hack for the system, Dungeon World attempts to elmulate Dungeon and Dragons style adventures. Specifically, Red-Box Dungeon and Dragons with a focus on the style of adventures PCs of level 1-5 of that system would encounter. A mix of New-School and Old-School, it can scratch that itch for players looking for a lite, story-first D&D system. For those who love homebrew, we have a rather extensive cataloug of it here on the forums maintained by our own gnome7.  Monster Hearts Logically, we've all been teenagers once...unless you're too young to be on this site. This title is an exploration of that confusing, messy time where we're all trying to find ourselves. It uses a series of monster metaphors to examine different "types" of teenagers. More in line with Apocalypse World in this respect, Monster Hearts has a focus on modern ideas of identity, especially gender identity, and is a rather progressive and unique piece for this choice.  Monster of the Week Ever watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer? This game is kind of like that. A bunch of people fighting off a supernatural monster of the week.  Worlds In Peril A game all about being big, drat heroes. With a focus on the Bronze and Modern age of superhero comics, this title focuses on being heroes with real lives. It's not all about being hero and the story doesn't always wrap up cleanly. Sometimes, just fitting in can be the hardest part.  World Wide Wrestling Wrestling is fake. We all know this as does this game. But that's the beauty of it. It works with the notion of trying to build heat with the audience and act out an interesting match to really give the wrestling experience. Even if you're not a fan of wrestling, you should give title a look.  Spirit of '77 The 1970s were a pretty lovely time to be alive and, sad enough, some people say the modern day mirrors in many ways. But this game isn't about that. No, this game is about the imagined 70s. What most people think of due to cultural osmosis. A rockin' time of funk and explosions. Where everyone knows kung fu is a bad mothe-shut yer mouth.  Urban Shadows There is another side to our world. A seedy, criminal underbelly where the corrupt rule and the virtuous perish. A tough place where one cannot survive with just their gun and their wits. This game explores gang and mafia tension through the use of supernatural metaphor. For those who need a snappy slogan, it's been described as the Wire meets Supernatural.  Night Witches In the 1940s, Russia had a division of all female pilots known as the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. Skilled pilots, they earned the moniker Nachthexen, or Night Witches, from their enemies. This title uses their story to explore many issues that still plaque us today. If nothing else, it is a story all about female heroes; a subject matter disappointingly and shamefully lacking in this market.  The Regiment There is no glory in war, only pain and death. A soldier's life is a hard one to bare. This title explores the, possibly short, but definitely painful life of men in arms. For those who fans of the Alien franchise, the original creator made a hack focused on playing Colonial Marines from James Cameron's Aliens.  Tremulus Howard Phillips Lovecraft was a 1920s author whose works lead to the creation of mythos that has remained rather popular to the modern day: the Cthulu mythos. A dark, nihilistic take on the universe and religion, the cthulu mythos is a place where the gods are malign and mankind means little. Tremulus, like many stories in the mythos, follows the adventures of those who get to too close to the truth and risk their sanity in the process.  City of Judas Tension, drama, and intrigue in an alternate version of medieval Jerusalem. A dark and gritty fantasy game where the religion of the Church of Christ fight against of Cult of Judas for the city. The world is abound with monsters of myth and horrors most vile. Who will you fight for? What innocents will die as a result of your actions? Can you even survive as a mercenary in this wretched, sad world?  Legacy: Life Among The Ruins What was great and powerful has been washed from our world. In it's loss, there lies the seeds of a new beginning. Humans who wander what once was on lands that was once other's seek their own destinies. From the remnants of the old world, a new one will arise from the toil and love of the families that will walk it. Will it be better world? A worse world? Something completely foreign? That is something for that only time itself can reveal.  Uncharted Worlds There is a big, wide universe out there and it aint friendly. From mobsters to the unknown, from sleazebags to the sleazebags who run things, the place is neither safe nor easy to live in. You got your ship, you got your crewmates, and you got a lot to pay off. Things are not going to go smoothly, but when do they ever? As long as you get out of this alive, pay off your debt collectors, and get on to the next mission, you can call it a job well done.  The Sprawl Corporations. Corporations are a business model where the business is a considered a separate legal entity, given rights, and those who own shares in the business have limited liability as to the actions of the corporation itself. On paper, it must sound not so bad. Just another way to do business. If only it stayed that way. Corporations, however, have the ability to grow capital at rates that excel passed any competing model and the allure of liability protection can make people more open to evil act. Left alone and without government intervention, the system festers like a cancer till your life, your country, and your world is run by an uncaring elite who only seek to exploit you for all your worth. Constantly monitored, constantly used, constantly exploited. Though, that isn't you. Well, maybe those last two parts. You're their hitman, their go-to, the person they call for wetwork. You sell your soul for money just like every drone in the corporation, but at least you don't have to wake up at 6:00 AM and stay shaven.  