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I'd say what kind of character you can't create is a greater signifier of play focus of the system. In Blades in the Dark, any character you can possibly create will be a daring criminal. In Apocalypse World, any character you can possibly create will always be in a dire need of things that...

@FrozenNorth "Creating family as a counterpoint" is not exactly in the spirit of Story Now play. Play to find out what happens, all that, and it's generally not exactly a smart idea to have plans. As of safety tools, it's kind of murky. There's a difference between "I had another idea in mind...

Last time I checked, we were on a roleplaying forum, so "hiring better writers" ain't really an option. Regardless. Consequences of a change can often entail complete and utter destruction of the aspect that brought the most joy. In a recent superhero game my character had a burning romance...

Me: jokes on you, my country isn't eligible for kickstarters anyway

I've recently rewatched Hardcore Henry and it still is very damn great movie. I'm not sure what the story is (there's this bad guy, and then there's a guy with a ton of clones that all have completely different personalities, one which is a cocaine addict and another is cpt Price reference...

If you’ve talked to me for more than fifteen seconds, you probably know that I’m quite firmly in a storytelling camp. I love Apocalypse World. I love Fate. I love MUJIK IS DEAD. But the thing is, I kinda don’t give a crap about stories. I love cool, gripping scenes. Pretty much all the...

I do too (and the rules say that pretty explicitly), but now I'm thinking maybe sharing how the sausage is made is a good idea. And for a new MC, saying things out lout can help to internalize how the things work. But then maybe it's not exactly playing the game, more like learning it.

Now I'm thinking, "things flow from the real world, not from the fiction" is pretty good advice for Story Now. Insulating the game world from the real one and treating it as a separate reality is a staple of trad play, but it's a counterproductive approach to Story Now. The setting, the PCs...

Full disclosure: I hate the term "fiction first", I think it's just stupid. Games cannot be fiction-first, only particular mechanics can (and even that is murky). AW has a plenty of moves that are very explicitly not fiction first: spending Barter at the start of the session, or changing...

In a dungeon, there's a ticking clock of dwindling resources and wandering monsters, but outside of it, what are you left with? Skill checks, that are basically a non-mechanic?

Either that, or barely distinguishable from freeform roleplaying

— Here's advice for running Story Now games — But what if I don't want Story Now? Not gonna fly

Or GM could have Catalia not being unexpectedly invaded ¯⁠\⁠⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠⁠/⁠¯

I think players overcoming challenges (which is an important part of trad play, one way or another) is fundamentally incompatible with storytelling. The two just cannot coexist, as enabling one automatically undermines the other. The main thing that allows Story Now to function properly and...

I've experienced things you've described, and I wasn't even alive in the 80s. Or most of the 90s.

...and what, exactly, of what he said here is wrong?

I kinda think it would be really great if we kept this thread from turning into yet another debate about validity and possibilty of Story Now

And almost any Story Now game system that I can recall is hellbent on making the PCs goal if not unattainable, very damn hard to achieve. What a Blades PC want? To leave the life of crime behind. Never happening, the underworld will suck you back in. What an Apocalypse PC want? To have...

I'd say this observation holds true for most people who are new to TTRPGs. I've pretty much never encountered newbies who didn't grok AW instantly. Have seen stables of "veterans" who can't wrap their heads around it, though. Been one of them, too.

I just profoundly don't understand this angle. Like, TTRPGs aren't huge LARPs for dozens of people. They need like 2-3-4 players. Besides, we live in the 21st century, online play exists. And I don't think anyone is "inherently" a particular kind of player. People are shaped and moulded by...