Masks All heroes have to start off somewhere and some get into the life young. From the Teen Titans to Young Justice, superteenagers have become its own subgenre in comics. Full of angst, relationship troubles, and inexperience, many find them a great change of pace from the grimness and/or silliness that dominates comics of older heroes. Masks is all about not only going back to being a messy teenager, but having to deal with the responsibility of protecting and saving a city on top. Your self-image will be morphed and mushed as you try to find yourself in a world of jet powered apes and time travel.  Fellowship The Overlord rises! Fear takes the land! Darkness Reigns supreme! But, even the darkest day has a stray ray of light: you. A fellowship of warriors, connected by bonds stronger than blood, stands stalwart against the tide of evil! Grow your fellowship, battle the Overlord, and free the land! But! Don't think the players are the only ones who get to have the fun, Overlord. You will build your own forces, prepare your own betrayals, and ready the world for the ruler it deserves! An interesting title by our own Gnome7, Fellowship is all about the journey, on both sides.  Kill 6 Billion Demons The gods have died, the angels shattered by the hand of man and all the 777,777 multiverses are spinning off the corpse of heaven. Try to survive as an angel forged of stone by humans, devils bound to mortal bodies through the power of the dread black flame, servants who were built to bring the universe to order or an ordinary human just trying to stay alive. Kill Six Billion Demons is a game of extraordinary and powerful wuxia beings and their struggle in the ruins of a multiverse inhabited by thousands of races and cultures and ruled by seven tyrant demiurges. It mixes the insanity of french comics and heavy metal covers with hinduist and gnostic mythology.  Impulse Drive You got your ship, you got your crew, you got a lot of debt. A game all about being a band of freelancers sailing across the galaxy, this game can just as easily be Firefly and Dark Heresy as it can be a Star Wars: Rebels season one or Mass Effect. You may have some big goal or its all a search for more money, but you will encourage strange alien oddities, overcome tough opposition, and try your best to survivor in the middle of the endless void known as space.  Epyllion Remember all those cartoon shows about talking animals discovering friendship in trying times? That's this. You're newly born dragons of dragonia tasked with helping your parents stave off an ancient darkness that may once again stretch across the land. Along the way, you'll grow, mature, and learn the true meaning of friendship.  Headspace "Headspace is a Cyberpunk roleplaying game about hyper-competent operatives fighting personal battles against the Corporations controlling the world. These unlikely heroes regret the direct hand they had in making the world the dystopian place it is, so now they’re going to try and change the world. Alone, they wouldn’t stand a chance. But with Headspace, an advanced technology to share consciousness, together the Operators can make a difference. But will their Headspace be able to manage the Stress of sharing skills, memories, and regrets? Armed with Headspace technology, no Operator is ever alone. The Headspace makes everyone in it greater than themselves, able to use each other’s skills with seamless efficiency. So long as one as one Operator can do something, they all can." There quite a few other titles for this system, but listing all the title and hacks here would be a task. Thankfully, a few lists exist online. Such as  this spreadsheet and this document.Titles inspired by Powered By The Apocalypse  Blades In The Dark In a world where the dead do not stay in their rest and criminals rule the city streets, you are, but another of the cities problems: thieves grouping together to for their own selfish benefit. Daggers in the night seeking forture, your group hopes to achieve riches and live a comfortable life. Good luck, thief and may you drown in your gold.  Undying You are a monster: a vampire of myth and nightmare. In this world of daggers and cloaks, you try to hold on to your humanity as the hunger slowly creeps in and wretches it away. While many from all walks of life would love to have your head on a silver platter, you have much to gain if you can balance your bestial desires for sustenance and your humanity.  Dream Askew Society builds norms over times. Accepted systems that all members in society are meant to abide by. Deviations from these system can garner one ire, isolation, and, even, direct assault. What if the world ended bit by bit and people were allowed to explore themselves free from the norms of modern society? What if we could explore our our sexuality, our gender, our identity without society's judging eye? Perhaps it is time to explore the apocalypse in a new light: a queer light.  Dungeon Bastards Write a description? gently caress that poo poo. Last time I checked I didn't owe you basatrds anything. All you needs to know is that this game is all about being the biggest dick in a world full of dicks. Too short for you? Bet you get that problem frequently. Fine, it's all about bastards and dungeons in a town. You are the bastards, that dickwad runs the game, and you make nasty poo poo happen in town to the fuckers who mess with ya. Got it? No? Too bad! Looking to make your own hack?  Then I highly suggest taking a look at Avery Mcdaldno's Simple World. Essentially, a stripped down version of the Powered By The Apocalypse Engine made so that a group of players could sit down and make their own game then play it. A great starting point for a Powered By the Apocalypse hack, talking from experience. Thanks for the reminder, Trollhawke Also, remember this thread and the Game Writing Workshop are great resources for review and critique. There are other threads for specific titles using this engine, what is the point of this thread? To be a place for more generic discussion of the engine. Previously, the Apocalypse World thread has been cluttered by discussions on different titles using the engine that don't have their own thread, discussions of the engine itself, or discussions of hacks being developed by SA members. Ideally, those discussions will move here and the Apocalypse World thread can focus on discussing the game itself. Covok fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Sep 27, 2019 |
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Jun 25, 2015 17:26
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PbtA is interesting. I think of it less as a rules engine and more as a language. PbtA is the Assembly of RPGs, except it's extremely easy to learn: Player move: a predefined narrative trigger brings about a set of predefined narrative consequences. GM agenda: general goals of the current gaming experience. GM moves: when the fiction needs an event to happen, pick one from this list. GM principles: shortcuts and guidelines to keep in mind while making GM moves. That's why the game is so hackable. It's because people look at this and realize this is a language they can use to translate whatever ideas they have in their minds into a roleplaying game. Playbooks, resolution systems, and all that are just secondary and could really be anything; it's a shame people don't play around with it much. Except for Vincent Baker himself, whose Freebooting Venus uses the language and runs away with it to do something completely different than AW, and John Harper, whose Blades in the Dark is very different from other PbtA works, but you can clearly see the language being used as a starting point of that game. e: though to be fair, I think people stick with 2d6+stat a lot because it's wonderful. It's got a bell curve with great probabilities and intuitively transformed with +stat, and it's very practical and easy at the table. Cyphoderus fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Jun 25, 2015 |
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Jun 25, 2015 23:07
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If you're looking to make your own AW game, I'd suggest reading through Simple world, found here: http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/simple-world/
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Jun 26, 2015 00:51
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Trollhawke posted:If you're looking to make your own AW game, I'd suggest reading through Simple world, found here: http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/simple-world/ Ah, that's a very good point. I'll add that to the OP. Edit: To help spur discussion, I guess I'll mention my own little AW hack: Justice Friends. It's focus is the Golden Age of DC comics. In other words, it's all about corny superhero adventures. I've had it looked at a few times, but it can't hurt bringing it up, I suppose. Still writing the Editor's section. Covok fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Jun 26, 2015 |
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Jun 26, 2015 02:01
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A few more games using the AWE are City of Judas, Uncharted Worlds, Tremulous, and Urban Shadows. There's also The Sprawl and The Bureau, but I don't know how polished those are. And there's a WWII hack, that I can't remember the name of.
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Jun 26, 2015 13:09
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Ich posted:A few more games using the AWE are City of Judas, Uncharted Worlds, Tremulous, and Urban Shadows. The Regiment! Which also has an Aliens (alien 2) hack!
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Jun 26, 2015 13:25
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Spirit of 77 should be in there somewhere too.
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Jun 26, 2015 13:32
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How could you forget World Wide Wrestling or Night Witches? Urban Shadows should be coming out soon-ish as well.
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Jun 26, 2015 14:21
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There is currently a Kickstarter campaign running for Undying, which has been in testing for a few years now:quote:Undying is a diceless, vampire roleplaying game of predation and intrigue. You are a predator - a blood-sucking monster of the night. Your world revolves around four things: blood, humanity, status, and debt. These four traits are tightly interlocked with the game play. It's designed and written by Paul Riddle (The Regiment), with art by El Tio Drake and Nate Marcel, and book layout and design by John Harper (Lady Blackbird, Danger Patrol). Full text of the final game (minus art) is up on the Kickstarter page if you want to try before you back it. Looks really promising, but I have yet to take it for a spin.
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Jun 26, 2015 14:34
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So besides talking about what the OP missed, I really just wanted to mention that I really like the "Split playbook" stuff several recent games have done; Spirit of 77 divides things into your role and your story (And your buzz, but that's not a playbook exactly.) Worlds in Peril has Origin and Drive, and Uncharted Worlds breaks it down further, where you pick 2 careers and an origin to make a sci-fi character. Even Dungeon World gets in on it a little with Compendium classes. I just like this particular design space, because especially after working on custom playbooks for a game that -doesn't- use it, it feels like it'd be easier to work with when stuff is broken into smaller chunks.
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Jun 26, 2015 15:27
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Yeah, I'm a fan of the "I am a adjective noun" style of chargen. It doesn't work for every genre, but it can lead to some interesting character types through what seem at the time like random combinations. The old Danger Patrol alpha draft did the same thing. e: I actually just remembered an old PbtA game idea I had where you played monsters in a dungeon working for
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Jun 26, 2015 15:32
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Evil Mastermind posted:Yeah, I'm a fan of the "I am a adjective noun" style of chargen. It doesn't work for every genre, but it can lead to some interesting character types through what seem at the time like random combinations. It doesn't even have to be adjective noun! Gamma World for 4th edition D&D used an adjective adjective system and it worked wonders. I'm really intrigued by Worlds in Peril. Has anyone here run it?
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Jun 26, 2015 16:00
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People run the games they own? 
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Jun 26, 2015 16:01
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Cyphoderus posted:I'm really intrigued by Worlds in Peril. Has anyone here run it? I am just waiting for someone to post a recruit so I can jump on that poo poo.
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Jun 26, 2015 16:51
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I kind of wish it had more examples of how to set up power profiles so I could wrap my head around it a little easier, as I'm not sure the basic one I came up with actually works as intended.
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Jun 26, 2015 16:56
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Could you link to this post somewhere in the Dungeon World description? I was going to ask for a second post to copy it into/ask if someone wanted to maintain that post for me for the new thread but then you up and made this thread suddenly.
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Jun 26, 2015 16:57
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Error 404 posted:I am just waiting for someone to post a recruit so I can jump on that poo poo. Stop making me want to do it, I've already got 01 game and 01 master's thesis going right now
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Jun 26, 2015 16:59
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Evil Mastermind posted:World Wide Wrestling We should call it Wrasslehearts
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Jun 26, 2015 17:13
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Ich posted:A few more games using the AWE are City of Judas, Uncharted Worlds, Tremulous, and Urban Shadows. Fenarisk posted:The Regiment! Which also has an Aliens (alien 2) hack! unseenlibrarian posted:Spirit of 77 should be in there somewhere too. Evil Mastermind posted:How could you forget World Wide Wrestling or Night Witches? It's not so much that forget them, but more so that I went "this post is a little long, I'll just link to a catch-all spreadsheet and google doc." But some of those are big names that should be added, in hindsight. I couldn't find City of Judas, Uncharted Worlds, The Sprawl and the Bureau nor have I heard of them before so I didn't add them. As for Undying, I'm on-the-fence of adding it like I am for Blades In the Dark. Definitely inspired by Powered By The Apocalypse, but not in-it-self Powered By The Apocalypse. gnome7 posted:Could you link to this post somewhere in the Dungeon World description? I was going to ask for a second post to copy it into/ask if someone wanted to maintain that post for me for the new thread but then you up and made this thread suddenly. Sure, no problem, but this is just a generic Pbta thread. Maintaining that post would be more for the new, if happening, DW thread. Covok fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Jun 26, 2015 |
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Jun 26, 2015 17:58
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Cyphoderus posted:I'm really intrigued by Worlds in Peril. Has anyone here run it? I played four or five sessions. It was interesting, with the caveat that the stats aren't really balanced. You can go a long way without +Smash (by applying conditions like Tied Up, Frustrated, Out of Breath, or Repentant) but agility will get you through. I really, really enjoyed the playbook moves unlocking on situation rather than level up. I was playing a kind of nebbish coward*, and unlocking moves with things like -You encounter a villain you sympathize with and want to learn more about is stellar. If you want to play Frank Castle, you don't start out with a move that lets you straight up Punisher someone; you have to Make an enemy out of a friend and -bring up and discuss the idea of using lethal force with a character you have a strong Bond with. You get those moments. *Who everyone saw as a slick ultra-spy.
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Jun 26, 2015 18:28
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Evil Mastermind posted:Yeah, I'm a fan of the "I am a adjective noun" style of chargen. It doesn't work for every genre, but it can lead to some interesting character types through what seem at the time like random combinations. I've got a Not Star Trek PbtA game that does exactly this. The only balancing act is trying to have enough interesting adjectives for regular people so that we don't end up with a crew of Alien, Clone, Telepath, and Cyborg. Edit: A similar idea is in Uncharted Worlds, but that game commits the most common PbtA sin: it tries to be everything instead of promoting a specific kind of fiction. Eleven freaking basic moves. Zurui fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Jun 26, 2015 |
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Jun 26, 2015 20:47
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Zurui posted:Eleven freaking basic moves. I remember one hack that was kickstarting that had like 20.
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Jun 26, 2015 21:10
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Evil Mastermind posted:I remember one hack that was kickstarting that had like 20. Jeezy pete!
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Jun 26, 2015 21:14
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I just looked it up; it was 23 for a Battle Royale/Hunger Games style game. A few of them aren't even rolled, they're "when you do X, you get Y" but still. act despite danger first attack unprovoked attack someone manipulate someone deceive someone aid or interfere with another's action want to be friends with someone try to befriend someone who would not ally with you attempt to betray a friend sneak around attempt to gain insight into a subject or situation search an area for hidden things spend some time to treat injuries with medical supplies calm someone down secure a place to rest rest for a while jury rig something attempt to cut out the bomb inside someone gather up the courage to perform a horrible act spend a drive point after making a roll put on a show for the cameras spend favor points to request items or other assistance when you die
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Jun 26, 2015 21:23
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Evil Mastermind posted:I just looked it up; it was 23 for a Battle Royale/Hunger Games style game. A few of them aren't even rolled, they're "when you do X, you get Y" but still. Fix It Up, Act Despite Danger, Affect Emotions, Find Safety, Put On a Show, gently caress Them Up Aid or Interfere, Spend Favor, Die That's six basic moves and three auxiliary moves that cover everything you can do up there and it's just off the top of my head. Edit: I just don't understand how the Conversation works with this game. "I try to get the bomb out of her chest." "It sounds like you're...trying to get the bomb out of someone?" Zurui fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Jun 26, 2015 |
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Jun 26, 2015 22:10
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Evil Mastermind posted:I just looked it up; it was 23 for a Battle Royale/Hunger Games style game. A few of them aren't even rolled, they're "when you do X, you get Y" but still. Not to get all grognard on you guys, but that sounds like someone thinking moves are basic conditional statements and trying to program a video-game with them. They need to drill down.
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Jun 26, 2015 22:24
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I've always got a bit of a love-hate thing going on with PBTA, because on the one hand PBTA games are great, but they're not the flavour I want all the time; I've been GMing a while and they definitely have their own distinct thing. On the other hand, the rules structure is great, and I would love to stick that in 80% of games I run because so often I find myself wishing I could just go "Yeah it's probably your Daring rating, roll it. That's an 8; you get ahold of the cliff face but you're not pulling yourself up unless you drop your staff" or whatever. I always feel like using the dice mechanic without also importing principles and GM moves is somehow breaking the spirit of it, though.
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Jun 26, 2015 23:01
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spectralent posted:"Yeah it's probably your Daring rating, roll it. That's an 8; you get ahold of the cliff face but you're not pulling yourself up unless you drop your staff" or whatever. I always feel like using the dice mechanic without also importing principles and GM moves is somehow breaking the spirit of it, though. Why would it be, though? Plenty of games have done partial successes and non-standard attributes before PbtA. It's also possible to do player moves, GM moves, principles and agendas without using 2d6+stat.
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Jun 27, 2015 01:59
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Zurui posted:Aid or Interfere, Spend Favor, Die Well, Cut The Bomb Out Of Someone is a setting/location specific move, similarly to how when the front demanded it you'd write a move specifically for trying to escape from Mocram's restraints, because Mocram might not be all there but brother can he tie people up.
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Jun 27, 2015 02:09
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I might have to run a Monsterhearts game tomorrow and I need some ideas for dramatic stuff to happen. The game is set in 199X in a small town with a 100+ year old insane asylum, if that matters.
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Jun 27, 2015 04:02
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Pththya-lyi posted:I might have to run a Monsterhearts game tomorrow and I need some ideas for dramatic stuff to happen. The game is set in 199X in a small town with a 100+ year old insane asylum, if that matters. There's a party and all but one of the PCs are invited. You can then stick complications on that, like 'the party is in the insane asylum', but really if you just pick one PC and exclude them then it'll write itself.
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Jun 27, 2015 04:45
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Cyphoderus posted:Why would it be, though? Plenty of games have done partial successes and non-standard attributes before PbtA. It's also possible to do player moves, GM moves, principles and agendas without using 2d6+stat. Yeah, I know, AW/Simple World just laid it out easy for me and I like the relatively intuitive bell curve.
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Jun 27, 2015 09:17
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Pththya-lyi posted:I might have to run a Monsterhearts game tomorrow and I need some ideas for dramatic stuff to happen. The game is set in 199X in a small town with a 100+ year old insane asylum, if that matters. You could always do what I do in situations like these: ask the players. Like, set a scene, but ask why they are there with guided questions, ask if their characters have heard of any rumors before the game starts proper, stuff like that. Might lead to some awkward interlocking of points, but, since the players mentioned the hook, you at least know this is what they want to explore.
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Jun 27, 2015 12:54
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Thanqol posted:There's a party and all but one of the PCs are invited. Covok posted:You could always do what I do in situations like these: ask the players. Like, set a scene, but ask why they are there with guided questions, ask if their characters have heard of any rumors before the game starts proper, stuff like that. Might lead to some awkward interlocking of points, but, since the players mentioned the hook, you at least know this is what they want to explore. Thanks very much!
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Jun 27, 2015 15:18
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Pththya-lyi posted:I might have to run a Monsterhearts game tomorrow and I need some ideas for dramatic stuff to happen. The game is set in 199X in a small town with a 100+ year old insane asylum, if that matters. Jagged Little Pill is also you need for a 90s MH soundtrack. Create reticence on the part of one PC to attend, then put something they value in danger. Unlike most RPGS, MH works best when players are at cross purposes. Give rewards to the wrong person.
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Jun 28, 2015 07:41
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That reminds me of something that came up during an Urban Shadows game recently. We had some replacement people in and, as a result, the entire "group" was separated during the entire session. The system worked great for this and, while I agreed they should meet up for story's sake, it did make me wonder if their desire to be together all next session is something I should discourage a tad. To be honest, even before we got the replacement players, we did parallel scenes to great effect. While people often go "don't split the party" in other games, it really works with this one and I think the game might lose some of the fun if everyone tries to stick together all the time now.
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Jun 28, 2015 17:41
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Well, two GM moves are "Split them up" and "Put them together".
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Jun 28, 2015 17:45
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I get what you mean, but I mean more how, for now, the characters don't have a reason to stick together in the longterm for in-game reasons. Stuff could happen next session that changes all that and that'd be good and, for next session, the common threat could keep them together, but I just don't want them staying together just because that's considered trpg culture, but, instead, because it makes sense in-game. Also, not to change the subject, but I brought something up in the IRC for AW that I want to ask here. If you look at the web page for Simple World, you can see that Avery says that the intent of this the product is for a group to be able to make a game for a genre they want to play in 30 minutes. Now, I'm just wondering if anyone has ever taken her up on that claim and tried it. It sounds like something that wouldn't work, but, to be fair, I don't think the idea is you're making a "complete" finished game from this nor do you never tweak it from the initial creation thing if problems come up.
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Jun 28, 2015 19:58
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Haven't seen it. I don't know, to your other question. Tell the players OOC that their job is to put pressure on other PCs, use and get strings on them, and make their lives interesting. You're emulating TV dramas where people betray each other for seasons at a time. What I'd like to see is a more other-PC focused Chosen. You start the background getting and giving strings to NPCs and only a few moves can really apply to PC/PC interaction. Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Jun 29, 2015 |
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Jun 29, 2015 03:51
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 12:50 |
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Hey, so, what's the goonsensus on Night Witches? I saw a copy of it at my FLGS and thought about getting it but I'm on a very tight budget at the moment and decided to pick up the latest volume of Rat Queens instead. I'm thinking that I might get it once I have more money again.
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Jun 29, 2015 11:00
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